Panarctic Flora

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672106 Draba alpina L.

Distribution

Northern Iceland: Rare
Northern Fennoscandia: Rare
Kanin - Pechora: Rare
Svalbard - Franz Joseph Land: Frequent
Polar Ural - Novaya Zemlya: Frequent
Hudson Bay - Labrador: Scattered
Ellesmere Island: Scattered
Western Greenland: Frequent
Eastern Greenland: Frequent
Polar desert: Scattered
Northern arctic Tundra: Frequent
Mid Arctic Tundra: Frequent
Southern Arcti Tundra: Frequent
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent

2n= 80 (10x). - Europe (Norway, Sweden, Bear Island, Svalbard). - At least five reports, several counts.
Not included (yet): Reports of 2n = 80 (10x) assigned to D. alpina by Mulligan (2002) but where vouchers should be compared with European plants, by Packer and McPherson (1974) from northern Alaska well outside the known range and almost certainly from (an)other species, and by Mulligan (2002) six counts from Nunavut, at least some of which may be relevant for D. alpina.

Geography: Amphi-Atlantic: NOR RUS CAN GRL.

Notes: The original material available for Linnaeus' name Draba alpina includes some inappropriate literary references (Bauhin, Colonan, Morison) and specimens representing the two species currently named D. alpina (Herb. Linn. 823.5; 823.6, left-hand specimen) and D. oxycarpa Sommerf. (Herb. Linn. 823.6, right-hand specimen). The chosen lectotype corresponds to Linnaeus' references in Fl. Lapp.: 255 and Fl. Suec.: 524, confirms current European usage, and reserves the name for a species only known as decaploid (2n = 80). For the application by Löve and Löve (1975a) of the name D. alpina for an octoploid, see D. oxycarpa below.

Draba alpina s. str. is frequent in Svalbard and the Scandinavian mountains. It is not reported to reach the Arctic in mainland Norway but was mapped by Hultén (1971b) from the Arctic in the Murman area. All records from Iceland have recently been assigned to D. oxycarpa (AMNH, C, ICEL, O) but this matter may have to be re-evaluated.

Draba alpina in this restricted meaning is confirmed from the North Atlantic regions: northeastern Canada, Greenland, Jan Mayen, Svalbard, mainland Fennoscandia, and northern European Russia. We have not seen material conforming to this species from Siberia, the Russian Far East, Alaska, or northwestern Canada. Partly similar plants but differing in some assumedly important diagnostic characters are known from these regions. They do not fit into any of the otherwise accepted species in these areas and may represent one or several unnamed species.

Higher Taxa