The Sewanee PRESS Volume XIV, No. 1 Newsletter of the Friends of the Herbarium Winter 2010 Sewanee’s Rare – Who, What, and Where?

his year we mark the 25th anniversary protection. The revised list will go through a including Cumberland rosinweed (Silphium of Governor Lamar Alexander’s signing formal review process by the commissioners brachiatum Gattinger) and Morefield’s Tinto law the Tennessee Rare Plant of TDEC and the Department of Agriculture, leatherflower ( morefieldii Kral), Protection and Conservation Act, which after which it will be sent to the legislature. form another important category for us. directs the Department of Environment and Three years ago, we were pleased to Moderately disturbed areas on limestone Conservation (TDEC)’s Division of Resource have discovered ten rare species on the bedrock, such as TVA powerline rights- Management to monitor and maintain plant Domain, but that was before we had begun of-way (if they have not been treated with species that are rare in the state. The law to survey Lost Cove. Now, with 13,000 acres herbicide), are good habitats for prairie specifically does not infringe upon private to comb and more than 1000 plant species and barrens plants like cylindric blazing landowners’ rights, and since most rare identified, it is probably no wonder that we star (Liatris cylindracea Michx.), Southern plant populations in Tennessee are found have located 22 rare plant species to date. prairie-dock (Silphium pinnatifidum Ell.), on private property, taking care of these That number would have been 24, but two and barrens silky aster (Symphyotrichum populations can be quite a challenge. of our newly discovered species, Eggert’s pratense (Raf.) Nesom). And then we The Division keeps a list of the state’s sunflower (Helianthus eggertii Small) and have some tough little plants that live rare plants. The current list, adopted in eared goldenrod (Solidago auriculata atop or in crevices in sandstone outcrops 2008, includes 545 plant species in three Shuttlw. ex Blake) were formerly listed but and cliffsides: filmy fern (Trichomanes categories: endangered, threatened, and have since been found in such abundance boschianum Sturm), elf orpine (Diamorpha of special concern. That first group – the that they are no longer considered rare. smallii Britt. ex Small), and roundleaf endangered plants – are the most imperiled. What are these plants, where did we find fameflower (Phemeranthus teretifolius They face extinction in Tennessee unless them, and what is it that makes them “rare”? (Pursh) Raf.). they are protected. Threatened plants Not surprisingly, many of our rare Some of these plants are rare because are those that could become endangered plants inhabit rich woods and hollows. of human influences. Inadvertently we throughout all or a significant portion of their American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.), practically wiped out the American chestnut range in the state. Inclusion of a plant in Canada lily (Lilium canadense L.), and the tree early in the last century because of one of these two groups requires legislation. American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata the accidental importation of a fungus on The third group – plants of special concern (Marsh.) Borkh.) fall into that group. Plants Chinese chestnut trees. Lacking immunity – are monitored for various reasons. Some that succeed in rocky limestone woods, to the pathogen, this once-dominant tree is may in the future be nominated for now reduced to occasional sprouts threatened or endangered status. and scarce fruiting specimens A 12-member Rare Plant throughout the forest. Ginseng, Scientific Advisory Council meets also formerly common, has been every three years to review the list over-harvested for sale (mainly and suggest revisions. That group, to Asian markets), and remaining of which I am a member, met this populations must be protected if past December, along with several the species is to survive here. other botanists from across the Other plants are just naturally state who keep up with rare plants rare. They fall into two categories: in their regions. We spent a day those for whom the state is near discussing the status of possibly two the edge of their ranges and those hundred plant species, adding some that exist in rare habitats. Mountain to the list, elevating or lowering honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica L.) is the status of others, and removing common throughout the Midwest those species that have not been and Northeast but has been found seen here in decades or are doing in only a few scattered counties so well that they no longer require in Tennessee. On the other hand,

(cont’d on p. 2) The Sewanee Herbarium: Education — Research — Conservation Alfire, Making Her Mark at Sewanee

