What is the Eriogonum Subg. Oligogonum on Bonanza King, Trinity Mountains, Trinity County, CA?

The prostrate, small mat buckwheat that grows on the summit of Bonanza King Trinity County does not key clearly to any known taxon.  These plants are Subg. Oligogonum exactly: low spreading plants with stipe-like perianth bases.  The plants we collected are female-sterile: at both sites where specimens were obtained, the flowers have only stamens.  This would indicate that possibly this species is gamodioecious, and perhaps we did not seek out plants with perfect flowers.  The olive-green, glabrate upper leaf surface of the Bonanza King plants are is similar to E. marifolium: that species has very obvious morphologically different males and females which could easily pass for different species.  The Bonanza King plants have an extremely congested inflorescence: the involucres are subtended by very  rudimentary (ca. 1 mm long) inflorescence branches, resulting in the inflorescence appearing as a single head.   The Bonanza King plants have a whorl of bracts that immediately subtend the inflorescence, and they lack a mid-scape bract whorl.  Immediate subtention in this instance suggests a evolutionary pathway where a secondary involucre becomes adaptive, with inflorescence branches mal-adaptive.

The Bonanza King plants might pass as a race of the highly polymorphic Eriogonum umbellatum (at 41 treated variants, the most racially complex North American endemic taxon, just beyond Astragalus lentigenosus with ±34 infrataxa, and Lepidium montanum with ±22  infrataxa).   What a field excursion it would be to chase down these “dirty 97”: an Amazing Race requiring a hand lens and 25,000 miles of travel.

The Klamath Mountain region is home to several rare, endemic taxa of Subg. Oligogonum: E. diclinum, E. ursinum, E. libertinii, E. congdonii, E. ternatum, E. hirtellum, E. kelloggii, E. alpinum  Adding E. nervulosum of the high North Coast Ranges, this region is a definite knot of Oligogonum-isms. The buckwheats on Bonanza King might be yet another novel taxon in this complex.

Plants are wierd: any field trip that you return home from with a plant you can not put a definite name on is worth gas at $10 a gallon!

The single specimen of a buckwheat from Bonanza King, CHSC105754, labeled as E. alpinum is very probably E. lobbii, which has characteristic inflorescences which orient directly at the ground surface, and which we saw, not-yet in flower on, Bonanza King in a snowbed site in the lee of the peak.

The type specimen of the California Poppy

Eschscholzia californica was first collected at San Francisco in 1816 (Beidelman 2006, p. 51.).  The taxon was established in Horae Physicae Berolinenses 74–75, pl. 15. 1820, Edited by Christianus Godof. Nees von Esenbeck.

The attached image is a jepg converted from the pdf illustration that is part of the protologue: the painting is credited to Fredrich Guimpel by Beidelmann (2006).  The type specimen was collected by

Adalbertus de Chamisso (also known as Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso, 1781-1838) and Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (1983-1831).

The attribution in the protologue reads: Habitat in arenis sterilibis siccs ad portum Sancti Francisci Californiae.  Nunc, semine adlato, in hortis nostris, favente coelo, hospitabitus, 

which I roughly translate to

Lives in dry, sterile sand at the port of St. Francisco of California.  Now, from seed, grown in our gardens, the darling of heaven, very hospitable.

The holotype is ought to reside in the herbarium of the V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia (LE).  The herbarium website does not show a types catalog as of this writing.  A related page “http://www.botguide.spb.ru/eng/herbarium_collections13.html” exhibits two thumb-nails images of Chamisso specimens.    At some point, hopefully, an image of the actual holotype may become posted.  In the meantime, the image serves as a proxy for the type.

Best Madrono paper ever!!

The centenary of the California Botanical Society is upon us.  100 years of Madrono.  During the banquet this year, the question was offered – what is the  “BEST” paper in Madrono.  I offer the citation: Madrono 25 (2) 111. [1978] - Review of Barneby, R. 1977.  Dalea Imagines.  Mem. New York Botanical Garden 27:1-892.  In that era, I would help the editor of Madrono, Barbara Webster and Grady Webster, with tasks (mail, xeroxing) needed to manage the journal.  It is therefore my opinion that paper that ought to be seen as “best Madrono paper” is a book review, which I plagiarize liberally here.   Once in a great while editors ought to borrow from this example and place within their “white space” such ephemora et memoria.

Sage BARNEBY, who's had his share of fame,

With this new work may greener laurels claim;

We've seen some monographs of equal length,

But few that mix such elegance with strength;

So often merit's antonym to size

That epic length we're tempted to despise

(Thus STANDLEY wrote, with great facility,

Long works of flawed reliability,

And RYDBERG, who penned much with firm decision,

Was cursed, like SMALL, with brash pedantic vision).

