Issues#101 to #109 (May to July 1995)

NEW ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEMATICS OF BRYOPHYTES
From: Jan-Peter Frahm <unb11d@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.DE>
       originally posted on bryonet@dbnlist.bitnet

Under  the title "New Aspects of the Systematics of Bryophytes",
M. Bopp and I. Capesius from the university of  Heidelberg  pub-
lished  a  new  cladogram based on 18S rDNA sequences of Junger-
maniidae, Musci and Marchantiidae. Their  cladogram  shows  that
Marchantiidae  (used  were  Riccia, Reboulia,  Marchantia, Cono-
cephalum, Preissia)  have nothing in common with Jungermanniidae
(Scapania, Calypogeia,  Fossombronia).  This  may  suggest  that
Marchantiidae  have  developed  independently from the remaining
liverworts, which makes sense, if one considers that else thalli
should have evolved twice within the hepatics  and  if  the  ad-
vanced structure of the thalli of Marchantiidae are considered.

I  think  this  is  a  remarkable  result, from which systematic
conclusions should be drawn.

Ref.: Naturwissenschaften 82: 193-194 (1995)
(BEN # 101  5-May-1995)

------------------------------------------
MORE ON TRUFFLES [BEN # 98]
From: The European MagAZine, 21-27 April 1995, p. 10.

The southern tip of Australia is an excellent place to grow  the
highly  prized  French black truffle (Tuber melanosporum). There
have been several attempt to grow black truffle  outside  France
using a tree inoculation technology developed in France. In 1991
a  team  based in Oregon produced the first French black truffle
outside France. New Zealand and Israel  has  also  experimented,
but  so far only the Australians plan a strategy of mass produc-
tion to penetrate the French market.

The Perigord Truffles of Tasmania (PTT) are expected to  produce
their  first  batch  of truffles in winter of 1997. Although the
first harvest will be small, the company plans to have a massive
200 hectares under cultivation by the end of  the  decade.  Full
production is forecast for 2010, when the expected yield will be
around 12 tonnes a year.

In  the  northern hemisphere this expensive fungus is normally a
winter delicacy. The Australian imports may cost even more  than
the  local  French truffles, but PTT hopes that truffle devotees
will pay the price  of  having  their  fix  through  the  summer
months.

PTT's  timing  could  not  be better. Since the beginning of the
year the french black truffle has been  under  attack  from  the
Chinese  'counterfeit'  operation [see BEN 98]. Around 20 tonnes
of this hoax delicacy has already shown up in France this  year.
French  legislators are now looking at ways to curb this massive
influx, and a new law is expected to  prevent  Chinese  truffles
being  sold  on  the  open  market.  However, they will still be
available in France by mail order, so the problem is not  likely
to disappear by next season.
(BEN # 101  5-May-1995)

------------------------------------------
MOUNTAIN GOATS IN THE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON STATE

Houston,  D.B.,  E.G.  Schreiner & B.B. Moorhead. 1994. Mountain
goats in Olympic National Park: Biology  and  management  of  an
introduced  species. Scientific Monograph NPS/NROLYM/NRSM-94/25,
US Department of Interior, National Park  Service,  Denver,  CO.
293 p. ISSN 0363-0722 [softcover]
Available  from  the  Publications  Coordinator,  National  Park
Service, Natural Resources Publication  Office,  P.O.Box  25287,
Denver, CO 80225-0287.
(BEN # 101  5-May-1995)

------------------------------------------
PLANTED FORESTS SYMPOSIUM, JUNE 28 - JULY 1, 1995 - CORVALLIS
From: "James R. Boyle" <boylej@ccmail.orst.edu> (abbrev.)

With  the  Pacific  Northwest  region  of the United States as a
backdrop, leaders in  a  number  of  forest-related  areas  will
illustrate  the  variety, nature and significance of planted and
managed forests in our societies. The Planted Forests  Symposium
will discuss attributes and values of these forests in all their
forms  from extensively planted forests in mountainous wildlands
to intensively cultured fiber plantations. Planted  forest  sys-
tems  will  be  emphasized  in  appropriate  context  with other
managed forests and with native forest systems.

For Further Information Contact: Conference  Assistant,  College
of Forestry, Oregon State University, Peavy Hall 202, Corvallis,
OR 97331-5707, Telephone (503) 737-2329, Fax (503) 737-4966,
E-mail: dustmanp@ccmail.orst.ed
(BEN # 101  5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
WWW SITE LISTS FOR BOTANY AND ECOLOGY
From: "Anthony R. Brach" <brach@oeb.harvard.edu>

Here  are  the  locations of the WWW servers with my list of WWW
sites of interest to

botanists:
http://meena.cc.uregina.ca//bio/botany.html
http://biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr/Ecology-WWW.html

ecologists:
http://biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr/Ecology-WWW.html
(BEN # 101  5-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
RECONSTRUCTION  OF PAST SALINITY CHANGES IN MAHONEY AND KILPOOLA
LAKES, SOUTH-CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
From: Heinrichs, *M.L., I.R. Walker, R.W.  Mathewes,  Department
of   Biological  Sciences,  Simon  Fraser  University,  Burnaby,
British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada, and J. P. Smol, Department of
Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada.
E-mail: Mark Lyle Heinrichs <mheinric@sfu.ca>

The following is the abstract of a poster to be presented at the
joint meeting of the Canadian  Quaternary  Association  and  the
Canadian  Geomorphological  Research  Group  in St. John's, New-
foundland, June 5-7, 1995:

Preliminary  results  of  lake  salinity  reconstructions  using
fossil  remains  of  Chironomidae  (Diptera) indicate changes in
lake salinity occurring from early post-glacial periods  through
the mid and late Holocene.

Early  post-glacial sediments of Mahoney Lake show an assemblage
of chironomid head capsules typical of a  freshwater  community,
including   Sergentia,   Heterotrissocladius,   Cladopelma,  and
Dicrotendipes. This period of fresh water persisted  up  to  ap-
proximately  450  cm  (circa 9800 yr B.P.) and was followed by a
major shift in the assemblage occurring at approximately 400  cm
(circa  9000  yr  B.P.).  Chironomids  indicative of more saline
environments,  such  as  Cricotopus/Orthocladius   and   Tanypus
dominated and freshwater chironomids became absent at this time.
The chironomid-inferred salinity values derived from a salinity-
calibration  transfer  function  (Walker,  Wilson and Smol, sub-
mitted) also reflect the shift  from  freshwater  at  0.031  g/l
immediately  after  deglaciation,  to  saline water ranging from
10.0 to 55.2 g/l in subsequent periods. There is  evidence  sug-
gesting  slightly  less  saline  water  at  7.0 g/l in the 25 cm
interval (circa 400 yr B.P.)

Results from  early  post-glacial  sediments  of  Kilpoola  Lake
indicate  a  freshwater  community  which  included  Heterotris-
socladius, Dicrotendipes  and  Sergentia  having  a  chironomid-
inferred  salinity value of 0.035 g/l. Immediately thereafter, a
major fluctuation in the chironomid  assemblage  occurred,  with
inferred  salinity  values  increasing from 1.2 to 2.0 g/l, fol-
lowed by a rapid decrease to 0.037 g/l and  then  rebounding  to
2.0  g/l  at  397 cm. Heterotrissocladius and Dicrotendipes were
absent during the higher salinity periods,  and  the  assemblage
was   characterised   by   an   increase   in   Chironomus   and
Psectrocladius. Following this major fluctuation, the chironomid
assemblages had less variation until 267 cm, when  a  large  in-
crease  in  Cricotopus/Orthocladius  and Tanypus was observed; a
corresponding increase in salinity to  7.7  g/l  also  occurred.
This  higher  salinity  condition  prevailed  for a short period
until 257 cm, where the chironomid assemblage returned to condi-
tions similar to prior to 267 cm, with a corresponding  decrease
in  salinity  values  around 1- 2 g/l. Changes in the chironomid
assemblage occurred at 85 cm, with the  salinity  decreasing  to
0.7  g/l,  suggesting  a brief period of less saline water. Sub-
sequent intervals to present conditions are characterised by  an
assemblage   of   more  saline  tolerant  chironomids  including
Psectrocladius  and   Cricotopus/Orthocladius,   with   inferred
salinity values ranging from 1.4 to 3.5 g/l.

Salinity  change in lakes of semi-arid regions are recognised as
an indicator of climatic change due to high  evaporative  losses
and  low  precipitation (Hammer, 1990). Periods of high salinity
correspond to periods of warm temperatures due to an increase in
evaporation and a decrease  in  precipitation.  Periods  of  low
salinity  correspond to cooler temperatures due to a decrease in
evaporation and an increase in  precipitation.  Salinity  values
provide a valuable line of evidence in paleoclimatic reconstruc-
tion.  The  change  from  fresh  to  saline water in early post-
glacial sediments of both Mahoney and Kilpoola lakes  suggest  a
rapid  period of increasing temperatures. Severe changes follow-
ing the Mt. Mazama volcanic eruption are seen in  Kilpoola  lake
and to a lesser extent in Mahoney lake. High salinity values and
the  domination  of  Cricotopus/Orthocladius suggest that warmer
climate conditions  prevailed  for  some  time  thereafter.  The
decrease  in salinity of Mahoney lake circa 400 yr B.P. and that
around 85 cm in Kilpoola lake may correspond to similar  cooling
periods  seen  in  the  late  Holocene in other locations (King,
1980; Hebda, 1982).

References

Hammer,  U.T.  1990.  The  effects  of  climate  change  on  the
      salinity,  water  levels  and  biota  of  Canadian prairie
      saline lakes. Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol. 24: 321- 326.
Hebda, R.J. 1982. Postglacial history of grasslands of  southern
      British  Columbia  and adjacent regions. Grassland Ecology
      and Classification Symposium.
King, M. 1980 Palynological and  macrofossil  analyses  of  lake
      sediments  from  the  Lillooet area, British Columbia. Un-
      published Msc thesis.
Walker,  I.R.,  Wilson,   S.E.,   and   Smol,   J.P.   submitted
      Chironomidae  (Diptera):  Quantitative  palaeosalinity in-
      dicators for lakes of western Canada. Can. J. Fish  Aquat.
      Sci.

Note:  Copies  of  the conference programme, abstracts and field
guides (the  latter  represents  detailed  background  and  stop
descriptions  for both the Avalon Peninsula and West Coast field
trips - more than 100 pages) are offered for the basement  price
of  CDN$25.00  (which  includes  shipping  and handling) to non-
registrants of the conference. Please send  cheque  (written  on
Canadian  or  US  accounts),  made payable to CANQUA '95, to the
address below. Quantities are limited.
Trevor Bell, Department of  Geography,  Memorial  University  of
Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X9
Tel: (709) 737-2525 Fax: (709) 737-4000
Email: tbell@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
CLEARCUTTING AND EROSION IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
From: Pamela Holly Pack <ppack@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
   in forest@nic.funet.fi

Does anyone have any suggestions on recent information regarding
the  correlation of clearcutting and increased erosion/ sedimen-
tation in SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA? I have a good deal of info.  from
the 1970's, but I am looking for any powerful recent articles or
studies  that may be helpful in determining changes in landscape
patterns as a result of ANCA, ANILCA, as well as TTRA. This is a
rather broad request, but if anyone could point  me  toward  any
especially helpful documents I would appreciate it.

