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
Draba corymbosa
R. Brown ex de Candolle
Figure 5D, E
Materials examined.
CANADA
–
Nunavut
• Ellesmere Island,
CFS
Alert;
82°26′22″N
,
062°50′39″W
;
201 m
a.s.l.;
7 Aug. 2019
; habitat: barren ground in a slope, with till and rocks as substrates;
QFA
0635552, CAN • same locality;
82°31′03″N
,
062°26′21″W
;
57 m
a.s.l.;
26 Jun. 2019
; habitat: barren ground, with polygonal patterned ground made of till and rocks, and sparse dominance of
Saxifraga oppositifolia
and
Poa abbreviata
R. Brown
;
QFA
0635553, CAN • same locality;
82°31′35″N
,
062°18′19″W
;
5 m
a.s.l.;
3 Aug. 2019
; habitat: wetland, with peat as substrate, dominated by
Salix arctica
,
Saxifraga oppositifolia
, and moss;
QFA
0635584.
Identification.
Plants
2–4 cm
high; herbaceous; caespitose. Taproots and rhizomes present. Stems 1.0–
3.5 cm
long; erect or ascending; hairy, with simple and branched hairs (2–5 rays:
T
,
V
,
Y
, cruciform, ternate, and dendritic). Leaves basal; alternate or whorled; petiolate or subsessile. Petioles
2–5 mm
long; winged; margins ciliate, with simple hairs. Leaf blades
3–12 mm
long,
1.4–3.8 mm
wide; obtrullate or oblanceolate; bases attenuate; abaxial and adaxial surfaces both moderately to densely hairy, with simple and branched hairs (2–5 rays:
Y
,
V
, ternate, and dendritic); margins ciliate, with simple hairs; apices obtuse. Inflorescence a corymbose raceme, with 2–4 flowers; not elongating as the fruit matures or slightly elongating as the fruit matures. Pedicels 1.5–6.0 mm long; hairy. Sepals 4;
2.4–3.5 mm
long,
1.1–2.1 mm
wide; ovate; green or yellow, with yellow margins; surface hairy, with simple and few branched hairs (2 rays:
Y
and
V
); margins glabrous; apices obtuse or acute. Petals 4;
3.8–5.3 mm
long; 2.0–
2.9 mm
wide; obovate; slightly lobed or undulating; yellow. Androecium with 6 stamens and
0.4–0.6 mm
long anthers. Gynoecium with 1 style and 1 stigma. Fruit a silique;
4–11 mm
long,
2.3–4.4 mm
wide; ovate or lanceolate; flattened; green or purple; hairy, with simple and branched hairs (2 rays:
Y
,
V
, and
T
). Styles persisting in fruits
0.4–0.7 mm
long,
0.2–0.4 mm
wide. Stigmas
0.5–0.9 mm
wide; distinctly larger than the styles.
Among the yellow-flowered
Draba
species
present on Ellesmere Island (
D. alpina
Linnaeus,
D.
arcto- gena
(
E
. Ekman)
E
. Ekman,
D. micropetala
Hooker
,
D. oblongata
R. Brown ex de Candolle
, and
D. pauciflora
;
Aiken et al. 2007
;
GBIF
2020),
D. corymbosa
and
D. simmonsii
Elven & Al-Shebaz
are characterized by larger petals (
2–4 mm
wide;
Aiken et al. 2007
; Elven and Al- Shehbaz 2008; Garneau and Sabourin 2018).
D. corym- bosa
also has wider fruits (
3.1–5.5 mm
wide) and longer styles persisting in fruits (0.4–1.0 mm long) compared to
D. alpina
,
D. micropetala
, and
D. simmonsii
,
which have
1.9–3.8 mm
wide fruits and
0.05–0.30 mm
long styles (Elven and Al-Shehbaz 2008;
Al-Shehbaz et al. 2010b
; Garneau and Sabourin 2018).
D. corymbosa
has mainly branched hairs on the abaxial leaf surface, whereas the other yellow-flowered
Draba
species
have simple or simple and branched hairs (Al-Shehbaz and Mulligan 2013;
Saarela et al. 2020
).