Carex subspathacea Wormsk. in Hornem.
Cyperaceae, sedge family.
Fl. Dan. 26: 6. 1816.
Nomenclatural section used by Flora of North America project subgenus Carex, sect. Phacocystis Dumortier
Type: Described from Greenland
Carex salina Wahlenb. var. subspathacea (Wormsk. ex Hornen.) Tuckerman.
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; 2–15 cm high; not caespitose; turf-forming from creeping horizontal stems, and with short, erect-ascending culms that are often hiddeNorth Americaong the yellowish-green leaves. Roots pallid-brown. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal; rhizomatous; elongate, or compact. Scales present. Aerial stems erect; not conspicuously jointed; triangular in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves in a basal tuft; simple. Petioles absent. Sheaths persisting; not forming a conspicuous build up at the base of the plant; greyish brown; collars absent. Ligules present. Blades (10–)20–70(–100) mm long; 0.6–2.4 mm wide. Blades straight; linear; flat, or involute; veins parallel. Blades adaxial surface glabrous. Blades abaxial surface glabrous. Blade margins scabrous (scaberulous at the tip of the leaf only), or glabrous.
Reproductive morphology. Plants monoecious. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems shorter than the leaves, or about as high as the leaves; with leaves; glabrous. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence present, or absent; conspicuous and leaf-like; exceeding the inflorescence; 10–35 mm long; sheathless (he base of the blade may enclose the stem at the node but there is no sheath covering any part of the internode); persistent. Inflorescence spicate; 2–4 cm long; 5–12 mm wide. Pedicels glabrous. Inflorescence multispicate; 2–3 spikes (often hiddeNorth Americaong the leaves); lateral spikes borne on pedicels (that are sometimes very short). Individual spike(s) erect, or ascending. Terminal spike wholly staminate (the pistillate spikes few flowered and somewhat remote). Cladoprophyll present at the base of the peduncle of lateral spikes. Staminate flowers conspicuous. Floral scales as long as the perigynium in fruit; brown, or black; with margins the same colour as the body of the scale (mid-vein pale); ovate (sometimes extended into a point, mucronate); 2.8–3.2 mm long; 1.6–2 mm wide; glabrous. Perianth absent. Flowers bisexual. Stamens 3. Anthers 1.2–1.5 mm long. Carpels syncarpous. Styles slender, not extending beyond the beak, or slender, extending beyond the beak. Stigmas per style 2. Placentation basal. Fruit surrounded by a perigynium. Perigynia fused to the apex except for a small aperture through which the style protrudes; broadly ovate; 2.5–3 mm long; 1.2–1.5 mm wide; sessile; erect or ascending; straw-coloured, or green; membranous; surface dull; glabrous; appearing nerveless; apices beaked with a short beak. Fruit an achene. Achenes not filling the upper part of the perigynia; lenticular.
Chromosome information. 2n = 78–83. 78–83. - Tanaka (1948, 2n = 80); Jørgensen et al. (1958 Greenland, 2n = 78); Johnson and Packer (1968 northwestern Alaska , 2n = c.78); Löve (1970a Iceland, 2n = 78); Zhukova and Tikhonova (1971 Chuk, 2n = 80); Packer and McPherson (1974 northern Alaska, 2n = c.78); Engelskjøn (1979 northern Norway, 2n = c. 83, Bear Island, 2n = 82); Yurtsev and Zhukova (1978 E Chuk, 2n = 78); Zhukova and Petrovsky (1980 western Chukotka, 2n = 80); Löve and Löve (1981c northern Canada, 2n = 78); Cayouette and Morisset (1985, 1986 eastern Canada, 2n = c.78 78 80 81 82 83).
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar; Greenland, Canada. Northwest Territories Islands, Continental Northwest Territories, Nunavut Islands, Continental Nunavut, Northern Québec. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago widespread. Common. Arctic Islands: Baffin and Devon (literature record), Banks, Victoria, Somerset, King William, Southampton, and Coats (and Prince Charles).
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: wet meadows, around the margins of ponds (on mud flats), marshes (brackish), river terraces (near coast), seashores (in coastal lagoons, on beach ridges, and strand flats); imperfectly drained moist areas; halophytic; gravel (occasionally), sand, silt (often salt encrusted); with high organic content, or peat. Habitats: Along the seashore, this species is typically found just above the high tide line with Puccinellia phryganodes turf. In river terraces, common associates are Carex maritima, C. ursina, and Dupontia fisheri. It is never seen away from the influence of salt water.
Notes. Polunin (1940) reported that this species is often extremely
dwarfed near the sea and plants become larger as one moves inland.
Carex
subspathacea is a preferred forage species for lesser snow geese (Anser
caerulescens) along with Puccinellia phryganodes. Gadallah and
Jefferies (1995) analyzed the nutrient content of these two species at La
Perouse Bay, Manitoba, and found it to be higher than those of other salt marsh
graminoids.
When asked about seed set in this taxon, J. Cayouette who knows
this taxon from Northern Quebec (March 2002) replied, "My response will not be
as satisfactory as it should be, but I would say: "It depends!" In some areas,
most of the population seems sterile and vegetative, especially when individuals
are crowded. This is a species that requires openeness to flower and set seeds.
In some areas, with such conditions, that is areas of very low covering and with
low companion species, C. subspathacea will heavily flower and the seed
set is good to very good (achenes are well formed, but not fertile). It will
eventually be displaced by higher grown species, but as disturbance is very
frequent on seashores (ice scouring, etc.), new open areas are always available
for C. subspathacea.
In more boreal areas C. susbpathacea is
mainly an opportunist occupying gaps and other disturbed sites.
On Arctic
Islands, C. susbpathacea has its own established position on the arctic
seashores where it occupies a belt between the (lower situated) Puccinellia
phryganodes belt and the (higher situated) grass belts.
Illustrations. • Plants in habitat. Dominant green plants in saline meadow. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit. Aiken 97–036, CAN. • Plants in habitat. Plants with dark spike-like inflorescences, near the markers, in a saline meadow. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. Aiken and Brysting 01–073 CAN. • Close-up of plant. Flowering plant mat in salt marsh. The small tussocks, most often emerging from the sea and therefore driest and warmest, reach flowering stage first. Norway: Svalbard, Gipsvika. 18.07.1985. Photographed by R.Elven. Voucher in HbTROM. • Plants in habitat. Flowering plants in subarctic salt-marsh. Norway: Troms, Storfjord. June 1996. Photo: R.Elven. • Close-up of inflorescence. Inflorescence in early (male) stage with anthers exerted and stigmas appearing. Norway: Troms, Lyngen, Svensby. 10.06.1983. Photographed by R.Elven. • Close-up of inflorescence. Long, spathe-like leaf near the base of the inflorescence, shorter leaf near base of second spike that has perigynia with white, thread-like stigmas, and even shorter leaf (in background) subtending uppermost spike that has the yellow-brown remains of dehisced anthers. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. Aiken and Brysting 01–073 CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Very long spathe-like leaf subtends the inflorescence. Yellow-brown remains of the dehisced anthers are in the uppermost spike. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. Aiken and Brysting 01–073 CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Multispicate inflorescence subtended by a long leaf. Terminal spike staminate, lateral spikes pistillate. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit. Aiken 97–036, CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Multispicate inflorescence subtended by a long leaf. Terminal spike staminate, lateral spikes pistillate. Drawing by Mrs S. Bergh and Mrs L. Barstad based on Svalvard: Oscar II Land: Kapp Bohenam, ytse neset på strandi, J. Lid, 30 Aug., 1920. O. With permission of the Botanical Museum University of Oslo, Norway. • Arctic Island distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
