From aceska@victoria.tc.ca Wed Nov 10 16:43:17 2004 From: aceska@victoria.tc.ca (Adolf Ceska) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 08:43:17 -0800 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # 336 Message-ID: <000401c4c744$6b3d0080$0828b440@HPLAPTOP001> 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. 336 November 10, 2004 aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- BOTANY BC 2004 - ATLIN, NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA From: Rosamund Pojar [rpojar@northwestel.net] with a few additions by Terry McIntosh [ginkgo@shaw.ca] Approximately 70 people attended Botany B.C., held July 5-8, 2004 in the village of Atlin in the northwestern corner of the province. Atlin sits in a spectacular location on the shores of Atlin Lake overlooking Teresa Island, as well as a large rock glacier and the snow-capped coastal mountains in the distance. The village itself is full of small picturesque houses (many are cabins belonging to Yukoners) and escaped rhubarb. The first morning, botanists heard a talk about the local flora; especially alpines on Teresa Island from Carol Latimer (an Atlin resident botanist) and then a couple of talks about the role of NatureServe in plant conservation and listed species. Three field trips were then offered. Some hiked up Monarch Mountain, which sits as a backdrop to the village. There botanists explored the flora of the dry boreal ecosystems and saw the unusual _Selaginella sibirica_ en route to the alpine where _Masonhalea richardsonii_ abounds. Another group traveled many kilometers by bus up the back roads, past the devastation caused by placer mining, and then on up the road to the alpine meadows of Ruby Mountain, a spectacular volcanic massive. Excitement was high and all heads went down as we saw one beautiful alpine flower after another. Although not lush, the meadows were very diverse and many species were added to our preliminary list. Particularly attractive were the abundant colourful lichens and Patrick Williston was left drooling over _Allocetraria madreporiformis_, _Dactylina arctica_ and _D. ramulosa_. We were excited to find a poppy on the scree that was later identified as _Papaver alboroseum_ - only the second confirmed location in British Columbia. The third group took a slower paced stroll through the absolutely fascinating Warm Springs meadows just south of Atlin. These wet meadows are extremely species rich and really needed much more time to explore. Highlights included the many sedge species, asphodel, Langsdorff's violets, lobelia, asters, butterworts, and the rare _Orobanche fasciculata_. After supper we attended 2 very interesting evening talks at the historic Globe Theatre. One was about the history of the area and the theatre itself and was followed by a very enlightening talk given by Dr Jim Dickson about the _Kwaday Dan T'sinchi_ (_Long Ago Person Found_), the frozen body found in the Tatshen- shini area. Dr Dickson outlined the forensic investigations that took place to determine whether the man was a coastal or inte- rior First Nation's person. Much of the evidence that he came from the interior was based on the nutrient content of his bones. However, the fact that he had recently traveled to the coast was based on plant materials like sweet cicely seeds and _Salicornia_ carried on the clothing and the salmon in his stomach. On the second day, Shawn Francis from Whitehorse gave an excel- lent overview of the complexity of the ecosystems in the Atlin area. This was followed by a great discussion of plant disjuncts as evidence for the extent of Beringia given by Bruce Bennett. Unfortunately, Adolf Ceska's interesting discussion about problems with fern taxonomy was cut short due to lack of time. A peculiar event occurred during one of our field sessions when an apparently 'lost miner', was 'rescued' by botanists from the Yukon, and driven into town. This strange episode will surely not be forgotten soon (see BEN # 332 for details). To cap off the formal part of the meeting, we were treated to a salmon dinner on the M.V. Tarahne - the old boat moored on the beach in Atlin. Since there were too many of us to serve at one time, the half that were not eating were entertained by one of two illustrated talks - one by artist Pamela Stagg on the com- plexities of _Contemporary Botanical Painting_, and the other by Gernot Dick on the _Flora of Monarch Mountain_. Both were excel- lent. At the end of the meeting, amid intellectually stimulating chaos, the site for next year's meeting was chosen. We decided, following the closest vote in Botany BC history, that botanists and their ilk will meet in 2005 in Lytton and will be exploring Botanie Mountain, the Stein Valley, and the surrounding ter- ritory. This will be our 20th, yes 20th, anniversary and nostal- gia will reign supreme. Some participants then went off on a post-BOTANY BC excursion to see the Carcross Dunes and the Takhini Salt Flats, while others took a hike on White Mountain or headed home with plans to return soon to this charming and botanically fascinating part of British Columbia. Many thanks go to Bruce Bennett and his wife, Randy Mulder, for organizing the event so well and to the local people of Atlin who fed us and showed us around the area. _ELODEA BIFOLIATA_ (HYDROCHARITACEAE) EXCLUDED FROM THE FLORA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND MANITOBA - WITH NOTES ON ITS CLASSIFICATION AND CONSERVATION STATUS From: Paul M. Catling and G. Mitrow, Biodiversity, National Program on Environmental Health, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Wm. Saunders Bldg., Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6 [catlingp@agr.gc.ca] Recently we have received a number of questions regarding the occurrence of _Elodea bifoliata_ St. John in Canada including particularly questions about its status and occurrence. The genus _Elodea_, the water-weeds, includes three Canadian species. One of these, previously called _E. longivaginata_ St. John, was recently combined with a species from the southwestern United States called _E. bifoliata_. Both names were published by