Kobresia myosuroides (Vill.) Fiori & Paol.
Fl. Anal. Ital. 1: 125. 1896.
Kobresia bellardii (All.) Degel
Carex myosuroides Vill.
Elyna bellardi (All.) Hartm.
Elyna spicata Schrad.
Kobresia scirpina Willd.
Carex bellardii All.
Plants caespitose (very tightly). Plants less than 15 cm high, or more than 15 cm high; (5–)10–20(–35) cm high. Roots pallid-brown, or black. Ground level or underground stems not developed horizontally or vertically. Scales absent. Aerial stems erect; filiform (wiry, 0.4–0.6 mm in diameter); circular or oval in cross section; glabrous. Leaves mostly basal. Sheaths forming a conspicuous build up at the base of the plant (similar to Carex nardina); greyish brown, or reddish (pale orange). Ligules present; 0.1–0.2 mm long. Blades straight; linear; circular in cross section, or caniculate (without a pronounced midrib); not septate nodulose; glabrous. Blades adaxial surface glabrous (sometimes scabrous along the margins, or even with sparse cilia that are not much shorter than those in Carex nardina).
Plants monoecious. Flowering stems about as high as the leaves (or slightly taller). Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence absent. Inflorescence spicate; linear; 1–3 cm long; 2–4(–5) mm wide; a single spike (in appearence; made up of 10–20 tiny spike-like panicles "spikelets"; with one male flower above and one female flower below). Individual spike(s) erect. Staminate flowers inconspicuous (each subtended by a staminate scale). Floral scales orange brown; with margins, and sometimes mid-vein paler in colour than the adjacent area of the scale (midvein distinct almost to the tip); lanceolate; 2–3.5(–4.5) mm long; 1.5–2 mm wide; glabrous (apex obtuse or cuspidate). Perianth absent. Anthers 1.5–2 mm long. Styles long and thick (black, and longer than the floral scales); 1. Stigmas per style 3. Fruit surrounded by a perigynium. Perigynia open on one side; broadly ovate; 2–3.5 mm long; 1–1.2 mm wide; sessile; erect or ascending; brown; surface dull; glabrous; appearing nerveless; apices without a beak. Fruit an achene (elliptical); 0.8–1.2 mm long; golden brown. Achenes not filling the upper part of the perigynia; trigonous (loosely so, sometimes becoming black balls of fungus infection).
Chromosome information. 2n = 52, 56–58, 60.
Distribution. Circumpolar. Arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago wide-spread. Common. Arctic Islands: Baffin and Devon (literature record), Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, and Parry Islands (Melville), Banks, Victoria, Somerset, and Southampton.
Ecology and habitat. Substrate river terraces (older and raised), tundra (dry Dryas mounds), slopes, ridges (and raised beaches); imperfectly drained (rarely), or on solifluction slopes, or dry (usually); calcareous; rock, gravel, sand, clay; with low organic content, or with high organic content (less commonly). Typically found in dry, sparsely vegetated places, often on exposed slopes with Saxifraga, Dryas, or Salix. Occassionally reported in moister areas in wet swales near beaches.
Notes. In the vegetative state this species cannot reliably be distinguished from Carex nardina. Polunin (1940) noted that except for local variations in luxuriance, this plant appear to be much the same in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. He predicted that in time it may prove to be almost complete on ice-free land, although it had not been recorded from several considerable areas. He also observed that it is "remarkably overlooked" and for this reason possibly under collected.
Kobresia myosuroides is reported to proliferate in "single passage" vehicle tracks through high arctic tundra, Lake Hazen, Ellesmere Island. Vehicle tracks tend to be depleted of nutrients and generally low in vegetative cover (Kevan et al., 1995).
The roots of K. myosuroides have been shown to have the ability to absorb free amino acids as well as inorganic nitrogen (Raab et al., 1996). Such an adaptation is highly advantageous in the Arctic where inorganic nitrogen is often limiting.
Illustrations. • Herbarium specimen. Two densely tufted plants approximately 15 cm high. Note the build-up of orange-brown sheaths at the base and the linear inflorescences. CAN 273552. • Close-up of inflorescence. Close-up of narrow spicate inflorescence from previous image. • Arctic Island distribution.
Cite this publication as: Aiken, S.G., Boles, R.L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1999 onwards. ‘Cyperaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.’ Version: 6th November 2000. http://http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
