Notes and News: A lectotype for Philadelphus sharpianus
Notes and News: A lectotype for Philadelphus sharpianus
This checklist is offered to fulfill an immediate need in North American lichenology: a floristic summary interpreting the published records in the light of recent taxonomic and no menclatural research. That such a summary is long overdue is shown in that 2,280 species in 193 genera are listed below as compared to some 1500 species in Fink’s 1935 Lichen Flora of the United States. Since our list is largely compiled from many published articles, necessarily of unequal quality, some inclusions are incorrect, some exclusions unjustified, and some oversights inevitable. But the very shortcomings of this list should stimulate further study.
One of the most conspicuous and widespread genera of mosses in West Virginia is the genus Mnium. Although no Mniums have been reported from some counties, it is reasonable to believe that some species of Mnium may be found in every county of the State. The genus Mnium is one of the easiest to identify in the field even if not in fruiting condition. In this paper a vegetative key to the species of Mnium is presented. The descriptions of species based largely on vegetative characters are accompanied by comparative sketches of various leaf and cell characters of the twelve species and three varieties of Mnium reported from West Virginia. The magnification of each series of sketches is the same for all species.
In the genus Viola, a species with little morphological variability is much rarer than the opposite: a species with definite and often highly complicated variation patterns. Among the acaulescent violets of eastern North America, there are three species especially notable for their distinctness: Viola renifolia Gray, V. rotundifolia Michx., and V. selkirkii Pursh. Variation has been studied and illustrated for the first two species (Russell, 1955, in press), and the present paper concerns the third, V. selkirkii: Selkirk’s Violet, or the “Great-spurred” violet.
Anyone who botanizes in Tennessee’s five most northeastern counties, Carter, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington, must surely be impressed with the large number of foreign species that have made themselves at home in this area. And I feel quite sure that the same holds true for the other Tennessee counties adjacent to this area as well as to those of North Carolina and Virginia that are also adjacent to this part of Tennessee. Some have become more or less serious pests. The Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica Thunb), at one time in good repute, has especially become a very serious pest, not only here, but over much of the United States.
Aristolochia durior Hill. A fine old specimen is growing near Fishtop in the Green River Cove after seeds were brought down from higher elevations by floods of 30 or 40 years ago.