St. John (1962) on the same date. Cook and Urmi-K”nig (1985) chose the name _E. bifoliata_ "because St. John's original description of _E. longivaginata_ does not fit the holotype and because the holotype of _E. bifoliata_ is a male plant with well-preserved flowers and mature pollen." Regardless of whether or not these were satisfactory reasons, this first choice is to be followed according to the rules of nomenclature as long as the two names are considered synonymous. Thus what was pre- viously referred to in Canada as _E. longivaginata_ is now correctly called _E. bifoliata_. With its relatively large size and rather limited prairie dis- tribution in Canada, _Elodea longivaginata_ was considered a distinctive species (Catling & Wojtas 1986). When combined with _E. bifoliata_ the concept of the newly created species is broadened and it is a little less distinctive. The emended _Elodea bifoliata_ includes St. John's concept _E. lon- givaginata_ in part, but it also includes characters of _E. bifoliata_ such as the shorter pistillate spathe 2-2.2 cm long and leaves occasionally in whorls of three. With regard to the question of why the two species were com- bined, there was no data or analysis to support the union nor an explanation. The possibility of _Elodea bifoliata_ being a hybrid or a local taxon of hybrid origin was not considered. In contrast to _E. longivaginata_, it was known to St. John only from Arizona, whereas he reported _E. longivaginata_ from 4 states and one province and its distribution extended from New Mexico to Alberta. Believing that progress is reflected in more recent monographic studies, we often accept the most recent results. This is a case however, where further research is clearly necessary and that research may result in a return to St. John's (1962) classification which separated _E. lon- givaginata_ and _E. bifoliata_. _Elodea bifoliata_ excluded from British Columbia Most recent literature has not reported _Elodea bifoliata_ from British Columbia (Catling & Wojtas 1986, Douglas 2001). For his work on _Flora of North America_ Haynes kept a record of one justifying specimen for each state and province shown on his maps (Haynes, pers. comm). The justification recorded for his report for British Columbia (Haynes 2000) is a specimen in the Agriculture and Agri-food Canada herbarium (DAO) in Ottawa collected by A. White and B. Mitchell (no. 1465) on 10 Aug. 1978 in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver (Haynes, pers. comm.). This female specimen (DAO 342681) bears Haynes' 1995 annotation label revising its identification from _E. nuttallii_ (Planchon) St. John to _E. bifoliata_. The fragments mounted on the sheet have leaves 1- 1.5 mm wide and 6-8 mm long with the middle and upper leaves in whorls of three. Five well developed pistillate spathes 11-13 mm long are present along with a single female flower with sepals 1.5 mm long. There are no mature seeds to assist in identification. Nevertheless with the characteristics noted, the plants key readily to _E. nuttallii_ in the key produced by Catling & Wojtas (1986). They also key to _E. nut- tallii_ in the key provided by Haynes (2000) on account of the relatively narrow leaves and relatively short pistillate spathes. In the key to vegetative plants produced by Cook and Urmi-K”nig (1985) the plants key to _E. nuttallii_ since the leaves are less than 1.75 mm wide and less than 10 mm long. In their key to female plants, the fragments also key to _E. nut- tallii_ on the basis of sepals less than 2 mm long. There seems little doubt that this sheet is best labeled as _E. nuttallii_. Another DAO specimen (DAO 341635), also annotated by Haynes as _Elodea bifoliata_ in 1995, is entirely vegetative. With its relatively long (15-21 mm long), narrow and straight- margined leaves, this specimen has some characteristics of the South American _E. callitrichoides_ (L. C. M. Richard) Caspary, which has been introduced elsewhere as an aquarium plant, but in the absence of flowers it seems best placed with _E. nuttallii_ to which it keys (considering North American species) in the literature noted above based on leaves 1-1.5 mm wide. Other specimens seen by Haynes to support his report from British Columbia, may reside in herbaria that he borrowed from to complete his Flora of North America treatments. These include ACAD, CAN, TRT, and UBC (Haynes 2004, pers. comm.). None of these herbaria had specimens labelled _Elodea bifoliata_ from British Columbia and neither did V or MMMN. Based on all of these observations, _Elodea bifoliata_ is to be excluded from the flora of British Columbia. It is to be noted however that suitable habitat, corresponding to that of the western Great Plains, may exist in some of the dry interior valleys of British Columbia. _Elodea bifoliata_ excluded from Manitoba _Elodea bifoliata_ is not currently recognized in Manitoba by the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre (see http://web2.gov.mb.ca/conservation/cdc/ ) and there was no report from Manitoba prior to Haynes' (2000). The specimen that Haynes' recorded and annotated to support the Manitoba occurrence is a sheet at DAO with five fragments col- lected on 16 July 1956 by J.P. Bernard (no. 5387) "entre Matlock et Whytewold, Ruisseau du Petit Tugela," in Selkirk District (DAO 52560). The leaves are 2-3 mm wide and the middle and upper leaves are in whorls of three. Four of the fragments are vegeta- tive and one is staminate. Three of the vegetative fragments have long lanceolate leaves, but the fact that the leaves are in whorls of three suggests against _E. bifoliata_. Regardless, vegetative material is subject to much variation and does not provide a fully reliable basis for identification. The staminate fragment has oblong and ovate leaves and thus corresponds to _E. canadensis_ Michaux in vegetative characters (e.g. Catling & Wojtas 1986, Cook and Urmi-K”nig 1985 and Haynes 2000). With two male spathes 14 mm long, anthers 2.5 mm long and pollen ex- clusively in tetrads, this fragment keys to _E. canadensis_ Michx. in the keys provided by Catling & Wojtas (1986), Cook and Urmi- K”nig (1985) and Haynes (2000). There are no other specimens labeled as E. bifoliata from Manitoba in the herbaria that Haynes borrowed from, nor from the others surveyed (see above). Thus, it appears that there are no other specimens to support the report from Manitoba and _E. bifoliata_ is to be excluded from the flora of that province as well. _Elodea bifoliata_ in Alberta and Saskatchewan The reports of _Elodea bifoliata_ from Alberta and Saskatchewan are based on a number of correctly identified specimens at DAO and elsewhere, but it appears to be rare. Cook and Urmi- K”nig (1985) listed only two localities. Catling & Wojtas (1986) mapped 11 localities in the prairie region of Alberta and Sas- katchewan. Haynes (2000) showed occurrence in the extreme southern portions of both provinces. It is currently ranked as S2 in Saskatchewan and S1 in Alberta by their Conservation Data Centres, suggesting risk status. Although the species does not have a national rank at present, with risk status in two of the provinces in which it occurs it is clearly a priority species for accurate documentation in Canada. Acknowledgements Essential information on locations of vouchers was provided by R.R. Haynes. Comments and suggestions were provided by W.J. Cody, L. Black and J. Penny. References Catling, P. M. & W. Wojtas. 1986. The waterweeds (_Elodea_ and _Egeria_, Hydrocharitaceae) in Canada. _Canadian Journal of Botany_ 64: 1525-1541. Cook, C.D.K. & K. Urmi-K”nig. 1985. A revision of the genus _Elodea_ (Hydrocharitaceae). _Aquatic Botany_ 21: 111- 156. Douglas, G. W. 2001. _Elodea_. Pp. 200-203 in G.W. Douglas, D. Meidinger & J. Pojar, eds. _Illustrated flora of British Columbia, vol. 6, Monocotyledons (Acoraceae through Najadaceae)_. British Columbia Ministry of Environment. Lands and Parks. Haynes, R. R. 2000. _191. HYDROCHARITACEAE Jussieu - Tape- grass of Frog-bit family_. Pp. 26-38 in _Flora of North America, vol. 22, Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in part), and Zingberidae_. Oxford University Press, New York. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=222000057 St. John, H. 1962. Monograph of the genus _Elodea_. Part I. Western North America. Research Studies, Washington State University 30(2): 19-44. For herbarium acronyms see: http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/ih/searchih.html NOTES ON THE TYPE LOCALITY OF _EPILOBIUM_ X _TRELEASIANUM_ (ONAGRACEAE), A RARE WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN WILLOWHERB From: Patrick Williston, Gentian Botanical Research, [pwilliston@bulkley.net] _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ L‚veill‚ is a fertile hybrid be- tween the relatively common, pink-flowered _E. ciliatum_ subsp. _glandulosum_ (Lehm.) Hoch & Raven and the attractive, yellow- flowered _E. luteum_ Pursh. With a pink corolla, _E_. x _treleasianum_ resembles _E. ciliatum_ subsp. _glandulosum_, but it has larger flowers (petals often greater than 10 mm long) and a four-lobed stigma, which are characteristics of _E. luteum_. These willowherbs have a brief flowering season, only a few weeks in late July and early August, and are difficult to iden- tify when lacking stigmas and corollas. Their preferred habitat is beside alpine and subalpine creeks and seepages in moun- tainous regions. _Epilobium luteum_ is endemic to western North America with a distribution centred in British Columbia, while _E. ciliatum_ subsp. _glandulosum_ is amphiberigian (Douglas et al. 1999). _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ is presently known from 10 localities in British Columbia, a small number of populations in Alaska, and close to 25 populations in Washington (Seavey 1993). The first time I learned about _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ was during Botany BC in Bella Coola in 2003. Dr. Jim Pojar made a collection while on one of the field trips. He made the deter- mination using Hult‚n's _Flora of Alaska_. A few months later while hiking on Ashman Ridge near Smithers, British Columbia, Dr. Pojar found it again and we collected several specimens and took photographs. When I decided to learn more about this plant, Dr. Peter Hoch (Missouri Botanical Garden) informed me that the type locality was from British Columbia. _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ was described in 1908 by H. L‚veill‚. The type specimen was collected on August 12, 1903 by E. M. Farr; the label locality simply stating: Canada, British Columbia, Selkirk Mts., Glacier National Park, Rogers Pass. The specimen is housed at the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium (MO). A second collection from Glacier National Park was col- lected by F. K. Butters in 1914 (Seavey 1993). There were no further collections of this plant within Glacier National Park for the following 90 years. On August 4, 2004, Paula Bartemucci and I searched for the plant at Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, which is Canada's second national park established in 1886 (the first was Banff established in 1885). In 1903, Rogers Pass was not serviced by a road; the only access was by rail. The pass harboured a railway siding known as Glacier House which was a popular tourist des- tination, built with elaborate Victorian decor. Less than two kilometres south of Glacier House along a hiking trail was the magnificent Great Glacier, presently known as the Illecillewaet Glacier. A second glacier, the Asulkan Glacier, was less than three kilometres away along an adjacent trail. We searched along both trails with hopes of finding _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_. At around 1.5 km along the Asulkan Trail we encountered a small population of _E. luteum_ intermixed with _E. ciliatum_ subsp. _glandulosum_ along an ephemeral creek. Here, to our great excitement, we found the large-flowered _E_. x _treleasianum_ with its four-lobed stigma (UTM Nad 27, 11U 465935E 5677636N, elev. 1400 m). There were 6 plants. We found another subpopula- tion about 100 metres further along the trail beside a larger creek with more than 20 plants. One kilometre further, at the base of an