Circumpolar Arctic Floristic Provinces - East Siberian Group

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West Siberia - East Siberia - Beringia - Canada - North Atlantic

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"Distinctive features of the continental Siberian floras are particularly pronounced. The typical representatives of the floras of the Atlantic and Beringian sectors are almost totally lacking: negative differential taxa, i.e. species in common with the remainder of the American Arctic, which are missing, include Campanula uniflora, Festuca baffinensis, Loiseleuria procumbens, Phyllodoce coerulea, Silene acaulis and many others."

"From the Yenisey River eastward we find more and more East Siberian species, while fewer rare western species (present only in W. Taimyr) disappear. Towards the eastern boundary few East Siberian species disappear, whereas many species from the east side of the Kolyma River, i.e. Chukotkan, amphi-Beringian and American-Chukotkan species appear."

"The East Siberian [sector] is not homogeneous; there is a clear longitudinal floristical gradient. The [group] constitutes a natural swarm with its centre in the Kharaulakh subprovince. The High Arctic floras of the Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands (Novosibirskiye ostrova) are more related to each other than to those of the neighbouring High Arctic areas: Novaya Zemlya, Fransz Josef Land (Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa) and Wrangel Island." (From Yurtsev 1994.)

• Taimyr

  "The western element is represented by some plants of the Atlantic sector, e.g. Festuca viviparoidea, Poa alpina, along with West Eurasian species: Betula nana s.s., Oxytropis sordida ssp. sordida, Pedicularis dasyantha, and a few boreal plants in common with northern West Siberia (e.g. Cardamine macrophylla, Trollius asiaticus). West Taymyr, as compared with East Taymyr, is richer in 'western' (zonally more southern) and poorer in 'eastern' (mainly Arctic and Arctic-alpine) species. Characteristic of Taymyr are disjunctions in the distribution areas of many Arctic halophytes (e.g. Arctanthemum hultenii, Calamagrostis deschampsioides, Carex glareosa, C. subspathacea, Honkenya peploides s.l.) as well as the full representation of the High Arctic element (Matveyeva & Chernov 1976). There are few endemics, e.g. Puccinellia byrrangensis, P. jenisseensis, P. gorodkovii. A similar situation is found in the Subarctic mountains of the sector, e.g. the Putorana Plateau (Gory Putorana), which are isolated from the South Siberian mountain floras. A few species are co-endemic for Taymyr and Putorana (e.g. Oxytropis putoranica and O. tichomirovii)." (From Yurtsev 1994.)

• Anabar-Olenyek

  "In this subprovince very few endemic taxa, i.a. Artemisia lagopus ssp. triniana, occur. Other differential taxa are lacking. Eastern species clearly prevail over western species and the saturation with eastern elements in the direction of the Kharaulakh Mts (Kharaulakhskiy khrebet). As in the next subprovince, the High Arctic element is poorly represented, whereas the coastal halophyte complex is more important." (From Yurtsev 1994.)

• Kharaulakh

  "Despite its small area, the Kharaulakh [sector] is a 'structural axis' of the [group]: to the west the flora becomes impoverished step by step, first regarding East Siberian and East Siberian-American species. East of the Kharaulakh Mts., there is an abrupt disappearance of mountain taxa from the northern plains of East Yakutia.The Kharaulakh area combines floristic features of montane Northeastern Asia and montane northern central Siberia. Characteristic of the whole province is the striking prevalence of eastern over western co-differential taxa, which points to a closer relationship with the Beringian sector and Arctic Canada than with the Atlantic sector. Endemism on the race level is insignificant, e.g. Artemisia lagopus ssp. abbreviata, Oxytropis inopinata, O. sordida ssp. arctolenensis, but many Northeast Asian mountain plants appear, including the subendemics of the Verkhoyansk Range, such as Androsace gorodkovii, Gorodkovia jacutica and Hyalopoa lanatiflora, and some representatives of more distant Asian areas, i.a. Caragana jubata. East of the Kharaulakh Mts. some central Siberian species and races disappear, e.g. Oxytropis arctica ssp. taimyrensis and Silene paucifolia, and some races are replaced, i.a. in Saxifraga oppositifolia s.l. and S. serpyllifolia s.l. halophyte complex is more important." (From Yurtsev 1994.)

• Yana-Kolyma

  "This sector has been little explored. Endemics are not known. Differential taxa are mainly restricted to large river valleys, e.g. Artemisia dracunculus and Thellungiella salsuginea. Western co-differential taxa are few and usually do not reach the Kolyma River, e.g. Carex ensifolia ssp. arctisibirica and Oxytropis nigrescens s.s. Eastern co-differential species appear in the Indigirka drainage area, and even more species in the Kolyma River drainage, e.g. Carex lugens. The lowland character of this sector determines the absence of over 60 species known from both the Kharaulakh Mts. and Chukotka, 36 species lacking in the Arctic east of the Kharaulakh Mts., and over 80 species appearing to the east of the Kolyma River. The flora of the New Siberian Islands is particularly poor in Arctic-alpine species; it lacks, for example, all Arctic-alpine Pedicularis species, all legumes and Hierochloë alpina. On the other hand, the High Arctic complex is almost completely represented (except Poa abbreviata)." (From Yurtsev 1994.)