Potentilla anserina L. ssp. egedii (Wormsk.) Hiitonen (Finland, Helsinki, Lauttasaari, 1994). – Image: Harri Harmaja (scanned from dried specimen). – The southern shores of the island Lauttasaari – not far from Helsinki downtown – face Finnish Gulf of the Baltic Sea and often house beautiful, species-rich communities in quite natural condition. In the present place, the above taxon was accompanied by e.g. Atriplex littoralis, A. sp., Blysmus rufus, Centaurium pulchellum, C. sp., Eleocharis parvula, Hippophaë rhamnoides (most probably escaped from cultivation), Juncus ranarius, Odontites litoralis, and Tripleurospermum maritimum ssp. maritimum (a morph lacking the white ligules to the heads). P. anserina ssp. egedii, a seashore plant, is not common by the Finnish Gulf. The taxonomy of the widely distributed P. anserina s. lat. (Rosaceae) has been studied thoroughly but still it is confusing that some populations of ssp. egedii have glabrous leaves while others have dense hairiness on the abaxial surface of the leaf. The present plant possessed the dimorphic indumentum typical of the Finnish populations.
Created November 6, 2004.