Fr: carex capité de l'Est
IU: iviit, ivisuka, ivitsuskaka
Provincial Status: LN
Range: Bipolar and circumboreal disj.; nLab., S to nw/neNfld.; calc.
[=Carex antarctogena Roiv.]
[=Carex capitata L. forma arctogena (Harry Sm.) Raymond]
[=Carex capitata L. subsp. arctogena (Harry Sm.) Hiitonen]
[=Carex capitata L. subsp. arctogena (Harry Sm.) Böcher ex Á.Löve, D.Löve, and B.M.Kapoor 1971, nom. illeg. isonym., non (Harry Sm.) Hiitonen 1944]
[=Carex capitata L. var. arctogena (Harry Sm.) Hultén]
[In previous versions of this Checklist, Carex arctogena was included as a synonym of Carex capitata. However, in Europe, Carex arctogena and C. capitata are recognized as 2 distinct species (T. Ahti, pers. comm., Apr. 2015). North American botanists are now following their European counterparts in accepting C. arctogena as distinct from C. capitata. A recent article in the Journal of Biogeography (T. Villaverde et al. 2015), which includes a range map of C. arctogena and related species, confirms that C. arctogena occurs in Newfoundland and Labrador. In addition to morphological differences, ecology is useful in separating these two species, with C. arctogena preferring alpine heaths (barrens) and C. capitata preferring boreal peatlands (FNA vol 26, Carex capitata). Some NL specimens of C. capitata have been annotated by Dr. J. Cayouette, who indicates that both C. arctogena and C. capitata occur in Newfoundland and Labrador (L. Brouillet, e-mail to S.J. Meades Jan. 28, 2016). Carex arctogena, as C. capitata was photographed by J. Maunder from a Fogo Island headland in 2006 (J. Maunder, pers. comm. Apr. 2015), but this plant, based on the image, appears to be C. arctogena (T. Villaverde, e-mail to S.J. Meades, Feb. 2, 2016).]