From aceska at telus.net Wed Apr 1 07:31:43 2009 From: aceska at telus.net (Adolf & Oluna Ceska) Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:31:43 -0700 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # CDVII Message-ID: <001f01c9b293$8670dd10$93529730$@net> BBBB 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 =20 No. CDVII April 1, 2009 =20 aceska@telus.net Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- BILL CLINTON=E2=80=99S CONCEPT OF DOUBLE FERTILIZATION=20 From: http://onemom.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/bill-clinton-unfertlized-embryo/ = =20 On March 11, 2009, former President Bill Clinton was interviewed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN=E2=80=99s Larry King Live. The topic was embryonic = stem cell research. Here are the President=E2=80=99s comments: =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9CIf it=E2=80=99s obvious that we=E2=80=99re not taking = embryos that can =E2=80=94 that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow = them to be fertilized and become little babies =E2=80=A6=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9C=E2=80=A6he (President Obama) has apparently decided = to leave to the relevant professional committees the definition of which frozen embryos = are basically going to be discarded, because they=E2=80=99re not going to be fertilized=E2=80=A6=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9C=E2=80=A6I believe the American people believe = it=E2=80=99s a pro-life decision to use an embryo that=E2=80=99s frozen and never going to be = fertilized=E2=80=A6=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9C=E2=80=A6those committees need to be really careful = to make sure if they don=E2=80=99t want a big storm to be stirred up here, that any of the = embryos that are used clearly have been placed beyond the pale of being fertilized = before their use=E2=80=A6=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9CThere are a large number of embryos that we know are = never going to be fertilized, where the people who are in control of them have made = that clear. The research ought to be confined to those.=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=9CBut there are values involved that we all ought to = feel free to discuss in all scientific research. And that is the one thing that I = think these committees need to make it clear that they=E2=80=99re not going to = fool with any embryos where there=E2=80=99s any possibility, even if it=E2=80=99s = somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings.=E2=80=9D SATURDAY'S MUSHROOM HUNT COMES TO AN ABRUPT STOP From: Hugh Smith [hssmith@pacbell.net], originally posted in BAMS-L = list, Sunday, January 4, 2009, 4:56 PM=20 For the accompanied photos see: = http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/407/mushroom_hunt.pdf=20 Saturday morning Jim Childers, Richard Lyons and I headed for Plumas and Tahoe National Forest, to do some mushroom hunting of course, but also to check out some new areas while the snow remains at about 3000 feet. We left Yuba City at 7 a.m. so we could get up there, have several hours to hunt and return to Yuba City for a still useful day at home. On the way up the grade out of Dobbins I hit a patch of black ice. I believe we were doing about 40 miles per hour. Neither Jim nor=20 Richard thought I was going too fast for conditions. Neither did the = police. In 1 second we had lost all traction and were headed off the road. We cut a 12 inch diameter tree off at the ground and were finally stopped by clipping off many smaller trees. The noise was horrendous as the air bags went off and we crunched trees and rocks. Immediately we began rolling down the steep embankment built up 50 feet long ago for this section of road. The embankment was covered with small trees. It looks as though we rolled 3 1/2 times before landing on the roof. I felt like I was in a barrel or a carnival ride. It was very dim and there were all sorts of things flying around. None of us could tell which way was up or down during the event. I never really could see outside. I was in a dark barrel, tumbling. Things that were in the front of the car were now in the back. Crawling out of the car, I found some mushrooms while lying around on the thick duff (Fig. 1). I picked one. I thought at first it might be a Candy Cap. But no, it was maybe a _Collybia_. It had a very pleasant = smell. I felt fine. We found some other mushrooms while we waited for the tow=20 truck too. _Lactarius_, _Mycena_. We did NOT find a good new place to = hunt! When we returned to Yuba City, we found more mushrooms, _Tulostoma_, _Coprinus_, _Paxillus_... Without seatbelts, we would not have survived. Cf. Fig. 2. When we came to a stop, I said, "Richard, are you OK? Jim, are you alright?" They both responded promptly. They were OK. Jim, who was in the front passenger seat, where most of the trees hit, was fine. Richard, who was in the rear passenger side, had bruised ribs. My right arm and wrist were quite sore. We appeared to be fine. We disconnected our seatbelts and fell from an upside down position and crawled out. Most of the windows were broken out and there was stuff everywhere. The lesson learned here, or reminded of again: always wear your seatbelt. Chances are, you will live to hunt another day. Figures - http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/407/mushroom_hunt.pdf=20 Fig. 1. _Mycena parabolica_ (Fr.) Qu=C3=A9l. as it might have been = seen=20 by the mycologists hanging upside down in overturned car.