Panarctic Flora

6306 Oxytropis DC.

Notes: Elven and Murray: There is much variation in both northern Asia and North America in arctic Oxytropis. The more recent Russian and North American treatments of the taxa that reach the Arctic, exemplified, respectivelly, by Yurtsev (1986, PAF proposal) and by Welsh (2001) and Gillett et al. (2007), are even more different than those of Astragalus. The treatments of all major groups in the genus are disputed. Many of the problems may be due to lack of efficient comparison between Asian and North American plants. The most current treatments covering the American Arctic (Welsh, Gillett et al.) do not account for or compare with Asian taxa. Our treatment mainly reflects the proposals of Yurtsev but with critical notes on some points.

The number of species may be somewhat reduced when more parts of this genus are investigated experimentally. Experimental studies are largely absent except for Jorgensen et al. (2003). Their study aimed at testing some of Yurtsev's basic tenets on Alaskan and Yukon Territory material in one of the larger groups (the O. "campestris" group). The study was based on a restricted material and perhaps not on the optimal molecular markers. It is not appropriate to generalize too much from it.

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  Source: Thommybe at Wikispecies