Volume 72 – Issue 1 (Mar 2007)

In June 2005, a large fresh-water marsh in Cameron Parish, Louisiana was surveyed for aquatic vascular plants. This marsh is bisected by the Intracoastal Waterway into a northern sector contained within the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge and a southern sector. In September 2005, Hurricane Rita made landfall in Cameron Parish, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm. In June 2006, nine months after the storm, another survey of the marsh was made. Results from that survey indicate that the vascular flora of the northern sector were largely undamaged. In contrast, most of the plant species of the southern sector have been extirpated. It appears that violent wave action and salt poisoning from the storm surge caused this destruction. Additionally, it appears that the Intracoastal Waterway acted as a barrier to the storm surge and thus protected the northern sector of the marsh.

We compared seed mass, seed morphology, and long-term germination phenology of three monocarpic (M) and three polycarpic (P) Apiaceae species of the herbaceous layer of the Eastern Deciduous Forest. Seeds (mericarps) of the six species differed considerably in mass, shape, and ornamentation. Mean seed masses were ranked Cryptotaenia canadensis (M) < Thaspium barbinode (P) < Sanicula canadensis (M) < S. gregaria (P) < Osmorhiza claytonii (P) < S. trifoliata (M). Germination peaks occurred in the first or second spring following sowing. Germination of a few seeds was delayed until the sixth year. Regardless of seed mass or morphology, each species has the potential to form a (modified) Type III or (modified) Type IV persistent soil seed bank. Occurrence of a germination peak in the first or in the second year following seed maturity was related to time of dispersal in autumn and to type of seed dormancy.

The vascular plants of Tennessee’s Prentice Cooper State Forest and Wildlife Management Area (PCSFWMA) were gathered from the growing seasons of 1998 through 1999 and the summer of 2005. The ca. 10,300 ha tract of eastern deciduous forest comprises 137 families, 536 genera, and 1,070 species or lesser taxa. Five hundred and eighteen new county records were documented as well as two notable state records, Galium uniflorum and Macrothelypteris torresiana. Nineteen taxa of either state or federal listing were documented or examined. PCSFWMA has 192 introduced species, comprising 17.9% of the total flora and constituting 56.6% of Tennessee’s listed invasive exotic pest species. Association coefficients of seven southeastern Appalachian floras were compared to elucidate several floristic similarities and dissimilarities.

Algae associated with leafy liverworts growing on decorticated red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) logs were investigated at study sites in the mountains of West Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Twelve taxa (nine cyanobacteria, two green algae and one diatom) were identified, but the microhabitat represented by the samples we examined was dominated by just three taxa, two cyanobacteria (Chroococcus tenax and Aphanothece saxicola) along with the green alga Chlorococcum humicola. The relative abundance and consistent presence of these organisms in this microhabitat suggest that they could represent a possible food source for certain species of myxomycetes with which they co-occur.

A lectotype for Viola allegheniensis L.K. Henry (Violaceae), an illegitimate homonym replaced by V. appalachiensis L.K. Henry, is designated from three syntypes. The combination, V. walteri var. appalachiensis, is validated. The taxonomic distinctiveness, nomenclatural history, and conservation history of the taxon are summarized.

Noteworthy Collections: Alabama, Florida, Tennessee

In the southeastern United States the genus Vaccinium (Ericaceae) has long been the subject of close study and controversy (Camp 1945, VanderKloet 1988, Luteyn et al. 1996). Though some taxa are sharply distinct, others hybridize or intergrade to such an extent that authors have been hard pressed to agree on the number of species, how they are best separated, or even where they are to be found.

The diversity in the herbaceous layer of our eastern forests has been the focus of numerous studies over the years. This book provides an excellent overview of what we now know and what is left to be learned.