=20 (Photo from the BEN archives) Fig. 2. Author=E2=80=99s car after the accident. Photo Hugh Smith. ECOLOGICAL RESERVES AND THEIR BOUNDARIES From: Adolf Ceska [Adapted from Ceska (2008)] For the accompanied photos see: = http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/407/ecological_reserves.pdf=20 In the system of protected areas in British Columbia, Ecological = Reserves represent the category with the strictest protection. The rules for establishing an Ecological Reserve and for its management are given in = the Ecological Reserve Act. This Act specifies that Ecological Reserves can = be established only on Crown land and the area must =E2=80=9Cbe immediately = withdrawn and reserved from any further disposition that might otherwise be = granted under any Act or law in force in British Columbia=E2=80=9D. Due to the limitations of this process, the boundaries often miss the ecological phenomena the reserve should protect, or the areas worth protecting occur at the very boundary of the protected area.=20 _Katherine Tye (Vedder Crossing) Ecological Reserve # 116_ can be given = as an example. The reserve land was in part donated and in part sold by = Mrs. Katherine Tye to the Nature Trust of British Columbia, and is now leased = to the crown on a 99-year term to preserve and/or develop it =E2=80=9Cas a = site of ecological interest for the use, enjoyment and benefit of the people of British Columbia=E2=80=9D. The Ecological Reserve should protect the = rare Phantom orchid (_Cephalanthera austiniae_ [Gray] Heller) that occurs on the = site. However, the largest portion of the Phantom orchid population there = occurs at the very boundary, if not outside of the Ecological Reserve.=20 _Trial Island Ecological Reserve # 132_ hit an interesting obstacle when = the part of the proposed site included four C-FAX Radio transmitting towers. Although the footprint of the towers is rather negligible, the area of = the Crown land leased to the C-FAX Radio Station had to be excluded from ER = # 132. The other alternative would have been to cancel the lease and take = down the towers. To take the leased area out of the proposed ecological = reserve appeared to be the less absurd solution. A large population of = Macoun=E2=80=99s meadowfoam (Limnanthes macounii Trel.) and the site of the rare = Victoria=E2=80=99s paintbrush (_Castilleja victoriae_ Fairnbarns & Egger) were excluded = from this Ecological Reserve. Both species are local endemics with declining populations. Victoria=E2=80=99s paintbrush was described only recently = (Fairbarns & Egger, 2007), and with its several historic populations extirpated and = only three extant populations worldwide, it is certainly the rarest plant in Canada and Washington State. Nevertheless, its site on Trial Island is = in the area that had to be excluded because of the radio transmission = towers. Even today the area with the C-FAX Radio transmission towers retains an=20 =E2=80=9CInstitutional=E2=80=9D designation in the Official Community = Plan=20 for the District of Oak Bay: http://www.oakbaybc.org/bylaws/3943.pdf=20 Boundaries of most Ecological Reserves in British Columbia are thus the result of a compromise. They depend on the availability of the = =E2=80=9Cotherwise uncommitted=E2=80=9D Crown land (cf. Katherine Tye ER # 116 and Trial = Island ER # 132), and the survival of species to be protected is not the most = important consideration when selecting the ER boundary. Given this situation, it is rather idealistic to talk about the need of certain buffers, the areas that would run alongside the ER boundaries = and protect ERs from impacts of activity on neighbouring lands. The following examples illustrate some buffers issues in the existing management of British Columbia Ecological Reserves. _Case Study No. 1 =E2=80=93 Mount Tzouhalem Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 = ER # 112_ I remember a nice population of White-head aster (_Symphyotrichum retroflexum_ [Lindl. ex DC.] Nesom, alias _Aster curtus_ Torr. & Gray) = that was at the very entrance to the Mt. Tzouhalem ER in Duncan. That = population disappeared shortly after the =E2=80=9Clower=E2=80=9D entrance to the = reserve was established. But here is what the Mt. Tzouhalem ER boundary looks like = now: The sign =E2=80=9CEcological Reserve=E2=80=9D is still on the oak at the = margin of the artificial cliff. The role of the fence has drastically changed. Before = the house was built, the fence was erected to keep the intruders from = entering the reserve; now it serves to protect the ER intruders from falling into = the abyss.