DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY LASTHENIA LASTHENIA, the Newsletter of the Davis Botanical Society, is published in collaboration with the staff of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory UPCOMING EVENTS! and Center for Diversity. Editor: Katherine Mawdsley Issue Contributors: E. Dean, E. San- doval, D. Potter, S. Schoenig, J. Carter, O. Hinojosa, A. Colwell, T. Gordon, K. Mawdsley. Saturday April 18 Picnic Day Herbarium and Design: Susan Gloystein Conservatory open houses Layout: Ellen Dean DBS OFFICERS, 2019-2020 Saturdays or Sundays April 4, April 26, May 9 President: Elina Nino Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sales President-elect: Thomas Rost Membership Vice President: Thursday May 7 Spring Meeting and Speaker: Tom Starbuck & Johanna Kwan Secretary: Chris Walden Andrew Latimer will speak on “’s Treasurer: Robert Rhode Changing Forests” at the Davis Public Library Past President: Jeffrey Clary Members at Large: Alison Colwell, Saturday May 16 Field Trip to Hill Steve Schoenig Student Member at Large: Maureen Page Ex officio: Dan Potter, Ernesto

Sandoval, Teri Barry

UC Davis Mail ID: BTNY BTNY ID: Mail Davis UC

Davis, CA 95616 95616 CA Davis,

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8 No. 53 Winter 2020

LASTHENIANEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY MEET THE NEW HERBARIUM CURATOR! As many of you know, UC Davis Center milk carton from lunch, opened the for Plant Diversity Curator, Ellen Dean, top, poked a hole in the bottom, filled retired at the end of January, 2020. We are it with dirt and planted a bean. I forgot delighted to announce that Dr. Alison Col- to poke the hole in the bottom, and well has been selected as the new Curator, so the only thing that came up in my and she begins her position on March 16, carton was a drowned earthworm; but 2020. In this article, Alison introduces the miraculous appearance of glossy, herself to the Davis Botanical Society. fast-growing bean in everyone Welcome Alison! else’s milk cartons from those hard little beans was astonishing to me. I took As a little kid, my goal was to be a home all the cartons of bean plants that gardener, and as a big kid, I revised that the other kids didn’t want. to botanist. I grew up in Maryland, just That might have been the start of outside of Washington, DC. We lived the plant-collecting bug, because my near the Potomac River, and so I spent allowance money was dedicated to the Alison Colwell. Photo courtesy of the subject. a great deal of my childhood explor- purchase of increasingly esoteric garden ing the riparian corridor there, which and house plants. At some point, I Mom is still caring for some of those remains surprisingly wild. My first figured out that I could bargain for the plants, now massive. memory of noticing a plant was during “dead” plants in supermarket displays, In high school, I developed a metric a class project in school: we saved our which stretched the funds further. My for choosing a college to go to: I spent hours poring over class catalogs in the high school counselor’s office and chose BOTANICAL CONSERVATORY SUPPORTS A Cornell because it offered the largest DIVERSITY OF UC DAVIS COURSES number of classes with “plant” in the title. UC Davis must have been right up You might be asking yourself, “Exactly how many UC Davis courses does the there, but my parents would have nixed Botanical Conservatory serve and support?” While an exact number is a bit it as too far away. I took pretty much all challenging to provide, there are more faculty and graduate student instructors of the plant courses offered, but nothing every year that discover how the resources of the Conservatory can be useful truly grabbed me until I took Plant Sys- for their courses. Most of the time they use our diverse collection of plants… tematics and Evolution with a new pro- but not always. For example, this past fall Chemical Engineering graduate student continued on page 6 James Allen brought his 15 Freshman Seminar students to tour the Sciences Laboratory Greenhouse. The course is titled “The Hidden Technology: Process Control,” and we discussed the sensors and controls of the computer IN THIS ISSUE controlled system (Argus) that regulates the climate in the SLB greenhouse. New Herbarium Curator...... 1 James discovered this opportunity for in-the-field teaching as a visitor to our facilities when we hosted the Davis Chancellor’s Club this past September. Conservatory Supports Classes ...... 1 Participants learned how the Conservatory greenhouse, the Joe and Emma Lin Law Awards...... 3 Biological Orchard and Gardens, and the Sciences Laboratory greenhouse all support teaching at UC Davis. The DCC group also observed how Introduction Northern Californa Black Walnut ���4 to Biology (BIS 2C) students experience live examples of the diversity of plant Hunting for Marigold Relatives...... 6

