Puccinellia vahliana (Liebmann) Scribner & Merrill

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 : 210-211

Puccinellia vahliana (Liebmann) Scribner & Merrill Figure 11L

Materials examined. CANADA – Nunavut • Ellesmere Island, CFS Alert ; 82°26′38″N, 062°11′23″W; 178 m a.s.l.; 23 Jul. 2019; habitat: mesic, with polygonal patterned ground made of till, dominated by Alopecurus magellanicus ; QFA0635523 • same locality; 82°31′13″N, 062°14′26″W; 10 m a.s.l.; 3 Aug. 2019; habitat: mesic in a slope, with till and rocks as substrates, dominated by Salix arctica ; QFA0635524 • same locality; 82°27′33″N, 61°58′45″W; 120 m a.s.l.; 6 Aug. 2019; habitat: mesic, with till and rocks as substrates, dominated by Alope- curus magellanicus and moss; QFA0635531 • same locality; 82°27′29″N, 062°08′34″W; 155 m a.s.l.; 6 Aug. 2019; habitat: wetland, with peat, till, and rocks as substrates, dominated by Alopecurus magellanicus and moss; QFA0635532 .

Identification. Plants 7.0– 17.5 cm high; herbaceous; caespitose. Fibrous roots present. Stems 4.0– 14.5 cm long; erect or ascending; glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline. Sheath margins glabrous. Ligules 1.8–2.7 mm long. Basal leaf blades 11–33 mm long, 0.4–0.7 (1.0–1.7 flat) mm wide; linear; rolled in bud or folded; abaxial and adaxial surfaces both glabrous; margins glabrous. Flag leaf blades 3.3–20.0 mm long, 0.25–0.80 (1.1–1.3 flat) mm wide. Inflorescence a dense panicle; 25–45 mm long. Branches at lowest inflorescence node 2–3; 1.0– 6.3 mm long. Pedicels glabrous. Spikelets 3.5–5.8 mm long, 1.2– 2.5 mm wide. Florets per spikelet 2 or 3. First glumes 1.5–2.9 mm long; lanceolate; surface glabrous; margins glabrous or scabrous; apices acute. Second glumes 2.1–3.6 mm long (shorter than, or almost as long as, the lowest floret); ovate; veins 1–3; surface glabrous; mar- gins glabrous or scabrous; apices acute. Lemmas 2.4–4.2 mm long, 0.5–0.9 mm wide; lanceolate; rounded on the back and with straight lemma tips; veins 3; surface dull, glabrous, and hairy, with hairs on and between the veins proximally; apices acute or erose, and glabrous; awnless. Palea 2.7–3.7 mm long; veins hairy proximally, with simple curly hairs, and scabrous apically. Rachilla between first and second lemmas 0.7–1.4 mm long. Androecium with 3 stamens and 0.8–1.8 mm long anthers. Gynoecium with 2 styles.

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