=20 _Case Study No. 2. Field=E2=80=99s Lease Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 ER = # 33_ The same situation as in the Case No. 1, except that the neighbours did = not blast the rock up to the ER boundary in order to fit their house in. = Only a chicken wire fence is marking the boundary between the reserve and the house. This results in much more introduced plants in this corner than = in the rest of the Field=E2=80=99s Lease ER. _Case Study No. 3. Haynes=E2=80=99 Lease Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 = ER # 100_ There is only a narrow field road that divides the Burrowing Owl Winery = from the Haynes Lease ER: The last burrowing owl was seen in British Columbia, just here in = Osoyoos, in 1996. It is commendable that the burrowing owl still lives in the Okanagan Valley in name (only), but we should be concerned about the ecological impact of vineyard watering on the ecological reserve. It is hard to predict what impact the vineyard operations or vineyard watering will have on the Haynes=E2=80=99 Lease Ecological Reserve, but = it will not likely be positive. _Case Study No. 4. Trout Creek Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 ER # 7_ There is a sharp contrast between the heavily used area, the golf = course, and this ecological reserve. A simple fence separates the golf course = from the protected area. The fence is easy to negotiate with the help of a = few wooden steps: the steps apparently serve the golfers to retrieve their = lost balls. The transition between the natural area and the golf course is = sharp;=20 however, one cannot see any negative impact of the golf course on=20 the neighbouring reserve. In this case, the golf course functions as=20 a large buffer area to this ecological reserve. Conclusion, or an attempt thereof I have brought up several issues, but am not able to offer any solutions = to the problems. I hope that my grumbling will inspire the readers to think about this problem and promote the establishment of buffer zones in particular cases of ecological reserves they know. Do we need more than = a dirt road between the reserves and the development of the surrounding = land? In some cases yes, in some cases no. We have to think about this with = each individual case in mind.=20 I also like the broader flexibility of the Manitoba Ecological Reserves = that does not restrict the creation of the ecological reserves to Crown land only. In British Columbia, the provincial governments have been happily giving away Crown land without any ecological considerations, and the chances to establish new ecological reserves with natural boundaries are getting even smaller. Will we eventually end up with ecological reserves that are not worth preserving? References Ceska, A. 2007. Ecological Reserves and Their Buffer Zones. _The Log_ = Winter 2007: 9-11. http://www.ecoreserves.bc.ca/newsletters/LOG0802.pdf=20 Fairbarns, M. & J. M. Egger. 2007. _Castilleja victoriae_ = (Orobanchaceae): a New Rare Species from Southeastern Vancouver Island, British = Columbia, Canada, and the Adjacent San Juan Islands, Washington, U.S.A. _Madro=C3=B1o_ 54(4):334-342. Figures - http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/407/ecological_reserves.pdf=20 Fig. 1. Trial Island Ecological Reserve # 132 =E2=80=93 C=E2=80=90FAX = Radio transmission=20 towers had to be excluded from the Ecological Reserve.=20 Fig. 2. Trial Island: Castilleja victoriae, an extremely rare endemic = species that occurs outside ER # 132.=20 Fig. 3. Mount Tzouhalem Ecological Reserve # 112 - Note the Ecological = Reserve=20 sign and a fence high at the edge of the precipice.=20 Fig. 4. Field=E2=80=99s Lease Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 ER # 33 - The = people living next=20 to this ER had no idea what was in their backyard.=20 Fig. 5. Haynes=E2=80=99 Lease Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 ER # 100 = =E2=80=93 Only a field road=20 separates this ER from the Burrowing Owl Vinery =E2=80=93 the last=20 Burrowing Owl was seen in the Osoyoos area in 1996.=20 Fig. 6. Trout Creek Ecological Reserve =E2=80=93 ER # 7 =E2=80=93 Sharp = boundary between the reserve=20 and the golf course.