Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
| Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago | |
English: Arctic eyebright,
French: Euphraise arctique.
Scrophulariaceae, Fernweed family.
Published in Bot. Zhurn. 89: In print. 2004 [not in the 2004 issues seen by Feb. 2005].
Type: Described from northwestern European Russia.
Synonymy. Euphrasia arctica auct., non Lange ex Rostr., 1870–1871.
Euphrasia frigida auct., non Pugsley, 1930.
Euphrasia arctica Lange var. minutissima Polunin, Bull. Natl. Mus. Canada 94 (Biol. Ser. 24): 326. 1940.
Euphrasia arctica Lange f. minutissima (Polunin) J. Rousseau, Naturaliste Canad. 69: 239. 1943.
Vegetative morphology. Plants (1.5–)5–10 cm high (plants to 15 cm in Greenland, Quebec, and Labrador, where stems are more likely to be branched); annual herbs; not caespitose. Taproot present. Ground level or underground stems absent. Caudex absent. Aerial stems erect (somewhat flexuous). Aerial stem trichomes present; retrorse (more or less). Leaves distributed along the stems; opposite; not distinctly distichous; dying annually and non-persistent. Petioles absent, or present (sometimes "obscurely present"). Leaf blade bases cuneate (broadly), or attenuate (to shortly petiolate). Blades 3–8(–11) mm long, 3–7(–8) mm wide, spreading or divaricate, oblong or obovate (floral leaves associated with each flower, lower floral leaves (3-)5–12(-18) mm long, truncate or cuneate at the base, elliptical to deltoid or suborbicular in outline, with 2–5(-8) pairs of obtuse to subacute teeth usually not longer than wide), flat, veins palmate. Blade adaxial surface glabrous (more or less, sometimes with short glandular hairs to sub-orbicular, usually with 1–4(-5) pairs of teeth, usually obtuse to subacute, usually not longer than wide). Blade abaxial surface without sessile glands or glandular hairs (on the blade surfaces), glabrous. Blades lobed. Leaf primary lobes ovate-lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, all lobes pointing forwards. Blade margins serrate or dentate, with non-glandular hairs, with teeth toward the apex; apices acute, or rounded.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems circular or oval in cross section. Flowering stems with leaves (lowest flower at node 2–4(-5)). Flowering stems hairy. Flowering stems pilose. Flowering stem hairs simple; shorter than the diameter of the flowering stem; white or translucent; glandular hairs absent. Inflorescences spicate (flowers borne in the axils of leaves); elongating as the fruit matures (slightly). Pedicels absent. Flowers per inflorescence (2–)3–5; described as "small" flowered; bilaterally symmetrical (zygomorphic). Sepals conventional; 4; fused; 5.5–6 mm wide; green (sometimes with some purplish colouration). Calyx tubular; 4-lobed; hairy (with trichomes on the margins). Calyx hairs non-glandular; white or translucent. Calyx margins ciliate. Calyx teeth equal or nearly so; without or with few glandular verrucae; 2.4–2.6 mm long (each tapering to an acuminate tip). Petals conventional; fused; 5; white, or purple (lilac; rarely deep purple); with contrasting markings (purple or blue lines on each petal that is yellow at the base); 5.5–6 mm long. Corolla bilabiate; 4-lobed. Stamens 4; stamen filaments markedly unequal in length (didynamous); free of the corolla. Anthers 0.6–0.8 mm long (anthers with parallel loculi, spurred, one loculus with a longer spur than the other). Ovary superior; carpels 2; syncarpous. Ovaries oblong; hairy (towards the apex). Ovary hairs white; spreading; straight. Styles 1; 3.3–3.6 mm long; straight. Stigmas per ovary 1. Placentation axile. Ovules per ovary numerous. Fruit sessile; with calyx persisting; dry; a capsule; obovate, or oblong (about twice as long or longer than the calyx, about twice as long as wide, emarginate, rarely truncate); brown; 4.5–6(–7) mm long (about as long, or longer than the calyx); hairy (at apex); surface appearing veinless; not distinctly flattened; dehiscent; splitting to the base into separate segments. Seeds numerous; 1.5–1.7 mm long; black, or brown; surfaces ridged (with prominent white striate ridges).
Chromosome information. 2n = 44.
(2n) (4x) = 44. Sørensen and Westergaard, in Löve and Löve (1948, Greenland).
Ploidy levels recorded 4x.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: lakeshores, slopes, cliffs; imperfectly drained moist areas, moderately well-drained areas; clay, till, moss; with high organic content. Gull Cliffs opposite Pangnirtung (CAN 223788); park-like openings in damp, mossy woods (Newfoundland, CAN 96658); granite ledges and gravel along a book (Newfoundland, CAN 96660); wet runs and boggy spots in limestone barrens (Newfoundland, CAN 96667).
