Diapensia lapponica
Diapensia lapponica | |
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Diapensia lapponica subsp. obovata in Japan | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Diapensiaceae |
Genus: | Diapensia |
Species: | D. lapponica
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Binomial name | |
Diapensia lapponica | |
Subspecies | |
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Diapensia lapponica, the pincushion plant, is a plant in the family
It is a small
It has oval blunt leathery toothless leaves, up to 1 cm (0.4 in) long, which are arranged in dense rosettes. It bears solitary white flowers (rarely pink), on stems up to 3 cm (1.2 in) tall.It could be aged by counting growth-rings or clump diameter, and on this basis, many Canadian plants are thought to live to over a century or two.[6]
In places such as Newfoundland an early June and later, (often) August blooming period occurs on different plants.[7] It is not known if this is a genetic or environmental affect. Two blooming periods are known for other plants. It often involves flower buds being formed in the present or previous year (overwintering buds).[8]
Subspecies
- Diapensia lapponica subsp. lapponica in eastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Scandinavia, and western Arctic Russia. It forms tussocks and its leaves are oblong‑oblanceolate to narrowly spatulate.
- Diapensia lapponica subsp. obovata in eastern Arctic Russia, Korea, Japan, Alaska and the Yukon. It forms mats because its branches can root adventitiously, and its leaf blades are obovate to spatulate‑elliptic.
The ranges of these two subspecies do not meet in north central Canada, and possibly not in central Siberia, so they are believed to be dispersing east and west from different glacial refugia.
Etymology
The name Diapensia lapponica was given by Linnaeus to designate a flower found in Lapland (Laponia > adj. lapponicus), where he traveled early in his career. Linnaeus's book about the flora of Lapland has been called "the first proto-modern flora".[9] However, sources disagree on how Linnaeus might have derived the genus name, Diapensia. Gray states that the term was derived from the ancient Greek name of the sanicle,[10] a very different looking flower, and opined that the term was "of obscure meaning [and] strangely applied . . . to this boreal plant." Webster's also reflects uncertainty stating the term is "New Latin, perhaps irregular from Greek dia pente by fives + New Latin -ia; from the five-leaved calyx",[11] a description that would apply to thousands of flowering plants. The Encyclopaedia Londinensis of John Wilkes suggested that term is from Greek,"deeply grieving or mourning; probably from its situation".[12]
Status in Britain
In
The discovery of Diapensia took place in July 1951; C. F. Tebbutt, a
It flowers at this site in May or June, the exact time varying from year to year. Some sources state that the species is found at a second site,[16][17] but recent sources state that this is not the case.[18][19]
The plant is listed in the 3rd edition of the British vascular plant Red Data Book[18] as vulnerable. It is also protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
References
- ^ (Day R.T. 2003. Diapensia on Cheju Island, South Korea and Musings on Origins. Sarracenia 11(3):29-31.)
- ^ Tiffany, W. N. (1972). "Snow cover and the Diapensia lapponica habitat in the White Mountains, New Hampshire". Rhodora. 74: 358–377.
- ^ (R. Day thesis)
- ^ (trials in Newfoundland, by R.Day)
- ^ (R. Day thesis)
- The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 98: 425–439. See also the thesis by R. Day at Memorial University Newfoundland
- ^ Day R.T and Scott P.J. 1981. Autecological aspects of Diapensia lapponica in Newfoundland. Rhodora 83: 101-109.
- ^ (see R. Day thesis)
- ISBN 978-0-521-79077-2.
- ^ Gray, Asa (1857). Manual of the botany of the northern United States. Including Virginia, Kentucky, and all east of the Mississippi: arranged according to the natural system (Revised ed.). New York, G. P. Putnam & Co.: G. P. Putnam & Co. p. 332.
- ^ "Merriam Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of arts, Sciences, and Literature (Volume V ed.). London: John Wilkes. 1810. p. 799.
- .
- ISBN 0-85661-114-X.
- ^ "Diapensia lapponica, single cushion between rocks, summit ridge between Sgurr an Utha and Fraoch-bheinn, Glenfinnan Hills". University of St Andrews. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012.
- ^ Garrard, Ian; David Streeter. The Wild flowers of the British Isles. Midsummer Books, London.
- ^ "Wildlife in Glenfinnan". Glenfinnan Estate.
- ^ a b Wigginton, M. J. (1999). British Red Data Books 1. Vascular Plants (3rd ed.). Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
- ISBN 0-19-851067-5.