P.S. Sorry about the acronyms !! TTRA--the Tongass Timber Reform
Act  1990,  ANCSA--the  Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and
ANILCA--Alaska National Interest  Lands  Conservation  Act.  All
statutes  that  have  affected  landscape change in Southeastern
Alaska.
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATE FROM THE BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION NEWSLETTER
From: Ellen Farr in CONSLINK@SIVM.SI.EDU

The cumulative Conservation Bibliography  from  this  newsletter
has  been  available  on  the  Smithsonian Institution's Natural
History Gopher Server since the fall of 1993. The list  has  now
grown to over 8000 references.

Gopher Server searches normally return a list of the first lines
of any items that meet the search criteria and each item must be
selected in turn to view the entire citation. We have now imple-
mented  a  new  search  option that will build a single document
from the search results for up to 200 records. This document can
be browsed on the screen, printed, or downloaded as a file.

The address for the Smithsonian's Natural History Gopher  Server
is   nmnhgoph.si.edu   port  70.  Look  under  Botany/Biological
Conservation/Conservation Bibliography. If you have a World Wide
Web Client, you can reach the material on the Gopher Server from
our department's Web Home Page. The URL is
http://nmnhwww.si.edu/departments/botany.html
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
ASSOCIATION OF SYSTEMATICS COLLECTIONS (ASC) ANNUAL MEETING

June 30-July 2. The 1995 Association of Systematics  Collections
(ASC)  annual  meeting  at UC Berkeley will be hosted jointly by
the  University  of  California,  Berkeley  and  the  California
Academy  of  Sciences.  The  meeting  will feature a workshop on
"Natural History Collections on the  Information  Superhighway."
For  registration  and  hotel information, contact ASC, 730 11th
St. NW, Second Floor,  Washington,  DC,  20001-4521;  Tel.:(202)
347-2850; Fax:(202) 347-0072.
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
CONTROL OF SCOTCH BROOM IN GARRY OAK GRASSLAND
From:  Eric Redekop, 2510 Asquith Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada
      V8R 3Y1. Phone: 604-595-7270

Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium: Control of  Scotch
Broom  (Cytisus  scoparius)  and  Other Invasive Exotic Plants -
presented by the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society.

Place: Dunsmuir Lodge, 1515 McTavish Road, P.O.Box 2369, Sidney,
B.C. Canada V8L 3Y3

Time: Saturday, June 10, 1995, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Registration:  Please  register  by  June  6;  registration  fee
CDN$30.00  (includes  printed  materials,  refreshments,  buffet
lunch and field trip material) - make  cheques  payable  to  the
Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society - should be sent to
2510 Asquith Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8R 3Y1.

Presentations:

"Identity  Crisis:  Do  We Know What We Want to Restore" by Hans
      Roemer
"Broom Control in B.C. Parks and Ecological  Reserves"  by  Ross
      Dawson
"Broom Removal from B.C. Highways" by Jean Anne Wightman
"Broom Control Research in Uplands Park" by Joel Ussery
"Biological Control of Noxious Weeds" by Brian Wikeem

Field Trip: Anderson Hill, Mount Tolmie and Christmas Hill.

Please note that SPACE IS LIMITED. If you would like to assure a
place, contact the organizers immediately by telephone:
Eric Redekop - 604-595-7270 or Tom Gilliespie - 604-361-1694
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
SOCIETY FOR RANGE MANAGEMENT SUMMER MEETING
>From : Gail Berg <gberg@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca>

The  pacific  Northwest Section of the Society for Range Manage-
ment will be holding their annual Summer Workshop and Meeting at
Wasa, British Columbia this year. The dates are Thursday June 22
to Saturday June 24. The theme of the workshop will be  "Listen-
ing  Skills  to Foster Understanding of Rangeland Perspectives".
After the workshop, participants will visit  4  different  range
sites  and  various  user  groups will voice their desired range
management strategies  at  these  locations.  User  groups  will
include:  ranchers,  recreationists, forest companies, silvicul-
ture, hunter and guide outfitters, range  managers,  environmen-
talists  and  Fish and Wildlife biologists. For more information
contact    the    following:    Gail     Berg     (registration)
gberg@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca 604-342-2042 Greg Tegart 604-871-7611
Gary Tipper 604-489-8540 Mike Malmberg 604-426- 1535 A number of
post  meeting  tours  are  also  planned.  Registration  cost is
CDN$65.00.
(BEN # 102  29-May-1995)
------------------------------------------
TOKYO CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE - IN IS OUT

The  latest  version  of  the  International  Code  of Botanical
Nomenclature (the so-called Tokyo Code) has brought  in  several
important  changes, most of them too technical to be of interest
to BEN readers. The overall stress is on the stability of names.
The code makes it easier to reject "any name  that  would  cause
disadvantageous  nomenclatural change." Long-forgotten names can
be proposed for rejection  to avoid changes  in well-established
names.

There  is  a small, but significant change in how we should cite
authors of names. In the  citation  of  authors  there  are  two
prepositions that are used to indicate the authorship of a name:
"ex"  and  "in." If Author1 supplied a name and Author2 provided
and published the description, the citation of the authors  will
be  "Author1  ex  Author2,"  or  just "Author2." A very familiar
example of the use of "ex"  is:  Castilleja  miniata  Dougl.  ex
Hook.  [David  Douglas proposed the name, but it was W.J. Hooker
who wrote  the  description  and  published  it  in  his  "Flora
Boreali-Americana"].    Another  way  how  to  cite this name is
Castilleja miniata Hook.

If, on the other hand, Author1 provided both the  name  and  the
DESCRIPTION,  but  published  them in another author's work, the
preposition "in"  would  be  used  to  show  this  ("Author1  in
Author2").  The  Tokyo Code has ruled that in this case the "in"
and "Author2" should be considered a part of  the  bibliographic
citation and "are better omitted unless the place of publication
is  being  cited."  If you check "A synonymized checklist of the
vascular flora of the United States, etc." by Kartesz (1994) you
won't find there any "in Author2" forms any  more.  For  example
Carex  amplifolia  Boott  in Hook. should be cited only as Carex
amplifolia Boott.

One entirely new concept is incorporated in the new  edition  of
the  Code,  that  of  interpretive types to serve when an estab-
lished type cannot be reliably identified  for  the  purpose  of
precise  application  of a name. For this type the Nomenclatural
Committee has adopted the term "epitype", expressing the meaning
"on top of the type." According the Art. 9.7 "An  epitype  is  a
specimen  or illustration selected to serve as an interpretative
type when the holotype, lectotype, [etc.]  is  demonstrably  am-
biguous  and cannot be critically identified for purposes of the
precise application of the name of a taxon."
(BEN # 103  6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
ADOXA MOSCHATELLINA NORTH OF SMITHERS, BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Jim Pojar <jpojar@mfor01.for.gov.bc.ca>

Have you ever seen a lot (very much indeed) of Adoxa  moschatel-
lina? No, neither had I, until May 21, when we went exploring to
Netalzul  Meadow,  70 km N of Smithers. It's an unusual (for our
region) complex of willow shrub-carr and moist meadow, and Adoxa
was rampant in places in the  meadow,  which  later  will  be  a
Heracleum-Urtica-Epilobium-Elymus   glaucus   type.  I  couldn't
detect the musky smell the plant is supposed to have, but  maybe
because  it  was  mid-day. Good thing too, because so many musk-
emitting plants no doubt would have sedated us, like Dorothy  in
the  poppy  field. Upstream lives Viola selkirkii, which I don't
think I've seen before (in. B.C.).  I've  been  to  this  meadow
twice  before and didn't see Adoxa, but the times were in August
when the meadow vegetation is chest-high. This Spring  has  been
unusually  dry  and  warm,  hence the early season botanizing. I
wonder what else I've been missing all these years,  while  gar-
dening over the long Victoria Day weekend?
(BEN # 103  6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
KOELTZ SCIENTIFIC BOOKS USA - NEW WEB PAGE
From: xx143@prairienet.org (Koeltz Scientific Books)

We  now have a commercial web site listing 25000 titles, includ-
ing bibliographic details. It can be found at the following URL:
http://www.shout.net//
(BEN # 103  6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
AAAS SYMPOSIUM IN VANCOUVER, B.C. - JUNE 21, 1995
From: Bob Vance, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary
         <vance@GSC.EMR.CA>

The 76th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the  American
Association  for  the Advancement of Science will be held at the
University of British Columbia,  from  June  18-22.  The  varied
program  includes  a symposium organized by Ian Walker (Okanagan
University College) and myself that has not been  widely  adver-
tised.  As it may be of interest to list members residing in the
Pacific Northwest, or those of you who may be  in  Vancouver  in
the  next  few  weeks,  I thought it worthwhile to circulate the
program.

This symposium, titled "Palaeoecolgy  and  Palaeoclimatology  of
the  Pacific  Northwest"  will take place on Wednesday, June 21.
The session is focused on comparing  climate  model  output  and
proxy  climate  data  in northwestern North America for the 6000
and 18000 yr BP time slices.

8:30-8:40 Opening remarks

8:40-9:00 The role  of  paleoenvironmental  data  in  evaluating
      paleoclimatic  model  simulations of 18K and 6K. Robert S.
      Webb, NOAA Paleoclimatology Program.

9:00-9:20 Principal characteristics of the  present  climate  of
      northwestern  North America. Oswaldo Garcia, San Francisco
      State University.

9:20-9:40 Sensitivity studies of climatic factors for 6,000  and
      18,000 BP. Robert J. Oglesby, Purdue University.

9:40-10:10  High resolution paleoclimate simulations for western
      North America. Steve Hostetler, United  States  Geological
      Survey.

10:30-10:50 The ocean's role in past and future climates. Andrew
      Weaver, University of Victoria.

10:50-11:10  The  northeast  Pacific at 6,000 and 18,000 B.P. as
      seen  by  marine  diatoms.  Constance  Sancetta,  National
      Science Foundation.

11:10-11:30  Late  Quaternary  geochemical  and  stable  isotope
      records from the Gulf of Alaska. D.W.  McDonald  and  T.F.
      Pedersen, University of British Columbia.

1:00-1:20  Paleovegetation  in  the  Yukon/Alaska/East  Beringia
      region at 18ka and 6ka. Ray Spear, State University of New
      York.

1:20-1:40 British  Columbia  vegetation  and  climate  6000  BP.
      Richard Hebda, Royal British Columbia Museum.

1:40-2:00  A comparison of paleobotanical proxy data and climate
      model results in 18 ka in coastal British  Columbia.  Rolf
      W. Mathewes, Simon Fraser University.

2:00-2:20  The  paleoecological record of 6 and 18 ka BP climate
      on the eastern slopes and  plains  of  northwestern  North
      America. Robert E. Vance, Geological Survey of Canada.

