- I ?a _- Volume 7 Number 2 Oregon State University June 2001 mce Newhouse, President of the Native Plant Don't give up groundsmoking Society of Oregon by Kentan L. Chnmbers by Rhoda Love When a plant has such an unusual common name as "groundsmoke," it is hard to resist a punning title for an '7 love nafive plants," confessed Bruce Newhouse m a arbcle dealing with the genus Gayophytum of family recent interview, "and am very, very lucky thatmy vocation Onagraceae. Although @is genus has only six species in and avocation are one and the same." Oregon, its morphologi~alcomplexity and the difficulty of Bruce Newhouse, President of the Native Plant Society drawing clear lines between irs species might indeed cause , . of Oregon and co-founder of the environmental consulting a person to "~veup" trying to identify them. My reply to partnership, Salix Associates, was bornin Oregon City and such a complaint would be that yes, it's a complex little grew up in Lake Oswego. He credits his mother's genus, hut the fun of studying it is in learning the biological wildflower garden as well as fly-fishing trips with his father basisof its taxonomic diB?culties. Fortunarely, the biology to the ClackamasRiver with originally awakening his of gmundsmoke is well explained in an excellent taxonomic interestin native plants. Later, as a teen, he hiked in the revision written by Harlan Lewis and Jeny Szweykowski Mount Ho~dNationalForest, developing a deep attraction way backin 1964 [The genus Gayophytum(0nagraceae). for nature. "Ileamed all the Cascade trees andwildflowers Brittonia 16: 343-3911, Ihad the pleasure of accompanying on my own," he says. Dr. Lewis ona collecting trip in central Oregon in 1962, so I Bruce is a maduate of Oregon State Umversitv where - - learned thk secrets of Gayophytum at the master's bee, as ' he studied forestry and landscape architecture, taking his . it were. Recently I preparedatreahnentfor the Oregon BS degreein 1977in environmental science. Aftercollege Vascular Plant Checklist, reacquainting myself with he first worked with the Multnomah County Outdoor :;, groundsmoke by shldying and annotahng the several School and later as a land use planner in Grants Pass, hundred Gayophytum specimens in the herbarium at Josephine County. Bmce then moved on to city planning in Oregon State University. Springfield, learn that post to becomepart of a team In Oregon, Gayophynunoccurs almost entjrely from which sumeyed vegetation on all 1500miles of Lane the crest of the Cascades eastward; its species are common County roadsides in 1989. In the early 90s BNG~co- in dry shrublands, rangelands, and open forests of juniper, founded a consulting firm, Sdix Associates, with partners ponderosa-pine grand-fir. It reaches high elevations on Dick Brainerd andPeter Zika. The group undertakes certain Cascade peaks, an Steens Mountain, and in the variouspro~ectssuch as vegetation mapping and wildlife Wallowa Mountains, however. Closely allied genera of See Newhouse, uaae 8 Onagraceae include Camissonia and Oenothera, and this relationship helps to explain one of the peculiarities of Gayophynun's biology -a chromosomal featute called 'structural heterozygosity," which occms also in these related genera. Two other processes, polyploidy and hybridization, complicatethebioIogi~alrelationshipswithin Gqyophytum, as they do in many other genera of flowering plants. To assist this discussion, I have reproduced here a modifiedversion ofLewis and Szweykowski's chart of species relationships, (fig. 3, p. 11) on which ahorizontal line separates six ancestrat diploid species, below, from two derived tetraploid species. The diploids occurring in Oregon are G. humile, G. decipiens, G. ramosiasimum, and G. heterozygum Our tetraploid taxa are G. racemosum and G. drpsum, the lattet having two subspecies that completely overlap geographically and differ midyin Bruce Newho~~,UI, close andpersonal with a delphinium See Gayaphytm, page 10 I The Oregon Book Newkouse, conrznued from front page by Rhoda Love habitat assessments. Bruce says, "During the years we The Oregon Book: Informationfrom A to Z, wdl make a worked together, Peter Zika was a tremendous influence in wonderful addition to yom shelf of reference works about sparking my interest in botany. Peter recently moved to our state. I plan to put my copy right beside McArthur's Seattle, so now Salix Associates is just Dick and I. kckis Oregon Place Names, the latest edition of the Oregon Blue the best business associate and friend anyone could Book, and the Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer. Author Connie possibly hope for." Hopkins Bauaile, a reference librarian, has done a splendid Bruce lives in Eugene with hspartner Peg and the^ cat, job of filling the volume's 677 pages with juicy tidbits about Squeak. He is extremely active in environmental our state. As she writes in her introduction, "The Oregon organizations in Lane County. He has been on the Emerald Book is designed to be used for the quck look-up of some Chapter NPSO hoard for nine years and has spearheaded bit of informahon, to answer questions such as, When was that chapter's Native Gardening