continued on page 2 Pitch Canker and Grasses...... 7 1 CONSERVATORY (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

diversity of individual specimens as they study the details of particular plant taxa, especially in the and Systematics courses. Other courses that rely on plants found in our collections include: PLS 141, ; PLB 10 The Social and Natural Science of Plants; and PLS 002 & Physiology of Cultivated Plants. Several Art classes spend time in the Conservatory drawing plants, and a Fiber and Polymer Science class visits to explore natural fiber and dye plants. Finally there are the courses that we support primarily with staff time such as EVE 119, Population Biology of Weeds, which uses three full benches of crops and weeds planted by students to observe a matrix of combinations Intro Biology 2C students at right demonstrate various methods of plant dispersal to to measure competition. Several their lab mates during the sixth week visit to the Conservatory. Photo: E. Sandoval Environmental classes will sometimes informally borrow plants life forms and branches (examples from students are “dropped off “at various to add to the plants that students see the major lineages of plants) on the “hotspots” to perform rapid in their plant ID courses. We have plant of life during the fourth and assessments of composition. also helped Freshman Seminars such fifth week labs. The Conservatory staff manage the as one on chocolate and others where This past quarter nearly 1000 BIS plant plots, and 2B staff manage marine students build terrariums and tour 2C students visited the Conservatory organism plots. There are 20 indoor and the Conservatory. Also, there are now during the sixth week lab over three outdoor plant biodiversity sampling weather stations set up at the Biological days in groups of 48 at a time! Many plots altogether. We also grow an Orchard and Gardens in a collaboration students later described this as one assortment of plants for the second lab, between the Conservatory and Peter of the most memorable labs of the which explores resource acquisition and Hartsough’s Environmental Monitoring quarter in their course evaluations. The management, including tomato plants class in Environmental Science and groups spent up to 45 minutes in the displaying various nutrient deficiencies Management. Every spring he brings Conservatory searching for examples and pea plants that display nitrogen- his students out to observe the weather of plants modified to be epiphytes, fixing nodules. stations “in the field.” with stem modifications, with With the growth in the number of In summary, we support at least 15 modified beyond the normal function undergraduate students at UC Davis, campus lab courses with approximately of , with that enrollment in the introductory biology 6800 students every year. This doesn’t exhibit unique methods, series and subsequently the upper include those campus courses that only or those with different methods division biology classes has grown. As a bring their students for a Conservatory of vegetative and sexual () result, the Conservatory must propagate tour. Our expanding resources, such reproduction. They also saw examples and maintain increasing numbers of as the outdoor teaching garden space of geographic distribution of plants plants in our indoor and outdoor spaces. known as the Joe and Emma Lin in the Cactaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and We recently summarized the staffing Biological Orchard and Gardens, are Didieriaceae families. and material resources that go into how we literally grow our ability to Next the 48 students, divided supporting other courses, and we’re very serve more campus users! into six groups, prepared five-minute proud of how we have expanded the Few universities have a resource with presentations on their observations usefulness of the Botanical Conservatory the range and depth of the Botanical and presented them to the full and our associated resources. Conservatory and its associated indoor group. Marlene Simon and I serve Four popular upper division Plant and outdoor growing spaces. This is as moderators of this exercise, but Biology courses use plants grown part of the proud history of the plant the students taught the subjects to specifically for their lab exercises: sciences at UC Davis, and it is clearly an each other. We find this interactive Developmental , PLB essential part of the dynamic future here experience has a more lasting effect 105; & Evolution, at UC Davis. than the passive-participant tours from PLS/PLB 116; California Floristics, PLB years back. 102; and Systematics & Evolution of E. Sandoval BIS 2B, with its ecology focus, Angiosperms, PLB 108. Although these uses plants during several weeks classes are smaller than the introductory of labs. During the first lab visit series, students often require a greater 2 RECENT GIFTS