2:20-2:40  Glacial  maximum and middle Holocene climate contrast
      between the northern intermountain  and  coastal  west  as
      reflected  in vegetation history. Peter E. Wigand, Quater-
      nary Sciences Center,  University  and  Community  College
      System of Nevada.

3:00-3:20  Diatoms  and  climate change during the Late-Glacial/
      Early Holocene, and the  6000  year  time  slice.  Michael
      Hickman, University of Alberta.

3:20-3:40  Insect  evidence  for  paleoenvironments in Alaska at
      6000 and 18,000 yr  BP.  Scott  A.  Elias,  University  of
      Colorado.

3:40-4:00 Chironomid paleoecology and mid-Holocene paleoclimatic
      inferences  for  British Columbia. Ian R. Walker, Okanagan
      University College.

4:00-4:30 Discussion

Hope to see some of you at UBC!
(BEN # 103  6-June-1995)
------------------------------------------
INTRODUCED BOG PLANTS AROUND VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Frank Lomer, Honourary Research Associate, UBC Herbarium,
         Vancouver, B.C. c/o <ubc@unixg.ubc.ca>

A  large  part of the Fraser delta is peat bog and large part of
this area is used to grow blueberries and cranberries. Both  the
cultivated  blueberry,  Vaccinium  corymbosum  L., and the cran-
berry, Oxycoccus macrocarpus (Ait.) Pers., are native to eastern
North America. They have escaped cultivation and now  grow  wild
in suitable habitats in the Lower Mainland.

A  number  of  other plants native to eastern North America have
also been found  here,  presumably  introduced  with  cultivated
stock in cranberry and blueberry fields.

The  following  list  is  made  from my own observations and UBC
herbarium specimens:

Azolla caroliniana Willd. - Recently found in cranberry  sloughs
      in  Richmond  and  in  an old peat extraction bog in South
      Burnaby [see BEN # 100].
Bidens connata Muhl. ex Willd. - According to Clapham,  Tutin  &
      Moore  (Flora of British Isles), this species is native to
      eastern North America while the similar Bidens  tripartita
      L.  is  a  Eurasian species. The achenes of B. connata are
      strongly 4-angled and have upward directed  bristles,  and
      the  leaves are generally simple. I collected a plant in a
      cranberry bog in Richmond that fit this description.  (UBC
      #  207761: South of River Rd., Richmond; about 2.5 km west
      of New Westminster border, just west  of  railroad  bridge
      across  Fraser  River..)  Bidens  tripartita  is a locally
      common weed of ditches and wet disturbed ground around the
      Vancouver area. Bidens connata is  doubtfully  a  distinct
      species, according to some.
Cyperus  erythrorhizos  Muhl.  - Found October 1993, at Richland
      Farms blueberry field,  Richmond.  (UBC  #207777:  19  611
      Westminster  Highway,  Richmond.)  This  species is a rare
      native around Osoyoos Lake, but here it was  abundant  and
      weedy  and  clearly  introduced.  The  area  was  recently
      cleared for cranberries and the species seems to be extir-
      pated.
Cyperus esculentus L. - Collected in a raspberry filed  in  1957
      in  Hatzic, Fraser Valley. (UBC # 58016: "Hatzic Region.")
      No other collections at UBC.
Eriophorum virginicum L. - I collected this species along a fuel
      track in a peat bog, South Richmond. Rather numerous,  but
      in  a limited area. Since collected by Terry Taylor around
      a peat extraction area in Burns Bog, Delta [see BEN # 82].
Glyceria canadensis (Michx.) Trin. - Not strictly a  bog  plant,
      this  grass is now quite widespread around the Lower Main-
      land. First collected in Haney in 1959. (UBC # 79529)
Hypericum boreale (Britton) Bickn. - Widespread. It can be found
      in a variety of habitats as well as cranberry fields. (UBC
      # 200282: Latimer Lake, 192 St. + 28 Ave,  South  Surrey.)
      First collected in 1961.
Juncus  canadensis  J.  Gray  - I found this species in November
      1993 in an abandoned peat extraction bog in South  Burnaby
      where  it  forms  dense  patches in standing water. (UBC #
      207980: South of Marine Way, east of Byrne Rd.,  Burnaby.)
      Collected  again  November  19,  1993  by a pond in an old
      gravel pit 1 km away (northwest of Stride Ave.,  Burnaby).
      April  7,  1995  under hydro lines, Mundy Park, Coquitlam.
      Looks like native Juncus acuminatus Michx. but  the  seeds
      have long appendages.
Juncus pelocarpus Meyer - Sparsely scattered in an old cranberry
      bog  South Burnaby, collected in 1993; found again in 1994
      around a pond 1 km north. (UBC # 207982: cf. J. canadensis
      for  Burnaby  locations.)  Distinctive  because   of   the
      bulblets produced in the inflorescence.
Lysimachia  terrestris (L.) B.S.P. - Widespread, but not common,
      and not restricted to cranberry  fields:  Coquitlam,  Lulu
      Island, and Annacis Island.
Rhexia  virginica  L. (Melastomaceae) - Collected in August 1937
      from Johnson's Blueberry Farm in Richmond by J.W. Eastham,
      not known since. (UBC # 4389)
Triadenum fraseri (Spach) Gleason (syn.: Hypericum virginicum L.
      var. fraseri [Spach] Fern.) - Found in three locations: in
      a cleared cranberry big in Richmond, the edge of an  aban-
      doned  cranberry  field  in Burnaby, and in an undisturbed
      peat marsh on Douglas Island in the Fraser River south  of
      Port   Coquitlam.   (UBC  #  200283:  cf.  Bidens  connata
      locality.)
Viola lanceolata L. - Collected in Richmond blueberry fields  in
      1939,  1942, and 1967. (UBC # 11787a: "Blundell Rd." etc.)
      I have not seen it myself.
(BEN # 104  2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
STANDARDS FOR TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM MAPPING IN BRITISH  COLUMBIA
>From : Ted Lea <TLEA@FWHDEPT.env.gov.bc.ca>

The review draft of the provincial Resources Inventory Committee
(RIC)  standards  for  terrestrial  ecosystem mapping in British
Columbia was produced by the Ecosystems Working Group  (EWG)  of
RIC,  and  is a combination of methods developed by the Ministry
of Forests and BC Environment. Authors include Allen Banner  and
Del  Meidinger  of the Ministry of Forests, and Barb von Sacken,
Bob Maxwell and Ted Lea of BC Environment.

This report provides provincial standards for ecosystem  mapping
at  scales  of 1:5,000 to 1:100,000 to be used in British Colum-
bia. This report has been developed by the  Resources  Inventory
Committee (RIC), a provincial committee responsible for develop-
ing inventory standards for the province.

These  mapping  standards  utilize  a three-level classification
hierarchy  of  ecological  units,  including  ecoregion   units,
biogeoclimatic  units  and  ecosystem  units.  Ecoregion  Class-
ification includes five levels of generalization, the ecodomain,
ecodivision,    ecoprovince,    ecoregion,    and    ecosection.
Biogeoclimatic  units  include  four levels including zone, sub-
zone, variant, and phase. Ecoregion and biogeoclimatic units are
broad-level delineations which  describe  large  landscape  unit
polygons,  derived  from  provincial  maps. The levels typically
used in this methodology are ecosection, biogeoclimatic  subzone
and  variant.  Within  these  broader units, site level polygons
describe  ecosystem  units  composed  of   site   series,   site
modifiers, structural stages, and sometimes, seral associations.

Ecosystem  units  are  mapped  on  air  photographs  following a
bioterrain approach  whereby  polygons  are  developed  from  an
initial  stratification  based  on  permanent terrain (surficial
geology) features. Terrain units are  then  further  refined  by
recognizing  the biologically significant attributes within them
that control or reflect ecosystem development.

This report provides information about  classification,  symbol-
ogy,  sampling,  mapping  procedures, and legends. Core data at-
tributes to be collected for all ecosystem mapping  projects  in
British  Columbia are described, in addition to other attributes
that are recommended in order  to  support  interpretations  for
various  land  management  activities. A list of map symbols for
all site series presently described in the province is provided.

Features of importance in this document include:
 1. A hierarchy of Ecoregion Units,  Biogeoclimatic  Units,  and
    Ecosystem Units are utilized for all mapping projects.
 2. A  bioterrain  mapping  approach  is  required for ecosystem
    mapping, following  standards  from  Terrain  Classification
    System for British Columbia (Howes and Kenk, 1988).
 3. Ecosystem Units are composed of site series, site modifiers,
    structural stages and seral associations.
 4. Typical site conditions (e.g., parent material, soil texture
    and aspect) have been described for each Site Series. When a
    particular  site  series  occurs  on  atypical  sites,  site
    modifiers must be used to indicate this.
 5. Standard two letter codes for Site Series are  provided,  to
    be  used  for  mapping.  Codes  and  typical site conditions
    available to date are included. The final report  will  have
    codes  and typical situations for all recognized Site Series
    in the province.
 6. Standard symbols are provided for site modifiers and  struc-
    tural stages.
 7. The   standards   require  coordination  with  MoF  regional
    ecologists for any biogeoclimatic  boundary  changes  (e.g.,
    subzones  or variants) and requires approval by the regional
    ecologist for any new  site  series  or  seral  associations
    developed in mapping projects.

If  you  have  any comments or questions on this methodology, or
wish to get a copy of this review draft  or  the  final  report,
please   contact   me   at   (604)   387-9781   or   e-mail   at
tlea@fwhdept.env.gov.bc.ca

Ref.:  Howes, D.E. & E. Kenk [eds.] 1988. Terrain Classification
      System for British Columbia. Revised Edition. Ministry  of
      Environment, Victoria, B.C.

Ted Lea, Chair, Ecosystems Working  Group,  Resources  Inventory
Committee
(BEN # 104  2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
PLANT PRESS STRAPS
From: ubc herbarium <ubc@unixg.ubc.ca>

This  spring I made some easy to use and very sturdy Plant Press
Straps for the UBC Herbarium. These are not the same as the ones
in the Herbarium Supply Company's  Catalogue.  Our  people  that
have  used  them  are  really pleased with them. I thought other
botanists in B.C. may want to have this kind of  straps  but  do
not  have  access  to the supply stores as we do in Vancouver or
the machines to assemble them. If enough people are  interested,
I will make another batch of Plant Press Straps.

The  straps  are 2" x 6'; made of heavy black nylon webbing with
sturdy three-prong  Clip-on  plastic  buckles.  The  straps  are
constructed  with  heavy  duty  nylon  thread  and the ends fire
cinched and the thread ends are sealed to prevent fraying. There
is a light colour tag near the buckle for people to write  their
names  on.  The  price is $25.00/pair (material and labour) plus
$2.14 postage within Canada.

Anyone interested please contact:

   Olivia Lee, UBC Herbarium
   Phone: 604-822-3344
   E-mail: olivia@unixg.ubc.ca or ubc@unixg.ubc.ca

[Plant press straps "OLIVIA" are really revolutionary.  For  the
Internet  purists,  this  is not an advertisement, but BEN's en-
dorsement of the product.  Congratulations,  Olivia!  Have  your
design patented. Good bye the old crocodile clamps! - AC]
(BEN # 104  2-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
IDENTITY CRISIS: DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO REHABILITATE?
From: Dr. Hans Roemer <hroemer@galaxy.gov.bc.ca>

This article is based on  an illustrated presentation  given  at 
the Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium, June 10, 1995.

