Juncus arcticus Willd. s.l.
Juncaceae, rush family.
Sp. Pl. ed. 4: 206. 1799.
Type: Described from N Scandinavia ('Lapland').
Juncus arcticus subsp. alaskanus Hultén
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; (10–)15–40(–50) cm high; not caespitose; with stems growing in more or less straight rows from a horizontal ground-level stem. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal (robust); rhizomatous, or stoloniferous; elongate, or compact. Aerial stems erect (irregularly striate, non-flowering stems few or absent); not conspicuously jointed; circular or oval in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves absent, or reduced and scale-like near the base of the stem; merely prophylls (in contrast to other Juncus taxa, prominent and reddish brown).
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems without leaves; glabrous. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence present; conspicuous and leaf-like (1.5–5 cm long, erect and stiff). Inflorescence head-like; terminal (appearing axillary at the base of the bract); dense; 0.6–1 cm long. Pedicels absent. Flowers per inflorescence 2–5(–8); small, less than 5 mm in diameter or length (or just over 5 mm; more or less sessile). Floral bracts apex entire. Calyx sepals 3; free. Calyx brown; scarious; glabrous. Petals present; free; shorter than the calyx, or same length as the calyx; 3; brown (scarious); lanceolate; unlobed; 3–5 mm long. Stamens 6. Anthers 0.7–1 mm long (shorter or as long as their slender filaments). Gynoecia superior. Carpels syncarpous; 3. Styles 1. Stigmas per style 3. Ovules 30–100. Fruit sessile. Fruit with calyx persisting; dry; a capsule; ovoid, or elongate-cylindrical, or obovate; not distinctly flattened (but concave and slightly notched at the apex); dehiscent. Fruit 3.5–4.5 mm long; 1.8–2.2 mm wide; black, or brown. Seeds 30–100; 0.4–1 mm long; brown; with surfaces smooth.
Chromosome information. 2n = 80, 84. Juncus arcticus
Willd. subsp. arcticus
2n = 80. -
Löve and Löve (1956b Iceland); Jørgensen et al. (1958
Greenland, including separate counts by Holmen and by Christiansen); Löve
& Ritchie (1966 northern Canada); Engelskjøn and Knaben (1971
southern and northern Norway); Zhukova and Petrovsky (1980 western Chukotka);
Yurtsev and Zhukova (1982 northern Siberia); Zhukova (1982 north eastern Asia);
Kovtonjuk (1989 Siberia).
84. - Snogerup (1971 Scandanavia);
Löve and Löve (1981c northern Canada).
c.100. - Löve and
Löve (1944a northern Europe), omitted by Löve and Löve (1975).
Juncus arcticus Willd. subsp. alaskanus Hultén
80. - Knaben (1968 Alaska); Zhukova and Petrovsky (1976 eastern
Chukotka).
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar; Greenland, Canada. Arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Common (where it occurs). Arctic Islands: Baffin, Ellesmere, Banks, Victoria, Southampton (records from Ellesmere Island were not known to Porsild, 1957).
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: around the margins of ponds, marshes, along streams (on sand bars), seashores (in deltas, or in marshes just above the high tide line, frequently associating with obligate halophytes); imperfectly drained moist areas; acidic, or calcareous, or non-calcareous (indifferent); sand, clay (alluvial); with low organic content, or with high organic content. Habitats: A pioneer species.
Notes. Porsild and Cody (1980) report J. balticus subsp.
alaskanus Hultén (synonomous with J. arcticus subsp.
alaskanus Hultén) on adjacent continental North America, and also
on Victoria and Banks Islands. We could not separate the eastern Canada
specimens collected in the eastern Canadian Arctic Islands on the anther,
inflorescence or capsule characters usually used to recognize separate
subspecies.
Elven et al (2002) noted that the most recent North American
treatment (Moore and Clemants 2000) recognised three varieties, two as arctic
(var. alaskanus and var. balticus), but there are some problems
with this treatment (see below). Weastern Canada, however, probably subscribe to
their comment about this group as: "a wide-ranging and obviously polymorphic
complex that has not read the literature".
Juncus arcticus and J.
balticus were both originally described from Northernorthern Europe. In most
of this area they are very different in general morphology and in many features
of detail. When comparing a series of 'typical' plants, no one would be in doubt
about them being two different species. But even here the separation of them as
species is now disputed. There are large areas with transitions, e.g. more or
less the entire Icelandic population described as a subsp. intermedius
Hyl. (1953), nomen nudum, Nord. Kärlväxtfl. 1: 178. The Iceland case
is indicative of extensive interfertility as are the fertile intermediates found
in the meeting zone along the coast of Finnmark, northern Norway. These
intermediates are more or less fully fertile as far as we know. This is a second
area where weastern Canada report only the intermediates, not J. balticus
itself, from the arctic parts. A third area might be Southern Greenland.
