Cerastium arcticum, Lange

Abstract

In contending that Murbeck and Ostenfeld made the combination Cerastium edmondstonii “in contradiction to the rules of botanical nomenclature”, and that “therefore the name C. edmondstonii is illegitimate” (presumably on the ground of redundancy, as a mere change of status of the type indicated is of itself perfectly legitimate), Miss O. E. Brett¹ is labouring inter alia under the common assumption that the European plant is conspecific with those described by Johan Lange principally from Greenland as C. arcticum. Having some years ago worked in west Greenland (from parts of which most of Lange's material came) and found there specimens seemingly indistinguishable from those in Herb. Copenhagen determined by him as C. arcticum, I ventured to question the validity of this assumption²; my feeling that, whatever the status of the European plant, Lange's Greenland material is best treated within the polymorphic complex C. alpinum s.1. was supported by the late A. J. Wilmott, and, apparently, by Clapham, Tutin and Warburg³, who uphold C. edmondstonii and give among its synonyms “C. arcticum auct., vix Lange”. Earlier on, Ostenfeld before his death and also Gelting⁴ appear to have come to the conclusion that all the Greenland plants should be referred to C. alpinum. The cytological information so far available is not very helpful.