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BEN # 181
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No. 181 January 10, 1998
aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
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Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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GERALD BANE STRALEY (1945 - 1997)
On December 11th, 1997 British Columbia and North America lost a
superb botanist and plantsman. Dr. Gerald Straley is survived by
his mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew all
of Eggleston, Virginia. He is also survived by hundreds of
friends and acquaintances in the botanical and horticultural
world. As Research Scientist and Curator of Collections at UBC
Botanical Garden he was botanist, gardener, taxonomist,
naturalist, hiker, photographer, author, teacher. Above all he
was a gentle man; warm, humorous, welcoming and generous but
also quietly tenacious and strove for excellence in all he did.
His passion for his subject rubbed off on his students. Whether
those students were in graduate level systematics or the layper-
son distinguishing a stamen from a pistil he was equally at home
and equally committed to imparting knowledge to both. BC
botanists now have an indispensable tool in the form of the
Vascular Plants of BC which he authored with Douglas and
Meidinger; and for ten years he strolled the streets and parks
of Vancouver documenting every tree for his Trees of Vancouver
book. This latter work seem to characterize his life in being
meticulously accurate while being readable and available to all.
His numerous articles on myriad subjects grace journals and
magazines on both sides of the boarder. From the rare to the
commonplace, from tree to diminutive annual all were fascinating
to Gerald and he in turn made them fascinating to us. I'm not
sure I can recall a single plant that stumped him for an iden-
tification, such was his encyclopedic mind. His tours to the
Siskyous, to Greece and Australia, often with David Tarrant were
an inspiration for all who traveled with him. And I consider
myself so fortunate spending weeks with Gerald botanizing in
Northern BC and in California.
For years he battled failing health but, as he put it, "I've
still got too many things to do". Where he found his strength to
keep fighting back is a mystery to us all. Or is it? In the
simple act of feeding his goldfish and watering plants in his
patio garden Gerald found joy, delight and an excited anticipa-
tion for what next may bloom. The world is a poorer place with
the loss of Gerald Straley but we are, all of us, richer for
having known him.
To remember his life in a way most appropriate a celebration
will take place at the UBC Botanical Garden on Saturday, January
31st, 1998 at 2 PM. Memorial donations may be made to UBC
Botanical Garden, c/o Bruce Macdonald, 6804 Southwest Marine
Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4.
Wilf Nicholls, Botanical Garden
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NF, Canada A1C 5S7
E-mail: wnicholl@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
MORE SAD NEWS FROM THE END OF 1997
Dr. Richard S. Cowan (1921-1997) died 17 November 1997. Dr.
Cowan was a botany curator and later the director of the Na-
tional Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. He
was a co-author (with Dr. Frans Stafleu - see below) of the
monumental work "Taxonomic Literature." After his retirement in
1985 he moved to Australia.
Prof. dr. Frans A. Stafleu (1921-1997) died on Tuesday, 16
December. He is well-known for his numerous activities in the
IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy) and af-
filiated organizations, and authorship of many papers. His name
will be long associated with the impressive bibliographic series
Taxonomic Literature and the journal Taxon.
Stephen C. Zoltai (1928-1997), a noted peatland expert, passed
away Monday December 15, of cancer. Steve will be remembered for
his gentle humour, his kindness, and his excellence in science.
INVASIVE PLANTS OF CANADA (IPCAN) PROJECT
From: Erich Haber <ehaber@magi.com>
The Invasive Plants of Canada (IPCAN) project was initiated in
1995 with the financial assistance of several federal depart-
ments in Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and
Natural Heritage Canada. Its purpose is the development of an
information base on invasive plants and to facilitate informa-
tion exchange and increase awareness of the impact of invasive
plants on Canadian biodiversity.
The IPCAN had its origin in activities begun in the early 1990s
by the Habitat Conservation Division of the Canadian Wildlife
Service (CWS) to document the occurrence of invasive plants in
natural habitats in Canada (White, Haber and Keddy 1993). This
initial publication was followed by other activities such as the
development of invasive plant databases and summary of occur-
rences of invasive plants and species at risk in National
Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries (Haber 1995).
These various activities were undertaken at a time when interna-
tional concern was being expressed over the impact of the spread
of invasive aliens. A document of particular interest that was
published by the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment
(1993), that summarizes the impact of harmful non-indigenous
species in the United States is now accessible on the internet:
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1993/9325_n.html
As part of the IPCAN activities, 10 fact sheets have been
prepared on invasive plants, a national survey of biologists and
plant specialists was conducted in 1996 to determine what
species are of greatest concern and a monitoring guide to exotic
plants was prepared. Databases of nine exotic plants have also
been initiated for computer mapping and analysis and, in par-
ticular, to facilitate the development of range maps to show the
historic spread of these plants since their introduction. To
make these products widely available, an internet site was also
established for the IPCAN:
http://infoweb.magi.com/~ehaber/ipcan.html
In 1997, an Invasive Plants Alert (IPA) program was initiated as
part of the IPCAN with the primary aims of promoting local
actions, in particular by naturalist clubs, to monitor exotic
plants and to undertake projects to control invasive plants.
Initial funding for the IPA has been provided by the Biodiver-
sity Convention Office, Environment Canada. With the assistance
of the Canadian Nature Federation, naturalist clubs across
Canada were contacted to solicit their participation in the IPA.
To date, naturalist clubs and individuals in seven provinces
have responded to a request for participation in the IPA. Club
activities, especially those regarding the control or eradica-
tion of invasive species, as well as reports of significant
findings of newly arrived exotic or invasive plants that are
becoming troublesome, are published as information notices in
the IPA Bulletin. This bulletin can be accessed through the
IPCAN homepage or directly at the following URL:
http://infoweb.magi.com/~ehaber/bulletin.html
Anyone with information on exotic species that appear to be
aggressively spreading into natural areas and, especially if
they are potentially a threat to provincially or nationally rare
plants, is encouraged to contact the coordinator of the IPCAN.