avalanche chute just beyond treeline, was another subpopulation of _E_. _luteum_, this one with hundreds of plants; however, this site did not support _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_. We also searched along the well-used Great Glacier Trail, which is perhaps as popular today as it was 100 years ago. About 1.5 km from the ruins of Glacier House we encountered _Epilobium luteum_ once more growing with _E. ciliatum_ subsp. _glan- dulosum_ (11U 466931E 5677932N, elev. 1425 m). Could this be the true type locality? Despite an intensive search, we could not locate _E_. x _treleasianum_ here. In the past 100 years, the toe of the glacier has receded approximately 2000 metres (Morris 2003) and plant succession has caused changes in vegetation composition. Furthermore, drainage patterns among the smaller creeks have likely changed. We may never know precisely where the first collections were made; however, we do now know that _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ presently grows along the Asulkan Trail, very close to the historic site of Glacier House in Rogers Pass. Given the general nature of the location informa- tion on the type specimen, the population reported here may be as close as we will come to finding the type locality. Although the type locality is in British Columbia and it is presently known from several extant populations, _Epilobium_ x _treleasianum_ is not included among the keys in the _Illustrated Flora of British Columbia_ (though it is mentioned in the notes under _E. luteum_; Douglas et al. 1999), nor is it recognized by the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre. This western endemic with a primary distribution within British Columbia deserves wider recognition. Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Paula Bartemucci, Peter Hoch, and Jim Pojar to this work. Funding for investigations in Glacier National Park was provided by Parks Canada. References Douglas, G.W., D. Meidinger & J. Pojar. 1999. _Illustrated Flora of British Columbia. Volume 3: Dicotyledons (Diapensiaceae through Onagraceae) and Pteridophytes_. British Columbia Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and Ministry of Forests, Victoria. 423 p. Hult‚n, E. 1968. _Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories_. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 1008 p. Morris, M. 2003. _Glaciers, lichens and the history of the earth. Selkirk Summit 2003-2004_. Parks Canada. 12 p. Seavey, S.R. 1993. Natural and artificial hybrids involving _Epilobium luteum_ (Onagraceae). _Systematic Botany_ 18: 218- 228. TWO NEW DWARF SHRUB ASSOCIATIONS FROM SOUTHEWESTERN ALASKA From: Fred J.A. Dani‰ls, Stephen S. Talbot, Sandra Looman Tal- bot, & Wilfred B. Schofield. 2004. Phytosociological study of the dwarf shrub heath of Simeonof Wilderness, Shumagin Is- lands, Southwestern Alaska. _Phytocoenologia_ 34: 465-489. Abstract The maritime dwarf shrub heath vegetation of the Northern Pacific, Simeonof Island, Shumagin Islands, Southwestern Alaska, was studied according to the Braun_Blanquet approach. Based on 30 relev‚s of 16 m2 that include vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens, two new associations could be described belonging to the class Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea Eggler 1952 em. Schubert 1960 (order Rhododendro- Vaccinietalia Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl. et Jenny 1926 emend. Daniels 1982): _Rubo [stellati]-Empetretum nigri_ and _Carici [circinatae]-Empetretum nigri_. The wind-sheltered _Rubo [stellati]-Empetretum nigri_ - alliance Phyllodoco-Vaccinion Nordhagen 1936 - mainly occurs in the lowlands on level terrain or sloping sites at lower foot slopes of mountains on deeper, mesic soil; this association is the zonal vegetation of the lowlands. Boreal, widespread and amphi- Beringian species are prominent in the distribution-type spectrum of the vascular plants. Two variants of _Rubo- Empetretum nigri_ are described. _Geranium erianthum_ variant occurs on south-facing slopes and is rich in vascular plants species. _Plagiothecium undulatum_ variant is restricted to northern exposures and is rich in bryophytes and lichens. _Carici [circinatae]-Empetretum nigri_ - alliance Loiseleurio- Diapension (Br.-Bl., Siss. & Vlg. 1939) Daniels 1982 - occurs on shallow soil on wind exposed sites at higher elevations in the mountains. It is very rich in lichen species of arctic-alpine distribution. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) suggests that altitude, nutrient content of the soil and exposition are the most important differential ecological factors. Soil depth, total carbon and nitrogen content, plant available phosphorus and all other measured cation contents are higher in _Rubo- Empetretum_ than in _Carici-Empetretum_. Literature comparisons confirm the occurrence of both associations in other areas on the Southwest Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. Presumably both associations have an amphi-Beringian distribution. The syntaxonomy of boreal-montane dwarf shrub heaths and synecologi- cal aspects are briefly discussed. Characteristic species combination (Ch/D and constant species) _Rubo [stellati]-Empetretum nigri_: _Empetrum nigrum, Rubus stellatus, Trientalis europaea_ subsp. _arctica, Angelica lucida, Calamagrostis canadensis, Viola langsdorfii, Prenathes alata, Sanguisorba stipulata, Epilobium angustifolium, Listera cordata, Vaccinium vitis- idaea_ subsp. _minus, Ledum palustre_ subsp. _decumbens, Salix arctica, Polytrichastrum alpinum, Carex macrochaeta, Sanionia uncinata, Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splen- dens, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Festuca rubra_ and _Dicranum scoparium_. _Carici [circinatae]-Empetretum nigri_ _Empetrum nigrum, Racomitrium lanuginosum, Carex circinnata, Antennaria monocephala_ subsp. _monocephala, Salix rotun- difolia, Cladonia crispata, Lycopodium selago, Anastrophyllum minutum, Aulacomnium turgidum, Thamnolia vermicularis, Flavocetraria cucullata, Sphaerophorus globosus, Cladonia amaurocraea, Cetraria ericetorum, Alectoria