BEN # 76

[Aldo-Pier Solari]

    I have received the Botanical Electronic News although
    I did never requested it. Therefore, I'll be glad to be
    excluded from your list. Thank you.
    Aldo-P. Solari. <solaris at cicei.ulpgc.es>
    ---------------

-|Fecha envio:    Fri, 24 Jun 1994 17:24:01 -0700
-|De:             Adolf Ceska <aceska at cue.bc.ca>
-|A:              ben at cue.bc.ca
-|Asunto:         BEN # 76

-|
-|BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N             ISSN 1188-603X
-|BB   B   EE       NNN  N
-|BBBBB    EEEEE    NN N N             BOTANICAL
-|BB   B   EE       NN  NN             ELECTRONIC
-|BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N             NEWS
-|
-|No. 76                               June 24, 1994
-|
-|aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca        Victoria, B.C.
-|-----------------------------------------------------------
-| Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
-|-----------------------------------------------------------
-|
-|RANDY STOLTMANN (1962-1994)
-|
-|Randy  Stoltmann  died  in  a  skiing accident in mountains near
-|Kitimat, B.C. on May 22, 1994.
-|
-|"A native of Vancouver,  Randy  Stoltmann  has  an  unquenchable
-|thirst  for  exploring, photographing and working to protect the
-|wilderness areas of the  west  coast.  Combining  his  technical
-|background with his love for wilderness, Stoltmann has measured,
-|mapped  and  documented  record-sized  trees and ancient forests
-|since high school more than a decade ago. Much of his spare time
-|is spent hiking, bushwhacking and ski-mountaineering through the
-|backcountry of southwestern B.C." [from "About  Author"  in  the
-|"Hiking guide to big trees of SW B.C."]
-|
-|Randy  was  the  first person to bring attention to the Carmanah
-|Valley and started a pleafor its protection. Randy  was  working
-|as  a  draftsman  and  decrying  the lack of time in his life to
-|explore such wilderness places when Paul George, of the  Western
-|Canada  Wilderness  Committee (WC**2) persuaded him to work full
-|time for WC**2. After about  3-1/2  to  4  years  WC**2  had  to
-|downsize  and  Randy  worked  independently  for mountain clubs,
-|advocacy groups and wilderness organizations as an advocate  for
-|protection.
-|
-|Randy  published  three  books  and  contributed  photographs to
-|numerous other publications and journal articles.
-|
-|Stoltmann, R. 1987 & 1991. Hiking guide  to  the  big  trees  of
-|      southwestern  British  Columbia. Western Canada Wilderness
-|      Committee, Vancouver B.C., 144 p. - Second Edition, 218 p.
-|
-|Stoltmann, R. 1993. Guide to the record trees of British  Colum-
-|      bia.  Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Vancouver, B.C.
-|      58 p.
-|
-|Stoltmann, R. 1993. Written by the wind. Orca  Book  Publishers,
-|      Victoria, B.C. & White Rock, WA. 95 p.
-|
-|I met Randy only once on a field trip to survey near record-size
-|western  hemlock  (Tsuga  heterophylla) near Port Alberni [BEN #
-|36]. I was deeply impressed by his intimate  knowledge  of  "big
-|trees"  and  their  ecology.  He was a giant human being and his
-|death is a great loss. - AC
-|
-|
-|LYME DISEASE - BORRELIA BURGDORFERI - IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
-|Sources: Dr. S.N.  Banerjee  (pers.  comm.),  Hospital  Medicine
-|      (August 1993: 53-64), VERONICA search on "LYME"
-|
-|Lyme  disease  was first recognized during the 1970s when inves-
-|tigators analyzed an unusual cluster of  juvenile  arthritis  in
-|coastal  Connecticut. Erythema migrans (EM) served as a clinical
-|marker and field studies revealed ixodid ticks to be the vector.
-|In 1982 Burgdorfer visualized  spirochetes  in  the  midguts  of
-|these  ticks  and  serum  from  Lyme  disease patients contained
-|antibodies  to  the  spirochete.  Soon  thereafter,  researchers
-|recovered  and  cultured  spirochetes from infected humans, then
-|characterized them morphologically and  biochemically  and  gave
-|them the name Borrelia burgdorferi.
