Elymus alaskanus (Scribn. and Merr.) A. Löve s.l.
Poaceae, grass family.
Taxon 19: 299. 1970.
Agropyron alaskanum Scribn. and Merr. Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 13: 85. 1910. Agropyron boreale (Turcz.) Drobow subsp. alaskanum (Scribn. and Merr.) Melderis, Ark. Bot. Ser. 2. 7: 19. 1968.
Type: United States: Alaska. Circle City. 18 Aug. 1899. W.H. Osgood. (Holotype: US).
Triticum boreale Turcz. Fl. Baical. Dahur. 2(2): 345. 1856, non
Elymus borealis Scribn. 1900. Agropyron boreale (Turcz.) Drobow,
Tr. Bot. Muz. Imp. Akad. Nauk, 16: 84. 1916. Roegeneria borealis (Turcz.)
Nevski in Komarov, Fl. URSS, 2: 264. 1934. Elymus alaskanus subsp.
borealis (Turcz.) A. Löve and D. Löve, Bot. Not. 128: 502.
Type: USSR: "ad viam Ochotensem prope fl. Aldan" Yakutsk ASSR: Yakutsk to
Okhotsk road near Aldan River ("T. biflorum") 1834–1836. (Holotype:
LE?).
Agropyron violaceum var. latiglume Scribn. and J.G. Sm.,
U. S. Dept. Agric. Div. Agrost. Bull. 4: 30. 1897. Agropyron latiglume
(Scribn. and J.G. Sm.) Rydb. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 36: 539. 1909, non Elymus
latiglumis R.A. Phil. 1864. Roegneria latiglumis (Scribn. and J.G.
Sm.) Beetle, Rhodora 54: 196. 1952. Elymus alaskanus subsp.
latiglumis (Scribn. and J.G. Sm.) A. Löve, Taxon 29: 166. 1984.
Type: United States: Montana. Gallatin Co., Lone Mountain, Tweedy 1011.
(Lectotype: US, cf. Hitchcock and Chase 1951, p. 798). Agropyron
violaceum var. hyperarcticum Polunin, Bull. Natl. Mus. Canada 92
(Biol. Ser. 24): 95. 1940. Roegneria borealis subsp. hyperarctica
(Polunin) A. Löve and D. Löve, Acta Horti Gothob. 20: 188. 1956.
Agropyron boreale Drobow subsp. hyperarcticum (Polunin) Melderis
in Hultén, Ark. Bot. Ser. 2, 7: 19. 1968. Type: Canada: Nunavut,
Baffin Island, Arctic Bay, 9 Sept. 1936. N. Polunin 2531. (Holotype: BM,
Isotypes: CAN! GH).
Agropyron violaceum subsp. violaceum sensu
Hultén, Fl. Alaska and Neighbouring Territories 185. 1968. non (Hornem.)
Lange.
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; (15–)20–40(–70) cm high; caespitose (loosely tufted). Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal, or vertical and often branched, or not developed horizontally or vertically; compact. Aerial stems erect, or decumbent; circular or oval in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves distributed along the stems (appearing as basal in dwarf plants); alternate; simple; marcescent. Prophylls 6–18 mm long; with smooth veins (glabrescent); lacking pronounced keels (bladeless sheath-like structures with several veins occur). Petioles absent. Sheaths with the margins fused only in the lower part; glabrous; collars present. Ligules present; 0.2–0.6 mm long; a fringed membrane; hairy; transversely oblong; apices truncate; erose. Blades 40–160 mm long; 3–6 mm wide. Blades spreading; rolled in bud; linear; without auricles (collar margins sometimes swollen and overlapping); flat (usually, sometimes drying involute); veins parallel; midvein similar in size to other veins in the leaf. Blades adaxial surface glabrous, or hairy. Blades abaxial surface hairy.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems hairy. Flowering culm nodes not exposed (usually), or becoming exposed; number visible 0–1. Inflorescence spicate; dense; linear; 3.5–10.5 cm long; 5–20 mm wide; main axis scabrous (especially on the angles). Spikelets sessile; disarticulating above the glumes; lanceolate, or ovate, or oblanceolate; 11–17 mm long; 1.8–6(–9.2) mm wide. Florets per spikelet (2–)3–5(–7). First glume 0.8–1 × the length of the second glume; 0.4–0.55 × spikelet length; 5–9 mm long; oblanceolate (asymmetrical near the apex, usually abruptly narrowed to a point or short awn); glabrous, or with trichomes; margins glabrous; veins 3(–5); apex acuminate. Second glume 0.4–0.9 × as long as the spikelet; almost as long as, or longer than, the lowest floret; lanceolate; 5–12 mm long; glabrous, or with trichomes (rarely hairy); veins 3–6. Rachilla internode 16–22 mm long; scabrous. Rachilla not pronounced between the florets; extending beyond the uppermost floret. Lemma 7–10 mm long; lanceolate; rounded on the back; surface dull; surface glabrous, or hairy; veins 5. Lemma apex acuminate; entire; glabrous, or ciliate; awned. Awn arising from the tip; 1–2(–3) mm long. Palea well developed; 7–9 mm long; with scabrous veins. Perianth reduced to lodicules. Stamens 3. Anthers 1.2–2 mm long. Gynoecia superior. Carpels syncarpous; 3. Styles 2. Ovules 1. Fruit sessile. Fruit dry; a caryopsis; indehiscent. Fruit 4.5–5.5 mm long. Seeds 1.
Chromosome information. 2n = 28. 28 (4x). - Hedberg (1967 Alaska); Knaben (1968 Alaska); Löve (1980, 1984).
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar. Arctic Islands: Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Parry Islands (Prince Patrick), Banks, Victoria.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: river terraces (and sandy depressions within them), slopes (e.g. Salix or Saxifrage slopes, or steep talus), cliffs; dry, or moderately well drained areas; calcareous; rocks, gravel, sand, silt, clay, till. Habitats: Found predominantly on well-drained, weakly to moderately alkaline, sandy and gravely soils. Common on wind or water eroded banks and knolls, particularly on disturbed soils around animal burrows. It is abundant around settlements and construction sites in the warmest sectors of the High Arctic.
Taxon as an environmental indicator. The occurrence of plants of this species indicates dry well draiNed, weakly to moderately alkaline environments.
Notes. A circumpolar, polymorphic species. Within this taxon several species and subspecies have been distinguished on the basis of the following characters: leaf width, blade surfaces glabrous or pubescent, inflorescence length, glume length and width, and the presence or absence of glume and lemma hairs, the bloom on leaves, the presence or absence of small sharp papillae on culms, the width of the hyaline margins on the glumes and lemma and where trichomes occur on these structures. It iS here treated as an aggregate and the description includes the extremes of variation found in Arctic Island material. More synonymy for this complex including specimens from outside our area is suggested by Löve (1984), and many other names have been applied to morphological extremes of the complex by Russian authors as indicated by Tzvelev (1976). Elymus alaskanus is the name used by A. Melderis (1980) in Flora Europaea, and Kartesz (1994).
Illustrations. • Isotype, Agropyron violaceumvar. hyperarcticum. Plants with spicate inflorescences, collected Nunavut, Baffin Island, Arctic Bay, 1936, N. Polunin, 2531. (Isotype: CAN). • Plant in habitat. Plants 25–35 cm tall, with pinkish-purple inflorescences pre-anthesis, growing in a gravel river bed. Aiken, 1988. • Distribution map.
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).
