Alchemilla parcipila Juz. and A. stellaris Juz. as polemochores in Finland – the first records outside Russia – and the correct identity of A. polemochora S.E.Fröhner
Abstract
Two species of the genus Alchemilla are reported from the province of Kainuu in eastern central Finland as new to the country. A. parcipila was collected in 2017 in the municipality of Kuhmo at the sites of two wartime Russian military camps. Review of older herbarium material (H, OULU) revealed several previous collections of the species from these two localities between 1957 and 2016. The species is native to western Siberia and the easternmost parts of European Russia in the Ural Mountains. From this original area, it was probably already introduced into parts of central and northwestern Russia in ancient times by Russian traders and settlers. A. stellaris was also collected in 2017 at the site of a Russian wartime camp in the municipality of Suomussalmi. This is the only known locality of the species in Finland. A. stellaris is endemic to the subboreal and southern boreal zone of European Russia, from Tver in the west to Perm and Ekaterinburg in the east. Outside its native range, the species is known as a neophyte in northwestern Russia from Chibiny, Kola Peninsula and Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia. Both species were found for the first time outside of Russia. Another Russian polemochore, A. polemochora, was described in 1981 from two localities in Finland, which have so far remained the only known finds of the species. A. polemochora is here synonymized with A. sergii, described from the province of Moscow, central Russia, in 1972.
