Primula egaliksensis Wormsk.

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 : 51-52

Primula egaliksensis Wormsk. Fig. 17

Common name.

Greenland primrose

Distribution.

Arctic-alpine amphi-Beringia-North America

Comments.

Our collections are the first for this species in the CAA. This species commonly occurs along lakeshores and riverbeds in tundra and alpine regions of Canada, Greenland and the United States ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Kelso 2009), and is known from both Ungava Bay to the south and Greenland to the west of southeastern Baffin Island where our collections were made. One population collected was found in a moist mossy depression among rocks in a disturbed site near the Kimmirut boat landing on Soper Lake, associated with Chamerion latifolium , Bistorta vivipara and Cardamine pratensis subsp. angustifolia (Hook.) O.E. Schultz. The second population was on moist mossy ground among rocky outcrops on a small island, with Leymus mollis , Juncus arcticus , Dupontia fisheri , Puccinellia phryganodes , Potentilla anserina subsp. egedei (Wormsk. ex Hornem.) Hiitonen and Saxifraga caespitosa L. Similar in size and appearance to Potentilla stricta Hornem., a largely sympatric species that is found in the CAA on Banks Island and Victoria Island, Primula egaliksensis is distinguished by its non-farinose flowering stem (versus farinose at least at the apex), abruptly petiolate leaves, and calyx base that is less prominently saccate and never auriculate ( Kelso 2009, Saarela et al. 2013a).

Specimens examined.

Canada. Nunavut: Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Soper Lake, SE corner, Kimmirut boat landing, 62°51'45"N, 69°52'56"W, 16 m, 19 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2606 (CAN-601987, COCO); Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Katannilik Territorial Park Reserve, small unnamed island on Soper Lake (Eider duck colony), 62°53'6"N, 69°53'18"W, 9 m, 19 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2640 (CAN-601986).