Ellen Dean Herbarium Endowment Herbarium Endowment DBS Society Student Grants Fund Elizabeth Bernhardt & Ted Swiecki Kai Battenberg Kai Battenberg John Brittnacher & Marta Marthas Beth Lowe Corbin in memory of June Gerald Dickinson Elizabeth Brusati McCaskill E. Eric Grissell Jennifer Buck-Diaz Gerald Dickinson in honor of Ellen Andrew Latimer Jessica Budke Dean Sally Manning Brenda Grewell & Steve Kidner Lewis Feldman Karen Miyagishima E. Eric Grissell Julie Knorr Kevin Rice Bill & Sandy Haley Andrew Latimer Russell Huddleston Katherine & Jim West Karlyn & James Lewis Judy Jernstedt Valerie Whitworth & Michael Barbour Shari Kawelo Sally Manning Thomas Zavortink Arvind Kumar Karen Miyagishima Johanna Kwan & Kevin Hague Sue Nichol Conservatory Endowment Karlyn & James Lewis Cay & David Pratt Gerald Dickinson Katherine Mawdsley Kevin Rice Reynotta Hoberecht Jack Maze Roberto Urtecho Dennis Walker Donna Olsson J. Giles Waines Daniel Potter Katherine & Jim West Conservatory Operations Robert & Laurie Preston Valerie Whitworth & Michael Barbour Kevin Hague & Johanna Kwan Stephen & Jill Rae Carol Witham Reynotta Hoberecht Marcel Rejmanek & Eliska Remankova Gary Zamzow Judy Jernstedt Steve Schoenig & Carol Hillhouse Joseph Lin Jean & Scott Shepard Herbarium Operations and Gifts in Kind Craig Thomsen San Francisco Succulent & Lewis Feldman Society Mandy Tu & Philip Rogers Estate of Robbin Thorpe Peter Tucker Ann Studer Shirley Tucker Dennis Walker Chris Walden Jack Major Student Grant Fund Carol Witham Mary Hektner Thank you!

LAW FAMILY ENDOWMENT STUDENTS

This spring, we once again have the becoming paid employees (to do more wonderful opportunity to give out un- repetitive tasks!). They have been a dergraduate awards to students who great addition to the herbarium. have been involved with the Center Finally, our fourth award goes to for Plant Diversity herbarium. The Konshau Duman, a Wildlife, Fish, and awards are funded by the Law Family Conservation Biology major. Konshau Endowment, which was established by began volunteering as a specimen filer Dr. E. Eric Grissell to honor his family in the fall of 2018 under Teri Barry, (see Lasthenia Vol. 41, 2014). In 2020, but he had already taught himself a we are recognizing four seniors. number of plant families and genera The first is Breanna Xiong, a Wild- though his work in a fire ecology life, Fish, and Conservation Biology Our second and third awards are be- laboratory in the Department of Plant (WFCB) major with a GIS minor. Bre- ing given to Biological Sciences majors Sciences. In the summer of 2019, after anna came to the herbarium as a plant Analisa Milkey and Annabelle Rankin. taking the California Floristics course, mounter three years ago, and she has Analisa and Annabelle both began he began a floristic survey of a ranch since worked with Collection Manag- as volunteer filers working with Teri near the Sacramento River in Glenn er Teri Barry as our gift processor (for Barry. Analisa began volunteering in the County. Konshau has collected several the Davis Botanical Society), speci- spring of 2018 and Annabelle in the fall hundred plant specimens, identi- men filer, and a data entry/barcoder/ of 2018. Both then became volunteer fied and labeled them, and finished a specimen imager for our phenology barcoders, and Teri hired both of them preliminary plant list for the property. project. Breanna always has a great as student assistants to do barcoding He has already submitted his findings attitude about learning more about and imaging in the fall of 2019. Both to the journal Madroño. We have been plants and helping with outreach, Analisa and Annabelle are extremely re- very impressed with his independent such as Museum Day. We have very liable and careful with their schedules, research and ability to get things done. much appreciated her staying with and they both helped with Museum It has been a pleasure having him in the herbarium for three years, and we Day in 2019. We very much appreciate the herbarium. have really enjoyed having her in the the way they stuck with their (some- E. Dean herbarium. times repetitive) volunteer tasks, before 3 THE “PARADOXICAL” CASE OF JUGLANS HINDSII

