The Flora of Svalbard

Life span

Long-lived perennial.

Growth form

Colonial herb. Numerous short subterranean runners (rhizomes) end in short shoots with crowded leaves resembling rosettes. Stems singly from short leafy shoots, sometimes branched in upper part, ascending, slender, weakly pubescent, up to 10–15(–20) cm.

Leaf

Leaves alternating. Early basal leaves with blade obcordate (heart shaped), indistinctly crenate (with rounded teeth), with petiole longer than the blade, and persistent throughout most of the growth season. Later basal leaves lanceolate with short or no petiole. The more scattered leaves upwards the stem are linear.

Inflorescence

Flowers single or in a few-flowered cyme.

Flower

Flowers regular and bisexual. Calyx with five linear lobes, spreading to reflexed during flowering. Corolla of five blue (occasionally albino) petals fused into a bell, 1–1.5(–1.8) cm long.

Fruit

A pendant, bell-shaped capsule with basal pores. Mature fruit has not been observed in Svalbard.

Reproduction

Expansion by clonal growth may be more frequent than reproduction by seeds. Flowers late in the season (mid August – mid September). Insect pollinated, but may also self pollinate. No ripe seeds or seed bank have been found in Svalbard, although the relatively high level of genetic diversity found there indicates that the species occasionally has successful sexual recruitment (Alsos et al. 2002, 2003).

Comparison

The two species of Campanula in Svalbard differ in way of growth (colonial in C. rotundifolia, more solitary in C. uniflora), leaf shape (obcordate to linear vs. lanceolate or elliptic), flower size and shape (broadly bell shaped and large vs. narrowly bell or trumpet shaped and small), and direction and opening of capsule (pendant with basal pores vs. erect with apical pores).

Habitat

The species is clearly thermophilous and occurs only on one climatically favourable south facing slope. Typical growth places are sparsely vegetated, fine textured soil fragments in otherwise rocky and well drained environments. Occurs on moderately exposed to moderately sheltered locations. Seems to resist minor instability in the substrate. Probably indifferent to soil pH. Not much grazed by reindeers or geese in its only known area.

Distribution

Only found in one site group in Colesdalen on Spitsbergen, in the middle arctic tundra zone and weakly continental section.

Comments

Campanula rotundifolia ssp. gieseckiana belongs the taxonomically intricate C. rotundifolia complex that includes several subspecies and species in a circumpolar pattern (see, e.g., Hultén 1971). The variation within the complex lies in the number and shape of the flowers, and in the ploidy levels. The chromosome numbers 2n = 34 and 2n = 68 are the most common ones.
Individuals with 2n = 34 are often referred to as diploids although isoenzyme studies indicate that they are secondary diploids (Alsos et al. 2002). Campanula rotundifolia ssp. gieseckiana was described from Greenland and has 2n = 34. In Svalbard, both 2x = 34 and 51 (3x) have been found (Alsos et al. 2002, 2003). No critical morphological or genetic comparison of the Svalbard populations with the type material has been done but the characters of the Svalbard plants conform to those of Greenlandic ssp. gieseckiana.

The flower shapes vary among the few stands in Svalbard, with small, narrow flowers nearest Coles Bay and larger, broader flowers in the larger stands 3–4 km inwards Colesdalen.
These differences are consistent when grown in a phytotron. Also, individuals from the coastal populations flower two weeks earlier than individuals from the larger stand when grown in the phytotron (Alsos & Lund, pers. obs.). The stands are genetically distinct (Alsos et al. 2002). At a small location between these two, a third morphological type characterized by flowers of mainly 6, sometimes 5 or 7 fused petals with backwards curved petal lobes and short calyx lobes is found
(Alsos, pers. obs.), but this one has not been investigated in the phytotron or genetically.

Literature

Alsos, I.G., Engelskjøn, T. & Brochmann, C. 2002. Conservation genetics and population history of Betula nana, Vaccinium uliginosum, and Campanula rotundifolia in the arctic archipelago of Svalbard. – Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 34: 408–418.

Alsos, I.G., Spjelkavik, S. & Engelskjøn, T. 2003. Seed bank size and composition of Betula nana, Vaccinium uliginosum, and Campanula rotundifolia habitats in Svalbard and northern Norway. – Canadian Journal of Botany 81: 220-231.

Hultén, E. 1971. The circumpolar plants. II. Dicotyledons. – Handlingar Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps-akademien, serie 4, 13, 1. 463 pp.

In Red list

Campanula rotundifolia ssp. gieseckiana

	English name:	Hairbell, Bluebell
	German name:	Rundblättrige Glockenblume
	Norwegian name:	Arktisk blåklokke

Familiy:Campanulaceae

Synonyms:

Campanula gieseckiana (Vest) Cajander

Groupe:
Lifeform:
Worldwide distribution:
Distribution on Svalbard:
Diploid/Polyploid:
Chromosome number (2n):	34
Pollination vector:
Main mode of pollination:
Source: Brochmann, C. & Steen, S.W, 1999 - Sex and genes in the flora of Svalbard

Campanula rotundifolia L. ssp. gieseckiana (Vest) Mela & Cajander