New vascular plant records for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Lynn J Gillespie; Jeffery M Saarela; Paul C Sokoloff; Roger D Bull

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.52.8721

New vascular plant records for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

PhytoKeys. 2015 Jun 25:(52):23-79. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.52.8721. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Lynn J Gillespie¹, Jeffery M Saarela¹, Paul C Sokoloff¹, Roger D Bull¹

Affiliation

¹ Botany Section & Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Research and Collections, Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443 Stn. D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4, Canada.

Abstract

The Canadian Arctic Archipelago is a vast region of approximately 1,420,000 km(2), with a flora characterized by low species diversity, low endemicity, and little influence by alien species. New records of vascular plant species are documented here based on recent fieldwork on Victoria and Baffin Islands; additional records based on recent literature sources are mentioned. This paper serves as an update to the 2007 publication Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and brings the total number of vascular plants for the region to 375 species and infraspecific taxa, an increase of 7.7%. Three families (Amaranthaceae, Juncaginaceae, Pteridaceae) and seven genera (Cherleria L., Cryptogramma R. Br., Platanthera Rich., Sabulina Rchb., Suaeda Forssk. ex J.F. Gmel., Triglochin L., Utricularia L.) are added to the flora, and one genus is deleted (Minuartia L.). Five species are first records for Nunavut (Arenarialongipedunculata Hultén, Cryptogrammastelleri (S.G. Gmel.) Prantl, Puccinelliabanksiensis Consaul, Saxifragaeschscholtzii Sternb., Utriculariaochroleuca R.W. Hartm.).

Keywords: Amaranthaceae; Baffin Island; Cryptogramma; Floristics; Juncaginaceae; Northwest Territories; Nunavut; Platanthera; Pteridaceae; Suaeda; Triglochin; Utricularia; Victoria Island.