Type of Torreya californica

Type specimens of many California endemics described in the 1850s are often uncertain. in the instance of Torreya californica, the NY holotype Barcode 1212 is not attributed to either a collector, date or place!

In the protologue “Notice of the California Nutmeg” (New York J. Pharmacy Vol. 3 3: 49. 1854}) Torrey writes “About a year ago, I received from the late Mr. Shelton, a specimen of what was called California Nutmeg”. Who was Shelton? C.C. Shelton does not appear in the Harvard Index of Botanists.

Fortunately that question was explored by Ewan (1981), wherein Shelton is placed in California before 1853 engaged in collecting plants and in various agriculture endeavors. Shelton died accidentally on the steam explosion of the paddlewheel “Jenny Lind” enroute to Sacramento on April 11, 1853.

NY has 12 specimens collected by Shelton, only one with a specific date (1852). All of these, save for one (Penstemon centranthifolius) are consistent with originating in the Sierra. Torreya californica has a discontinuous distribution in California: along the length of the Sierra at mid elevations (~1500-4500 feet) and in the Coast Ranges.  Torrey attributes the origin of his specimen to "upper part of the Yuba and Feather Rivers on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada..."

Torreya californica was apparently first collected by Wm. Lobb in 1851, which was then described by Hooker as Torreya myristica Hook., Botanical Magazine 80: pl. 4780. 1854 (the color plate above).  Were it not for the fact that Hookers name is 57 days older than Torrey’s we would be grumbling when using that name for endemic Torreya.

Based on the Ewan (1981) discussion and the protologue, it is most probable the type comes from somewhere in the vicinity of Nevada County, Nevada City and vicinity. Because the Sierra Nevada at elevations where Torreya californica would not be easily accessed over muddy spring roads, it is likely the Torreya collection was taken in 1852 and not the next winter of 1853.

Reference:  Ewan, Joseph. "WHO WAS JOHN TORREY'S" PROF." SHELTON LOST ON THE STEAMBOAT JENNY LIND?." Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany (1981): 59-65

The 10 most commonly collected California plants

Based on tally of 1.3 million specimens, the 10 most well collected California species are: 

Taxon	# sheets
Bromus carinatus	3202
Eriogonum umbellatum	3288
Eriophyllum confertiflorum	3383
Vuplia microstachys	3440
Eriogonum fasciculatum	3525
Frangula californica	3686
Arctostaphylos glandulosa	4070
Diplacus aurantiacus	4469
Salix lasiolepis	4966
Poa secunda	5242

Note: the taxon in the data is a full binomial, and includes all infrataxa of a given taxon

Data from: California_Species_clean_All_epsg_3310

Based on Baldwin et al. Species richness and endemism in the native flora of California, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 104 (3): 487 – 501, 2017, which is about 60% of all 2.2 million Consortium of California Herbaria specimens

Synonyms of Toxicodendron diversilobum

Toxicodendron diversilobum. Rhus diversilola, Torr. & Gray, FL i 218.

E.L. Greene had the facility to view specimens, and immediately pronounce them as known or new species.  In 1905, Greene described several segregates from common poison oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum (T&G) Greene. 

These names do not appear in the Jepson eFlora, nor on the Interchange. They are below.

Greene remarked (in his Leaflets 1905 emphasis added):

This represents a peculiar type of Toxicodendron belonging exclusively to the Pacific coast. The leaflets and their lobes are in general rounded and obtuse rather than angular and acute; the panicles in the original as well as in most of the specific segregates, lax and pendulous, each fruit suspended on a rather long and slender pedicel.   But several inland species have their panicles as rigidly erect as in the Atlantic type of the genus. Typical T. diversilobum is from the lower Columbia, and is figured well in Hooker's Flora. The species seems to extend along the seaboard southward throughout western Oregon and California to about Monterey, exhibiting much diversity as to the lobing of the leaf, though the general outline of it remains the same. But south of Monterey other well defined species appear, and still more of them away inland among the mountains bordering arid regions in California, Oregon and Washington. Some of these, of which fair specimens occur in the herbaria, are here named and defined.

Toxicodendron comarophyllum Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit 1(9): 120. 1905.

From Tighe's, near San Diego, Calif., Dr. Edw. Palmer, 1875.

BM000884727 & US00095833. The name has not been lectotypified

Toxicodendron dryophilum Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1(9): 121–122

Little Chico Creek, Butte Co., Calif. ... 1896 Mrs. R. M. Austin s.n. [in 1896]

“holotype” US00095837, isotypes NDG12268 and MO-2246530. The name has not been lectotypified

Toxicodendron isophyllum Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit 1(9): 121. 1905.