nigricans, A. ochroleuca, Ochrolechia frigida, Cladina stellaris, Ptilidium ciliare, Vaccinium vitis idaea_ subsp. _minus, Ledum palustre_ subsp. _decumbens, Salix arctica, Polytrichastrum alpinum, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Cladina rangiferina, Lobaria linita, Cladonia uncialis, Polygonum viviparum, Arctos- taphylos alpina, Stereocaulon paschale, Carex macrochaeta, Sanionia uncinata, Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splen- dens, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Cladonia gracilis, Cladina mitis, Dicranum scoparium, Solidago multiradiata multi- radiata_ and _Campanula lasiocarpa_. ________________________________________________________________ Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@victoria.tc.ca BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________ From aceska@victoria.tc.ca Thu Nov 25 00:41:00 2004 From: aceska@victoria.tc.ca (Adolf Ceska) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 16:41:00 -0800 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # 337 Message-ID: <003201c4d287$75452460$0828b440@HPLAPTOP001> 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. 337 November 24, 2004 aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- This issue of BEN is dedicated to the memory of NEIL TOWERS, Professor Emeritus at the Botany Department, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada PROFESSOR GEORGE HUGH NEIL TOWERS, PH.D., F.R.S.C (September 28, 1923 - November 15, 2004) Neil Towers, a much respected scientist and Professor at the University of British Columbia, passed away on November 15th, 2004 in Vancouver. He was 81. Predeceased by mother Kathleen and brother Desmond, Neil will be lovingly remembered and sadly missed by his wife Elizabeth and his eight children. He will be greatly missed by colleagues, students, and friends at the University of British Columbia (Botany Department) and around the world. UBC Emeritus Professor of Botany Neil Towers was well known nationally and internationally for his outstanding record of pioneering and sustained research in botany and phytochemistry. He was born in Bombay, India and grew up in Burma, where his interest in the natural world began. He often spoke of his childhood spent collecting poisonous snakes and other curiosities in the forests near his home. After time in the Royal Indian Navy Volunteer Reserve, and a stint as a liaison officer in Bath, England, he was awarded an Ajax scholarship to study in Canada. He obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from McGill University, and his Ph.D. in 1954 from Cornell University. After academic appointments at McGill and the NRC in Halifax, he was recruited to UBC, where he served as Head of the Department of Botany from 1964-71, a period of great expansion of the Department. After 1971, he devoted his full energies to his successful career in research and teaching, which he continued as an emeritus faculty member from 1989 until his death. Neil was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, from whom he received the Flavelle Medal in 1986. He received numerous research awards and prizes over his career. Most recently, he was awarded the Pergamon Phytochemistry Prize in 2000, and in 2001 was recognized by ISI as one of UBC's (and the world's) most highly cited scientists. He published more than 425 papers and book chapters, starting with a 1953 paper in _Nature_. Neil was charming, funny and an excellent raconteur. Lab parties at his Vancouver home often ended late at night, with the room cleared to make space for dancing to his favorite Django Reinhardt and latin music. He had an open door policy, and always welcomed office visits by students or whoever was interested in talking about plants and chemistry. He traveled extensively to collect plants worldwide, mainly in the tropics, and he returned from a trip to Peru only this last summer. Many in the Botany Department at UBC will remember the photos and artifacts from his travels that decorated his office. Neil loved what is now called biodiversity: the shapes and colours of plants and insects, and the variations of chemical structures found in nature. His fields of study included medicinal phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology, photobiology, chemical ecology relating to plants, fungi and insects, and biotechnology of plant cell and tissue cultures. He conducted important early studies on phenolic metabolism in plants, and on the interaction of light with phytochemicals to produce toxicity. His lab investigated the chemistry and antibiotic activity of many plants native to British Columbia, including those used in traditional medicine. Neil was also a great teacher of young scientists in Canada and elsewhere, and many of his graduate students and postdoctoral workers went on to establish their own labs. Perhaps his greatest contribution to science was through this role as mentor. A student in his lab couldn't walk by his office door without being called in to discuss a new paper or a new idea. It is through his infectious enthusiasm for science and the natural world that the spirit of Neil Towers lives on. A memorial event will be held in the afternoon of Thursday December 16th at the UBC Botanical Gardens. Donations may be made to: The George Hugh Neil Towers Memorial Fund, Awards Services, UBC Development Office, 6253 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z1, 604-822-8920. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP, DAD? From: G.H. Neil Towers. 