-|
-|In  about  60%  of  the  cases,  a characteristic rash or lesion
-|called erythema migrans develops. It begins a few days to a  few
-|weeks  after  the  bite  of an infected tick. The rash generally
-|looks like an expanding red ring with a clear  center,  but  can
-|vary  from a reddish blotchy appearance to red throughout. Some-
-|times there are two or more  lesions.  Unfortunately,  in  those
-|patients  who  never get a rash, the diagnosis can be difficult.
-|At about the same time that the rash develops, flu-like symptoms
-|may appear along with headache, stiff neck, fever, muscle  aches
-|and general malaise.
-|
-|The  later  complications of Lyme disease are quite severe. Most
-|common is arthritis, usually of the large joints  (e.g.,  knees,
-|hips,  shoulders).  Other  complications  include meningitis and
-|other neurological  problems  such  as  numbness,  tingling  and
-|burning  sensations  in  the  extremities,  severe pain, loss of
-|concentration,  memory  loss,  confusion,  loss  of  confidence,
-|withdrawal,    depression,    fatigue,    (often   extreme   and
-|incapacitating), and Bell's palsy (loss of control of  one  side
-|of  the  face).  Cardiac symptoms include heart palpitations and
-|irregular heart beat. Shortness  of  breath,  dry  mouth,  voice
-|changes,  and  difficulty  swallowing  can  occur.  Eye symptoms
-|include conjuctivitis, double vision, and loss of vision. Remem-
-|ber, some patients do not get the rash and progress directly  to
-|these  later symptoms. Symptoms, including pain are intermittent
-|and changing, occurring in any combination and  lasting  from  a
-|few days to several months and possibly years.
-|
-|It  is  important  to  seek  medical  attention  if any of these
-|symptoms appear, especially after being  bitten  by  a  tick  or
-|visiting  an area where Lyme disease is common. Timely treatment
-|with antibiotics (within a few days of symptoms appearing)  will
-|increase  chances of recovery and may lessen the severity of any
-|later symptoms. If ignored, the early  symptoms  may  disappear,
-|but  more  serious  problems  can develop months to years later.
-|Chronic Lyme disease, because of its diverse symptoms,  is  par-
-|ticularly  difficult  to diagnose. Treatment for later stages is
-|more difficult and is often less successful, sometimes requiring
-|several months of intravenous antibiotic therapy.
-|
-|In  British  Columbia  Borrelia  burgdorferi  was  detected   in
-|juvenile  ticks  Ixodes  angustus and adults of Ixodes pacificus
-|collected from Bowen Island, Cultus Lake, Galiano  Island,  Har-
-|rison,  Hope,  Lasqueti Island, Langley, Metchosin, Nanoose Bay,
-|Sechelt, and Squamish. According to  Dr.  Banerjee  (pers.  com-
-|munication)  there  are  about  30 patients with Lyme disease in
-|British Columbia, 10 of them were most probably infected here in
-|British Columbia.
-|
-|Dr. Satyen N. Banerjee studies Lyme disease in British  Columbia
-|and  is  interested in receiving LIVE ticks and he would like to
-|scan them for Borrelia spirochete. Ticks  could  be  sent  in  a
-|small  screw-top  vial  in  which one should add a small ball of
-|cotton wetted in water. The address to send the ticks is:
-|
-|   Tick-borne Diseases Research Laboratory
-|   Provincial Laboratory, B.C. Centre for Disease Control
-|   828 West 10th Avenue
-|   Vancouver, B.C.  V5Z 1L8
-|   (Phone: 604-660-6070)
-|
-|
-|MYOSURUS APETALUS = MYOSURUS ARISTATUS
-|From: Novon 4 (1994): 77-79.
-|
-|In  his  article  on  "New  names  in  North  American  Myosurus
-|(Ranunculaceae)," A.T. Whittemore is treating Myosurus aristatus
-|as  conspecific  with  the Chilean species M. apetalus Gay. B.C.
-|plants belong to a new variety, M. apetalus var. borealis  Whit-
-|temore  characterized  by  1-nerved  sepals. Another variety, M.
-|apetalus var. montanus (G.R. Campbell)  Whittemore  (transferred
-|from  M.  minimus)  occurs in Canada (Saskatchewan), and US (AZ,
-|MT, CO, NV, ND, OR, UT, WY) and has sepals 3(-5)-nerved.
