Poa pratensis subsp. colpodea (Th. Fr.) Tzvelev
Publ. & Syn.Tzvelev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 9: 47 (1972). - Poa stricta subsp. colpodea Th. Fr., Öfvers. Förh. Kongl. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. 26, 2: 138 (1870). Holotype (S!): Svalbard: Spitsbergen, Liefdebay, leg. Th. Fries. - Poa alpigena var. colpodea (Th. Fr.) Schol., Skr. Svalbard Nordishavet 62: 89 (1934). - Poa rigens subsp. colpodea (Th. Fr.) D. Löve, Taxon 17: 89 (1968). - Poa alpigena subsp. colpodea (Th. Fr.) Jurtz. & V.V. Petrovsky, Byull. Moskovsk. Obshch. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol. 85, 6: 100 (1980). - Poa pratensis var. colpodea (Th. Fr.) Soreng, Phytologia 71: 403-404 (1991).
NotesHaugen and Elven: Haugen (2000) compared subsp. colpodea in Svalbard with Poa pratensis subsp. alpigena and with P. arctica s. lat. She found subsp. colpodea consistently different from subsp. alpigena and P. arctica in morphology and enzymes. We have the same field experience from several regions. There is a morphologically distinct, widespread high-arctic plant. We accept subsp. colpodea as a taxon, at least at rank of subspecies. It has a consistent range in the High Arctic and it appears to be morphologically uniform throughout. The material we have confirmed is from northern Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Joseph Land, northern Yakutia, and Wrangel Island. Accepted chromosome numbers based on Norwegian and Canadian plants are 2n = (35), 37, and ca. 51, whereas the Russians are 2n = 42 and 56, i.e., in the same range.
       Soreng et al. (2003) and Soreng (2007) accepted subsp. colpodea but included in it "P. alpigena var. vivipara". There are several morphologically different bulbil-reproducing plants in the affinity of subsp. alpigena. In Svalbard and Greenland, bulbil-reproducing biotypes of subsp. alpigena (described as var. vivipara) are much more common than is subsp. colpodea. These plants have morphologically similar seminiferous counterparts, whereas we know of no such counterpart for subsp. colpodea. In the investigations of Haugen (2000), viviparous subsp. colpodea differed consistently in isoenzymes from both P. arctica and P. pratensis subsp. alpigena. The viviparous forms of these did not differ much from their seminiferous counterparts. We therefore accept subsp. colpodea, whereas we consider the other viviparous plants as heterogeneous sprouting forms.
Chromosomes(1) 35 37 (5x). - Canada, Greenland. - Holmen (1952); Jørgensen et al. (1958); Hedberg (1967).
(2) 42 (6x). - Far East (N). - Zhukova and Petrovsky (1976, 1980); Petrovsky and Zhukova (1981).
(3) 51+5ff (ca. 7x). - Europe (Svalbard). - Flovik (1938).
(4) 56 60 (8x). - Siberia (N), Far East (N). - Zhukova (1967a, 1968); Zhukova and Petrovsky (1976, 1980); Zhukova et al. (1977).
GeographyCircumpolar: NOR RUS SIB RFE ALA CAN GRL.
Distribution A = R     AN = s     B = F     AO = f     C = F     GW = r     D = S     E = R     CC = s     WI = f     YG = f     HL = r     EP = s     CE = f     UN = f     YK = f     GE = s     Kh = f     SF = f     CW = f     Tm = f     KP = s     [ key ]
Parent taxonPoa pratensis L.
PAF ID342609e
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Panarctic Flora Editor-in-Chief: Reidar Elven (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Editorial Committee: Reidar Elven, David F. Murray (Museum of the North, University of Alaska), Volodya Yu. Razzhivin (Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences), Boris A. Yurtsev [deceased] (Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences)