| Andromeda polifolia L. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | L., Sp. Pl.: 393 (1753). Lectotype (LAPP): Sweden: "Lapland". Linnaean Lapland Herbarium 163 (Jarvis and McClintock 1990: 517). |
| Notes | Vinogradova (1980) included Hartman's Scandinavian var. acerosa in the synonymy of her subsp. pumila with type from Chukotka. She mapped subsp. polifolia and subsp. pumila as largely sympatric in northern Russia from the Murman area east to northeastern Siberia (the Indigirka River), whereas she included all material from farther east in subsp. pumila. The identity of the northern European var. acerosa with the Chukotkan subsp. pumila remains to be proved. The northern-alpine Fennoscandian plants are currently considered to be modifications or ecotypes and not accepted as a taxon (and the type of A. polifolia itself is from northern Scandinavia). Also Malyschev (1997) had some doubts, stating: "An attempt was made to differentiate them the arctic-alpine plants as an independent subspecies pumila V. Vinogr.". Fabijan (2009) discussed the northernmost plants in North America as possibly var. acerosa. All the northeastern Asian and North American material inspected by us is visibly different from European A. polifolia in general appearance. When we go to the details, however, we have not been able to find anything else than quantitative and subjective features, e.g., smaller flowers and more needle-shaped leaves. There may be a differentiation between a European to (western) Siberian subsp. polifolia and a Siberian to North American subsp. pumila but the separation is currently difficult to make due to the doubts about the var. acerosa plants in northern Europe and northwestern Siberia. A combined morphological and molecular analysis throughout the very wide range of this species is needed. The two proposed races are provisionally entered as subspecies. |
| Chromosomes | 48 (4x). - Europe, Russia, Siberia (N), Far East (N), Alaska, Canada, Greenland. - Numerous reports. |
| Geography | Circumboreal-polar. |
| Distribution | N = F AN = f AO = r C = ? GW = r D = F E = F CC = f YG = f HL = f FN = f CE = f CS = f UN = f YK = r AW = f Kh = r CW = f Tm = s KP = f [ key ] |
| Parent taxon | Andromeda L. |
| Child taxa |
Andromeda polifolia subsp. polifolia Andromeda polifolia subsp. pumila V.M. Vinogr. |
| PAF ID | 740801 |