lfire Sidik, who completed in December, bill. In spring 2007, she attended the Spring see Vascular Plants was released. Alfire 2009, her semester as a Post Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Smokies. In first put the checklist, a Word document, ABaccalaureate Fellow of the Sewanee fact, she enjoyed it all so much that she into tabular format and then changed the Environmental Institute, has had a lon- spent a second summer as a Yeatman nomenclature of the Domain flora to reflect ger association with the herbarium than Biology Research Intern, processing speci- that of the checklist – a massive task. She any other student to date. Beginning as a mens and entering ecological information in then carried out other database tasks and work-study student her freshman year and the database. floristic analyses, leaving the herbarium on spending several summers as an intern, she In her junior year, Alfire made a major the brink of being able to publish the flora of has by a rough calculation spent around contribution to the Landscape Analysis Lab/ the Domain. 2,000 hours in herbarium-related work. From Herbarium community and the larger college Now Alfire has passed the baton of the mounting specimens to database manage- community as cofounder and coordinator Woods Tea Society to another student ment, everything in the herbarium has felt of the Woods Tea Society, whose goal is to leader and has left the herbarium without her touch. organize interdepartmental gatherings to a talented and dependable assistant. She Alfire came to Sewanee, joining her sister discuss university affairs, student research, is taking some time to clarify her direction Almire (C’07), in the fall of 2005 as a pre- and contemporary news (and drink tea!). for the future, which will probably include med student. She was assigned to the biol- The following summer, 2008, Alfire decided graduate studies, possibly in medicine. We ogy department as a work-study employee to spend her time someplace besides know that wherever she goes next, Alfire will supervised by Dr. Jon Evans and her careful Sewanee and travelled with her family to her surely make her mark! and dependable work soon led to her spend- birthplace, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous — Yolande Gottfried ing many hours mounting specimens and Region in China. They visited the capital occasionally collecting in the field with the Urumqi, her mother’s hometown, and curators. When the decision was made to Kashgar, where her father’s family lives, Sewanee’s Rare Plants, cont’d from p. 1 convert the database of specimen informa- perhaps familiar to some as the place where tion from Filemaker Pro to Microsoft Access, “The Kiterunner” was filmed. But she still filmy fern is restricted to sheltered grottoes Alfire came into her own as a database managed to squeeze in some time as a in sandstone and other acidic rocks, so manager. Working by phone and e-mail, summer intern with the Landscape Analysis deep in the rock that it is never touched by direct sunlight. Because of its extreme even IMing (exciting at the time), with Nick Lab, assisting in developing the Sewanee habitat requirement, this plant is considered Hollingshead, she assisted in converting Forest History geospatial database. threatened or endangered throughout its and redesigning the herbarium collection da- Even after she graduated in May, 2009, range. tabase, cleaning up countless problems and magna cum laude, with a bachelor of It is quite a responsibility to be sharing inconsistencies in the process. This work Science in Biology, Alfire continued working the Domain with these plant species whose continued through the summer of 2006, at Sewanee, this time as an Environmental existence is in jeopardy. As we go forward in when Alfire was named a Yeatman Biology Studies Intern. As such, she assisted her- planning for Sewanee’s future, we must take them into account when making land use Research Intern, with occasional breaks for barium staff with a plant course decisions. If we do our job as stewards, our fieldwork and the ongoing project of mount- during the first season of the Sewanee rare plant populations may actually thrive ing specimens from the UNC permanent Environmental Institute pre-college program. among us. loan collection. The bulk of her time, though, in her last The internet is a great place to go for By her sophomore year, Alfire was a full two years at Sewanee, in summer 2009, wintertime botanizing. For more information member of the Landscape Analysis Lab/ and in fall 2009 when she worked as a about rare plants in Tennessee, see TDEC’s Herbarium community that spent much time Post Baccalaureate Fellow in the Sewanee Division of Resource Management website at http://www.tn.gov/environment/na/. To in the basement of Woods Labs. She also Environmental Institute, was geared toward learn more about any North American plant, joined the Natural History Society, and on a the production of a Flora of the Domain. This including its natural range, see the US fall break trip with them to the Joyce Kilmer was the motivation for all the database work, Department of Agriculture’s plant database Memorial Forest, was pleased to be able nomenclature revision, and specimen pro- at http://plants.usda.gov/. And finally, for to use the knowledge of plant identification cessing. Twice, when the end was in sight, photos and county range maps of all native that she had gained through her work in the the goalposts were moved, once when the and naturalized plants found in Tennessee, herbarium and her Plant Systematics class. University acquired the 3,000 acres in Lost go to the University of Tennessee Herbarium’s webpage at Another highlight of that semester was a Cove, which necessitated more collecting, http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/. trip to DC with that class to lobby a logging and again when A Fifth Checklist of Tennes- — Mary Priestley Donors and Pledges to the George S. Ramseur Herbarium Fund Thanks to all who have made gifts to date. Contributions are still being accepted!

