Issues#101 to #109 (May to July 1995)
NEW ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEMATICS OF BRYOPHYTES
From: Jan-Peter Frahm <unb11d@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.DE>
originally posted on bryonet@dbnlist.bitnet
Under the title "New Aspects of the Systematics of Bryophytes",
M. Bopp and I. Capesius from the university of Heidelberg pub-
lished a new cladogram based on 18S rDNA sequences of Junger-
maniidae, Musci and Marchantiidae. Their cladogram shows that
Marchantiidae (used were Riccia, Reboulia, Marchantia, Cono-
cephalum, Preissia) have nothing in common with Jungermanniidae
(Scapania, Calypogeia, Fossombronia). This may suggest that
Marchantiidae have developed independently from the remaining
liverworts, which makes sense, if one considers that else thalli
should have evolved twice within the hepatics and if the ad-
vanced structure of the thalli of Marchantiidae are considered.
I think this is a remarkable result, from which systematic
conclusions should be drawn.
Ref.: Naturwissenschaften 82: 193-194 (1995)
(BEN # 101 5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
MORE ON TRUFFLES [BEN # 98]
From: The European MagAZine, 21-27 April 1995, p. 10.
The southern tip of Australia is an excellent place to grow the
highly prized French black truffle (Tuber melanosporum). There
have been several attempt to grow black truffle outside France
using a tree inoculation technology developed in France. In 1991
a team based in Oregon produced the first French black truffle
outside France. New Zealand and Israel has also experimented,
but so far only the Australians plan a strategy of mass produc-
tion to penetrate the French market.
The Perigord Truffles of Tasmania (PTT) are expected to produce
their first batch of truffles in winter of 1997. Although the
first harvest will be small, the company plans to have a massive
200 hectares under cultivation by the end of the decade. Full
production is forecast for 2010, when the expected yield will be
around 12 tonnes a year.
In the northern hemisphere this expensive fungus is normally a
winter delicacy. The Australian imports may cost even more than
the local French truffles, but PTT hopes that truffle devotees
will pay the price of having their fix through the summer
months.
PTT's timing could not be better. Since the beginning of the
year the french black truffle has been under attack from the
Chinese 'counterfeit' operation [see BEN 98]. Around 20 tonnes
of this hoax delicacy has already shown up in France this year.
French legislators are now looking at ways to curb this massive
influx, and a new law is expected to prevent Chinese truffles
being sold on the open market. However, they will still be
available in France by mail order, so the problem is not likely
to disappear by next season.
(BEN # 101 5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
MOUNTAIN GOATS IN THE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON STATE
Houston, D.B., E.G. Schreiner & B.B. Moorhead. 1994. Mountain
goats in Olympic National Park: Biology and management of an
introduced species. Scientific Monograph NPS/NROLYM/NRSM-94/25,
US Department of Interior, National Park Service, Denver, CO.
293 p. ISSN 0363-0722 [softcover]
Available from the Publications Coordinator, National Park
Service, Natural Resources Publication Office, P.O.Box 25287,
Denver, CO 80225-0287.
(BEN # 101 5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
PLANTED FORESTS SYMPOSIUM, JUNE 28 - JULY 1, 1995 - CORVALLIS
From: "James R. Boyle" <boylej@ccmail.orst.edu> (abbrev.)
With the Pacific Northwest region of the United States as a
backdrop, leaders in a number of forest-related areas will
illustrate the variety, nature and significance of planted and
managed forests in our societies. The Planted Forests Symposium
will discuss attributes and values of these forests in all their
forms from extensively planted forests in mountainous wildlands
to intensively cultured fiber plantations. Planted forest sys-
tems will be emphasized in appropriate context with other
managed forests and with native forest systems.
For Further Information Contact: Conference Assistant, College
of Forestry, Oregon State University, Peavy Hall 202, Corvallis,
OR 97331-5707, Telephone (503) 737-2329, Fax (503) 737-4966,
E-mail: dustmanp@ccmail.orst.ed
(BEN # 101 5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
WWW SITE LISTS FOR BOTANY AND ECOLOGY
From: "Anthony R. Brach" <brach@oeb.harvard.edu>
Here are the locations of the WWW servers with my list of WWW
sites of interest to
botanists:
http://meena.cc.uregina.ca//bio/botany.html
http://biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr/Ecology-WWW.html
ecologists:
http://biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr/Ecology-WWW.html
(BEN # 101 5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
RECONSTRUCTION OF PAST SALINITY CHANGES IN MAHONEY AND KILPOOLA
LAKES, SOUTH-CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
From: Heinrichs, *M.L., I.R. Walker, R.W. Mathewes, Department
of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby,
British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada, and J. P. Smol, Department of
Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada.
E-mail: Mark Lyle Heinrichs <mheinric@sfu.ca>
The following is the abstract of a poster to be presented at the
joint meeting of the Canadian Quaternary Association and the
Canadian Geomorphological Research Group in St. John's, New-
foundland, June 5-7, 1995:
Preliminary results of lake salinity reconstructions using
fossil remains of Chironomidae (Diptera) indicate changes in
lake salinity occurring from early post-glacial periods through
the mid and late Holocene.
Early post-glacial sediments of Mahoney Lake show an assemblage
of chironomid head capsules typical of a freshwater community,
including Sergentia, Heterotrissocladius, Cladopelma, and
Dicrotendipes. This period of fresh water persisted up to ap-
proximately 450 cm (circa 9800 yr B.P.) and was followed by a
major shift in the assemblage occurring at approximately 400 cm
(circa 9000 yr B.P.). Chironomids indicative of more saline
environments, such as Cricotopus/Orthocladius and Tanypus
dominated and freshwater chironomids became absent at this time.
The chironomid-inferred salinity values derived from a salinity-
calibration transfer function (Walker, Wilson and Smol, sub-
mitted) also reflect the shift from freshwater at 0.031 g/l
immediately after deglaciation, to saline water ranging from
10.0 to 55.2 g/l in subsequent periods. There is evidence sug-
gesting slightly less saline water at 7.0 g/l in the 25 cm
interval (circa 400 yr B.P.)
Results from early post-glacial sediments of Kilpoola Lake
indicate a freshwater community which included Heterotris-
socladius, Dicrotendipes and Sergentia having a chironomid-
inferred salinity value of 0.035 g/l. Immediately thereafter, a
major fluctuation in the chironomid assemblage occurred, with
inferred salinity values increasing from 1.2 to 2.0 g/l, fol-
lowed by a rapid decrease to 0.037 g/l and then rebounding to
2.0 g/l at 397 cm. Heterotrissocladius and Dicrotendipes were
absent during the higher salinity periods, and the assemblage
was characterised by an increase in Chironomus and
Psectrocladius. Following this major fluctuation, the chironomid
assemblages had less variation until 267 cm, when a large in-
crease in Cricotopus/Orthocladius and Tanypus was observed; a
corresponding increase in salinity to 7.7 g/l also occurred.
This higher salinity condition prevailed for a short period
until 257 cm, where the chironomid assemblage returned to condi-
tions similar to prior to 267 cm, with a corresponding decrease
in salinity values around 1- 2 g/l. Changes in the chironomid
assemblage occurred at 85 cm, with the salinity decreasing to
0.7 g/l, suggesting a brief period of less saline water. Sub-
sequent intervals to present conditions are characterised by an
assemblage of more saline tolerant chironomids including
Psectrocladius and Cricotopus/Orthocladius, with inferred
salinity values ranging from 1.4 to 3.5 g/l.
Salinity change in lakes of semi-arid regions are recognised as
an indicator of climatic change due to high evaporative losses
and low precipitation (Hammer, 1990). Periods of high salinity
correspond to periods of warm temperatures due to an increase in
evaporation and a decrease in precipitation. Periods of low
salinity correspond to cooler temperatures due to a decrease in
evaporation and an increase in precipitation. Salinity values
provide a valuable line of evidence in paleoclimatic reconstruc-
tion. The change from fresh to saline water in early post-
glacial sediments of both Mahoney and Kilpoola lakes suggest a
rapid period of increasing temperatures. Severe changes follow-
ing the Mt. Mazama volcanic eruption are seen in Kilpoola lake
and to a lesser extent in Mahoney lake. High salinity values and
the domination of Cricotopus/Orthocladius suggest that warmer
climate conditions prevailed for some time thereafter. The
decrease in salinity of Mahoney lake circa 400 yr B.P. and that
around 85 cm in Kilpoola lake may correspond to similar cooling
periods seen in the late Holocene in other locations (King,
1980; Hebda, 1982).
References
Hammer, U.T. 1990. The effects of climate change on the
salinity, water levels and biota of Canadian prairie
saline lakes. Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol. 24: 321- 326.
Hebda, R.J. 1982. Postglacial history of grasslands of southern
British Columbia and adjacent regions. Grassland Ecology
and Classification Symposium.
King, M. 1980 Palynological and macrofossil analyses of lake
sediments from the Lillooet area, British Columbia. Un-
published Msc thesis.
Walker, I.R., Wilson, S.E., and Smol, J.P. submitted
Chironomidae (Diptera): Quantitative palaeosalinity in-
dicators for lakes of western Canada. Can. J. Fish Aquat.
Sci.
Note: Copies of the conference programme, abstracts and field
guides (the latter represents detailed background and stop
descriptions for both the Avalon Peninsula and West Coast field
trips - more than 100 pages) are offered for the basement price
of CDN$25.00 (which includes shipping and handling) to non-
registrants of the conference. Please send cheque (written on
Canadian or US accounts), made payable to CANQUA '95, to the
address below. Quantities are limited.
Trevor Bell, Department of Geography, Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X9
Tel: (709) 737-2525 Fax: (709) 737-4000
Email: tbell@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
CLEARCUTTING AND EROSION IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
From: Pamela Holly Pack <ppack@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
in forest@nic.funet.fi
Does anyone have any suggestions on recent information regarding
the correlation of clearcutting and increased erosion/ sedimen-
tation in SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA? I have a good deal of info. from
the 1970's, but I am looking for any powerful recent articles or
studies that may be helpful in determining changes in landscape
patterns as a result of ANCA, ANILCA, as well as TTRA. This is a
rather broad request, but if anyone could point me toward any
especially helpful documents I would appreciate it.
