| BEN |
| BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS |
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| ISSN 1188-603X |
| No. 159 March 17, 1997 | aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Victoria, B.C. |
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The first Annual General Meeting of the NPSBC - Native Plant Society of British Columbia was held in Victoria on March 9th, 1997 and ellected the first board of directors:
The aim of the Native Plant Society of British Columbia is to encourage knowledge, responsible use and conservation of British Columbia's native plants and habitats (cf. BEN # 144)
If you want to become a member, please, send your application and the membership fee (Individual - $20.00, Associate - $15.00, Corporate - $75.00) to:
Elisabeth Beaubien (Research Associate of the Devonian Botanic Garden, University of Alberta in Edmonton) will talk about "Plantwatch 97" - a phenology program launched by the Devonian Garden.
Anna Roberts (Williams Lake, B.C.) was inspired by fruits of Cyperaceae and created what she called the "biomorphic sculptures" of various Cyperaceae achenes and Carex perigynia. Her exhibit "SEDGES" will open in the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, B.C. on April 3rd, 1997, and will last till the end of April. Don't miss it!
Grand Coulee owl-clover, Orthocarpus barbatus Cotton, an attractive yellow-flowered species endemic to central Washington, was collected on May 27, 1995 in low ground in Stipa-sagebrush hills south of the golf course west of Highway 97 in Osoyoos. Many hundreds of plants grew at this site in one small area at the foot of 115th Street on the south side of a cattle fence adjacent to a new and very destructive subdivision (Lomer 95-198). In 1996 I revisited this site and the population seems to have increased.
A second Canadian site for this species was found about 5 km due east of the first site, on June 16, 1996 in sagebrush flats south of Highway 3, 49 0'25" N, 119 24'18" W (Lomer 96-079). This population was considerably larger and covered a wide area near an old cattle corral. Orthocarpus barbatus was collected earlier at this same site by George Douglas and J.M. Illingworth on June 24, 1994 (Douglas # 12848).
The study of poplars has been the focal theme of the University of Washington/Washington State University Poplar Research Program since 1978. This book offers a summary of the results of these studies. The twenty chapters (authored by forty-seven researchers) are divided into two principal parts: 1) chapters dealing with systematics, evolution, molecular biology, hybridization, ecology, fungal pathogens, and herbivore interactions of poplars (Chapter 1 through 11), and 2) chapters dealing with the physiology, growth, productivity, and stress response of various poplar species and their hybrids (Chapter 12 through 20).
The book covers a wide range of topics with poplar as a common denominator. Although this book is a valuable reference to everything related to poplars, it also contains valuable information on applications of molecular biology, hybridization, and physiological assessments of deciduous tree species. Anyone interested in these fields will find it as a valuable reference.
The book is reasonably priced and very well produced. A general subject index and an index of authors would have improved the book.
Order information:
The book can be ordered from
Authorized distributor (USA)
This volume of an English translation of the Russian "Flora of the Soviet Arctic" contains original volumes III (Cyperaceae - published in January 1966) and IV (remaining monocots - published in April 1963). The most important parts of this volume are the classical treatment of sedges (genus Carex) by T.V. Egorova and Tolmachev's treatment of Juncaceae. Egorova's discussions of taxonomical problems of sedges growing in the Russian Arctic are relevant to Canadian and North American readers and anybody with even only a slight interest in Carex will find an important reference in this publication. The translator, G.C.D Griffiths, and the English edition editor, J.G. Packer, should be commended for their work on this volume.
The price of this volume is prohibitive and put this useful publication out of reach of many students who should have it in their reference library. According to the Acknowledgements and according to the promotional note, only a part of this volume was funded by the NSERC grant. As a result, this volume costs almost twice as much as the first volume (cf. BEN # 132), and yet it is only about two thirds the size of the first volume. The University of Alberta Press did an excellent job in producing the first two volumes of this English edition. Compared with the paperbacks printed on ugly newsprint paper of the Russian edition, this English edition looks like a limited bibliophile edition, but we have to pay comparably high price for it. Can NSERC help again? (NSERC = Natural Science and Engineering Research Council, the principle academic granting agency in Canada)
Please send orders to:
**Special Price for Two Volume Purchase**
Flora of the Russian Arctic, Vol. I & II $175.00
**Special Price for Complete Series**
Order the entire series now and save $200!
Flora of the Russian Arctic, Vols. I-VI $500.00
(If you already own Volume I, deduct $65.00)
ADD Shipping & Handling ($5.00 per book)
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**Orders from outside Canada are payable in US dollars.**
MasterCard and VISA accepted. Please make cheques payable to UBC Press. Orders from individuals must be prepaid.
For more information visit the following web site: http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/press/
Symbios Research and Restoration is looking for two field botanists / ecologists to work on vegetation surveys.
Activities will involve transect and plot layout; recording tree, snag and windthrow diameters and height; determining seedling and sapling densities and recent leader growth; vegetation sampling using line intercept method; and lichen and bryophyte surveys on rotting logs, tree bases, and (possibly) in the canopy.
These positions are based in Smithers, B.C. You will be responsible for your own accommodation and meals.
We are particularly looking for individuals with strong LICHEN AND BRYOPHYTE IDENTIFICATION SKILLS. Work will start June 2 and will continue to the end of August, 1997.
If interested in one of these positions, please contact me prior to April 30:
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/