| BEN |
| BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS |
|---|
| ISSN 1188-603X |
| No. 171 July 30, 1997 | aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Victoria, B.C. |
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will take place on Sunday, August 10, 1997
Richmond Nature Park (main pavilion)
11851 Westminster Highway, Richmond B.C.
(approx. 1/2 block west of No. 5 Road)
time: 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
admission: by donation
See different representatives of the many carnivorous plants from around the world - including, Nepenthes from S.E. Asia, Sarracenia from N. America, Pinguicula, Drosera from the tropics to our backyard. Learn how to grow these plants.
For further info, please email: david.wong@hortus.bc.ca
Two genera of rein-orchids occur in the Pacific Northwest (Piperia Rydb. and Platanthera L.C. Rich.), both of which have been subsumed by some authors under the genus Habenaria Willd. Plants of the genus Piperia can be distinguished from these in Platanthera by the following characters: 1) terrestrial rather than semi-aquatic habitat; 2) stem leaves reduced to bracts; 3) basal leaves usually withering before or during anthesis; 4) stem arising from an ovoid tuber rather than fusiform roots; 5) lip with median ridge rather than flat; 6) perianth parts one-nerved; 7) anther cells opening laterally rather than apically; 8) flowers protandrous by movement of the lip. Field key to Piperia of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia
1. Spur 2-6 mm, more or less shorter than lip
2. Flowers white, blade of lip becoming curved downward and
back toward spur
............................ P. candida Morgan & Ackerman
2. Flowers green to translucent, blade of lip straight or
curving slightly upward at tip
......................... P. unalascensis (Spreng.) Rydb.
1. Spur 7-15 mm, longer than lip
3. Perianth green or partially translucent; viscidia oval,
not much longer than wide; plant generally tall, slender
....................................... P. elongata Rydb.
3. Perianth parts white with green or yellow-green midvein,
viscidia oblong, about twice as long as wide; plants
robust to delicate
4. Plants relatively delicate (stem 1-3 mm diam.); spur
straight, held horizontally; lip projecting forward;
floral fragrance clovelike, nocturnal
............................... P. transversa Suksdorf
4. Plants relatively robust (stem usually more than 3 mm
diam.); spur usually more or less curved, often held
concealed against stem; lip curving downward in age;
floral fragrance often strong, but not clovelike
............................ P. elegans (Lindl.) Rydb.
(syn.: P. maritima [Greene] Rydb.)
[Viscidium (pl. viscidia) - a sticky structure usually connected
to the stipe that carry pollen masses, thus aiding in the
attachment of the pollen to pollinators.]
Literature
On July 20, 1997 we found a population of about 50 plants of Clarkia viminea in Mt. Tzuhalem Ecological Reserve, near Duncan on Vancouver Island (AC 31,134). The plants grew with Clarkia amoena susbp. lindleyi on the warmest grassy slope dominated by Stipa lemmonii.
Clarkia viminea (Dougl. ex Hook.) A. Nels. & J.F. Macbr. has been recently treated as a subspecies of C. purpurea (W. Curtis) A. Nels. & J.F. Macbr. (subsp. viminea [Dougl. ex Hook.] H.F. & M.E. Lewis). The plants are erect either simple or with erect branches, slightly puberulent. The leaves are linear to lanceolate with short petioles or sessile. Flower buds are erect and flowers are sessile with reflexed sepals and purplish or crimson petals.
From the phytogeographical point of view this species belong to an interesting group of species that occur from coastal California to coastal northern Oregon and are rare or entirely absent in Washington. This group include species such as Allium amplectens, Crassula erecta (= C. connata), Dryopteris arguta, Isoetes nuttallii, Juncus kelloggii, Minuartia pusilla, Microseris bigelovii, Montia howellii, Myrica californica, Ranunculus californicus, Trifolium depauperatum, Triphysaria versicolor, Vulpia pacifica, Woodwardia fimbriata, etc.
In the fall 1996, Frank Lomer found a large population of flowering water-milfoil that we identified as Myriophyllum pinnatum (Walt.) B.S.P. (syn.: M. scabratum Michx., family Haloragaceae). The locality was a shallow artificial lake in Minnekhada Park in Coquitlam, east of Vancouver, B.C.
Myriophyllum pinnatum belongs to the section Tessaronia. This section is characterized by having male flowers with four anthers (instead of eight in the other species) and having leaves arranged in the "pseudowhorls" (= you can find single scattered leaves besides those that are in whorls). M. pinnatum differs from all other species of Tessaronia by having ridges of the fruit covered with sessile glands.
