BEN # 261

[Adolf Ceska]

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BBBBB    EEEEE    NN N N             BOTANICAL
BB   B   EE       NN  NN             ELECTRONIC
BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N             NEWS

No. 261                              December 12, 2000

aceska at victoria.tc.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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DR. RUPERT C. BARNEBY (1911-2000)
From: Barbara Thiers [bthiers at nybg.org], originally
         posted on Taxacom at usobi.org

Dr.  Rupert  Charles  Barneby,  Curator Emeritus in The New York
Botanical Garden's Institute of Systematic Botany and one of the
Garden's most senior and distinguished scientists, died Tuesday,
December 5. He was 89 years old.

Barneby's association with The New York Botanical Garden spanned
nearly a half century. He arrived as a visiting scholar  in  the
1950s  and  shortly  thereafter  accepted  a  staff  position as
Honorary Curator of Western Botany.  He  went  on  to  become  a
Research  Associate  and  an Editorial Consultant for Brittonia,
the Garden's esteemed  scientific  journal  covering  systematic
botany.

A self-taught botanist, Barneby rose to become a world expert in
Leguminosae  (the  bean family) and Menispermaceae (the moonseed
family). He spent his career at the Garden curating and studying
the world's best collection of New World Leguminosae.

Gregory Long, President of The New York Botanical Garden,  said,
"Rupert  Barneby was one of the most productive botanists of the
twentieth century, a giant in the field of  botanical  research.
Over  the  last half century, he has been an inspiring mentor, a
meticulous scholar, and a creative editor who has made an  enor-
mous  contribution  to  the  botanical world. We at The New York
Botanical Garden are indeed fortunate that his  kind,  generous,
gentle manner graced our lives."

In  1999, the International Botanical Congress presented Barneby
with its prestigious Millennium Botany Award for a  lifetime  of
contribution to science. In 1980, he was the winner of the Henry
Allan Gleason Award, an annual award from The New York Botanical
Garden  for  an  outstanding  recent publication in the field of
plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography. In 1989,  the
American  Society  of Plant Taxonomists awarded Barneby with the
Asa Gray Award for his contributions to  systematic  botany.  In
1991,  The  Garden  honored  Barneby  by  institutionalizing his
legacy through the establishment of the Rupert C.  Barneby  Fund
for  Research  in  Legume  Systematics. The Engler Silver Medal,
botanical science's highest honor for publications, was  awarded
to  Barneby  in  1992  for his monographic work _Sensitivae Cen-
sitae: A Revision of the Genus Mimosa Linnaeus  (Mimosaceae)  in
the New World_.

Since  the  publication  of  his  first botanical paper in 1941,
Barneby published more than 6,500 pages of  papers,  monographs,
and  journals.  Among  his  most influential works are _Atlas of
North American Astragalus_;  _Daleae  Imagines_;  _Intermountain
Flora,  Volume  3, Part B_; and _Silk Tree, Guanacaste, Monkey's
Earring: A Generic System for the Synandrous Mimosaceae  of  the
Americas_, (3 Volumes).

"Rupert  Barneby was an incredible scholar and one of the nicest
people I have known. He was  one  of  the  most  productive  and
erudite  students of botany and horticulture on the staff of The
New York Botanical Garden in its 109-year history.  He  will  be
remembered   by   thousands   of  colleagues  for  his  uncommon
generosity in sharing his inexhaustible  knowledge  and  precise
editorial  skills. He has left an authoritative legacy of publi-
cations and will  be  sorely  missed  by  botanists  around  the
world,"  said Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, the former
Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Barneby was known for his talent for discovering or  rediscover-
ing rare and local species. In the course of his five decades of
research, Barneby described and named over 1,100 different plant
species  new  to  science. A botanist is fortunate to have a new
species of plant named in his honor. Barneby  had  not  only  25
different  species  named  after  him,  but  also,  three genera
(groups of species sharing common characteristics, such as roses
or  oaks)  of   plants   --   _Barnebya_,   _Barnebyella_,   and
_Barnebydendron_.

Barneby   was   a  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Plant
Taxonomists, the International Association for  Plant  Taxonomy,
and the New England Botanical Club, and a Fellow of the Califor-
nia Academy of Sciences.

"Rupert  Barneby  was  a great student of plants in the style of
George  Bentham  and  the  other  encyclopedic  workers  of  the
nineteenth  century,  who  would  tirelessly analyze all we knew
about enormous groups of plants and  reduce  that  knowledge  to
lucid  prose, working day after day, month after month, and year
after year. He always had time to encourage  and  help  students
and  colleagues,  giving  them  the benefit of his extraordinary
classical education, friendly personality, and love for  plants.
He  will  be  greatly missed," said Dr. Peter Raven, Director of
the Missouri Botanical Garden and close friend and colleague.

He lived among literati as easily as he  did  among  scientists.
Considered his close friends were W.H. Auden, Christopher Isher-
wood, Julian Huxley, and others.

