Addition to the Flora of Canada? A Specimen from the Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories Links Two Allopatric Species of Alkali Grass, Puccinellia

Authors

  • L. L. Consaul Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4
  • L. J. Gillespie Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4
  • K. I. MacInnes Box 21, Site B, 1052 Cedarwood Drive, Verona, Ontario K0H 2W0

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v119i4.179

Keywords:

Alkali grass, Puccinellia wrightii, Puccinellia section Pseudocolpodium, principal components analysis, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Abstract

A single herbarium specimen from Banks Island in the Canadian National Herbarium, Ottawa, is closest to Puccinellia wrightii (Puccinellia sect. Pseudocolpodium). This would represent a species new to Canada and an extension of over 1100 km from the previously known range in NW Alaska and NE Russia. The morphological characteristics of this specimen are compared with all taxa in P. section Pseudocolpodium and the North American P. arctica aggregate. Principal components analysis supports placement of this specimen in P. section Pseudocolpodium near P. wrightii, where it contributes to a morphological continuum between this species and P. vahliana. The new combination Puccinellia wrightii var. flava is made and a map of the current known distribution of the species in P. section Pseudocolpodium is presented.

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Issue

Vol. 119 No. 4 (2005)

Section

Articles

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