BEN # 83

[Adolf Ceska]

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No. 83                               December 6, 1994

aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca        Victoria, B.C.
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 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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PLANT SYSTEMATIST - CENTRAL WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
From: Mike Gleason <GLEASONM at cwu.edu>

The  Department  of  Biological  Sciences  is  seeking to hire a
tenure-track  biologist  at  the  level  of  assistant/associate
professor to teach and conduct research in botany and genetics.

Duties and Responsibilities: The successful candidate will share
responsibilities  for  teaching  general botany, plant taxonomy,
genetics, evolution, and general biology, and may  be  asked  to
teach other courses in her/his specialty area. Additionally, the
successful  candidate  will  curate a teaching herbarium, advise
biology undergraduates, and serve on Departmental and University
committees. The successful candidate will also  be  expected  to
engage in scholarly activity and participate in the Department's
Masters degree program.

Qualifications:  Ph.D.,  by  start date, in a related biological
field is required. Applicants must have experience in  teaching;
and  research  experience  in  molecular aspects of systematics,
phylogeny, or evolution. Preference will be given to  candidates
with  specialization  in areas complementary to the needs of the
Department.

Starting Date: 15 September 1995. This position is contingent on
University funding.

To Apply: Send a  cover  letter  describing  qualifications  and
experience  in  teaching  and  research, a statement of teaching
philosophy and research interests,  curriculum  vitae,  (unoffi-
cial)  college  transcripts,  and  the names, addresses, and the
telephone  numbers  of  three  references  to:  Dr.  Michael  L.
Gleason,  Chair,  Plant Systematist Hiring Committee, Department
of  Biological  Sciences,  Central  Washington  University,  El-
lensburg,  WA 98926-7537. Screening will begin on 6 January 1995
and continue until a suitable candidate is found.

Central Washington University is located in Ellensburg,  a  city
of  about  13,000.  A two hour drive from Seattle, Ellensburg is
located on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains  in  Kittitas
Valley and offers a fine living environment. CWU is a comprehen-
sive  state university which serves approximately 7,000 students
by offering  undergraduate  and  graduate  degrees  through  the
colleges  of  Letters,  Arts and Sciences; Professional Studies;
and Business and Economics.


BRYONIA ALBA - CORRECTION
From: Adolf Ceska <aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca>

I released the last BEN one day too soon. I was still  searching
for  more  information  on  the  distribution of Bryonia alba in
North America after BEN was sent out, and I  contacted  (through
e-mail)  several  Cucurbitaceae experts and Dr. John T. Kartesz,
author of the "Synonymized checklist of the  vascular  flora  of
the  United States ... etc." Many of you still did not even have
BEN # 82 in your mail box when I  got  a  phone  call  from  Dr.
Kartesz.  He  told  me  that he had records of Bryonia alba from
Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Washington. He also  told  me  that  I
should read a paper on Bryonia alba published in Madrono 1993. I
did, and I was shocked. To speak about the "confirmation" of the
occurrence  of  Bryonia  alba as I did in BEN # 82, was slightly
silly.

The article by Laferriere et al. (1993) in Madrono  lists  about
18  localities of the plant from Idaho and Washington, including
the 1985 collection of Bryonia alba from Lewis and  Clark  State
Park  in  Walla  Walla  Co. The earliest collection cited by the
authors was one  from  1972  from  near  Turner,  Columbia  Co.,
Washington  State.  One  of the authors, Jodi L. Engle, wrote an
M.Sc. Thesis on "The spread and effect of the vine Bryonia  alba
in  Whitman  County,  Washington" in 1988 (Department of Botany,
Washington State University, Pullman). The article gives a  very
good  description  of the plant, and a key to the identification
of  the  genus  Bryonia  within  the  Cucurbitaceae  family.   I
apologize to BEN readers for this oversight.

Lit.: Laferriere, J.F., J.D. Mastrogiuseppe, J.L. Engle, & R. R.
      Old.  1993.  Noteworthy  Collections: - Idaho, Montana and
      Washington - Bryonia alba L. (Cucurbitaceae). Madrono  40:
      180-181.


