Panarctic Flora

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420205c Cerastium alpinum arctic race

Distribution

Northern Iceland: Rare
Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Rare
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Scattered
Ellesmere Island: Rare
Western Greenland: Frequent
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Northern arctic Tundra: Rare
Mid Arctic Tundra: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Presence uncertain

2n= 72 (4x). - Europe (Svalbard), Canada (NE), Greenland. - Several reports.
Not included: Böcher and Larsen (1950) reported a single triploid count of 2n = 54 from western Greenland for C. alpinum. It could originate from some hybrid with C. cerastoides.

Geography: Amphi-Atlantic (W): NOR CAN GRL.

Notes: Brysting and Elven: The plants of Cerastium alpinum in Svalbard and Jan Mayen and at least the majority of those in Greenland and Canada belong to this unnamed race. They are mostly densely hairy but, e.g., with stiffer hairs than subsp. lanata, narrower and more acute leaves, absence of prolonged vegetative shoots, and different calyx shape. We circumscribe this race more narrowly in North America than done by Morton (2005a). The recently observed plants at Colesbukta in Svalbard differ from the other arctic plants in these characters and rather resemble subsp. alpinum.

Higher Taxa