741601b Pyrola grandiflora subsp. norvegica (Knaben) Á. Löve & D. Löve
Distribution
Northern Fennoscandia: Frequent
Kanin - Pechora: Presence uncertain
Shrub Tundra: Frequent
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Frequent
- Á. Löve & D. Löve, Bot. Not. 114: 54 (1961). - Pyrola norvegica Knaben, Bergens Mus. Årbok 1943, Naturv. r. 6: 5 (1943). Holotype (BG!): Norway: Sogn og Fjordane, Vik, Høglii, 06. July 1940, leg. G. Knaben. - Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. norvegica (Knaben) Hämet-Ahti, Ann. Bot. Fenn. 21: 209 (1984).
2n=
46 (2x). - Europe (N). - At least four reports.
Geography: European (N): NOR RUS.
Notes: Pyrola norvegica was described due to characters distinguishing it from P. rotundifolia (Knaben 1943). These differences were later confirmed in a more extensive analysis (Knaben and Engelskjøn 1968). Both rank and assignment of P. norvegica has been disputed, as species or as a race of either P. rotundifolia or P. grandiflora. Pyrola norvegica differs from P. rotundifolia s. str. in several assumed unrelated characters: (a) blade/petiole ratio, (b) blade shape, (c) shape of stem leaves, (d) bract/pedicel ratio, (e) shape of base of calyx, (f) shape of calyx lobes, (g) size of anthers and especially of their pores, and (h) absence or presence of a disc beneath stigma. The variation seems to be nearly discontinuous in at least five of these (c, d, f, g, h). It is still difficult to assign many specimens with certainty and some populations fall outside the criteria of both P. norvegica and P. rotundifolia. Hämet-Ahti and Kukkonen (1984) stated hybrids with P. rotundifolia s. str. to occur in northern Finland. We have observed many fertile intermediates in Norway, partly as regionally dominating populations (e.g., in coastal parts of central Norway). This transition speaks for assignment as a race of P. rotundifolia. However, nearly every feature that distinguish subsp. norvegica from P. rotundifolia point towards P. grandiflora (Elven 2010). We now consider subsp. norvegica to be a regional northern European segregate from the nearly circumpolar P. grandiflora, possibly with extensive hybridization with P. rotundifolia with which it seems to be interfertile (Elven 2010). The absence of documented intermediates towards subsp. grandiflora is because the two races are allopatric. For the plants in Iceland, see subsp. grandiflora.
Higher Taxa
- Pyrola grandiflora [741601,species]