539191a Parnassia palustris subsp. palustris
- Parnassia palustris var. tenuis Wahlenb., Fl. Lapp.: 74 (1812). Neotype (UPS): Finland: Enontekiön Lappi, "Enontekis Lappmark i kärren omkring kyrkan", 04. Aug. 1800, leg. G. Wahlenberg (Hultgård 1987: 110).
- Parnassia obtusiflora Rupr., Fl. Samojed. Cisural.: 23 (1845). Described from northeastern European Russia. - Parnassia palustris subsp. obtusiflora (Rupr.) D.A. Webb, Feddes Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 64: 25 (1961).
2n=
(1) 18 (2x). - Europe, Russia (N, W), Siberia (N), Far East (S). - Numerous reports, more than 100 counts.
(2) 27 (3x). - Europe (N, W). - Erlandsson (1942a); Gadella and Kliphuis (1968); Lövkvist and Hultgård (1999, one count in an otherwise 2n = 18 population).
(3) 36 (4x). - Europe (N), Russia (N), Siberia (N). - Numerous reports, nearly 100 counts.
(4) 54 (6x). - Europe (N, W). - Erlandsson (1942a); Gornall and Wentworth (1993).
Jalas et al. (1999) referred some additional recent counts. The main investigators and sources of Parnassia cytology are Erlandsson (1942a), Knaben and Engelskjøn (1967), Hagen (1972), Gornall (1985a), Hultgård (1987), and Lövkvist and Hultgård (1999).
Geography: European - Asian - amphi-Pacific: ICE NOR RUS SIB ALA.
Notes: Elven and Murray: Subspecies palustris reaches the Russian Far East but mainly or entirely south of the Arctic, having a connection to southwestern Alaska over the Commander and Aleutian islands.
Elven: Hultgård (1987) and Borgen and Hultgård (2003) have studied the northern European parts of the Parnassia palustris complex extensively, also supported by other biosystematic studies from Erlandsson (1942a) to Gornall and Wentworth (1993). In northern Europe, the ploidy differences and parts of the (small) morphological diversity are documented to be due to many independent, recurrent autopolyploidizations in different regions (Borgen and Hultgård 2003). We do not know whether this conclusion is relevant for the var. tenuis and P. obtusiflora plants. It might therefore still be possible to recognize an arctic-alpine northern European and northwestern Siberian tetraploid race but subsp. palustris must be accepted as both diploid and tetraploid.