P.S. Sorry about the acronyms !! TTRA--the Tongass Timber Reform
Act 1990, ANCSA--the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and
ANILCA--Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. All
statutes that have affected landscape change in Southeastern
Alaska.
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATE FROM THE BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION NEWSLETTER
From: Ellen Farr in CONSLINK@SIVM.SI.EDU
The cumulative Conservation Bibliography from this newsletter
has been available on the Smithsonian Institution's Natural
History Gopher Server since the fall of 1993. The list has now
grown to over 8000 references.
Gopher Server searches normally return a list of the first lines
of any items that meet the search criteria and each item must be
selected in turn to view the entire citation. We have now imple-
mented a new search option that will build a single document
from the search results for up to 200 records. This document can
be browsed on the screen, printed, or downloaded as a file.
The address for the Smithsonian's Natural History Gopher Server
is nmnhgoph.si.edu port 70. Look under Botany/Biological
Conservation/Conservation Bibliography. If you have a World Wide
Web Client, you can reach the material on the Gopher Server from
our department's Web Home Page. The URL is
http://nmnhwww.si.edu/departments/botany.html
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
ASSOCIATION OF SYSTEMATICS COLLECTIONS (ASC) ANNUAL MEETING
June 30-July 2. The 1995 Association of Systematics Collections
(ASC) annual meeting at UC Berkeley will be hosted jointly by
the University of California, Berkeley and the California
Academy of Sciences. The meeting will feature a workshop on
"Natural History Collections on the Information Superhighway."
For registration and hotel information, contact ASC, 730 11th
St. NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC, 20001-4521; Tel.:(202)
347-2850; Fax:(202) 347-0072.
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
CONTROL OF SCOTCH BROOM IN GARRY OAK GRASSLAND
From: Eric Redekop, 2510 Asquith Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8R 3Y1. Phone: 604-595-7270
Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium: Control of Scotch
Broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Other Invasive Exotic Plants -
presented by the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society.
Place: Dunsmuir Lodge, 1515 McTavish Road, P.O.Box 2369, Sidney,
B.C. Canada V8L 3Y3
Time: Saturday, June 10, 1995, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Registration: Please register by June 6; registration fee
CDN$30.00 (includes printed materials, refreshments, buffet
lunch and field trip material) - make cheques payable to the
Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society - should be sent to
2510 Asquith Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8R 3Y1.
Presentations:
"Identity Crisis: Do We Know What We Want to Restore" by Hans
Roemer
"Broom Control in B.C. Parks and Ecological Reserves" by Ross
Dawson
"Broom Removal from B.C. Highways" by Jean Anne Wightman
"Broom Control Research in Uplands Park" by Joel Ussery
"Biological Control of Noxious Weeds" by Brian Wikeem
Field Trip: Anderson Hill, Mount Tolmie and Christmas Hill.
Please note that SPACE IS LIMITED. If you would like to assure a
place, contact the organizers immediately by telephone:
Eric Redekop - 604-595-7270 or Tom Gilliespie - 604-361-1694
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
SOCIETY FOR RANGE MANAGEMENT SUMMER MEETING
>From : Gail Berg <gberg@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca>
The pacific Northwest Section of the Society for Range Manage-
ment will be holding their annual Summer Workshop and Meeting at
Wasa, British Columbia this year. The dates are Thursday June 22
to Saturday June 24. The theme of the workshop will be "Listen-
ing Skills to Foster Understanding of Rangeland Perspectives".
After the workshop, participants will visit 4 different range
sites and various user groups will voice their desired range
management strategies at these locations. User groups will
include: ranchers, recreationists, forest companies, silvicul-
ture, hunter and guide outfitters, range managers, environmen-
talists and Fish and Wildlife biologists. For more information
contact the following: Gail Berg (registration)
gberg@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca 604-342-2042 Greg Tegart 604-871-7611
Gary Tipper 604-489-8540 Mike Malmberg 604-426- 1535 A number of
post meeting tours are also planned. Registration cost is
CDN$65.00.
(BEN # 102 29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
TOKYO CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE - IN IS OUT
The latest version of the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature (the so-called Tokyo Code) has brought in several
important changes, most of them too technical to be of interest
to BEN readers. The overall stress is on the stability of names.
The code makes it easier to reject "any name that would cause
disadvantageous nomenclatural change." Long-forgotten names can
be proposed for rejection to avoid changes in well-established
names.
There is a small, but significant change in how we should cite
authors of names. In the citation of authors there are two
prepositions that are used to indicate the authorship of a name:
"ex" and "in." If Author1 supplied a name and Author2 provided
and published the description, the citation of the authors will
be "Author1 ex Author2," or just "Author2." A very familiar
example of the use of "ex" is: Castilleja miniata Dougl. ex
Hook. [David Douglas proposed the name, but it was W.J. Hooker
who wrote the description and published it in his "Flora
Boreali-Americana"]. Another way how to cite this name is
Castilleja miniata Hook.
If, on the other hand, Author1 provided both the name and the
DESCRIPTION, but published them in another author's work, the
preposition "in" would be used to show this ("Author1 in
Author2"). The Tokyo Code has ruled that in this case the "in"
and "Author2" should be considered a part of the bibliographic
citation and "are better omitted unless the place of publication
is being cited." If you check "A synonymized checklist of the
vascular flora of the United States, etc." by Kartesz (1994) you
won't find there any "in Author2" forms any more. For example
Carex amplifolia Boott in Hook. should be cited only as Carex
amplifolia Boott.
One entirely new concept is incorporated in the new edition of
the Code, that of interpretive types to serve when an estab-
lished type cannot be reliably identified for the purpose of
precise application of a name. For this type the Nomenclatural
Committee has adopted the term "epitype", expressing the meaning
"on top of the type." According the Art. 9.7 "An epitype is a
specimen or illustration selected to serve as an interpretative
type when the holotype, lectotype, [etc.] is demonstrably am-
biguous and cannot be critically identified for purposes of the
precise application of the name of a taxon."
(BEN # 103 6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
ADOXA MOSCHATELLINA NORTH OF SMITHERS, BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Jim Pojar <jpojar@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca>
Have you ever seen a lot (very much indeed) of Adoxa moschatel-
lina? No, neither had I, until May 21, when we went exploring to
Netalzul Meadow, 70 km N of Smithers. It's an unusual (for our
region) complex of willow shrub-carr and moist meadow, and Adoxa
was rampant in places in the meadow, which later will be a
Heracleum-Urtica-Epilobium-Elymus glaucus type. I couldn't
detect the musky smell the plant is supposed to have, but maybe
because it was mid-day. Good thing too, because so many musk-
emitting plants no doubt would have sedated us, like Dorothy in
the poppy field. Upstream lives Viola selkirkii, which I don't
think I've seen before (in. B.C.). I've been to this meadow
twice before and didn't see Adoxa, but the times were in August
when the meadow vegetation is chest-high. This Spring has been
unusually dry and warm, hence the early season botanizing. I
wonder what else I've been missing all these years, while gar-
dening over the long Victoria Day weekend?
(BEN # 103 6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
KOELTZ SCIENTIFIC BOOKS USA - NEW WEB PAGE
From: xx143@prairienet.org (Koeltz Scientific Books)
We now have a commercial web site listing 25000 titles, includ-
ing bibliographic details. It can be found at the following URL:
http://www.shout.net//
(BEN # 103 6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
AAAS SYMPOSIUM IN VANCOUVER, B.C. - JUNE 21, 1995
From: Bob Vance, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary
<vance@GSC.EMR.CA>
The 76th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science will be held at the
University of British Columbia, from June 18-22. The varied
program includes a symposium organized by Ian Walker (Okanagan
University College) and myself that has not been widely adver-
tised. As it may be of interest to list members residing in the
Pacific Northwest, or those of you who may be in Vancouver in
the next few weeks, I thought it worthwhile to circulate the
program.
This symposium, titled "Palaeoecolgy and Palaeoclimatology of
the Pacific Northwest" will take place on Wednesday, June 21.
The session is focused on comparing climate model output and
proxy climate data in northwestern North America for the 6000
and 18000 yr BP time slices.
8:30-8:40 Opening remarks
8:40-9:00 The role of paleoenvironmental data in evaluating
paleoclimatic model simulations of 18K and 6K. Robert S.
Webb, NOAA Paleoclimatology Program.
9:00-9:20 Principal characteristics of the present climate of
northwestern North America. Oswaldo Garcia, San Francisco
State University.
9:20-9:40 Sensitivity studies of climatic factors for 6,000 and
18,000 BP. Robert J. Oglesby, Purdue University.
9:40-10:10 High resolution paleoclimate simulations for western
North America. Steve Hostetler, United States Geological
Survey.
10:30-10:50 The ocean's role in past and future climates. Andrew
Weaver, University of Victoria.
10:50-11:10 The northeast Pacific at 6,000 and 18,000 B.P. as
seen by marine diatoms. Constance Sancetta, National
Science Foundation.
11:10-11:30 Late Quaternary geochemical and stable isotope
records from the Gulf of Alaska. D.W. McDonald and T.F.
Pedersen, University of British Columbia.
1:00-1:20 Paleovegetation in the Yukon/Alaska/East Beringia
region at 18ka and 6ka. Ray Spear, State University of New
York.
1:20-1:40 British Columbia vegetation and climate 6000 BP.
Richard Hebda, Royal British Columbia Museum.
1:40-2:00 A comparison of paleobotanical proxy data and climate
model results in 18 ka in coastal British Columbia. Rolf
W. Mathewes, Simon Fraser University.
2:00-2:20 The paleoecological record of 6 and 18 ka BP climate
on the eastern slopes and plains of northwestern North
America. Robert E. Vance, Geological Survey of Canada.
