| Potentilla vahliana Lehm. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | Lehm., Monogr. Potentill.: 172 (1820). - Nomen novum for Potentilla hirsuta Vahl ex Hornem., Fl. Dan. 8, 22: t. 1390 (1810), non Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 303 (1803). Lectotype (PR 378220): Greenland: "e Groenlandia", leg. J. Vahl, Herb. Lehmann (Soják 1996: 122). The type is from the Disko area in western Greenland. |
| Notes | Yurtsev, Elven, and Murray: Potentilla vahliana has been considered a major arctic species in North America, partly also in northeastern Asia. Our investigations rather point towards it being restricted to west-central Greenland and northeastern Canada west to the Nunavut mainland west of Hudson Bay. It combines features of P. subvahliana, e.g., densely columnar tussocks, leaf shape and dissection, and straight hairs in the petiole pubescence, with features of P. nivea, e.g., more rounded leaflet teeth, floccose hairs in the petiole pubescence, mostly more than one flower per stem, and narrowly conical style. Potentilla vahliana is morphologically and geographically consistent and most probably a stabilized hybrid species. Its reported ploidy levels are intermediate between those of the assumed parents: P. subvahliana (mostly 4x), P. vahliana (6-8x), and North Atlantic P. nivea (8-9x). |
| Chromosomes | (1) 42 (6x). - Greenland (W). - Jørgensen et al. (1958). (2) 49 (7x). - Canada (Baffin Island). - Dansereau and Steiner (1956). (3) 56 (8x). - Canada (Baffin island). - Dansereau and Steiner (1956). |
| Geography | North American (NE): CAN GRL. |
| Distribution | B = S C = S GW = s D = S E = ? CC = r HL = s [ key ] |
| Parent taxon | Potentilla L. |
| PAF ID | 641031 |