Volume 67 – Issue 3 (Sep 2002)

A survey of the vascular flora of Coffee County, Alabama was conducted from June 1999 through April 2001. Coffee County includes 173,235 ha and is located in the southeastern section of the state, entirely within the Coastal Plain Province. To increase the diversity of taxa collected, an attempt was made to sample all major habitats within the county. Also, a search of pertinent literature was conducted, and the herbaria of Troy State University (TROY), Auburn University (AUA), and The University of Alabama (UNA) were searched for taxa not collected during this study. A total of 797 taxa, representing 460 genera and 147 families, were reported for Coffee County. Asteraceae was the largest family with 96 species, followed by Poaceae with 70 species and Fabaceae with 61 species. Quercus was the largest genus with 16 species, followed by Rhynchospora with 10 species. Twelve of the species documented here are globally or state ranked for rarity of occurrence.

Stewartia is a genus of approximately 26 species which are frequently divided into two subgenera or genera based on the leaf duration. All evergreen species (= Hartia) are found in the Old World. The deciduous species (= Stewartia sensu stricto) are dominant in the Old World but there are two representatives in the southeastern United States, Stewartia ovata and S. malacodendron. Maximum parsimony and likelihood data analyses of molecular DNA sequence data from both the nuclear and chloroplast genomes produce similar estimates of phylogeny for the group. All evergreen species sampled are more closely related to each other than to any of the deciduous species. The two New World deciduous species are more closely related to the evergreen species than to the Old World deciduous species. These findings complicate earlier vicariance biogeography hypotheses for the genus and challenge the recognition of Hartia, the latter of which disagrees with many published classification systems.

Macbridea alba (Lamiaceae) is a Federally threatened plant endemic to Florida. Seedlings are rarely observed in natural populations, but seed production has been documented. We assessed the ger minability of dry-stored seeds and of experimentally buried seeds, and sampled soil to detect a persistent seed bank.

More than 20% of recorded seeds germinated prior to collection, either within the calyx (viviparous seedlings) or after dispersal into the collection bag. This pre-collection germination indicated that a significant percentage of seeds lack innate dormancy. An estimated 87% of dry-stored seeds were germinable for six months following dispersal, but viability of dry-stored and of buried seeds was negligible after one year. No seedlings emerged from soil that was field collected just prior to seed dispersal, indicating no persistent seed bank. Seed viability does not appear to limit establishment, but dry conditions coincident with likely autumn establishment may limit seedling safe site availability.

Five species of Trillium are recognized as occurring in Texas. One species, Trillium pusillum var. texanum has the major part of its distribution in the state, while another species, T. gracile, is endemic to Louisiana and Texas. Three species, T. ludovicianum, which is reported as new to the state, T. recur vatum, and T. viridescens are considered to be peripheral species. The study, based upon field work and study of herbarium specimens, includes a key to species, partial synonymy, descriptions, specimen citations, and a distribution map of the species.

The genus Richardia (Rubiaceae) is represented in the Carolinas by two often weedy species—R. brasiliensis Gomes and R. scabra L. (the former an introduced species native to central South America and the latter presumed native to the southeastern United States). Exceedingly similar vegetatively (Lewis and Oliver 1974), the two species have been distinguished primarily by fruit (Lewis and Oliver 1974) or fruit and corolla characters (Small 1933, Radford et al. 1968).

The table for Table 1, p. 138 was somehow changed from the correct galley proofs when the issue was printed. Here is the correct Table 1.

Noteworthy Collections: Maryland

Fungi collected in Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve (Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina) were identified and catalogued from 1996 to 2001. The 566.6 ha preserve contains the largest contiguous maritime forest on a barrier island on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Its unique diversity of habitats supports maritime deciduous and fresh-water swamp forests. The objective of this study is to document the biodiversity of the fungi of this unique forest. To date, 101 taxa of fungi representing 78 genera have been identified and a checklist of species is presented. Species collected are on deposit in the Mycological Herbarium, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University.

The 12th annual Richard and Winnie Windier Award has been presented to James R. Allison for his paper, with Timothy E. Stevens, titled “Vascular Flora of Ketona Dolomite Outcrops in Bibb County, Alabama,” which appeared in Castanea 66:154-205. The Richard SETME 200 22 and Minnie Windier Award is designated as a meritorious SABS award for the best systematics paper published the preceding year within Castanea. Dr. Donald R. Windler of Towson State University established this award as a memorial to his parents.