Panarctic Flora

630624 Oxytropis terrae-novae Fernald

• Fernald, Rhodora 30: 147 (1928). Holotype (GH): Canada: Newfoundland, St. John Island, 31. July 1925, leg. M.L. Fernald et al. 28,615. - Oxytropis campestris var. terrae-novae (Fernald) Barneby, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, 27: 266 (1952).
• Oxytropis uralensis taxon minor Hook., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 146 (1831). Type (K): Canada: Labrador, before 1829, leg. Dr. Morrison. - Oxytropis campestris var. minor (Hook.) S.L. Welsh, Great Basin Naturalist 55: 277 (1995).
• Oxytropis campestris var. johannensis Fernald, Rhodora 1: 88 (1899). Holotype (GH): U.S.A.: Maine, gravelly shores, valley of St. Johns River, Fort Kent, Aroostok County, 15. June 1898, leg. M.L. Fernald 2289. - Oxytropis johannensis (Fernald) Fernald, Rhodora 30: 145 (1928).

2n= (1) 32 (4x). - Canada (Hudson Bay). - Löve and Löve (1982b, for O. johannensis).
(2) 48 (6x). - Canada (E). - Hedberg (1967, for O. terrae-novae); Löve and Löve (1982b, for O. terrae-novae); Gervais and Blondeau (1999, for O. johannensis).

Geography: North American (NE): CAN.

Notes: Elven and Murray: Oxytropis terrae-novae is the only red/blue-flowered taxon of this group in northeastern North America. Barneby (1952) treated it as O. campestris var. terrae-novae, Welsh (2001) and Gillett et al. (2007) for priority reasons as O. campestris var. minor. It is a major taxon in northeastern North America and deserves - in our framework - specific rank. What Yurtsev's opinion was is not entirely clear from his comments but he related this taxon to O. roaldii which, by implication, might mean that he considered it part of or close to the O. adamsiana aggregate. We have no experience to counter his opinion but we are reluctant to accept close connections to O. campestris or O. adamsiana, for phytogeographical more than morphological reasons.

Fernald (1928) and Yurtsev (PAF proposal) accepted O. johannensis but many recent American authors (except for the Löves) have merged it with O. terrae-novae. Welsh (2001) accepted O. johannensis and O. terrae-novae as two varieties of O. campestris. The two species were published in the same paper and the priority name may be debatable. Yurtsev proposed to solve the problem by excluding it as non-arctic but that may be problematic in view of a chromosome number report from an arctic site (Löve and Löve 1982a). Scoggan (1978c) reported this taxon (under a varietal name in O. campestris) from the surroundings of Hudson Bay, Labrador, Newfoundland, and some places farther south. Welsh (2001) accepted var. johannensis only from distinctly non-arctic areas.