Volume 60 – Issue 3 (Sep 1995)

The results of two floristic studies of King George County, Virginia, are combined into an annotated checklist. Field work was initiated in 1983-84 with a study of Caledon Natural Area, a 2,500-acre tract with 3.5 miles of frontage on the Potomac River. Collecting resumed in 1991 and 1992 to include other portions of the county drained by the Potomac River. The study area contains a wide variety of habitats including dry upland woods, mesic ravines, low elevation river flats, beaches, swamps, marshes, and creeks; creeks and marshes include both brackish and freshwater environments. The Potomac River watershed of King George County harbors a diverse assemblage of plants; the checklist includes documentation for 918 species of vascular plants classified in 466 genera and 130 families. This total includes 418 species that at the time of collection were the first records of occurrence in King George County.

We describe for the first time Isoetes Xaltonharvillii, the hybrid between I. engelmanniii and I. caroliniana. This diploid (2n = 22) is known from two localities in the Appalachian mountains. Like other quillwort hybrids, megaspores are intermediate in morphology between the two parents. The discovery of I. ✕altonharvillii supports the segregation of its two parents as distinct species because of the apparently sterile nature of the hybrid.

Two bogs with a combined area of 3.6 hectares on Crowley’s Ridge in Greene County, Arkansas were studied to determine and compare the vascular flora. Plants were collected from May 1992 through January 1994. A combined total of 262 taxa representing 178 genera and 71 families was collected in the study areas. Carex bromoides, Chelone glabra and Spiraea tomentosa, all considered rare in the state of Arkansas, were present in one or both bogs. Bog ecosystems are very limited in extent in Arkansas, and as a result of the plant diversity found in these two bogs, formal protection is recommended by the authors.

Aspects of the population and reproductive ecology of the endangered fragrant prickly-apple cactus [Cereus eriophorus var. fragrans (Small) L. Benson] in Florida were studied in order to provide a basis for prudent management. Individual plants in two populations were permanently marked, mapped, and monitored monthly for one year. They had a clumped distribution, largely under cabbage palm trees. Growth was slowest in the dry winter months and fastest in the wet summer season. Flowering peaked in April and May with a minor peak in October. Sixty-three percent of the mature plants flowered and fifty percent of the flowers produced fruit. There was a positive relationship between plant size and fruit production. Mortality was approximately five percent, mostly in the summer months, and there was no successful recruitment. Individuals growing in the sun in ecotones between vegetation and open sandy areas demonstrated significantly higher flower production and fruit set than those growing in shade.

Nepal Microstegium Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) Camus occurs in all counties and Baltimore City in Maryland, and in adjacent Washington, D.C. This Asiatic grass is abundant in the central part of the State and less so toward the western and eastern parts of the State. Primary habitats are partially shaded roadbanks, firetrails and logging roads, and mesic and floodplain woodlands. Secondary habitats are fields in utility rights-of-way, thickets, ditches, and it rarely occurs in wetlands and gardens. Flowering and fruiting occurs over a 10 day to 2 week period in September or October in the Maryland/D.C. area.

The seventh recipient of the Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award, given in recognition and appreciation of distinguished service to botany and public service, is Dr. James F. Matthews, Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The award, given by the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, was announced at the annual business meeting of the society in Knoxville on April 22.

At the 1995 annual meeting of SABS, the 5th annual Richard and Minnie Windier Award was presented by Dr. Lawrence Mellichamp to Dr. Patricia B. Cox for her paper entitled, “A Taxonomic Revision of Rudbeckia subg. Macrocline (Asteraceae: Heliantheae: Rudbeckiinae)” which appeared in Castanea 59(4): 300-318. Although Dr. Cox is currently in the Division of Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the research was conducted at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Funding for the printing of the manuscript was provided by a grant (NSF LASWE/EPSCoR 92-96-ADP-02) to the coauthor, Lowell E. Urbatsch.

Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve is located along the Gulf coast of Florida just north of Cedar Key and encompasses 2,020 ha (4,988 acres). Along with scrub, which is situated along ancient sand dune ridges, several other plant communities are distinguished; these are flatwoods, marshes, hardwood swamps, cypress domes, salt marshes, and ruderal habitats. Collections of vascular plants and bryophytes were made from March 1990 to December 1992. A total of 449 vascular plant species was collected representing 103 families and 274 genera. There were also 55 bryophytes, 26 mosses, 28 liverworts, and 1 hornwort.

The Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award

Diversity and Evolution of Land Plants is a morphology textbook which explores plant form and structure as a facet of diversity. The major plant groups treated include bryophytes, sphenophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The author has two goals: (1) to cultivate an appreciation for plant diversity both collectively and for individual species, and (2) to enhance the appreciation of unique morphological features in plants. The author encourages students not to despair at the ponderous amount of terminology they must grasp. Practice makes perfect. An eighteen page glossary and copious pen and ink drawings are included to aid students in this task.