Policy. He is amember of the Roseburg explosion?, or What is Measure 5?" I tested the Naave Gardening Awareness Committee, andhas it by looking up some of my favorite topics and found short coordinated the chapter's Invasive Ornamentals L=t. He is but accurate entries on such subjects as the Applegate also a member of Emerald Chapter's Lane County Vascular Trail, boysenbemes, camas, Fort Clatsop, Nez Perce Plant Checklist Project, and the chapter's Rare and Indians, Rogue River, whales, and Znmwalt Prairie. The Endangered Plants Conmnttee. volume includes an impressive 32-page bibliography. The Outside NPSO, Bruce was one of the founders of the Oregon Flora Project is grateful to Connie Bataille for Cascade Mycological Society, and a founding member of making her work avdable to our contributors. For Friends ofEugene Springfield Habitats (FRESH). Heis information on how to obtain a copy, contact Linda Board President of Willamette Resources and Educational Hardison at (541)745-5770 or [email protected] .edu. Network (WREN), and amember of Friends of Bufofd Park and Mt. Pisgab Stewadship Advisory Committee. He is also The Oregon FloraNewsletteris published three times ayear by a founder of the Eugene-Springfield Chapter of the North the Oregon Flora Project and the Oregon State University American Butterfly Association. Earlier this yearBruce Herbarium. The Editor is Rhoda Love and the Production received a well-deservedlane Council of Governments Assistant IS Mjko Nadel. Regional Award of Merit for Environmental Protection. As President of the Natlve I'lant Society of Oregon, Bruce wkes every~. poshible opportunity~ - to suppon Lhc ~Flcuat?oject~ Oregon Flora i'roject. He also works djrcxlly with the Flora I'roieci as an Atlas Proicct 1.eader and conbibutor of numerous high q~ality-~lantlists. He was also a founding member of the Carex Working Group ~bichproduced the Atlas of Oregon Carex. Of the importance of the Oregon FloraProject Brucestates, "Anew Flora of Oregon will be a monumental achievement- an immensely valuable tool for botanists. Beyond that, the new Flora will also spark the Interest of gardeners, flower lovers and the general public in Oregon's plant communities, spumng them to join in protection efforts to save the last remnants of our native ecosystems." :'i died June 11 of ~ueumoniaat the.aee- of 92. Dr. Constance has been described as "the pabimh of botany at Berkeley,"and is recogwad as the foremost expert on the systematics of the Apiaceae. Constance began his cateer in botany in Oregon, growing up in Eugene and attending the University of Oregon in the late 20s and early 30s where he smdiedunderLouis F. Henderson. Constance has called Henderson %y mentor and role model." (Aliso 12(1), 1988.) Kenchambers remembersDr. Constance as a helpful colleague who "for many years was our main source of expertiseon guestions of identification and taxonomy forthecarrotfarmly (Apiaceae)." Kenrecallshow Constance "genemusly shared his knowledge of.the family and helped numerous students to describe and publish newly " discovered species fmm Oregon and other western sms." Printed on Recycled Paper OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 7[21 2001 8 Giant hogweed found in Oregon! By Chnrlene Simpson A few months ago Oregon Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Control staff members Glem Miller and Tom Forney identified a 20 by 30 foot patch of the noxious weed, giant hogweed (Heracleum mntegazziannm Somm. & Lev.) growing behind a grocery store in Oahdge. The ODA subsequently publicized the find and asked people to report populabons. They received over 140 responses and in alllearned of about 45 mfestations in Clackamas, Columbia, Lane, Marion, Multnomah, and Washmgton counties of western Oregon. The majority of sightings were from the Portland metropolitan area. Giant hogweed resembles its congener, Heracleum lanatum, cow parsnip, but is easily differentiated by its herculean proportions. Hollow stout stems, 2 to 4 inches in diameter, displaying dark redd~sh-purplespots and pustulate bristles support a compound umbel up to 2.5 feet in diameter heanng numerous white flowers. Giant hogweed blooms from mid-June lo mid-July on a stem reaching a height of 10 to 15 feet. Purplish leaf stocks support deeply inc~sedcompound leaves 3 to 5 feet wide. Tlns monster member of the carrot family (Apiaceae) is aparticularly nasty pest. Like other members of its genus, ~tssap contains a glucoside that causes phyto-photo- dermatitis. Sldn contact with the sap, followed by exposure to the sun, produces painful, blisters m susceptible people. The plant is classified as a class A noxious weed in Oregon and Washmgton. In our state ths indicates that Infestations are at present small enough to make eradication The new Gilkey and Dennis is out! possible and intensive control is recommended. by Rhoda Love If you see giant hogweed anywhere in Oregon contact the Oregon Noxious Weed Control Program at 1-503-986- The eagerly-awated and completely updated Handbook 4621 or call the mvader hotlme number 1-866-INVADERto ofNorihwestern Plants by Helen M.Gilkey (1886-1972) and report the site.