Agrostis subrepens (Hitchc.) Hitchc., N. Amer. Fl. 17 (7): 525. 1937

Sylvester, Steven P., Cuta-Alarcon, Lia E., Bravo-Pedraza, William J. & Soreng, Robert J., 2020, Agrostis and Podagrostis (Agrostidinae, Poaceae) from paramos of Boyaca, Colombia: synoptic taxonomy including a key to Colombian species, PhytoKeys 151, pp. 107-160 : 107

Agrostis subrepens (Hitchc.) Hitchc., N. Amer. Fl. 17 (7): 525. 1937

Agrostis hiemalis var. subrepens Hitchc., U.S.D.A. Bur. Pl. Industr. Bull. 68: 44. 1905.

Agrostis hyemalis var. subrepens Hitchc., U.S.D.A. Bur. Pl. Industr. Bull. 68: 44. 1905.

Type.

Mexico. Chihuahua: in wet places, pine plains, base of Sierra Madre Mountains, 28 Sep. 1887, C.G. Pringle 1420 (holotype: US (US00131756 [image!]); isotypes: BAB (BAB00000208 [image!] fragm. ex US), E (E00381793 [image!]), F (F0046565F [image!]), GH (GH00221377 [image!]), K (K000308371 [image!]), MSC (MSC0129855 [image!]), NY (NY00327645 [image!], NY00327646 [image!]), US (US00131757 [image!])).

Other specimens examined.

Mexico. Chihuahua: [Munic. Casas Grandes], near Colonia García in the Sierra Madre, 1 Aug. 1899, E.W. Nelson 6195(US359911); Chichupa, 23 Aug. 1937, Harde LeSueur 198 (US1721671).

Venezuela. Sin loc., no date, Fendler 2541 (US843224).

Notes.

Ambiguity surrounds the identity and placement of A. subrepens . Hitchcock (1905) initially described this as a variety of A. hyemalis (Walter) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb., but then raised it to the level of species 32 years later. Originally stated to occur in northern Mexico, and the states New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona of the USA, and Venezuela ( Hitchcock 1905), in his later account, Hitchcock (1937) then restricts the distribution to wet places of the Sierra Madre, Chihuahua, Mexico, and also Venezuela based on the specimen Fendler 2541 (US843224). This Venezuelan paratype was seen by us at US but only comprised two fragments of an inflorescence and no leaves. As both A. perennans and A. subrepens have strikingly similar spikelet morphology, there was no way to be confident on its placement, raising ambiguity over whether A. subrepens occurs in South America. The species has been included in checklists or taxonomic treatments for Bolivia ( Jørgensen et al. 2014), Colombia ( Giraldo-Cañas et al. 2016), Peru ( Tovar 1993), and Venezuela ( Hokche et al. 2008). The identification key and description of A. subrepens in the treatment for Peru ( Tovar 1993) do not match the type specimens and it may be that Tovar (1993) had not seen types as he distinguishes this from A. perennans (sub A. humboldtiana ) and A. imberbis (sub A. stenophylla ) in part by the leaf blades being flat and flaccid. Although Giraldo-Cañas et al. (2016) mention this species to occur in Departamentos Boyacá, Cundinamarca, and Santander of the Cordillera Oriental, and Antioquia, Huila, and Quindio of the Cordillera Central, no specimens have been verified by us, although we did not revise specimens outside of Boyacá while at COL and none were verified from these provinces while at US. While we have found certain characteristics to differentiate this from A. imberbis , such as culm and panicle size, and ligule form, it may be that these are the same and that A. imberbis is a species more amply distributed. See comments under Agrostis cf. imberbis and A. perennans s.l. for how to differentiate these from A. subrepens .