Weirdest looking grass ever (“AI” blooper)

I was doing some research on the Poaceae of Svalbard, a Norwegian-owned archipelago near or in the Arctic-circle that holds the distinction of having the northernmost town in the world (Longyearbyen). We are planning a cruise trip to the area later this year, and I wanted to get an idea about any interesting grasses in the place.

Users of google probably have noticed the “AI Overview” that pops up whenever one does a search for anything. Most times, it is really useful, and I have sometimes used it as a way to summarize the search results below. But I got a surprise today that should remind people that in the end, one should use the human brain as the final arbiter when picking the correct info, and not simply trust whatever the “Overview” says.

In this case, I had plugged in “svalbard poaceae” as the search term, and the overview had given the usual Festuca spp that is so prevalent in northern climes. But it also mentioned Papaver dahlianum, which I did not recognize, and when I actually searched for that term I found out it’s from the plant family Papaveraceae!

The interesting thing is that when I repeatedly searched for the same term later, it did not show that species in the overview, so perhaps it was a one-off mistake. Nevertheless, this is a strong reminder that people should in the end do their homework and not simply trust our machine overlords to spoon feed us the data.

As an aside, I did find that Svalbard does have some interesting grass species, including Phippsia algida, Phippsia concinna, and the mysterious hybrid Pucciphippsia vacillans. All these species are small and form cute tussocks, and seem to be most happy when cushioned by the moist environments created by moss. The hybrid has also been the subject of some studies and it would be interesting to see it in the field, although unfortunately we get there in mid-Summer, and the grasses might not be flowering yet.

You can learn a lot more about them and other Svalbard plants in this fantastic website called Svalbard Flora. Beyond the grasses, check out the really cool semi-carnivore Pinguicula alpina. What a cutie!