I was first introduced to the Paradox found evidence for the influence of Sacramento River. walnut when I started my faculty these genealogies on Paradox rootstock In early 2015, rare plant botanists position at UC Davis in 1996. performance. Roxanne Bittman (now retired from the “Paradox” generally refers to hybrids Following completion of this work, CDFW) and Heath Bartosh (Nomad between northern California black I began to get calls from landowners Ecology), John Preece (director of the walnut, Juglans hindsii (as the female in the area requesting that I conduct Davis National Clonal Germplasm parent) and cultivated (“Persian” or genetic tests to determine the identities Repository), and I obtained funding “English”) walnut, Juglans regia, as of walnut growing on their from the USDA to support a study the male parent. The name “Paradox” properties. I learned that the species to clarify the conservation status of was bestowed upon these remarkable Juglans hindsii had been listed as rare Juglans hindsii. For this project we trees in 1893 by Luther Burbank, who and threatened by the California Native analyzed microsatellite markers, which was struck by the phenomenally rapid Plant Society (CNPS) and of special allowed us to sample the plants’ nuclear growth of the hybrids compared to concern by the California Department genomes more broadly than in the either parent species. Paradox hybrids of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and that earlier study. We analyzed 158 wild trees occur spontaneously where wild black some California counties required from southern Oregon and 10 counties walnut trees are found in proximity to mitigation for removal of (especially in California, primarily from the Bay walnut orchards, especially in riparian older) trees. The basis for these policies Area (including two of the putative areas, and they are commonly planted was that, although black walnut trees original populations), but also including as street trees. Paradox is also the are common throughout northern collections from the Sierra most widely used rootstock in walnut California, only a few sites in the Bay foothills and southern California. orchards in California. Area had been verified as occurrences Our results were remarkably similar I got involved in Juglans research for Juglans hindsii prior to the mid-19th to those from earlier Paradox study: 113 thanks to encouragement from Gale century, according to accounts by R. (71.5%) of the trees were confirmed to McGranahan, who ran the university’s E. Smith and W. L. Jepson from the represent genetically pure members of walnut breeding program until her early 20th century. Thus, occurrences Juglans hindsii, while the rest showed retirement in 2009. Gale explained at other locations were presumed to be evidence of past hybridizations with to me that there were questions as to due to activities of European settlers, other black walnut species. We did not whether or not the maternal parent of especially dispersal associated with the find any evidence of introgression of Paradox rootstocks is always Juglans expanding walnut industry, and this had genes from Juglans regia into Juglans hindsii, since the hybrid seedlings led to the widespread notion that those hindsii, consistent with the observation are grown from nuts collected from trees might also not be genetically pure that Paradox hybrids are largely sterile wild trees and several other North Juglans hindsii, with particular concern so that gene flow between the two American black walnut species have about introgression from Juglans regia. species ceases after the first generation. been introduced to northern California. The questions of where Juglans hindsii We concluded that the species Since species of Juglans are interfertile, was truly native and where it could be should not be considered rare the possibility existed that species other considered genetically pure seemed to or imperiled and that individual than Juglans hindsii might sometimes have become conflated. Juglans hindsii trees should not have contribute to the parentage of Paradox Beginning in the late 1990s, I conservation status. Our paper on the seedlings. From an industry perspective, analyzed trees from several areas and study was published in Madroño in it would be valuable to determine if any found results similar to those we had 2018. In May, 2019, Roxanne Bittman of the known variability in performance obtained in the Paradox studies; i.e., and Aaron Sims, CNPS rare plant of Paradox rootstocks could be most of the trees we tested were in fact botanist, drafted a proposal to delete attributed to differences in genealogies pure Juglans hindsii. Thus, I came to Juglans hindsii from the California Rare of the mother trees. understand that the word “paradox” Plant Inventory. Following a lively With Gale’s support, I obtained might be applicable in another way to exchange of messages among reviewers, funding from the Walnut Marketing Juglans hindsii: in obtaining these results the proposal was supported and the Board to investigate this question by I was at once letting the landowners species has been deleted. comparing patterns of variation in know that they had a “rare” species on Our data did not provide any clues DNA sequences from the nuclear and their property and providing evidence as to which, if any, of the sites where genomes. This approach that the species is in fact not rare after Juglans hindsii is currently found facilitates identification of hybrids all! represent original populations not since, in most plants, and In the course of further affected by human intervention, and, the genes they carry are maternally conversations and reading, it became absent the ability for time travel, the inherited whereas genes in the nucleus clear that not everyone was convinced question of where Juglans hindsii is truly are inherited from both parents. We that the sites noted by Jepson and Smith native will likely remain shrouded in examined the identities of 27 Paradox were the only pre-contact occurrences; mystery forever. The extensive human mother trees and found that two thirds putatively native populations have dispersal and planting of Juglans species of them were pure Juglans hindsii while been reported as far north as southern and hybrids and changes in land use the remainder showed evidence of past Oregon. There was also a diversity over the last 150 years, combined with hybridizations with Juglans californica of opinions as to whether or not remaining unresolved questions about (southern California black walnut), the species should be treated as a the role Native Americans may have had Juglans major ( walnut), Juglans conservation concern wherever it is in affecting Juglans hindsii’s distribution, microcarpa ( walnut) and/or found, the opposite extreme represented present challenges to solving this Juglans nigra (Eastern black walnut). by the view that it is invasive and puzzle. Intriguingly, subsequent studies have should be eradicated along the upper D. Potter 4 HUNTING FOR MARIGOLD RELATIVES IN MEXICO

