741305 Vaccinium uliginosum L.
- L., Sp. Pl.: 350 (1753). Lectotype (LINN): Sweden. Herb. Linn. 497.3 (Vander Kloet 1981: 647).
Geography: Circumboreal-polar.
Notes: Alsos and Elven: There is a correlated variation in the very widely distributed Vaccinium uliginosum, in morphology, ploidy levels, and distribution patterns. This variation merits some taxonomic recognition. The ploidy variation was proved early (e.g., Hagerup 1933). An important contribution is Young (1970a). Many of his conclusions based on morphology have found support in subsequent molecular studies. Alsos et al. (2002, 2005) studied the species in a circumpolar context, utilizing several cpDNA sequences, and found five groups of genotypes (I-V) which they recognized as three lineages. The five groups are supported by some morphology and partly ploidy differences, have different distributional patterns, and have all been recognized and named previously at some level.
One lineage (group I) is circumpolar, arctic-alpine, and predominantly tetraploid (2n = 24) but with a few counts of hexaploids and octoploids (2n = 36, 48). It differs from the other lineages and groups in several molecular markers and in a few morphological features. It is the predominant group in the entire Arctic and probably in Siberia and reaches far south in alpine areas to the Mediterranean mountains, central Asia, and New Hampshire. The Greenland name "microphyllum" belongs to it as does (most probably) the northeastern North American name "gaultherioides". This may be the lineage from which the others can be derived.
The second lineage (group II) is boreal-temperate, broadly amphi-Atlantic, consistently octoploid (2n = 48), and differs consistently morphologically from the next lineage, less consistently from the preceding one. It occurs with two 'genotypes' separated by one substitution only in the investigated sequence, one in western Siberia, mainland Europe, Iceland, and southeastern Greenland ("uliginosum" s. str.), the other in eastern North America (perhaps Young's subsp. pubescens). There are some slight morphological difference (e.g., pubescence) between plants on the two sides of the Atlantic but not enough for racial recognition. It is probable but not established that the northeastern North American name "alpinum" belongs in this lineage.
The third lineage consists of three groups and is broadly amphi-Pacific/Beringian. Group III is mainly dodecaploid (2n = 72), temperate, broadly amphi-Pacific, and distributed from California and Japan north to southernmost Alaska (mostly the Aleutian Islands) and only borders on the Arctic. The names "occidentale" and probably "salicinum" belong to it and the group is morphologically recognizable. Group IV is known as hexaploid and octoploid (2n = 36, 48) and is Beringian, known from southern and interior Alaska and Chukotka and reaches the Arctic in both places. The Alaskan name "pedris" belongs to this group and it differs morphologically and also gastronomically in the very tasty blueberries of Alaska (see comment by Gjærevoll 1967: 16). Group V is tetraploid in flow cytometry and is narrowly distributed in the North Pacific and Beringian regions from Kamtchatka to the Chukchi and Seward peninsulas. It is distinct in the genetic data and differs consistently in several morphological characters, e.g., its almost pulvinate growth, nearly orbicular leaves, and it retains skeletal remains of the leaves for several years. It has been named "vulcanorum" (Kamtchatka type).
The third lineage consists of plants at four ploidy levels and is the most diverse morphologically. The combined genetic, morphological, and ploidy level differences could support some rank for the lineages and also for the groups within the third lineage, especially as no reticulation by allopolyploidization is indicated yet. Each of the groups and lineages has its own characteristic geographic pattern. They are much too similar morphologically (and also genetically) to deserve higher rank than as races. Subspecific combinations are available for all of them. Vander Kloet (2009) mentioned the variation in the Flora of North America treatment but did not refer to the recent molecular works.
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reife Rauschbeeren
Source: B.gliwa at Wikispecies
