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Two New Species for Alberta in This Issue Varina Crisfield Two New Species for Alberta No. 78 January 2016 IrisThe Alberta Native Plant Council Newsletter Two New Species for Alberta In This Issue Varina Crisfield Two New Species for Alberta .......1 Alberta has been thoroughly combed Carolina; however, it is imperilled Clyde Fen Natural Area over by botanists, and for the most part, (ranked S1 or S2) throughout much of Stewardship Report ......................4 we have a good understanding of what its range and has been extirpated from Clyde Fen Natural Area Blog ........6 plant species are found in the province. some jurisdictions. Once in a while, though, new things Jimsonweed pop up that had previously been under The species is usually associated with (Datura stramonium) ....................8 our radar. fens, but occasionally occurs in bogs Tongue-Tied in Latin: as well. It is thought to be an early P to Q .............................................9 The summer of 2014 was an exciting successional species that does not season for us at the Alberta Biodiversity tolerate heavy shading. In Alberta, it News and Events .........................10 Monitoring Institute, as we collected not was found in a very wet rich fen in Puzzling Pairs: Potentilla only one, but two new vascular plant Marguerite River Wildland Park. finitima & P. pensylvanica species for Alberta. ABMI technicians with Key .......................................11 collected specimens of the charismatic dragon’s mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa Native Plant Portrait: Linnaeus) at a site northeast of Fort Beardtongue McMurray, and large-leaved pondweed (Penstemon species) ...................12 (Potamogeton amplifolius Tuckerman) from two wetland sites in the northeast. I thought I would give a little introduction to these new arrivals so Look for more information that botanists and plant enthusiasts can on the ANPC’s website. keep an eye out for them, especially www.anpc.ab.ca when botanizing in the northeastern portion of the province. Dragon’s mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) Dragon’s mouth is the sole member of the genus Arethusa. It has a broad range Cover photo: Marsha Hayward; in North America, extending from RobertsonGordon Looking through green alder (Alnus crispa) encased in Alberta in the west to Newfoundland Dragon’s mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) ice crystals along the Cold River. in the east, and as far south as South See Two New Species, page 2 Iris ♦ The Alberta Native Plant Council Newsletter ♦ No. 78 January 2016 Two New Species, from page 1 Dragon’s mouth is a strikingly beautiful orchid that produces a single, large, bright Large-leaved pondweed pink flower. It has a single leaf that typically remains a bladeless sheath until the (Potamogeton amplifolius) flower matures, at which point the leaf elongates to form a linear or lanceolate blade. Large-leaved pondweed is an appropriate moniker for a species The flowers are relatively large (up to 5 cm), with petals and sepals that are both whose leaves can reach up to 20 cm pink to magenta. The lip is pink with yellow and white crests. As implied by the long and 7.5 cm wide. Large-leaved Latin name, the plant possesses a bulbous underground corm. pondweed is a distinctive and relatively easily identified pondweed, particularly Dragon’s mouth superficially resembles the more common calypso orchid Calypso( in comparison to similar species (P. bulbosa), but the two can easily be distinguished by a number of characters, alpinus, P. gramineus, P. nodosus) found summarized in the table below. in Alberta. Arethusa bulbosa Calypso bulbosa The submerged leaves of this Inflorescence erect Inflorescence nodding species are particularly helpful in identification, as they are not only Floral bracts 2, tiny Floral bract 1, conspicuous unusually large, they are also arching Flower up to ~50 mm long Flower 15–20 mm long (arcuate), petioled, and have a large number of veins (19+). The only other Sepals not twisted Sepals twisted pondweed in Alberta with petioled submerged leaves is P. nodosus, which Leaf linear, developing after anthesis Leaves ovate to orbicular, developing can be distinguished from large-leaved in the fall pondweed by its longer petioles and narrower, non-arching leaves; however, The beauty of this species has made there is a fair bit of overlap in these it irresistible to orchid collectors, characters between the two species, so who have contributed to population identifications must be done with care. Chris Meloche decline and loss in some areas. Other anthropogenic factors—mainly fire For anyone interested in keys for suppression and peatland drainage— distinguishing this species from have resulted in the loss of appropriate others in the province, Christopher habitat. In light of these pressures, it Brayshaw’s book Pondweeds, Bur-reeds is perhaps unsurprising that, although and their Relatives of British Columbia widespread, dragon’s mouth tends to offers a good one that seems to work be rare throughout most of its range. well with Albertan material. The Flora of North