2:20-2:40 Glacial maximum and middle Holocene climate contrast
between the northern intermountain and coastal west as
reflected in vegetation history. Peter E. Wigand, Quater-
nary Sciences Center, University and Community College
System of Nevada.
3:00-3:20 Diatoms and climate change during the Late-Glacial/
Early Holocene, and the 6000 year time slice. Michael
Hickman, University of Alberta.
3:20-3:40 Insect evidence for paleoenvironments in Alaska at
6000 and 18,000 yr BP. Scott A. Elias, University of
Colorado.
3:40-4:00 Chironomid paleoecology and mid-Holocene paleoclimatic
inferences for British Columbia. Ian R. Walker, Okanagan
University College.
4:00-4:30 Discussion
Hope to see some of you at UBC!
(BEN # 103 6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
INTRODUCED BOG PLANTS AROUND VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Frank Lomer, Honourary Research Associate, UBC Herbarium,
Vancouver, B.C. c/o <ubc@unixg.ubc.ca>
A large part of the Fraser delta is peat bog and large part of
this area is used to grow blueberries and cranberries. Both the
cultivated blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., and the cran-
berry, Oxycoccus macrocarpus (Ait.) Pers., are native to eastern
North America. They have escaped cultivation and now grow wild
in suitable habitats in the Lower Mainland.
A number of other plants native to eastern North America have
also been found here, presumably introduced with cultivated
stock in cranberry and blueberry fields.
The following list is made from my own observations and UBC
herbarium specimens:
Azolla caroliniana Willd. - Recently found in cranberry sloughs
in Richmond and in an old peat extraction bog in South
Burnaby [see BEN # 100].
Bidens connata Muhl. ex Willd. - According to Clapham, Tutin &
Moore (Flora of British Isles), this species is native to
eastern North America while the similar Bidens tripartita
L. is a Eurasian species. The achenes of B. connata are
strongly 4-angled and have upward directed bristles, and
the leaves are generally simple. I collected a plant in a
cranberry bog in Richmond that fit this description. (UBC
# 207761: South of River Rd., Richmond; about 2.5 km west
of New Westminster border, just west of railroad bridge
across Fraser River..) Bidens tripartita is a locally
common weed of ditches and wet disturbed ground around the
Vancouver area. Bidens connata is doubtfully a distinct
species, according to some.
Cyperus erythrorhizos Muhl. - Found October 1993, at Richland
Farms blueberry field, Richmond. (UBC #207777: 19 611
Westminster Highway, Richmond.) This species is a rare
native around Osoyoos Lake, but here it was abundant and
weedy and clearly introduced. The area was recently
cleared for cranberries and the species seems to be extir-
pated.
Cyperus esculentus L. - Collected in a raspberry filed in 1957
in Hatzic, Fraser Valley. (UBC # 58016: "Hatzic Region.")
No other collections at UBC.
Eriophorum virginicum L. - I collected this species along a fuel
track in a peat bog, South Richmond. Rather numerous, but
in a limited area. Since collected by Terry Taylor around
a peat extraction area in Burns Bog, Delta [see BEN # 82].
Glyceria canadensis (Michx.) Trin. - Not strictly a bog plant,
this grass is now quite widespread around the Lower Main-
land. First collected in Haney in 1959. (UBC # 79529)
Hypericum boreale (Britton) Bickn. - Widespread. It can be found
in a variety of habitats as well as cranberry fields. (UBC
# 200282: Latimer Lake, 192 St. + 28 Ave, South Surrey.)
First collected in 1961.
Juncus canadensis J. Gray - I found this species in November
1993 in an abandoned peat extraction bog in South Burnaby
where it forms dense patches in standing water. (UBC #
207980: South of Marine Way, east of Byrne Rd., Burnaby.)
Collected again November 19, 1993 by a pond in an old
gravel pit 1 km away (northwest of Stride Ave., Burnaby).
April 7, 1995 under hydro lines, Mundy Park, Coquitlam.
Looks like native Juncus acuminatus Michx. but the seeds
have long appendages.
Juncus pelocarpus Meyer - Sparsely scattered in an old cranberry
bog South Burnaby, collected in 1993; found again in 1994
around a pond 1 km north. (UBC # 207982: cf. J. canadensis
for Burnaby locations.) Distinctive because of the
bulblets produced in the inflorescence.
Lysimachia terrestris (L.) B.S.P. - Widespread, but not common,
and not restricted to cranberry fields: Coquitlam, Lulu
Island, and Annacis Island.
Rhexia virginica L. (Melastomaceae) - Collected in August 1937
from Johnson's Blueberry Farm in Richmond by J.W. Eastham,
not known since. (UBC # 4389)
Triadenum fraseri (Spach) Gleason (syn.: Hypericum virginicum L.
var. fraseri [Spach] Fern.) - Found in three locations: in
a cleared cranberry big in Richmond, the edge of an aban-
doned cranberry field in Burnaby, and in an undisturbed
peat marsh on Douglas Island in the Fraser River south of
Port Coquitlam. (UBC # 200283: cf. Bidens connata
locality.)
Viola lanceolata L. - Collected in Richmond blueberry fields in
1939, 1942, and 1967. (UBC # 11787a: "Blundell Rd." etc.)
I have not seen it myself.
(BEN # 104 2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
STANDARDS FOR TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM MAPPING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
>From : Ted Lea <TLEA@FWHDEPT.env.gov.bc.ca>
The review draft of the provincial Resources Inventory Committee
(RIC) standards for terrestrial ecosystem mapping in British
Columbia was produced by the Ecosystems Working Group (EWG) of
RIC, and is a combination of methods developed by the Ministry
of Forests and BC Environment. Authors include Allen Banner and
Del Meidinger of the Ministry of Forests, and Barb von Sacken,
Bob Maxwell and Ted Lea of BC Environment.
This report provides provincial standards for ecosystem mapping
at scales of 1:5,000 to 1:100,000 to be used in British Colum-
bia. This report has been developed by the Resources Inventory
Committee (RIC), a provincial committee responsible for develop-
ing inventory standards for the province.
These mapping standards utilize a three-level classification
hierarchy of ecological units, including ecoregion units,
biogeoclimatic units and ecosystem units. Ecoregion Class-
ification includes five levels of generalization, the ecodomain,
ecodivision, ecoprovince, ecoregion, and ecosection.
Biogeoclimatic units include four levels including zone, sub-
zone, variant, and phase. Ecoregion and biogeoclimatic units are
broad-level delineations which describe large landscape unit
polygons, derived from provincial maps. The levels typically
used in this methodology are ecosection, biogeoclimatic subzone
and variant. Within these broader units, site level polygons
describe ecosystem units composed of site series, site
modifiers, structural stages, and sometimes, seral associations.
Ecosystem units are mapped on air photographs following a
bioterrain approach whereby polygons are developed from an
initial stratification based on permanent terrain (surficial
geology) features. Terrain units are then further refined by
recognizing the biologically significant attributes within them
that control or reflect ecosystem development.
This report provides information about classification, symbol-
ogy, sampling, mapping procedures, and legends. Core data at-
tributes to be collected for all ecosystem mapping projects in
British Columbia are described, in addition to other attributes
that are recommended in order to support interpretations for
various land management activities. A list of map symbols for
all site series presently described in the province is provided.
Features of importance in this document include:
1. A hierarchy of Ecoregion Units, Biogeoclimatic Units, and
Ecosystem Units are utilized for all mapping projects.
2. A bioterrain mapping approach is required for ecosystem
mapping, following standards from Terrain Classification
System for British Columbia (Howes and Kenk, 1988).
3. Ecosystem Units are composed of site series, site modifiers,
structural stages and seral associations.
4. Typical site conditions (e.g., parent material, soil texture
and aspect) have been described for each Site Series. When a
particular site series occurs on atypical sites, site
modifiers must be used to indicate this.
5. Standard two letter codes for Site Series are provided, to
be used for mapping. Codes and typical site conditions
available to date are included. The final report will have
codes and typical situations for all recognized Site Series
in the province.
6. Standard symbols are provided for site modifiers and struc-
tural stages.
7. The standards require coordination with MoF regional
ecologists for any biogeoclimatic boundary changes (e.g.,
subzones or variants) and requires approval by the regional
ecologist for any new site series or seral associations
developed in mapping projects.
If you have any comments or questions on this methodology, or
wish to get a copy of this review draft or the final report,
please contact me at (604) 387-9781 or e-mail at
tlea@fwhdept.env.gov.bc.ca
Ref.: Howes, D.E. & E. Kenk [eds.] 1988. Terrain Classification
System for British Columbia. Revised Edition. Ministry of
Environment, Victoria, B.C.
Ted Lea, Chair, Ecosystems Working Group, Resources Inventory
Committee
(BEN # 104 2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
PLANT PRESS STRAPS
From: ubc herbarium <ubc@unixg.ubc.ca>
This spring I made some easy to use and very sturdy Plant Press
Straps for the UBC Herbarium. These are not the same as the ones
in the Herbarium Supply Company's Catalogue. Our people that
have used them are really pleased with them. I thought other
botanists in B.C. may want to have this kind of straps but do
not have access to the supply stores as we do in Vancouver or
the machines to assemble them. If enough people are interested,
I will make another batch of Plant Press Straps.
The straps are 2" x 6'; made of heavy black nylon webbing with
sturdy three-prong Clip-on plastic buckles. The straps are
constructed with heavy duty nylon thread and the ends fire
cinched and the thread ends are sealed to prevent fraying. There
is a light colour tag near the buckle for people to write their
names on. The price is $25.00/pair (material and labour) plus
$2.14 postage within Canada.
