| BEN |
| BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS |
|---|
| ISSN 1188-603X |
No. 123 January 6, 1996
Pressed specimens are difficult to distinguish from Aster brachyactis, but live plants are easily recognized by the small white (fading to pink) ray flowers. The rays are not readily apparent once the plant is pressed.
Curiously, on September 30, 1994, I again found a small population of A. frondosus (about 20 plants) growing in moist compacted sand south of Pattullo Bridge in Surrey, 12 km east of Vancouver (Lomer # 94-228). The area was part of a large sand landfill dredged from the Fraser River. Numerous other species native east of the Coast Mountains also grew at this site (Carex atherodes, Carex brevior, Sphenopholis obtusata, Astragalus canadensis, Potentilla rivalis, and many others), no doubt originating from material washed down the Fraser River from the interior B.C. This would indicate that Aster frondosus almost certainly grows in the Fraser drainage east of the Coast Mountains.
Easily confused with the common weedy Chenopodium album, with which it sometimes grows, but Ch. fremontii is a smaller plant with a characteristic leaf shape, more finely mealy, and with a smaller, more delicate inflorescence. Collected from Princeton, Keremeos, Cawston, Osoyoos, Summerland, Kamloops, Clearwater, Spence's Bridge, Williams Lake, and west of Alexis Creek. I would consider this native plant to be frequent in southern British Columbia east of the Coast Cascade Mountains.
Spergularia diandra is a less densely glandular plant with blackish seeds, not yet known in British Columbia. This year (1995) I found immature plants around a pond by Haynes Point Provincial Campground, Osoyoos that were in all likelihood S. bocconii.
The Aquatic Plant Information System (APIRS) is now online, 24-hours a day. The 41,000-item database about freshwater macrophytes is the largest of its kind, and since 1981, it has been used by thousands of various users :see BEN 87 --- 5-January 1995:. The users had to write or phone to the APIRS office in Florida and the APIRS office performed their data base searches. Now users may use the database by themselves, searching it in whatever ways they see fit. Use of the database remains free of charge.
The APIRS is available through the Internet as a World Wide Web site: http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/ (or you can telnet directly to 128.227.242.241). After following the sign-on procedure (logon as "guest" - no apostrophes - and The Centre for Aquatic Plants welcomes reprints from researchers. Authors can search the database for their name (use lastname$ - $ will take care of initials, etc.) and send anything not already listed. The address is: Center for Aquatic Plants, Aquatic Plant Information Retrieval System (APIRS), University of Florida, 7922 N.W. 71st Street, Gainesville, FL 32606, USA.
The Aquatic plant World Wide Web site http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/ offers a variety of free and for-sale products and services. Besides the APIRS database you can access line drawings of aquatic plants, high resolution photographs of aquatic and wetland plants, etc. You can contact two aquatic plant Extension Specialists and link with other sites of interest to botanist and aquatic plant ecologists. The APIRS office is planning to develop an interactive "short course" about aquatic and wetland plants as part of this Web site.
Nonindigenous, introduced species have severely altered aquatic ecosystems in the West. Numerous other species threaten to invade and cause further damage. The Symposium will provide an opportunity for aquatic system managers, scientists, and concerned citizens to learn about the biology and potential management strategies for some important nonindigenous species currently present in, or threatening to invade, the West.
Symposium speakers include:
When: 28-29 March 1996
Following the Symposium, the Western Aquatic Plant Management Society (WAPMS) will hold its annual meeting on 28 and 29 March 1996. The meeting will include contributed papers on the biology, ecology, and management of aquatic vegetation.
Some preliminary WAPMS Contributed Papers Sessions:
Western chapters of the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) will host a series of nontechnical workshops on March 29 for concerned citizens interested in becoming more involved in lake management. Contact Jean Jacoby (206-296-5526) for additional information on the workshops. the Northwest. Contact Al Smith (503-229-5410 ext. 375) for additional information.
Contact Mark D. Sytsma (503-725-3833; h2ms@odin.cc.pdx.edu) for additional program information.
Contact Marilyn Schoeder (303-781-8287 :Colorado:) for registration materials. Registration cost is $75 for the Symposium and the WAPMS and NALMS meetings. Submissions, subscriptions, etc.: aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca.
BEN is archived on gopher freenet.victoria.bc.ca. The URL is:
gopher://freenet.victoria.bc.ca:70/11/environment/Botany/ben. Also archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/
NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES IN WESTERN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS - SYMPOSIUM
From: Mark Sytsma (MARK@sbii.sb2.pdx.edu) via (pacific-biosnet@listproc.wsu.edu)
Where: Smith Memorial Center, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
When: 27 March 1996
Western Aquatic Plant Management Society Annual Meeting North American Lake Management Society Regional Meeting