When we speak about rehabilitating Garry oak grassland  most  of
us  will automatically equate this with restoring this ecosystem
to its original, natural state. The assumption is made  that  we
know  with  some  accuracy  what this original state was. Unfor-
tunately this is not  the  case  for  much  of  this  ecosystem.
Another assumption is, as the word "restore" implies, that it is
possible  to return to this original state. Indications are that
this, too, is unrealistic.

A more appropriate title for this contribution  would  therefore
be  "Where  are we coming from and where are we going?", both in
terms of species combination for the Garry oak grasslands.

Garry oak communities may be grouped into two  broad  complexes,
one associated with the dry core area, and another with the less
dry  periphery  of  their occurrence (compare p. 21/22, Proceed-
ings,  Garry  Oak  Meadow  Colloquium,  1993).  While  we   know
reasonably  well  what  the  original species combination of the
peripheral complex was, the same cannot be said about  the  core
area complex. The latter communities coincide with the urbanized
area  of  southern Vancouver Island and their present herb/grass
layers are now occupied by so many alien species that  we  don't
know  of which species the matrix was composed from which taller
plants such as camas emerged.  There  are  now  no  mass-forming
native  grasses  and herbs in the meadow component of these com-
munities, especially among the smaller, annual species.  A  pos-
sible exception is Festuca megalura (Vulpia myurus ssp. hirsuta)
which,  however,  is  not  a  constant  component. James Douglas
reported in 1842 that "several varieties of red clover  grow  in
the rich, moist bottoms...". If we ignore the "moist bottoms" of
this  quote,  these  could  be interpreted to be the native Tri-
folium tridentatum, T. oliganthum and T. variegatum, all annuals
which may well have formed continuous stands, although they  are
now  absent  or  only  scattered in communities of the Garry oak
core area.

Another open question with significance for both  the  past  and
the  future composition of Garry oak communities pertains to the
presence or absence of shrub layers. It is quite  possible  that
high  ungulate  populations  and the native peoples' practice of
setting  grass  fires  combined  to  gradually  eliminate  shrub
layers.  Will  these  shrub layers, presumably dominated by Sym-
phoricarpos albus, gradually re-invade  the  grassy  areas,  now
that both fires and ungulate browsing have ceased?

Table  1  addresses  the  problem  of  non-native species in the
herb/grass layers. It is arranged to show native species  above,
and  non-  native  species  below  the horizontal dividing line.
Higher constancies of both native  and  non-native  species  are
shown  closer to the line than lower constancies. The herb/grass
layers of eighteen plots from Roemer (1972) are  shown  averaged
in  the  first  column  (bold).  The other columns represent in-
dividual releves, recorded in May,  1995.  Locations  for  these
releves  were  chosen subjectively to represent the highest den-
sities of camas. All plots are representative of the  core  area
which  is  increasingly  influenced  by the urban environment of
greater Victoria. One great camas (Camassia leichtlinii)  meadow
and one common camas (Camassia quamash) meadow is described by a
releve in each of three localities.

While  the  average  number  of native species in the 1972 plots
still exceeded the number  of  non-natives  (13:11),  the  total
number of native species in the entire table is now smaller than
that  of  the  non-native  species  (30:35).  Table 2 summarizes
native/non-native counts for table 1. The proportion  of  native
species  ranges from a disconcerting low of 24% to a high of 60%
(for the only sample outside of the urbanized area). When  cover
values are used for the calculation, the proportion of native to
non-native  species  is even lower. Taking into account that the
18 samples of 1972 already represented the most "urbanized" part
of that data set, it is of even more concern that  the  percent-
ages  in comparable 1995 samples (#3 t o #8) are still lower. In
addition, the sampled stands are likely  among  the  least  dis-
turbed of the remaining communities as they were selected on the
basis  of  showing  optimal Camassia displays. With other words,
most parts of these remaining Garry  oak  communities  may  have
considerably fewer native plants.

There appear to be no significant differences in the native/non-
native proportions between common camas and great camas meadows,
although  more  extensive sampling would be desirable to confirm
this. However, there are different kinds of  grasses  and  herbs
that  tend  to  invade  the  two  types of meadows. The shallow,
exposed soils of common camas  meadows  are  more  conducive  to
annuals,  while  the deeper, often sheltered and shaded sites of
great camas meadows are increasingly occupied by  perennial  and
taller European meadow species.

Some  non-native  grasses,  notably the small annuals, are rela-
tively benign and allow most  native  plants  to  co-exist  with
them. Others, such as orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata), are in
the  long  run  capable  of smothering much of the native flora,
including camas and white fawn lily (Erythronium).

Concluding, it may be said that -

--- Introduced species are now dominating the  herb/grass  layer
    of  the  Garry  oak  ecosystem in its dry and urbanized core
    area. The proportion of non-native species appears  to  have
    increased  over  the  last  two  decades  and  appears to be
    highest in the most fragmented and "urbanized"  remnants  of
    the ecosystem.

--- There  is  considerable uncertainty which species formed the
    bulk of the herb/grass layer in the Garry oak communities of
    what is now the urban and suburban area of Victoria.

--- The status of shrub layers,  principally  of  snowberry,  is
    equally  uncertain and it appears possible in the absence of
    fire and grazing that shrubs may gradually invade the meadow
    component of Garry oak communities.

--- Scotch broom invasions are not our only alien-plant problem,
    though it is one of the  worst.  By  introducing  additional
    nitrogen,  Scotch  broom  may  allow  secondary  invasion of
    nitrophilous species such as orchard grass.

--- A return to  the  original  species  combination  is  highly
    unlikely.  We  must  therefore  be  prepared  to accept com-
    promises  and  manage  for  near-natural  and/or  attractive
    combinations such as oak-camas or oak-fawnlily-shootingstar,
    combined  with  the  non-native  element.  Examples  of such
    combinations maintained over long periods are  available  in
    the region.

--- Experimentation  with  different  management and restoration
    methods including reintroductions must be encouraged.

--- We must strive to maintain Garry oak reserves  as  large  as
    possible and as distant as possible from the urbanized areas
    which are the ultimate sources of disturbance and non-native
    species.

--- Systematic monitoring of further shifts in native/non-native
    species combinations should be established.

References:

Douglas,  J. 1842. Report to McLaughlin, July 12, 1842. Cited in
      Founding of Victoria, The Beaver, Outfit 273. March  1943,
      p.4-9.
Hebda,  R.J.  and  Fran  Aitkens  (eds.)  1993. Garry Oak Meadow
      Colloquium, Victoria, 1993.
Roemer, H.L. 1972. Forest Vegetation  and  Environments  on  the
      Saanich  Peninsula,Vancouver  Island. Unpublished PhD dis-
      sertation, University of Victoria.


Table 1.
SPECIES COMBINATION OF CAMAS MEADOWS IN THE VICTORIA AREA

                         1970-sample (18 plots)
                         :  Woodsend
                         :  :  Knockan Hill -great
                         :  :  :  Christmas Hill -common
                         :  :  :  :  Christmas Hill -great
                         :  :  :  :  :  Beacon Hill -great
                         :  :  :  :  :  :  Knockan Hill
                         :  :  :  :  :  :  :    -common
                         :  :  :  :  :  :  :  Beacon Hill
                         :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :    -common
                         v  v  v  v  v  v  v  v
                         1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Orthocarpus pusillus        1
Vicia americana                         1
Orobanche uniflora                         r
Cerastium arvense        +
Delphinium menziesii     +
Lotus micranthus            1
Triteleia hyacinthina    +
Perideridia gairdneri                   r
Collinsia parviflora     +
Poa canbyi                        +
Fritillaria lanceolata   +
Lomatium nudicaule                      r
Nemophila parviflora     +
Erythronium oregonum        +
Lupinus bicolor             2
Luzula campestris           +
Sisyrichium douglasii             r
Trifolium oliganthum        +
Agrostis exarata                              3
Brodiaea coronaria                +        +
Montia perfoliata        1           r
Dodecatheon henders.        1                 r
Achillea millefolium     +                 +
Elymus glaucus           1  r        1
Lomatium utriculatum        2  1           2  +
Ranunculus occidentalis  +     1        +  +
Bromus carinatus         1     +     2  2
Sanicula crassicaulis    +  +  1     2  r
Camassia leichtlinii     3  +  3     3  5
Camassia quamash            4  1  3     +  4  4
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Festuca bromoides        1  4     5  1  3  1  5
Vicia sativa             +  3  3     2  +  1  1
Bromus hordeaceus        +  2  1  2     4  4  2
Bromus sterilis          3  2  5     4     1
Geranium molle           1  1  1     2     +
Galium aparine           2     1     3     +
Vicia hirsuta            +  +  +     2
Bromus rigidus           2  1              +  2
Anthoxanthum odoratum          2        3  3  3
Hypochaeris radicata              2     1  1  2
Cytisus scoparius                 3  1     3  +
Poa pratensis            2           3  3
Stellaria media          +     +     2
Rumex acetosella                  3        1  +
Veronica arvensis           r              1
Dactylis glomerata                   2  4
Cynosurus echinatus      +                 +
Holcus lanatus                       +  +
Lolium perenne                          2     2
Medicago lupulina                       3     1
Plantago lanceolata                     2     1
Poa bulbosa                             1     2
Festuca megalura                           2  2
Cynosurus cristatus                     3
Bromus tectorum                               3
Teesdalia nudicaulis        2
Agropyron repens                        3
Aira praecox                      2
Aira caryophyllea                             2
Moenchia erecta                         +
Bellis perennis                         +
Agrostis gigantea                       1
Trifolium pratense                      1
Lathyrus latifolius                     r
Daucus carota                              +


Table 2.
REMAINING NATIVE SPECIES IN CAMAS MEADOWS OF THE VICTORIA AREA

Meadow samples             total       no. of  % no.   % cover
                           no. of      native  native  native
                           species     species species species
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1970 sample (18 plots)/1      24 (avg.)   13      54%    36%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Woodsend Drive                20          12      60%    41%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Knockan Hill - great c.       14           6      43%    25%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christmas Hill - common c.     9           4      44%    18%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beacon Hill - great c.        21           8      38%    27%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christmas Hill - great c.     16           5      31%    31%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Knockan Hill - common c.      20           6      30%    30%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beacon Hill - common c.       17           4      24%    27%
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

/1 averages representing releve set #1 in  Roemer,  H.L.  (1972)
      Forest  Vegetation  of  the  Saanich Peninsula; tree cover
      omitted.
(BEN # 105  7-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
SCOTCH BROOM (CYTISUS SCOPARIUS) REMOVAL TRIALS
From: Joel Ussery <jussery@wpo.crd.gov.bc.ca>

This  report is based on an illustrated presentation made to the
Garry Oak Grassland Rehabilitation Symposium on June 10, 1995.

