Noteworthy Collections: North Carolina and Tennessee
Noteworthy Collections: North Carolina and Tennessee
In a recent installment of Isely’s continuing series of notes on the systematics and nomenclature of the leguminous plants (Isely 1986), it is claimed that the nomenclaturally correct name for the annual, narrow-podded sesban of the southern United States is Sesbania macrocarpa Muhl. and neither Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) Rydb. ex Hill nor Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) Cory.
The American smoketree, Cotinus obovatus Raf. (Anacardiaceae), has three distinct centers of distribution (Barkley 1937, Little 1977), and it is nearly restricted to limestone outcrops and rocky limestone soils throughout its range. Cotinus obovatus grows on hillsides and limestone outcrops on the Edwards Plateau of Texas (Correll and Johnston 1970), on limestone and dolomite cliffs and glades in the Ozark region of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri (Steyermark 1940, Little 1943, Kucera and Martin 1957, Tucker 1976), and on rocky wooded limestone slopes in northern Alabama and adjacent Tennessee (Harper 1928, Shanks 1952, Clark 1971, Whetstone et al 1979). The species was listed as endangered in Kentucky by Branson et al (1981) and by Warren et al (1986).
Foliar flavonoid profiles permit discrimination between Fraxinus americana and F. pennsylvanica and the identification of the ploidy level in the former species. Gender cannot be ascertained by foliar flavonoid complement for either species.
In contrast to dehiscence progressing from the apex which is characteristic of other Sarracenia species, capsule dehiscence in S. leucophylla progresses from the base. It is proposed that this adaptation allows seed release at a point where seeds are less likely to be caught by the adherent style disc. Post-anthesis tilting in Sarracenia flowers seems to function to move the style disc away from its ventral position where it could interfere with seed dispersal.
The Clinch River gorge area of Russell County, Virginia, contains several species of biogeographic interest. At or near the southeastern extent of their ranges are Sullivantia sullivantii, Campanula rotundifolia, Galium boreale, Rhynchospora capillacea, Paxistima canbyi, Apocynum sibiricum, Euphorbia purpurea, Deschampsia caespitosa, and Fraxinus nigra. At or near the northeastern extent are Lithospermum tuberosum and Viola walteri. Several other unusual species occur here. Details of physiography and habitats are given.
An inventory of the vascular flora of nine of eleven units of Richmond National Battlefield Park was compiled from 1985 to 1987. Each site was visited during the growing season in two to four week intervals; plant species were identified and recorded in the field and/or collected for later study. A total of 761 different species were identified in the surveyed units, and 2487 individual records of species per particular park unit were noted. Twenty-three percent of the flora consists of exotic species, largely from Eurasia. Voucher specimens are housed in the herbaria of the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University.
We present here a comprehensive list of 331 algal taxa (phytoplankton and littoral) reported from Mountain Lake since 1930. The total derived from 11 earlier investigations, Jervis, and our continuous 33-month (1985-87) study includes Chlorophyceae (54%), Cyanophyceae (13.8%), Bacillariophyceae (7.5%), Dinophyceae (7.0%), Chrysophyceae (6.0%), Euglenophyceae (4.9%), Cryptophyceae (4.0%), Charophyceae (1.5%), Xanthophyceae (1.0%), and Chloromonadophyceae (0.3%).
A population of Cleistes divaricata (L.) Ames var. bifaria Fernald, at its northwesternmost range limit and rare in West Virginia, more than quadrupled in numbers between 1980 and 1986 in an acidic, nutrient-deficient West Virginia meadow that is mowed annually. The aerial, upright ramicauls (stems) may be vegetative with one to three leaves; when flowering, they typically bear one flower, one cauline leaf, and a floral bract. Long-lived flowers exploit naive bees, operating as rewardless bee-food-flower mimics. A hinged anther drops clumps of pollen tetrads onto the dorsal thorax of Bombus and Megachile workers. Pollination is effected when bees deposit pollen in flowers visited subsequently. Field capsules with 120 to 11,000+ seeds result from xenogamous and geitonogamous pollinations. Scarcity of pollinators and occasional severe herbivory of flowers and capsules lower reproductive output. Reproduction is enhanced by production of healthy pollen, low pollen to seed ratio, a highly efficient pollination mechanism, and high embryo viability.