610212b Betula nana var. tundrarum (Perfil.) Elven comb. et stat. nov.
Distribution
Kanin - Pechora: Frequent
Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Rare
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Frequent
Yamal - Gydan: Frequent
Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Scattered
Mid Arctic Tundra: Rare
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
- Basionym: Betula tundrarum Perfil., Bot. Zhurn. 48: 1139 (1963). Holotype (LE): European Russia: Novaya Zemlya, "prope promontorium Kankrinii, ad lit. maris Carici", 26. Aug. 1923, leg. A. Tolmachev 112. - Betula nana subsp. tundrarum (Perfil.) Á. Löve & D. Löve, Bot. Not. 128: 505 (1976).
2n=
28 (2x). - Europe (Svalbard). - Flovik (1940); Engelskjøn (1979).
Geography: European (N) - Asian (NW): NOR RUS SIB.
Notes: The Svalbard plant differs morphologically from the mainland Fennoscandian Betula nana subsp. nana (see Jonsell 2000c) and also from Greenland plants in, e.g., leaves with a broadly cuneate (vs. rounded-cordate) base and subacute teeth (vs. rounded), and in glands on the young twigs. It is morphologically inseparable from the Novaya Zemlya plant and belongs to what has been described as B. tundrarum. Variety tundrarum might be a recognizable race in arctic Europe and northwestern Siberia. Czerepanov (1966) accepted B. tundrarum from Svalbard ("Spitsbergen"), whereas he rejected (justifiably, in our opinion) Perfilev's reports from Greenland and the Murman area. Molecular results (AFLP: Alsos et al. 2006; Eidesen 2007) connect the Svalbard plants most closely to the arctic Russian ones and not to the Fennoscandian ones. Both these groups are, however, much more similar in AFLP markers than they are to subsp. exilis.
Higher Taxa
- Betula nana [610212,species]