As part of my master's  thesis  in  Resource  and  Environmental
Management  at  Simon  Fraser  University,  I  conducted a pilot
'adaptive management' experiment to examine the effects  of  two
different techniques and seasons for removing the invasive shrub
Scotch  broom  (Cytisus  scoparius) from Garry oak (Quercus gar-
ryana) grassland or 'meadow' sites. My objective was to  develop
an approach and methodology that would minimize site disturbance
and  subsequent broom regeneration in areas of high conservation
value. Funding for this  pilot  research  was  provided  by  the
Canadian Wildlife Service.

Scotch  broom  is  an invasive exotic leguminous shrub which has
become naturalized over large areas of  the  Pacific  Northwest,
Australia  and New Zealand (Hoshovsky 1991, Zielke et al. 1994).
Broom typically forms dense stands which: 1) are associated with
declines in native forb and grass species diversity and  popula-
tions;  2) produce high numbers of durable seeds which are known
to remain viable in the soil for decades and are  stimulated  to
germinate  by  soil  disturbance and fire; and 3) may facilitate
secondary invasions of nitrophilous exotic grass  species  which
are  also  associated  with  the degradation and displacement of
native herbaceous communities.

Many land management agencies  have  responded  aggressively  to
Scotch  broom  invasions.  Various  methods  and combinations of
manual, mechanized, thermal  (fire),  chemical,  and  biological
control  have  been  tested.  Most  efforts often result in con-
siderable site disturbance and vigorous Scotch  broom  regenera-
tion  from  seed  and  stem  resprouting. Biological control has
proven ineffective in controlling broom in all published reports
to date.

Manual control of Scotch broom in  areas  of  high  conservation
value  appears  to  have focussed on uprooting all broom plants,
despite a well known association between  soil  disturbance  and
Scotch  broom  regeneration  from seed. Presumably uprooting has
been chosen to overcome the ability of Scotch broom to  resprout
from  cut  stems.  However, Bossard (1991) has demonstrated that
the resprouting of Scotch broom at two sites in  California  was
greatly reduced after the plants were subject to the stresses of
flower and seed production and summer drought. The lowest levels
of  resprouting  at  her  sites  was  recorded in November. Thus
cutting and removing Scotch broom in the appropriate season  may
minimize site disturbance, seed germination, and the resprouting
of cut stems.

In  my  study,  Scotch  broom  was removed from areas of remnant
semi-natural Garry oak 'meadow' in Uplands Park (Victoria -  Oak
Bay)  on  the southeast tip of Vancouver Island. This vegetation
community type is characterized by large well-spaced  oaks  with
an  herbaceous understory on level sites with deep soils (Roemer
1972). In the first year of the study I examined  the  level  of
site   disturbance   from   two   different   removal   methods:
1) uprooting all Scotch broom plants, or 2) clipping  the  above
ground portion of plants over 0.5 cm in diameter and pulling the
rest.  Scotch  broom  at  each  of the four sites was removed by
volunteers the third week of May (1993), after the this  species
had  flowered,  and  in  mid-July  (1993)  before the plants had
dispersed seed. No trials were conducted in November due  to  my
course  work  requirements.  Site disturbance in study plots was
measured by: 1) area of bare soil exposure, 2) soil disturbance,
and 3) area trampled.

The study plots cleared of broom in 1993 were revisited  in  the
summer of 1994 to assess the amount of Scotch broom regeneration
from  seed  and  stem resprouting. I counted the number of newly
germinated Scotch broom seedlings in each plot and measured  the
diameter  and  height of all relocated cut broom stems in 'clip'
plots, recording any evidence of resprouting.

The herbaceous component of the study  plots  was  dominated  by
varying  combinations  of  the introduced grass species Agrostis
capillaris, Dactylis glomerata, and  Poa  pratensis.  All  plots
contained  at  least  some remnant native forb species. Camassia
quamash, Ranunculus occidentalis, and Lomatium nudicale were the
most constant native species present.

Predictably, soil disturbance was  greatest  from  uprooting  in
both  May  and  July. Likely because of the thick cover of turf-
forming grasses on most plots, the  actual  percentage  of  soil
disturbance was quite small when compared to the overall area of
the  study  plot. The herbaceous vegetation in all removal sites
was heavily trampled. Trampling in May  occurred  before  native
forb and grass species had set and dispersed seed.

The number of Scotch broom seedlings at all sites was highest in
plots where all broom plants were uprooted. However, there was a
large  variation  in  Scotch  broom  seedling numbers (1-330/m2)
between, and within, the four study sites. The highest number of
seedlings occurred in plots with relatively low cover values  of
introduced  grasses.  The  lowest number of broom seedlings, and
native species, occurred in plots  with  high  cover  values  of
Dactylis glomerata.

Less than 1.5% of all clipped Scotch broom stems above 0.5 cm in
diameter  exhibited resprouting in 1994. Resprouting occurred in
broom plants clipped in both May and July 1993 and  was  limited
to  a  subset of the broom plants with small diameter (< 1.0 cm)
stems cut higher than 10 cm above ground level.

The results of this pilot study  suggest  that  clipping  Scotch
broom  plants  low  to  the ground after flowering in May and in
July  will  minimize  soil  disturbance  and  subsequent   broom
regeneration  from  seed  and  resprouting in Garry oak meadows.
However, Scotch broom removal should only  be  undertaken  after
most  native  forb  and  grass  species have set and distributed
seed. Removing Scotch broom before it  sets  seed  should  be  a
priority  when  broom  is  present  in  low densities or is just
beginning to reproduce and the broom  seed  bank  is  relatively
small.

High cover values of exotic turf-forming grasses may inhibit the
establishment  of  Scotch broom but these grass species are also
associated with the decline and displacement of  populations  of
native herbaceous species.

I  believe the findings of this limited pilot project underscore
the importance of making every effort to prevent further  estab-
lishment and spread of exotic species in areas of high conserva-
tion value.

References Cited

Bossard,   C.C.  1990.  Secrets  of  an  ecological  interloper:
      ecological studies on Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom)  in
      California. PhD Thesis. University of California, Davis.
Hoshovsky,  M.  1991. Elemental stewardship abstract for Cytisus
      scoparius. The Nature Conservancy. Arlington, Virginia.
Roemer, H.L. 1972. Forest vegetation  and  environments  of  the
      Saanich  Peninsula,  Vancouver  Island.  Unpublished Ph.D.
      Dissertation. University of Victoria. Victoria, B.C.
Zielke, K., J.O. Boateng, N. Caldicott, and H.  Williams.  1992.
      Broom  and  gorse in British Columbia: a forestry perspec-
      tive problem analysis. Silviculture  Branch,  Ministry  of
      Forests. Victoria, B.C.
(BEN # 106  13-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
SCOTCH BROOM (CYTISUS SCOPARIUS) REMOVAL STRATEGY
From: Joel Ussery <jussery@wpo.crd.gov.bc.ca>

This  strategy  is  based on the results of my literature review
and field research on Scotch broom removal and the points raised
in the Garry Oak  Meadow  Preservation  Society  June  10,  1995
symposium on the Rehabilitation of Garry Oak Grasslands.

 1. Plan  Scotch  broom  removal  carefully. Human and financial
    resources for removing invasive plants such as Scotch  broom
    are quite limited and must be used strategically.

    Start removing Scotch broom from the areas with the greatest
    concentration  of  native wildflowers and grasses and lowest
    broom concentrations. If possible, eliminate small satellite
    populations of Scotch broom from priority areas  before  the
    broom becomes well established. This will prevent a build up
    of broom seeds in the 'seed bank'.

    Establish  a core area of Scotch broom removal which is able
    to maintained by available labour. Taking on too  much  area
    can  lead to rapid re-establishment of broom as regeneration
    exceeds the ability of available labour to remove seedlings.

    Recognize that  follow-up  removal  of  broom  seedlings  is
    required for years after the initial removal effort.

 2. Clip  all  Scotch  broom  plants  in  flower as close to the
    ground as possible after most native  wildflower  and  grass
    species have set and distributed seed.

    Clipping  Scotch  broom  will  minimize soil disturbance and
    regeneration of broom from seed. This is  especially  impor-
    tant  in  rocky  areas  where soils are shallow and broom is
    difficult to uproot.

    Waiting until native plants species have seeded  will  mini-
    mize the negative effects of the trampling of the herbaceous
    vegetation that accompanies broom removal.

    Clipping  broom during the summer and autumn should minimize
    resprouting from the cut stems. During  this  period,  after
    flower  and  seed  production and summer drought, the energy
    reserves of Scotch broom are at the lowest point.

    If Scotch broom is just becoming established in an area,  it
    is  important  to clip the flowering broom plants before the
    pods are ripe and the seeds are distributed.

    Smaller plants (stems < 1.0 cm  in  diameter  at  the  base)
    which  have flowered should be clipped midway up the stem so
    the plant can be uprooted in the winter when soils are moist
    and soil  disturbance  can  be  minimized.  Plants  of  this
    diameter  range  are  most  likely  to resprout from the cut
    stem. The smaller non-flowering Scotch broom plants  can  be
    bypassed in this first removal effort.

    Ideally,  all  clipped Scotch broom plants should be removed
    from the site. Whether piled or spread on the  ground,  dead
    broom  plants  are  a fire hazard and may give off chemicals
    that negatively affect the growth of native plants.

 3. Return to the site during the late fall or winter when soils
    are saturated and uproot remaining Scotch broom  plants  and
    high-cut stems.

    If  there  are  too  many  non-flowering plants to pull with
    available labour, the smaller seedlings can  be  left  until
    the  following  winter. Some of these seedlings may not sur-
    vive the next summer drought.

 4. Revisit the site the following winter to check Scotch  broom
    regeneration from seed and recut any resprouting stems.

    If  there  are  too  many  seedlings  to pull with available
    labour, the smallest seedlings can be left until the follow-
    ing winter. Some of these seedlings may not survive the next
    summer drought.

 5. Continue to revisit the site  each  winter  to  pull  Scotch
    broom  seedlings  until  either  you or the seed bank is ex-
    hausted.

POST SCRIPT - USE OF FIRE

Immediate fire suppression is a general  policy  on  public  and
private  land  in  British  Columbia.  However, selective use of
regular low-intensity prescribed fires after the initial removal
of standing Scotch broom and other major fuel sources  may  'ex-
haust'  the  seed bank by stimulating broom seed germination and
killing young seedlings (MacGillivray, personal  communication).
Native  wildflowers  and  grasses  are well adapted to surviving
such low-intensity fires. Ideally, fires to  kill  Scotch  broom
seedlings  should  be  set during the autumn and early winter to
keep burn temperatures low and minimize  interference  with  the
growth and reproduction of native wildflowers and grasses.
(BEN # 106  13-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
BIODIVERSITY ICEBERGS - INVISIBLE MICRODIVERSITY MATTERS MOST
From: Dr. Alan Austin, Biology Department, 
      University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada

Despite Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the electron microscope,  flesh-
eating  bacteria  and  the  AIDS virus our particular species is
still preoccupied by things large,  visible,  warm  blooded  and
furry  and with which we seem to be, at least somewhat, emotion-
ally involved. We thus spend a good deal of our resources worry-
ing, rightly so, about seals,  cariboo,  deer,  whales,  spotted
owls,  the spectacular forest giants and associated elegant wild
flowers. Much of our concerns about  biodiversity  are  centered
upon  these  larger creatures, for they are large, visible, more
easily inventoried and losses recognised.

