Calamagrostis purpurascens R. Br.
In Franklin, Narr. Journey Shores Polar Sea, Bot. Appendix 731. 1823.
Arundo purpurascens Schult., Mantissa 3 (Addit. 1): 603. 1827. Deyeuxia purpurascens Kunth, Révision Gram. 1: 77. 1829. C. arundinacea f. purpurascens Gelert in Ostenf. Fl. Arctica 1: 103. 1902. C. arundinacea var. purpurascens A.E. Porsild, Meddel. Grønland 47: 261. 1910.
Type: Canada. N.W.T.: "the Barren Grounds from Point Lake to the Arctic Sea," 1821, J. Richardson s.n. (Holotype: K (not located October 1994) probable portion of type GH!).
Calamagrostis sylvatica var. americana Vasey, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 3: 83. 1892. Type: U.S.A. Colorado: Pen. Gulch, Vasey in 1884.
Calamagrostis purpurascens var. maltei Polunin, Bull. Natl. Mus. Canada 94 (Biol. Ser. 24): 51. 1940. Type: Canada. Nunavut: Baffin Island, Eclipse Sound, 15 Aug. 1927, M.O. Malte (Holotype: CAN!).
Further synonymy in Greene (1980).
Plants caespitose (loosely (usually), or more tightly (when stunted and growing in poor habitats)); less than 15 cm high, or more than 15 cm high; 20–70 cm high. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal; rhizomatous; elongate, or compact; 1–2 mm wide. Scales present; striate; 6–12 mm long; glabrous. Aerial stems erect; glabrous. Leaves mostly in a basal tuft. Sheaths with the margins fused only in the lower part; glabrous, or with trichomes; hirsute, or scabrous. Ligules 2.6–5 mm long (upper leaves have longer ligules); membranous; hairy (puberulent on the abaxial surface); lanceolate; apices acute, or obtuse; erose, or lacerate. Blades 30–300 mm long; 2–8 mm wide (when flat); appressed to the stem, or spreading; rolled in bud; flat, or involute; midvein similar in size to other veins in the leaf. Blades adaxial surface scabrous. Blades abaxial surface scabrous.
Flowering culm nodes not exposed, or becoming exposed; number visible 0–3. Inflorescence paniculate; dense; linear (compact and narrowly pyramidal); 3.5–10.5 cm long; 10–20 mm wide. Inflorescence. Inflorescence main axis scabrous. Number of inflorescence branches at lowest node 2–4. Inflorescence primary branches 1.5–10(–40) mm long; scabrous; with appressed secondary branches, or with spreading secondary branches. Spikelets. Spikelets pedicellate; disarticulating above the glumes; laterally compressed; lanceolate; 5–6.7 mm long; 1–3 mm wide. Florets per spikelet 1. Glumes. Glumes sub-equal. First glume 0.9–1 × the length of the second glume; 0.95–1 × spikelet length; 4.9–6.3 mm long; lanceolate; with trichomes (particularly on mid-vein, sparsely over rest of surface); margins glabrous, or ciliate (minutely); veins 1; apex acuminate. Second glume as long, or longer than the spikelet; almost as long as, or longer than, the lowest floret; lanceolate; 5–6 mm long; with trichomes (scaberulous); veins 3. Rachilla internode 1.8–2.1 mm long; hairy. Rachilla extending beyond the uppermost floret. Callus differentiated; hairs 1–1.4 mm long; hairs shorter than the floret. Lemmas. Lemma 4–5(–6) mm long; lanceolate; keeled (slightly); surface dull; surface sparsely scabrous; surface with trichomes on and between the veins (very short); veins 5. Lemma apex acute, or rounded; bifid; glabrous; awned. Awn arising from the middle or below; 4.5–8 mm long. Palea well developed; 3.5–4.1 mm long; with scabrous veins (sparse, minute trichomes). Perianth reduced to lodicules. Anthers 2.2–2.5 mm long. Styles 2. Fruit sessile. Fruit dry; indehiscent. Fruit 2–2.5 mm long. Seeds 1.
Chromosome information. 2n = 28, 42, and 84.
Distribution. North American. Arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago widespread. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Parry Islands, Banks, Victoria. This taxon occurs in Greenland, Eastern Siberia, and Alaska but not in Europe. In Canada, as well as occurring on the Arctic Islands, it occurs in the Mackenzie District, the Ungava, Gaspé Peninsula, north shore of Lake Superior, and northern Manitoba. It should be looked for on southern Ellesmere and Devon Islands.
Greene (1980) suggested that its disjunct distribution in widely separated places across eastern North America may be a consequence of this species preference for calcareous soils. Wynne-Edwards (1937) advanced this ecological explanation in response to the contention by Fernald (1925) that such distributions are the result of the survival of plants on nunataks during glaciation. It seems likely, as suggested by Kawano (1965), that C. purpurascens achieved its present distribution in eastern North America by migrating soon after the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciers (Greene 1980).
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: lake shores, tundra, slopes; dry, moderately well drained; calcareous; rocks, gravel, sand, silt. Habitats: Growing on rocky slopes and well-drained sandy soils.
Taxon as an environmental indicator. Species indicative of dry, calcareous soils.
Notes. The subspecies C. purpurascens subsp. arctica, (Vasey) Hultén was reported in Hultén's (1942) Flora of Alaska and the Yukon 2: 170, and (Hultén 1968). It is described as "similar to subsp. purpurascens, but more low-growing: panicle shorter; glumes thicker, not hyaline; awns narrow, purplish, long-pointed." Whether the plants on the Arctic Archipelago should be recognised as this subspecies has not been investigated.
Illustrations. • Habitat. Nunavut, Ellesmere Island, Lake Hazen. Lower east facing slopes of Blister Hill, 2–3 km from Blister Creek Delta. Dry barren slopes with scattered rock and pebble. Awns were not very geniculate when fresh, but much more so when dry. 24 July 1999. Photo by L. Gillespie. L.L. Consaul 2178 & L.J. Gillespie. CAN. • Close-up of plant. Nunavut, Ellesmere Island, Lake Hazen. Lower east facing slopes of Blister Hill, 2–3 km from Blister Creek Delta. Dry barren slopes with scattered rock and pebble. Awns were not very geniculate when fresh, but much more so when dry. 24 July 1999. L.L. Consaul 2178 & L.J. Gillespie. CAN. • Close-up of Inflorescence. Nunavut, Ellesmere Island, Lake Hazen. Lower east facing slopes of Blister Hill, 2–3 km from Blister Creek Delta. Dry barren slopes with scattered rock and pebble. Awns were not very geniculate when fresh, but much more so when dry. 24 July 1999. L.L. Consaul 2178 & L.J. Gillespie. CAN. • Drawing. Compact, pre-anthesis or post-anthesis inflorescence, Close-up of spikelet with glumes longer than the lemma from which the geniculate awn arises, and the palea which is as long or longer than the lemma. Drawing, Canadian Museum of Nature photo library, s74–1075. • Type specimen. Note label Richardson's journey, probably refers to 1820–1822 exploration Richardson did with with Franklin. to Canada. N.W.T. (Houston 1985). On one packet is the text: "sea coast of the arctic region, Hooker", and Green annotated the specimen as "probably fragment of type from Kew" in 1980. (Probable isotype: GH). • Distribution map.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, L.L. Consaul, and M.J. Dallwitz. 1995 onwards. Poaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 10th December 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).