=20 =20 ________________________________________________________________ Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@telus.net BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________ =20 From aceska at telus.net Tue Apr 21 09:23:19 2009 From: aceska at telus.net (Adolf & Oluna Ceska) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:23:19 -0700 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # 408 Message-ID: <000c01c9c25a$6dfa1180$49ee3480$@net> =A0BBBBB=A0=A0=A0 EEEEEE=A0=A0 NN=A0=A0 = N=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 ISSN 1188-603X =A0BB=A0=A0 B=A0=A0 EE=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 NNN=A0 N =A0BBBBB=A0=A0=A0 EEEEE=A0=A0=A0 NN N = N=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 BOTANICAL =A0BB=A0=A0 B=A0=A0 EE=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 NN=A0 = NN=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 ELECTRONIC =A0BBBBB=A0=A0=A0 EEEEEE=A0=A0 NN=A0=A0 N=A0=A0=A0=A0 = =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0NEWS =A0 =A0No. = 408=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0= =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 April 21, 2009 =A0 =A0aceska@telus.net=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0= =A0=A0 Victoria, B.C. =A0----------------------------------------------------------- =A0 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 =A0----------------------------------------------------------- PRESTIGIOUS AWARD TO THE COAUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR=20 OF THE _ILLUSTRATED MOSS FLORA OF ANTARCTICA_ (RE: BEN # 406) From: Ryszard Ochyra [R.Ochyra@botany.pl] originally posted on BRYONET-L = =A0 The Linnean Society of London announced that the prestigious Jill = Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration for 2008 will go to Dr Halina Bednarek-Ochyra, Laboratory of Bryology, Institute of Botany of the = Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow. The Prize is given to a botanical artist = for excellence in published illustrations in aid of plant identification, = with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of = diagnostic characteristics. Halina specializes in bryological artwork, and she completed illustrations for the recently published _The Illustrated Moss Flora of Antarctica_. She is also a bryologist, with over 200 scientific works published, who specializes in the Racomitrioideae. In 2006 she published a taxonomic monograph of the genus /_Codriophorus_/ and, additionally, she is the co-author of two major Floras of Antarctic = hepatics (2000) and mosses (2008). Moreover, she serves as the curator of the bryological herbarium at KRAM. The Prize, which comes with a purse and silver medal, will be given to her in a ceremony in London on May 21, = 2009. _THE LINNAEUS APOSTLES_=20 From: William A Weber [Bill.Weber@Colorado.edu]=20 During the 18th century, Linnaeus inspired 17 of his students to travel = to the far corners of the earth to document local nature and culture. Their travel cover all of the known continents and they came to be known as = the Linnean Apostles. The publication of a major international series of eight volumes =97 in = all, 11 books of narratives and approximately 5000 pages has been in = preparation for a long time. All of the accounts are published here for the fist = time in English; those who left no journals are described through available = sources. A team of translators have sweat blood for decades to accomplish this enormous task. I have five of these books so far; they are intriguing = and exciting accounts of what field work was like especially in South = Africa, Japan, the South Pacific, and eastern North America. It is obvious that Linnaeus=92 ties with Dutch botanists, especially their maritime fleets = and colonies, made these trips possible. Captain Cook=92s early explorations = to the Antarctic and South Pacific Islands were important also. That these students were essentially trained in the botanical aspects of medicine gave these excursions an early example of what we now call = "doctors without borders". They treated illnesses and made extensive notes on the medicinals used by the local people, at the same time collecting plants, insects, animals large and small, to fill the museums of Europe. They = also made extensive lists of vocabularies, and illustrated landscapes and the large wild game animals of south Africa. Having experienced all this in situ, some really stinging but carefully respectful satire at times is directed at such famous closet-naturalists such as the celebrated M. = Buffon. They are not dull. These books speak to us today. Volume 1 (Introduction) is the descriptive one. Here the reader will get = a deeper understanding of the world in which Linnaeus and his apostles = lived. The 18th century was both like and unlike our world today. It was during this era that the modern world first saw the light of day. The = concluding volume 8 (Encyclopaedia) will include maps, a categorized index for all = the volumes, biographical information on each apostle and a complete bibliography of all published material, and a list of the most important collections of scientific material in museums, archives, and libraries connected to the work of the apostles. The intervening books of = narratives include those of Thunberg, Sparrmann, Kalm, Rolander, Hasselquist, = Solander, and many others. Nothing like this has ever been attempted and is an important addition to