As a fourth year PhD student in the lajara (IBUG), I met Plant Biology Graduate Group, I am my friend Marco investigating phylogenetic relationships Anguiano, a Lycian- in the marigold asters (, tribe thes researcher who ) using molecular and mor- collaborates with phological data. More specifically, I am Ellen Dean. Marco focusing in the systematics of the genera and I went to look and . They for Adenophyllum occur in North America (in the biogeo- pulcherrimum, which graphic sense, which includes most of we found after many Mexico), with most of the species con- days of searching. fined to Mexico. In 2018, I received a Then I attended the Davis Botanical Society Research Grant, Mexican Botanical which I used for extensive fieldwork Congress, where in the fall of 2019. I needed to collect I presented a talk fresh leaves for DNA extraction, as well about the phylog- as herbarium specimens. I visited many eny of the marigold beautiful locations in Mexico looking tribe. I also took for species of my target genera and of advantage of one other related taxa. I also visited many of the conference herbaria, met several botanists, and field trips to collect Clockwise from top left: Thymophylla aurantiaca, T. setifolia, Adenophyllum cancellatum, A. appendiculatum. made new friends. additional samples Photo: O. Hinojosa At the end of September, I flew from of Adenophyllum Sacramento to the tropical Yucatan Pen- cancellatum and insula. Dan Potter, my major advisor, some other beautiful asters. curator of the herbarium of the Autono- and I looked for Adenophyllum porophyl- I returned to MEXU, where I was us- mous University of (UAT). lum var. radiatum, but unfortunately, ing their herbarum specimen dryer and We went to look for Thymophylla we did not find it. Then I went to the freezer to process specimens. I then flew mutica, endemic to the Tamaulipan National Herbarium of Mexico (MEXU), to the state of , in northwestern scrubland. On the way, we found and in Mexico City, where I met a friend, Mexico; I visited the herbarium of Sono- collected var. Rafa Torres, who drove me to the tropi- ra (USON) and went into the field with pentachaeta. The next day, we could not cal deciduous forests of south-central the curator (Jesús Sánchez) and some locate , but we did Mexico. We collected samples of Adeno- of his students, locating Adenophyl- find Thymophylla setifolia. From Tam- phyllum var. porophyllum lum anomalum. I also wanted to look aulipas, I travelled to the adjacent state and Thymophylla aurantiaca. for another local endemic, Adenophyl- of Nuevo Leon. Early in the morning, I Next I travelled to the CIIDIR her- lum yecoranum, but I was told that the met Eduardo Estrada, a knowledgeable barium, in the state of (north region of Yécora was quite unsafe and botanist who drove me to collect Stroth- central Mexico), where I met another that it was best not to go there. For the eria gypsophila, another local endemic friend, Arturo Castro. We went to the same reasons, I was advised not to go to of gypsum soils and close relative of mesquite scrublands and took samples southwest , where I wanted Thymophylla. On the way, we found and of Adenophyllum cancellatum, Thymo- to collect . collected more samples of Thymophylla. phylla acerosa, Thymophylla pentachaeta After leaving more specimens at Finally, the next day (Nov 24th) var. hartwegii, Thymophylla tenuifolia, MEXU, I flew to in southern I went to MEXU to pick up all my and what seems to be Thymophylla gen- Mexico. I visited the ECOSUR herbar- specimens and to say goodbye to all my try. The latter is an ill-defined species, ium and went with the curator (Mario friends. I returned from Mexico City and I hope my studies help to clarify its Ishiki) into the tropical deciduous forest through San Francisco International status. We continued further north, to looking for Adenophyllum porophyl- Airport, where Ellen Dean was waiting the gypsum dunes in Cuatro Ciénegas lum var. radiatum and Adenophyllum for me. She kindly picked me up and National Preserve to collect the local appendiculatum. We could find only the drove me to my place in Davis! This is endemic Thymophylla gypsophila. It was latter. In Chiapas, I found an odd aster the long story of how I took full advan- my first time in this marvelous place that I could not identify, and it turned tage of the DBS Research Grant. Several in northern Mexico. I was amazed by out to be Dichrocephala integrifolia, an new marigold and other asters speci- the white sandy gypsum dunes and the Old World species that has just been mens are being added to the UC Davis several asters endemic to the region. reported as an exotic in the New World. Center for Plant Diversity herbarium. I There is even a pond with stromatolites. My collection is the second record in have successfully extracted DNA from We also found Thymophylla pentachaeta the Americas, and I am already working all the collected samples, and a first var. belenidium. on a paper to publish the finding. phylogenetic analysis of the taxa is com- I then travelled to the city of Gua- I then travelled to Tamaulipas in ing soon. Thank you, DBS! dalajara, in western Mexico. At the northeastern Mexico and met another O. Hinojosa herbarium of the University of Guada- friend (Arturo Mora), who is also the 5 NEW CURATOR ALISON COLWELL (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