Rupert  Barneby  was  born  October  6,  1911, in Monmouthshire,
England. He attended Cambridge University where he received  his
B.A.  in  History  and  Modern Languages in 1932. He came to the
United States in 1937 and  established  permanent  residency  in
1941.  In  1978, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science
degree from The City University of New York. In accordance  with
his  wishes,  there  will  be no funeral. The Garden will hold a
memorial celebration in January.


WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT: VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION
   AND PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF CIRCUMBOREAL CONIFEROUS FORESTS

To be held in conjunction with the 44th Symposium  of the Inter-
   national  Association  of Vegetation Science (IAVS) Freising-
   Weihenstephan, near Munich, Germany 30-31 July 2001

Chair:
Prof. Dr. Klaus Dierssen, University of Kiel, Germany
Program Coordinators:
Dr. Milan Chytry, University of Brno, Czech Republic
   [chytry at sci.muni.cz]
Toby Spribille, U.S. Forest Service, USA
   [toby.spribille at gmx.de]

Topics:
 1. Regional syntaxonomies and their integration into a  circum-
    polar framework
 2. Regional and pan-regional releve databases
 3. Development  of  future  international  project  for  class-
    ification of boreal forests of the world

We would like to invite presentations on any  of  the  above  or
related  topics.  Interested  persons  should  contact Dr. Milan
Chytry (Europe and Asia)  or  Toby  Spribille  (North  America).
Please find out more information about the 44th Symposium of the
IAVS at the symposium website: http://www.weihenstephan.de/iavs/

Deadline  for  the  receipt  of abstracts is 15 Jan 2001. Please
submit a copy of your abstract  to  one  of  the  Program  Coor-
dinators  as  well  as over the Registration section of the sym-
posium website listed above.


_ABRONIA UMBELLATA_ SSP. _ACUTALATA_ (PINK  SANDVERBENA)  -  THE
   RAREST PLANT ON THE PLANET OR THE RAREST PLANT IN CANADA?
From: George W. Douglas [George.Douglas at gems7.gov.bc.ca]

This  plant  has  an interesting history in British Columbia. It
was first reported by J.K. Henry from  Pachena  Bay  (near  Bam-
field)  prior to 1915 (Henry 1915) and was later collected there
in 1927. A second collection, from  Ahousat  (near  Tofino)  was
made in 1915. Officially, it was not seen again until the summer
of 2000 by Jim Hamilton, who lives along the Pacific Coast Trail
in  Pacific  Rim  National  Park.  Jim  tells us that a previous
neighbour saw this species in 1941 on the same  beach.  Although
Mr.  Hamilton  has lived near this beach since 1954 and explores
it often every summer, this is the first time he has seen it.

On September 11, 2000 a  Conservation  Data  Centre  field  team
(George  W.  Douglas, Jenifer Penny and Beth Rogers) visited the
site. Two  _Abronia  umbellata_  ssp.  _acutalata_  plants  were
examined  on the upper beach, just below the driftwood zone. The
plants were growing in fine sand in a plant community  comprised
almost  solely of scattered _Cakile maritima_, a European intro-
duction. The plants measured 2 x 1.5 and  1  x  0.75  metres  in
diameter. The larger plant had about 200 flower/seed heads while
the  smaller  had about 100 heads. About 20 seed heads were col-
lected for propagation and further research. A search of about a
2 km of beach on foot  and  a  quick  aerial  reconnaissance  by
helicopter  over  about  30 km of coastline did not reveal addi-
tional _Abronia_ plants.

On the Oregon Coast another pink  sandverbena  (_Abronia  umbel-
lata_  ssp.  _breviflora_) has received special attention due to
its rarity. Tom Kaye, a Ph.D. graduate student at  Oregon  State
University  has,  for the past five years, conducted research on
this taxon. This species has probably always had low numbers  in
Oregon  since  the  plant is mainly an annual and depends almost
solely on regeneration from seed after it is  washed  away  each
year by strong winter storms. In addition, since the turn of the
century plant numbers have been greatly reduced in Oregon due to
loss  of  its  open habitat caused by the invasion of_ Ammophila
arenaria_, a European grass. More  recently,  off-road  vehicles
have  also  threatened  these habitats. _Abronia umbellata_ ssp.
_breviflora_ seeds were  propagated  in  the  greenhouse,  seeds
collected, then dispersed at appropriate upper beach sites along
the  southern  Oregon  coast. Although germination percentage is
high in the greenhouse, it is low in the field. About  one/4,000
seeds germinates and survives into the growing season. Both hand
dispersal  of  seeds  and transplants on the Oregon beaches have
achieved some short-term success. At  seeding  rates  of  50,000
seeds/site, the initial establishment of plants ranged from 0 to
over  1500.  Survival of greenhouse transplants at several sites
has proved successful. The long-term success  of  both  methods,
however,  depends  on  the recruitment of new plants, their seed
production and subsequent survival of some  of  them  as  short-
lived  perennials.  While  on  a  golfing  holiday on the Oregon
Coast, a week after my return from Pacific Rim National Park,  I
was  able  to  accompany  Tom  and his associates to some of his
research sites.