2001. Some Memories of a Budding Scientist in North America (1946-1965) _PSNA News, October 2001_, p. 3-5. I grew up in Myanmar (formerly Burma) when it was a British colony. My parents sent me to boarding schools around the country run by Christian brothers who sadly lacked an interest in the natural sciences, particularly natural history. Living and traveling as a schoolboy in perhaps one of the most beautiful tropical countries on this planet, I developed a craze for natural history. I collected snakes, beetles, butterflies, dissected animals for parasites and tried to identify plants from books. It was a happy boyhood. On reflection I think I was lucky not to have lived in our computer and television age. I did not see a television program until I was about twenty two! I spent all of my holiday time escaping prayers and wandering through the enchanting countryside exploring nature. I was spellbound by the travels, adventures and ideas of Darwin, Wallace, Bates and many other famous explorers. That is exactly what I wanted to be. World War II intervened. I came to Canada on a scholarship for ex-naval officers at the end of the war. I had many adventures during the war, quite a number of which would have been called unforced errors of life were they to be compared to a game of tennis! Having escaped from the Japanese and winding up in England and then Canada, my life changed and I was suddenly plunged into the cloisters of academia. My sunny days of adventure were over - perhaps forever. I was saddened to find that there were very few enthusiastic natural historians in this new life in a university. My fellow undergraduates in fact never seemed to have had time to talk about the excitement of biology they were so busy cramming for exams. I found out also that the world appeared to have been already explored by my arrogant zoology instructors and there was little new to discover other than to climb very tall moun- tain peaks or dive deep under the sea. I was an Honours Zoology student at McGill University in Montr,al at the time and was advised by zoologists that the secrets of the animal world really lay in the realm of statistics! Even genetics was all statistics according to them. Botanists, in contrast, were fascinated by apparent trivia: they were excited by the shapes of leaves, the hairiness of plant structures (for which there are many unpronounceable names) the geometry of flowers and a phenomenon called 2N versus N. However these botanists seemed to love what they were doing and I was encouraged to join their ranks. They actually worked with their microscopes in the evenings. They suggested to me that the inner workings of plants e.g. how sugars are manufactured from a gas in light was irrelevant and for Heaven's sake don't spoil things by dragging chemistry into the picture in order to understand how a plant lives. Of course, electron microscopy, the role of nucleic acids, the nature of enzymes etc. were not even dreamed of at that time. Professor R. D. Gibbs, a feisty botanist at McGill, kindled my interest in plant chemistry. He was con- sidered a crank by other botanists as I found out later because he was fascinated by the chemical relationships between plants. In fact he was a chemotaxonomist at a time when chemists did not know the meaning of the word taxonomy and a botanist might have been embarrassed if accused of understanding anything about chemistry. Here was a botanist who actually knew some phytochemistry and, Good Lord, this chap could actually draw chemical structures! We became good friends and I obtained an M.Sc. under his supervision. The research involved the chemotaxonomy of plant lignins and was published in _Nature_. Perhaps I was the first person at McGill to use the new technique of paper chromatography. Certainly, the chemists and biochemists at McGill seemed to be as yet unfamiliar with the use of this technology. Later on during a sabbatical leave with the enzymologist D.D. Davis at the University of East Anglia, I used to drink beer every afternoon with Dick Synge, one of the discoverers of paper chromatography, a Nobel Laureate, a seasoned beer drinker, and a very dangerous cyclist (after drinking of course). Curiously Gibbs suggested that paper chromatography would never work and that I should use fractional sublimation instead to separate my products of alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation, namely p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillin and syringaldehyde. Clearly this was not good advice because his total NRC budget for the year was about $115! Gibbs was old fashioned by current standards. It was good for me. It made me more of an independent scientist. When I asked him if he would be kind enough to read a draft of my thesis he was astounded. "I am here to examine you Towers, not to help you. It is your thesis - not mine!" Nowadays, of course, there are many rules in Canadian universities to chaperone graduates in thesis writing so that in the end I feel we sometimes produce the well- known camel instead of the desired racehorse. I went to Cornell for my Ph.D. studies with Professor F. C. Steward, a distinguished English plant physiologist who boasted that he had never taken a course in botany in his life. Needless to say he thought that he was the founder of botany. He had achieved fame for his work on ion accumulation in plants. His students called him the Golden Bantam because he was small, a fearless fighter, and rather arrogant. He once told me that he regretted the fact that dueling was no longer encouraged as a means of resolving departmental quarrels among faculty. He meant it! Steward had become interested in the use of paper chromatography for separating and identifying the many unidentified non-protein amino acids in plants. My Ph.D thesis was concerned with designing new methods for the identification of alpha-keto acids in plants. Quite boring actually. It was a wonderful period of study, however, because Steward had attracted extremely knowledgeable postdocs, such as John F. Thompson, and clever graduate students to his lab. He was also a research supervisor who was so busy chasing research dollars that we had complete freedom in our own programs. I think that this is still the case in many universities. At Cornell I took Botany and Biochemistry and a course on enzymes by J. B. Sumner. After many years of tedious research Sumner had discovered that the fewer steps involved, the better were his yields of the hydrolytic enzyme urease which he was studying in _Canavalia ensiformis_ (Jack bean). In fact, he discovered one day that a 32% acetone extract heated to about 60 deg. C, filtered overnight through Whatman paper into a graduate