Luzula wahlenbergii Rupr.
Juncaceae, rush family.
Beitr. Pfl. Russ. Reich. 2: 58. 1845.
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; 15–35 cm high; caespitose (loosely); with short horizontal stems and slender culms. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal (not always present on specimens), or vertical and often branched; compact (when horizontal). Aerial stems erect; circular or oval in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves in a basal tuft; alternate; marcescent. Petioles absent. Ligules absent. Blades 50–100 mm long; 2.5–6 mm wide. Blades straight; linear; flat, or involute (at the tips); veins parallel. Blades adaxial surface glabrous. Blades abaxial surface glabrous. Blade margins with non-glandular hairs (simple, unbranched, glabrescent). Leaf apices acuminate.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems with leaves (1–5 cm long); glabrous. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence present; reduced, or scale-like. Inflorescence paniculate, or cymose (also described as subcymose); diffuse; 3–8 cm long. Inflorescence primary branches 10–50 mm long; with spreading secondary branches. Pedicels absent, or present. Flowers per inflorescence 20–50; small, less than 5 mm in diameter or length. Floral bracts apex lacerate. Calyx sepals 3; free. Calyx brown; scarious; glabrous. Petals free; same length as the calyx; 3; brown; lanceolate; unlobed; 1.9–2.1 mm long. Stamens 6. Anthers 0.5–0.7 mm long. Gynoecia superior. Carpels syncarpous; 3. Styles 1. Stigmas per style 3. Ovules 3. Fruit sessile. Fruit without calyx persisting; dry; a capsule; ovoid; not distinctly flattened; dehiscent. Fruit 2.4–2.6 mm long; 1–1.3 mm wide (intact capsules); brown. Seeds 3; 1–1.3 mm long; brown; with surfaces smooth.
Chromosome information. 2n = 24. 24 (4x). -
Nordenskiöld (1951, 1953b); Holmen and Mathiesen (1953 Greenland); Zhukova
(1966, 1967 north eastern Asia); Hedberg (1967 northern Canada); Knaben and
Engelskjøn (1967 northern Norway); Knaben (1968 Alaska); Johnson and
Packer (1968 northwestern Alaska); Zhukova and Tikhonova (1973 Chukotka);
Zhukova and Petrovsky (1976 western Chukotka); Yurtsev and Zhukova (1978 eastern
Chukotka); Löve and Löve (1981c central Canada); Zhukova (1982 north
eastern Asia).
A deviating chromosome count of 2n = 36 from northern
Sweden (Löve and Löve 1944) was not included by Löve and
Löve (1975) and is therefore discounted. It is probably belongs to the
L. arcuata group. (Elven).
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar; Greenland, Canada. Low arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Common (where it occurs). Arctic Islands: Baffin.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: wet meadows, snow patches (occasionally), along streams, lake shores, slopes (boggy); imperfectly drained moist areas, or on seepage slopes (and "slump areas"); acidic (mainly, and to neutral; reported on granite, and in sphagnum bogs); sand, silt, moss. Habitats: Throughout the species' range, L. wahlenbergii is typically found in tundra sphagnum bogs and in moss by brooks or lakeshores; wet slopes below snowbeds; in low wet Arctagrostis meadows; among large boulders on sandy silt near a Puccinellia phryganodes meadow (CAN 520296). A low arctic plant, the northernmost record in Canada occurs on Baffin Island, at Pangnirtung.
Illustrations. • Plant habitat. Mid-zone in photograph dominated by reddish brown plants of Luzula wahlenbergii. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, wet meadow of Sylvia Grinnell Park near the river, 25 Aug. 1997, Aiken 97–032, CAN. • Plant habitat. Dominant plants are Luzula wahlenbergii, 30–40 cm high. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, wet meadow of Sylvia Grinnell Park near the river, 25 Aug. 1997, Aiken 97–032, CAN. • Close-up of plant. Plant collected at Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, Aiken 97–032, CAN. • Close-up inflorescence. Inflorescence with dehisced capsules. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, Aiken 97–032, CAN. • Close-up of inflroescence. Inflorescence with comparatively few branches and flowers and fringed bracts. Norway: Nordland, Fauske, Ballvatnet. 13/8–1976. Photo: R.Elven. Inflorescence with comparatively few branches and flowers and fringed bracts. Norway: Nordland, Fauske, Ballvatnet. 13/8–1976. Photo: R.Elven. • 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).
