Manzanitavolume 18, Number 1 • Published by the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden • Spring 2014
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MANZANITAVolume 18, Number 1 • Published by the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden • Spring 2014 Ceanothus Diversity in California by Dylan O. Burge Deer brush (Ceanothus integerrimus) above Seiad Valley, Siskiyou County Emerald Canary eanothus is among the best known of Califor- genus is widespread in the United States, Canada, nia’s native plants, appreciated by travelers and Mexico, the center of diversity is in California, Cfor the color it lends to spring landscapes, which is home to all but fve of the known species. by horticulturists and gardeners for the variety The profuse, delicate, and attractively colored and beauty of its cultivars, and by botanists for its fowers of Ceanothus—often in rare shades of blue— diversity of form and ecology. Ceanothus contains 53 have made it a favorite of horticulturists, resulting species of evergreen or deciduous shrubs and small in the development of a great diversity of garden trees, all restricted to North America. Though the selections, including the hazy blue Ceanothus x Continued on page 3 MANZANITA Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden Volume 18, No. 1 Spring 2014 Advisory Council Rosie Andrews and Jim Nybakken, Managing Editors Sue Rosenthal, Editor Glenn Keator, Chairman Neil Havlik Emerald Canary, Graphic Designer Ruth Bancroft Ted Kipping Gert Allen Russ Beatty Bart O’Brien Kim Hamilton Rolf Benseler Bob Raabe Maggie Ingalls Janet Cobb Roger Raiche Jean Jackson Susan D’Alcamo Mary and Lew Reid Glenn Keator Barbara Ertter Warren Roberts Shoshana Wechsler Mike Evans Jake Sigg Phyllis Faber Nevin Smith Manzanita, a quarterly newsletter of the Friends, and The Four Wilma Follette Lew Truesdell Seasons, an annual publication of the garden, are benefits of Roman Gankin Richard Turner membership. The nurseries listed below offer discounts to Friends. Katherine Greenberg Stewart Winchester These participating nurseries are sources for native plants. Annie’s Annuals and Perennials (510-215-3301), 740 Market Avenue, Richmond, www.anniesannuals.com Board Members Bay Natives (415-287-6755), 10 Cargo Way, San Francisco, Gert Allen, President Jim Nybakken www.baynatives.com Rosie Andrews Anne Olsen Bob Case Sue Rosenthal Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (510-526-4704), 1310 McGee Ron Clendenen John Rusk Avenue, Berkeley, www.berkeleyhort.com Luke Hass Andrew Walmisley California Flora Nursery (707-528-8813), Somers & D Streets, Glenn Keator Fulton (north of Santa Rosa), www.calfloranursery.com Garden Staff Central Coast Wilds* (831-459-0655), 336 Golf Club Drive, Santa Cruz, www.centralcoastwilds.com Director: Bart O’Brien Supervisor: Joe Dahl East Bay Nursery (510-845-6490), 2332 San Pablo Avenue, Gardeners: Liz Bittner, Cat Daffer, Berkeley, www.eastbaynursery.com Don Fuller, Michael Uhler Larner Seeds (415-868-9407), 235 Grove Road, Bolinas, Senior Office Assistant: Teresa LeYung Ryan www.larnerseeds.com Interpretive Student Aides: Juliet Hannafin, Mostly Natives Nursery (707-878-2009), 27235 Hwy. 1, Tomales, Ashika Narayan www.mostlynatives.com GIFTS: Donations to the Friends are welcome and may be Native Revival Nursery (831-684-1811), 2600 Mar Vista Drive, designated for special projects or given in honor or in memory Aptos, www.nativerevival.com of someone. *wholesale; please call ahead ENDOWMENT: Contributions to the Regional Parks Botanic Friends members gain free admission to participating gardens Garden Endowment Fund assist in providing financial security through the American Horticultural Society’s Reciprocal Admissions for the garden. Program (http://ahs.org/gardening-programs/rap/find). Contact the individual garden to verify this benefit. Please make all checks payable to the Regional Parks Foundation; • note whether for Friends membership, gift, or Endowment Fund; MEMBERSHIP and send to: Your membership in the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden Garden supports the important work of the garden in educational P.O. Box 21074, Crestmont Station, Oakland, CA 94620 programs, conservation, and horticultural experimentation. Funds raised by the Friends help provide long-term financial security for The Board of the Friends generally meets at the Visitor Center the garden as well as new facilities and programs. in the Regional Parks Botanic Garden the second Wednesday of the month at 10:00 AM. All members are welcome. Call ahead to MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES verify meeting date and time. Student/Senior/Limited Income: $20 Individual: $35 • Family/Group: $50 Special: $100 or more Deadline for submission of announcements and editorial material for the winter issue is October 1, 2014. FOR INFORMATION About the Friends