General: Plants densely cespitose from a branched caudex, cushion-forming, 2-5 cm tall.
Stems: Scapes solitary at ends of branches, erect, densely hairy with branched and forked hairs, 1-3 mm (to 20 [35] mm in fruit).
Leaves: ). Leaves closely-overlapping and shingle-like along the branches, becoming marcescent with age, greenish at shoot tips and reddish-brown along the branches, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, entire, often glabrescent adaxially, hairy abaxially with stellate or forked hairs, ciliate, 4-10 mm.
Flowers: Inflorescences of solitary (rarely 2) flowers at ends of branches, usually bracteate; involucral bract solitary (rarely absent), ovate-lanceolate, 1-2 mm. Flowers sessile; corollas rose-pink, tube 3-4 mm, lobes 3-5 mm; calyces glabrous, 3-5 mm, lobes ovate to triangular. Flowering Jun-Jul.
Fruits: Capsules globose, 5-valvate.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Key to the Species and Taxonomic Notes
Key to Douglasia
1a. Plants taprooted biennials, not cespitose or mat-forming; leaves in a single basal rosette…………………...…...…[D. alaskana]
1b. Plants perennials, densely to loosely cespitose from a branching caudex or rhizomatous and mat-forming; leaves in multiple rosettes or densely overlapping along the branching stems…...……………………….………………..…………...……………2
2a. Plants densely cespitose; stems densely covered in tightly overlapping, marcescent, reddish-brown leaves; plants of nw BC… ………………...............................................................................................D. gormanii
2b. Plants rhizomatous and mat-forming or loosely cespitose; leaves in multiple basal rosettes; plants of coastal BC or potentially occurring in sc or se BC..….………………………………………………...…………………………3
3a. Inflorescences of 1-2 flowers; plants loosely cespitose; not yet known from BC, but may potentially occur in extreme se interior.……………………………………………………………….[D. montana]
3b. Inflorescences of 2-10 flowers; plants usually mat-forming (sometimes loosely cespitose); plants of coastal BC or potentially occurring in sc interior……………………………………………………………………………4
4a. Leaves linear to lanceolate, densely hairy with branched and stellate hairs on both surfaces, not ciliate; plants not yet recorded from BC, but may occur in high elevation areas of the sc interior…………………....……….....[D. nivalis]
4b. Leaves oblanceolate or oblong to spatulate, glabrous on both surfaces and usually with ciliate margins; plants of coastal BC………………………………………………………………........D. laevigata
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014
Author: Jamie Fenneman
Habitat / Range
Rocky slopes, stony tundra, and scree in the alpine zone. Rare in nw BC (Atlin, Spatsizi Plateau); north to AK, YT.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Additional Notes
Douglasia gormanii is the only representative of a group of four densely cespitose (‘pulvinate’) Beringian Douglasia species that occurs in B.C.; the remaining three species are found in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and extreme northeastern Siberia. Populations of D. gormanii on the Spatsizi Plateau in northwestern B.C. appear to be disjunct from the remainder of the species’ distribution, but future surveys in the remote intervening areas may yet detect additional undocumented populations; the Spatsizi Plateau is known to support other disjunct arctic-alpine species and was likely a refugium during the most recent glaciation. The pedicels of D. gormanii and related species are very short during flowering, exceeding the leaves by only a few millimetres, but elongate considerably after anthesis to become up to 3.5 cm long.