River banks near San Jacinto in southern California, 9 March, 1898, J. B. Leiberg 3117

US00095841 is the only on line specimen

Toxicodendron oxycarpum Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit 1(9): 121. 1905

Vicinity of Santa Cruz, Calif., July, 1884 J. Ball s.n. “ex region collina, California occidentalis,. Dedecante July. US00095850 is the only on line specimen.

Toxicodendron vaccarum Greene Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit 1(9): 121. 1905

Cow Creek Mountains, Shasta Co., Calif. Baker & Nutting s.n. [in 1896]

NDG09527 & NDG09528.  The name has not been lectotypified.

The actual types, or choices for lectotypes is uncertain.  Greene then became an associate in botany at the Smithsonian Institution in 1904, hence the most likely home to potential lectotypes is US.  Greene moved to South Bend, Indiana along with his library and herbarium specimens, which are now at NDG. 

Uncertain typification of these names means little if one has poison oak dermatitis.

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

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.

10 June Nature Paper: Substantial Underestimate of Extinct Plants in California

Extinction Density of World Flora

Humphreys et al (2019) compiled a global roster of presumed extinct seed plants.  Their assessment (based on their Supplementary Data 1 spreadsheet) tallies but 9 plants as being extinct in California.  This is incorrect: CNPS (2019) records 22 presumed extinct plants (all seed plants).   No presumed extinct plants have been rediscovered in California since 2001 (CNPS 2019), hence this number is considered factually correct as compared to the Humphreys et al (2019) tally.  The Humphreys et al (2019) tally used as sources CPS (1990) and Kartesz (1994), but not (CNPS 2019).  Unfortunately, Humphreys et al (2019) thusly underestimate the magnitude of extinction in the California Floristic Province.

Humphreys et al (2019) did not base their regional extinction ranking based on area:  correcting for this (the table below), California has the 3^rd highest rate, and their Fig. 1 does not reflect this.   Moreover (see the table) the 22 presumed extinct plants in California equals or exceeds the putative highest ranked regions given by Humphreys et al (2019).   Unfortunately, the underestimate for California is consequential, as the Humphreys et al (2019) assessment is re-tweeted (e.g. Ledford 2019) giving the incorrect rankings and doubtless will receive wide distribution.  

Thusly, California and the Cape Province (S. Africa) have similar magnitudes of plant extinction density.

Extinction Density Tabulation

Country	Area (km2)	Extinctions	Extinction Density (km2/extinction)	Global Rank
Hawaii	28311	79	3145	1st
Cape Province	298428	37	8065	2nd
California	423970	22	19271	3rd
Western Australia	2645615	22	120225	4th
India	3287263	20	164363	5th

Humphreys et al (2019) quite correctly point out that many presumed extinct plants have at some point been rediscovered, and this is certainly true for California (the second table below).  Clearly on theoretical grounds (Preston 1948) it is impossible to determine when a plant can be deemed extinct hence it is not unexpected that over time, and 29 California plants have been ‘rediscovered’. 

Presumed Extinct Plants in California

Date/Inventory Edition	Reference	No. Extinct Plants
1980 2nd Edition	Smith et al. (1980)	44
1984 3rd Edition	Smith & York (1984)	34
1988 4th Edition	Smith & Berg (1988)	39
1994 5th Edition	Skinner & Pavlick (1994)	34
2001 6th Edition	Tibor (2001)	29
2009 Electronic Inventory	CNPS (2019)	22

References Cited

California Native Plant Society, Rare Plant Program. 2019. Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California (online edition, v8-03 0.39). Website http://www.rareplants.cnps.org [accessed 13 June 2019].

Center for Plant Conservation (1990). Centre for plant conservation data for North American plants database. CPC, Centre for plant conservation.

Humphreys A.M., R. Govaerts, S.Z. Ficinski, E.N. Lughadha and M.S. Vorontsova  2019. Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery  Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2

Kartesz, J.T. (1994) A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland.

Ledford, H.  2019. Global plant extinctions mapped,  Nature 570:148-149.

Preston, F. W. 1948. The commonness, and rarity, of species. Ecology 29(3): 254-283.

Skinner, M.W. and B.M. Pavlick. 1994. Tibor, D.  [ed.] 2001.  Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California, fifth edition.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

Smith, J.P. Jr., R.J. Cole, J.0. Sawyer, Jr.  and W.R. Powell.  1980. Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California, second edition.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

Smith, J.P. Jr. and R. York.  1984. Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California, third edition.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

Smith, J.P. Jr. and K. Berg.  1988. Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California, fourth edition.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

Tibor, D.  [ed.] 2001.  Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California, sixth edition.  California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA.