and membership: 510-544-3169, [email protected] • About becoming a garden volunteer or docent: 510-544-3169, www.nativeplants.org [email protected] Continued from page 1 MANZANITA Spring 2014 delilianus ‘Gloire de Versailles’, and the enigmatic Subgenera of Ceanothus—Ceanothus diversity ‘Dark Star’. Ceanothus also provides some of the is traditionally divided between two subgenera, most drought-hardy cultivars for native gardening which are sometimes referred to as sections: Cerastes and has recently proliferated in urban plantings, (24 species) and Ceanothus (29 species). Dylan O. Burge allowing arborists and landscapers to create water- Subgenus Ceanothus is sometimes thrifty plantings that don’t skimp on color. In fact, referred to as Euceanothus, but this the great variety of Ceanothus species and cultivars name is not taxonomically accepted. means that there is a Ceanothus selection suitable for The two subgenera differ strongly in most garden settings. their morphology, physiology, and However, to truly understand the roles of life history. In comparative genetic Ceanothus in the garden, one must consider the wild studies based on DNA sequences, origins of the genus and the evolutionary forces the two subgenera are very strongly that led to its astonishing diversity. Fortunately, re- divergent. In fact, there is good evi- cent research has shed some light on the evolution dence that the two groups have been of Ceanothus, suggesting how and when the genus evolutionarily separate for at least 13 diversifed, how new species of Ceanothus evolve, million years, allowing them to develop and how hybridization and soil chemistry may a great number of morphological play a role in the ecology of this remarkable North differences. Subgenus Cerastes, in American genus. particular, is quite different from most members of the family that contains Introducing Ceanothus diversity—While the Ceanothus, Rhamnaceae. For example, center of Ceanothus diversity is in California, par- the succulent leaves of Cerastes, with ticularly the biotic region known as the California the stomata sunken in deep pits, are Wedgeleaf ceanothus (Ceonothus cuneatus), Floristic Province, the genus is distributed through- unique among Rhamnaceae, as are a member of the Cerastes subgenus out most of North America, from Panama to its swollen stipules. southernmost Canada, and from the eastern sea- The two subgenera of Ceanothus Dylan O. Burge board of the United States to maritime California. are so different, in fact, that they Within this area, Ceanothus is a dominant compo- may justify recognition as separate nent of many ecosystems, particularly in the Cali- genera, an idea that is the subject fornia Floristic Province, and adds large amounts of ongoing research. Sometime in of nitrogen to forests and shrublands through its the near future, California plant symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fxing bacteria enthusiasts may be referring to the known as Frankia. Gardeners who have needed to 24 Cerastes species as members of the protect their Ceanothus from voracious deer know genus Cerastes instead of the genus frst hand that nitrogen-rich Ceanothus is a desirable Ceanothus. Rather than sowing confu- food item for browsing wildlife. sion, this change in nomenclature Ceanothus has also provided traditional medicinals would help to emphasize the vast to Native Americans, who used some species—par- differences between members of ticularly New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus)—to the two subgenera. In the long run, treat infections of the upper respiratory tract and as such a change would lead to greater a source of dye. Ceanothus became familiar to Euro- appreciation of these plants in nature pean colonists of eastern North America during the as well as in the garden. Revolutionary and Civil Wars, when leaves of New For the time being, the two sub- genera of Ceanothus remain part of Jersey tea were used in the same way. Coast whitethorn (Ceanothus incanus), Visually striking and profuse foral displays have a single genus, albeit a heterogeneous a member of the Ceanothus subgenus made Ceanothus the darling of professional horti- one. However, Ceanothus has some tricks culturists and gardeners. Starting with a group of up its sleeve: In a few cases, species from different North American species imported to Europe by subgenera look quite similar and often occupy savvy garden enthusiasts during the eighteenth and similar habitats. This observation is consistent with nineteenth centuries, careful hybridization and what biologists call convergent evolution, when species selection of Ceanothus strains has resulted in the with very different evolutionary histories end up development of many dozens of interesting and looking the same due to random chance or similar beautiful cultivars. environmental pressures. 3 Miguel Vieira allow more species to