Noteworthy Collections: State and North Carolina
Noteworthy Collections: State and North Carolina
On a routine field inspection of a site in extreme southern Dunklin County, Missouri, Ulmus crassifolia Nutt. was found. This elm is new to the state (Steyermark 1963; Ginny Wallace, pers. comm.). Ulmus crassifolia is known from southwestern Tennessee, Arkansas, and southern Oklahoma, south to central and southern Texas and extreme northeastern Mexico, east to Louisiana and western Mississippi (Little 1979).
Conventional methods for studying seed burial tolerance of beach and dune species are based upon a moist layer of sand above a replicate of seeds. Due to inherent problems in preparing a medium which is homogeneous for both moisture and bulk density, results of such experiments are difficult to interpret with an acceptable degree of certainty. The purpose of this note is to discuss shortcomings of the traditional approach and to introduce a technique which has major advantages over current methods.
On 16 July 1985, the authors discovered Lobelia appendiculata var. gattingeri growing in a small limestone glade in Warren County, Kentucky. The plants had already fruited and dried except for several new flowering stems that had bolted from the base of old flowering stalks. Identification of the specimens was confirmed by Drs. Jerry and Carol Baskin of the University of Kentucky and Dr. Robert Wilbur of Duke University.
With so many excellent books dealing with the wildflowers of the United States presently on the market, it is time we have a book containing equally fine photographs of ferns. Murray Evans has provided 402 pictures that show the distinctive features of many ferns that are often troublesome for the non-specialist to identify. They are aesthetically pleasing, even downright artistic, in some cases. Since ferns are somewhat difficult to photograph, this feature makes the book well worth the cost.
Leaf lobation patterns of mulberry (Morus L.) shrubs and trees were studied in 1984 and 1985 at Bowling Green, Kentucky. The number of divisions (sinuses) were counted to a maximum of five per leaf. For adult trees, entire leaves were most frequent; single division leaves were second most frequent. For shrubs, entire leaves and leaves with four or five divisions occurred at approximately equal frequencies and at greater frequencies than the other classes. Leaf lobation distributions were significantly influenced by trees, years, and tree x year interactions. Linear correlation coefficients (r) between leaf position (numbered from tip of branch toward base) and number of lobes were positive and highly significant. Thus, leaf pattern became simpler with advanced stages of maturity.
The number of naturally occurring taxa of Vitis reported for North Carolina has ranged from five to nine, with seven being recognized in this treatment. Widespread natural hybridization was believed earlier to be responsible for this discrepancy; however, clinal variation was determined to be a complicating factor in the systematics of Vitis, and accounts for substantial morphological differences within species. Clines exist in two of North Carolina’s grapes, V. aestivalis and V. cinerea. Pubescent V. aestivalis var. aestivalis of the Coastal Plain and Piedmont gradually becomes more glabrous and more glaucous on the abaxial leaf surfaces with increasing elevation. Mountain forms are treated as V. aestivalis var. argentifolia. Vitis cinerea has a similar clinal variation with leaves becoming more glabrous with elevational increase. Relatively glabrous plants of the Piedmont and mountains are V. cinerea var. baileyana and pubescent plants of the Coastal Plain are V. cinerea var. floridana. The morphology of V. vulpina, V. labrusca, and V. rotundifolia remains constant throughout the state. Differences in phenology and ecological preference are believed to promote reproductive isolation within subgenus Vitis. Barriers are not completely effective, however, since five putative hybrids were located in natural populations.
Hexastylis, here considered distinct from Asarum, is endemic to the southeastern United States. New or revised descriptions of ten species and five varieties are presented along with a new, dichotomous key. Three subgeneric groups—Arifolia, Speciosa, and Virginica—are recognized. Morphological, biogeographical, and phenological data indicate that the Virginica group of Hexastylis may be divided into three closely related subgroups: Virginica, Heterophylla, and Shuttleworthii. Species in the Heterophylla subgroup (heterophylla, minor, and naniflora) seem to be the most closely related and are, therefore, the most difficult to separate taxonomically. Within the three subgroups, species barriers are maintained by geographical isolation, while between subgroups, gene flow seems to be prevented by phenological isolation.
A study of the occurrence and distribution of cellular slime molds (CSM) in soils of southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests was carried out during the 1985 field season. Samples for CSM isolation were collected from four different study sites: (1) Blister Run in central West Virginia, (2) Mount Rogers in southwestern Virginia, (3) Mount Mitchell in western North Carolina, and (4) Mount Coffins in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of western North Carolina. Eight different species of cellular slime molds were isolated, but only two of these (Polysphondylium violaceum and Dictyostelium discoideum) were recovered from all four sites. Absolute density of the recovered CSM microflora was highest for Mount Mitchell, where soil samples were collected from an area near the summit characterized by almost complete mortality of the tree stratum.
This book has something for everyone who enjoys plants: a physical description of the areas covered, family and generic keys, helpful line drawings, a glossary, and lots of color photographs. Of the 949 species included, 588 are pictured, and correspond in numbered sequence to the descriptions in the main text. In a few brief paragraphs per species, the authors give (under a common name followed by the Latin) a description, occurrence, habitat data, distribution, flowering times, and where necessary, synonyms and/or names from other treatments that differ from those of these authors.