Anyone interested please contact:
Olivia Lee, UBC Herbarium
Phone: 604-822-3344
E-mail: olivia@unixg.ubc.ca or ubc@unixg.ubc.ca
[Plant press straps "OLIVIA" are really revolutionary. For the
Internet purists, this is not an advertisement, but BEN's en-
dorsement of the product. Congratulations, Olivia! Have your
design patented. Good bye the old crocodile clamps! - AC]
(BEN # 104 2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
IDENTITY CRISIS: DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO REHABILITATE?
From: Dr. Hans Roemer <hroemer@galaxy.gov.bc.ca>
This article is based on an illustrated presentation given at
the Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium, June 10, 1995.
When we speak about rehabilitating Garry oak grassland most of
us will automatically equate this with restoring this ecosystem
to its original, natural state. The assumption is made that we
know with some accuracy what this original state was. Unfor-
tunately this is not the case for much of this ecosystem.
Another assumption is, as the word "restore" implies, that it is
possible to return to this original state. Indications are that
this, too, is unrealistic.
A more appropriate title for this contribution would therefore
be "Where are we coming from and where are we going?", both in
terms of species combination for the Garry oak grasslands.
Garry oak communities may be grouped into two broad complexes,
one associated with the dry core area, and another with the less
dry periphery of their occurrence (compare p. 21/22, Proceed-
ings, Garry Oak Meadow Colloquium, 1993). While we know
reasonably well what the original species combination of the
peripheral complex was, the same cannot be said about the core
area complex. The latter communities coincide with the urbanized
area of southern Vancouver Island and their present herb/grass
layers are now occupied by so many alien species that we don't
know of which species the matrix was composed from which taller
plants such as camas emerged. There are now no mass-forming
native grasses and herbs in the meadow component of these com-
munities, especially among the smaller, annual species. A pos-
sible exception is Festuca megalura (Vulpia myurus ssp. hirsuta)
which, however, is not a constant component. James Douglas
reported in 1842 that "several varieties of red clover grow in
the rich, moist bottoms...". If we ignore the "moist bottoms" of
this quote, these could be interpreted to be the native Tri-
folium tridentatum, T. oliganthum and T. variegatum, all annuals
which may well have formed continuous stands, although they are
now absent or only scattered in communities of the Garry oak
core area.
Another open question with significance for both the past and
the future composition of Garry oak communities pertains to the
presence or absence of shrub layers. It is quite possible that
high ungulate populations and the native peoples' practice of
setting grass fires combined to gradually eliminate shrub
layers. Will these shrub layers, presumably dominated by Sym-
phoricarpos albus, gradually re-invade the grassy areas, now
that both fires and ungulate browsing have ceased?
Table 1 addresses the problem of non-native species in the
herb/grass layers. It is arranged to show native species above,
and non- native species below the horizontal dividing line.
Higher constancies of both native and non-native species are
shown closer to the line than lower constancies. The herb/grass
layers of eighteen plots from Roemer (1972) are shown averaged
in the first column (bold). The other columns represent in-
dividual releves, recorded in May, 1995. Locations for these
releves were chosen subjectively to represent the highest den-
sities of camas. All plots are representative of the core area
which is increasingly influenced by the urban environment of
greater Victoria. One great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) meadow
and one common camas (Camassia quamash) meadow is described by a
releve in each of three localities.
While the average number of native species in the 1972 plots
still exceeded the number of non-natives (13:11), the total
number of native species in the entire table is now smaller than
that of the non-native species (30:35). Table 2 summarizes
native/non-native counts for table 1. The proportion of native
species ranges from a disconcerting low of 24% to a high of 60%
(for the only sample outside of the urbanized area). When cover
values are used for the calculation, the proportion of native to
non-native species is even lower. Taking into account that the
18 samples of 1972 already represented the most "urbanized" part
of that data set, it is of even more concern that the percent-
ages in comparable 1995 samples (#3 t o #8) are still lower. In
addition, the sampled stands are likely among the least dis-
turbed of the remaining communities as they were selected on the
basis of showing optimal Camassia displays. With other words,
most parts of these remaining Garry oak communities may have
considerably fewer native plants.
There appear to be no significant differences in the native/non-
native proportions between common camas and great camas meadows,
although more extensive sampling would be desirable to confirm
this. However, there are different kinds of grasses and herbs
that tend to invade the two types of meadows. The shallow,
exposed soils of common camas meadows are more conducive to
annuals, while the deeper, often sheltered and shaded sites of
great camas meadows are increasingly occupied by perennial and
taller European meadow species.
Some non-native grasses, notably the small annuals, are rela-
tively benign and allow most native plants to co-exist with
them. Others, such as orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata), are in
the long run capable of smothering much of the native flora,
including camas and white fawn lily (Erythronium).
Concluding, it may be said that -
--- Introduced species are now dominating the herb/grass layer
of the Garry oak ecosystem in its dry and urbanized core
area. The proportion of non-native species appears to have
increased over the last two decades and appears to be
highest in the most fragmented and "urbanized" remnants of
the ecosystem.
--- There is considerable uncertainty which species formed the
bulk of the herb/grass layer in the Garry oak communities of
what is now the urban and suburban area of Victoria.
--- The status of shrub layers, principally of snowberry, is
equally uncertain and it appears possible in the absence of
fire and grazing that shrubs may gradually invade the meadow
component of Garry oak communities.
--- Scotch broom invasions are not our only alien-plant problem,
though it is one of the worst. By introducing additional
nitrogen, Scotch broom may allow secondary invasion of
nitrophilous species such as orchard grass.
--- A return to the original species combination is highly
unlikely. We must therefore be prepared to accept com-
promises and manage for near-natural and/or attractive
combinations such as oak-camas or oak-fawnlily-shootingstar,
combined with the non-native element. Examples of such
combinations maintained over long periods are available in
the region.
--- Experimentation with different management and restoration
methods including reintroductions must be encouraged.
--- We must strive to maintain Garry oak reserves as large as
possible and as distant as possible from the urbanized areas
which are the ultimate sources of disturbance and non-native
species.
--- Systematic monitoring of further shifts in native/non-native
species combinations should be established.
References:
Douglas, J. 1842. Report to McLaughlin, July 12, 1842. Cited in
Founding of Victoria, The Beaver, Outfit 273. March 1943,
p.4-9.
Hebda, R.J. and Fran Aitkens (eds.) 1993. Garry Oak Meadow
Colloquium, Victoria, 1993.
Roemer, H.L. 1972. Forest Vegetation and Environments on the
Saanich Peninsula,Vancouver Island. Unpublished PhD dis-
sertation, University of Victoria.
Table 1.
SPECIES COMBINATION OF CAMAS MEADOWS IN THE VICTORIA AREA
1970-sample (18 plots)
: Woodsend
: : Knockan Hill -great
: : : Christmas Hill -common
: : : : Christmas Hill -great
: : : : : Beacon Hill -great
: : : : : : Knockan Hill
: : : : : : : -common
: : : : : : : Beacon Hill
: : : : : : : : -common
v v v v v v v v
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Orthocarpus pusillus 1
Vicia americana 1
Orobanche uniflora r
Cerastium arvense +
Delphinium menziesii +
Lotus micranthus 1
Triteleia hyacinthina +
Perideridia gairdneri r
Collinsia parviflora +
Poa canbyi +
Fritillaria lanceolata +
Lomatium nudicaule r
Nemophila parviflora +
Erythronium oregonum +
Lupinus bicolor 2
Luzula campestris +
Sisyrichium douglasii r
Trifolium oliganthum +
Agrostis exarata 3
Brodiaea coronaria + +
Montia perfoliata 1 r
Dodecatheon henders. 1 r
Achillea millefolium + +
Elymus glaucus 1 r 1
Lomatium utriculatum 2 1 2 +
Ranunculus occidentalis + 1 + +
Bromus carinatus 1 + 2 2
Sanicula crassicaulis + + 1 2 r
Camassia leichtlinii 3 + 3 3 5
Camassia quamash 4 1 3 + 4 4
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Festuca bromoides 1 4 5 1 3 1 5
Vicia sativa + 3 3 2 + 1 1
Bromus hordeaceus + 2 1 2 4 4 2
Bromus sterilis 3 2 5 4 1
Geranium molle 1 1 1 2 +
Galium aparine 2 1 3 +
Vicia hirsuta + + + 2
Bromus rigidus 2 1 + 2
Anthoxanthum odoratum 2 3 3 3
Hypochaeris radicata 2 1 1 2
Cytisus scoparius 3 1 3 +
Poa pratensis 2 3 3
Stellaria media + + 2
Rumex acetosella 3 1 +
Veronica arvensis r 1
Dactylis glomerata 2 4
Cynosurus echinatus + +
Holcus lanatus + +
Lolium perenne 2 2
Medicago lupulina 3 1
Plantago lanceolata 2 1
Poa bulbosa 1 2
Festuca megalura 2 2
Cynosurus cristatus 3
Bromus tectorum 3
Teesdalia nudicaulis 2
Agropyron repens 3
Aira praecox 2
Aira caryophyllea 2
Moenchia erecta +
Bellis perennis +
Agrostis gigantea 1
Trifolium pratense 1
Lathyrus latifolius r
Daucus carota +
Table 2.
REMAINING NATIVE SPECIES IN CAMAS MEADOWS OF THE VICTORIA AREA
Meadow samples total no. of % no. % cover
no. of native native native
species species species species
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1970 sample (18 plots)/1 24 (avg.) 13 54% 36%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Woodsend Drive 20 12 60% 41%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Knockan Hill - great c. 14 6 43% 25%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christmas Hill - common c. 9 4 44% 18%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beacon Hill - great c. 21 8 38% 27%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christmas Hill - great c. 16 5 31% 31%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Knockan Hill - common c. 20 6 30% 30%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beacon Hill - common c. 17 4 24% 27%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
/1 averages representing releve set #1 in Roemer, H.L. (1972)
Forest Vegetation of the Saanich Peninsula; tree cover
omitted.