America (available online) can also This may not be entirely due to human be used, but I find their key to be less influence, though: in addition to reliable than Brayshaw’s. anthropogenic pressures, the species possesses a number of life history After finding the initial two records for this species in 2014, the ABMI Dragon’s mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) attributes that also likely contribute to its rarity. collected a third specimen of large- leaved pondweed in the summer of 2015. The species is now known from Dragon’s mouth requires relatively high light levels and tends to inhabit early three locations in the province: one near successional environments after fire, declining as trees and shrubs reduce light Conklin, one south of Lake Athabasca, levels in the understorey. To persist on the landscape, therefore, the species and one near Fort Mackay. must continually colonize new sites where appropriate conditions are available; however, like many orchids, reproduction by seed in dragon’s mouth is slow and According to the Flora of North America, unreliable. Seed set also tends to be poor—possibly because the plant does not large-leaved pondweed has a wide, but produce nectar, and insect pollinators may avoid visiting it once they learn that it discontinuous, distribution across the offers no sweet reward. continent: it is mostly concentrated in the Great Lakes region, the Maritimes With its short lifespan, poor seed set, slow and unreliable establishment, and and New England, but occurrences relatively specific habitat requirements, dragon’s mouth certainly seems to make things hard for itself! See Two New Species, page 3 2 www.anpc.ab.ca Iris ♦ The Alberta Native Plant Council Newsletter ♦ No. 78 January 2016 Two New Species, from page 2 have been reported throughout the continent. Jean Pawek Other pondweed species have similarly patchy distributions across North America—pondweed seeds can be dispersed by waterbirds, which might add an element of stochasticity to the distributions of these plants. Given that large-leaved pondweed has been recorded in all Canadian jurisdictions with the exception of the three northern territories and Alberta, it may have been just a matter of time before it would turn up here. Large-leaved pondweed (Potamogeton amplifolius) Acknowledgements References Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Thank you to Jamie Godfrey, Liam Argue, Charles L. 2012. Tribe Arethuseae Mexico. 19+ vols. New York and Oxford. Harrap and Lauren Law for collecting (Calopogon R. Brown and Arethusa L.) and Subfamily Vanilloideae (Part One) (Pogonia Johnson, Derek, Linda Kershaw, Andy good specimens, and additional thanks Jussieu). In: The Pollination Biology of North MacKinnon and Jim Pojar. 1995. Plants of the to Lauren Law for providing habitat American Orchids: Volume 2. Springer. Pp. Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland. descriptions for the ACIMS report. 147-164. Lone Pine Publishers, Edmonton, AB. Thanks also to Joyce Gould and Curtis Bjork for providing verifications of my Brayshaw, T. Christopher. 2000. Pondweeds, NatureServe. 2015. NatureServe Explorer: An initial identifications. Bur-reeds and their Relatives of British online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Columbia. Royal British Columbia Museum, Version 7.1. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Victoria, BC. Available http://explorer.natureserve.org. ♦ In 2010, the ANPC received an Emerald Award in the Not-for-Profit Association category, in recognition of promoting knowledge of Alberta’s native plants; conserving Alberta’s native plant species and their habitats; and preserving plant species and habitat for the enjoyment of present and future generations. ANPC continues to honour volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to ANPC by presenting this award to a selected volunteer annually at ANPC’s workshop/AGM. Since the Emerald Award was received in 2010, Lorna Allen, Mryka Hall-Beyer, Linda Kershaw, Elisabeth Beaubien, and most recently Jane Lancaster have been recognized in this fashion as outstanding ANPC volunteers. Cheryl Hendrickson Jane Lancaster (left) receives the Emerald Award to hold for the next year. Elisabeth Beaubien (right) presents Jane with this ANPC honour. Jane has helped ANPC in so many ways—editor for the rare plant survey guidelines, coauthor for the Rare Vascular Plants of Alberta book where she organized all the illustrations and maps, and now she continues to help with updates of both documents. Many thanks to Jane! www.anpc.ab.ca 3 Iris ♦ The Alberta Native Plant Council Newsletter ♦ No. 78 January 2016 Clyde Fen Natural Area Stewardship Report J. Derek Johnson Clyde Fen Candidate Natural Area The operators also said they would The litter along the side of the road is is located approximately 8 km NE spray the road to control the dust a bit disconcerting, but considering of Clyde, or 7.5 km E of Highway 2 kicked up by the regular procession of the road has been there for five years, along the Bouchard Lake Road. The heavy trucks on workdays. Whether it’s really not that bad.
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