However, there exists another level of  threat  to  biodiversity
and  we  might need to ponder upon losses at not just of species
but at order, family, class and even phylum  (division)  levels.
Such  losses  are  strongly  suggested  by  the fact that higher
taxonomical categories are still being discovered in some groups
of organisms! The 1994 AAAS Systematics  Agenda  2000,  Charting
The Biosphere [see BEN # 71] printed a most revealing chart that
showed  us  the  relationship  between  the estimated numbers of
species to be discovered as a factor of those already described.
Most of the organisms we can see, and rather easily count,  have
a  very  small factors. The usually attractive large mammals, in
fact all vertebrates, are only  about  x 0.1  of  those  already
known,  for  plants it is just x 2, for Crustaceans times 4, but
undescribed bacteria are between  10  and  750 (!)  times  those
known and for algae between 5 and 250 times those already known!

This  may  not  be  surprising  to a phycologist who like myself
through a  lifetime  of  teaching  from  fresh  field-collected,
living  materials  can be regularly mystified by seeing unknowns
at almost every laboratory session, despite experience in  macro
marine algae from several bioregions as well as micro marine and
freshwater  forms. Non phycologists may be unaware that not only
new species, genera families and orders, but higher taxon levels
keep appearing. A new class, the  Pelagophyceae  (uniflagellate,
golden-brown, ultraplanctonic organisms) was described two years
ago  and a new division (phylum) the Chloroarachiophyceae (green
web-like colonies) a few years previously. Most sensational  was
the  discovery by Lewin, twenty years ago, of Prochloron, one of
the critical missing links between superkingdoms Prokaryota  and
Eukaryota.

Now  in  view of the fact that the next major limiting factor in
the course of human population development, at about 2020,  will
be the diminished freshwater resources, we may wish to encourage
our students to splash around in the various water bodies as the
lake  litorals,  ponds,  pools and streams which teem with these
vitally important little coloured plants  that  continue  to  be
seriously neglected. We have just 20 years to get them found and
named,  let  alone  inventoried, before the pressures upon water
supplies may massively alter their continued presence.

Biodiversity is not a entirely modern phenomenon - and it is  an
alga,  Grypanis spiralis, just recently described from old rock,
that has pushed back, some 300 million years,  the  evolutionary
date for the, rather critical, arrival of oxygen on our planet.

Finally  when  considering  an  ancient  assemblage such as "the
algae" we may be looking at a swarm of "experimental  organisms"
that fall together in natural phylogenetic division but may have
very few representatives living today in our much threatened and
exploited  terrestrial  and  marine  waters.  The destruction of
these habitats may result  not  just  in  the  extinction  of  a
species  level  taxon,  which  may  be  filled  by another quite
similar form but the loss of  totally  unique  and  unrepeatable
biological  entities  at  the  division level. How much would we
have lost, and not learned, if the habitats  of  say  Prochloron
had  vanished  before Ralph Lewin found it and recognised it for
what it was?

We need to develop, particularly in the very young,  a  form  of
emotional  attraction for identification with the very small and
seemingly insignificant, for these forms actually  maintain  the
functional  integrity  of  all  aquatic  systems.  They are also
exquisitely beautiful and exhibit adaptive design to gladden the
heart even of the most modest members of the stumbling, blunder-
ing, misguided, and misguiding species of which it is so easy to
say as did Grouch Marx, "I wouldn't join a  club  which  had  me
(Homo sapiens) as a member!?"
(BEN # 107  22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
BRITISH COLUMBIA SIX THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE PRESENT

Hebda, R.J. 1995. British Columbia vegetation and climate 
      history with focus on 6 KA BP.
      Geographie physique et Quaternaire, 49: 55-79.

ABSTRACT: British Columbia Holocene vegetation  and  climate  is
reconstructed  from  pollen  records.  A  coastal Pinus contorta
paleobiome developed after glacier retreat under cool and  prob-
ably  dry  climate.  Cool  moist forests involving Picea, Abies,
Tsuga spp., and Pinus followed until the early Holocene. Pseudo-
tsuga menziesii arrived and spread in the south 10 000-9000  BP,
and  Picea  sitchensis - Tsuga heterophylla forests developed in
the north. T. heterophylla increased 7500-7000 BP,  and  Cupres-
saceae  expanded 5000-4000 BP. Bogs began to develop and expand.
Modern vegetation arose 4000-2000 BP. There were early  Holocene
grass  and  Artemisia  communities  at  mid-elevations  and pine
stands at high elevations  in  southern  interior  B.C.  Forests
expanded downslope and lakes formed 8500-7000 BP. Modern forests
arose 4500-4000 BP while lower and upper tree lines declined. In
northern  B.C. non-arboreal communities preceded middle Holocene
Picea forests. Abies, Pinus and Picea  mariana  predominated  at
various  sites  after  4000  BP.  AT  6000 BP Tsuga heterophylla
(south) and Picea sitchensis (north)  dominated  the  coast  and
islands  and  Quercus garryana and Pseudotsuga on southeast Van-
couver Island, but Thuja plicata was infrequent. Southern  Inte-
rior  Plateau  vegetation at 6000 BP was more open than today at
middle to lower elevations, whereas forests covered the Northern
Interior  Plateau.  Picea  forests  occurred  in  northern  B.C.
Holocene  climate  phases  were  : 1) warm dry "xerothermic" ca.
9500-7000 BP, 2) warm moist "mesothermic" ca. 7000-4500  BP,  3)
moderate and moist 4500-0 BP, with increasing moisture 8500-6000
BP  and  cooling  (?increased  moisture)  4500-3000  BP. B. C.'s
Hypsithermal had dry and wet stages; 6000  BP  occurred  in  the
warm and wet mesothermic stage.
(BEN # 107  22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
INTRODUCING THE CANADIAN BOTANICAL CONSERVATION NETWORK (CBCN)
From: d.galbraith@genie.geis.com [abbrev.]

The  Canadian Botanical Conservation Network is a new initiative
to develop participation in biodiversity  conservation  programs
among   ex-situ  botanical  institutions  and  organizations  in
Canada. CBCN is presently a project of Royal  Botanical  Gardens
with  partners  Environment  Canada,  McMaster  University,  and
corporate partners Merck Frosst Canada Inc.,  and  Glaxo  Canada
Inc.

The  objective  of  CBCN  is to develop a national network among
Canadian botanical organizations for their participation in  the
Canadian  Biodiversity  Strategy.  The  project  is at the early
development stage and  is  based  at  Royal  Botanical  Gardens.
Fifteen  organizations have expressed an interest in participat-
ing in the network. Funding support has  been  secured  for  the
first two years of the project.

At  both  the  national and international levels there are calls
for the organized participation of  botanical  gardens  and  ar-
boreta  in  cooperative conservation efforts. These voices range
from the Convention  on  Biological  Diversity  (the  1992  "Rio
Convention")  to  the  1995  Canadian  Biodiversity Strategy and
reports from a Canadian  group  examining  off  site  (ex  situ)
propagation of plants.

During  the  past  decade  there has been an effort to develop a
professional  network  to  coordinate  ex-situ  conservation  of
native  and non-native species among botanical organizations. In
1984 the Canadian Plant Conservation Programme was  established,
but  this lasted only a few years. More recently a Plant Collec-
tions Newsletter has been produced at Devonian Botanic  Gardens,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.

It  is  planned that the Canadian Botanical Conservation Network
will be a group of organizations and individuals cooperating  to
promote  the  conservation  of  botanical  genetic resources and
biological diversity across Canada. The objective of the network
will be to  develop  active  participation  in  coordinated  in-
situ/ex-situ  conservation  efforts  for  native and rare exotic
plants in Canada.

A great deal  of  information  on  botanical  diversity  already
exists  in  botanical  gardens,  universities and other research
centres. A majority role for CBCN will be to seek  new  ways  to
provide  wide  access  to  existing data. CBCN will look for new
areas for research and development in biodiversity  conservation
programs and promote new projects. There are also many important
opportunities for public education, commercial participation and
cultural enhancement inherent within CBCN.

In  the future, a wide variety of information will be accessible
through CBCN, using the Internet in  addition  to  more  conven-
tional  routes.  The Canadian Botanical Conservation Network has
already established an Internet World Wide Web  home  page  that
provides  information on the CBCN project, and numerous links to
other sources of information. Visitors to the Web page can  find
details  on Canadian and international programs on biodiversity,
genetic resources, botany,  biology  and  ecological  gardening.
Environment  Canada  and McMaster University can also be reached
through the Web. A directory of Canadian botanical  gardens  and
arboreta is also available through the CBCN home page.

The  prototype  CBCN  home  page  can  be  reached  through  the
Internet's World Wide Web protocol. The URL address (case sensi-
tive) for the CBCN home page is:

http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/CBCN/homepage.html

I would be grateful to receive your comments and suggestions  on
this project. Please drop me a line for more information or with
your ideas.

Thanks for your attention,

   Dr. David A. Galbraith - Coordinator
   CANADIAN BOTANICAL CONSERVATION NETWORK
   at Royal Botanical Gardens
   P.O. Box 399
   Hamilton, Ontario
   Canada  L8N 3H8

   Email: D.Galbraith@genie.geis.com
   Tel: (905) 527-1158, Ext. 295
   Fax: (905) 577-0375
(BEN # 107  22-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
VASCULAR PLANTS NEW TO BRITISH COLUMBIA FLORA
>From : Dr. George W. Douglas <GDOUGLAS@FWHDEPT.env.gov.bc.ca>

The  following  taxa,  recently  collected or discovered in her-
baria, are new to the flora of British Columbia  (at  least  ac-
cording  to The Vascular Plants of BC). These writeups are taken
from the soon to be published BC Conservation Data  Centre  Rare
Plant  Manual.  They  will  also  appear  in the new revised and
illustrated version of The Vascular Plants of BC.

Arabis calderi G. Mulligan
     Calder's rockcress
     Habitat/Range: Mesic dry meadows and forest openings in the
          montane to alpine zones (BWBS, ESSF, AT); rare in  NW,
          SC and SE BC; N to SW YT and NT and E to SW AB.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G3 S2S3
     Notes:  This  taxon  was  recently  described  by  Mulligan
          (1995). Previously, sheets of this species were  iden-
          tified  mostly  as either A. drummondii or A. lyallii,
          its closest relatives (Mulligan 1995). Arabis  calderi
          may  be  separated  from  A. drummondii by its 3-rayed
          trichomes and from A. lyallii and  A.  divaricarpa  by
          its erect and appressed siliques.
     Voucher  specimen(s): Blackwall Peak, C.C. Chuang 1364 - V;
          Cairn Peak, F. Tusko 49-514 - UBC.