Sterile specimens are difficult to identify since they can be confused with M. hippuroides which is quite frequent in the lower Fraser River Valley. Chromatographic analysis of flavonoids that proved to be a reliable identification tool in sterile specimens of some Myriophyllum species, however, does not work in the subgenus Tessaronia, since all British Columbia members of this group have an identical flavonoid pattern (Ceska, 1977; Ceska & Ceska 1986). Herbarium specimens of M. pinnatum have "wiry" stems that turn darker after drying compared with thick-stemmed deep green specimens of M. hippuroides, but for reliable identification, fertile specimens are needed. In nearby Pitt Lake, we collected strange specimens with wiry stems in 1979, but we were unable to identify them since we could not find fertile specimens. In a 1996 trip we stopped at Pitt Lake and got fruiting material that we identified as M. pinnatum. Later we found several fertile collections from Pitt Lake made by T.C. Brayshaw that we also identified as M. pinnatum.
Myriophyllum pinnatum is a species of eastern North America. It is difficult to conjecture whether it was introduced to British Columbia. It may well belong to the interesting group of aquatic vascular plants indigenous to the Pacific Northwest that occur both in eastern and western North America with a gap in the prairie provinces. Les (1986) gave a list of species with similar distribution and discussed the phytogeography of these species. In the Herbarium of the Royal British Columbia Museum (V) there is a fragment of a sterile plant collected in Pitt Lake by J.K. Henry in October 1916 (V 41,820b) that is most probably M. pinnatum. This may indicate that M. pinnatum has been well established in the Pitt Lake area for a long time.
Attention palynologists and palaeobotanists!
There are interesting projects related to the genus Myriophyllum or to the aquatic plants in British Columbia that should be investigated:
I have a graduate student that is searching for seed from North American Amelanchier species. The focus of the research at least initially will be disease resistance. There is considered interest in commercial production of saskatoons as a fruit crop, however, when grown in large blocks, disease pressures build as might be expected in a perennial crop.
The quantity of seed required is minimal at least at the start. If you are able to help out please drop me note.
I am working with the Eastern Indonesia Universities Development Project here at the Simon Fraser University, trying to encourage junior faculty members (called "dosen") in several Indonesian Universities to get more involved in biodiversity research. In October, as part of this program, I conducted a grant writing workshop in Manado, N Sulawesi for 10 dosen, each of whom prepared a short research proposal. I am now trying to find collaborators for a few of these dosen, with the idea that they may be able to apply jointly for research funds to actually do the work.
One of the participants is interested in the effect of tropical forest fragmentation (through natural disturbances, as well as shifting cultivation practices) on plant species diversity. I am attempting to find him a Canadian collaborator/mentor who has tropical experience, a good record of grants and publications, and the time and willingness to develop a long term collaborative research program in Indonesia. I am able to support the initial phase with funds allowing travel to Indonesia to meet the Indonesian colleague, work on a more detailed proposal, and perhaps collect some preliminary data.
This is to announce the completion of the (second phase) Brousseau Project through the scanning of Brother Alfred Brousseau's total collection of 11,300 color slides of native wildflowers of California and the placing of these on Internet at the address: http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/flowers/. An excellent search engine has been built by Ginger Ogle and this site does a marvelous job of displaying the pictures (in three different sizes, if you wish.) Also a grad student at Berkeley built a search system so that one can find "flowers with lots of yellow, some purple and black" if one wishes. This alone is worth the visit to the site.
I have been responsible for the scanning and indexing of this great collection of slides. The project continues with the scanning--and eventual putting on internet--of Brother Alfred's slide collection of Native (pine) trees of California, as well as a fairly extensive collection of slides of mushrooms.
As an incidental to this project, there is in production a 1988 calendar featuring twelve beautiful pictures of some of these slides. This calendar is in the 8" by 11" format, consisting of a full page picture for each month. It will become available about mid-september 1997. A donation to the Brousseau Project of $7.50 is requested.
The national anthem of Japan is a song entitled 'Kimigayo'. It was formally designated the national anthem in 1893, during the reign of the Meiji Emperor. The song was composed by an Imperial Court Musician of the Meiji era. The lyrics are from a poem that was written over 1000 years ago. The words mean
'May your reign continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.'
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