Winter 2015 Issue
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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 SPRING EVENTS! and Center for Plant Diversity. Editor: Kate Mawdsley Issue Contributors: E. Dean, K. Mawdsley, E. Sandoval, A. Latimer, C. Sat. April 11 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale Thomsen, M. Starbuck, D. Brandon, S. Wright Design: Susan Gloystein Sun. April 19 Napa County Palisades Field Trip Layout: Ellen Dean DBS OFFICERS, 2014-2015 Sat. April 25 Bear Creek Ranch Field Trip President: Brenda Grewell President-elect: Andrew Latimer Membership Vice President: Sat. April 25 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale Patrick McGuire & Kate Mawdsley Secretary: Marlene Simon Thu. May 7 Spring Meeting and Speaker, Rick Treasurer: Robert Rhode Past President: Marie Jasieniuk Karban, “Volatile Communication Members at Large: Susan Harrison, Between Plants” Craig Thomsen Student Member at Large: Allyson Ayalon Ex officio: Dan Potter, Ernesto Sandoval, Ellen Dean UC Davis Mail ID: BTNY BTNY ID: Mail Davis UC Davis, CA 95616 95616 CA Davis, University of California California of University One Shields Avenue Avenue Shields One Plant Sciences Mail Stop #7 Stop Mail Sciences Plant Center for Plant Diversity Diversity Plant for Center 8 No. 43 Winter 2015 LASTHENIA NEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY SAY YOUR ALOES FOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA It’s about time Aloes have their day architecturally interesting foliage with in the horticultural sun! Thanks to minimal prickles. That they are natural the need and yes, even demand, from hummingbird feeders as well is an municipalities for more efficient water added bonus. Actually the genus Aloe use, these plants are taking root in the is native to Africa, and hummingbirds gardens of Northern California. Perhaps only occur in the Americas! But rest their appeal lies in their medicinal assured these sugar-hungry birds properties, at least for the two main perform the needed pollination services medicinal species: Aloe vera, which is quite well. Hummers do this with gusto too tender to grow here without frost and perhaps much faster than their non- and cold protection, and bitter aloe hovering African counterparts that must (Aloe ferox), which is very suitable for perch on the rigid floral stalks to gain growing in the Sacramento Valley. access to the nectar. Spiral Aloe (Aloe polyphylla). I suspect that it’s more likely the Whatever their appeal, one thing Photo: E. Sandoval appeal lies in their brightly blooming is for sure, these drought-tolerant inflorescences, which begin their plants are becoming a mainstay of California. This means that more and show in late winter, as well as their Mediterranean gardening throughout more species are being documented as being able to withstand NorCal’s cool NEW ONLINE HERBARIUM TOOLS wet winters, with most of them being in their element during our warm dry A major emphasis in the botanical summers. Spiral aloe (Aloe polyphylla), world over the past decade has been one of the most cold tolerant species, is the effort to drag herbaria (some kick- hardy to USDA zones 7b (5-10° F); but ing and screaming) into the digital since it originates from 6,500-8,000 ft. in age. This has taken two roads: the the Drakensberg mountains of Lesotho, first road has been to just make her- this one needs protection from the high barium specimen label data available summer heat/sun combination here in online; the second has also made im- the Sacramento Valley. ages of specimens (virtual herbaria) The Aloe plantings on the south side available. Some websites are so grand of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory that they provide both images and label data! The expectation of what continued on page 2 we can achieve has evolved rapidly as methods for imaging specimens have become cheaper and easier. Due IN THIS ISSUE to a crazy quilt of state, national, and Aloes for Northern California ..........1 international digitization projects, the Center for Plant Diversity herbarium New Online Herbarium Tools ..........1 now has several new outreach tools at Ellen and Ernesto Receive Awards ..3 our website. Image of an herbarium specimen of redbud After the Fire ...................................4 One quiet change that we made (Cercis occidentalis) from the new UC within the past year was to upgrade Natural Reserve Virtual Herbarium. Bear Creek Ranch Restoration .........6 our specimen search page, work done Napa County Palisades ....................7 continued on page 5 1 ALOES (CONT. FROM PAGE 1) even resulted in their being featured on the campus’ Sustainability Page for campus landscaping water use. A hybrid, Aloe x spinosissima, made it onto the UC Davis Arboretum’s All Stars list of plants perfectly suited for the Sacramento region’s combination of Book Aloe (Aloe suprafoliata). Photo: E. Sandoval Transplanting a particularly large Aloe into tall and 4 ft. wide here in the Valley the Ernest Gifford Cycad Garden in front and