The question, whether this British Columbia plant is the  rarest
plant  on the planet or just the rarest plant in Canada, depends
on its taxonomic status. American botanists  in  California  and
Oregon  often extend the range of ssp. _breviflora_ as far north
as  British  Columbia.   In   contrast,   Tillett   (1967)   and
Washington/British   Columbia  botanists  have  recognized  ssp.
_acutalata_ as occurring in Washington and British Columbia.  If
the latter treatments are shown to be justified by morphological
studies  -  following the original treatments by Standley (1909,
1918) - and DNA examination, then our plant is  indeed  rare  on
the  planet, having been declared extinct in British Columbia by
myself and in Washington by John Gamon. (It could easily return,
however, to its extinct status with the coming  of  storms  this
winter.)  I  am  currently  comparing material from southwestern
Oregon with our British Columbia collections while Keith Karoly,
Oregon State University is studying DNA from the British  Colum-
bia  populations  (grown on from seed by Tom Kaye) and will com-
pare it with his  previous  studies  of  California  and  Oregon
material.

References:

Standley, P.C. 1909. The Allioniaceae of the United States, with
   notes on Mexican species. Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 12: 303-389.
Standley,  P.C.  1918.  Allioniaceae. North Amer. Flora 21: 171-
   254.
Tillett,  S.S.   1967.   The   maritime   species   of   Abronia
   (Nyctaginaceae). Brittonia 19: 299-327.


BOOK REVIEW: AQUATIC AND WETLAND PLANTS OF NE NORTH AMERICA
From: Adolf Ceska & Oldriska Ceska c/o [aceska at victoria.tc.ca]

Crow, Garrett E. & C. Barre Hellquist. 2000. Aquatic and wetland
   plants  of northeastern North America: a revised and enlarged
   edition of Norman C. Fassett's A manual of aquatic plants.
   Volume  1:  Pteridophytes,  gymnosperms,   and   angiosperms:
   dicotyledons.  The  University  of  Wisconsin Press, Madison.
   LV+480 p. ISBN 0-299-16330-X [hard cover] Price: US$90.00
Crow, Garrett E. & C. Barre Hellquist. 2000. Aquatic and wetland
   plants of northeastern North America: a revised and  enlarged
   edition of Norman C. Fassett's A manual of aquatic plants.
   Volume  2:  Angiosperms:  monocotyledons.  The  University of
   Wisconsin Press, Madison. LV+400 p. ISBN 0-299-16280-X  [hard
   cover] Price: US$90.00

"A  manual  of  aquatic  plants" by Norman Fassett, published in
1940, dealt with aquatic plants of the northeast part  of  North
America,  but  its  scope  and influence was much wider. Aquatic
environments tend to buffer climatic factors and aquatic  plants
are  generally  more  widespread  than their dry land relatives.
Many aquatic and  wetland  plants  are  circumpolar  and  occur,
sometimes  disjunctly, all over the northern hemisphere. We used
"Fassett" every time we were not able  to  identify  an  aquatic
plant  here  in  British Columbia and to our surprise, we deter-
mined quite a few species not previously reported from our  area
(e.g.   _Ceratophyllum   echinatum_,  _Myriophyllum  farwellii_,
_Potamogeton oakesianus_, _P. strictifolius_, etc.).

The "revised and enlarged  edition  of  Norman  C.  Fassett's  A
manual  of  aquatic  plants"  covers  the  geographic  area from
southern Ontario to Newfoundland and south to northern  Virginia
and western Minnesota. It deals with 1139 species that belong to
295  genera.  The  work  retains  the  original  format  of  the
Fassett's manual: like the original Fassett's Manual,  it  is  a
collection  of excellent identification keys, notes on distribu-
tion and taxonomy of each species,  with  copious  illustrations
and  many useful references. The authors deleted cryptogams from
the original "Fassett" scope and added a large number of wetland
species that were not covered in  the  original  "Fassett".  The
authors  added many new illustrations and more than 600 pages of
illustrations provide the line drawings for about 90 per cent of
included taxa. The  book  retains  the  feel  of  the  Fassett's
Manual,  in  spite  of  the fact that it grew from a slim single
volume into two much larger and thicker volumes.

Although this  revision  has  many  features  of  the  Fassett's
Manual,  much  of  the  actual  content is new, and contains the
result of hard, meticulous work of its authors. Already  in  the
1980's  Drs.  Crow & Hellquist wrote a series of identifications
keys ("_Manual of Aquatic Plants of New England_") published  as
Bulletins  of  the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station
that were hailed as the best  identification  keys  for  aquatic
plants  in North America. The present keys were used in numerous
field workshops and the authors acknowledged the  valuable  con-
tributions  of  students  who were using and testing the keys in
various identification courses. After such testing there are not
many features that can be improved upon. Our only  criticism  is
that  we  would  have liked to see an indication of scale in the
illustrations.

Both volumes are well produced by the  University  of  Wisconsin
Press. The price of the book (US$90.00 per each volume) is high,
but not unreasonable, if you consider the quality of this publi-
cation.

Ordering information:
   Customer Service Department
   The University of Wisconsin Press
   c/o Chicago Distribution Center
   11030 South Langley Ave.
   Chicago, IL 60628
   U.S.A.
   Phone: 773-568-1550
   Fax: 773-660-2235
   http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/order.html

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