Survey of the vascular plants of Alert (Ellesmere Island, Canada), a polar desert at the northern tip of the Americas
Author
Desjardins, Émilie
Author
Lai, Sandra
Author
Payette, Serge
Author
Dubé, Martin
Author
Sokoloff, Paul C.
Author
St-Louis, Annie
Author
Poulin, Marie-Pier
Author
Legros, Jade
Author
Sirois, Luc
Author
Vézina, François
Author
Tam, Andrew
Author
Berteaux, Dominique
text
Check List
2021
2021-02-09
17
1
181
225
http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/17.1.181
journal article
10.15560/17.1.181
1809-127X
Stellaria longipes
Goldie subsp.
longipes
Figure 6F, G
Materials examined.
CANADA
–
Nunavut
•
Ellesmere Island
,
CFS
Alert
;
82°29′59″N
,
062°27′56″W
;
82 m
a.s.l.
;
27 Jul. 2019
; habitat: xeric in a slope, with polygonal patterned ground made of till and rocks, and sparse dominance of
Saxifraga oppositifolia
;
QFA0635575
.
Identification.
Plants
1–8 cm
high; herbaceous; caespitose. Taproots and thin rhizomes present. Stems
2–8 cm
long; prostrate, decumbent, or erect; glabrous. Axillary branches present. Leaves cauline; opposite; sessile. Cauline leaf blades
4–9 mm
long, 1.1–3.0 mm wide; lanceolate; appearing single-veined (midrib prominent); abaxial surface keeled; abaxial and adaxial surfaces both glabrous; margins glabrous; apices acute or acuminate. Inflorescence a solitary flower or a dichasium, with 2 flowers. Bracts 2.2–7.0 mm long, 0.6–2.0 mm wide. Ped- icels glabrous. Sepals 5;
2–4 mm
long, 1.0–
1.5 mm
wide; lanceolate; green, with hyaline margins; surface; margins ciliate; apices acute. Petals 5;
3–5 mm
long,
3–4 mm
wide; obovate or obtriangular; deeply cleft; white. Androecium with 8–10 stamens and
0.6–0.8 mm
long, red anthers. Gynoecium with 3 styles and 1 stigma per style.
The deeply cleft petals distinguish
Stellaria
species
from the other
Caryophyllaceae
genus (
Aiken et al. 2007
).
S. longipes
subsp.
longipes
can be differenti- ated from the two other
Stellaria
species
on present on Ellesmere Island (
GBIF
2020) by the following:
S
. lon- gipes
has red anthers, whereas
S. humifusa
Rottbøll
and
S. crassifolia
Ehrhart
have yellow anthers (
Aiken et al. 2007
); and
S. longipes
has strongly keeled leaf blades with midvein prominent, whereas
S. humifusa
and
S. crassifolia
have flat leaf blades with midvein obscure (
Saarela et al. 2020
).
Cyperaceae
– Sedge family