500721b Saxifraga cespitosa subsp. monticola (Small) A.E. Porsild
Distribution
Wrangel Island: Rare
South Chukotka: Rare
East Chukotka: Scattered
Western Alaska: Frequent
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Scattered
Southern Arcti Tundra: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Scattered
- A.E. Porsild, Bull. Natl. Mus. Canada 216: 39 (1966). - Muscaria monticola Small, N. Amer. Fl. 22, 2: 130 (1905). Holotype (NY): Canada: Alberta, Banff Natl. Park, Tunnel Mountain, 23. June 1899, leg. W.C. McCalla 2288. - Saxifraga monticola (Small) Fedde, Just's Bot. Jahresber. 33: 613 (1906).
- ?Saxifraga sileniflora Sternb. ex Cham., Linnaea 6: 55 (1831). Described from Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands (Alaska). - ?Saxifraga cespitosa subsp. sileniflora (Sternb. ex Cham.) Hultén, Fl. Aleut. Isl.: 210 (1937). - ?Muscaria sileniflora (Sternb. ex Cham.) Small, N. Amer. Fl. 22, 2: 130 (1905).
2n=
ca. 48 52 (ca. 6x). - Far East (Wrangel Island). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1972, 1987a, several counts for S. monticola); Petrovsky and Zhukova (1981, three counts for S. monticola). See notes.
Geography: Amphi-Pacific/Beringian: RFE ALA CAN.
Notes: Zhmylev: Subspecies monticola is an amphi-Beringian, arctic-alpine race that differs by being small-grown, with angular sepals, and small narrow petals. Due to considerable variability of Saxifraga cespitosa in North America, the distribution of this subspecies in Alaska needs further study.
Elven: North American authors have considered subsp. monticola to be a Cordilleran race. An additional argument for recognition may be that the chromosome numbers reported are at a lower ploidy level than those reported with certainty for subsp. cespitosa. Note, however, that all the referred counts of this perhaps Cordilleran race are from the northeastern Asian Wrangel Island. Northeastern Asian (Wrangel Island and East Chukotka) plants have been compared with Alaskan ones morphologically (ALA, O), have been found similar, and differ from S. cespitosa s. str. in the reported inflorescence and floral characters.
Hultén (1968a) indicated that subsp. sileniflora and subsp. monticola were two different races but stated both to be present in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The names "sileniflora" and "monticola" might refer to the same race, in which case the name subsp. sileniflora has priority. My opinion is that the boreal plants in southern Alaska and the Yukon Territory are comparatively monomorphic and probably should be assigned to one taxon.
Higher Taxa
- Saxifraga cespitosa [500721,species]