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BEN # 189
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No. 189 April 15, 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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BOTANICAL EVENTS IN VICTORIA
Thursday, April 16: Native Plant Study Group. Dr. Hannah Nadel
will be speaking on "Plants and Pollination." Room 118C, 1996
Classroom Building, UVIC. 7:00 p.m.
Friday, Saturday, April 17,18 : Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine
Garden Society Annual Show & Plant Sale. St. Mary's Church
Hall, 1701 Elgin Rd., Oak Bay. Friday 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.,
Saturday 100:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Plant Sale, Saturday 10:30
a.m. Admission: $2.00
Sunday, April 19: Trial Island Field Trip with the Friends of
Ecological Reserves. Starts at 9:00 a.m. from Foul Bay (=
Shoal Bay). Cost: members $10.00, non-members $30 (includes 1
year membership)
Sunday, April 19: South Vancouver Island Mycological Society -
Morel Foray. Starts at 11:00 a.m. from the Mill Bay shopping
plaza (in front of the Canadian Bank of Commerce).
Tuesday April 21: Botany Night. Karen Golinski will be speaking
on "Vancouver Island Wetlands." Swan Lake Nature House, 7:30
p.m.
BRYOLOGICAL FORAY - 30-31 MAY 1998 - REPUBLIC, WASHINGTON
From: Spribille_Toby/r1_kootenai@fs.fed.us
We are pleased to announce that the 2nd Annual Northwest
Bryological Foray will be held in the environs of Republic,
Washington, the weekend of 30-31 May 1998. The focus of this
year's excursion is an area of andesite outcrops and canyons in
the Okanagan Highlands of northeastern Washington. Previous
bryological work in the greater Okanagan region (especially in
B.C.) has shown this to be a very interesting area for bryology,
and home to some spectacular disjunctions of steppe grassland
mosses otherwise known from Nevada or the Ukraine! In addition,
the Republic area of Washington is the source of a number of
historic collections of species not otherwise known from
Washington state.
The foray is sponsored this year by the botany and ecology
programs of the Colville National Forest, with an interest in
drawing attention to these lesser-known organisms, many of which
will soon be tracked as "Sensitive" species by the U.S. Forest
Service. It is a sequel to last year's bryological excursion
held in Badrock Canyon near Columbia Falls, Montana, which was a
chance for many beginner bryologists to learn from experts in
the field and experience considerable bryological diversity in a
relatively small area. The excursion was furthermore rewarded
with the rediscovery of the rare Grimmia brittoniae at its type
locality by one of the participants, as well as the discovery of
a new location for the very rare Lobaria scrobiculata at its
easternmost limits (yes, a lichen!). We were pleased at the wide
interest shown in last year's event. This year, we are holding
the foray a little closer to the coast and also nearer the
Canadian border in an effort to encourage moss and lichen en-
thusiasts from throughout the Pacific Northwest and British
Columbia to take part.
Dr. Dale Vitt (University of Alberta, Edmonton, and editor of
The Bryologist), our foray leader last year, will be joined by
Dr. Wilfred Schofield (Professor Emeritus, University of British
Columbia) to lead two days of field observation and collecting
for beginners and bryo-veterans alike.
For those who arrive already after work Friday, we are planning
an informal gathering at Ester's Restaurant, on 90 N. Clark in
Republic, in the evening (easy to find-- Republic is not big).
Saturday morning we will meet at the Republic Ranger Station at
8:00 AM to carpool to go to the field, led by our guide, Col-
ville Forest Botanist Kathy Ahlenslager. After the day in the
field (and perhaps after another stop at the restaurant) we will
assemble in the evening at the Republic Ranger Station for slide
presentations/lectures on bryological goings-on of the past
year. There will also be some microscopes available for those
who wish to study interesting material collected during the day.
The group will return to the field Sunday morning to investigate
another nearby area before breaking up Sunday afternoon. An
agenda will be passed out to participants upon arrival at the
Republic Ranger Station.