the other publications arising from the recent celebration of Linnaeus=92 birth. The volumes have given me at least a = year=92s amount of fascinating reading and education. Five of the 8-volume series is now available. For detailed information = go to ,=A0=20 or ,=A0 or write = to IK Foundation & Company, P.O. Box 70, Whitby, North Yorkshire YO21 1YD, = United Kingdom. JEWELWEEDS AND TOUCH-ME-NOTS (_IMPATIENS_, BALSAMINACEAE) IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF NORTH AMERICA From: Peter Zika, WTU herbarium, Box 355325, University of Washington, Seattle, WA=A0 98195-5325 USA Originally printed in _Douglasia_ 33: 3-8 (Zika 2009). Minor revisions = March 2009. Color photographs by the author are in the BEN archives: http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/408/impatiens_figures_408.pdf The jewelweeds, _Impatiens_, are remarkable for their diversity of = floral form, showiness, baffling cryptic species, pollination intrigue, and aggressive spontaneous hybrids. As with the hawkweeds, _Hieracium_, we = have a confusing mix of native and introduced species in the Pacific = Northwest. Although our jewelweeds are delicate annuals with brittle succulent = stems, they are able to sprout and flower in the midst of dense stands of reed canary grass (_Phalaris arundinacea_ L.), a wetland bully notorious for displacing our indigenous flora.=20 As many children know, the capsules of Impatiens are explosive if = squeezed, leading to their popular name touch-me-not. Jewelweeds are members of = the Balsaminaceae, a family little known and seldom seen outside of gardens. = I=92d like to introduce some of the puzzles of our northwestern jewelweeds, as well as provide keys and illustrations for identification. Seek touch-me-nots on the shores of river sloughs, ponds, in riparian forest, = and in damp ditches and cranberry farms. _Impatiens_ are sporadic in most = areas, except for the extensive populations in the intertidal freshwater = marshes of the lower Columbia River (Fig. 1). The foliage of our three native _Impatiens_ is the same, so to = understand the genus you must understand the flowers. They all can produce tiny self-pollinating (cleistogamous) flowers in leaf axils early or late in = the season (Fig. 2). This is a relatively quick and inexpensive method of setting seed for an annual. I think of it as a backup strategy, should = the elaborate and colorful outcrossing flowers fail to attract a pollinator. = You might assume our recent illustrated floras clarify the floral differences among jewelweeds. But you would be wrong. The Jepson Manual (Hickman 1993) omitted the family=A0 due to a printer error (M. = Wetherwax pers. comm.). Hitchcock and Cronquist (1961, 1973) are missing recently naturalized garden escapes. Hitchcock and Cronquist (1973) mistakenly illustrates three flowers upside-down. Our most current illustrated = regional flora, for British Columbia (Douglas et al. 1998, pp. 6-9), takes = inverted flowers as a norm and confuses size and shape of the corollas enough to befuddle identification. I find the upside-down flower art especially amusing, because sometimes visiting bees enter the flowers upside-down, presumably to gather pollen from the anthers at the top of the floral = tube (Fig. 3).=20 The British Columbia flora also fails to mention variable jewelweed, _Imaptiens aurella_ Rydb., can have spotted flowers, does not show _I. noli-tangere_ with a gradual taper to the spur, orients the blossoms of small-flowered touch-me-not, _I. parviflora_, vertically instead of horizontally, and says the spots of _ I. capensis_ are brown, when in = life they are red to orange. The BC flora also says the spots of _I. noli-tangere_ are brownish-purple, but the live plants I have seen in America and Asia have dark red spots. Similarly, the Flora of the = Pacific Northwest (Hitchcock and Cronquist 1973) illustrates three flowers upside-down, says _I. aurella_ is always unspotted, does not show the = abrupt taper to the spur in _I. capensis_, and inaccurately illustrates the diagnostic small spots, which are primarily dorsal on the tube of_ I. noli-tangere_. I should also note that spotted jewelweed has occasional = odd color forms not described in western floras, without spots, or with the corolla white, cream or pale yellow, with spots varying red to bright = pink (Fig. 4). Atypical color forms are rare in western Washington, where = they are mixed among typical plants. Why are the illustrations and descriptions such a mess in our floras? Northwesterners are not alone; the confusion goes back to the time of Linnaeus, who mixed up North American collections of _I. capensis_ with = _I. noli-tangere_ (Zika et al. 2008). The biology of the genus is at the = heart of the problem. As lovers of wet soil, they can support their succulent lifestyle despite our summer drought. But when you pick them, they = wither quickly on a hot summer day, soon resembling cooked spinach. As with the