fessor, Jeff Doyle, and wow, that clicked! Yosemite and the National Park Service Through Professor Doyle, I discovered continues, and I’d like to see it develop the Bailey Hortorium, Cornell’s herbar- into a productive collaboration for the ium. It was a miraculous private world, Center for Plant Diversity herbarium. one elevator stop above the stacks of the In looking forward to future directions science library. I loved going to the grad for herbarium projects and the Davis student seminar, enjoying watching the Botanical Society, I’d like to throw out a lively, sometimes rather heated, sparring couple of ideas: over issues like plant biogeography and One of the strengths of the Center speciation. I loved how knowledgeable for Plant Diversity herbarium is non- everyone seemed to be and how much native plants. These were collected over they cared about these subjects. many decades by university researchers Professor Doyle advised me to go to or were obtained more recently via ex- Washington University in Saint Louis Alison in the field in Maine. Photo courtesy of change with other herbaria. Given that for graduate school, because it had both the subject. non-native plants are the fastest-increas- a good evolutionary biology program ing segment of the California , and and was affiliated with the Missouri Bo- besides a life’s work, was an opportu- that both academic and state specialists tanical Garden. I was not disappointed. nity to prowl around California every of weedy plants are local, our herbarium Fondly referred to as “MOBOT,“ the summer, and prowl around dozens of is well-positioned to make a significant Garden had a tremendous field research herbaria looking for locality data in contribution towards documenting program, especially in tropical botany. the winter (in the days before online this phenomenon for our region. We’ve At the time, molecular systematics using herbarium data). This is how I became a keyed some unusual weeds recently at PCR (polymerase chain reaction) had devotee of both California and herbaria. the weekly plant identification sessions just been invented, and Washington Having a home base at the Center for held on Saturdays at the herbarium, so University was part of the race to se- Plant Diversity herbarium will be a big clearly there is no lack of source mate- quence the human genome; so the mo- asset for my Aphyllon research, and rial with which to increase this collec- lecular genetics side was exciting too. these delightful plants will likely capti- tion! I had become enamored of parasitic vate some of you also! A last thought about something I’ve plants as an undergraduate, and I de- This botanical prowling was a spare noticed during decades of member- cided to map the chloroplast genome of time project for years, as I was a molec- ship in native plant societies: what a Conopholis americana, a root parasite of ular geneticist by trade, and I continued phenomenal contribution amateurs, red oaks in the Eastern U.S. and Mexico working my way west via the University and increasingly, retirees, make to the in the family Orobanchaceae. I learned of , and University of Wash- field of botany. If you peruse the table that once plants become adept parasites, ington. I had worked for five years at a of contents of a botanical journal like they quickly shed their photosynthesis US Geological Survey Fisheries Research Madroño, you’ll be struck by this. Native genes in the chloroplast, paring down Station on the delightfully nefarious plant societies are wonderful for nurtur- to the transcription and translation es- Myxozoan parasites of fishes when a ing such interest, and though members sentials and a few storage genes. strange thing happened. In order to doubtless grow native plants and go Small wonder that most of them exhibit pay for the Iraq War, our government on walks, they also do serious potato-like qualities, because storing froze all soft money salaries at USGS for botanical research. Herbaria worldwide starch is about all their chloroplasts can six months, including mine. I’d been recognize this and provide a diversity of still do. starting to feel that I was on the wrong volunteer opportunities. Herbaria would Near graduation, I was approached side of the window, but this enforced not be nearly as robust without the con- by George Yatskievych, a Missouri hiatus was an opportunity I would not tributions of their volunteer staffs. curator with whom have sought otherwise. I inquired about There is always a need for more I’d been hunting parasitic plants for field botany jobs in California for that botanical research: monitoring rare his revision of the Flora of Missouri, to six months and lucked out, finding one plant populations, revisiting ecological assist him with the treatment for the with USGS Plant Ecologist Peggy Moore plots, investigating little-studied species, related Orobanche (now Aphyllon) at Yosemite. My job was to map the writing florulas of neglected places. I in Flora of North America. It seemed like park’s rare plants. It was exciting work, can see that the Davis Botanical Society a wonderful small project: make forays as we were finding new species, plus I is an organization rich in members with to hunt representative species in the felt at home there, and ended up staying intellectual curiosity and a passion for Western US, run some DNA sequences, 13 years. For the surveys, we targeted botany, and, in partnership with the her- confirm relationships and voilà. aquatic plants, edaphic specialists, and barium, I will do my best to reach out to What was to take a few years now unusual habitats such as unglaciated and support those with an interest in a is clearly going to take a lifetime, as alpine areas. I was also able to facilitate serious botany project. Aphyllon, besides being dastardly hard some specialized surveys of the Yosem- A. Colwell to find, is more speciose and its species ite region: , , fresh- more complexly related than we had an water and fungi, some of which inkling of. What this project gave me, are still in process. My relationship with 6 PITCH CANKER IN GRASSES?

