A Publication of the Wyoming Native Plant Society
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Castilleja A Publication of the Wyoming Native Plant Society Mar 2004, Volume 23, No. 1 www.uwyo.edu/wyndd/wnps/wnps_home.htm Adventures in Laramie-Peak-Land By Hollis Marriott What does it take to convert a middle- aged construction worker with a big 4-WD pickup truck into a field botanist looking for rare plants? “Impossible!” you are probably thinking to yourself. But strange things can happen in the land of the Laramie Batholith and the Central Metamorphic Complex. The Laramie columbine, Aquilegia laramiensis, is endemic to the Laramie Mountains in southeast Wyoming. It was discovered by Aven Nelson in 1895 on a botanizing trip on and around Laramie Peak. The flowers of this little columbine are nodding, and are borne among the leaves. They have greenish-white to lavender sepals, and cream to lavender petals with spurs less than 10 mm long. Prior to the 2003 field season, Aquilegia laramiensis was known from just 12 sites, two of which were considered historical without precise location data. Most were in the northern part of the Laramie Mountains, in the vicinity of Laramie Peak. The columbine also occurs on Ragged Top Mountain about 60 miles to the south, and Char Delmatier found it roughly halfway Aquilegia laramiensis, by Isobel Nichols between Laramie Peak and Ragged Top in In this issue: 1993. Most of the known populations were Living floras – keeping score of score-keepers . 3 growing on granite rocks. The columbine Physaria vitulifera status in Wyoming . 5 appeared to be rare, but those in the know Invasive species and CBM development . 6 suspected that there was much potential Botrychium lineare confirmed in Wyoming . 7 habitat needing survey. (continued p.4) Phytoterrorism/Know your terrorists . 8 A Region of Astonishing Beauty (review) . 9 WNPS NEWS – CELEBRATING WILDFLOWERS at the Draper Museum of Natural History in Cody, WY, 2004 Student Scholarship Winners: Three WNPS cosponsored by WNPS, features an exciting public Scholarship winners were recently named by the presentation, hikes, and workshops – mainly on Board, including: Saturday, June 5. Watch for details in the spring ? Elizabeth Saunders, awarded $500 (first newsletter! place) for research as part of her Masters thesis “Taxonomic and New Members: Please welcome the following new systematic test of the Abronia ammophila members of WNPS: Sarah Bucklin-Comiskey – Abronia mellifera – Abronia fragrans (Casper), Andrea Cerovski (Lander), Gov. Mike & species-complex using genetic markers”. Jane Sullivan (Casper), Ron Toman (Burr Ridge, Saunders is working with Sedonia Sipes in IL), Klara Varga (Ashton, ID). the Department of Plant Biology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. ? Evelyn Hill, awarded $300 (second place) as part of her masters thesis “An Ethnobotany of the Teton Ecosystem”. MESSAGE FROM THE Hill is working with Gregory Brown in the PRESIDENT Botany Department at University of Wyoming, Laramie. Thank you for your vote of confidence. I ? Sally Madden, awarded $200 (third place) will work hard on your behalf. So far we have as part of her masters thesis “Long term evaluated the scholarship applications, worked on effects of domestic livestock removal the summer field trip, and a few members are from Wyoming big sagebrush dominated working with the Draper Museum of Natural rangelands: vegetative diversity and soil History on the program "Celebrating Wildflowers." stability”. Madden is working with Larry Please feel free to communicate your Munn in the Department of Renewable ideas and suggestions for the society either to Resources at University of Wyoming, me or one of the board at any time. Your input Laramie. is greatly appreciated. This is your native plant We are proud to support their research. The society and we look forward to working with you. Board had a hard time sorting through many A very special thanks to all of you who qualified applications. They thank all who applie d… contributed toward the scholarship fund. and all who keep the scholarship fund going! Hop on board with ideas, suggestions and help anytime. I am looking forward to working Wyoming Native Plant Society with all of you. JD P.O. Box 2500, Laramie, WY 82073 Announcing the New Board Contributors to this issue: Jean Daly (JD), Bonnie President: Jean Daly (Big Horn) – 674-9728 Heidel (BH), William Jennings (WJ), Hollis Marriott Vice President: Melanie Arnett (Laramie) – 742-0988 (HM), Deanna Rhyner (DR). Sec.-Treasurer: Drew Arnold (Laramie) – 742-7079 Board Members: Kent Houston (Cody) – 527-6572 Newsletter Editor: Bonnie Heidel (Laramie; Katherine Zacharkevics (Spearfish, SD) - 605-642-2240 email: [email protected]) THANK YOU to all candidates Teton Chapter: PO Box 82, Wilson, WY 83014 (Joan Lucas, Treasurer) Responses to the winter timing of elections and Bighorn Native Plant Society: PO Box 21, Big Horn, WY renewals were outstanding! The top field trip 82833 (Jean Daly, Treasurer) choic es were the Black Hills and Laramie Peak. Head Webmaster-Tessa Dutcher ([email protected]) Board planning is in progress. The May issue will come out early to announce the annual field trip Please send announcements of summer events plans. to report in the next issue by 19 April. 