(BEN # 105 7-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
SCOTCH BROOM (CYTISUS SCOPARIUS) REMOVAL TRIALS
From: Joel Ussery <jussery@wpo.crd.gov.bc.ca>
This report is based on an illustrated presentation made to the
Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium on June 10, 1995.
As part of my master's thesis in Resource and Environmental
Management at Simon Fraser University, I conducted a pilot
'adaptive management' experiment to examine the effects of two
different techniques and seasons for removing the invasive shrub
Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) from Garry oak (Quercus gar-
ryana) grassland or 'meadow' sites. My objective was to develop
an approach and methodology that would minimize site disturbance
and subsequent broom regeneration in areas of high conservation
value. Funding for this pilot research was provided by the
Canadian Wildlife Service.
Scotch broom is an invasive exotic leguminous shrub which has
become naturalized over large areas of the Pacific Northwest,
Australia and New Zealand (Hoshovsky 1991, Zielke et al. 1994).
Broom typically forms dense stands which: 1) are associated with
declines in native forb and grass species diversity and popula-
tions; 2) produce high numbers of durable seeds which are known
to remain viable in the soil for decades and are stimulated to
germinate by soil disturbance and fire; and 3) may facilitate
secondary invasions of nitrophilous exotic grass species which
are also associated with the degradation and displacement of
native herbaceous communities.
Many land management agencies have responded aggressively to
Scotch broom invasions. Various methods and combinations of
manual, mechanized, thermal (fire), chemical, and biological
control have been tested. Most efforts often result in con-
siderable site disturbance and vigorous Scotch broom regenera-
tion from seed and stem resprouting. Biological control has
proven ineffective in controlling broom in all published reports
to date.
Manual control of Scotch broom in areas of high conservation
value appears to have focussed on uprooting all broom plants,
despite a well known association between soil disturbance and
Scotch broom regeneration from seed. Presumably uprooting has
been chosen to overcome the ability of Scotch broom to resprout
from cut stems. However, Bossard (1991) has demonstrated that
the resprouting of Scotch broom at two sites in California was
greatly reduced after the plants were subject to the stresses of
flower and seed production and summer drought. The lowest levels
of resprouting at her sites was recorded in November. Thus
cutting and removing Scotch broom in the appropriate season may
minimize site disturbance, seed germination, and the resprouting
of cut stems.
In my study, Scotch broom was removed from areas of remnant
semi-natural Garry oak 'meadow' in Uplands Park (Victoria - Oak
Bay) on the southeast tip of Vancouver Island. This vegetation
community type is characterized by large well-spaced oaks with
an herbaceous understory on level sites with deep soils (Roemer
1972). In the first year of the study I examined the level of
site disturbance from two different removal methods:
1) uprooting all Scotch broom plants, or 2) clipping the above
ground portion of plants over 0.5 cm in diameter and pulling the
rest. Scotch broom at each of the four sites was removed by
volunteers the third week of May (1993), after the this species
had flowered, and in mid-July (1993) before the plants had
dispersed seed. No trials were conducted in November due to my
course work requirements. Site disturbance in study plots was
measured by: 1) area of bare soil exposure, 2) soil disturbance,
and 3) area trampled.
The study plots cleared of broom in 1993 were revisited in the
summer of 1994 to assess the amount of Scotch broom regeneration
from seed and stem resprouting. I counted the number of newly
germinated Scotch broom seedlings in each plot and measured the
diameter and height of all relocated cut broom stems in 'clip'
plots, recording any evidence of resprouting.
The herbaceous component of the study plots was dominated by
varying combinations of the introduced grass species Agrostis
capillaris, Dactylis glomerata, and Poa pratensis. All plots
contained at least some remnant native forb species. Camassia
quamash, Ranunculus occidentalis, and Lomatium nudicale were the
most constant native species present.
Predictably, soil disturbance was greatest from uprooting in
both May and July. Likely because of the thick cover of turf-
forming grasses on most plots, the actual percentage of soil
disturbance was quite small when compared to the overall area of
the study plot. The herbaceous vegetation in all removal sites
was heavily trampled. Trampling in May occurred before native
forb and grass species had set and dispersed seed.
The number of Scotch broom seedlings at all sites was highest in
plots where all broom plants were uprooted. However, there was a
large variation in Scotch broom seedling numbers (1-330/m2)
between, and within, the four study sites. The highest number of
seedlings occurred in plots with relatively low cover values of
introduced grasses. The lowest number of broom seedlings, and
native species, occurred in plots with high cover values of
Dactylis glomerata.
Less than 1.5% of all clipped Scotch broom stems above 0.5 cm in
diameter exhibited resprouting in 1994. Resprouting occurred in
broom plants clipped in both May and July 1993 and was limited
to a subset of the broom plants with small diameter (< 1.0 cm)
stems cut higher than 10 cm above ground level.
The results of this pilot study suggest that clipping Scotch
broom plants low to the ground after flowering in May and in
July will minimize soil disturbance and subsequent broom
regeneration from seed and resprouting in Garry oak meadows.
However, Scotch broom removal should only be undertaken after
most native forb and grass species have set and distributed
seed. Removing Scotch broom before it sets seed should be a
priority when broom is present in low densities or is just
beginning to reproduce and the broom seed bank is relatively
small.
High cover values of exotic turf-forming grasses may inhibit the
establishment of Scotch broom but these grass species are also
associated with the decline and displacement of populations of
native herbaceous species.
I believe the findings of this limited pilot project underscore
the importance of making every effort to prevent further estab-
lishment and spread of exotic species in areas of high conserva-
tion value.
References Cited
Bossard, C.C. 1990. Secrets of an ecological interloper:
ecological studies on Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) in
California. PhD Thesis. University of California, Davis.
Hoshovsky, M. 1991. Elemental stewardship abstract for Cytisus
scoparius. The Nature Conservancy. Arlington, Virginia.
Roemer, H.L. 1972. Forest vegetation and environments of the
Saanich Peninsula, Vancouver Island. Unpublished Ph.D.
Dissertation. University of Victoria. Victoria, B.C.
Zielke, K., J.O. Boateng, N. Caldicott, and H. Williams. 1992.
Broom and gorse in British Columbia: a forestry perspec-
tive problem analysis. Silviculture Branch, Ministry of
Forests. Victoria, B.C.
(BEN # 106 13-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
SCOTCH BROOM (CYTISUS SCOPARIUS) REMOVAL STRATEGY
From: Joel Ussery <jussery@wpo.crd.gov.bc.ca>
This strategy is based on the results of my literature review
and field research on Scotch broom removal and the points raised
in the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society June 10, 1995
symposium on the Rehabilitation of Garry Oak Grasslands.
1. Plan Scotch broom removal carefully. Human and financial
resources for removing invasive plants such as Scotch broom
are quite limited and must be used strategically.
Start removing Scotch broom from the areas with the greatest
concentration of native wildflowers and grasses and lowest
broom concentrations. If possible, eliminate small satellite
populations of Scotch broom from priority areas before the
broom becomes well established. This will prevent a build up
of broom seeds in the 'seed bank'.
Establish a core area of Scotch broom removal which is able
to maintained by available labour. Taking on too much area
can lead to rapid re-establishment of broom as regeneration
exceeds the ability of available labour to remove seedlings.
Recognize that follow-up removal of broom seedlings is
required for years after the initial removal effort.
2. Clip all Scotch broom plants in flower as close to the
ground as possible after most native wildflower and grass
species have set and distributed seed.
Clipping Scotch broom will minimize soil disturbance and
regeneration of broom from seed. This is especially impor-
tant in rocky areas where soils are shallow and broom is
difficult to uproot.
Waiting until native plants species have seeded will mini-
mize the negative effects of the trampling of the herbaceous
vegetation that accompanies broom removal.
Clipping broom during the summer and autumn should minimize
resprouting from the cut stems. During this period, after
flower and seed production and summer drought, the energy
reserves of Scotch broom are at the lowest point.
If Scotch broom is just becoming established in an area, it
is important to clip the flowering broom plants before the
pods are ripe and the seeds are distributed.
Smaller plants (stems < 1.0 cm in diameter at the base)
which have flowered should be clipped midway up the stem so
the plant can be uprooted in the winter when soils are moist
and soil disturbance can be minimized. Plants of this
diameter range are most likely to resprout from the cut
stem. The smaller non-flowering Scotch broom plants can be
bypassed in this first removal effort.
Ideally, all clipped Scotch broom plants should be removed
from the site. Whether piled or spread on the ground, dead
broom plants are a fire hazard and may give off chemicals
that negatively affect the growth of native plants.
3. Return to the site during the late fall or winter when soils
are saturated and uproot remaining Scotch broom plants and
high-cut stems.
If there are too many non-flowering plants to pull with
available labour, the smaller seedlings can be left until
the following winter. Some of these seedlings may not sur-
vive the next summer drought.
4. Revisit the site the following winter to check Scotch broom
regeneration from seed and recut any resprouting stems.
If there are too many seedlings to pull with available
labour, the smallest seedlings can be left until the follow-
ing winter. Some of these seedlings may not survive the next
summer drought.
5. Continue to revisit the site each winter to pull Scotch
broom seedlings until either you or the seed bank is ex-
hausted.
POST SCRIPT - USE OF FIRE
Immediate fire suppression is a general policy on public and
private land in British Columbia. However, selective use of
regular low-intensity prescribed fires after the initial removal
of standing Scotch broom and other major fuel sources may 'ex-
haust' the seed bank by stimulating broom seed germination and
killing young seedlings (MacGillivray, personal communication).
Native wildflowers and grasses are well adapted to surviving
such low-intensity fires. Ideally, fires to kill Scotch broom
seedlings should be set during the autumn and early winter to
keep burn temperatures low and minimize interference with the
growth and reproduction of native wildflowers and grasses.