The circinatum is the The relationship of the fungus to causal agent of pitch canker in , a California Brome was further investi- disease that has been infecting Cali- gated by spraying Fusarium circinatum fornia pines since the 1980s. Since its suspensions on growth chamber discovery in California, the geographic grown grasses. After an incubation range of the disease has expanded, dam- period, the California Brome leaves were aging both native and introduced pines. removed, cleaned, and incubated in Pines infected with the fungus manifest moist chambers under light. After incu- a variety of symptoms, including yel- bating several days, sporulating fungal lowing needles, branch dieback, and colonies of Fusarium circinatum emerged production of cankers that ooze copious from inoculated leaves. Negative control quantities of pitchy . The character- plants that were not inoculated showed istic cankers give the disease its name. no such fungal growth under similar There are no effective treatments for the conditions. These results show that disease, and severe infections can result A dead Bishop Pine at Point Reyes National California Brome is capable of support- in tree death. Seashore. Photo: Courtesy of the authors. ing sporulation of Fusarium circinatum, Bishop Pine () at cankerous Bishop Pine branches. Grass raising the possibility for the fungus to Point Reyes National Seashore (Pt. samples were identified with the assis- jump from grass to pine hosts via aerial Reyes) is heavily infected by Fusarium tance of the staff at the UC Davis Center . From a broader perspective, our circinatum. A range of symptoms are for Plant Diversity. We also submitted findings provide evidence of how fungi visible in the trees, from branch dieback representative samples of the two grass may have complex interactions with a to tree death. Dr. Thomas R. Gordon species to the herbarium at Pt. Reyes. variety of asymptomatic species. and I were interested in investigating Following identification, we cut up and The grant from the Davis Botani- the life cycle of this pathogen at Pt. cleaned the samples, and then cultured cal Society made the Pt. Reyes research Reyes. Specifically, we were interested in on a medium selective for Fusarium possible. We were able to investigate asymptomatic infections of alternative species. how Fusarium circinatum interacts with hosts. Previous research had shown that Fusarium circinatum was isolated the California flora. Along the way, Fusarium circinatum can infect grasses from all three plant species. The fungi we learned about herbarium specimen such as corn. Funded in part by a Davis were identified using a variety of meth- collection, species identification, field Botanical Society Grant, we set out to ods: morphology, somatic compatability, sampling at a National Seashore, and investigate whether grasses at Pt. Reyes and virulence to pine. For both grass microscopy. There is still much more to were infected by the fungus. species, we recovered multiple isolates investigate in the field of plant – fungal Care was taken to sample native of Fusarium circinatum that were viru- interactions. We hope interested gradu- grasses where possible. Over the course lent to naïve, greenhouse grown pines. ate students will apply for botanical of summer 2017 we collected flowering/ We interpreted our results to indicate society grants, and use these resources fruiting stems of two grass species, the that native and introduced Point Reyes to explore these and similar topics in native grass California Brome (Bromus grasses are infected with Fusarium cir- greater depth. carinatus) and the introduced grass cinatum, a fungus that remains virulent J. Carter & T. Gordon Velvet Grass (Holcus lanatus), as well as to pines.

