ALLOZYME AND MORPHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON FESTUCA-HYPERBOREA, COMPARED WITH F-BAFFINENSIS AND F-BRACHYPHYLLA (POACEAE) FROM THE CANADIAN ARCTIC

Phenotypic plasticity in the size of leaf cross sections and in the visibility of trichomes on the leaf abaxial surface for a plant of Festuca hyperborea grown in different microhabitats is illustrated. Isozyme analyses indicate that tetraploid F. hyperborea from the Canadian Arctic is not likely a variant of tetraploid F. baffinensis and probably not a recent ancestor of the hexaploid F brachyphylla. Although 10 populations were collected in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago as morphologically intermediate between Festuca species, with F. hyperborea considered a possible parent, no isozyme evidence suggested that this species hybridizes with either F. baffinensis or F brachyphylla. Within plants sampled as F. hyperborea, 12 isozymatically distinct plants and one hybrid plant between this group and F. hyperborea were found.