Cytotaxonomical Studies on the Northern Bedstraw

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Abstract
Within the collective species Galium boreale there are two taxa differing in minor morphological characters such as puberulence of the nodes, form of bracts, type of the panicle, size of the flower, anthers, and seeds, and color of the corolla. These characters are always strictly associated and do not mix in any populations hitherto investigated. One of these taxa occurs all over northern and central Europe to Iceland in the west and to central Siberia in the east; the other grows in central Asia and eastwards to Gaspe and Nova Scotia in North America. The Eurasiatic taxon is a tetraploid with 2n=44 chromosomes, while the Asiatic-American plant is a hexaploid with 2n=66 chromosomes. The tetraploid is identical with the Linnaean species G. boreale s. str., while the correct name for the hexaploid taxon is G. septentrionale R. and S.