Reports of Douglasia alaskana (Cov. & Standl.) S.Kelso (ALASKA DOUGLASIA) [=Androsace alaskana Cov. & Standl.] from the Atlin region of northwestern B.C. have been based on misidentifications of D. gormanii, but this unique species occurs very close to the border in the southwest Yukon Territory and may yet be expected in the province. It is a biennial species of scree slopes and rocky alpine tundra, and is somewhat transitional morphologically between Douglasia and Androsace. Douglasia alaskana can be recognized by the single dense basal rosette of coarsely toothed leaves that subtends a dense cluster of 4-20 short-stalked pink to whitish (with age) flowers; the pedicels elongate greatly over the growing season, eventually becoming long and sprawling.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014
Author: Jamie Fenneman
Family Information
Primulaceae:
Annual, biennial, or perennial forbs; scapose; from fibrous roots, short rhizome, or branched caudex, occasionally mat-forming or cespitose. Scapes ascending to erect, solitary or several per plant, unbranched. Leaves all basal, often rosulate, simple, unlobed, entire to toothed, subsessile to stalked, glabrous to pubescent, sometime glandular. Inflorescence a terminal, bracteate umbel, or flowers solitary. Flowers radially symmetric, 5-merous, bisexual, stalked; corolla campanulate or tubular to salviform, lobes sometimes sharply reflexed, usually whitish or pinkish to deep magenta, 4- to 5-lobed; calyces 4- to 5-lobed; stamens 5; filaments distinct or partially connate; ovary superior; style 1. Fruits 5-chambered dehiscent capsules, valvate to circumcissile. Genera 20, species ca. 600 (4 genera, 15 spp. in B.C.). Widespread in arctic, temperate, and subtropical regions of the northern hemisphere; disjunct in equatorial regions (e.g., e Africa, Indonesia) and in the southern hemisphere (e.g., s South America).
Non-scapose genera that were formerly included in Primulaceae ( Anagallis, Glaux, Lysimachia, Trientalis) have now been moved to Myrsinaceae (Källersjö et al. 2000, Trift et al. 2002, Cholewa and Kelso 2009). Many species in this family have a pronounced association with calcareous environments and are subsequently rather locally distributed within the province. Primulaceae contains a number of very showy species, and several genera have become important ornamentals in the horticultural trade (e.g., Primula, Dodecatheon).
Key to the Genera of Primulaceae
1a. Corolla lobes >2 times as long as the tube, sharply reflexed; stamens far exserted; filaments often at least partially connate (distinct in some species) .........................................................................Dodecatheon
1b. Corolla lobes less than twice as long as the tube, not reflexed; stamens included; filaments never connate…………………….........................2
2a. Calyces keeled (at least on the tube); plants densely cespitose (cushion-like) or mat-forming perennials with clusters of leaves at the bases of the scapes (rarely taprooted biennials), corollas rose-pink (fading to lavender, rarely to whitish).…...............................................Douglasia
2b. Calyces not keeled or only weakly keeled in fruit; plants taprooted annuals or perennials from fibrous roots or short rhizomes, or if mat-forming perennials (i.e., Androsace chamaejasme), then corollas white or pink-tinged with a yellow or pink throat..……………………….……………………………………………………………………………………...................................3
3a. Corollas constricted at the throat, magenta to lavender (rarely white), usually >7 mm across; plants never densely grey-hairy… ………………………………………………………...…………………………………………………..................................................Primula
3b. Corollas not constricted at the throat, white (sometimes fading pinkish in A. chamaejasme), usually <5 mm across (if >5 mm, then plants densely grey-hairy)…….……….......................................................……Androsace
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Genus Information
Mat-forming to densely cespitose, scapose perennial forbs from a branched caudex (rarely taprooted biennials). Scapes hairy, hairs both branched and stellate. Leaves in multiple basal rosettes (rarely single rosette), obscurely petiolate, surfaces hairy to glabrous, usually ciliate. Inflorescences terminal, usually bracteate umbel, or flowers solitary. Flowers sessile to short-stalked, pink to magenta (sometimes fading to white), sometimes with a yellow throat; corolla salverform, 5-lobed; calyces campanulate, keeled, 5-lobed; stamens included; anthers yellow. Capsules globose, 5-valvate. 10 spp. (2 spp. in B.C.); nw North America, e Asia.
Many species in this attractive genus, which is centred in two discrete areas of northwestern North America (Alaska-Yukon, northwestern United States), are narrow endemics. Most species inhabit subalpine or alpine areas, and are rare at lower elevations. Douglasia is closely related to Androsace, differing primarily in flower colour and growth habit. Recent molecular-genetic studies have shown convincingly that the genus is derived from within the Eurasian-American clade of Androsace (Schneeweiss et al. 2004, Boucher et al. 2011) and, as such, should be included within that genus to preserve its monophyly; however, it is a morphologically distinctive group that has traditionally been recognized separately, and it is treated as such here. In addition to the two species that are confirmed for B.C., three other Douglasia species have in the past been reported for the province, although all remain unconfirmed; see the accounts of D. gormanii and D. laevigata for additional information on these species.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Douglasia gormanii
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
