Volume 33 – Issue 3 (Sep 1968)

According to Fernald (Gray’s Manual of Botany, 1950), the range of Disporum maculatum (Buckl.) Britt., is “O. and S. Mich., S. to Ga., Ala. and Tenn.”. In general, however, its range is rather localized in North America, being restricted mainly to the older geologic provinces (Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, Cumberland, and Allegheny) of the Appalachians (see Fig. 1). Two reports of collections in southern Michigan (Oakland Co., May 22, 1921, Cahn & 0. A. Farwell 5769; and Washtenaw Co., May 20, 1884, G. B. Sudworth 43), however, illustrate a rather disjunct extension of the range. The validity of at least the first of these two collections seems unquestionable.

In a recent careful review of the plants collected primarily by the senior author in Tennessee 1965-1967, some interesting plants were found which merited special mention. Some of these taxa have not been previously reported in Tennessee; others are sufficiently infrequent or rare to warrant their inclusion here.

While studying the flora of upper South Carolina in the summer of 1967, numerous county records were discovered. A few of them are reported here because of their rare or unexpected occurrence (based on distribution maps in the Atlas of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas). Specimens of these plants are deposited in the Furman University Herbarium.

A misidentified specimen of Gymnocarpium dryopteris (L.) Newman has been distributed from the University of North Carolina as Woodsia ilvensis (L.) R. Brown, J. R. Bozeman #10678. This collection in Ashe County, North Carolina represents a record for the Carolinas, since heretofore its southern limit has been given as Virginia (Fernald, 1950; Wherry, 1961).

The Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers flow into the waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia, where they meet the James River on its course to the lower Chesapeake Bay. The western and eastern branches of the Elizabeth River represent inter-tidal waterways that join this river near its mouth. Pritchard (1952) has described the water movements of the James River estuary and the phytoplankton investigations have been reviewed by Marshall (1967a). The purpose of this study is to present observations on the phytoplankton composition of the Lafeyette River, and the western and eastern branches of the Elizabeth River.

Meristic characters proposed by Fernald (1945) to separate Ruellia humilis Nutt. from R. caroliniensis (Walt.) Steud. were shown by Long (1961) to break down under analysis without reference to sympatry and without evidence of cross-breeding. Essentially, these characters are: In R. humilis, leaves are mostly uniform, sessile or subsessile, stems much branched, often depressed-ascending, nodes many, subequal, several floriferous. In R. caroliniensis, upper leaves are markedly larger than lower (excepting terminal growth), plants remotely branched to simple, erect, with few nodes, the upper much shorter than the lower, and only the uppermost floriferous. While Ruellia students can generally recognize these species through familiarity, key characters generally offered by current manuals sometimes prove disconcerting in non-conforming specimens.

The Okefenokee Swamp is a vast lowland area comprising the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Charlton, Clinch, and Ware Counties, southeastern Georgia. Wright and Wright (1932) discuss the vegetation of the area. Distributional data given in recent revisions of North American lichens such as those of Sierk (1964) and Thomson (1963) indicate that this area of Georgia, indeed all of Georgia, have had relatively few lichens reported from it. The species reported here were collected by myself and by George W. Folkerts in March of 1966 and by myself in March of 1967.

On 23 June 1963 while visiting a station of paper birch (Betula papyrifera) in the Blue Ridge of Albemarle County, Virginia, I was greatly surprised to discover a colony of bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) growing beneath the birches. Here at 2,700 feet elevation on a north-facing slope near the crest of the ridge is located a group of paper birches consisting of some thirty clumps of trees up to 8 inches in dbh. A total of 96 bunchberry plants were counted in little groups, all growing in the leaf litter of the birches. Only five plants appeared to have bloomed, and their white bracts were already gone. The occurrence of these two species in conjunction on the predominantly oak-covered mountainside gave a quite boreal aspect to the scene.

In the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, about one mile west of Charles Town, Jefferson County, on the Piedmont and Altona Farms, known by the same name as the Farms, there is a calcareous Marsh of some fifty acres, formed at a low point in limestone farm land areas of Evitts Run. This run is a meandering stream, about seven feet wide and one foot deep, passing through and finally reaching the Shenandoah River about six miles to the southeast. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad grade has formed the northern boundary of the Marsh since 1832 and aids in impounding water, thus creating a pond situation of about one fourth acre. The remaining Marsh, on visits in May, June, August and November 1967, was always found to have the practically flat ground covered with about four inches of water. There are many limestone springs draining into the Marsh; and since marl, a soft lime compound mixed with clay, has been mined for agricultural use from the earth farther up stream, it is thought that this type formation may underlie the Marsh.

Section Flagellares comprises most of the dewberries—those trailing or mounding brambles which normally tip-root late in the season, and which have more or less prickly, rather than hispid or setose, canes. The leaves are usually rather thin and dull, although a few species, such as Rubus vixalacer and R. particeps, have leaves which are somewhat shiny on the upper surface when growing. Some species, such as R. roribaccus and R. multifer, often produce an abundance of large, juicy fruits of excellent flavor.