FIRE DESTROYS LABS AND FACILITIES AT LAS CRUCES, COSTA RICA
From:  Carol  Mozell   <cmozell at ACPUB.DUKE.EDU>   
          via   CONSLINK <CONSLINK at SIVM.BITNET>

On  November  23,  a fire razed the central buildings of the Las
Cruces Biological Station in San Vito, Costa Rica, site  of  the
Robert  and  Catherine  Wilson Botanical Garden. The fire, which
began around 7:00 p.m. in a downstairs apartment, swept  through
the  Stanley Smith Science Building and the adjacent laboratory.
Lost are the  living  quarters  for  researchers,  students  and
natural  history  visitors  and  the  kitchen,  dining hall, and
library.

At the time of the fire three Costa Rican students were  staying
in the facility. However, station director Luis Diego Gomez said
that  no  one  was  injured. In addition, Gomez reports that the
garden's extensive plant collections,  one  of  the  richest  in
Central  America,  were  not  affected.  Las Cruces is owned and
operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, a  non-profit
consortium of 50 universities and research institutions. Charles
Schnell, the head of OTS in Costa Rica, estimates the loss to be
approximately  $500,000,  of  which  insurance will cover only a
fraction of the replacement value.

Schnell reports that the station's operations will continue  and
that  commitments will be met. "Living quarters for researchers,
students, and guests are being improvised in the former home  of
Robert  and  Catherine  Wilson,"  said  Schnell.  "We expect Las
Cruces to continue as a major education and research site and as
an important locale for birders and  natural  history  visitors,
though temporarily with fewer amenities and services."

OTS  Executive Director Donald Stone has issued an urgent appeal
for emergency funds to sustain the  Garden's  operations.  Stone
notes, "The potential loss of the station as an important center
for  research  impacting  La  Amistad  National Park, one of the
largest parks in Central America, and for graduate  training  in
conservation  biology  and  the wise use of natural resources is
devastating." Contributions  should  be  sent  to  OTS/Save  the
Garden Fund, Duke University, Box 90630, Durham, NC 27708-0630.


FLORA FOR FAUNA PROJECT
From:  Dr. Pamela  Munn  <sabpam at thor.cf.ac.uk>  
          via B-Mail (Bee Newsletter)

A nationwide campaign to  encourage  gardeners  to  grow  trees,
shrubs and flowers which are food sources for Britain's wildlife
was launched recently at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.

This  move  in  nature  conservation commenced with thousands of
'Flora for fauna' labels, placards, posters and  booklets  being
distributed to selected garden centres throughout Britain. Plans
are already under way for this British project to be extended to
France and Germany, as after 1 January it will run parallel with
European  Conservation  Year - ENCY 95. It is being supported by
some of the most prestigious  conservation  and  scientific  or-
ganizations  in  Britain,  as  well  as the Horticultural Trades
Association.

The first stage of 'Flora for fauna'  is  providing  information
about  what  plants  are hospitable for wildlife. Already 25,000
plant labels covering 25 species have been  attached  to  plants
from  the  north of Scotland to south Cornwall as part of a six-
month pilot scheme. The information has been extracted from  the
introductory  'Flora  for  fauna'  database which highlights the
preferred plants for wildlife in  British  gardens.  It  details
what birds, butterflies, frogs, bats and other forms of wildlife
eat;  what  eats  them; what is needed for nests and homes; what
special plants relate to different forms of wildlife; and  which
cultivars  of  a  species  still  have  a good nectar and pollen
yields.

The next stage is further development  of  the  database,  which
will  be  launched  in a comprehensive version in December 1995.
Bees have a good mention in the introductory publicity, and  key
plants  that  are useful nectar and pollen sources will be high-
lighted in the database.

Details of the 'Flora for fauna' database disk and  accompanying
booklet  are  available  from:  The Duchess of Hamilton, c/o The
Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly,  London
W1V 0LQ, UK. Orders: phone (+44) 171-351-4266, fax 171-352-5655,
e.mail john at linnean.demon.co.uk