Poa alpina alpina L.,Sp. Pl. 1: 67. 1753., 2012

Soreng, Robert J. & Peterson, Paul M., 2012, Revision of Poa L. (Poaceae, Pooideae, Poeae, Poinae) in Mexico: new records, re-evaluation of P. ruprechtii, and two new species, P. palmeri and P. wendtii, PhytoKeys 15, pp. 1-104 : 8-10

1. Poa alpina alpina L.,Sp. Pl. 1: 67. 1753. subsp. Fig. 1 A-M

Type:

Europe, in alpibus Lapponicis, Helveticis (lectotype: LINN-87.2!, designated by Soreng 2000: 254).

Uralepis mutica E. Fourn., Mexic. Pl. 2: 110. 1886. Type: Mexico, Liebmann Gramineae No. 611 (holotype: C, photo US; isotype: US!, right hand culm ex C present in photo taken by A.S.Hitchcock).

Poa violascens Phil. Linnaea 29(1): 100. 1858. nom. illeg. hom., non. Cheval. 1827. Type: Chile, Cerca de Arauco, C. Gay Herb. Chil. 164 (holotype: SGO-PHIL-413!; isotype: SGO-45741!).

Description.

Hermaphroditic. Perennials; tufted, tufts dense, fairly narrow to medium girth, low (mostly less than 8 cm tall), dark green to slightly bluish-green; tillers intravaginal (each subtended by a single elongated, 2-keeled, longitudinally split prophyll), without cataphyllous shoots, sterile shoots more numerous than flowering shoots. Culms 10-40 cm tall, erect, sometimes slightly geniculate at base, leaves mostly basal, terete, smooth; nodes 1-2, 1 usually exerted. Leaves mostly basal; leaf sheaths terete, smooth, glabrous; butt sheaths persistent, papery, proximal sheaths densely overlapping, persistent; flag leaf sheaths 4-8 cm long, margins fused ca. 12-29% the length, much longer than its blade; collars smooth, glabrous; ligules of upper cauline leaves to 4(-5) mm long, milky white, abaxially smooth, glabrous, apices obtuse, of sterile shoots 1-2(-3) mm long; blades of cauline leaves 1-5(-12) cm long, 2-4.5 mm wide, flat, moderately thick, soft, straight, mostly basal, smooth or margins lightly sc abrous, broadly prow-tipped; upper culm blades reduced in length; flag leaf blades ca. 1 cm long; sterile shoot blades widely spreading, persisting through the season. Panicles 2-6(-8) cm long, erect, open or loosely contracted at maturity, pyramidal to ovoid, fairly congested, proximal internode 0.6-1(-1.5) cm long; rachis with 1-2 branches per node; primary branches ascending to spreading, straight, to divaricating in flower, terete, smooth or very lightly scabrous, rarely moderately densely scabrous all around; pedicels divaricately spreading, lateral pedicels 1/5-1/2 the spikelet in length, smooth or sparsely to moderately scabrous; longest branches 1-3(-4) cm. Spikelets 3.9-6.2 mm long, 1.5-2.5 × long as wide, ovate, laterally compressed, but plump; florets 3-7, rarely bulbous basally and leaf-like distally (in high arctic), hermaphroditic; rachilla internodes terete, 0.5-0.8 mm long, smooth, glabrous or sparsely softly puberulent to short villous; glumes broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, distinctly keeled, keels lightly scabrous, acute, lower glumes 3-veined; upper glumes shorter than or subequaling lowest lemma, 3-veined; calluses glabrous; lemmas 3-5 mm long, broadly lanceolate, distinctly keeled, keels and marginal veins short to long villous, between veins sparsely to moderately short villous, intermediate veins moderately prominent, apices acute to obtuse; paleas softly puberulent to short villous over the keels for most of the length, apices scabrous. Flowers chasmogamous; lodicules 0.65-0.75 mm long, broadly lanceolate to ovate, with a short lateral lobe; anthers 1.3-2.3 mm long. Caryopses 1.9-2.2 mm long, elliptical in side-view, sulcus shallow, brown, hilum 0.25 mm long, round to oval, grain adherent to the palea. {North American counts}. 2 n = 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 40+I, 42, ca. 48, 56.

