Pedicularis sudetica Willd.
Scrophulariaceae, fernweed family.
Sp. Pl. 3: 209. 1800.
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; (5–)10–20(–30) cm high; with dark purple, basal leaves that have long pedicels; glabrous flowering stems with one or no leaves, dark reddish-purple flowers that appear to spiral around the inflorescence when viewed form above. Taproot absent (fusiform roots arise from the caudex). Caudex present (surrounded by leaf bases). Ground-level or under-ground stems not developed horizontally or vertically. Aerial stems erect; glabrous (for most of the length), or sparsely hairy, or densely hairy (near the inflorescence); stem hairs spreading, or erect (if applicable). Leaves heterophyllous; in a basal tuft; alternate; simple (pinnately divided); existing for a single season or less. Petioles present (basal leaves), or absent (leaves near the inflorescence); (0–)35–45(–75) mm long; winged (at both ends, narrow in the middle); glabrous. Leaf blade bases truncate (basal leaf divisions erect). Blades (15–)20–50(–75) mm long; 3.5–7(–9) mm wide (usually; rarely to 25 mm wide, with 15–25 leaf divisions, 1–3(-12) mm wide, usually well separated and at right angles to the midrib). Blades spreading; lanceolate; veins pinnate. Blades adaxial surface glabrous. Blades abaxial surface glabrous. Blade margins cut into linear divisions. Blade margins entire, or dentate (on linear divisions). Leaf apices acute.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems without leaves (or with a single leaf; this contrasts with other pink flowered species in the Arctic as they have several leaves on the flowering stems); glabrous. Inflorescence head-like (in bud, but soon elongating); dense; globose or subglobose (in bud), or oblong (in flower); 3–4 cm long; 20–30 mm wide; elongating as the fruit matures. Pedicels absent (or inconspicuous among the dense hairs of the inflorescence). Flowers per inflorescence numerous; large, more than 15 mm in diameter or length; zygomorphic. Floral bracts green and purplish red. Calyx sepals 5; fused; 7.5–10(–12) mm long. Calyx green, or purple (on the midvein); accrescent. Petals fused; 5; purple (reddish on the arched helmet), or pink (paler on the 3 lower petals); with contrasting markings (in the form of few to many purple spots on the lower petals); 16–19 mm long. Corolla bilabiate; 5-lobed. Corolla helmet not prolonged into a long beak. Corolla helmet with 2 small teeth at the apex. Stamens 4; filaments all equal in length (a single zone of anthers is seen in the arch of the helmet petal when the stigma is ripe, see image library); fused to the corolla (at the base); filaments hairy at base only. Anthers purple; ellipsoid; 1.5–2.3 mm long. Nectaries present (as a swollen ring at the base of the ovary). Gynoecia superior. Carpels syncarpous; 2. Ovaries inverse turnip-shaped; glabrous. Styles 1; 20–22 mm long. Styles straight; basal portion smooth. Stigmas per style 1; capitate. Placentation axile. Ovules few. Fruit sessile (sub-sessile); stalk 2–4 mm long. Fruit with calyx persisting; dry; a capsule; broadly lanceolate; distinctly flattened; dehiscent; opening at the apex and partially down one side. Fruit 6–8 mm long; 3.5–4.5 mm wide; brown (and woolly greyish from the calyx at the base); surface venation reticulate. Seeds few; (1.5–)2–3 mm long; yellowish (testa; centre of the seed, seen through the testa, is brown); with surfaces reticulate (honeycomb, similar to P. lanata).
Chromosome information. 2n = 16. 16 (2x). - Löve and Löve (1944b northern Europe, 1982a arctic Canada); Harmsen in Löve and Löve (1948 Greenland?); Sørensen and Westergaard in Löve and Löve (1948 Grleenland); Harmsen in Jørgensen et al. (1958 Greenland); Sokolovskaya and Strelkova (1960, 1962); Sokolovskaya (1962, 1968 north eastern Asia, Koryak); Sorsa (1963c Finl); Laane (1965 northern Norway); Zhukova (1966 north eastern Asia); Knaben and Engelskjøn (1967 southern Norway); Zhukova et al. (1977a north eastern Asia); Krogulevich (1978 southern Siberia); Zhukova (1980 north eastern Asia); Dalgaard (1988 western Greenland). Ploidy levels recorded 2X.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar (with a gap in Greenland); Canada, United States, Eurasia. Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories Islands, Continental Northwest Territories, Nunavut Islands, Continental Nunavut. Arctic, or alpine. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago widespread. Common. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Devon, Axel Heiberg, Parry Islands, Cornwallis, Banks, Southampton, Coats.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: wet meadows, along streams, lake shores, flood plains; imperfectly drained moist areas, or on seepage slopes; calcareous; gravel, sand, silt. Habitats: imperfectly drained lower part of seepage slope, on silty diamicton in sedge wet meadow (CAN 518512); on wet mossy hummock above high tide zone (CAN 522722); imperfectly drained edge of low centre polygon on raised, old river terrace in sedge-moss meadow (CAN 484886).
