Volume 40 – Issue 1 (Mar 1975)

G. W. McDowell (1973. The swamp-pink, an unreported native of South Carolina. CASTANEA 38:407408.) noted two new species for South Carolina in some bogs of Greenville County.

Carex atherodes Spreng., previously unreported in West Virginia, was recently collected along Glade Run in the Canaan Valley of Tucker County. A colony of the sedge about 100 feet by 150 feet was found along the edge of a large beaver pond, which frequently inundates the colony.

J. T. Baldwin, Jr., College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185, wants to resume work initiated in the 1930’s on the above complex of Sedum.

André Michaux was the first of the great botanists to explore the fascinating world of the Southern Appalachians, and one of the first in the southeastern United States. Somewhat as to a new Garden of Eden, he came to America, roused from his happy place as a young farmer in Satory, France, by a great tragedy, the death of his lovely young wife in giving birth to a son, Francois André.

This scholarly book was written chiefly for students at the University of Michigan Biological Station, where the teaching of bryology has been important since 1918, when George E. Nichols first visited the station. The book includes all the mosses of the area of the Straits of Mackinac, in the counties of Cheboygan, Emmet, Mackinac, and Presque Isle; but the introductory key includes all genera of mosses known in Michigan and the text provides means of identifying all species of mosses known in Michigan, indeed most species of the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin. Actually, the book is a guide to identification of mosses of much of eastern North America, including especially the Southern Appalachian region.

The 15th Supplement to this most valuable taxonomic tool is very similar to the preceding supplements, and contains 151 pages covering the years 1966-1970. It is edited by John Heslop-Harrison, famed English taxonomist, a change from the previous three supplements, which were edited by Sir George Taylor.

Picris hierucioides L. This weedy European, somewhat resembling a Hawkweed, is known as an occasional adventive in waste places over most of the Northeastern States, but is usually uncommon and local. The Carnegie Herbarium has old records from Allegheny and Bedford counties; and the writer found it a few years ago growing under cultivated shrubs in Blair County.

The following recently discovered vascular plants are new records for the State of West Virginia, U. S. A.: Eulalia uiminea (Trin.) Ktze., Rubus plicatifolius Blanchard, Rubus elegantulus Blanchard, Vicia tetrasperma (L.) Moench, Lysimachia thyrsiflora L., Fraxinus americana forma iodocarpa Fern., Phlox glaberrima L., Teucrium botrys L., Dipsacus laciniatus L., Knautia arvensis (L.) Duby., and Aster ontarionis Wieg.

Topography, climate, edaphology, and vegetation of Presquile, a James River island in Chesterfield County, Virginia, are considered in this study. A brief history of the island is provided. Seven soil types occurring on the island are described. Plant communities are classified as river escarpment, fill, swamp, marsh, and field border, and each is described. Species characterizing each community are given. A map of the island showing habitats is included.

Arctium minus, Centaurea, with seven species, and Cnicus benedictus are treated floristically for Virginia. Keys to genera and species, along with species descriptions, distribution maps, ecological and flowering and fruiting data are included. Centaurea X pratensis is reported new to the flora.