Luzula wahlenbergii Rupr.

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

Luzula wahlenbergii Rupr.

Common name.

Wahlenberg’s woodrush

Distribution.

Circumpolar-alpine

Comments.

This is the first collection of this low Arctic species from the western CAA. The taxon is known from several sites on adjacent mainland Nunavut ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Cody et al. 1989, Cody 1996, Cody and Reading 2005). Our collection represents a range extension in the central portion of its range of some 330 km north-northwest of the nearest site on mainland Nunavut (George Lake Camp, 65°55'10"N, 107°23'00"W, Reading 466, DAO; Cody and Reading 2005). This taxon is now known from eight sites in the CAA: the one reported here, and seven on southeastern Baffin Island. Elsewhere in the Canadian Arctic there are numerous collections of the species from northern Quebec and northwestern North America (Alaska, Yukon, western mainland Northwest Territories) ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Swab 2000, Kirschner 2002, Hay 2013).

Specimen examined.

Canada. Nunavut: Kitikmeot Region, Victoria Island, flat topped steep sided hill, 11 km NE of Johansen Bay airstrip, 68°39'12"N, 110°54'47"W, 120 m, 20 July 2008, Gillespie, Saarela, Consaul & Bull 8170 (CAN-592326).