BEN # 148

[Adolf Ceska]

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No. 148                              November 2, 1996

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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TWO PLANTS NEW TO THE FLORA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Hans Roemer <hroemer at galaxy.gov.bc.ca>

During  field work for the BC Conservation Data Centre this past
summer I had the privilege to record occurrences of two vascular
species that were new to me and are apparently  new  to  the  BC
Flora.

TRICHOSTEMA OBLONGUM (Labiatae-Lamiaceae) has up to now remained
   unmentioned in the provincial botanical literature. Hitchcock
   and  Cronquist (1973) give the range of this plant as "Wn and
   adj Ida to Cal and W Nev".

   Trichostema oblongum Benth. is a small, annual member of  the
   mint  family  (Lamiaceae) with strongly aromatic, oval leaves
   and small blue flowers in the leaf  axils.  Distinctive  fea-
   tures  of the plant are the odd upward bend of the flower and
   the bundled style and filaments arching over the corolla from
   the back. Our plants were only 2.5 to 5 cm tall at  flowering
   time.  Collections  and  photographs of this species were ob-
   tained by Ron Walker and myself on July 12, 1996, ca.  10  km
   west  of  Castlegar.  The  habitat  was a vernally moist site
   within a large, south-facing forest opening caused by shallow
   soils over bedrock. Trichostema grew  in  a  carpet  of  moss
   (Aulacomnium  androgynum) together with scattered Cystopteris
   fragilis,  Juncus  cf.   bufonius,   Perideridia   gairdneri,
   Dodecatheon  pulchellum,  Deschampsia  danthonioides, Mimulus
   guttatus, Orobanche uniflora, Lomatium spp., etc. Other  rare
   species in the same opening, but not directly associated with
   Trichostema  were  Heterocodon  rariflorum,  Mimulus breweri,
   Botrychium simplex and an  as  yet  unidentified  terrestrial
   Isoetes.

ERIGERON  OCHROLEUCUS VAR. SCRIBNERI (Compositae-Asteraceae) was
   reported by  Henry  (1915)  to  occur  in  British  Columbia.
   However,  "no collections are known to date" (Douglas, 1989).
   Douglas included this taxon  in  his  treatment  of  the  As-
   teraceae  of BC as "yet to be collected in British Columbia",
   as it is  known  from  several  stations  just  east  of  the
   BC/Alberta border (Douglas, 1995).

   Erigeron  ochroleucus  Nutt.  is  a  linear-leaved,  smallish
   fleabane (our specimens ca. 8 cm tall)  with  short,  grayish
   foliage,  a single, large head, and woolly involucral bracts.
   The short ray flowers are variably  light  coloured  (in  our
   specimens  light  blue).  Our plants belong to var. scribneri
   (Rydb.) Cronq. Jenifer Penny and I collected  this  plant  in
   the Rocky Mountains on the south- and southeast-facing slopes
   of  Mt.  Gass  between  2300 and 2500 m elevation. The plants
   were consistently  found  on  wind-exposed,  stony  limestone
   slopes  bearing  only a short, discontinuous cover of vegeta-
   tion. Associated species on these dry  sites  were  primarily
   Dryas  octopetala  and  Kobresia  myosuroides, sometimes also
   Erigeron grandiflorus, Townsendia parryi, Oxytropis  sericea,
   and Antennaria alpina.

Any information on these two species from British Columbia would
be  appreciated  by the author <HROEMER at galaxy.gov.bc.ca> or the
BC Conservation Data Centre <GWDOUGLAS at fwhdept.env.gov.bc.ca>.


NOVEMBER 1 -- TODAY IN THE HISTORICAL SCIENCES
From: DARWIN at iris.uncg.edu Reply to: darwin-l at raven.cc.ukans.edu

1793: JOHANN FRIEDRICH ESCHSCHOLTZ is born at Dorpat, now Tartu,
Estonia. Following education at  Dorpat  University,  now  Tartu
University,  Eschscholtz  will serve as naturalist and physician
on Kotzebue's voyages around the world from 1815  to  1818.  His
specimens  from  the  voyage will be given to Dorpat University,
and he will become curator of the Dorpat zoological  collections
in 1822.