Arabis codyi G. Mulligan
     Cody's rockcress
     Habitat/Range: Moist to mesic sites  in  the  montane  zone
          (SBS);  rare  in WC BC, known recently only from Perow
          (Bulkley River Valley); N to YT.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G1 S1
     Notes: This species  was  recently  described  by  Mulligan
          (1995) and may be distinguished from A. lyallii and A.
          lemmonii var. drepanoloba by its narrower siliques and
          forked, rather than rayed, trichomes (Mulligan 1995).
     Voucher specimen(s): Perow, T.M.C. Taylor 468 - UBC.

Arabis hirsuta (L.) Scop. var. hirsuta
     Hairy rockcress
     Habitat/Range:  Rock  outcrops  and  disturbed sites in the
          montane zone (ESSF); rare in SE BC,  known  only  from
          Glacier  National  Park;  circumpolar, S to CO, NV and
          CA; Eurasia.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5T5 S1?
     Notes: This  species,  originally  described  from  Europe,
          remained  unknown  in  North  America  until  Mulligan
          (1995) recently identified a number of specimens  from
          the  western  U.S.  and  BC.  It may be separated from
          other varieties of A. hirsuta in BC  by  it  generally
          beakless siliques (Mulligan 1995).
     Voucher  specimen(s):  Glacier  National Park, Haber 1685 -
          CAN.

Arabis lemmonii S. Wats. var. depauperata (A. Nels.  &  Kennedy)
     Roll. (A. depauperata A. Nels. & Kennedy)
     Lemmon's rockcress
     Habitat/Range:  Moist to mesic rocky slopes and outcrops in
          the subalpine and alpine zones (AT, ESSF); rare in  SW
          and  SC  BC  east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to
          AK, YT and NT, E to SK and S to ND, UT, NV and CA.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5T? S1?
     Notes: We prefer to treat this taxon as  a  member  of  the
          variable  A.  lemmonii  complex  rather  than as a new
          species (A. depauperata) as Mulligan (1995) has  done.
          This variety may be separated from var. drepanoloba by
          its  more  narrow  siliques  and  secund inflorescence
          Mulligan (1995).
     Voucher specimen(s): Blue Creek, Beamish 610100 - UBC.

Arabis lemmonii S. Wats. var.  drepanoloba  (Greene)  Roll.  (A.
     drepanoloba Greene)
     Lemmon's rockcress
     Habitat/Range:  Moist  to  mesic meadows in the alpine zone
          (AT); rare in SW and SE BC east of  the  Coast-Cascade
          Mountains, known only from the Taseko Lake and Pollock
          areas; N to SW YT, E to SW AB and S to CO.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5T? S1?
     Notes:  We  prefer  to  treat this taxon as a member of the
          variable A. lemmonii complex  rather  than  as  a  new
          species  (A. drepanoloba) as Mulligan (1995) has done.
          This variety may be separated from var. depauperata by
          its wider siliques and symmetrical to slightly  secund
          inflorescence Mulligan (1995).
     Voucher specimen(s): Tchaikazan R., Beamish 690097 - UBC.

Arabis lignifera A. Nels.
     Woody-branched rockcress
     Habitat/Range:  Mesic  to  dry forests, grassy slopes, rock
          outcrops and talus slopes in the  steppe  and  montane
          zones  (BG,  BWBS,  ESSF,  IDF,  MS,  PP,  SBS);  rare
          throughout all but NE BC, east  of  the  Coast-Cascade
          Mountains; S to CO and NV.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S2S3
     Notes:  This  taxon,  not  previously  reported for BC, was
          recently identified among BC Arabis material  by  Mul-
          ligan  (1995).  Specimens  of A. lignifera may be dif-
          ficult to separate from A.  sparsiflora.  Arabis  lig-
          nifera,  however  has  3- and 4-rayed trichomes rather
          than 2- and 3-forked trichomes on the undersurfaces of
          the basal leaves.
     Voucher specimen(s):  Low  Fog  Creek,  McKeown  KM92223  -
          Herbarium Smithers; Apex Mtn., Eastham s.n. - UBC.

Arabis murrayi G. Mulligan
     Murray's rockcress
     Habitat/Range: Mesic to dry rock outcrops, talus slopes and
          gravel  ridges  in the subalpine and alpine zones (AT,
          ESSF); rare in S BC; E to SW AB and S to WA.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G3 S2S3
     Notes:  This  taxon  was  recently  described  by  Mulligan
          (1995).  Almost  all  of  the  A.  murrayi material in
          various herbaria has previously been identified as  A.
          lyallii  (Mulligan  1995). Arabis murrayi differs from
          A. lyallii in that the cauline leaves  are cuneate  to
          rarely   weakly   auriculate   rather   than  strongly
          sagittate-clasping.
     Voucher specimen(s): Blackwall Peak, Calder 10521B  -  DAO;
          Finlayson Peak, Pinder-Moss 1157 - UBC.

Arnica longifolia Dougl. ex Hook.
     Seep-spring arnica
     Habitat/Range:  Moist  to;  wet seepage sites in the alpine
          zone (AT); rare in SC BC, known only from Snowy  Moun-
          tain; E to AB and S to CO and CA.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1?
     Notes:  Although  this  species  was known from a number of
          collections along the BC  border  in  AB,  WA  and  MT
          (Douglas  1982)  it was not collected in BC until 1994
          by Malcolm Martin.
     Voucher specimen(s): Snowy Mtn., Martin 94-864 - V.

Carex torreyi Tuckerm.
     Torrey's sedge
     Habitat/Range: Moist meadows in the  montane  zone  (BWBS);
          rare  in NE BC, known only from the Dawson Creek area;
          E to MB and S to MN, SD, and CO.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G4 S1?
     Notes: This species was  not  treated  by  Douglas  et  al.
          (1994) but a 1963 specimen collected by Jim Calder has
          recently  been  examined  at  DAO.  Carex  torreyi has
          pubescent leaves, a glabrous perigynia  which  appears
          felty and is conspicuously 15-25-nerved.
     Voucher specimen(s): Dawson Creek, Calder - DAO.

Glyceria pulchella (Nash) K. Schum.
     Slender mannagrass
     Habitat/Range:  Streamsides,  marshes, lakeshores and ponds
          in the montane zone (BG, BWBS, IDF, SBS); rare  in  BC
          east  of the Coast-Cascades Mountains; N to AK, YT and
          MT.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S2S3
     Notes: This species was  not  treated  by  Douglas  et  al.
          (1994)  but specimens have recently been discovered in
          several herbaria. It may be separated from G. grandis,
          which it  resembles,  by  its  broad,  scarious  lemma
          margins  and  it  mostly  obtuse  (rather  than acute)
          glumes.
     Voucher specimen(s): Little Prairie Lakes, Clement 76-103 -
          V; Fort Nelson, Anas s.n. - UBC.

Hedeoma hispida Pursh
     Rough pennyroyal
     Habitat/Range: Dry sites in the montane zone (IDF); rare in
          SE BC, known only from  Kikoman  Creek  and  Horseshoe
          Lake; E to PQ and S to MT, CO, NY, MS and TX.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1
     Notes:  This  species  was  first  recorded for BC by Frank
          Lomer in 1994. In  the  generic  key  for  the  family
          Lamiaceae  provided  by  Douglas et al. (1990) Hedeoma
          keys out to Salvia. It may be distinguished  from  the
          latter by its axillary, rather than terminal flowers.
     Voucher specimen(s): Kikoman Creek, Lomer s.n. - UBC.

Lythrum hyssopifolia L.
     Hyssop loosestrife
     Habitat/Range: Moist sites in the steppe zone (BG); rare in
          SC  BC,  known  only from Mud Lake (Oliver area); S to
          CA.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1
     Notes: This species, not treated by Douglas et al.  (1990),
          was  first collected in the province by Malcolm Martin
          in 1994. This annual species,  with  mostly  alternate
          leaves,  is  shorter  (10-40  cm) than the usually op-
          posite leaved species, L. alatum and L. salicaria.
     Voucher specimen(s): 1.5 km S of Gallagher Lake, Martin 94-
          863 - V.

Senecio cymbalaria Pursh (S. resedifolius Less.)
     Northern butterweed
     Habitat/Range: Moist meadows in  the  lowland  zone  (CWH);
          rare  on  the Queen Charlotte Islands, known only from
          Port Chanal; amphiberigian, N to AK and YT; E. Asia.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G5 S1?
     Notes: This species, new to British Columbia, was collected
          in 1979 but only recently identified by Bruce Bennett.
          The taxonomy of this species and several  other  close
          relatives  is  discussed  by Packer (1972) and Douglas
          (1982 p. 92 and 170). In the  Vascular  Plants  of  BC
          (Douglas  et al. 1989) Senecio cymbalaria will key out
          to it's more southern  relative,  S.  conterminus.  It
          differs  from the latter mainly in its generally some-
          what smaller stature and its intense purple  pigmenta-
          tion (Packer 1972).
     Voucher specimen(s): Mt. Hobbs, Roemer 79154 - V.

Silene spaldingii S. Wats.
     Spaldings campion or silene
     Habitat/Range:  Dry sites in the montane zone (PP); rare in
          SE BC, known only from Roosville; S to W ID, W MT;  NE
          WA and NE OR.
     Global/Provincial Rank: G2 S1
     Notes:  This  stout,  pubescent plant is 20-60 cm tall with
          white, bilobed petals.
     Voucher specimen(s): This species was recently observed  in
          BC  by the Montana Natural Heritage program. A voucher
          species has yet to be collected by CDC.

Literature Cited

Douglas, G.W. 1982. The sunflower family (Asteraceae) of British
     Columbia. Vol. I. Senecioneae. BC Prov.  Mus.  Occas.  Pap.
     Ser. No. 23, Victoria. 180 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1989. The vascular
     plants  of  British  Columbia.  Part  1  -  Gymnosperms and
     Dicotyledons  (Aceraceae  through  Cucurbitaceae).  Special
     Report Series 1, B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch,
     Victoria. 208 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1990. The vascular
     plants  of British Columbia. Part 2 - Dicotyledons (Diapen-
     siaceae through Portulacaceae). Special  Report  Series  2,
     B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch, Victoria. 158 p.
Douglas, G.W., G.B. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1994. The vascular
     plants  of  British Columbia. Part 4 - Monocotyledons. Spe-
     cial Report Series 2, B.C. Ministry  of  Forests,  Research
     Branch, Victoria. 257 p.
Hitchcock,  C.L.,  A.  Cronquist,  M.  Ownbey and J.W. Thompson.
     1964. Vascular plants of the  Pacific  Northwest.  Part  2:
     Salicaceae  to  Saxifragaceae.  Univ. Wash. Press, Seattle.
     597 p.
Mulligan, G.A. 1995. Synopsis of the genus Arabis (Brassicaceae)
     in Canada, Alaska and Greenland. Rhodora (in press).
Packer, J.G. 1972. A taxonomic and phytogeographical  review  of
     some  arctic  and  alpine  Senecio  species.  Can.  J. Bot.
     50:507-518.
(BEN # 108  31-July-1995)
------------------------------------------
VERNACULAR NAMES: WHY, OH WHY?
From: Dr. William A. Weber <weberw@spot.Colorado.EDU>

There  is  a  rejuvenescence  in  the common names craze in this
otherwise advanced scientific age of biodiversity,  and  it  has
spread  like  a  virus into the cryptogamic field. Even the con-
servative and highly literate Swedes have felt it  necessary  to
coin names for lichens and mosses! I think that, for the sake of
our  science,  we should seriously ask ourselves whether this is
necessary, useful, or detrimental to the image of the science of
botany.

