670904c Braya glabella subsp. purpurascens (R. Br.) Cody
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Rare
Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Scattered
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Frequent
Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Scattered
Anabar - Onenyo: Scattered
Kharaulakh: Scattered
Yana - Kolyma: Rare
West Chukotka: Rare
Wrangel Island: Frequent
East Chukotka: Rare
Western Alaska: Rare
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Scattered
Central Canada: Frequent
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Frequent
Ellesmere Island: Frequent
Western Greenland: Rare
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Polar desert: Rare
Northern arctic Tundra: Frequent
Mid Arctic Tundra: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Scattered
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Rare
- Cody, Canad. Field-Naturalist 108: 93 (1994). - Platypetalum purpurascens R. Br., Chlor. Melvill.: 9 (1823). Holotype (BM)?: Canada: the Northwest Territories?, Melville Island the Winter Harbour area, 1819-1820, leg. J. Ross. - Braya purpurascens (R. Br.) Bunge ex Ledeb., Fl. Ross. 1: 195 (1841).
- Braya henryae Raup, Contr. Arnold Arbor. 6: 167 (1934). Type: Canada: the Northwest Territories, pass north of Robb Lake, 26. Aug. 1932, leg. M.G. Henry.
2n=
56 (8x, x = 7). - Europe (N), Siberia (N), Far East (N), Alaska, Canada, Greenland. - Numerous reports, some Alaskan and northwestern Canadian ones for B. henryae.
A plant with 2n = 48 (probably aneuploid) was found among plants with 2n = 56 in Taimyr (Zhukova and Petrovsky 1984).
Not included: A report of 2n = 64 from northeastern Greenland (Sørensen and Westergaard in Löve and Löve 1948) is explained as an error by Jørgensen et al. (1958). See also an explanation of the same number reported for B. linearis in the same source. A report of 2n = 56 (Löve and Löve 1956b) is from Iceland where the species otherwise is unknown. Jørgensen et al. (1958) suggested the report to be a fake based on their own report from northeastern Greenland. This Icelandic record belongs to a long series of improbable and later discounted reports from Iceland of species and chromosome counts by the Löves. They are often documented by vouchers (ICEL), allegedly from Iceland but probably collected elsewhere and mislabeled, and seem to have been created to strengthen either the case for Ice Age refugia in Iceland or to enhance the American element in the Icelandic flora. A report of 2n = 84 (12x) from Putorana in Siberia (Krogulevich 1976a) must be checked against voucher before acceptance.
Geography: Circumpolar - Cordilleran: NOR RUS SIB RFE ALA CAN GRL.
Notes: Elven and Murray: Porsild and Cody (1980) accepted Braya henryae albeit with some doubts: "perhaps should be considered a geographical race ... of [B. purpurascens]; thus far it is known only from the eastern slope of Richardson and Mackenzie Mountains". Harris (1985), Rollins (1993), and Warwick et al. (2003b) all merged it with B. glabella. Plants conforming to the description of B. henryae are fairly frequent in the mountains of central Alaska and the Yukon Territory (ALA). They differ from subsp. purpurascens in the Arctic in a few quantitative characters only but more from the sympatric subsp. glabella. We provisionally place the name in synonymy of B. glabella subsp. purpurascens. Some combined morphological and low taxonomic level molecular investigation should be undertaken before the appropriate rank of this plant, possibly as a northern Cordilleran subspecies, is decided.
Higher Taxa
- Braya glabella [670904,species]