cylinder, and placed in a refrigerator yielded a precipitate which, when examined under a microscope, was found to consist of "octahedral" crystals. The crystals had tremendous urease activity. Repeated analyses showed that it was a protein. This was in 1926. Sumner wrote in his lab notebook about this momentous day: "That night I slept but little". At that time of course the true nature of enzymes was unknown and the leaders in the field, among them the very famous German biochemists, Willstatter and Waldschmidt-Leitz, refused to acknowledge that a 26-year-old American had actually isolated an enzyme and proven that it was nothing more than a protein. His discovery was treated with some ridicule which unfortunately made him rather bitter. Four years later when Northrup crystallized the proteolytic enzymes pepsin and trypsin from animal sources at the Rockefeller Institute and showed that they are also proteins, Sumner's achievement was acknowledged - they shared a Nobel prize. We had the privilege of repeating Sumner's work in our laboratory course and even of recrystallizing urease. Of course, like Sumner, we made the entry "That night I slept but little" in our laboratory notebooks. I was offered a job as Assistant professor in the Botany Department at McGill and assigned to teach plant anatomy, plant physiology, plant biochemistry and help run introductory botany labs. I inherited an old physics lab which could only be accessed through a men's urinal, a bit of an annoyance to my women graduate students. After four years of working in this "lab" we discovered an open pool of about 40 kg of mercury under the wooden floor. It must have been "lost" by the physicists during their war research years. Also contributing to the poor working conditions were the feral cats that had taken up residence in the dark corners of this medieval set of rooms, occasionally emerging to produce a litter of young kittens on our chromatograms which had to be stored on the floor. The lab was cold and we often had to use gloves and overcoats to stay warm during the winter months. At that time, university startup money for research was unthinkable. Besides, there were tons of microscopes and herbarium sheets lying around. What more could a botanist want? Roy Waygood, the plant physiologist at McGill was most encouraging, allowing me access to his lab equipment and his knowledge of plant physiology and biochemistry. Among the many wonderful graduate students in my lab was our illustrious PSNA [Phytochemical Society of North America] stalwart Ragai Ibrahim. Seichi Yoshida of Tokyo Metropolitan University also joined me as a postdoc. Later his student, Minamikawa, joined my lab and much later on Minamikawa's student, Etsuo Yamamoto, came to my lab as a postdoc. That's three generations of great Japanese phytochemists! We spent a lot of time making 2D chromatograms of plant extracts, cutting out spots, eluting them, and so on. I remember my eight year old son spending an afternoon in my lab. After watching me for half an hour he asked "What are you going to be when you grow up, Dad?" It seems that in his eyes I have never really grown up. I was delighted to learn about the Birch and Donovan hypothesis in relation to flavonoids. Instead of being neatly derived (on paper) from two hexoses and a triose according to Geissman and Hinreiner, they now appeared to be derived from a hydroxycinnamate and acetate! We resolved to test this with the dihydro-chalcone glucoside, phloridzin. Alas! We were beaten by Neish's group at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in Saskatoon who proved this hypothesis with quercetin, and Grisebach's group in Germany who proved the hypothesis with an anthocyanin. It seems silly now but we were dreadfully disappointed not to have been the first to have proven that Birch and Donovan were right. I spent a summer at the NRC laboratories in Ottawa with D.C. Mortimer and Paul Gorham, learning radiotracer techniques and carrying out 14C photosynthesis studies. The following summer I spent with Stewart "Coumarin" Brown and Arthur Neish at the NRC laboratory (then called the Prairie Regional Laboratory) in Saskatoon studying coumarin biosynthesis. When I returned to McGill at the end of the summer Ibrahim and I prepared twodirectional chromatograms of the phenolic acids from a range of plants. Sprayed with diazotized nitroaniline or diatized sulfanilic acid they gave a range of beautiful colors. We had a special room set up with these large chromatograms adorning the walls for participants of the IXth Botanical Congress which was held at McGill, the Universit, de Montr,al, and Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) that year. These chromatograms were works of art and admired by all who visited us. After enjoying more than nine years at McGill I was invited by Art Neish to head up the Plant Biochemistry section of the NRC's Atlantic Regional Laboratory in Halifax, Nova Scotia to which he had been appointed Director. Neish was considered to be one of the outstanding phytochemists in Canada and I was delighted to join his institute as I had a great admiration for him as a scientist and also because I was jointly appointed as an Associate Professor to Dalhousie University in Halifax where Neish and I taught a course in comparative biochemistry. My graduate students at McGill accompanied me there and had the advantage of working in the well-equipped NRC labs and alongside distinguished Canadian scientists in chemistry (Gavin McInnis) and biochemistry (Leo Vining). We published many papers especially on the biosynthesis of interesting lichen compounds as well as on comparative phenylpropanoid metabolism in lycopods and fungi. We showed clearly that L-tyrosine is metabolized quite differently from L-phenylalanine, especially in vascular plants. Tyrosine is metabolized to acetate and its derivatives when introduced into plant tissues and phenylalanine is the gateway to phenylpropanoid metabolism. We also identified a new cyanogen from _Taxus_ and studied its biosynthesis showing that both the nitrogen and carbon are derived from L-phenylalanine. We