Panarctic Flora

Browse

670904a Braya glabella subsp. glabella

Distribution

Wrangel Island: Rare
East Chukotka: Scattered
Western Alaska: Scattered
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Frequent
Central Canada: Rare
Western Greenland: Presence uncertain
Eastern Greenland: Presence uncertain
Mid Arctic Tundra: Rare
Southern Arcti Tundra: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Scattered

2n= (1) 28 (4x, x = 7). - Far East (N), Alaska. - At least three reports, the Chukotkan ones for B. aenea subsp. pseudoaenea and one from its type population.
(2) 56 (8x, x = 7). - Far East (N), Alaska. - At least three reports, the Chukotkan one (six counts) for B. aenea subsp. pseudoaenea.
Not included: 2n = 64 from Alaska (Dawe unpubl.). This number is more typical of a Draba (with base number x = 8) and the voucher should be re-checked.

Geography: Amphi-Beringian - North American (N): RFE ALA CAN GRL?

Notes: Elven, Murray, and Petrovsky: Braya glabella s. str. is not confirmed from Greenland. Böcher et al. (1978) expressed doubts about the identity of the plants behind the reports from Umanak Fjord in western Greenland and Ella Ø in eastern Greenland.

Subspecies glabella is mainly North American, only reaching Asia in the Chukchi Peninsula. We have been unable to find characters distinguishing the western Alaskan B. bartlettiana from Canadian subsp. glabella, or the Chukotkan B. aenea subsp. pseudoaenea from Alaskan B. bartlettiana (specimens compared in ALA and in field). We consider it a case of triplicate Russian, Alaskan, and Canadian naming.

The differential characters reported by Petrovsky (1975a) for B. aenea subsp. pseudoaenea vs. B. aenea s. str. are mainly quantitative but the geographical ranges of the two are rather distinctive. Subspecies pseudoaenea is restricted to the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangel Island, whereas B. aenea s. str. is distributed from southern Siberia north to the lower Olenyok and Lena rivers. In the analyses of Warwick et al. (2003b), B. aenea s. str. (= B. rosea), constituted a different subclade in Braya.

Higher Taxa