Note:

Humphreys et al (2019) Supplemental  Data 1 lists Atriplex tularensis as rediscovered, which is incorrectl.

Resurrect Mahonia sonnei!

Mahonia sonnei was named by Abrams (1934) based on a single gathering from Truckee, California.  The syntype specimens were collected by Charles F. Sonne in August 1884 and again in April 1885 (no lectotype has been as yet designated). 

McMinn pigeon-holed M. sonnei in Berberis (McMinn 1939), as was then and still recently the custom.  We now know that Mahonia is a distinct genus well separated from Berberis, and from the related genera Alloberberis and Moranothamnus in both Asia and the New World (Yu and Chung 2017).

Poor Mahona sonnei: it has died twice.

First it disappeared for 90 years: the species was never collected again until 1973 when James B. Roof and members of the California Native Plant Society organized the founding “rare plant treasure hunt” (Roof 1974).

Mahonia sonnei was listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 in(Federal Register 44, p. 64246, 6 November 6 1979.  In 1993, Michael Williams placed it in synonymy in the first edition of the Jepson Manual (Williams 1993), where it has remained ever since (Williams 2012, Whittemore 1997).  Then it disappeared again - Mahonia repens was delisted – officially removed from the Endangered Species Act in 2003.  Poof!  The delisting was directly a result of a floristic treatment, not a detailed published study.

Abrams (1934) and McMinn (1939) keyed M. sonnei thusly:

Mahonia sonnei: Leaflets bright-green and shining above, teeth 12-16 on each margin, merely bristle-tipped; lower surface not gray

           Mahonia repens: Leaflets dull above; teeth small, bristle-tipped, usually 12 on a side.

In revisiting the Berberidaceae of California, I reviewed Abrams’ original description, and now that we have a wealth of imaged herbarium specimens, sought to do a quick, simple test of the number of  teeth per side of a leaflet.  Marginal teeth were counted on the 3 of the 4 syntype specimens of M. sonnei (NDG19699, US2699, DS95828), and from 70 specimens selected throughout the geographic range of M. repens (Fig. 2)

Figure 1 shows a box plot of the results: M. sonnei averages 15.9 teeth per leaflet side, while M repens averaged 10.2.  The difference is significant at p=<0 .0001="" df="68).<span" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 

Imaged specimens of M. repens were selected from throughout its wide range in western North America (Figure 2).

Figure 1.  Box plot of number of teeth on one side of leaflets from 3 of 4 syntypes M. sonnei and from 70 randomly chosen specimens of M. repens.  The difference in means is highly significant (T-test)

Figure 2.  Geographic distribution of M. repens, based on specimens served up on SEINet

This simple comparison suggests that M. sonnei and M. repens exhibit different leaf morphometrics.  Mahonia sonnei has never been DNA sequenced.  My inspection of specimens so far suggests that, overall, M. repens and the syntype specimens M. sonnei occupy differing leaf trait morphometric multivariate space (compare Fig. 3 and Fig. 4).  Additional work on this problem is planned: the expectation is that substantial morphometric differences between M. sonnei and M. repens can be demonstrated.  However, M. sonnei needs to be sequenced.

Figure 3 and 4.  Representative leaflets of M. sonnei (below) and M. repens (above, the leaflet chosen based on the observed mean of n=10 teeth)

Preliminary conclusion: Mahonia sonnei is a distinct taxon.  The baby was thrown out with the bathwater.

Literature Cited

Abrams, Leroy.  1934.  The Mahonias of the Pacific States.  Phytologia 1(2):89-94.

McMinn, Howard E.  1939.  An Illustrated Manual of California Shrubs.  Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA

Roof, J.B.  1974.  Found alive: the Truckee barberry.  Four Seasons 4(4):2-18.

Whittemore, A. 1997. Berberis. Pp. 276-286 in Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.), Flora of North America North of Mexico, Vol. 3. New York and Oxford.

Williams, M. 1993. Berberis. Pp. 362-364 in Hickman, J.C. (ed.), The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Williams, M. 2012. Berberis. Pp. 446-447 in Baldwin et al. (eds.), The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Yu, C. C., & Chung, K. F. (2017). Why Mahonia? Molecular recircumscription of Berberis sl, with the description of two new genera, Alloberberis and Moranothamnus. Taxon, 66(6), 1371-1392.