violets, their wilted flowers make poor herbarium specimens. So the = study of museum vouchers is not as enlightening as it is for other wetland genera like sedges and rushes, which are easy to preserve by drying. A special effort must be made to press _Impatiens_ flowers immediately. I=92ve = found picking a few extra flowers and pressing them in tissue paper makes a valuable addition to any herbarium collection (Fig. 5). Fresh Impatiens flowers are striking and different enough to usually = allow easy identification. Kashmir balsam, _Impatiens balfourii_ Hook. f., is = a pink-flowered rare garden escape east of the Cascade Range and in = California (Fig. 6). The gradual taper to the spur is quite different from the = abrupt taper to the spur of policeman=92s helmet, _I. glandulifera_ Royle, = another pink-flowered species naturalized on the coast and in Idaho (Fig. 7). A third Asian introduction grows wild in British Columbia, the aptly named small-flowered touch-me-not, _I. parviflora_ DC., with diminutive pale yellow corollas (Fig. 8). The jewelweeds with large yellow to orange flowers include all our = natives, and are an interesting group. A key is provided to help in sorting them = out. The most common spurred species west of the Cascades, spotted jewelweed (_Impatiens capensis_, Fig. 9), was treated as a northwestern native by = many authors (e.g., Ornduff 1966, Hitchcock and Cronquist 1973, Douglas et = al. 1998). Spotted jewelweed is native in eastern North America, and parts = of boreal Canada, but not west of the Rocky Mountains. I came to that conclusion after looking at hundreds of herbarium collections and wild populations. All the verified local records for _I. capensis_ begin in = 1950, which is 80-100 years after the start of the collecting record for our = three natives, _I. aurella_ (Fig. 10),_ I. ecalcarata_ Blank. (Fig. 11), and = _I. noli-tangere_ (Fig. 12). In addition, _I. capensis_ acts like a recently introduced weed, and has been spreading rapidly in ditches and disturbed wetlands over the last half century, while our native species west of = the Cascades are declining as wetland habitat is lost. This by itself may = not sound alarming, but where _I. capensis_ meets _I. ecalcarata_, the = native and non-native species hybridize. I found these crosses in 87% of the populations of _I. ecalcarata_ west of the Cascades (Zika 2006a). A key to flowers of Pacific Northwest _Impatiens_ (based on Zika 2006b) 1. Flowers without a spur=20 =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02. Flowers without spots............ =A0_I. = ecalcarata_ =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02' Flowers with spots ............ =A0_I_. x = _pacifica_ 1' Flowers spurred=A0=20 =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A03. Spur =B1 straight =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 4. Flowers pink or purple, 10-15 mm from pedicel = to spur base (not tip) ..................... =A0_I. balfourii_ =A0=A0 4' Flowers pale yellow, 1-5 mm from pedicel to spur base ............................. =A0_I. parviflora_ =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A03' Spur strongly curved or hooked =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 5. Flowers purple, pink or white; spur = short; leaves finely toothed ................... =A0_I. glandulifera_ 5' Flowers yellow to orange; spur elongated; leaves entire = or coarsely toothed =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 6. Flowers = without spots =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0= =A0 7.=A0 9-14 mm from pedicel to spur base (not tip); E side of Cascades ........ =A0_I. aurella_ =A0=A0=A0=A0 7'=A0 14-19 mm from spur base to = pedicel; W side of Cascades =A0=A0=A0 8. All flowers in population = spurred=A0 .... =A0rare spotless forms of _I. capensis_ =A0=A0=A0 8' Some plants with flowers = spurred, other plants spurles .... =A0_I_.=D7_pacifica_ =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A06' Flowers = with spots 9.=A0 9-14 mm from pedicel to spur base = (not tip); E side of Cascades ...._I. aurella_ 9'=A0 14-19 mm from spur base to pedicel; = W side 10. Gradual concave taper to spur; spots primarily dorsal, small=20 and sparse ......... =A0_I. noli-tangere_ 10' Abrupt & convex taper to spur; spots primarily ventral, coarse and=20 often dense or confluent near throat ... .................. _I. capensis_ =20 The showy flowers of spotted jewelweed have large amounts of nectar in = their spurs, so they are well-suited to pollination by ruby-throated = hummingbirds (Temeles and Ewald 1999). Hummingbirds demand a lot of sugar-rich nectar = to power their flight, beating their wings 50 times a second. Ruby-throated hummers are native to eastern North America, and absent in the Pacific Northwest, where bees come to the flowers to gather the copious nectar. = In our region spotted and spurless jewelweeds flower at the same time. They readily hybridize when bees move pollen between the species in mixed = stands. However, spotted jewelweed has that prolific nectar spur, and one study found it received 77% of the floral visits by honeybees in mixed = populations of jewelweeds. Spurless jewelweed can=92t compete; it has no nectar to = offer, and garnered only 4% of the honeybee visits when growing with hybrids = and spotted jewelweeds (Zika 2006a). So times are tough for spurless = jewelweed when spotted jewelweed moves in. My preliminary observations suggest _I. ecalcarata_ has reduced seed set in the presence of hybrids and spotted jewelweed.