1880:  ALFRED  LOTHAR WEGENER is born in Berlin. In 1912 he will
read a paper  titled  "Die  Herausbildung  der  Grossformen  der
Erdrinde   (Kontinente   und   Ozeane)   auf   geophysikalischer
Grundlage" ["The geophysical basis of the  evolution  of  large-
scale  features  of  the  earth's  crust"] before the Geological
Association of Frankfurt am Main. It will be  expanded  in  1915
into  "Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane" ["The Origin of
Continents and Oceans"], the first comprehensive account of  the
theory  of  continental drift. On this day in 1930, his fiftieth
birthday, while on an  expedition  to  Greenland,  Wegener  will
leave  his  base camp for the western coast and will not be seen
again.

Today in the Historical Sciences is a feature  of  Darwin-L,  an
international network discussion group on the history and theory
of  the  historical  sciences. Send the message INFO DARWIN-L to
listserv at raven.cc.ukans.edu  or  connect  to  the  Darwin-L  Web
Server (http://rjohara.uncg.edu) for more information.


UPROAR ON THE LICHENS-L DISCUSSION LIST AND REQUEST FOR SUPPORT

From: "Professor David Richardson, Dean of Science"
       <DRICHARD at Science.stmarys.ca>

I received a note from Sylvia Sharnoff thanking me and others in
the  lichen discussion group for help on her National Geographic
article. She asked me whether we could give her  some  more  and
urgent  help.  As many of you know Steve and Sylvia Sharnoff are
collaborating with Ernie  Brodo  to  produce  a  richly  colour-
illustrated book on Lichens of North America.

Sylvia writes:

   The  Middle  Management  of  the Canadian Museum of Nature
   have declared that guidebooks must be  fully  funded  from
   outside  sources  and  have  forbidden  Ernie to finish it
   except on his own time. They have also cut contract  nego-
   tiations with Yale University Press. Ernie will be meeting
   the  Interim  President  of  the  museum Mr Colin Eades on
   November 7th. Between now and then we need to generate  as
   much support as possible.

   If  you  are  willing,  Please  E mail or send a letter of
   support to:

     Mr Colin Eades <ceades at mus-nature.ca>
     fax 613-354-4020
     

From: "Brodo, Irwin" <IBRODO at MUS-NATURE.CA>

Request for funding for "Lichens of North America"

For the past three and a half  years,  Irwin  M.  Brodo  of  the
Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) has been working with California
photographer/lichenologists  Steve  and  Sylvia  Sharnoff  on  a
popular, illustrated guide to the lichens of North America.  The
plan  is  to  produce  a treatment of 790 illustrated macro- and
microlichens, with comparative notes on  many  others.  Descrip-
tions,  keys  and  distribution  maps would be provided for each
illustrated species. Introductory chapters would cover  morphol-
ogy,  chemistry, phytogeography, uses, methods for lichen study,
and basic classification.

The CMN policy regarding the production of guidebooks,  requires
researchers  to  completely  fund  such  projects  from  outside
sources to cover all operational and labour costs (i.e., includ-
ing salaries of all staff working on the book). In the  case  of
the  "Lichens  of  North America" project, the remaining work is
estimated to cost CAN$53,540 (ca. US$40,000). Work on  the  book
may not proceed until the complete funding is in place.

At  this  point,  all the photography has been completed and the
photographs selected. The introductory chapters are in 1st draft
stage (130 pages).  Species  treatments  are  complete  for  219
species,  and the writing of keys has begun. Data for almost all
the distribution maps have been gathered, and  final  maps  have
been  drawn for ca. 260 species. It is estimated that about nine
months of additional work is needed to complete the manuscript.

Donors or supporters will, of course,  be  acknowledged  in  the
book. Anyone knowing of potential sources of funding is urged to
contact   the  museum's  Grants  Officer,  Ms.  Martha  Johnson,
Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station  'D',  Ottawa,
Ontario  K1P 6P4, with a copy to Irwin Brodo, Research Division,
at the same address.


From: Darrell Wright <dwright at emf.net>

Lichen students the world over are groaning at the  decision  of
the  Canadian  Museum  of  Nature  to  withdraw  support for Dr.
Brodo's efforts to bring The Lichens of North  America  book  to
publication.  It  is  particularly needed at this time as a tool
for conservationists who, with the help of  excellent  materials
like  this, will eventually be able to obtain regulatory protec-
tion for these remarkable organisms. It would be a  first  class
tribute to the Canadian Museum of Nature to help with its publi-
cation. Please ensure that the Museum supports this effort.

   Darrell Wright
   Bulletin of the California Lichen Society

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