Panarctic Flora

670204 Smelowskia porsildii (W.H. Drury & Rollins) Jurtz.

• Jurtz., Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 6: 309 (1970). - Smelowskia calycina var. porsildii W.H. Drury & Rollins, Rhodora 54: 105 (1952). Holotype (GH): Alaska: the Kokrines Mountains, the north side of the divide towards Melozitna River, 6520'N, 15430'W, 23. June - 05. July 1926, leg. A.E. Porsild and R.T. Porsild 741.
• Smelowskia jurtzevii Velichkin, Bot. Zhurn. 59: 1806 (1974). Holotype (LE): Russian Far East: East Chukotka, "vallis fluminis Amguema (ad ripam sinistram), prope 176 km viae Egvekinot-Jultin Iultin", 17. Aug. 1967, leg. A. Korobkov and B. Yurtsev.
• Smelowskia spathulatifolia Velichkin, Bot. Zhurn. 59: 1805 (1974). - Nomen novum for Hutchinsia calycina var. integrifolia Seem., Bot. Voy. Herald: 25 (1852). Described from the vicinity of Cape Krusenstern perhaps Cape Mulgrave, Kotzebue Sound (Alaska). - Smelowskia calycina var. integrifolia (Seem.) Rollins, Rhodora 40: 300 (1938). - Smelowskia calycina subsp. integrifolia (Seem.) Hultén, Acta Univ. Lund., n. s., sect. 2, 41, 1: 869 (1945) comb. illeg., without basionym reference.

2n= (1) 12 (2x, x = 6). - Alaska. - Murray and Kelso (1997, for S. calycina var. integrifolia).
(2) 18 (2x?, x = 9?). - Far East (N). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1984, for S. porsildii); Zhukova (unpubl.).
(3) 22 (2x?, x = 11?). - Alaska. - Johnson and Packer (1968, for S. calycina var. integrifolia); Dawe and Murray (1979, for var. porsildii); Rollins (1993).
(4) 24 (4x, x = 6). - Far East (N). - Yurtsev and Zhukova (1972, for S. porsildii); Yurtsev et al. (1975).
(5) 32 (4x?, x = 8?). - Far East (N). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1984, for S. porsildii).

Geography: Amphi-Beringian: RFE ALA CAN.

Notes: Yurtsev: Velichkin (1974) listed numerous characters differentiating Smelowskia jurtzevii from S. porsildii and S. spathulatifolia, e.g., shape of petals (reniform blade abruptly constricted into limb), shape of stigma (non bilobate), valves more compressed and obtuse at each end, abundance of multiradiate hairs in the pubescence of inflorescence, and some anatomical features of parts of flowers and fruits.

Murray and Elven: Drury and Rollins (1952) treated the northwestern North American variation of this group as two out of three varieties of S. calycina (the third was var. media). Velichkin (1974) compared Chukotkan and Alaskan material and recognized three species. Yurtsev commented that Velichkin's division of S. porsildii into the Chukotkan S. jurtzevii and the Alaskan S. porsildii s. str. is based on a good set of morphological and anatomical characters. We have compared Chukotkan and Alaskan plants and have not been able to confirm that the differences reported by Velichkin and Yurtsev disjunctly separate groups. It is not yet established that the differences shown by Velichkin in, e.g., petals, are constant throughout populations and taxa. They may be parts of normal infraspecific variation. We merge S. jurtzevii and S. porsildii. The chromosome number differences are not strong evidence for separation as long as the variation within each proposed taxon is large (and the counts few).

Velichkin divided the Alaskan material on two species: S. porsildii and S. spathulatifolia. In a quite large Alaskan material investigated by us, these two might perhaps be recognizable on some subtle morphological differences but with different geographical ranges from those previously reported. Smelowskia spathulatifolia is only vouchered in ALA from the Seward Peninsula where it seems to be the only taxon present. However, it must also occur in the nearby Cape Krusenstern area from where it was described. All other Alaskan and Yukon Territory plants conform better to S. porsildii. None of us agree with the proposal of Warwick et al. (2003a) to include S. spathulatifolia in S. americana.

Warwick et al. (2003a) included Alaskan and Chukotkan plants (S. jurtzevii, S. porsildii, S. spathulatifolia) in their investigations and found them identical in the markers studied. The same conclusion was reached by Carlsen et al. (2010) applying a different set of markers. These authors were not able to distinguish between S. jurtzevii, S. porsildii, and S. spathulatifolia in any way, whereas the other proposed species of Smelowskia were fairly easily distinguished. We therefore merge S. jurtzevii, S. spathulatifolia, and S. porsildii under the last-mentioned (priority) name (as done also by Al-Shehbaz 2010f). The very varied chromosome numbers reported suggest a less than stabilized, perhaps hybridogeneous mess.

Yurtsev: Smelowskia spathulatifolia differs readily both from S. porsildii and from S. jurtzevii by wider spathuliform blades somewhat longer that the petioles, pedicels subpatent, and by some characters of anatomy of flowers and fruits (Velichkin 1974).

Murray and Elven: When comparing population samples, we did not find these differences as pronounced as Yurtsev and Velichkin did. See, however, comments by Murray and Kelso (1997): "var. integrifolia is distinguished by its mix of both shallowly lobed and entire, broadly spatulate basal leaves with short petioles, whereas var. porsildii consistently has narrow, entire, ligulate base leaves with long petioles".