Calamagrostis canadensis var. langsdorffii (Link) Tzvelev
Canada Blue Joint.
Poaceae, grass family.
Rhodora 24: 143. 1922
Calamagrostis canadensis subsp. langsdorffii (Link) Hultén, Acta Univ. Lund. n. ser. 38: 163. 1942.
Arundo langsdorfi Link, Enum. Pl. Hort. Berol. 1: 74. 1821.
Calamagrostis langsdorffii (Link) Trin. Gram. Unifl. 225, pl. 4, fig. 10. 1824.
Deyeuxia langsdorfii Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 77. 1829.
Type: "Habitat...." Cult. Berlin.
Calamagrostis scabra C. Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 234. 1830. Type: ‘Hab. in sinu Nootka.’ Vancouver Island
Calamagrostis hirtigluma Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. (or Gram.) 1: 188. 1854. Type: ‘Labrador. (Mission Albrecht) Groenlandica ? Terra nova.’
Calamagrostis oregonensis Buckley, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1862: 92. 1862 (in part, according to grey, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1863: 334. 1863).
Calamagrostis candensis subsp. langsdorfii (Link) Hultén
Calamagrostis canadensis var. scabra (J.Presl) A.S. Hitchcock
Calamagrostis langsdorfiiI (Link) Trin.
Calamagrostis nubila Louis-Marie
Plants caespitose; less than 15 cm high, or more than 15 cm high; 38–115 cm high. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal; rhizomatous; elongate, or compact; 1.5–2.5 mm wide. Scales present; striate (prominent veins); 3–30 mm long; glabrous. Aerial stems erect; circular or oval in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves mostly basal; alternate; marcescent. Petioles absent. Sheaths with the margins fused only in the lower part; glabrous, or with trichomes; hirsute, or scabrous (tiny scaberules); collars collars present. Ligules present; 5–8(–12) mm long; membranous; hairy (abaxial surface); lanceolate; apices obtuse; entire, or erose, or lacerate. Blades 150–300 mm long; 3.5–6 mm wide (when flat); appressed to the stem, or spreading from the vertical; rolled in bud; linear; without auricles (usually), or with blade auricles (rarely); flat, or involute (rarely); with parallel veins; midvein conspicuously larger than the lateral veins, or midvein similar in size to other veins in the leaf; adaxial surface scabrous. Blades abaxial surface scabrous.
Flowering culm nodes not exposed, or becoming exposed; number visible 0–3. Inflorescences paniculate; inflorescence dense, or diffuse; inflorescence lanceolate, or pyramidal; inflorescence 10–20 cm long; inflorescence 25–86 mm wide; inflorescence main axis scabrous. Number of inflorescence branches at lowest node 2–4. Inflorescence primary branches 2.5–7 mm long; scabrous (to long hairy); with spreading secondary branches. Spikelets pedicellate; disarticulating above the glumes; laterally compressed; lanceolate; 3.7–5.2 mm long; 1.2–3.3 mm wide. Florets per spikelet 1. Glumes sub-equal. First glume 0.85–1 × the length of the second glume; 0.85–1 × spikelet length; 3.7–4.5 mm long; lanceolate; with trichomes (trichomes longer on vein(s)); margins glabrous; veins 1(–2); apex acuminate. Second glume as long, or longer than the spikelet; almost as long as, or longer than, the lowest floret; 3.7–5.1 mm long; lanceolate; with trichomes; veins 3. Rachilla internode 0.5 mm long; hairy (hairs 2.5–3.0 mm). Rachilla extending beyond the uppermost floret. Callus differentiated; hairs 2.5–3.5 mm long; hairs sub-equal to the floret. Lemma 2.8–3.8 mm long; lanceolate; rounded on the back; surface dull (scaberulous); surface hairy; surface with trichomes on and between the veins; veins 5 (4). Lemma apex acute; erose; not ciliate (except callus); awned. Awn arising from the middle or below, or from just above the base; 2–2.4 mm long. Palea well developed; 1.5–2.3 mm long; with glabrous veins. Perianth reduced to lodicules. Stamens 3. Anthers 1.8–2.4 mm long. Carpels syncarpous; 3. Gynoecia superior. Styles 2. Ovules 1. Fruit a caryopsis; indehiscent; 1.6–2 mm long; sessile; dry. Seeds 1.