(BEN # 106 13-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
BIODIVERSITY ICEBERGS - INVISIBLE MICRODIVERSITY MATTERS MOST
From: Dr. Alan Austin, Biology Department,
University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada
Despite Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the electron microscope, flesh-
eating bacteria and the AIDS virus our particular species is
still preoccupied by things large, visible, warm blooded and
furry and with which we seem to be, at least somewhat, emotion-
ally involved. We thus spend a good deal of our resources worry-
ing, rightly so, about seals, cariboo, deer, whales, spotted
owls, the spectacular forest giants and associated elegant wild
flowers. Much of our concerns about biodiversity are centered
upon these larger creatures, for they are large, visible, more
easily inventoried and losses recognised.
However, there exists another level of threat to biodiversity
and we might need to ponder upon losses at not just of species
but at order, family, class and even phylum (division) levels.
Such losses are strongly suggested by the fact that higher
taxonomical categories are still being discovered in some groups
of organisms! The 1994 AAAS Systematics Agenda 2000, Charting
The Biosphere [see BEN # 71] printed a most revealing chart that
showed us the relationship between the estimated numbers of
species to be discovered as a factor of those already described.
Most of the organisms we can see, and rather easily count, have
a very small factors. The usually attractive large mammals, in
fact all vertebrates, are only about x 0.1 of those already
known, for plants it is just x 2, for Crustaceans times 4, but
undescribed bacteria are between 10 and 750 (!) times those
known and for algae between 5 and 250 times those already known!
This may not be surprising to a phycologist who like myself
through a lifetime of teaching from fresh field-collected,
living materials can be regularly mystified by seeing unknowns
at almost every laboratory session, despite experience in macro
marine algae from several bioregions as well as micro marine and
freshwater forms. Non phycologists may be unaware that not only
new species, genera families and orders, but higher taxon levels
keep appearing. A new class, the Pelagophyceae (uniflagellate,
golden-brown, ultraplanctonic organisms) was described two years
ago and a new division (phylum) the Chloroarachiophyceae (green
web-like colonies) a few years previously. Most sensational was
the discovery by Lewin, twenty years ago, of Prochloron, one of
the critical missing links between superkingdoms Prokaryota and
Eukaryota.
Now in view of the fact that the next major limiting factor in
the course of human population development, at about 2020, will
be the diminished freshwater resources, we may wish to encourage
our students to splash around in the various water bodies as the
lake litorals, ponds, pools and streams which teem with these
vitally important little coloured plants that continue to be
seriously neglected. We have just 20 years to get them found and
named, let alone inventoried, before the pressures upon water
supplies may massively alter their continued presence.
Biodiversity is not a entirely modern phenomenon - and it is an
alga, Grypanis spiralis, just recently described from old rock,
that has pushed back, some 300 million years, the evolutionary
date for the, rather critical, arrival of oxygen on our planet.
Finally when considering an ancient assemblage such as "the
algae" we may be looking at a swarm of "experimental organisms"
that fall together in natural phylogenetic division but may have
very few representatives living today in our much threatened and
exploited terrestrial and marine waters. The destruction of
these habitats may result not just in the extinction of a
species level taxon, which may be filled by another quite
similar form but the loss of totally unique and unrepeatable
biological entities at the division level. How much would we
have lost, and not learned, if the habitats of say Prochloron
had vanished before Ralph Lewin found it and recognised it for
what it was?
We need to develop, particularly in the very young, a form of
emotional attraction for identification with the very small and
seemingly insignificant, for these forms actually maintain the
functional integrity of all aquatic systems. They are also
exquisitely beautiful and exhibit adaptive design to gladden the
heart even of the most modest members of the stumbling, blunder-
ing, misguided, and misguiding species of which it is so easy to
say as did Grouch Marx, "I wouldn't join a club which had me
(Homo sapiens) as a member!?"
(BEN # 107 22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
BRITISH COLUMBIA SIX THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE PRESENT
Hebda, R.J. 1995. British Columbia vegetation and climate
history with focus on 6 KA BP.
Geographie physique et Quaternaire, 49: 55-79.
ABSTRACT: British Columbia Holocene vegetation and climate is
reconstructed from pollen records. A coastal Pinus contorta
paleobiome developed after glacier retreat under cool and prob-
ably dry climate. Cool moist forests involving Picea, Abies,
Tsuga spp., and Pinus followed until the early Holocene. Pseudo-
tsuga menziesii arrived and spread in the south 10 000-9000 BP,
and Picea sitchensis - Tsuga heterophylla forests developed in
the north. T. heterophylla increased 7500-7000 BP, and Cupres-
saceae expanded 5000-4000 BP. Bogs began to develop and expand.
Modern vegetation arose 4000-2000 BP. There were early Holocene
grass and Artemisia communities at mid-elevations and pine
stands at high elevations in southern interior B.C. Forests
expanded downslope and lakes formed 8500-7000 BP. Modern forests
arose 4500-4000 BP while lower and upper tree lines declined. In
northern B.C. non-arboreal communities preceded middle Holocene
Picea forests. Abies, Pinus and Picea mariana predominated at
various sites after 4000 BP. AT 6000 BP Tsuga heterophylla
(south) and Picea sitchensis (north) dominated the coast and
islands and Quercus garryana and Pseudotsuga on southeast Van-
couver Island, but Thuja plicata was infrequent. Southern Inte-
rior Plateau vegetation at 6000 BP was more open than today at
middle to lower elevations, whereas forests covered the Northern
Interior Plateau. Picea forests occurred in northern B.C.
Holocene climate phases were : 1) warm dry "xerothermic" ca.
9500-7000 BP, 2) warm moist "mesothermic" ca. 7000-4500 BP, 3)
moderate and moist 4500-0 BP, with increasing moisture 8500-6000
BP and cooling (?increased moisture) 4500-3000 BP. B. C.'s
Hypsithermal had dry and wet stages; 6000 BP occurred in the
warm and wet mesothermic stage.
(BEN # 107 22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
INTRODUCING THE CANADIAN BOTANICAL CONSERVATION NETWORK (CBCN)
From: d.galbraith@genie.geis.com [abbrev.]
The Canadian Botanical Conservation Network is a new initiative
to develop participation in biodiversity conservation programs
among ex-situ botanical institutions and organizations in
Canada. CBCN is presently a project of Royal Botanical Gardens
with partners Environment Canada, McMaster University, and
corporate partners Merck Frosst Canada Inc., and Glaxo Canada
Inc.
The objective of CBCN is to develop a national network among
Canadian botanical organizations for their participation in the
Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. The project is at the early
development stage and is based at Royal Botanical Gardens.
Fifteen organizations have expressed an interest in participat-
ing in the network. Funding support has been secured for the
first two years of the project.
At both the national and international levels there are calls
for the organized participation of botanical gardens and ar-
boreta in cooperative conservation efforts. These voices range
from the Convention on Biological Diversity (the 1992 "Rio
Convention") to the 1995 Canadian Biodiversity Strategy and
reports from a Canadian group examining off site (ex situ)
propagation of plants.
During the past decade there has been an effort to develop a
professional network to coordinate ex-situ conservation of
native and non-native species among botanical organizations. In
1984 the Canadian Plant Conservation Programme was established,
but this lasted only a few years. More recently a Plant Collec-
tions Newsletter has been produced at Devonian Botanic Gardens,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
It is planned that the Canadian Botanical Conservation Network
will be a group of organizations and individuals cooperating to
promote the conservation of botanical genetic resources and
biological diversity across Canada. The objective of the network
will be to develop active participation in coordinated in-
situ/ex-situ conservation efforts for native and rare exotic
plants in Canada.
A great deal of information on botanical diversity already
exists in botanical gardens, universities and other research
centres. A majority role for CBCN will be to seek new ways to
provide wide access to existing data. CBCN will look for new
areas for research and development in biodiversity conservation
programs and promote new projects. There are also many important
opportunities for public education, commercial participation and
cultural enhancement inherent within CBCN.
In the future, a wide variety of information will be accessible
through CBCN, using the Internet in addition to more conven-
tional routes. The Canadian Botanical Conservation Network has
already established an Internet World Wide Web home page that
provides information on the CBCN project, and numerous links to
other sources of information. Visitors to the Web page can find
details on Canadian and international programs on biodiversity,
genetic resources, botany, biology and ecological gardening.
Environment Canada and McMaster University can also be reached
through the Web. A directory of Canadian botanical gardens and
arboreta is also available through the CBCN home page.
The prototype CBCN home page can be reached through the
Internet's World Wide Web protocol. The URL address (case sensi-
tive) for the CBCN home page is:
http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/CBCN/homepage.html
I would be grateful to receive your comments and suggestions on
this project. Please drop me a line for more information or with
your ideas.
Thanks for your attention,
Dr. David A. Galbraith - Coordinator
CANADIAN BOTANICAL CONSERVATION NETWORK
at Royal Botanical Gardens
P.O. Box 399
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8N 3H8
Email: D.Galbraith@genie.geis.com
Tel: (905) 527-1158, Ext. 295
Fax: (905) 577-0375
(BEN # 107 22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
VASCULAR PLANTS NEW TO BRITISH COLUMBIA FLORA
>From : Dr. George W. Douglas <GDOUGLAS@FWHDEPT.env.gov.bc.ca>
The following taxa, recently collected or discovered in her-
baria, are new to the flora of British Columbia (at least ac-
cording to The Vascular Plants of BC). These writeups are taken
from the soon to be published BC Conservation Data Centre Rare
Plant Manual. They will also appear in the new revised and
illustrated version of The Vascular Plants of BC.
Arabis calderi G. Mulligan
Calder's rockcress
Habitat/Range: Mesic dry meadows and forest openings in the
montane to alpine zones (BWBS, ESSF, AT); rare in NW,
SC and SE BC; N to SW YT and NT and E to SW AB.
Global/Provincial Rank: G3 S2S3
Notes: This taxon was recently described by Mulligan
(1995). Previously, sheets of this species were iden-
tified mostly as either A. drummondii or A. lyallii,
its closest relatives (Mulligan 1995). Arabis calderi
may be separated from A. drummondii by its 3-rayed
trichomes and from A. lyallii and A. divaricarpa by
its erect and appressed siliques.
