760601 Swertia obtusa Ledeb.
Distribution
Taimyr - Severnaya Zemlya: Rare
Shrub Tundra: Rare
Bordering boreal or alpine areas: Scattered
2n=
28 (4x). - Caucasus, Siberia (S), Asia (C). - At least three reports.
Geography: Asian (N/C) - amphi-Pacific: SIB.
Notes: Zuev (1997) reported S. obtusa from (arctic) Taimyr, probably close to the Jenisei River. This species is otherwise reported to be widely distributed in Siberia and central Asia. The Asian Pacific plants are assigned to other species but are non-arctic: S. veratroides Maxim. ex Kom. reaching north to the southernmost Russian Far East, and S. stenopetala Regel & Tiling north to Kamtchatka and the Ajan area (Kharkevicz 1995b). The American Pacific plants in U.S.A., Canada, and Alaska have traditionally been assigned to S. perennis (e.g., Hultén 1968a) but probably belong to S. obtusa. Note that Cronquist et al. (1984) stated the type of the name S. obtusa to be a collection by Menzies from the "Northwest Coast" of North America, i.e., the relevant name for the northwestern American plants but perhaps not for the Siberian ones.
Apocynaceae. Excluded: Apocynum (A. androsaemifolium).
Higher Taxa
- Swertia [7606,genus]