Leymus innovatus subsp. velutinus (Bowden) Tzvelev, 2000

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 : 37

Leymus innovatus subsp. velutinus (Bowden) Tzvelev

Common Name.

Northern downy ryegrass

Distribution.

American Beringia

Comments.

Although not reported in Aiken et al. (2007) for the CAA, this species was first reported for the CAA from Banks Island by Mason et al. (1972, as Elymus innovatus Beal), based on a collection from the Masik River Valley (71°37'N, 123°6'W, 20 July 1968, W.R.M. Mason 93, DAO-543555, not seen). There is also a collection in CAN (two sheets) from Sachs Harbour (Banks Island, Northwest Territories), previously determined as Agropyron violaceum (Hornem.) Lange (det. A.E. Porsild) and Elymus alaskanus subsp. latiglumis (Scribn. & J.G. Smith) Á. Löve (det. M.E. Barkworth, 1993), that has been re-determined as this species (det. J.M. Saarela). The taxon was mapped on southern Banks Island by Porsild and Cody (1980) and Barkworth (2007), probably based on the Mason collection and/or one or more correctly-determined duplicates of the Sachs Harbour collection in other herbaria. It grows in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and the western Northwest Territories ( Barkworth 2007) with Sachs Harbour and the Masik River Valley the only known locations in the CAA. Leymus innovatus (Beal) Pilg. and Leymus mollis -the only two species of the genus in the CAA-may be distinguished by the following key (adapted from Barkworth 2007):

1	Lemmas unawned, 11-20 mm long; glumes tapering from midlength or above, flat or rounded on the back, apices acute	Leymus mollis
-	Lemmas awned, 7-12 mm long; glumes tapering from the base to the nearly subulate apices	Leymus innovatus

Specimens examined.

Canada. Northwest Territories: Banks Island, Sachs Harbour, 71°58'N, 125°15'W, 17-25 July 1969, M. Kuc 405 (CAN-432022, CAN-432023).