discovered psilotin, a glucoside derived from ahydroxycinnamate and one equivalent of acetate, in the primitive ferns _Psilotum_ and _Tmesipteris_. I next moved to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver as Head of Biology and Botany, an administrative position which tore me away from thinking time and plunged me into the petty life of administration in a then impoverished Canadian university. After five years, a sabbatical leave in England where I studied enzymes with D.D. Davies at the University of East Anglia, convinced me to resign as Head and settle down again to research and teaching. As most biology students at our universities do not enjoy chemistry my classes were small and were therefore a great pleasure to teach. Many more graduate students and postdocs passed through my research program and it would take many more pages to describe our further achievements in phytochemistry. BOOK REVIEW: ETHNOBOTANY OF HAIDA GWAII - QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA From: Richard Hebda, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC, Canada [rhebda@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca] Turner, Nancy J. 2004. Plants of Haida Gwaii: Xaadaa Gwaay gud gina k'aws (Skidegate) Xaadaa Gwaayee guu giin k'aws (Massett). Sono Nis Press, Winlow, British Columbia, Canada 264 p. ISBN 1-55039-144-5 [hardcover] Price: CDN$38.95 The very recent passing of Neil Towers recalls the importance of ethnobotany in engaging the public in the discipline of Botany. British Columbia's world-renowned champion ethnobotanist is Nancy Turner. Over almost four decades she has learned patiently the plant wisdom of First Nations elders, and shared that ancient knowledge with the rest of the world through her numerous and popular books. Only now, in her new book, Plants of Haida Gwaii, do we get to share in one volume, a key part of that wisdom, the knowledge she gained during her doctoral work at The University of British Columbia in the 1970's. The title maybe a bit misleading because the book is not a description of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) plants, but it is more than just a book about plant uses. it is about the relationship of people to their land and its plants. Chapter 1: Introduction, recounts the physical, biological and human dimensions of Haida Gwaii, populating the maps with Haida place names. A key aspect is that this chapter and the rest of the book give voice to the Haida people both collectively and individually. For example, in the Preface we see the faces of the knowledge holders and teachers. We are learning from them, and Nancy is our guide. Chapter 2: The Role of Plants in Haida Culture, develops the theme of people on the land, knowing and sharing the bounty of the land. There are beautifully illustrated and expected discussions of food, medicine, toxic and technology plants. But the chapter goes far beyond what you might read in a conventional ethnobotany. Often using the words of the elders themselves, Nancy addresses topics such as plant resource management, the spiritual and ceremonial aspects of plants and relationships between plants and animals. All of these topics place plant knowledge in the greater totality of Haida Gwaii and Haida culture. Chapter 3: The Plants, Their Haida names, and Cultural Roles, conforms more to what one might expect in a traditional ethnobotany. It systematically considers all the plants for which there is some cultural connection. The entries are derived from a comprehensive synthesis of historic documents (C.F. Newcombe's field notes for example), Nancy's early learning sessions with elders in the 1970's, knowledge gained during subsequent visits in the 1990's. The entries do not contain botanical plant descriptions; these are well covered in many other of Nancy's books and botanical publications and guides of the last decade and a half. Instead they focus on names, places and comprehensive accounts of the role of the species in the story and lives of the Haida. The descriptions include some very fine photographs taken by Nancy and her husband Robert D. Turner, and here and there illustrations by Giitsxaa (Ron Wilson). I am particularly struck by the ferocious-looking Devil's Club Man (p. 154). Certain spots on my hand begin to twinge with pain!! In part, the entries in Chapter 3 repeat the general accounts in several of Nancy's earlier books. But they also contain marvelous Haida narratives that add a new dimension to our understanding of the teachings of the elders. The chapter includes accounts of more than 150 types of plants many, with a page or more of information and stories. The entry about the controversial history of tobacco is fascinating. Haida names and words are widely used throughout the text, as they should be, for these are the real words of the land and people. Unfortunately the small section on how to pronounce them is inadequate to get a sense of what the sounds of the words might be. Perhaps some day a CD could be made with proper pronunciations so we can not only see, but hear the knowledge too. Most ethnobotanies are about the past, but his one ends with an epilogue by K"ii7lljuus (Barbara Wilson) of Haida Gwaii about the future. Beaver, deer, exotic sea-grasses threaten the future of key native plants and indeed ecosystems. The questions: How can the future of culturally important native species be ensured? How can the wisdom of the elders continue as the plants are lost? These are questions facing not only Haida Gwaii but all of us. For those who are followers of Nancy Turner's work, this is a must-have publication. For those who are interested in Haida Gwaii or ethnobotany in general, this too is a must-have publication. For those of us concerned about our environment and the future of people on the land and native ecosystems and species, this is at least a must-read book from one of our own most popular botanical writers. ________________________________________________________________ Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@victoria.tc.ca BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________