Volume 46 – Issue 1 (Mar 1981)

A book purported to help its readers “understand the environment,” this one is an excellent review of the terrestrial vegetation of North America.

For the first time in history, the plant life of North America is being catalogued.

One of the most beautiful botanical treatises to be published in America in recent years is this informative work on the wild plants of South Carolina.

The 1980 Lawrence Memorial Award; Two Rushes For Virginia; Correction; Chrysopsis Hyssopifolia Nutt. (Asteraceae) New to Louisiana.

An examination of the native vascular plant flora of Maryland during 1978 and 1979 as part of a review for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species program disclosed 237 different plants which could be considered rare or endangered in the State. This represents approximately ten percent of the native flora of Maryland. The present paper discusses 74 species, subspecies and varieties of Maryland plants which represent new state records or are plants of extreme rareness. Several species suggested by the Fish and Wildlife Service occur in Maryland, namely Trillium pusillum var. virginianum (E), Alnus maritima (T), Cardamine longii (T), Habenaria flava (T), H. peramoena (T), Juncus caesariensis (T), Lilium grayi (T), Micranthemum micranthemoides (T), and Ptilimnium fluviatile (T). Other recommended species were found in Maryland but were not considered to be in Maryland by the Fish and Wildlife Service at the time; these include such species as Bacopa stragula (E), Isotria medeoloides (E), Lechea maritima var. virginica (E), Panicum aculeatum (T), and Prunus allegheniensis (T). In addition to these species, the Endangered Species Committee of the Smithsonian Institution, and others, suggested additional species be considered as endangered or threatened. For Maryland, these proposed species were Hydrastis canadensis (T), Panax quinquefolium (T), Schwalbea americana (T), and Sida hermaphrodita (no designation as to status proposed). Of the many suggested plants, several can be excluded from Mary land: Alnus maritima (locally common, not threatened); Lilium grayi (not found in Maryland); Bacopa stragula (not a valid species, a synonym of the tropical B. innominata); Lechea maritima var. virginica (locally common and not threatened); Panicum aculeatum (a synonym of the widespread Dichanthelium scabriusculum); and Sida hermaphrodita (local and declining, but populations still widespread). Studies on the Maryland flora supported the proposed listing of the remaining plants as endangered or threatened. Two other plants are now suggested for consideration by the Fish and Wildlife Service: Aster depauperatus, a serpentine endemic of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and Bidens bidentoides var. mariana, a tidal flat endemic restricted to Maryland. Nomenclaturally, Habenaria flava is better considered a member of the genus Platanthera, as is H. peramoena, and we propose to recommend both variants of P. flava, the southern var. flava and the northern var. herbiola, to the Service. We prefer to recognize Hemianthus as distinct from Micranthemum and retain M. micranthemoides in Hemianthus. Errors in author citations noted during the present study include Scleria minor W. Stone, not “(Britton) W. Stone,” and Aster depauperatus Fernald, not “(T. C. Porter) Fernald.” New combinations include Trillium pusillum var. texanum (Buckley) Reveal & Broome, Salix exigua ssp. interior var. angustissima (Andress.) Reveal & Broome, Ptilimnium fluviatile var. viviparum (Rose) Reveal & Broome, Phlox glaberrima var. triflora (Michx.) Reveal & Broome, and Schwalbea americana var. australis (Pennell) Reveal & Broome. 

Thalictrum hepaticum Greene (Ranunculaceae), a southern Appalachian taxon, is recognized as a variety [var. hepaticum (Greene) Keener, stat. nov.] of the polymorphic, wide-ranging Thalictrum pubescens Pursh. A key is provided for closely related species ranging throughout the southern Appalachians.

The flower pigments of Hexastylis virginica and H. heterophylla are identical but differ markedly from those of Asarum canadense. The anthocyanin pigments of the Hexastylis species are complex acylated glycosides of both cyanidin and malvidin. The pigment of Asarum canadense is a simple unacylated glycoside of cyanidin.

This is a dictionary of Botany, as the name says, with 5,500 names, terms, definitions, and other useful descriptions relating to the field of Botany.

The grasses of the Southeastern United States are probably well known but this is one of the first books describing them for a particular state; as such, Dr. Allen’s book will be useful in many of the adjacent states.

The arborescent vegetation of Highlands Hammock State Park, Highlands County, Florida, was sampled by means of the quadrat method during the late spring of 1979. Twenty-five 10 x 10 m quadrats were established in two areas of the park: the “Big Oak Trail” and the “Hickory Trail.” Density, relative density, frequency, relative frequency, basal area, relative dominance and importance values were calculated for each species. Quercus virginiana was dominant in the Big Oak Trail, and Sabal palmetto was co- dominant. Sabal palmetto was dominant on the Hickory Trail with Quercus virginiana the codominant species. Carya glabra while represented by several large trees, was fourth in relative dominance and importance value on the Hickory Trail. Infrequent but severe cold probably accounts for the dominance of the afore-mentioned species.