Saturday, July 20, 2019

Enumerating California Needlegrasses (the tribe Stipeae)


Peterson PM, Romaschenko K, Soreng RJ, Reyna JV (2019) A key to the North American genera of Stipeae (Poaceae, Pooideae) with descriptions and taxonomic names for species of Eriocoma, Neotrinia, Oloptum, and five new genera: Barkworthia, ×Eriosella, Pseudoeriocoma, Ptilagrostiella, and Thorneochloa. PhytoKeys 126: 89–125. https://doi. org/10.3897/phytokeys.126.34096

California has by my count 42 taxa of needlegrasses: the Tribe Stipeae Dumort.  In the Jepson Manual, a broad (and overly simplified) generic concept was used: a single genus Stipa L.  Robustly supported phylogenetic and biogeographic data now indicates that a number of lineages qualify as genera, based on globally coherent viewpoint (yes, in Jepson-ease its so easy to just blurt out Stipa! and remain in ignorance).  Botanists struggle with the concept of a genus, and are, when confused, inclined to combine lineages and they don’t know when to stop.  This results inappropriate and ill-informative treatments: one could recognize only Triticum L. for all species within the Triticeae, the cereal grasses, decidedly poor science, and a setback for bread baking!  

Our generic lineup thus becomes (new named genera are bold italics):
Amelichloa
Ampelodesmos
Barkworthia
Eriocoma
Hesperostipa
Jarava
Nassella
Oloptum
Oryzopsis
Pappostipa
Piptatherum
Piptochaetium
Ptilagrostiella
Stipellula
Thorneochloa

The California roster: Format New Name             STATUS
Amelichloa brachychaeta (Godr.) Arriaga & Barkworth    Native
Amelichloa caudata (Trin.) Arriaga & Barkworth Waif
Amelichloa clandestina (Hack.) Arriaga & Barkworth         Waif
Ampelodesmos mauritanica (Poir.) T. Durand & Schinz,   Naturalized
Barkworthia stillmanii (Bol.) Romasch., P.M. Peterson & Soreng  Native
Eriocoma arida (M.E. Jones) Romasch.    Native
Eriocoma bloomeri (Bol.) Romasch.          Native
Eriocoma coronata (Thurb.) Romasch.    Native
Eriocoma hymenoides (Roem. & Schult.) Rydb.   Native
Eriocoma latiglumis (Swallen) Romasch. Native
Eriocoma lemmonii (Vasey) Romasch.    Native
Eriocoma lemmonii subsp. pubescens (Crampton) Romasch.        Native
Eriocoma lettermanii (Vasey) Romasch. Native
Eriocoma nelsonii (Scribn.) Romasch. subsp. dorei (Barkworth & J. Maze) Romasch.           Native
Eriocoma nevadensis (B.L. Johnson) Romasch.    Native
Eriocoma occidentalis  (Thurb. ex S. Watson) Romasch. subsp. californica (Merr. & Burtt Davy) Romasch. Native
Eriocoma occidentalis (Thurb. ex S. Watson) Romasch. ssp. occidentalis   Native
Eriocoma occidentalis (Thurb. ex S. Watson) Romasch. subsp. pubescens (Vasey) Romasch.,          Native
Eriocoma parishii (Vasey) Romasch.         Native
Eriocoma pinetorum (M.E. Jones) Romasch.         Native
Eriocoma thurberiana (Piper) Romasch. Native
Eriocoma webberi Thurb.             Native
Hesperostipa comata (Trin. & Rupr.) Barkworth subsp. comata    Native
Hesperostipa comata subsp. intermedia (Scribn. & Tweedy) Barkworth   Native
Jarava plumosa (Spreng.) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett          Waif
Nassella cernua (Stebb. & Löve) Barkworth           Native
Nassella formicara (Del.) Barkworth         Native
Nassella lepida (A. Hitchc.) Barkworth     Native
Nassella manicata (E. Desv.) Barkworth  Naturalized
Nassella pulchra (A. Hitchc.) Barkworth  Native
Nassella tenuissima (Trin.) Barkworth     Waif
Nassella viridula (Trin.) Barkworth            Native
Oloptum miliaceum (L.) Röser & H.R. Hamasha   Naturalized
Oryzopsis exigua Thurb. Native
Oryzopsis micrantha (Trin. & Rupr.) Thurb.           Native
Pappostipa speciosa (Trin. & Rupr.) Romaschenko             Native
Piptatherum miliaceum (L.) Coss.              Naturalized
Piptochaetium setosum (Trin.) Arechav. Naturalized
Piptochaetium stipoides (Trin. & Rupr.) Hack. ex Arechav.              Naturalized
Ptilagrostiella kingii (Bol.) Romasch.         Native
Stipellula capensis (Thunb.) Röser & H.R. Hamasha            Naturalized
Thorneochloa diegoensis (Swallen) Romasch.      Native

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Typification of Phacelia vallicola Congdon ex Brand


This basionym was published in Konigliches Gymnasium zu Sorau, Beilage zum Jahresbericht. Sorau 7. 1911.  The protologue is apparently not available on line (accessed 7/2/2019).  Brand (1913) and Jepson (1943) cite the holotype as “Hites Cove, J.W. Congdon, 8 May 1892”.    Brand (1913) cited only one specimen as “Parish”. 

Two Congdon specimens database on line bear this date: UC126012 is a specimen that was originally part of the Brandegee Herbarium (Carter 2011), acquired afterwards by UC Berkeley.  A second specimen, DS134418 is labeled as an isotype.   Parish's herbarium was sold to Stanford University in 1917, and for this reason the specimen CAS BOT-BC6817| DS 134418 is the probable holotype, and the UC specimen is an isotype. 

Brand specifically cited three other specimens as “n 126001 u 133062 in Herb Berkeley”, and “ud bei Hennessey Ranch (Lembert, Mai 1984, Herb Berkeley)”. UC126001 and UC133062 are Congdon specimens collected at Hites Cove, Mariposa County on May 29, 12898 and are not type material.  There are two accessions of a Lembert specimen from Hennessey Ranch (vicinity present day El Portal, Mariposa County: UC107446 and UC24328.  These too are not type material.

Phacelia vallicola was poorly collected until the 1980s, and its range imperfectly known (Bowcutt 1989).  At the time, it was judged a rare plant and was considered of conservation concern (Smith & York 1984) but was later dropped as being too common.

JStore Plant Science search on Phacelia vallicola yields a set of specimens under the name Phacelia vallicola Heller.  This name was never published: the specimens, NDG42076, K001096033 and  PH00028311.  The specimens are Phacelia hastata Lehm. var. charlestonensis Cronq. (Niles & Leary 2007)

References
 
Bowcutt, F. 1989. Reappraisal of the range of Phacelia vallicola (Hydrophyllaceae).  Madroño 36(1):51-52.

Brand, A.  1913. Hydrophyllaceae, in Engler Das Pflanzenreich, IV. 251. 29-57.


Carter, N. C. 2011. The Brandegees: leading botanists in San Diego. Journal of California Garden & Landscape History Society 14: 1-9.


Jepson, W.L.  1943.  Hydrophyllaceae, Pp. 223-297 in A Flora of California, Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. 


Niles, W.E. and P.J. Leary.  Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of the Spring Mountains Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada.  Mentzelia (J. Nevada Native Plant Society) Vol. 8

Smith, J.P and R. York.  1984.  Inventory of rare and endangered plants of California.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.