=20 The hybrid found in these situations is called Pacific jewelweed, _Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_ Zika, and it grows at more than 50 locations = in western Oregon and Washington. Hybrids combine the characters of its = parents in one of two ways (Table 1). First noted by Robert Ornduff in the = 1950s, Pacific jewelweed is now found from the Seattle area south to Tillamook County, Oregon (Ornduff 1967; Zika 2006b). The spurless spotted floral = form is unmistakable (Fig. 13). The other form, spurred but unspotted (Fig. = 14), is mimicked by a botanical oxymoron: spotless spotted jewelweed, a = scarce coastal weed. Although there are minor differences in pollen fertility, = the most practical way to separate them is to look for a mix of parents and hybrids. I found unspotted forms of _I. capensis_ growing in pure stands = in southwestern Washington, and all plants had spurred flowers, while = unspotted _I_. =D7_pacifica_ were always in mixed stands of plants with and = without spurs. Table 1. A floral comparison of Pacific jewelweed (_Impatiens_ = =D7_pacifica_) with its parents. =20 Species Spotted corolla Spurred corolla _I. ecalcarata_ No No _I_. =D7_pacifica_ No Yes _I_. =D7_pacifica_ Yes No _I. capensis_ Yes Yes =20 What does one call a spontaneous hybrid between native and introduced species? This is not a simple question. Some botanists say that if non-native plants are involved in a hybrid, then the offspring must be non-native. If you exclude garden hybrids, a counter-argument says all = taxa must have evolved somewhere and have a native range. This second view, = more or less, was adopted by the author and editors of the Flora of North = America treatment of the genus of goatsbeards (_Tragopogon_), a well-known weedy group of species originating in Eurasia. Some of these introduced = species formed spontaneous natural hybrids in southeastern Washington, and subsequently doubled their chromosomes to create new allotetraploids: remarkable goatsbeard, _T. mirus_ Ownbey, and hybrid goatsbeard, _T. miscellus_ Ownbey. They are found occasionally in Pullman and scattered across the western United States, from Arizona to Wyoming. FNA calls = them North American native species (Soltis 2006). This is not altogether outrageous; the ancestry of many lines of plants originated through = natural hybrids (_Dryopteris_, _Polypodium_, _Botrychium_, many of the asters, fleshy-fruited members of the Rose Family, etc.). Pacific jewelweed, recently formed in Oregon and Washington, has never been found = elsewhere, so perhaps the Pacific Northwest could and should be considered its home = range. As _Impatiens capensis_ increases west of the Cascades, I. ecalcarata declines. But any efforts to reduce spotted jewelweed populations must = take into account identification difficulties. In particular, surveys and = control efforts must be restricted to the west side of the Cascades, and = conducted when the plants are in full bloom, so each plant is recognizable. I = would recommend some identification training, and only hand culling, with = great care and deliberation, to prevent unintended destruction of the native jewelweeds that can grow intermingled with spotted jewelweed. = _Impatiens_ are easily pulled out of wet ground, but one can not simply uproot = plants =93with spots=94 or plants =93with spurs,=94 because of the possibility = of finding new colonies of _I. noli-tangere_, _I. ecalcarata_, or _I_. = =D7_pacifica_. No spurless plants should be molested.=20 If you like the challenge of hunting for rare native species, more field work might also reveal more populations of _Impatiens noli-tangere_, = which is occasional in southern British Columbia, but currently known from = only one extant population in the lower 48, in Whatcom Co., Washington. Similarly, _I. aurella_ occurs in the Blue Mountains and along the Snake River in southeastern Washington, but has yet to be found in adjacent northeastern Oregon. It would also be interesting to know how far west = the natural range of _I. aurella_ extends in British Columbia. Does it = overlap at all with the eastward expansion of introduced _I. capensis_? Does _I. aurella_ form hybrids with _I. ecalcarata_, as does _I. capensis_? Is = _I_. =D7_pacifica_ in British Columbia? =A0Does _I. noli-tangere_ form = hybrids with introduced _I. glandulifera_ where their ranges overlap in southwestern = BC; this elusive hybrid has been reported in Europe, but has never been documented in North America. Field botanists still have much work to do = with the jewelweeds of the Pacific Northwest. References Douglas, G. W., G. B. Straley, D. Meidinger, and J. Pojar, eds. 1998. _Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Vol. 2. Dicotyledons = (Balsaminaceae through Cuscutaceae)._ =A0British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Ministry of Forests, Victoria, British Columbia, = Canada. 