Another argument is found in the ambiguities concerning the
'alaskanus' entity, as a race of J. arcticus or of J.
balticus. The same ambiguity concerns the J. haenkei taxon. Moore and
Clemants (2000) included most northern North American (including Greenland)
material in their concept of subsp. alaskanus but they noted that
"Perhaps J. arcticus var. alaskanus is not distinct from the
Eurasian J. arcticus var. arcticus". That is certainly the case
with much of the Greenland material which is indistinguishable from the
Northernorthern European (type area) and Svalbard material. The Alaskan material
is more different, but not very much so. The 'alaskanus' entity is
obviously moch closer to the Northern European 'arcticus' entity than it
is to the Northernorthern European 'balticus'.
Eleve et al (2002)
considered the options were either to regard the entire complex as one large,
polymorphic species with 4–5 subspecies, as two species (J. arcticus
with the 'arcticus', 'alaskanus' and 'sitchensis' entities;
J. balticus with the 'balticus' and 'littoralis' entities),
or as numerous ill-defined, morphologically overlapping and probably fully
interfertile species. The 'littoralis' race is the one reported from the
Hudson Bay area.
Munuet (2000) reported that Juncus arcticus var.
andicola (totorilla) is native to the Andean region. Its stems are used
to make handicrafts by the rural mestizo population of Cotopaxi province in
Ecuador. These products are sold at traditional markets along the Andes of
Ecuador. The plant is of great economic importance in the modest lives of the
artisans. Totorilla has been cultivated by this rural population. It is
cultivated in pools and sometimes wild populations are managed. The area of
production is 1.5 ha. One woven item can be made from a 0.35 m2 totorilla stand
area. A 100 m2 yielded 850 woven items annually, bringing in a gross income of
U.S. $ 275 per year, corresponding to 66% of the official minimum salary in
Ecuador. The plant also provides a good source of cattle fodder during periods
of drought.
Fontenla, et al. (2001), studied the mycorrhizal status of plant
species in northwestern Patagonia communities representative of Patagonian
steppe and marshes including Juncus arcticus.
Cooper and MacDonald
(2000) used J. arcticus in a re-vegetation experiment to restore rich
fens that had been mined in Colorado. They found that Juncus arcticus and
willow cuttings had differing patterns of survival with respect to the annual
maximum height of the water table and that dominant species can be successfully
reintroduced to mined surfaces with the appropriate hydrologic conditions.
Cooper and MacDonald (2000) stated that human intervention would be necessary to
rapidly re-establish plant cover and that the slow rate of peat accumulation
means that restoration of the mined fens will require hundreds, if not
thousands, of years.
Illustrations. • Plants in habitat. Plants growing with Salix, in the shelter of a rock, at high tide level. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour Aiken and Brysting, 01–071. CAN. • Herbarium specimen. Herbarium specimen showing horizontal stems with vertical stems (s) arising in the same plane. At the base of the plant are conspicuous 'prophylls', (p) the sheath-only portion of a leaf. The true leaves (lv) subtend the inflorescences and appear to extensions of the stem. CAN 204835. • Plants in habitat. Meadow of Juncus arcticus with plants in rows from the underground rhizomes: Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour Aiken and Brysting, 01–085. CAN. • Close-up of plants. Stems arising in rows from underground rhizomes between the markers. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. Aiken and Brysting, 01–085. CAN. • Bract subtending inflorescece. Inflorescence borne laterally at the top of a green stem and subtended by a long bract. Flowers have brown tepals, yellow anthers and curly pink stigmas. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. Aiken and Brysting, 01–085. CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Long bract subtends inflorescence. Note open flower with three brown "petals", six yellow anthers and three, curly pink stigmas. Aiken and Brysting, 01–085. CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Long bract subtending inflorescence with two open flowers and one bud. Open flowers have brown tepals, yellow anthers and three curly pink stigmas. Aiken and Brysting, 01–085. CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence in fruit. Plants showing an apparently lateral inflorescence at the base of a leaf (terete bract) that looks like a continuation of the stem. Note, the tops of capsules are blunt or slightly concave. CAN 507382. • 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).