Distribution.

The species is circumboreal and in North America it ranges from Canada, Greenland, USA, south to Mexico. It is known only from the type collection and the location in Mexico is unknown.

Ecology.

The species is found in disturbed sites in boreal forests, subalpine to low alpine meadows, and rocky slopes, on calcareous to acidic substrates.

Conservation status.

The species is common in North America and rare (if extant) in Mexico.

Discussion.

Poa alpina was first reported for Mexico by Hitchcock (1935) and was accepted by Hultén and Fries (1986), Beetle (1977), and Soreng et al. (2003), based solely on the identity of the type specimen of Uralepis mutica which Fournier (1886) described in his Mexicanas plantas as "Absque loco". The holotype was annotated as " Uralepis mutica Fournier" by Fournier, and "Liebm. Pl. México No. 6233" was added to the original ticket at C. In a United States National Herbarium author’s proof copy of Hitchcock (1913), Agnes Chase penciled in a note that the type was determined by A.S. Hitchcock as Poa alpina , "but that not in hb. from south of Co[lorado], Verify". The southernmost collections in the United States are from the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains in northern New Mexico [UNM: Mora and Santa Fe cos.; NMC Taos Co.; in Soreng (2007) the map only shows Taos Co. in New Mexico]. The Liebmann specimen might have been collected in the Rocky Mountains in the former Mexican Territory (New Mexico became a territory of the United States in 1848), but we have no evidence of Liebmann collecting there (neither K. Allred nor R.W. Spellen berg have knowledge of Liebmann having collected in New Mexico, pers. comm., 2011). Furthermore, the taxon is rare in New Mexico, having been recorded for the state in only three localities, all post 1980. F.M. Liebmann (b.1813, d. 1856), Danish botanist (main herbarium at C, ca. 90000 specimens) is well known to have collected extensively in central and southern Mexico in Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz between 1841 and 1843 ( McVaugh 1987). A few of his collections recorded from other years in Tropicos are likely transcriptional errors (Missouri Botanical Gardens taxonomic database: http://www.tropicos.org/Home.aspx, fide Gerrit Davidse 2012). McVaugh only cites the 1841 to 1843 for Mexican collections. A brief on-line biography (http://www.nathimus.ku.dk/bot/liebmann.htm) of Liebmann does not give any suggestion that he traveled in or collected in the United States, indicating that he traveled to Cuba and Mexico between 1840 and 1843. Although (Harvard University Herbaria) HUH Index to Botanists indicates he also collected in the United States (http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?mode=details&id=1049), it seems unlikely that he would have had an opportunity to collect Poa alpina in the USA without having left a substantial record of collections from the country, and such a record seems to be absent. Liebmann did collect on Pico de Orizaba in 1841, and on the highest mountain in Oaxaca, Zempoaltépetl (3397 m), in 1842 ( McVaugh 1987), and these seem to be the only places in Mexico the species could have been found by Liebmann between 1841 and 1843. Liebmann nos. 603 to 610 are known to be from Orizaba, and 611 might also be from there, however his label numbers are not sequential but were added afterward to organize his collections ( McVaugh 1987). The Poa alpina specimen could have come into Liebmann’s herbarium and become mixed with Mexican material by some other means. We believe the reputed coastal Arauco, Chile, origin of the type of Poa violascens Phil. resulted from a such a mistake by Philippi; see synonymy above. Liebmann also traveled in Norway and Germany and had substantial material from other botanists. Nevertheless, it is possible for a common species like Poa alpina to have become established this far south in Mexico.

Figures

Figure 1. A-E Poa alpina L. A basal tuft B inflorescence C spikelet D floret dorsal view E floret lateral view; F-M Poa compressa L. F habit G inflorescence H culm cross-section outline I sheath, collar, blade abaxial view J branch segment with spikelet K spikelet L floret M anthers. A-M from Soreng (2007) E originally drawn from Eggleston 11824 in Hitchcock (1935).