Of particular interest and need is precise site information on
such exotic plants or of newly arrived exotics that appear to be
spreading rapidly. Information provided by credible sources are
entered as sight records into national databases being developed
for monitoring purposes. Precise site coordinates (lat/long or
UTM with full six and seven digit easting and northing values)
are required for recording site locality. The general descrip-
tion of the location and extent of occurrence and threat to rare
species or local biodiversity should also be provided. If coor-
dinates cannot be provided, detailed location data using road
map reference points and distances will also be accepted for
documentation purposes. The receipt of such data by e-mail
<ehaber@magi.com> post or fax (613-722-6291) would be much
appreciated.
References
Haber, E. 1995. Species at Risk and Invasive Plants of National
Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries. Unpublished
report, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa
K1A 0H3.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment.1993. Harmful
Non-Indigenous Species in the United States, OTA-F-565
(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September
1993).
White, D.J., E. Haber and C. Keddy. 1993. Invasive Plants of
Natural Habitats in Canada: An Integrated Review of Wetland
and Upland Species and Legislation Governing their Control.
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Canadian
Museum of Nature and North American Wetlands Conservation
Council (Canada).
Dr. Erich Haber, National Botanical Services, 604 Wavell Ave.,
Ottawa, ON, Canada K2A3A8 Tel: 613-722-5523, Fax: 613-722-6291
COMMON NAME PROJECT
From: Roger Whitehead <rgw@office-futures.com>
Two British amateur botanists, Andrew N. Gagg and Roger
Whitehead, are working on a pair of linked projects to do with
plant names. Andrew is collecting the names of the 30,000 or so
species of the European flora, in as many European languages and
dialects as he can find. So far, he has found few to many names
in just a tenth of the 211 languages extant at the last count.
He says, "It's all still to do"!
Roger's project is to collect old and current names of the
British vascular flora, from Britain and its former colonies
[before the time of King George III - AC]. He's gathering scien-
tific, apothecaries', herbalists' and colloquial names. He's
found about 8,000 names to date, for 2,200 species.
Andrew and Roger will be glad to exchange information on these
topics with other readers. Their e-mail addresses are
cm9019@wlv.ac.uk and rgw@office-futures.com, respectively.
For more information see
http://www.gagg.mcmail.com/Babel.htm
ENGLISH NAMES FOR BRITISH BRYOPHYTES
From: DAVID LONG <D.Long@rbge.org.uk> originally posted
on bryonet-l@mtu.edu
Edwards, S.R. English Names for British Bryophytes BBS Special
Volume No. 5 Cardiff: British Bryological Sociey Published
December 1997 ISBN 0 9507639 6 9; ISSN 0268-8034 A5, 68pages,
limp covers. Price (payment in sterling please) United
Kingdom & European Union: stlg2.50 post-free. Outside
European Union: stlg3.00 including p.& p.
Available from: Dr. S.R. Edwards, The Manchester Museum,
Manchester University, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL,
United Kingdom. E-mail: sean.edwards@man.ac.uk; web:
http://www.man.ac.uk/museum/ Phone: +44 (0)161-275-2671/2;
fax: +44 (0)161-275-2676
This is the first comprehensive catalogue of `Common Names' of
bryophytes of Britain and Ireland, together with some English
names for non-British taxa, compiled by Dr Sean Edwards of the
Manchester Museum. The detailed historical review demonstrates
the long history of some English names back to J.J. Dillenius in
1742, and some even to Gerard's Herball (1597).
However, for many species, names have had to be newly coined,
and this has been undertaken using defined guidelines and prin-
ciples. For many taxa more than one published name was traced
(it is remarkable how many English names actually appear in the
literature: 4,865 distinct names with 7,680 references to them
from 114 sources) and for these a `preferred name' is given in
bold, followed by synonyms.
This is a well-sourced and meticulously cross-referenced, scien-
tific treatment of a `popular' subject which can only be very
good for publicising and popularising bryophytes. The catalogue
is indexed both by botanical name and English name. Some names
will no doubt be familiar to bryologists, such as Bog-moss
(Sphagnum), Ostrich-plume Feather-moss (Ptilium crista-castren-
sis) and Wall Screw-moss (Tortula muralis), but many will be un-
familiar and thought-provoking, such as Two-horned Pincer-wort
(Cephalozia bicuspidata), Thick-set Earwort (Scapania compacta),
Mouget's Yoke-moss (Amphidium mougeotii) and Potato Bryum (Bryum
bornholmense). A very fine publication and well worth the modest
cost.
NATIVE PLANT SALVAGE PROJECT ON WEB
From: Bob Simmons <simmons@wsu.edu>, originally posted on
pacific-biosnet@listproc.wsu.edu
A new guide entitled "Grow Your Own Native Landscape - A Guide
to Identifying, Propagating, and Landscaping with Western
Washington Native Plants" is now available on line at the Native
Plant Salvage Project web site at...
http://gardening.wsu.edu/text/nwnative.htm
The manual provides information about plant identification
(including graphics); obtaining plants through responsible
salvaging, propagation and purchasing; and non-native invasive
species. The online manual was developed by The Native Plant
Salvage Project - (WSU Cooperative Extension - Thurston County).
Robert Simmons, Regional Water Quality Education Program
WSU Cooperative Extension - Mason County, N11840 Hwy 101
Shelton, WA 98584
Phone: (360) 427-9670 ext. 396, Fax 427-7264
E-mail: simmons@wsu.edu
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