| BEN |
| BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS |
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| ISSN 1188-603X |
| No. 201 September 5, 1998 | aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C. |
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BOTANY BC 1998 was held in Taylor, near Fort St. John, from July 9-11 with a focus on grasslands, riparian communities, and wetlands along and near the Peace River.
Most participants met in Prince George and traveled together to Taylor, with stops at Pine Pass ski area and Bijoux Falls. Although the rare Senecio serra eluded us, Patrick Williston did find a snowboard amongst the subalpine vegetation.
The official program opened with an interesting slide presentation on the plants of the southeastern corner of the Yukon by Bruce Bennett, followed by a well-received introduction to the Peace Hills grasslands by Dr. Joan Snyders and Helene Walsh.
A full day was spent exploring the Peace River by speedboat. Points of interest included a water-sculpted lime tufa formation, wetlands, grassland and shrubland slopes high above the river at Golata Creek, and for some, the Clayhurst Ecological Reserve right at the BC - Alberta border. Botanical highlights on the grassland slopes included Penstemon gracilis, Erigeron caespitosus and Carex xerantica.
Masses of the introduced Impatiens parviflora were found on the lime tufa site. The day ended with a BBQ and frisbee game at Peace Island Provincial Park.
BOTANY BC '98 concluded with an enjoyable morning spent in a very species-rich black spruce - tamarack wetland just south of Taylor.
Many thanks to Craig Delong, Jennifer Lucke and others who organized this year's program and generously helped with transportation. Species lists provided by Hans Roemer, Bruce Bennett and Helene Walsh were also much appreciated.
BOTANY BC 1999 will be held in the Gulf Islands during the flowering season of many of the coastal wildflowers.
Join Trevor Goward for a weekend exploring the lichen genus Peltigera in a setting well known for its lichen richness. This is Part II of a series of lichen workshops investigating the lichen flora of British Columbia. Last March, workshop participants were able to collect and identify 21 of the 28 species of Peltigera known to North America. THE LICHEN WORKSHOP is a great opportunity to improve and refine your identification skills in the company of other lichen enthusiasts from the region.
WHAT: THE LICHEN WORKSHOP: Part II. A weekend exploring the genus Peltigera
WHO: Instructed by Trevor Goward (ably assisted by yours truly, P.W.)
WHEN: 8:00 pm Friday, October 2,- 2:00pm Sunday, October 4, 1998.
WHERE: The Wells Gray Education and Research Centre, Upper Clearwater Valley, British Columbia, Canada. Approximately 525km (6 hour drive) NW of Vancouver, BC, in stunning Wells Gray Provincial Park.
HOW MUCH: Only $50 CDN per person ($37 US ?!)
HOW MANY: Registration is limited to 12 people.
INCLUDES: Instruction, appropriate keys, the use of microscopes, and lab and field identification opportunities
DOES NOT INCLUDE: Transportation, food, and lodgings (though information on possible options will be available)
MORE INFORMATION: For more information contact Patrick Williston at patrickw@unixg.ubc.ca
Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic 11 - 16 January 1999
COURSE CONTENTS: You will acquire substantial knowledge of methods of direct and indirect gradient analysis. You will be able to correctly interpret the ordination diagrams and will have an idea how to choose the correct type of permutation tests when testing multivariate hypotheses with the Canoco for Windows 4.0 program. In addition, introduction to classification and modern regression methods (GLM, GAM, regression trees) will be given.
FOR MORE DETAILS: http://regent.bf.jcu.cz/course.htm
CONTACT INFORMATION: Dr. Petr Smilauer at E-mail address "petrsm@jcu.cz"
APPLY BEFORE: End of November 1998
[Dr. Petr Smilauer is a co-author of CANOCO program, version 4.0 for Windows. - AC]
DT>Order from:
"Increasing awareness of the beneficial role of native plants in promoting healthy ecosystems has generated new interest in propagation techniques. Native plants have been recognized as a crucial component of land management, and are [or should be] widely used in habitat conservation efforts. In addition, native plants are increasingly desirable for landscaping and gardening."
Robin Rose is associate professor and the director of the Nursery Technology Cooperative in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University in Corvallis and the co-authors are both from the same department. The first part of the book gives an overview of general propagation techniques. The main part of the book covers the description, habitat and distribution, and the specific propagation technics for forbs (29 spp.), grasses & sedges (21 spp.), shrubs (38 spp.) and trees (27 spp.). The last part of the book is a short glossary of botanical terms.
The book contains a wealth of information on specific propagation techniques of 115 native plants and is well researched with an extensive bibliography. It is a valuable source of information for all gardeners and nursery professionals interested in propagation and use of native plants. I was annoyed by several misspellings of scientific names, e.g., 'Smilacena','Oplopanex'. They are very few, but they really stand up when they are printed in large, bold type.
This book covers eighty species of Penstemon native to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, southern British Columbia and southern Alberta. For each species the author gives its description, habitat and range and discusses infraspecific taxa (varieties). Author's own colour photographs accompany the description and line drawings by Anne Morley illustrate the habit and the main identification characters (anthers and staminodes for most of the species). Maps indicate the distribution of each species and their varieties. The introduction explains the classification of Penstemon and provides the description of subgenera. Keys to the species and varieties are clear and reliable. Penstemon is quite a difficult genus and this book is a nice contribution to the identification literature in the Pacific Northwest.