672141 Draba incerta Payson
Distribution
Western Alaska: Rare
Northern Alaska - Yukon: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Rare
- Payson, Amer. J. Bot. 4: 261 (1917). Holotype (RM): U.S.A.: Wyoming, The Thunderer, Yellowstone Park, 13. July 1899, leg. A. Nelson and E. Nelson 5818.
- Draba exalata E. Ekman, Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 25: 489 (1931). Type (CAN): Alaska: the Seward Peninsula, Bluff, 05.-06. Aug. 1926, leg. Porsild 1233. Fragment of type ('kleptotype') in S!.
2n=
112 (14x). - Canada (NW, W). - Mulligan (1966, 1972). Thirteen counts.
Geography: American Beringian - Cordilleran: ALA CAN.
Notes: Draba incerta belongs in a complicated and partly highly polyploid western and northwestern North American group to which belong at least the names D. exalata E. Ekman, D. incerta Payson, D. paysonii Macbride, D. ruaxes Payson & H. St.John, and D. ventosa A. Gray (Mulligan 2002: 2n = 32). Parts of the group were studied by Mulligan (1971b, D. ventosa, D. ruaxes, and D. paysonii; 1972, D. incerta).
Hultén (1968a) accepted two species from Alaska and the Yukon Territory: D. incerta in the southeast and perhaps in the Mackenzie and Richardson mountains (present there in his 'World' map but absent from his Alaska and Yukon Territory map), and D. exalata in southern Alaska and on the Seward Peninsula, the latter with the comment: "Draba ventosa var. ruaxes (Payson & St.John) Hitchc., at least with respect to Alaskan plant".
Löve and Löve (1975a) synonymized D. exalata E. Ekman with D. incerta Payson. Cody (1996), based on Mulligan's (1971b, 1976) treatment, accepted three species for the Yukon Territory: D. incerta Payson (2n = 112) north to the arctic British Mountains and also indicated from southeastern Alaska, D. paysonii Macbride (2n = 42) from the southwestern Yukon Territory and east-central Alaska (but excluded from the Yukon by Cody 2000 as misidentified D. ruaxes and restricted to Montana and Wyoming according to Al-Shehbaz et al. 2010a), and D. ruaxes Payson & H. St.John (2n = ca. 72) from the southwestern Yukon Territory and indicated from southeastern Alaska. None of these were reported from western Alaska by Cody. Draba ruaxes is fairly frequent throughout the central and south-central Alaskan mountains but is not yet known to reach the Arctic.
A plant of this group is frequent on limestone outcrops on the arctic Seward Peninsula in western Alaska. Ekman (1931) described it as D. exalata but it has largely been ignored by North American botanists studying northern Drabas (Mulligan 1971b, 1972, 1976; Rollins 1993). Mulligan (in comment) has now studied material from this area and synonymizes D. exalata with D. incerta, thereby extending the range of D. incerta appreciably. His opinion is followed by Al-Shehbaz et al. (2010a) for Flora of North America.
Higher Taxa
- Draba [6721,genus]