-|
-|
-|CAREX SYLVATICA NATURALIZED ON PENDER ISLAND AND SATURNA ISLAND
-|From: A. & O. Ceska and Jan Kirkby
-|
-|In the 1970's and 1980's Harvey Janszen made several collections
-|of a sedge which he identified as Carex sprengelii  from  Pender
-|and  Saturna  Islands  (part of Gulf Islands, British Columbia).
-|T.M.C. Taylor, A. Ceska, and others confirmed Harvey's  original
-|identification.
-|
-|During a field trip of the Pender Island Naturalists on June 12,
-|1994,  we  revisited the locality of the sedge in the "Enchanted
-|Forest" on South Pender Island and realized that  the  sedge  is
-|NOT  Carex  sprengelii,  but  naturalized European forest sedge,
-|Carex sylvatica. Consequent examination of the specimens in  the
-|Royal  British  Columbia  Museum, Victoria, B.C. [V] showed that
-|all the specimens of "Carex sprengelii" collected  on  Gulf  Is-
-|lands belong in fact to Carex sylvatica.
-|
-|Carex  sylvatica  Huds.  is  a  European sedge of mesic alluvial
-|forests. In North America it is occasionally planted in  gardens
-|as  an  ornamental  "grass" and was reported naturalized on Long
-|Island, NY (Mackenzie, K.K. 1940. North American Cariceae,  Vol.
-|II.).  C.  sylvatica is indeed very similar to C. sprengelii. C.
-|sylvatica is "aphyllopodic" - it has several short bracts at the
-|base of the plant, not fully developed leaves  as  "phyllopodic"
-|C.  sprengelii.  C.  sprengelii  has  a rhizome with conspicuous
-|fibrous remnants of old leaves.
-|
-|Two other collections of Carex sprengelii from British  Columbia
-|in  the  Royal  BC Museum (from Williams Lake and Prince George)
-|were correctly identified and are C. sprengelii.
-|
-|Carex sylvatica is the second sedge recently  found  naturalized
-|in  British  Columbia.  Several  years  ago Richard Martin found
-|Carex pallescens on Hornby Island. C. pallescens grows there  in
-|open meadows, along the roads, and in ditches.
-|
-|
-|BIODIVERSITY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA - OUR CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
-|
-|Harding, L.E. & E. McCullum [eds.] 1994. Biodiversity in British
-|Columbia: Our changing environment. Environment Canada, Canadian
-|Wildlife  Service, Ottawa. 426 p. ISBN 0-662-20671-1 [paperback]
-|Cost: CDN $29.95 Available from: Crown  Publications  Inc.,  546
-|Yates  Str.,  Victoria,  B.C.  V8W 1K8 (604) 386-4636 Fax.:(604)
-|386-0221
-|
-|This is a valuable collection of papers on  various  aspects  of
-|biodiversity  in  British  Columbia. Thirty chapters are grouped
-|into four sections:  1)  Introducing  biodiversity,  2)  Species
-|diversity,  3)  Ecosystem  diversity  , and 4) Prospects for the
-|future. Botanical topics are well covered  and  the  book  gives
-|good  discussions on rare algae (M. Hawkes), fungi (S. Redhead),
-|lichens (T. Goward), bryophytes (W.B. Schofield),  and  vascular
-|plants  (H. Roemer, G.B. Straley, and G.W. Douglas). Native rare
-|vascular plants  species  are  listed,  grouped  by  the  status
-|categories established by the British Columbia Conservation Data
-|Centre.  Exotic species of animals and plants are discussed as a
-|threat to biodiversity. (The list of introduced plants is unfor-
-|tunately restricted to "Introduced Flowers" - no grasses, sedges
-|or rushes - and even lists as introduced some species  that  are
-|on   the  Rare  Native  Vascular  Plants  List  -  e.g.  Lupinus
-|densiflorus.) Chapters on Ecosystem diversity deal with  forests
-|and  grasslands,  with  urban  ecosystems  and  (mostly  marine)
-|ecosystems of the Strait of Georgia. British Columbia Ecological
-|Reserves are listed in the "Prospects for the  future"  together
-|with an outline of the B.C. Protected Areas Strategy etc.
-|