Book Review: Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion of Seeds and Other Late Natural History Writings
Book Review: Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion of Seeds and Other Late Natural History Writings
Book Review: Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion of Seeds and Other Late Natural History Writings
Noteworthy Collections: Virginia and Maryland
Scientific Note: Aeschynomene virginica (L.) BSP. (Fabaceae) in Maryland
ABSTRACT Preliminary results of a floristic survey of Rabun County, Georgia, are presented the staff of the newly established Louise Gallant Herbarium at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. The report is based on field work and literature surveys conducted during the growing seasons of 1989 through 1994. As of November 1994, over 1,140 specimens from Rabun County were collected, representing 489 species. Another 325 species are documented in the literature, bringing the total number of species known from Rabun County to 814. The survey documented 185 county records, one state record, four protected species, and fourteen special concern species. Eight plant communities are described: 1) Chestnut or Oak-Chestnut Communities, 2) Oak and Oak-Pine Communities, 3) Mixed Mesophytic Communities or Cove Hardwoods, 4) Balds, 5) Cliffs and Gorge Walls, 6) Mountain Bogs, 7) Mountain River and Flood Zone, and 8) Disturbed Areas.
ABSTRACT St. Francis National Forest is at the southernmost end of Crowley’s Ridge in Lee and Phillips Counties of Arkansas. Most of the Forest is located on Crowley’s Ridge and has narrow ridges and valleys carved into the loessal soils. A small portion of the Forest is located along the Mississippi and St. Francis Rivers and is characterized by level, alluvial soils. This study identified 104 vascular plant families, 285 genera, 424 species and 11 subtaxa on the Forest. The study was begun in the fall of 1989 and completed in the spring of 1991.
ABSTRACT Flowering individuals are rare in populations of false hellebore in Illinois. In the fall of 1993, however, flowering was observed in 16 of 31 populations from east-central Illinois. Of the 96 flowering individuals found, 70 produced fruits. Seed production was low; 75% of the capsules produced 0-3 seeds.
ABSTRACT Rhododendron maximum L. restricts regeneration of overstory species; however, the mechanisms are poorly understood. Three treatments were used to examine the effects of R. maximum germination success and survival of Acer rubrum L. under a closed overstory canopy: (1) R. maximum understory, (2) open understory, and (3) open understory with shadecloth. Shadecloth treatments mimicked the low light conditions beneath R. maximum (<5 % full sun) while controlling for R. maximum forest floor influences. Soil moisture was significantly lower under R. maximum than under open or shadecloth treatments. Initially, Acer rubrum survival was similar for open understory and shadecloth treatments, while germination and survival in R. maximum plots were low. After approximately 20 d, mortality in the shadecloth treatment increased and survival rates were less than 5% by the end of the sampling period. Survival in the open understory treatment stabilized at >2✕ that observed under shadecloth, while percent germination
ABSTRACT Data in Bessey C. Picklesimer’s (1927) unpublished M.A. thesis on the vegetation analysis of a cedar glade in the Central Basin of Tennessee are put into a format that will allow them to be used by ecologists, and the results are compared with those of other quantitative studies on cedar glade plant communities in the Basin. Picklesimer’s study is significant because it contains the most comprehensive data set available documenting the importance of the two shallow-soil dominants Arenaria patula and Sedum pulchellum in the vegetation of cedar glades in the Central Basin. The results of her vegetation analysis are in general agreement with those of previous workers in that: (1) the C3 winter annual dicots S. pulchellum, A. patula, and Leavenworthia spp. are major spring-aspect dominants of xeric open glades; (2) the C4 summer annual grass Sporobolus vaginiflorus is the primary dominant of subxeric open glades in summer; (3)
ABSTRACT The Monkey-face Orchid, Platanthera integrilabia, was locally common on the Cum- berland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee prior to the 1940s, but is currently a C2 candidate for United States protection as an endangered species. Insect pollination of this orchid is described for the first time at the largest remaining population of the species, located in McMinn County, Tennessee, just prior to peak flowering (12-15 August 1992). Despite the orchid having flowers adapted to sphingid moth pollination, three day-flying Lepidoptera (Epargyreus clarus, Papilio glaucus, and P. troilus) carried pollinia on com- pound eyes and were pollinators. Over half of all flowers (624 of 1,096 or 56.9%) set fruit two months after flowering. A mean of 4.7 capsules per inflorescence and 3,433 seeds per capsule was recorded. The survival of P. integrilabia will likely depend on the continued existence of the McMinn County population as a seed source for a
Book Review: Plant Identification Triminology, an Illustrated Glossary