We would to encourage anyone who has potential slide-show
presentations or lecture topics to use this opportunity to share
with other bryologists your experiences and observations of the
last year or so, wherever that may have been! Anything remotely
bryological would be welcome! To get your name on the agenda for
a presentation, please send me an e-mail, with a brief descrip-
tion of the topic.
There will be no charge for participation in the foray, but to
help us anticipate numbers, please send a me a brief note in-
dicating your intent to come (my e-mail is
tspribille/r1_kootenai@fs.fed.us). Be sure to bring field cloth-
ing and boots and anticipate some time scrambling around on
rocks. Hand lenses and notebooks would also be a good idea. Food
will not be provided, so please plan for sack lunches in the
field.
How to find Republic Ranger Station: from stoplight in Republic
(the only one) go north one block on Clark, turn right on
Delaware, follow it four blocks, turn left on Jefferson (at
courthouse), ranger station will be on the right (180 N.
Jefferson).
Motels in Republic: Klondike Inn, ph. 509-775-3555; Frontier
Inn, 775-3361; Northern Inn, 775-3371.
As always, this will be full of fun!
SYSTEMATICS AND TAXONOMY OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF CIMICIFUGA
From: James Alwyne Compton <J.A.Compton@reading.ac.uk>
Research on the genus Cimicifuga L. ex Wernisch. worldwide using
three different sources of data, nrDNA ITS, cpDNA trnL-F and
Morphology, has revealed some interesting phylogenetic patterns.
The six North American species in the genus have clearly shown
an east-west relationship crossing the central divide linking
species now separated by up to two thousand land miles. Each of
the three data sets analysed produced highly congruent
topologies and showed that the six species fell into three
clades:
1. C. arizonica and C. elata & C. rubifolia
2. C. americana, C. laciniata
3. C. racemosa
1). C. arizonica S. Watson, a rare plant found in a few damp
sites in Arizona only, sister to a dichotomy of C. elata Nutt.
restricted to Oregon, Washington and recently discovered sites
in British Columbia, and C. rubifolia Kearney, restricted to the
Appalachian states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
and West Virginia. Both C. elata and C. rubifolia possess biter-
nate leaves with large palmate terminal leaflets with five
principal veins. C. arizonica has triternate leaves with nar-
rower palmate terminal leaflets and three principal veins. The
staminodes (petals) of all three species are antheroid, narrow
and bifid at apex. Staminodes on C. elata are extremely rarely
produced. Seeds on all three species are different. C. arizonica
has seeds with furfuraceous scales longest on the margins, those
of C. rubifolia are furfuraceous but equal in length around the
circumference and those of C. elata are not furfuraceous but
undulate without scales. There are three bracts on all species
subtending each pedicel, those of C. elata and C. rubifolia are
caducous at anthesis, those of C. arizonica are persistent. The
carpels (1-3 per flower)of all three are borne on short stipes.
Cimicifuga americana Michx. also found in the same Appalachian
states as for C. rubifolia but at higher elevations, was found
to align closely with the western N. American C. laciniata
S.Watson found in very boggy habitats in Oregon and Washington.
Both these species possess triternate leaves with narrow
trilobed terminal leaflets with three principal veins. Both
species possess cream coloured broadly cupuliform nectar bearing
stamionodes. The bracts of C. americana are unique in the genus
as one is found subtending each pedicel whereas two are found
along the pedicel length. C. laciniata has a single bract sub-
tending each pedicel. The carpels of both species are borne on
long stipes. The seeds are similar to those of C. arizonica.
Carpel numbers range from one to five. The remaining species C.
racemosa (L.) Nutt. was not found to belong with either the
preceding clades. It has a wide eastern USA and south-eastern
Canadian distribution. It possesses triternate leaves with
narrow trilobed terminal leaflets with three principal veins.
The staminodes are similar to the C. arizonica/C. elata/C.
rubifolia clade but always present. There is a single persistent
bract subtending each pedicel and the seeds are crescent shaped
and ridged along the margins but not undulate or furfuraceous.
