| Artemisia borealis Pall. | |
| Publ. & Syn. | Pall., Reise Russ. Reich. 3: 775 (1776). Holotype (BM): Siberia: the Ob River, "in rupestribus arcticae plagae, circa Obum fluvium". - Artemisia campestris subsp. borealis (Pall.) H.M. Hall & Clem., Publ. Carnegie Inst. Wash. 326: 122 (1923). - Oligosporus borealis (Pall.) Poljakov, Trudy Inst. Bot. (Alma-Ata) 11: 167 (1961). |
| Notes | Murray and Elven: Several authors have proposed to include Artemisia borealis in A. campestris as a subspecies. We are reluctant to accept any of the arctic plants we assign to A. borealis as very closely related to A. campestris. Artemisia borealis is polymorphic. A survey of the material from Alaska and the Yukon Territory and a smaller sample from non-Beringian Canada and Eurasia showed much and partly geographically structured variation. At least three taxa might be recognized on morphological evidence: a main taxon throughout most parts of the area, a northern taxon in both Asia and North America (probably referable to subsp. richardsoniana), and a southwestern coastal Alaskan taxon fairly distinct from the main one. All three reach the Arctic in Alaska. This variation merits further study. The two former taxa are accepted as two subspecies both by us and by Shultz (2006), the last-mentioned is only included in this comment as the variation also elsewhere (e.g., in Siberia and the Russian Far East) is rather large and unexplored. |
| Chromosomes | 18 (2x). - Siberia, Asia (SC), North America. - Several reports. Native plants seem to be diploid. Two other chromosome numbers are reported for cultivated Tarragon: 2n = 36 (4x) for 'French Tarragon' and 2n = 90 (10x) for 'Russian Tarragon' (Rousi 1969). Kawatani and Ohno (1964) reported the numbers 2n = 18, 36, 54, and 72 for the species. |
| Geography | Nearly circumboreal-polar. |
| Parent taxon | Artemisia L. |
| Child taxa |
Artemisia borealis subsp. borealis Artemisia borealis subsp. richardsoniana (Besser) Korobkov |
| PAF ID | 862226 |