Carex brunnescens (Pers.) Poir. subsp. brunnescens

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 : 28

Carex brunnescens (Pers.) Poir. subsp. brunnescens

Common name.

Brownish sedge

Distribution.

Circumboreal-polar

Comments.

This is the first report of the species from the CAA. Our collections were gathered in Katannilik Territorial Park on southern Baffin Island, where the cespitose species was found at three sites in damp, turfy places. It was rare at two sites (only a few scattered plants), and locally common at one site. Associated species include Betula glandulosa Michx., Calamagrostis canadensis var. langsdorffii (Link) Inman, Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub, Carex arctogena Harry Sm., Carex bigelowii Torr. ex Schwein., Pedicularis lapponica L., Poa arctica R. Br. and Taraxacum ceratophorum (Ledeb.) DC.

This boreal species extends to the treeline across Canada, and into the Arctic zone in northern Quebec and northern Labrador, where it is moderately common ( Porsild and Cody 1980, Cayouette 2008), and Greenland ( Porsild and Cody 1980). Its discovery on Baffin Island increases the number of Carex species known from the CAA to 34. Carex brunnescens is classified in Carex sect. Glareosae G. Don ( Toivonen 2002); five other species of this section ( Carex ursina Dewey, Carex glareosa Schkuhr ex Wahlenb., Carex lachenali Schkuhr, Carex marina Dewey) occur in the CAA ( Aiken et al. 2007).

Specimens examined.

Canada. Nunavut: Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Katannilik Territorial Park Reserve, Soper River valley, W bank, near confluence of Willow River, ca. 14 km S of Mount Joy, 63°9'18"N, 69°41'51"W, 41 m, 8 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2232 (CAN-601449); Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Katannilik Territorial Park Reserve, Soper River, W side, S of Livingstone Falls, 63°5'22"N, 69°44'22"W, 67 m, 11 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2346 (ALA, ALTA, CAN-601450, MO, MT, O, UBC, UVIC, WTU); Qikiqtaaluk Region, Baffin Island, Katannilik Territorial Park Reserve, Soper River, 9.5 km S (downstream) of confluence with Livingstone River, W bank, willow stands in gullies at base of E-facing slope, 63°2'32"N, 69°42'47"W, 25 m, 13 July 2012, Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2407 (CAN-601451, MICH, NYBG, WIN).