Voucher specimen(s): Blackwall Peak, C.C. Chuang 1364 - V;
Cairn Peak, F. Tusko 49-514 - UBC.
Arabis codyi G. Mulligan
Cody's rockcress
Habitat/Range: Moist to mesic sites in the montane zone
(SBS); rare in WC BC, known recently only from Perow
(Bulkley River Valley); N to YT.
Global/Provincial Rank: G1 S1
Notes: This species was recently described by Mulligan
(1995) and may be distinguished from A. lyallii and A.
lemmonii var. drepanoloba by its narrower siliques and
forked, rather than rayed, trichomes (Mulligan 1995).
Voucher specimen(s): Perow, T.M.C. Taylor 468 - UBC.
Arabis hirsuta (L.) Scop. var. hirsuta
Hairy rockcress
Habitat/Range: Rock outcrops and disturbed sites in the
montane zone (ESSF); rare in SE BC, known only from
Glacier National Park; circumpolar, S to CO, NV and
CA; Eurasia.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5T5 S1?
Notes: This species, originally described from Europe,
remained unknown in North America until Mulligan
(1995) recently identified a number of specimens from
the western U.S. and BC. It may be separated from
other varieties of A. hirsuta in BC by it generally
beakless siliques (Mulligan 1995).
Voucher specimen(s): Glacier National Park, Haber 1685 -
CAN.
Arabis lemmonii S. Wats. var. depauperata (A. Nels. & Kennedy)
Roll. (A. depauperata A. Nels. & Kennedy)
Lemmon's rockcress
Habitat/Range: Moist to mesic rocky slopes and outcrops in
the subalpine and alpine zones (AT, ESSF); rare in SW
and SC BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to
AK, YT and NT, E to SK and S to ND, UT, NV and CA.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5T? S1?
Notes: We prefer to treat this taxon as a member of the
variable A. lemmonii complex rather than as a new
species (A. depauperata) as Mulligan (1995) has done.
This variety may be separated from var. drepanoloba by
its more narrow siliques and secund inflorescence
Mulligan (1995).
Voucher specimen(s): Blue Creek, Beamish 610100 - UBC.
Arabis lemmonii S. Wats. var. drepanoloba (Greene) Roll. (A.
drepanoloba Greene)
Lemmon's rockcress
Habitat/Range: Moist to mesic meadows in the alpine zone
(AT); rare in SW and SE BC east of the Coast-Cascade
Mountains, known only from the Taseko Lake and Pollock
areas; N to SW YT, E to SW AB and S to CO.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5T? S1?
Notes: We prefer to treat this taxon as a member of the
variable A. lemmonii complex rather than as a new
species (A. drepanoloba) as Mulligan (1995) has done.
This variety may be separated from var. depauperata by
its wider siliques and symmetrical to slightly secund
inflorescence Mulligan (1995).
Voucher specimen(s): Tchaikazan R., Beamish 690097 - UBC.
Arabis lignifera A. Nels.
Woody-branched rockcress
Habitat/Range: Mesic to dry forests, grassy slopes, rock
outcrops and talus slopes in the steppe and montane
zones (BG, BWBS, ESSF, IDF, MS, PP, SBS); rare
throughout all but NE BC, east of the Coast-Cascade
Mountains; S to CO and NV.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S2S3
Notes: This taxon, not previously reported for BC, was
recently identified among BC Arabis material by Mul-
ligan (1995). Specimens of A. lignifera may be dif-
ficult to separate from A. sparsiflora. Arabis lig-
nifera, however has 3- and 4-rayed trichomes rather
than 2- and 3-forked trichomes on the undersurfaces of
the basal leaves.
Voucher specimen(s): Low Fog Creek, McKeown KM92223 -
Herbarium Smithers; Apex Mtn., Eastham s.n. - UBC.
Arabis murrayi G. Mulligan
Murray's rockcress
Habitat/Range: Mesic to dry rock outcrops, talus slopes and
gravel ridges in the subalpine and alpine zones (AT,
ESSF); rare in S BC; E to SW AB and S to WA.
Global/Provincial Rank: G3 S2S3
Notes: This taxon was recently described by Mulligan
(1995). Almost all of the A. murrayi material in
various herbaria has previously been identified as A.
lyallii (Mulligan 1995). Arabis murrayi differs from
A. lyallii in that the cauline leaves are cuneate to
rarely weakly auriculate rather than strongly
sagittate-clasping.
Voucher specimen(s): Blackwall Peak, Calder 10521B - DAO;
Finlayson Peak, Pinder-Moss 1157 - UBC.
Arnica longifolia Dougl. ex Hook.
Seep-spring arnica
Habitat/Range: Moist to; wet seepage sites in the alpine
zone (AT); rare in SC BC, known only from Snowy Moun-
tain; E to AB and S to CO and CA.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1?
Notes: Although this species was known from a number of
collections along the BC border in AB, WA and MT
(Douglas 1982) it was not collected in BC until 1994
by Malcolm Martin.
Voucher specimen(s): Snowy Mtn., Martin 94-864 - V.
Carex torreyi Tuckerm.
Torrey's sedge
Habitat/Range: Moist meadows in the montane zone (BWBS);
rare in NE BC, known only from the Dawson Creek area;
E to MB and S to MN, SD, and CO.
Global/Provincial Rank: G4 S1?
Notes: This species was not treated by Douglas et al.
(1994) but a 1963 specimen collected by Jim Calder has
recently been examined at DAO. Carex torreyi has
pubescent leaves, a glabrous perigynia which appears
felty and is conspicuously 15-25-nerved.
Voucher specimen(s): Dawson Creek, Calder - DAO.
Glyceria pulchella (Nash) K. Schum.
Slender mannagrass
Habitat/Range: Streamsides, marshes, lakeshores and ponds
in the montane zone (BG, BWBS, IDF, SBS); rare in BC
east of the Coast-Cascades Mountains; N to AK, YT and
MT.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S2S3
Notes: This species was not treated by Douglas et al.
(1994) but specimens have recently been discovered in
several herbaria. It may be separated from G. grandis,
which it resembles, by its broad, scarious lemma
margins and it mostly obtuse (rather than acute)
glumes.
Voucher specimen(s): Little Prairie Lakes, Clement 76-103 -
V; Fort Nelson, Anas s.n. - UBC.
Hedeoma hispida Pursh
Rough pennyroyal
Habitat/Range: Dry sites in the montane zone (IDF); rare in
SE BC, known only from Kikoman Creek and Horseshoe
Lake; E to PQ and S to MT, CO, NY, MS and TX.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1
Notes: This species was first recorded for BC by Frank
Lomer in 1994. In the generic key for the family
Lamiaceae provided by Douglas et al. (1990) Hedeoma
keys out to Salvia. It may be distinguished from the
latter by its axillary, rather than terminal flowers.
Voucher specimen(s): Kikoman Creek, Lomer s.n. - UBC.
Lythrum hyssopifolia L.
Hyssop loosestrife
Habitat/Range: Moist sites in the steppe zone (BG); rare in
SC BC, known only from Mud Lake (Oliver area); S to
CA.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1
Notes: This species, not treated by Douglas et al. (1990),
was first collected in the province by Malcolm Martin
in 1994. This annual species, with mostly alternate
leaves, is shorter (10-40 cm) than the usually op-
posite leaved species, L. alatum and L. salicaria.
Voucher specimen(s): 1.5 km S of Gallagher Lake, Martin 94-
863 - V.
Senecio cymbalaria Pursh (S. resedifolius Less.)
Northern butterweed
Habitat/Range: Moist meadows in the lowland zone (CWH);
rare on the Queen Charlotte Islands, known only from
Port Chanal; amphiberigian, N to AK and YT; E. Asia.
Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1?
Notes: This species, new to British Columbia, was collected
in 1979 but only recently identified by Bruce Bennett.
The taxonomy of this species and several other close
relatives is discussed by Packer (1972) and Douglas
(1982 p. 92 and 170). In the Vascular Plants of BC
(Douglas et al. 1989) Senecio cymbalaria will key out
to it's more southern relative, S. conterminus. It
differs from the latter mainly in its generally some-
what smaller stature and its intense purple pigmenta-
tion (Packer 1972).
Voucher specimen(s): Mt. Hobbs, Roemer 79154 - V.
Silene spaldingii S. Wats.
Spaldings campion or silene
Habitat/Range: Dry sites in the montane zone (PP); rare in
SE BC, known only from Roosville; S to W ID, W MT; NE
WA and NE OR.
Global/Provincial Rank: G2 S1
Notes: This stout, pubescent plant is 20-60 cm tall with
white, bilobed petals.
Voucher specimen(s): This species was recently observed in
BC by the Montana Natural Heritage program. A voucher
species has yet to be collected by CDC.
Literature Cited
Douglas, G.W. 1982. The sunflower family (Asteraceae) of British
Columbia. Vol. I. Senecioneae. BC Prov. Mus. Occas. Pap.
Ser. No. 23, Victoria. 180 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1989. The vascular
plants of British Columbia. Part 1 - Gymnosperms and
Dicotyledons (Aceraceae through Cucurbitaceae). Special
Report Series 1, B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch,
Victoria. 208 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1990. The vascular
plants of British Columbia. Part 2 - Dicotyledons (Diapen-
siaceae through Portulacaceae). Special Report Series 2,
B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch, Victoria. 158 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1994. The vascular
plants of British Columbia. Part 4 - Monocotyledons. Spe-
cial Report Series 2, B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research
Branch, Victoria. 257 p.
Hitchcock, C.L., A. Cronquist, M. Ownbey and J.W. Thompson.
1964. Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 2:
Salicaceae to Saxifragaceae. Univ. Wash. Press, Seattle.
597 p.
Mulligan, G.A. 1995. Synopsis of the genus Arabis (Brassicaceae)
in Canada, Alaska and Greenland. Rhodora (in press).