401 p. Hickman, J. C., Ed. 1993. _The Jepson Manual. Higher Plants of = California._ Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 1400 p Hitchcock., C. L. and A. Cronquist. 1961. _Vascular Plants of the = Pacific Northwest; Part 3: Saxifragaceae to Ericaceae_. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA. 614 p. Hitchcock, C. L. and A. Cronquist. 1973. _Flora of the Pacific = Northwest._ University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA. 730 p. Ornduff, R. 1966. _Impatiens capensis_ in Oregon: native or naturalized? _Leaflets of Western Botany_ 10: 317-319.=20 Ornduff, R. 1967. Hybridization and regional variation in Pacific Northwestern _Impatiens_ (Balsaminaceae). _Brittonia_ 19: 122-128. Soltis, P. 2006. _Tragopogon_ Linnaeus. Pp 303-306, in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, Eds. _Flora of North America North of = Mexico. Volume 19, Magnoliophyta: Asteridae, Part 6: Asteraceae, Part 1 (Aster Order)._ Oxford University Press, New York. 579 p.=20 Temeles, E. J. and P. W. Ewald. 1999. Fitting the bill? _Natural History [Magazine]_ 108 (4): 52-55. Zika, P. F. 2006a. The status of _Impatiens capensis_ (Balsaminaceae) on = the Pacific Northwest coast. _Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society_ = 133(4): 593-600.=20 Zika, P. F. 2006b. _Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_ (Balsaminaceae), a new = hybrid jewelweed from the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. _Novon_ 16: 443-448. Zika, P. 2009. Jewelweeds and touch-me-nots (_Impatiens_) of the Pacific Northwest. _Douglasia_ 33 (No. 1 - Spring 2009): 3-8. Zika, P. F., J. L. Reveal, and C. Jarvis. 2008. (1818) Proposal to = conserve the name _Impatiens noli-tangere_ (Balsaminaceae) with a conserved type. _Taxon_ 57: 650-651. For Figures see http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/408/impatiens_figures_408.pdf Fig. 1. Type locality of _Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_, freshwater = intertidal marsh near Point Adams on the lower Columbia River, Columbia Co., = Oregon. Fig. 2. Self-pollinating (cleistogamous) green flowers, lacking any = colored petals, producing normal fruits and seeds.=A0 _Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_ = and _I. ecalcarata_.=20 Fig. 3.=A0Bees gathering nectar and pollen from varied jewelweed, native _Impatiens aurella_. Legs down or legs up. Fig. 4. Variation in flower color in non-native _Impatiens capensis_. = Front view of three dissected flowers, and two flowers in situ. Fig. 5. Dried Impatiens flowers showing relative size, taper to spur and spotting. Scale is mm. Flowers picked and pressed separately in tissue paper. _Impatiens aurella_, can be dark orange- or red-spotted or = spotless; the taper to the spur can be gradual or abrupt. _Impatiens capensis_, typically with abrupt taper to spur and dark orange or red spots, which = are coarse and primarily ventral on the tube. _Impatiens noli-tangere_, with gradual taper to spur and typically dark red spots (sometimes drying to = dark purple), which are fine and primarily dorsal on the tube. Fig. 6. Fresh corollas of non-native_Impatiens balfourii_. Fig. 7. Fresh corollas of=A0 non-native _Impatiens glandulifera_. =A0 Fig. 8. Fresh corollas of=A0 non-native _Impatiens parviflora_.=20 Fig. 9.=A0Fresh corollas of non-native _Impatiens capensis_. Note = variation in density of spots on the front of the flower; spots on floral tube are = coarse and primarily ventral. Fig. 10. Fresh corollas of native _Impatiens aurella_. Note presence or absence of spots. Fig. 11. Fresh corollas of native _Impatiens ecalcarata_. No spur, no = spots. Fig. 12. Fresh corollas of native _Impatiens noli-tangere_. Note pale = yellow flowers with little spotting on face of flower and fine dark red spots (primarily dorsal) on the floral tube in side view, and a gradual taper = to the spur. Fig. 13. Fresh corollas of native _Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_, spurless = spotted form. Fig. 14. Fresh corollas of native_Impatiens_ =D7_pacifica_, spurred = spotless form, always found in mixed colonies with spurless plants. It looks much like rare spotless color forms of _I. capensis_, found in pure colonies = of spurred plants. ________________________________________________________________ =A0 Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@telus.net BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________