Panarctic Flora

Browse

641002 Potentilla pulchella R. Br.

Distribution

Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Frequent
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Scattered
Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Rare
Anabar - Onenyo: Rare
Kharaulakh: Rare
Yana - Kolyma: Rare
Wrangel Island: Frequent
Western Alaska: Rare
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Scattered
Central Canada: Frequent
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Frequent
Ellesmere Island: Frequent
Western Greenland: Scattered
Eastern Greenland: Scattered
Polar desert: Scattered
Northern arctic Tundra: Frequent
Mid Arctic Tundra: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Rare

2n= 28 (4x). - Europe (N), Far East (N), Alaska, Canada, Greenland. - Numerous reports.

Geography: Circumpolar: NOR RUS SIB RFE ALA CAN GRL.

Notes: Elven: The first publication of the name Potentilla pulchella R. Br., Voy. Explor. Baffin's Bay, App.: 193 (1819), was as a nomen nudum. The tetraploid P. pulchella is sexual. It is widespread in the Arctic except for northwestern Europe where it is restricted to Svalbard. It is assumed parental in several hybrid species.

Yurtsev: Along with the circumpolar subsp. pulchella, subsp. gracilicaulis is met with in more southern parts from northern Siberia east to the Hudson Bay area. The populations of erect slender shortly pubescent plants evidently represent an ecological-geographic race, obviously ancestral for P. pulchella s. str. Where the races are sympatric, they are restricted to different site types. The typical race very often grows on dry gravelly ridges of sea coast. I realize some problem connected with separation of subsp. gracilicaulis (first, insufficient collections).

Elven and Murray: Yurtsev (PAF draft) reported subsp. gracilicaulis from northern Siberia (Anabar-Olenyok, Kharaulakh), the Russian Far East (Wrangel Island), and North America (western and Alaska, the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut). We have studied a relevant material (ALA, CAN, DAO, O), can see the variation described by Yurtsev, but have not been able to make a consistent division on two races. With further investigation, subsp. gracilicaulis might merit rank as a major race. There are, however, other and perhaps even more characteristic parts of P. pulchella, especially along the southern shores of Hudson Bay. What is ancestral to what within this species needs more study before any hypothesis find support, and the differentiation in this widespread species should be investigated at a circumpolar scale before any races are accepted.

Higher Taxa