White dryad

Dryas octopetala Linnaeus var. kamtschatica (Juzepczuk) Hultén; D. octopetala var. luteola Hultén; D. octopetala var. viscida Hultén

Plants 2.5–9 cm. Leaf blades oblong or ovate to elliptic, 3–10 × 0.5–4 mm, base usually truncate or cordate, sometimes cuneate, margins ˂flat˃, coarsely dentate to serrate, sinuses 5–25% to midvein, apex acute to rounded, surfaces plicate along midvein and/or rugulose or rugose, ˂midvein and lateral veins sunken˃, abaxial tomentose to woolly, adaxial usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy proximally on midvein, feathery hairs abundant along midveins abaxially and on petioles, rarely scattered elsewhere, midveins and petioles abaxially usually stipitate-glandular. Peduncles 38–50 mm. Flowers erect at flowering; sepals linear-oblong, 4–6 × 1.5–2 mm; petals 8, spreading, white or cream, 9–14 × 5–11 mm; filaments glabrous. Achenes 2.5–3 mm; styles 16–38 mm. 2n = 18 (Chukotka, Siberia).

Flowering Jun–Aug. Alpine heath, dry slopes, timberline, moraines, tundra; 0–1800 m; N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska; e Asia (Russian Far East: Chukotka).

Subspecies beringensis was formerly considered to be part of Dryas octopetala var. octopetala (R. Elven et al., http://nhm2.uio.no/paf/). This subspecies forms hybrid swarms with D. alaskensis and D. integrifolia in Alaska and eastern Siberia (Elven et al.). Dryas incanescens Juzepczuk and D. ajanensis Juzepczuk var. incanescens (Juzepczuk) Kozhevnikov have been misapplied to subsp. beringensis.