Chromosome information. 2n = 56 (Greene (1984) quoting Tateoka, (1973). Mitchell (1968 reported 28,42 49 and 56).
Distribution. Arctic Islands: Baffin (& Melville Peninsula). This taxon has a low Arctic distribution. It has been recorded from Kimmirut, Baffin Island, but not elsewhere in the Arctic Archipelago.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates, moderately well drained; sand.
Notes. Greene (1980) considered that this variety differs from var. canadensis in having glumes that are 4–6 mm long, firm, rarely hyaline, strongly scabrous on the back, often short-ciliate on the keel. 2n = 28, 56. A single record for the Arctic Archipelago was collected from Kimmirut, Baffin Island, Polunin 1223, July, 1936. CAN! It was considered C. canadensis var. scabra (Presl) Hitchc. by Polunin (1940). No other records are known.
Green (1980) considered this taxon to be part of an apomictic complex in which the pivotal sexual members are C. canescens and the tetraploid races of var. langsdorffii. In Asia it is represented by C. canadensis var. langsdorffii and in Europe by both var. langsdorfii and C. purpurea. In Japan, hybridization between C. canadensis var. langsdorffii and C. sachalinensis has lead to a group of apomictic populations distinct from both the European and American counterparts of the complex (Tateoka 1974).
It is the opinion of Greene that if one accepts that C purpurea and C. canadensis are synonymous, then C. canadensis (Michx.) Beauv. 1812 (based on Arundo canadensis Michx. 1803) has priority over C. purpurea (Trin.) Trin. 1824 (based on Arundo purpurea Trin. 1821). Greene commented that, "My own sense is that C. canadensis in North America and C. purpurea in Eurasia are manifestations of the same circumpolar species/agamic complex, but tradition has kept the names separate in regional floras. It may be relevant that Hultén, who had broad experience on both sides of the Bering Straits, treats langsdorffii as C. canadensis subsp. langsdorffii (Link) Hultén (1942) (based on C. langsdorfi Link 1821). Trinius corrected Link's orthographic error; Link named the species after a Langsdorff, not Langsdorf: thus Calamagrostis langsdorffii (Link) Trin. 1824.
"If one accepts that C. canadensis and C. purpurea are distinct species and that C. langsdorffii belongs with the latter, then it would be appropriate to accept C. purpurea subsp. langsdorffii (Link) Tzvel. 1965. (But I don't like that approach - Greene, personal communication 1999).
"In my work on Calamagrostis to date, I use subspecies only when there seem to be clear cytological and/or morphological distinctions between entities, such as the primarily 2n=28 sexual C. stricta subsp. stricta and the 2n=42 to 114+ polyploid apomictic complex I name C. stricta subsp. inexpansa. In the case of C. canadensis and its varieties, I choose to recognise var. langsdorffii, which seems to intergrade with var. canadensis in morphology, chromosome number, and reproductive mode. With more experimental work, these entities may show enough distinctions to be treated as distinct subspecies vs. varieties in the way I apply the terms. I know that there are people who interpret variety and subspecies as having equivalent standing in the taxonomic hierarchy--the trend among many seems to be to name subspecies now in preference to variety, and there may be few people in favor of using both subspecies and variety in a particular group as I have done in some species of Calamagrostis. (personal communicaton, Greene, 1999).
Illustrations. • Drawing. Plants with leaves distributed along the culms, relatively large ligules, and soreading paniculate inflorescences. Drawing from Porsild (1957). • Distribution map.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L.Consaul, R.L. Boles, R. Elven and M.E. LeBlanc. 2001 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Volume 1. Pteridophytes and Monocotyledons: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 16th March 2001. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000), and Aiken, Dallwitz et al. (1999) should also be cited (see References).