Indigenous knowledge. Kjellman (1882) indicated that people in Chukchi prepare a "sauerkraut" from the flowering stems and eat the boilded rootstock in soup.
Notes. Polunin (1940) stated that most arctic members of this genus
are sufficiently clear-cut and constant to cause little, if any, embarassment
even to the most conscientious taxonomist, but the present species by contrast
is so variable that it obviously needs further study. The variation in the
eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago is most marked in the density and length of
the mature fruiting inflorescences and in the shape of the capsules. These later
may be oblong or gradually tapering towards the apex, and either short and
plump, barely exceeding the calyx tube, or relatively long and slender, twice
the length of the calyx tube.
MacInnes and Carvers (1971) reported on the
reproduction of this species in Nunavut, at McConnell River, 60°50'N,
94°25'W, after a study that lasted 3–4 years. They found the average
number of seeds per plant, per reproductive attempt, was less than 40% of the
estimated potential output. Iandequate pollination was suggested as the problem
as some of the flowers of P. sudetica did not set seed in insect
exclusion experiments. Of the reproductive attempt 51% of some flowers,
capsules, ovules, and developing seeds were destroyed by insects and other
animals.
Williams and Batzlli (1982) found P. sudetica had
intermediate number of ovules but low pollination success and low numbers of
seeds per shoot when growing in isolated patches.
Molau and Murray (1996)
reported that the Pedicularis sudetica complex consists of six taxa and
that four are found in the Arctic and northern boreal areas and two are disjunct
in mountain ranges to the south. They studied the taxonomy of the arctic
species, emphasizing features of the inflorescence, and proposed two new
combinations, Pedicularis arctoeuropaea and P. interior. These
authors made observations on reproductive ecology and hybridization of the
arctic species.
Hultén (1961), Sv. Bot. Tidskr. 55, described the
entities of the P. sudetica group as subspecies of that species. Molau
and Murray (1996), Symb. Bot. Upsal. 31, 3, raised them to separate species [and
especially disputed the assumed close relations to the Central European P.
sudetica Willd. However, P. sudetica subsp. arctoeuropaea on
Kola Peninsula is very variable, some specimens being similar to subsp.
sudetica, whereas material from other parts of the territory of European
Arctic Russia is very close to subsp. novaiae-zemliae. Similar situations
are found in other areas for other races of the species (Ivanina, personal
communication, 2000). This point is still to be resolved by Ivanina, Molau and
Murray who are attempting to arrive at a consensus for the Panarctic Flora
checklist. The entities behave like allo- or parapatric races and the situation
is fairly similar to that in, e.g., Anemone narcissiflora. Another point
is that Ivanina accepts more subspecies than Molau and Murray accept species (7
vs. 4), which means that the geographical ranges do not correspond between the
two treatments (Elven personal communicaton 2000).
Illustrations. • Plant habitat. Plants growing among graminoids and horsetails in a saline wet meadow. N.W.T., Banks Island, Sachs Harbour. July 24, 1981, J.M. Gillett 18808. CAN. • Close-up of plant. Plants with basal leaves and one or no leaves on the flowering stems, flowers with purple-pink helmet petals, stigmas exserted and with a dark spot where the pre-anthesis anthers are, and paler lower petals. N.W.T., Banks Island, Sachs Harbour. July 24, 1981, J.M. Gillett 18808. CAN. • Close-up of leaves. Plant with a procumbent inflorescence becoming erect as the flowers begin to bloom. Note the pinnately divided, fern-like leaves that have relatively long and dentate leaf divisions. L. Gillespie 6135. CAN. • Close-up of plant. Flowers with dark reddish helmet petals that are shorter than the lower petals which are pale pink with conspicous reddish-purple spots. L. Gillespie, 6135. CAN. • Plants in habitat. Plants, between the markers, growing in saline meadow near high tide line. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. July, 2001. Aiken and Brysting 10–072 CAN. • Suface view of inflorescence. From above the flowers appear to spiral up the inflorescence. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. July, 2001. Aiken and Brysting 10–072. CAN. • Close-up of plants in habitat. Flowering inflorescences 10–12 cm high, Scale bar in cm. Note the colour contrast between helmet and landing petals. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. July, 2001. Aiken and Brysting 10–072 CAN. • Close-up of flowers. The arched reddish-purple helmet petals have two small teeth at the apex; these lower petals are pinker than the flowers in the previous picture and have fewer dark markings on them. Nunavut, Southampton Island, Coral Harbour. July, 2001. Aiken and Brysting 10–072 CAN. • 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).
