Puccinellia bruggemannii T.J. Sørensen

Desjardins, Émilie, Lai, Sandra, Payette, Serge, Dubé, Martin, Sokoloff, Paul C., St-Louis, Annie, Poulin, Marie-Pier, Legros, Jade, Sirois, Luc, Vézina, François, Tam, Andrew & Berteaux, Dominique, 2021, Survey of the vascular plants of Alert (Ellesmere Island, Canada), a polar desert at the northern tip of the Americas, Check List 17 (1), pp. 181-225 : 210

Puccinellia bruggemannii T.J. Sørensen

Figure 11K

Materials examined. CANADA – Nunavut • Ellesmere Island, CFS Alert; 82°27′28″N, 062°03′55″W; 140 m a.s.l.; 26 Jul. 2019; habitat: xeric, with polygonal patterned ground made of till and rocks, and sparse dominance of Stellaria longipes and Saxifraga oppositifolia ; QFA 0635526 • same locality; 82°24′36″N, 062°43′04″W; 369 m a.s.l.; 17 Jul. 2019; habitat: barren ground, with till and rocks as substrates; QFA 0635527 • same locality; 82°28′01″N, 062°10′01″W; 141 m a.s.l.; 18 Jul. 2019; hab- itat: xeric, with polygonal patterned ground made of till and rocks, and sparse dominance of Saxifraga oppositi- folia; QFA 0635528.

Identification. Plants 4–10 cm high; herbaceous; caespitose. Fibrous roots present. Stems 2–8 cm long; erect, ascending, or semi-prostrate; glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline. Sheath margins glabrous or scabrous. Ligules 0.4–1.4 mm long. Basal leaf blades 8–30 mm long, 0.4– 0.9 mm wide; linear; folded or rolled in bud; abaxial and adaxial surfaces both glabrous; margins glabrous. Flag leaf blades 2.8–20.0 mm long, 0.4–0.7 mm wide. Inflo- rescence a dense panicle; 12–45 mm long. Branches at lowest inflorescence node 2–3; 1.4–9.5 mm long. Pedi- cels scabrous. Spikelets 3.5–4.1 mm long, 1.6–2.5 mm wide. Florets per spikelet 2–4. First glumes 1.1–2.0 mm long; ovate; surface glabrous; margins glabrous or scabrous; apices acute. Second glumes 1.9–2.9 mm long (shorter than, or almost as long as, the lowest floret); lanceolate; veins 3; surface glabrous; margins glabrous or scabrous; apices obtuse. Lemmas 2.2–4.0 mm long, 0.5–0.9 mm wide; elliptic; rounded on the back and with incurved lemma tips; veins 5; surface dull (and shiny apically), glabrous, and hairy, with hairs on the veins proximally; apices acute or erose, and slightly scabrous; tip incurved; awnless. Palea 2.3–2.9 mm long; veins hairy proximally, with simple curly hairs, and scabrous apically. Rachilla between first and second lemmas 0.7–1.2 mm long. Androecium with 3 stamens and 0.6–0.8 mm long anthers. Gynoecium with 2 styles.

Characteristics allowing to distinguish P. bruggemannii from the other Puccinellia species present on Ellesmere Island can be found under P. angustata .

Puccinellia phryganodes (Trinius) Scribner & Merrill subsp. neoarctica (Á. Löve & D. Löve) Elven Materials examined. CANADA – Nunavut • Ellesmere Island, CFS Alert ; 82°31′31″N, 062°11′49″W; 0 m a.s.l.; 3 Aug. 2019; habitat: ocean shore, with sand and rocks as substrates; QFA0635525 .

Identification. Plants 2.0– 3.5 cm high; herbaceous; caespitose. Fibrous roots and stolons (growing in a zigzag pattern) present. Stolons 2–8 cm long; prostrate; glabrous. Leaves basal and along the stolons. Sheath margins glabrous. Ligules 0.3–0.8 mm long. Basal leaf blades 10.0– 19.8 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide; linear; involute, rolled in bud, or folded; abaxial and adaxial surfaces both glabrous; margins glabrous. Cauline leaf blades (emerging from stolons) 4.0– 9.8 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide. Inflo- rescence not observed at Alert.

Characteristics allowing to distinguish P. phryganodes subsp. neoarctica from the other Puccinellia species present on Ellesmere Island can be found under P. angustata .