So now we're grateful for this splendid book

Which justifies the decade Rupert took;

Amorpheae, as Barneby defines,

Includes eight genera in its confines;

We're startled that the Dalea we knew

Was not erected by A. L. JUSSIEU

(But after all, we got into this bind

Because the great LINNAEUS changed his mind) ;

From Dalea two taxa are set free:

To Psorothomnus goes the fair Smoke Tree,

Marina comes back from obscurity;

The prairie clovers (Petalostemon)

Regain their petals - but their rank has gone.

The species groups are many and compound

But their new circumscriptions look quite sound;

We find that the descriptions and the keys

Are well designed, and can be used with ease.

The many illustrations set this book apart

Through exquisite detail of patient art:

The author's pencil draws each plant's Gestalt

As BAUER might have done, without a fault;

These species portraits, polished and unique

(Though one regrettably is forced to seek

Each picture far removed from its own text),

Have captions discursive and multiplex.

Although it would have made the book more weighty,

We miss the maps and indexed exsiccatae;

Still, these are but inconsequential flaws

Which need not damp our chorus of applause:

For Barneby, with flair and art precise,

Has wrought a masterpiece of awesome price;

This noble guidebook to the Daleae

Will find botanic immortality.

- GRADY L. WEBSTER

Herbivore caused mortality in the rare Lewisia kelloggii (Montiaceae)

Lewisia kelloggii is endemic to California.  Populations are limited to the mountains: the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains, and Klamath Ranges.  Lewisia kelloggii regardless of subspecies is a Forest Sensitive Plant for California National Forests.

Having made this observation many decades ago, and recently seen it again, I here describe mortality in the rare plant Lewisia kelloggii caused by herbivory.   Summarizing, the starchy roots of Lewisia kelloggii are excavated by animals seeking sustenance, resulting in mortality of the Lewisia.

NDDB draft EO#63 (Peddler Hill, Amador County)

Years ago, I observed golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis) excavate and carry away roots of a population of Lewisia kelloggii.  Oh that’s cool...at the time I did not think what the particular significance of this observation might be.

NDDB draft EO#68 (vicinity Hull Creek, Tuolumne County, 30 May 2013)

I observed the same excavations at one subpopulation of L. kelloggiii.  About 90% of the plants in one subpopulation segment had been excavated, the roots consumed, and the dead rosettes were scattered about on the ground.  Most of the remaining plants were non-flowering, presumable juvenile plants. [top photo).  Many corporeal remains of Lewisia were observed here, many left in their graves, some remains were blown away for a few feet.  

NDDB draft EO#84 (vicinity Sentinel Dome, Mariposa County, 30 May 2013)

On the order of 20% or so of the occurrence was subject to herbivory.  The attached photo shows excavations, with dead or dying plants of L. kelloggii. [bottom photo].  Again, clearly, rodents were excavating plants seeking out the roots for food.

Summary

The observed pattern of rarity of L. kelloggii – widely dispersed but nowhere common – may be directly a function of herbivore modulation of population success.  Factors related to trophic cascades governing the abundance of squirrels and their raptor predators may thus play a significant role in the endangerment status of L. kelloggii.  Land management elements which affect this trophic cascade therefore are of interest given the Forest Sensitive status of L. kelloggii.

Variable nascent inflorescence orientation in Arctostaphylos crustacea

Nascent inflorescence deployment is a ecologically interesting feature of manzanitas.  In many species of Arctostaphylos, the inflorescences differentiate and grow in the late summer or fall, only to remain dormant for several months until the onset of flowering in the late winter or spring.

Generally,  characters of the nascent inflorescences are useful in distinguishing some species of manzanitas.  Wells (2000), in his tome “The Manzanitas of California”, recognized Section Nematonascens, consisting of 6 species with erect or gracile nascent inflorescences.  Subsequent phlyllogenetic reconstruction using molecular data (Walhert et al. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 3(2): 673 – 682. 2009) suggests that Section Nematonascens is artificial, or at least that one member Wells attributed to this Section, A. australis of the coast of Baja California within the California Floristic Province, is not related to other Nematonascens (specifically, to A. densiflora or A. stanfordiana).

Arctostaphylos crustacea ssp. crustacea is a common manzanita in central coastal California.  Occasional individuals of A. c. ssp. crustacea exhibit variable inflorescence deployment: some individuals in a population have the nascent inflorescences pendant , while less frequently, rare individuals have erect nascent inflorescences.   In those rare individuals, as the wet season progresses and the flowers begin to differentiate, their stiffly erect nascent inflorescences turn downward and become essentially pendant.