Carpel number is one per flower.
James A. Compton
Department of Botany
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Reading
Whiteknights POBox 221
RG6 6AS
ALASKA RARE PLANT FORUM MET MARCH 25-27, 1998
The Alaska Rare Plant Forum met in Fairbanks March 25-27. This
meeting was one of the best attended ever with over 30 people
arriving from all over Alaska and Yukon, Canada, representing
several government agencies, academic institutes, and private
research endeavors. These annual meetings offer a unique oppor-
tunity for botanists and ecologists working throughout the state
to share ideas, results, and future plans for their respective
areas. Presentations of various projects were given Wednesday
and Thursday at the BLM-Northern District Office, followed by
workshops and demonstration events at the University of Alaska
Museum Herbarium on Friday.
Here are some of the highlights from this year's Forum. Phil
Caswell (NPS) reported on several species being tracked by the
Alaska Natural Heritage Program (AKNHP) from Lake Clark NP where
he has volunteered as a botanist for the last 2 seasons. Bruce
Bennett (Canadian Wildlife Service) has found several new
species for the regional plant checklist during his work in the
Beaver River area of SE Yukon, Canada, and has revised the list
of rare plants for the Yukon, working closely with Dr. William
Cody. Mary Stensvold (USFS-Sitka) recorded the occurrence of
Polystichum kruckebergii, new to the state, from a serpentine
slope in SE Alaska. Rob Lipkin (AKNHP) presented the new 'Alaska
rare plant field guide', authored by him and David Murray (UAF
Museum Herbarium) and published jointly by several federal
agencies and the AKNHP. Carolyn Parker (UAF Museum Herbarium)
summarized the first season of a BLM-sponsored floristic survey
of the Nulato Hills, western Alaska, including finding a large
population of the recently described rare species Douglasia
beringensis, known previously from only 2 sites on the Seward
Peninsula. Carl Roland (NPS) compared the endemic floras of
Wrangell-St. Elias NPP, Nulato Hills, and Yukon-Tanana Upland,
and suggested that probable patterns of plant migration into
different regions of Alaska could be supported by looking care-
fully at their respective endemic floras. Using maps he had
generated, Keith Boggs (AKNHP) demonstrated the extend to which
some concentrations of our rare species, such as in southern
Seward Peninsula and the central Arctic North Slope, are poorly,
if at all, protected by existing management policy. David Murray
updated us on the Flora of North America project, which has
grown to over 30 volumes! Elena Conti (UAF Museum-Herbarium)
described how molecular information can be used to address
taxonomic and phylogenetic problems and included an example of a
rare species from the Southern Alps of Italy. UAF graduate
student Jan Jorgensen introduced her project using DNA sequenc-
ing in an attempt to sort out the taxonomy of Oxytropis arctica
var. barnebyana of northwestern Alaska.
The workshop on sedge and grass identification offered by
Carolyn Parker and Mary Stensvold was so popular we now realize
similar events should be planned for future meetings. Jim Ander-
son (UAF Biosciences Library) demonstrated electronic scientific
indexes available on the web. Other various electronic resources
such as interactive keys, web sites, species lists, mapping
programs, etc. were introduced in an informal session.
If attendance and energy level are any indication, the meeting
was a great success. Next year's meeting will be in late March
in Anchorage, and will be announced later in this newsletter.
Anyone wanting to contact any of the researchers mentioned above
can contact them through this newsletter or through the Alaska
Rare Plant address list at
http://www.uaf.edu/museum/herb/rareaddr.html
Carolyn Parker
Research Assistant
ALA Herbarium
NEW EDITION OF THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF SOIL CLASSIFICATION
The Third Edition of the Canadian System of Soil Classification
(1998) is now available. Price is $39.95 plus GST in North
America.
Order from:
Monograph Orders
NRC Research Press, M-55
National Research Council of Canada
Ottawa K1A 0R6
Telephone: 613-993-0151 Fax: 613-952-7656
e-mail: research.journals@nrc.ca
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