1090 Dryas octopetala L.

Within this polymorphic, arctic-montane species several lower taxa are distinguished, sometimes ranked as species (cf. Hultén, Circumpol. Il, p. 54). Here D. octopetala is taken in a wide sense, thus including int. al. D. babingtoniana Pors. and D. punctata Juz. (cf. Fl. Eur. 2/1968, p. 34). Other taxa, such as subsp. alaskensis (Pors.) Hult. in Alaska and NW. Canada and subsp. integrifolia (Vahl) Hult., are clearly distinguishable and often regarded as species (Porsild and Cody 1980, p. 405 f.). The last-mentioned subspecies is mapped tentatively here as well as the known finds of hybrids between it and D. octopetala. The species s. lat. belongs to the circumpolar plants (Hultén, I. cit. and map 45). Numerous fossil finds have been made in Europe from interglacial, pleniglacial and late-glacial times (Tralau in Ark. Bot., K. Vet. Ak., Stockh., 5:3/1963, p. 547 ff., with differentiation in these categories). Cf. also Meusel et al. 1965, map p. 220.