Panarctic Flora

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760404b Gentianopsis barbata subsp. raupii (A.E. Porsild) Elven

Distribution

Central Canada: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Scattered

Geography: North American (NW): CAN.

Notes: Subspecies raupii occurs mainly along the Mackenzie River. The entire range is within the area assumed covered by the Pleistocene glaciations. This is most likely a plant that at some time (perhaps postglacially) was isolated from the main body of Gentianopsis barbata and subsequently differentiated. It differs in several characters both from the Alaska and Yukon Territory plant (subsp. yukonensis) and from the Mackenzie Coast one (G. richardsonii), see Gillett (1957, 1963) and Scoggan (1979). It most probably deserves rank at least as a major race. Hultén (1968b) accepted Gentiana raupii in northwestern Canada but said that it is "similar to G. barbata, but with fewer stem leaves; calyx rounded at base; corolla tube broadly obconic, the lobes broad, rounded". Also Iltis (1965) accepted it.

Bennett: Its age is not necessarily postglacial as several late Pleistocene refugia have been indicated more recently in the area of the Mackenzie River.

Higher Taxa