SPRING FIELD TRIP LEADERS WILL TEACH US ABOUT THE RARE PLANTS OF PINE HILL

Members and guests of the Davis Botan- CNPS, and other participating agencies reticulata), Red Hills soaproot (Chlorog- ical Society will visit one of the region’s to protect the rare plant species and alum grandiflorum), and the Bisbee Peak unusual and specialized plant habitats other sensitive resources of the area. rush-rose (Helianthemum suffrutescens). on May 16, when Dr. Melanie Gogol- The unusual gabbro soils harbor Two of these species, Packera layneae Prokurat, a one-time herbarium student a unique assemblage of plant species. and Chlorogalum grandiflorum, were also employee, and Dr. Steve Schoenig lead Included are the rare state or feder- observed on last year’s field trip to the the spring field trip to Pine Hill Reserve. ally listed species: Pine Hill ceanothus Red Hills (a disjunct island of serpen- The Pine Hill Reserve and the gabbro (Ceanothus roderickii), El Dorado bed- tine soil 65 miles away). soils of El Dorado County are located straw (Galium californicum ssp. sierrae), The trip is limited to 20 participants; due east and north of the towns of El Pine Hill flannelbush Fremontodendron( a reservation form is available at the Dorado Hills and Cameron Park respec- decumbens), Layne’s butterweed (Pac- Center for Plant Diversity homepage. tively, about one hour from Davis. The kera layneae), and Stebbins’ morning Join us for a foray into one of Califor- entire 4,746-acre area has been managed glory (Calystegia stebbinsii). Other rare nia’s weird plant havens. by the Bureau of Land Management, taxa are: El Dorado mule ears (Wyethia S. Schoenig & K. Mawdsley 7