Packer, J.G. 1972. A taxonomic and phytogeographical review of
some arctic and alpine Senecio species. Can. J. Bot.
50:507-518.
(BEN # 108 31-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
VERNACULAR NAMES: WHY, OH WHY?
From: Dr. William A. Weber <weberw@spot.Colorado.EDU>
There is a rejuvenescence in the common names craze in this
otherwise advanced scientific age of biodiversity, and it has
spread like a virus into the cryptogamic field. Even the con-
servative and highly literate Swedes have felt it necessary to
coin names for lichens and mosses! I think that, for the sake of
our science, we should seriously ask ourselves whether this is
necessary, useful, or detrimental to the image of the science of
botany.
About fifty or sixty years ago there was a publication called
Standardized Plant Names, which attempted to bring order to the
chaos of so-called "common names". Just as is happening now,
people were inventing names for plants that had none, and there
were lots of plants going under different names in different
places, just in America. What this book was trying to do was to
produce a parallel nomenclature to be used by non-professionals.
M. L. Fernald, who was responsible for Gray's Manual, attacked
this anti-intellectual pursuit (what I now call the "dumbing" of
America), and the book died a quiet death. In 1942, writing
about the discovery of a certain Elephantopus in Virginia, he
wrote, in a footnote in Rhodora, p. 367: "We thus added another
to the Virginian series of elephants and their feet. We already
had the Bare-footed Elephant (E. T. forma rotundatus) and the
Carolina Elephant's-foot! We were adding the Woolly Socked
Carolina Elephants-foot. These names, like 'Foul-Scented Love-
grass' and others in Britton and Brown and many of the crudely
formed absurdities in the new Standardized Plant Names, are not
colloquially used. Ours are intended as jokes; the others,
unfortunately, were not. It is often said, however, that the
greatest jokes are unintentional."
Here are a few points to ponder.
1. Botany is a science, and it is high time that we should help
it gain a little respect.
The magazine, Natural History has just published a special
issue on dinosaurs. All of the jawbreaking scientific names
are there, but not a single "common name" for a dinosaur, as
far as I can tell, in the volume. Sandwiched in between
dinosaur articles, a short one of two pages highlights the
rare vascular plants of Colorado's High Creek Fen. Not a
single scientific name! The March issue of Smithsonian
featured a cover illustration of a sunflower, Wyethia
scabra, growing on the sand dunes of eastern Utah. The
inside cover identified this as (no scientific name
whatever) Sandpaper Mules Ears! Mules ears is a name given
to the genus Wyethia, but only applies to those species with
big basal leaves; the figured species has no basal leaves.
2. Truly common names are those that have originated and
evolved with a lay culture.
These are legitimate but hardly ever restricted to a single
genus or species, especially over a country or continent. To
make up vernacular names by translating the scientific names
or by concocting "creative" or "imaginative" ones only
creates a parallel nomenclature that assumes the lay public
is justifiably incapable of learning or pronouncing the real
names.
3. Scientific names make it possible for everyone, anywhere in
the world, to communicate with each other about organisms.
Vernacular names make it difficult or impossible. Americans
travel the world so easily nowadays; if I go to Sweden, even
if I want to use vernacular names, I first must learn the
language! The same goes for Russia, India, China, and Japan.
Vernacular names lead to scientific and literary
isolationism.
4. Scientific names are no harder to pronounce than contrived
vernacular names; the public is not or should not be en-
couraged to be, scientifically illiterate.
Children have no trouble with scientific names, evidence the
dinosaurs.
5. Scientific names have meaning and relevance to our language,
especially considering the great contribution of Latin and
Greek to our common words. Hence, they have educational
value.
Our science is almost alone in the wholesale manufacturing
of vernacular names to please what we perceive as an il-
literate public.
6. Sooner or later, we will find that there are more than one
vernacular name for a species.
A national committee will then be set up to delete all of
the alternative names and select one as a standard. This is
human nature, but it in fact is an attempt to create a set
of unscientific names parallel to the scientific ones. A
major attempt to standardize common names failed for the
vascular plants, and will fail again if applied to cryp-
togams.
7. Let us instead, make a real attempt to educate our public,
and give them credit for some intelligence, as other dis-
ciplines (medicine, engineering, astronomy, etc.) do.
I think it is time for scientists, amateur and professional,
to get serious about taking botany out of the playroom and
kindergarten. As a start I intend to prepare the next edi-
tion of my floras by deleting all the vernacular names that
are newly contrived or that do not represent epithets aris-
ing from use within a culture. There are a very few real
common names for lichens: rocktripe for Umbilicaria species
is one. Let's leave it at that, and try to educate the
public and their intellectual sights just the least bit and
help the general educational process in America.
The best riposte I know regarding common names was written by
Lloyd Shinners, in his Spring Flora of the Dallas-Fort Worth
Area. He said: "One of the most tiresome and irritating remarks
I have to listen to over and over, runs: 'Oh, don't give me
those terrible Latin names; give me something I can say and
understand.' People who mouth such jawbreakers as chrysanthemum
or asparagus without batting an eye are simply being childish
when they say they cannot manage Latin names. That is what those
two words are, without a single letter changed....For the Stand-
ardized Plant Names manufactured according to arbitrary rules by
bureaucrats, largely by translating the Latin binomials with
varying degrees of accuracy and inaccuracy, I have no use
whatever. They are an insult to intelligence and a crime against
good taste. There is absolutely no necessity for concocting
fraudulent 'common names' for plants which the 'common man'
often cannot tell apart in the first place. Anyone with serious
enough interest to want to distinguish species and varieties to
the same degree that a botanist does certainly ought to be
serious enough to use botanical names. Those who refuse to
accept the disciplines of Science are not entitled to its
benefits. The botanist has enough hard work to do without being
asked to put up with a lot of artificial gobbledy-gook in the
form of bogus vernacular names. I have no patience with the you-
do-all-the-work, give-me-something-for-nothing attitude which
lies behind demands for 'common' names. Genuine popular names
are often vivid and interesting. A study of them would be fas-
cinating, but it belongs in the realm of folk-lore, not of
science."
Not all the common name frenzy is coming from the applied scien-
tists and lay public. Janice Glime has been publishing a number
of papers listing new common names for bryophytes (Should mosses
have common names, parts 1-7. Evansia vol. 6-9. 1989-1992). She
never answers the question but acts as if the answer is yes.
Roland Moberg, in Svensk Bot. Tidskrift 89:129-149. Lichens with
Swedish Names-second edition: "Swedish names of 900 lichens are
listed. Almost half of them are new; they have been created in
close collaboration with several colleagues. The list is to be
regarded as the official list of Swedish names of lichens." He
also lists a set of ten rules for the construction of such names
(recalling Linnaeus' Critica Botanica). In the new California
Lichen Society Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1. 1995, Sylvia and
Stephen Sharnoff, who are co-authoring a coffee-table book
covering 700 species of lichens of North America, solicit names
"for the benefit of beginners, interpretive naturalists, and
resource managers.... Since many names for the genera and
species will need to be invented, we are hoping for creative
assistance from anyone who is interested in vernacular names--
and from anyone who is simply interested in preventing the
publication of names that he or she might consider to be unat-
tractive, unimaginative, or inappropriate. We are maintaining a
computer database of all the published and suggested names that
we can find."
Vernacular names for lichens have been manufactured by Nearing
in The Lichen Book, but they were so ludicrous that none of them
caught on. Harold Zim invented common names for lichens in the
Golden Book of Lichens, using the generic name coupled with
descriptive epithets for each species, thus creating "hybrid"
scientific-vernacular names. The most hilarious instance of
manufactured vernacular names for mosses is Anne Johnson's
Mosses of Singapore and Malaysia (1980). Common names for some
families are: Ruined tooth moss family (Rhegmatodontaceae),
Horizontal tooth moss family (Syrrhopodontaceae), Pouched hood
moss family (Calymperaceae), Pott Moss Family (Pottiaceae), and
Signal leaf family (Sematophyllaceae--from semaphore?). Species
names are worse: Sullivant's outer net white moss, White-
sheathed horizontal tooth moss, Spoon-shaped two-row moss,
Obliquely inserted folded-fruit moss, Dubious bladder moss
(Vesicularia dubyana, named for Duby, nothing to do with
dubious), Uncovered nipple moss, and Hairy nipple moss.
I myself have been honored (?) by a manufactured name for one of
my eponymous species--Saussurea weberi. The Forest service has
dubbed this Weber's Saw-wort. Saussure would roll in his grave
for that one!
I suppose we will have common names manufactured in France,
Italy, Germany, and the rest of the "civilized world", and that
there eventually will have to be a branch of the United Nations
set up to produce a concordance. There is one place in the world
where I have been helped by vernacular names--Japan. On an
International Phytogeographic Excursion we were supplied with
field handbook with indices of vernacular and scientific names.
The Japanese assistants, unfortunately, rarely knew a scientific
name, so when we asked them to tell us the name of the plant,
they referred to the index, found the vernacular name and the
page reference, and located the page that gave the scientific
name and often an illustration!
William A. Weber
University of Colorado Museum
(BEN # 109 6-August-1995)
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RARE PLANTS OF ST. ELIAS MOUNTAINS, NW BRITISH COLUMBIA
Douglas, George W., Jim Pojar, Del Meidinger, and Karen McKeown.
1994. Rare vascular plant collections from the St. Elias
Mountains, northwestern British Columbia. Canadian Field-
Naturalist 108(4): 391-396.
ABSTRACT: Two taxa new to British Columbia (Chrysosplenium
wrightii and Aphragmus eschscholtzianus) and nine others new to
the St. Elias Mountains, British Columbia are reported. In
addition, 25 other rare taxa from the region are discussed.
[Note: According to the paper, the vernacular name of Aphragmus
eschscholtzianus (Brassicaceae) is "Eschscholtz's Little
Nightmare." - AC]
(BEN # 109 6-August-1995)