[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
BEN # 236
BBBBB EEEEEE NN N ISSN 1188-603X
BB B EE NNN N
BBBBB EEEEE NN N N BOTANICAL
BB B EE NN NN ELECTRONIC
BBBBB EEEEEE NN N NEWS
No. 236 November 27, 1999
aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
-----------------------------------------------------------
THE EDGAR T. WHERRY AWARD TO DR. WILLIAM A. WEBER
From: Rock Garden Quarterly 56: 298-299,
Adolf Ceska <aceska@victoria.tc.ca> &
Louise Parsons <parsont@peak.org>
Dr. William A. Weber, Professor Emeritus at the University of
Colorado at Boulder, has been awarded the Edgar T. Wherry Award
by the North American Rock Garden Society.
As quoted from "A History of the North American Rock Garden
Society" the Edgar T. Wherry Award is "...given to a person who
has made an outstanding contribution in the dissemination of
botanical and/or horticultural knowledge about native American
plants....Generally the award recognizes a body of work or a
lifetime of literary effort rather than a single work."
[Pteridologist and geologist Dr Edgar T. Wherry (1885--1982)
served as president of the American Fern Society, and the
Mineralogical Society of America. When he was Professor of
Botany at the University of Pennsylvania, Wherry was the editor
of the Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society and en-
couraged appreciation for native plants among gardeners.]
The award announcement (Rock Garden Quarterly 56: 298-299) cites
Dr. Weber's "monumental contributions to botanical knowledge,
and awareness locally, nationally, and internationally."
BEN readers know Dr. Weber from his many stimulating contribu-
tions (e.g., "Vernacular names: why, oh why?" - BEN # 109), and
BEN celebrated Dr. Weber's 80th birthday in special issues
# 207, 208 and 209, just a year ago.
CONGRATULATIONS, BILL !
A NEW BOOK OUT ON THE STUBBLE LICHENS (AND OTHER SUCH)!
From: Trevor Goward, Enlichened Consulting Ltd.
<tgoward@mail.wellsgray.net>
Tibell, L. 1999. Caliciales. Nordic Lichen Flora 1: 20-94.
[Copies can be ordered from: Svenska Botaniska Foreningen,
c/o Museum of Evolution, Botany Section, Villavagen 6, SE-752
36 Uppsala, Sweden. Giro 487911-0. Price outside Europe: 380
kr.]
In recent years, Calicioid, or "stubble" lichens have been
attracting attention as surpassing bioindicators of relative
forest age. Resembling diminutive straightpins (or, if you
prefer, lilliputian stubble), most stubble lichens are at home
on the sheltered undersides of leaning trees. Some species
prefer conifers, while others inhabit the wood or bark of
deciduous trees. At north temperate and boreal latitudes,
stubble lichens can be found pretty well wherever there are
trees. But only in humid inland forests do they really come into
their own. The richest (and presumably oldest!) oldgrowth
forests yield as many as thirty different species. By contrast,
mature forests less than about 150 years old hardly support half
this number; while species numbers in young plantation forests
seldom rise above about five or six.
The down side of using stubble lichens as ecological indicators
is that they themselves are notoriously difficult to get to
know. This is partly owing to their small size and extreme
morphological variability, but mostly it reflects a general lack
of entry-level treatments to these species. Earlier this year, I
attempted to rectify this situation for western North America by
preparing "user friendly" keys to all 71 stubble lichen species
known to occur in British Columbia [see Part 2 of "Lichens of
British Columbia: illustrated keys", available from Crown Publi-
cations, Victoria - cf. BEN # 231].
As coincidence would have it, a second quite usable account of
the stubble lichens appeared almost simultaneously with my own!
That account, however, has the advantage of having being
prepared by the undisputed dean of calicioid studies worldwide,
Dr. Leif Tibell, of Uppsala, Sweden. Doubling as Volume 1 in the
"Nordic Lichen Flora" series, this 74 page treatise represents
the first truly comprehensive treatment of stubble lichens yet
to have appeared in Europe. Included here are keys, detailed
descriptions, chemical notes, habitat summaries, nordic dis-
tributional maps, and colour photographs. For most genera, all
species occurring in British Columbia are treated in detail in
Tibell's book -- the only exceptions being Stenocybe major and
several species in the genus Chaenothecopsis.
Unfortunately for the beginner, the terminology in Tibell's book
is unstintingly technical, while the book itself lacks anything
resembling a glossary of terms. Yet these "deficiencies" can be
largely overcome by using the Nordic book as a companion volume
to the British Columbia treatment, in which all technical words
are carefully defined, and many are illustrated. By the same
token, those who use the British Columbia treatment will benefit
greatly from the descriptions and photographs presented in the
Nordic book. From this it can perhaps be concluded that these
books work well together. They are, so to speak, the fungal and
the algal partners of a single learning experience.
REQUEST FOR SEEDS OF CONYZA CANADENSIS (ASTERACEAE)
From: V.K. Tokhtar' c/o Donetsk Botanical Garden
<sad@botgar.donetsk.ua>
In my study of European populations of Conyza canadensis (L.)
Cronq., I would like to compare those with the native popula-
tions in North America. I would greatly appreciate seed samples
from throughout its native, North American range. - Many thanks!
Dr. Valeri K. Tokhtar'
Donetsk Botanical Gardens,
Illich's Avenue, 110, Donetsk
83059 Ukraine
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscriptions: Send "subscribe BEN-L" or "unsubscribe BEN-L"
(no apostrophes) to majordomo@victoria.tc.ca
Send submissions to BEN-L@victoria.tc.ca
BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/
________________________________________________________________