Mikko Piirainen

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Finnish Museum of Natural History

For updating the checklist of vascular plants of Finland, one new nomenclatural combination is proposed: Euphrasia wettsteinii G.L.Gusarova var. botniensium (Brenner) Piirainen.

Harald Lindberg described Alchemilla hirsuticaulis in 1904 based on material collected from two localities in Finland. The name is typified here with a specimen collected by H. Buch from South Savo, Lappeenranta in 1903. The lectotype and other original material are in the collections of the Botanical Museum at Helsinki (H).

Distribution and ecology of 72 species, subspecies and established hybrids of Geraniaceae (3), Linaceae (1), Balsaminaceae (1), Malvaceae (2), Clusiaceae (1), Violaceae (8), Tamaricaceae (1), Elatinaceae (1), Onagraceae (11), Haloragaceae (2), Hippuridaceae (1), Cornaceae (1), Apiaceae (11), Diapensiaceae (1), Pyrolaceae (6), Ericaceae (15), Empetr...

This updated checklist of the wild vascular plants of Finland incorporates numerous floristic, taxonomic and nomenclatural changes. Spontaneous (native) and alien taxa, both resident and ephemeral, are included. Species, subspecies, nothospecies (with hybrid parents), nothosubspecies, hybrids and commonly recognized varieties, as well as cultivars...

Two new diploid (2n=34) subspecies of Campanula rotundifolia L. are described from North Europe. C. rotundifolia subsp. fennica Piirainen & Nurmi is native in the southern half of Finland, adjacent parts of the Karelian Republic (Russia), northern Estonia and the Baltic Islands (Sweden, Estonia, Russia). Its habitats are cliffs and eskers, in the B...

Two species of the genus Alchemilla are reported from the province of Kainuu in eastern central Finland as new to the country. A. parcipila was collected in 2017 in the municipality of Kuhmo at the sites of two wartime Russian military camps. Review of older herbarium material (H, OULU) revealed several previous collections of the species from thes...

Alchemilla straminea was determined in herbarium material that had been collected from at least four adjacent localities at Kangasjärvi in the municipality of Hyrynsalmi, Kainuu, in eastern central Finland in 1952-1978. The species is new to Finland and northern Europe. Kangasjärvi served as a German military depot during World War II in 1941-1944....

The herbarium accessions amount to 18, 791 specimens, including 3, 282 phanerogams and pteridophytes, 1, 425 specimens of bryophytes, 45 specimens of algae, 6, 182 specimens of fungi and 7, 857 specimens of lichens. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

Salicornioideae (Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae) comprise 11 genera and ca. 100 species of succulent halophytes distributed worldwide in coastal and inland saline habitats. Most species have peculiar articulated, seemingly leafless stems and spike-like sessile thyrses with highly reduced flowers hidden by fleshy bracts. We analysed sequence data of f...

Alchemilla auriculata originates from the Ural Mountains at the border zone between Europe and Siberia. It has been found from three areas (four localities) in Finland as a polemochore brought in by Russian troops during the Finnish-Russian Winter War 1939–40. It is known from Ilomantsi in 1955 (North Karelia; two adjacent localities), Kuhmo 1963 (...

The herbarium accessions amount to 19,879 specimens, including 4,570 phanerogams and pteridophytes, 2,699 specimens of bryophytes, 5,578 specimens of fungi and 7,032 specimens of lichens. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

More than 15 years after the start, the Euro+Med PlantBase project (E+M), which aimed at providing a comprehensive, dynamic and permanently updated online checklist of all vascular plants for Europe and the Mediterranean countries, is now very close to full coverage. E+M is the most detailed resource on plant biodiversity in the Euro-Mediterranean...

The herbarium accessions amount to 19,853 specimens, including 4,751 phanerogams and pteridophytes, 2,559 specimens of bryophytes and algae, 5,000 specimens of fungi, 7,542 specimens of lichens, and 1 specimen of zoocecidia. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

Among the few available morphological traits in the genus Salicornia L. (Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae), most are extremely variable within species probably due to high levels of plasticity. In addition, identifying Salicornia taxa is further complicated by that these plants lose many of their diagnostic characters upon drying. Morphological studies...

In connection with my account of Salicornioideae Ulbrich (1934: 449, 543) for the Euro+Med Plantbase (Piirainen 2009), I had to make a decision on the identity of Salicornia deserticola Chevalier (1934: 804), a species described from inland north Algeria near Touggourt. According to Chevalier (1934), it differs from the woody perennial “ S. arabica...

The herbarium accessions amount to 16,777 specimens, including 5,605 phanerogams and pteridophytes, 2,573 specimens of bryophytes and algae, 3,448 specimens of fungi and 5,151 specimens of lichens. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

The herbarium accessions amount to 17,308 specimens, including 6,599 specimens of phanerogams and pteridophytes, 1,708 specimens of bryophytes and algae, 9,000 specimens of fungi (including lichens), and 1 specimen of zoocecidia. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

Incongruence between morphology and molecules, i.e., genetic differentiation of lineages that are morphologically identical, or morphological variation among accessions sharing identical genotypes, has been increasingly reported and is most problematic in taxa with reduced morphologies. We here review and discuss these issues for plant taxonomy, ta...

The herbarium accessions amount to 20 395 specimens, including 5 940 phanerogams and pteridophytes, 1 929 specimens of bryophytes and algae, 12 517 specimens of fungi (incl. lichens), and 1 specimen of zoocecidia. Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

Skallelv is a small village situated at the Varanger peninsula in easternmost Finnmark, NE Norway. The local population is of Finnish ethnic origin, and most are still fluent in Finnish. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in 2006. About forty species, species groups or other ethnotaxonomical units, of vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, liche...

