Cooperation between land owners or managers and persons having crucial information on population locations is urgently needed if curtailment of Endangered, Threatened, or otherwise rare plant population depletion is to occur. The following account will serve to illustrate the point.
Diameter distributions of tree species were determined for the Henry M. Wright Preserve, an old-growth forest at an elevation of 1380 m on the Blue Ridge Divide in Macon County, North Carolina. Betula lenta and Tsuga canadensis were not characterized by negative exponential or otherwise monotonically descending diameter distributions. This is probably caused by the dense cover of evergreen ericaceous shrubs which may prevent the establishment of some tree species. Magnolia fraseri, which reproduces by basal sprouting, does have a negative exponential diameter distribution. Tree seedlings occur predominantly on spatially rare microsites such as rocks, logs, and paths.
The importance of salt spray to seedling survival, biomass, and distribution was studied on Currituck Bank, North Carolina. Seedlings of shrub zone species, Triplasis purpurea (Walter) Chapman and Myrica pensylvanica Loisel., were cultivated on-site and exposed to natural salt spray levels at least 100 times greater than those occurring in the seaward grass zone. Grass zone species, Uniola paniculata L. and Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl., were exposed to levels of the seaward forb zone. In addition, the natural distribution of seedlings was monitored among zones. Based upon survival and biomass effects, shrub zone seedlings are capable of tolerating salt spray levels of the grass zone. However, seedlings of M. pensylvanica never appeared in the grass zone nor more than a dozen T. purpurea seedlings at any point in time. Apparently, other factors have primacy over salt spray in restricting seedling appearance in this zone. Likewise, U. paniculata and S. patens seedlings rarely appeared in the forb zone even though they could have survived during extended portions of the growing season.
A floristic study of the Bear Creek Natural Area, Stewart County, Tennessee documented the presence of 733 (610 native and 123 introduced) vascular species representing 388 genera and 111 families. The four largest families, Asteraceae (85 species), Poaceae (83), Cyperaceae (44), and Fabaceae (39) account for 34 percent of the species. Eleven taxa are considered elements of concern, including two under federal review. The area is within the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Land Between the Lakes, is a registered Tennessee natural area, a designated TVA forest study and natural area, and has been recommended for designation as a National Natural Landmark. In addition to habitat diversity and the large flora with numerous rare elements, the site is significant because it represents the rare and mostly decimated western form of the mixed mesophytic forest.
Terminal leaflets, fruits, pistils, pedicels, bracts and staminodia of the North American Cimicifuga are illustrated and these illustrations serve as focal points for discussions of morphological variations. Cimicifuga elata and C. rubifolia have deeply cordate terminal leaflets and never produce staminodia. The nature of the petiole sulcus and the size, number, and position of bracts relative to the pedicel are found to be taxonomically significant and useful in field recognition of the eastern North American species. The mature petiole of C. racemosa has no sulcus. Measurements indicate that C. rubifolia has the fewest leaflets, largest terminal leaflet, longest follicles and smallest pollen grains in the genus. The occurrence of differences in xylem patterns in roots of the eastern North American species suggest the possibility of distinguishing them on the basis of anatomical characteristics. Species relationships are suggested. Cimicifuga rubifolia is a distinctive species as described by Kearney.
Investigations of the flora of the Carolinas continue to produce noteworthy state, regional, and county records of rare, overlooked, expanding, or opportunistic species. Twenty-six such records are reported here.
Cyperus houghtonii Torr., C. iria L., and C. polystachyos Rottb., are reported from West Virginia for the first time.
Clair A. Brown was a long-time and well-known Professor of Botany at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a noted student of the Louisiana flora. Late in his career he became particularly interested in the biology, ecology, natural history, and history of commercial exploitation of the baldcypress, Taxodium distichum (L.) Richard, especially as it occurs in the extensive bottomland and swamp forests of Louisiana.
Cooperation between land owners or managers and persons having crucial information on population locations is urgently needed if curtailment of Endangered, Threatened, or otherwise rare plant population depletion is to occur. The following account will serve to illustrate the point.
Eleven species of Myxomycetes are reported for the first time from West Virginia, bringing the total number of species known to have been collected in the state to 150. The collection of Comatricha reticulospora apparently represents the first record of this species from North America.