2 Living Floras Keeping Score of the Score-keepers Floras and our understanding of them are never static but always growing and changing. The vehicle for understanding them and the springboard for many other branches of botany are herbaria. The first nationwide study published in Systematic Botany (Prather et al. 2004a) documents the overall decline in the rates of plant collecting in the United States. Plant collecting trends were gauged by compiling data from 71 herbaria in 30 states, based on plant specimens collected in the primary geographic area covered by that institution, for nine widespread genera selected as representative of a wide range of growth forms, life cycles, habitats, and higher taxonomic levels of classifications. Herbarium collection data were analyzed relative to herbarium accession size and region Trends in collecting plant specimens at 70 U.S. herbaria vs. of the country. Rocky Mountain Herbarium for nine representative genera Six trends emerged from the analysis: (y axis=1000’s; from Prather et al. 2004a) 1. The past 40 years (1960’s-1990’s) has Plant collecting is a form of botanical score-keeping witnessed declines in collecting for most that will never become a competitive sport and is best (67.1%) herbaria pursued in collaboration. Yet anyone who has been 2. The pattern of decline is common to all regions, following UW football will understand why Greg Brown, with the lowest rates of decline in the herbaria Botany Department chairman, praised the herbarium by of the Rocky Mountain states comparing it with sanctioned sports: ”If the University 3. Overall patterns of collecting show general had a major sports team that ranked in the top 20 every increases up to the 1930’s and patterns of year for the past 25 years, that would be big news” fluctuations since that time (Eisenhauer 2002). The RM is an academic facility that is 4. The pattern of collecting for more herbaria recognized in a category of its own. peaked in the 1930s compared to any other Wyoming can celebrate. Next time you’re at RM, decade period congratulate Ronald Hartman, curator, and B.E. “Ernie” 5. The volume of collecting over the years varies Nelson, collections manager, every botanist who greatly between institutions contributed collections to RM, and the entire herbarium 6. The trend of decline is common to herbaria of workforce. At the same time, it is important to consider all sizes (EXCEPT the Rocky Mountain multi-state perspectives as well as gaps in the Herbarium; RM) professional documentation practices of public land managing agencies and local weed boards, and to think What is at stake? A companion commentary by of ourselves as part of a larger botanical community Prather et al. (2004b) discusses declines in collecting as incorrigibly linked to living floras. reducing the likelihood of discovering as-yet undiscovered species, documenting fundamental Literature Cited distribution patterns, tracking the distribution changes of Eisenhauer, D. 2002. Plant passion. UWYO Magazine exotics and the shift of native species over time with Nov. pp 12-16. invasions, habitat losses, and climate changes, and Prather, L.A., O. Alvarez-Fuentes, M.H. Mayfield, and increasing the likelihood of missing extinction events and D.J. Ferguson. 2004. The decline of plant collecting evolution in action. There are many caveats and in the United States: a threat to the infrastructure of variables to consider, but the trend is clear. biodiversity studies. Systematic Botany 29(1):15-28. Bucking downward trends is the Rocky Mountain Prather, L.A., O. Alvarez-Fuentes, M.H. Mayfield, and Herbarium (RM; University of Wyoming). Thirty-eight D.J. Ferguson. 2004. Implications of the decline in percent of the total number of 1990s specimens in the plant collecting for systematic and floristic research. nationwide sample of the select genera were from RM, Systematic Botany. 29(1): 216-220. over 40X the average for the other 70 herbaria. 3 Adventures in Laramie -Peak-Land – cont. from p. 1 habitat and potential threats. Man and dog were The Laramie Mountains are very rocky, with tired but were enjoying the satisfaction of many areas of extensive outcrops. Access is discovery. The truck had many new scratches difficult due to rugged topography, lack of roads and had lost one side mirror, but otherwise was in and a mixed ownership pattern of public and good shape. private lands. With the results of the 2003 field season Three other columbines with cream, blue in, Aquilegia laramiensis has proven to be a or lavender flowers occur in Wyoming: Aquilegia difficult species to categorize in terms of coerulea, A. brevistyla and A. jonesii. Of these conservation status.