Some New Records and Range Extensions of Arctic Plants for Alaska

Abstract

Johnson, Albert W. and Leslie A. Viereck. 1962. Some new records and range extensions of arctic plants for Alaska. Biol. Pap. Univ. Alaska, No. 6. Pp. iv + 32. Many vascular plant species not previously reported from coastal northwest Alaska were found during floristic investigations in that region. Plant collections were made primarily in the Ogotoruk Creek-Cape Thompson area but extended as far as Keeseemalouk Creek on the southeast and to Cape Lewis on the northwest. This area is characterized by long, cold winters, cool summers, low precipitation, and high winds. Superimposed on substrates composed of basic to acidic rocks and their erosion products are vegetation types and plant communities, the most common of which are dominated by Dryas octopetala and sedges. The mosaic of habitats in the area includes broad wet meadows, dry fellfields, talus slopes, precipitous cliffs, gravel bars and benches, snow-beds, tundra ponds, strands, and coastal lagoons, each of which supports a characteristic aggregation of species. The 37 species presented in this paper are: Calamagrostis deschampsioides Trin., C. lapponica (Wahlenb.) Hartm., Trisetum sibiricum Rupr., Koeleria asiatica Domin., Puccinellia vaginata (Lge.) Fern. & Weatherby, Festuca baffinesis Polunin, Festuca vivipara (L.) Sm., Kobresia hyperborea Pors., Carex nardina E. Fries, C. subspatheacea Wormskj. ex Hornem., C. ursina Dew., Allium schoenoprasum L. var. sibiricum (L.) Hartm., Salix chamissonis Anderss., S. ovalifolia Trautv., Koenigia islandica L., Rumex graminifolius Georgi. ex Lambert, Claytonia tuberosa Pall. ex Willd., Montia Laprosperma Cham., Arenaria nardifolia Ledeb., Ranunculus aquatilis var. eradicatus Laestad., R. turneri Greene, Lesquerella arctica (Wormskj.) Wats., Draba pseudopilosa Pohle, Smelowskia borealis Drury and Rollins var. jordalii Drury and Rollins, Potentilla egedii var. groenlandica (Tratt.) Polunin, Rubus arcticus L., Sanguisorba officinalis L., Astragalus australis (L.) Lam., Callitriche verna L., Viola epipsila Ledeb. subsp. repens (Turcz.) Becker, Angelica lucida L., Pedicularis oederi Vahl, Linnaea borealis L., Adoxa moschatellina L., Aster alpinus L. subsp. vierhapperi Onno, Senecio pseudo-arnica Less., Tarxacum phymatocarpum J. Vahl.