Panarctic Flora

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860301 Aster alpinus L.

2n= (1) 18 (2x). - Europe (C. S), Asia. - Numerous reports.
(2) 27 (3x). - Chuksanova et al. (1968); Zakirova and Nafanilova (1988).
(3) 36 (4x). - Europe (C, S), Siberia (S). - Numerous reports.

Geography: European (C-S) & European (NE) - Asian - amphi-Beringian - Cordilleran.

Notes: Aster alpinus s. lat. has an arctic-alpine range of many disjunct parts in Eurasia and western North America. Like many such plants, the species was first described from a peripheral and isolated European alpine part of its range, in this case from the Alps and the Pyrenees. Morphological differences are found among the plants in the separate parts. Tamamschjan (1959) accepted several species from the previous Soviet Union, by Löve and Löve (1975a) treated as two subspecies for the arctic parts of northeastern Asia: subsp. serpentinimontanus and subsp. tolmatschewii. North American authors (Hultén 1968b; Porsild and Cody 1980; Brouillet 2006d) accept some subspecific division as they assign all American plants to subsp. vierhapperi, a name not considered by Löve and Löve (1975a). Onno (1932) included in his subsp. vierhapperi the plants in northeastern European Russia, northern Siberia, the northern Russian Far East, and northwestern North America, i.e., all the arctic plants. Hultén (1950) doubted whether subsp. vierhapperi could be maintained in Onno's (broad) meaning. Petrovsky (1987a) and Korobkov (PAF proposal, comments) accepted only a species without races. Brouillet (2006d) found the North American and northeastern Asian plants to be essentially similar and to be different from the type subspecies in pubescence.

The species may be polymorphic, also in an arctic context, and needs some more experimental study. We provisionally follow Onno and Brouillet and assign all northern plants to subsp. vierhapperi.

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