North American distribution. Nunavut Islands, northern Quebec, Labrador. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Rare. Low Arctic, alpine. Arctic islands: Baffin (and Digges Island).
Northern hemisphere distribution. Amphi-Atlantic. Northern Iceland, Northern Fennoscandian, Kanin–Pechora, Svalbard – Franz Joseph Land, Polar Ural – Novaya Zemlya, Yamal–Gydan, Taimyr – Severnaya Zemlya, Labrador – Hudson Bay, Ellesmere Land – Peary Land, West Greenland, East Greenland.
General notes. Elven (personal communication, 2005) noted that the name E. wettsteinii is the only name that certainly belongs to the widespread, small-flowered, and non-glandular, broadly amphi-atlantic plant that occurs on Baffin Island.
In addition to E. wettsteinii and E. disjuncta there are three species reported from nearby areas. Euphrasia vinacea P.D. Sell and Yeo [Feddes Repert. 64: 203. 1962] is a "Hudsonian" endemic typified from Churchill on Hudson Bay. It is considered closely related to E. wettsteinii and is tentatively reported also from arctic Labrador. Euphrasia hudsonica Fernald and Wiegand [Rhodora 17: 194. 1915] was described from Ungava [Canada: Ungava, Spreadborough, Koaksoak River, 08.1896, leg. M.L. Fernald and K.M. Wiegand (GH) holotype] and occurs as arctic at least in North Labrador (Nain), Ungava, and along Hudson Bay. It is characterised by first flowers from comparatively low nodes (4–6), leaves more or less sharply dentate, flowers comparatively large, white-lilac, more hairy than most other northern entities but with only eglandular hairs, conspicuously long hairs on the leaves and calyx compared with European entities, the calyx with blackish spots (as in E. wettsteinii), and each capsule more or less equals its calyx in length. A third species, also characterised by often abundant, glandular hairs is Euphrasia frigida Pugsley (as typified, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 48: 490. 1930) in much of South and Central Greenland. One or more of these species might occur also in the Arctic Islands.
Illustrations. • Habitat. Tiny annual plants between the markers, growing on a bare patch of ground in a wet meadow. Manitoba, Bird Cove. Aiken and Brysting 02–011. CAN. • Habitat: Baffin Island, Ogac Lake. Tiny annual plants with whitish flowers growing at a gravel lakeside in a snow patch area with Salix herbacea. Aiken and LeBlanc 04–224. CAN. • Close-up of plants. Flowering annual plants about 3 cm high, growing on a relatively bare patch of ground in a wet meadow. Manitoba, Bird Cove. Aiken and Brysting 02–011. CAN. • Close-up of flower. Bi-labiate flower, less than 4 mm across, yellow at the throat of the corolla. Five petals fused into four lobes. Two fused pale pinkish upper petals appear as one notched lobe. Three lower petal lobes, each notched and with a purple line. Two prominent purple anthers. Manitoba, Bird Cove. Aiken and Brysting 02–011. CAN. • Close-up of inflorescence. Note the prominent ciliate hairs on the margins of the purple sepals, and the petals that are much longer than the sepals, in this relatively large flowered species. Aiken and Brysting 02–011. CAN. • Close-up of flower and bud. Bilabiate flower with two fused petals in the erect helmet and 3 fused landing petals. All petals have conspicuous contrasting makings as insect guides. Note the two large anthers that have spurs of unequal lengths (a). Nunavut, Baffin Island, Ogac Lake. July, 2004. Aiken and LeBlanc 04–224. CAN. • Close-up of insect guidelines. Notes patterning in insect guidelines, particularly on the central landing petals. Aiken and LeBlanc 04–224. CAN. • Arctic Island Distribution.
This publication is available on the internet (posted May 2011) and on CD-ROM (published in 2007). These versions are identical in content, except that the errata page for CD-ROM is accessible on the main index page of the web version.
Recommended citation for the web-based version of this publication: Aiken, S.G., Dallwitz, M.J., Consaul, L.L., McJannet, C.L., Boles, R.L., Argus, G.W., Gillett, J.M., Scott, P.J., Elven, R., LeBlanc, M.C., Gillespie, L.J., Brysting, A.K., Solstad, H., and Harris, J.G. 2007. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa. http://nature.ca/aaflora/data, accessed on DATE.
Recommended citation for the CD-ROM version of this publication: Aiken, S.G., Dallwitz, M.J., Consaul, L.L., McJannet, C.L., Boles, R.L., Argus, G.W., Gillett, J.M., Scott, P.J., Elven, R., LeBlanc, M.C., Gillespie, L.J., Brysting, A.K., Solstad, H., and Harris, J.G. 2007. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. [CD-ROM] NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa.
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