Triglochin palustris L.

Gillespie, Lynn J., Saarela, Jeffery M., Sokoloff, Paul C. & Bull, Roger D., 2015, New vascular plant records for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, PhytoKeys 52, pp. 23-79 : 31

Triglochin palustris L. Fig. 4

Common name.

Marsh arrowgrass

Distribution.

Circumboreal-polar

Comments.

Discovery of this widely-distributed temperate and facultatively halophytic species growing in wet, brackish habitats at two sites on southern Baffin Island adds a new monocot family, Juncaginaceae , to the flora of the CAA. This taxon is diminutive on Baffin Island, ranging from 6-12 cm tall (larger elsewhere in its range, up to 42.5 cm tall; Haynes and Hellquist 2000a) and therefore easily overlooked, particularly when in flower (fruiting plants are more noticeable). On the mainland, it is known from several Arctic coastal and near-coastal sites in adjacent northern Quebec ( Blondeau and Cayouette 2002, Hay 2013) and from a few sites on mainland Nunavut and the Northwest Territories ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Blondeau and Cayouette 2002, Saarela et al. 2013a) and southern Greenland ( Haynes and Hellquist 2000a). The larger and more robust species Triglochin maritima L., which occurs on the mainland Arctic ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Hay 2013, Saarela et al. 2013a), is not known from the CAA.

One collection was gathered from a population in wet sandy ground in a dried up depression adjacent to meromictic Soper Lake, associated with Eriophorum scheuchzeri Hoppe, Juncus arcticus Willd., Carex bicolor , and Dupontia fisheri R. Br. The second collection was gathered from a sedge meadow at the input of Fundo Lake, associated with Carex atrofusca Schkuhr, Carex gynocrates Wormsk. ex Drejer, Carex membranacea Hook., Carex microglochin , Carex rariflora (Wahlenb.) Sm., Carex scirpoidea , Eriophorum angustifolium , Eriophorum callitrix Cham., Eriophorum russeolum Fr., Eriophorum scheuchzeri , Juncus arcticus , Kobresia simpliciuscula (Wahlenb.) Mack. and Trichophorum caespitosum (L.) Hartm.

Specimens examined.

Canada. Nunavut: Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Katannilik Territorial Park Reserve, Soper Falls, S side of Soper Lake, just SE of Soper Falls, 62°54'1"N, 69°50'54"W, 6 m, 17 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2535 (ALA, CAN-601427, MT); Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Kimmirut, N end of Fundo Lake below Taqaiqsirvik Territorial Park, 62°50'50"N, 69°53'40"W, 35 m, 20 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2652 (CAN-601426, O, WIN).