The two photos show nascent inflorescence orientation of a single individual, the top photo taken Dec 11 2012 and the second below taken Jan 21 2013.

Whether or not variable nascent inflorescence reflects a rare, genetically determined heterochrony merits consideration.

California Floristics – data analysis progress of 2 million herbarium specimens

I could not find that the Consortium of California Herbaria website had done an overall assessment of data entry progress – so I compiled the statistics below.  As of the 18 October 2012 summary by institution for the 20 listed herbaria, 70.1% of the reported 2,215,256 California specimens have been databased.

This is a quite important and remarkable proportion.

Assessment of the overall pattern of endemism and endangerment in the California flora has before now been largely a personalized, experiential process.  Data crunching has played a minor role here and there in papers, yes.  But largely the classic papers and patterns are the product of botanists summarizing their field experience.  Miles driven.  Campfires lit.  Cans of beans consumed.

At this juncture, I suggest that a second aspect of herbarium specimen digitization is needed: analysis. We have 70% of the data.  Now we need to augment additional data capture with data rectification -cleaning up heteroduplicates, data entry errors, incomplete dates or incomplete collection numbers, inconsistencies in data entry between herbaria, incorrect counties etc.   Georeferencing is also well along. 

The CCH 20 institution summary statistics as of 18 October 2012 are:

Herbarium	CA entered	Total CA	CA to go	% entered
CAS/DS	151105	520000	368895	29.1
CDA	24117	30000	5883	80.4
CHSC	69658	73381	3723	94.9
CSUSB	2003	4800	2797	41.7
DAV	70824	150000	79176	47.2
HSC	68758	80000	11242	85.9
IRVC	5675	30100	24425	18.9
OBI	11628	56000	44372	20.8
PGM	7591	7600	9	99.9
RSA/POM	384941	425958	41017	90.4
SBBG	93822	120000	26178	78.2
SCFS	1000	3000	2000	33.3
SD	110851	111000	149	99.9
SDSU	16281	16281	0	100.0
SJSU	9556	10136	580	94.3
UC/JEPS	359000	360000	1000	99.7
UCR	134204	134500	296	99.8
UCSB	17905	65000	47095	27.5
UCSC	6187	9500	3313	65.1
YM	7878	8000	122	98.5
TOTAL	1552984	2215256	662272	70.1

Who Was Bruce of Potentilla bruceae?

Carola Josephine Austin was who was born in 1865 at Slate Creek, near Quincy, Plumas County.  Her mother, Rebecca Merritt Austin, was a prolific early California botanist.    Barneby (N. American Astragalus p. 1050, 1964) gives her name as Carola Josephine but the Mansfield record (below) as simply Josephine.  .  According to "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1157-1158, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918 (transcribed by Sharon Walford Yost), “She taught school until her marriage in 1884.  She devote much time to gathering specimens for the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., collecting and mounting seventeen hundred specimens in one year, but finally discontinued the work on account of her health.”  In the CCH, there are 105 accessions at CAS/DS, 61 at UC/JEPS, 383 at RSA/POM and a few elsewhere.

Mansfield:  “After her marriage to Charles Bruce, they were engaged in ranching for a time at Chico, and then moved to Goose Lake Valley, Modoc County, where they continued ranching for five years.  Meantime they had purchased one hundred sixty acres near Lakeview, which he later sold, and then returned to Chico, where again they resumed ranching.  In 1906, they bought a place of ten acres on Eighth Avenue, and had other tree crop orchards in the region.”   

Barneby (1964) gives her date of death in 1931.

IPNI records the following basionyms established in her honor, all with the epithet ‘Bruceae’:

Arnica bruceae Rydb. -- N. Amer. Fl. 34(4): 347. 1927 [27 Jun 1927]

Crepis bruceae Babc. -- Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. xxii. 401 (1947).

Arabis bruceae M.E.Jones -- Contr. W. Bot. 14: 37. 1912 [29 Jun 1912] (IK)

Astragalus tener var. bruceae M.E.Jones – Rev. Astragalus 268. 1923.

Potentilla bruceae Rydb. -- N. Amer. Fl. xxii. 342 (1908).

Collinsia bruceae M. E. Jones – Contr. W. Bot. 12: 69–70. 1908.

Only the Potentilla survives as a currently treated taxon.

The CCH records begin in April 1887 and are mostly from northern California, and the last is Astragalus bolanderi, at Alta Meadows in 1905.