Volume 56 – Issue 3 (Sep 1991)

Forest regeneration was examined on abandoned channels along the Hatchie River in western Tennessee. Tree age and size data were used to reconstruct the development of the young forest stands and to predict future changes. Taxodium distichum and Salix nigra are among the first terrestrial species to colonize oxbow lakes after the channel cuts off. Salix lives a few decades. In contrast, Taxodium may dominate a site for several centuries. But, because of its low reproductive success in mature stands it will eventually be replaced by shade tolerant species, primarily Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Acer saccharinum. Therefore, the early colonizers rarely occur on older surfaces. Channel migration and the creation of new surfaces will maintain Taxodium and Salix in the lower bottomlands. However, these species will likely decline in some areas because of channelization. Maintaining straightened channels precludes the formation of oxbows. Therefore, the primary regeneration site for these species no longer exists.

Dr. Albert E. Radford is the third recipient of the Elizabeth Ann Bartholo mew Award. The Award was presented to Dr. Radford at the annual breakfast meeting of the Club during the Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB) at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, on 11 April 1991.

In regard to the recent article of Strong and Sheridan, Castanea 56(1):65-69, “Juncus caesariensis Coville (Juncaceae) in Virginia Peat Bogs,” Dr. John Churchill writes, “It may be worth comment that this rush was also ‘rediscovered’ by Churchill, J. and Wurdack, J. on 15 June 1970 at VA, Henrico Co., Elko, White Oak Swamp in seeps along railroad. Specimen in Herbarium MSC.”

Noteworthy Collections: Tennessee

Seven native species are reported for the first time from Maryland. Nomenclature follows Kartesz and Kartesz (1980); distributional information is from Fernald (1950) and Strausbaugh and Core (1978); vouchers have been deposited at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Senecio millefolium T. & G. was added to the Virginia flora in 1944 by Lloyd G. K. Carr on the basis of a single specimen collected in the Cedars of Lee County. The Carr specimen was small and depauperate, and the species was not identified subsequently from this area. In 1971, S. millefolium was omitted from the Virginia flora and since that time has been considered a Blue Ridge endemic found only in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. In 1990, collections of Senecio millefolium were made in the Cedars along with Senecio ✕memmingeri (S. anonymus ✕ S. millefolium). Their identification readmits S. millefolium to the Virginia flora, expands its range to the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province, and adds limestone to its edaphic tolerance. The species remains threatened even with the addition of these new populations.. [sic]

Hickman County, one of four westernmost counties of Kentucky bordered by the Mississippi River, consists of 308,750 hectares of which 79% have been cultivated. Hickman County is part of the Jackson Formation which is overlain by loess and alluvium. Obion Creek and Bayou de Chien Creek are primary drainage systems. More than 40 habitats, many of which are wetlands, were systematically collected from March 1987 to November 1988. These collections produced a three-fold increase in the number of species, subspecies and varieties known to occur in Hickman County. The result is an annotated list of 889 taxa representing 435 genera and 126 families.

Julian A. Steyermark’s Flora of Missouri published in 1963, set a level for floras which few other floras have been able to equal either before or since. The work was so thorough that for a quarter of a century, it stifled any botanists to try to even update it. But things eventually change with time, and with the renewed activity of Missouri botany within the last decade by the Missouri Native Plant Society, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, many new discoveries have been made, particularly in remote parts of Missouri where the late Steyermark had not even visited.

One hundred and sixty-two moss taxa (154 species and 8 varieties) are reported for Rowan County, Kentucky. Barbula reflexa, Bryum cyclophyllum, B. gemmiparum, Ditrichum rhynchostegium, Ephemerum cohaerens, and Fabronia ciliaris are newly reported for Kentucky. Other species of interest include Brothera leana, Fissidens exilis, Gumnostomum angustifolium, and Heterocladium macounii.

Book Review: Poisonous and Medicinal Plants