The herbarium accessions amount to 21,068 specimens, including 3,993 specimens of phanerogams and pteridophytes, 2,558 of bryophytes, 42 of algae, and 14,475 of fungi (incl. lichens). Some details of noteworthy accessions are given here.

Centaurea phrygia subsp. phrygia has been recorded at eight stations in Sør-Varanger municipality, NE Norway, at 69°32'-69°43' N. All these stations are close to the sites of German World War II barracks and stables. The species has also been recorded at a single site in the neighbouring Russian municipality of Pechenga, within the area occupied by...

Only fragmentary biostratigraphical interstadial data exist from northern European high latitudes. The palaeoenvironmental interpretations for the early part of the Last Glaciation in northern Fennoscandia are mainly based on palynological evidence that suggests open birch woodland and a sub-arctic climate. Plant macrofossils from the Sokli sedimen...

The Karelian Isthmus is located in the Leningrad Region, NW Russia, between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. The political boundaries have changed several times during the history. The state boundary has in practice also defined the study areas of Russian and Finnish botanists working in the area in different times. This has especially been tru...

Diapensia lapponica is reported for the first time for the Republic of Karelia from Nemetskiy Kuzov Island in the Onega Bay of the White Sea. The locality is the southernmost one known in East Fennoscandia.

The second record of Juncus ensifolius from Norway.

Campanula glomerata is an introduced species in North Norway. The first record was made in Tromsø in the late 19th century. Almost all records in North Norway belong to the garden type 'Superba', with large flowers in a single head. It has been recorded at scattered sites in the coastal areas of Nordland, Troms and W Finnmark, with a distribution g...

Alchemilla heptagona Juz. and A. semilunaris Alechin are reported as new to Norway, each from two sites in Sør-Varanger, Finnmark. A. heptagona was first recorded in 1997, at Kirkenes camping, Hesseng, where it was found on lawn-like meadows. A. semilunaris was found in 1999, at an abandoned farm 15 km S of Kirkenes, at the crossroads between the m...

Rhinanthus serotinus is reported from a site near Kirkenes in Sør-Varanger, Finnmark. This is the first (or possibly second) record in Finnmark, and probably the only extant site in North Norway. Only six or seven records have been made in North Norway as a whole. At two other North Norwegian sites, the species has obviously been introduced as a Ge...

Luzula luzuloides is reported from two sites in Sør-Varanger, E Finnmark and from a single site in the adjacent Russian municipality of Pechenga. At all three sites, the species has probably been introduced by German activity during World War II. A polemochorous origin is also likely for many other Norwegian sites. The only previous record in Finnm...

Juncus compressus is reported from a site near Hesseng in Søor-Varanger, E Finnmark, at 69°41-42' N. This is the first record in North Norway: The species has also recently been found at a single site in the neighbouring Russian municipality of Pechenga. At Hesseng, J. compressus was found growing on an old gravel road leading to a blown-up German...

[Treatment of two genera in the Nordic flora, Flora Nordica vol. 2.: Caltha L with one species and two subspecies, and Salicornia L. with two species and three subspecies.]

Lathyrus linifolius is reported from two stations in Sør-Varanger, E Finnmark, growing in damp willow forest (Kongsgamdalen) and a Deschampsia cespitosa meadow (south of Rundvannet). At both sites, the species was found near German World War II stables, suggesting a polemochorous origin. Thus, it has been growing in the area for at least 55 years....

Pimpinella major is reported from three sites in Sor-Varanger, Finnmark, NE Norway. At all three sites, it was found growing on damp meadows in areas close to German World War II stables and baracks. Thus, a polemochorous origin is suggested, with Middle European hay imported for horse fodder as a likely spreading vector. Though all three stands ar...

Phyteuma spicatum is reported from two sites in Sor-Varanger, Finnmark, NE Norway, at Fredheim (first recorded 1998) and Pikevann (first recorded 1980), growing in meadows and forest glades. In 1999, a single stand of Phyteuma nigrum was found at Vierrageahci, on disturbed ground by an old road. All three stations are close to German World War II c...

Some aspects of the vegetation of the Kola peninsula are presented, based mainly on experience from field work in 1995 and 1996. Our work was focused on the joint Russian-Norwegian Pasvik nature reserve in the Pasvik river valley. The reserve has a rich aquatic flora, at least 24 species of aquatic vascular plants have been recorded. The Russian pa...

Rumex thyrsiflorus is reported from three stations in the Pasvikdalen (Holmfossen, Nyrud) and Jarfjord (Tarnet) areas of Sor-Varanger, Finnmark. These are the first records in North Norway, adjoining a spontaneous area further east on the Kola peninsula, and some anthropochorous stations on the Russian side of the Pasvik valley, in the Pechenga are...

The island of Vaarlamasaari (now in Pechenga, Russia) is situated in the Paatsjoki/ Pasvik River at the present Norwegian-Russian border. The island had a permanent Finnish settlement from 1874 to 1944; from 1920 onwards the whole Pechenga (Petsamo) area was a part of Finland. The three farms situated on the island had cattle husbandry as their mai...

Two species are recognized in the genus Salicornia L. in North Europe, viz. S. europaea L. and S. dolichostachya Moss., the latter containing three subspecies: subsp. dolichostachya, subsp. strictissima (K. Gram) P.W. Ball and subsp. pojarkovae (N. Semen.) Piirainen, comb. nov. The reasons for recognizing these species are given. S. herbacea L. is...