| Braya pilosa Hook. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | Hook., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 65, t. 17 (1830). Holotype (K): Canada: the Northwest Territories, "Arctic Sea coast" [Cape Bathurst], leg. Richardson. - Braya purpurascens subsp. pilosa (Hook.) Hultén, Circumpolar Pl. 2: 18 (1971). |
| Notes | Elven, Murray, and Petrovsky: Harris (1985, 2004, 2010) considered Braya pilosa to be a very local species on Cape Bathurst east of the Mackenzie River estuary in the Northwest Territories. This is the only major point where we do not agree with Harris' treatment of Braya. We include plants from the northern Yukon Territory, northern Alaska, northern Chukotka, and perhaps as far west as Taimyr, in this species. Hooker (1830) described B. pilosa from "Mouth of Mackenzie River, lat. 70". Hooker's illustration of the species is misleading and more resembles a Draba, perhaps D. corymbosa R. Br. ex DC. The description is also ambiguous. However, Harris (1985, 2004) identified a holotype specimen confirming a Braya different from the other known species of the genus. The northeastern Asian material we want to assign to B. pilosa is uniform, differs from B. glabella (both subsp. purpurascens and subsp. glabella), and also differs from B. thorild-wulffii (see Harris 1985, 2004, and Warwick et al. 2003b for characters of this species). The same plant seems to occur in northern Alaska and perhaps in northwestern Canada outside the Mackenzie River Delta region, and has gone by the name B. pilosa also there (Hultén 1968a). Harris does not agree with this interpretation. The Russian chromosome vouchers for 2n = 28 are fairly numerous and fit into the larger material, whereas Harris (2004) suggested Cape Bathurst B. pilosa to be diploid. The Asian plants are characterized by a very short, stout caudex covered by remains of old leaves; leaves obovate-oblanceolate, broader than in most other Brayas, with a rounded apex and sometimes with a few coarse teeth; scapes numerous, erect to ascending, fairly stout, pilose; inflorescence and especially infrutescence strongly elongating in fruit stage, comprising 50-90% of the scape length and with very well-spread fruits; fruits comparatively short, (1.5) 2-2,5 times as long as wide, not 'torulose', valves often reticulately veined, strongly pilose; and style short and stout. The entire plant (on the Asian side) is usually strongly purplish coloured. The Asian material is concentrated to Wrangel Island and East Chukotka with scattered records west to Kharaulakh, Anabar-Olenyok, and Taimyr. The North American plants are very similar to the Asian ones except for less purplish color. |
| Chromosomes | (1) 14 (2x). - Canada. - Suggested by Harris (2004). (2) 28 (4x). - Far East (N). - At least three reports, several counts. |
| Geography | Asian (N) - amphi-Beringian: SIB RFE ALA CAN. |
| Distribution | N = ? AN = r B = ? AO = r C = R D = R E = R CC = r WI = s CE = r Kh = r CW = r Tm = r [ key ] |
| Parent taxon | Braya Sternb. & Hoppe |
| PAF ID | 670906 |