survived the 1990 freeze with only of Storer Hall in 2007. This Aloe, donated “burnt” tips and “melted” flower spikes. by Sam Williams of Sacramento, had to be To read more about the natural moved by “crane” into its final position in the history of Aloe plants as well as their bed. Photo: Darrell Brandon Cape Speckled Aloe (Aloe microstigma). horticultural potential in Northern Photo: E. Sandoval California, readers are encouraged to go and adjoining greenhouses along to our very first issue of Botanical Notes, Kleiber Hall Drive have only been winter weather, summer heat, and clay published in 2009 on the topic of Aloes. watered a few times during my 20 plus soils. The parentage is fascinating since http://greenhouse.ucdavis.edu/files/ years at the Conservatory, and they’re it’s a hybrid of the very small spider aloe botnot_01-01.00.pdf. in dense clay soil! In December of 1990 (Aloe humilis) and the large shrubby Behind the scenes work is being a major freeze damaged many of these krantz aloe (Aloe arborescens).The latter done on more of these Botanical Notes plants to one degree or another (no pun has been known to cover whole front that combine the natural history of intended), but many of the plants came yards in the San Francisco Bay Area. particular plants or plant groups in the back from their melted and freezer- Aloe x spinosissima will get up to 2 ft. Conservatory collections with their burned look. horticultural needs and potential. The dense planting of Aloes along Hutchison Drive between the Sciences E. Sandoval Laboratory Building and Sciences Lecture Hall get watered only once during the summer. This is just to keep them from looking too desiccated for some onlookers. Their popularity has The hybrid Aloe striata x Aloe saponaria Aloe bed along Hutchison Drive at UC Davis. Sand Aloe (Aloe hereoensis). growing along Hutchison Drive at UC Davis. Photo: E. Sandoval Photo: E. Sandoval Photo: E. Sandoval 2 RECENT GIFTS Herbarium Endowment Conservatory Operations Beth Lowe Corbin San Francisco Succulent and Cactus John Hunter Society Pamela Muick Folsom Garden Club Frederick Ryan Davis Botanical Society Herbarium Operations Student Grants Fund Sacramento Chapter of the Pamela Muick California Native Plant Society Lewis Feldman Jack Major Student Grant Endowment Stephen & Jill Rae Marcel Rejmanek & Eliska Shirley Tucker Rejmankova Herbarium Gifts in Kind Thank you for John & Lesley Randall Barbara Webster your support! ELLEN DEAN AND ERNESTO SANDOVAL RECEIVE AWARDS the past few years, Ellen and her staff performed databasing, georeferencing, and imaging of thousands of specimens related to several projects funded by NSF, NIH, and the UC Natural Reserve System. As a result of these efforts, detailed, accurate data from these specimens with up-to-date taxonomy, and, in many cases, digital images, are now available to researchers everywhere. Ellen is also an avid plant collector, and her regional floristics projects Ellen Dean and Kate Mawdsley collecting and rare plant mapping have brought Ernesto Sandoval doing outreach in the plants at Grover Hot Springs State Park in funding and prestige to the herbarium Botanical Conservatory with primary school 2010. Photo: Sylvia Wright and the campus. They have also children. Center for Plant Diversity Curator provided opportunities for outreach and has trained hundreds of young Ellen Dean received the UC Davis and education. Within the last year, she horticulturalists through his popular Chancellor’s Staff Appreciation and has conducted projects which involved Conservatory internship. His Recognition (STAR) Award in late Jan- twenty full-day collecting field trips, K-12 outreach tours are regionally uary. In his nominating letter, Center each of which engaged the participation renowned, and most biology students Director Dan Potter wrote of Ellen’s of students and volunteers. In the on campus are introduced to the many contributions to the herbarium; field, her enthusiasm for plants is truly Conservatory early in their careers we paraphrase here. infectious, and she has inspired many through a tour as part of introductory Ellen has made it a priority to UC Davis students to pursue careers in biology. He also continues to make the herbarium a valuable botany and many more to appreciate mentor the students in the campus resource for everyone, including and value floristic biodiversity. Botaniculture Club (previously the students at all levels, researchers Ernesto Sandoval, Botanical Botany Club), including taking and instructors from a broad range Conservatory Director, received the students on popular field trips, of disciplines, extension specialists, Principles of Community Award from especially to Baja California. government agency biologists, and the College of Biological Sciences on Ernesto does everything humanly amateur and professional botanists October 4, 2014. This award recognizes possible to keep the Conservatory with a great diversity of backgrounds individuals who embody the Principles relevant to the campus and the region, and experience.