About fifty or sixty years ago there was  a  publication  called
Standardized  Plant Names, which attempted to bring order to the
chaos of so-called "common names". Just  as  is  happening  now,
people  were inventing names for plants that had none, and there
were lots of plants going under  different  names  in  different
places,  just in America. What this book was trying to do was to
produce a parallel nomenclature to be used by non-professionals.
M. L. Fernald, who was responsible for Gray's  Manual,  attacked
this anti-intellectual pursuit (what I now call the "dumbing" of
America),  and  the  book  died  a quiet death. In 1942, writing
about the discovery of a certain Elephantopus  in  Virginia,  he
wrote,  in a footnote in Rhodora, p. 367: "We thus added another
to the Virginian series of elephants and their feet. We  already
had  the  Bare-footed  Elephant (E. T. forma rotundatus) and the
Carolina Elephant's-foot!  We  were  adding  the  Woolly  Socked
Carolina  Elephants-foot.  These names, like 'Foul-Scented Love-
grass' and others in Britton and Brown and many of  the  crudely
formed  absurdities in the new Standardized Plant Names, are not
colloquially used. Ours  are  intended  as  jokes;  the  others,
unfortunately,  were  not.  It  is often said, however, that the
greatest jokes are unintentional."

Here are a few points to ponder.

 1. Botany is a science, and it is high time that we should help
    it gain a little respect.

    The magazine, Natural History has just published  a  special
    issue  on dinosaurs. All of the jawbreaking scientific names
    are there, but not a single "common name" for a dinosaur, as
    far as I can tell, in  the  volume.  Sandwiched  in  between
    dinosaur  articles,  a short one of two pages highlights the
    rare vascular plants of Colorado's High  Creek  Fen.  Not  a
    single  scientific  name!  The  March  issue  of Smithsonian
    featured  a  cover  illustration  of  a  sunflower,  Wyethia
    scabra,  growing  on  the  sand  dunes  of eastern Utah. The
    inside  cover  identified  this  as  (no   scientific   name
    whatever)  Sandpaper  Mules Ears! Mules ears is a name given
    to the genus Wyethia, but only applies to those species with
    big basal leaves; the figured species has no basal leaves.

 2. Truly common  names  are  those  that  have  originated  and
    evolved with a lay culture.

    These  are legitimate but hardly ever restricted to a single
    genus or species, especially over a country or continent. To
    make up vernacular names by translating the scientific names
    or by  concocting  "creative"  or  "imaginative"  ones  only
    creates  a parallel nomenclature that assumes the lay public
    is justifiably incapable of learning or pronouncing the real
    names.

 3. Scientific names make it possible for everyone, anywhere  in
    the world, to communicate with each other about organisms.

    Vernacular  names make it difficult or impossible. Americans
    travel the world so easily nowadays; if I go to Sweden, even
    if I want to use vernacular names, I first  must  learn  the
    language! The same goes for Russia, India, China, and Japan.
    Vernacular   names   lead   to   scientific   and   literary
    isolationism.

 4. Scientific names are no harder to pronounce  than  contrived
    vernacular  names;  the  public  is not or should not be en-
    couraged to be, scientifically illiterate.

    Children have no trouble with scientific names, evidence the
    dinosaurs.

 5. Scientific names have meaning and relevance to our language,
    especially considering the great contribution of  Latin  and
    Greek  to  our  common  words.  Hence, they have educational
    value.

    Our science is almost alone in the  wholesale  manufacturing
    of  vernacular  names  to  please what we perceive as an il-
    literate public.

 6. Sooner or later, we will find that there are more  than  one
    vernacular name for a species.

    A  national  committee  will then be set up to delete all of
    the alternative names and select one as a standard. This  is
    human  nature,  but it in fact is an attempt to create a set
    of unscientific names parallel to  the  scientific  ones.  A
    major  attempt  to  standardize  common names failed for the
    vascular plants, and will fail again  if  applied  to  cryp-
    togams.

 7. Let  us  instead, make a real attempt to educate our public,
    and give them credit for some intelligence,  as  other  dis-
    ciplines (medicine, engineering, astronomy, etc.) do.

    I think it is time for scientists, amateur and professional,
    to  get  serious about taking botany out of the playroom and
    kindergarten. As a start I intend to prepare the  next  edi-
    tion  of my floras by deleting all the vernacular names that
    are newly contrived or that do not represent epithets  aris-
    ing  from  use  within  a culture. There are a very few real
    common names for lichens: rocktripe for Umbilicaria  species
    is  one.  Let's  leave  it at that,  and  try to educate the
    public and their intellectual sights just the least bit  and
    help the general educational process in America.

The  best  riposte  I know regarding common names was written by
Lloyd Shinners, in his Spring Flora  of  the  Dallas-Fort  Worth
Area.  He said: "One of the most tiresome and irritating remarks
I have to listen to over and over,  runs:  'Oh,  don't  give  me
those  terrible  Latin  names;  give  me something I can say and
understand.' People who mouth such jawbreakers as  chrysanthemum
or  asparagus  without  batting an eye are simply being childish
when they say they cannot manage Latin names. That is what those
two words are, without a single letter changed....For the Stand-
ardized Plant Names manufactured according to arbitrary rules by
bureaucrats, largely by translating  the  Latin  binomials  with
varying  degrees  of  accuracy  and  inaccuracy,  I  have no use
whatever. They are an insult to intelligence and a crime against
good taste. There is  absolutely  no  necessity  for  concocting
fraudulent  'common  names'  for  plants  which the 'common man'
often cannot tell apart in the first place. Anyone with  serious
enough  interest to want to distinguish species and varieties to
the same degree that a  botanist  does  certainly  ought  to  be
serious  enough  to  use  botanical  names.  Those who refuse to
accept the disciplines  of  Science  are  not  entitled  to  its
benefits.  The botanist has enough hard work to do without being
asked to put up with a lot of artificial  gobbledy-gook  in  the
form of bogus vernacular names. I have no patience with the you-
do-all-the-work,  give-me-something-for-nothing  attitude  which
lies behind demands for 'common' names.  Genuine  popular  names
are  often  vivid and interesting. A study of them would be fas-
cinating, but it belongs  in the  realm  of  folk-lore,  not  of
science."

Not all the common name frenzy is coming from the applied scien-
tists  and lay public. Janice Glime has been publishing a number
of papers listing new common names for bryophytes (Should mosses
have common names, parts 1-7. Evansia vol. 6-9. 1989-1992).  She
never  answers  the  question  but acts as if the answer is yes.
Roland Moberg, in Svensk Bot. Tidskrift 89:129-149. Lichens with
Swedish Names-second edition: "Swedish names of 900 lichens  are
listed.  Almost  half of them are new; they have been created in
close collaboration with several colleagues. The list is  to  be
regarded  as  the official list of Swedish names of lichens." He
also lists a set of ten rules for the construction of such names
(recalling Linnaeus' Critica Botanica). In  the  new  California
Lichen  Society  Newsletter,  Vol.  2,  No.  1. 1995, Sylvia and
Stephen Sharnoff,  who  are  co-authoring  a  coffee-table  book
covering  700 species of lichens of North America, solicit names
"for the benefit of  beginners,  interpretive  naturalists,  and
resource  managers....  Since  many  names  for  the  genera and
species will need to be invented, we  are  hoping  for  creative
assistance  from  anyone who is interested in vernacular names--
and from anyone who  is  simply  interested  in  preventing  the
publication  of  names that he or she might consider to be unat-
tractive, unimaginative, or inappropriate. We are maintaining  a
computer  database of all the published and suggested names that
we can find."

Vernacular names for lichens have been manufactured  by  Nearing
in The Lichen Book, but they were so ludicrous that none of them
caught  on.  Harold Zim invented common names for lichens in the
Golden Book of Lichens, using  the  generic  name  coupled  with
descriptive  epithets  for  each species, thus creating "hybrid"
scientific-vernacular names.  The  most  hilarious  instance  of
manufactured  vernacular  names  for  mosses  is  Anne Johnson's
Mosses of Singapore and Malaysia (1980). Common names  for  some
families  are:  Ruined  tooth  moss  family (Rhegmatodontaceae),
Horizontal tooth moss family (Syrrhopodontaceae),  Pouched  hood
moss  family (Calymperaceae), Pott Moss Family (Pottiaceae), and
Signal leaf family (Sematophyllaceae--from semaphore?).  Species
names  are  worse:  Sullivant's  outer  net  white  moss, White-
sheathed  horizontal  tooth  moss,  Spoon-shaped  two-row  moss,
Obliquely  inserted  folded-fruit  moss,  Dubious  bladder  moss
(Vesicularia  dubyana,  named  for  Duby,  nothing  to  do  with
dubious), Uncovered nipple moss, and Hairy nipple moss.

I myself have been honored (?) by a manufactured name for one of
my  eponymous  species--Saussurea weberi. The Forest service has
dubbed this Weber's Saw-wort. Saussure would roll in  his  grave
for that one!

I  suppose  we  will  have  common names manufactured in France,
Italy, Germany, and the rest of the "civilized world", and  that
there  eventually will have to be a branch of the United Nations
set up to produce a concordance. There is one place in the world
where I have been  helped  by  vernacular  names--Japan.  On  an
International  Phytogeographic  Excursion  we were supplied with
field handbook with indices of vernacular and scientific  names.
The Japanese assistants, unfortunately, rarely knew a scientific
name,  so  when  we asked them to tell us the name of the plant,
they referred to the index, found the vernacular  name  and  the
page  reference,  and  located the page that gave the scientific
name and often an illustration!

William A. Weber
University of Colorado Museum
(BEN # 109  6-August-1995)
------------------------------------------
RARE PLANTS OF ST. ELIAS MOUNTAINS, NW BRITISH COLUMBIA

Douglas, George W., Jim Pojar, Del Meidinger, and Karen McKeown.
      1994. Rare vascular plant collections from the  St.  Elias
      Mountains,  northwestern British Columbia. Canadian Field-
      Naturalist 108(4): 391-396.

ABSTRACT: Two  taxa  new  to  British  Columbia  (Chrysosplenium
wrightii  and Aphragmus eschscholtzianus) and nine others new to
the St. Elias  Mountains,  British  Columbia  are  reported.  In
addition, 25 other rare taxa from the region are discussed.

[Note:  According to the paper, the vernacular name of Aphragmus
eschscholtzianus   (Brassicaceae)   is   "Eschscholtz's   Little
Nightmare." - AC]
(BEN # 109  6-August-1995)