Dr. & Mrs. Fred Allison, Jr. Dr. Paul Campbell Erwin & Meredith & John Oates Mr. & Mrs. Allan Richard Applegate Ms. Renee J. Hyatt Ms. Ann McCullouch Oliver Mrs. Marion G. Beasley Jon and Amy Evans Ms. June Peters Mary Beth & J.Trousdale Berry Dr. & Mrs John F. Flynn Dr. & Mrs. George W. Poe Betty & James Blythe, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Dudley Clark Fort, Jr. Mary & William McGowen Priestley Mr. & Mrs. Howard E. Bradley, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Robert Richard Gottfried Mrs. Upshur S. Puckette Laura & Samuel William Breyfogle Mr. & Mrs. Timothy H. Graham Ms. Kathryn B. Ramseur Mr. Jim Howell Broom Ms. Elizabeth M. Grant Mr. & Mrs. James Dillman Reid Elizabeth & Kemper W. Brown Mr. James Purnell Groton, Jr. Mrs. Leah S. Rhys Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Burnett Dr. & Mrs. John H. Hamer Nanette Johnson Rudolf Carol & Paul A. Calame, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Dennis D. Horn Virginia Deck & Jeffrey William Runge Jennifer & Rick Candler Mrs. Jane G. Janeway Dr. & Mrs. William J. Shasteen Kay & John M. Cappleman Amy L. & Erik D. Johnson Caroline L. Shoemaker Beverly & Henry H. Chase, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Philip A. Johnson Dr. & Mrs. Stephen H. Smith Dr. & Mrs. Ross Carlton Clark Elizabeth L. Kimbrough & Shaun McDonald Mr. & Mrs. Warren Delano Smith, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. David Culbreth Clough, Jr. Mr. Ronald M. Lee Mr. & Mrs. James B. Stevenson Marjorie S. Collier Mrs. Sarah G. Little Mary & Lewis Alexander Vance Dr. Henrietta B. Croom Dr. & Mrs. John Henry Lonie Marleen Allen Varner Joel & Trudy Cunningham Ms. Shirley K. Manaley Elizabeth & Brooks Vaughan Mrs. Eleanor Dallas Wayne C. Maxson Rebecca & Franklin S. Wartman III Mr. & Mrs. Latham W. Davis Mr. John Joseph James McGough, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Lynn Harrison Wellman Dr. & Mrs. Richard A. Dolbeer, Jr. Vaughan W. & Nora Frances Stone McRae Mr. & Mrs. George W. Westerfield Ms. Margaret Donohue Dr. & Mrs. Roy Parker McRae, Jr. Dr. William Parker Wheatley Mr. & Mrs. J. Lewis Dozier Morgan & Walter H. Merrill Mr. & Mrs. James Oliver Williams The Rev. & Mrs. Jerry Davis DuBose Mr. & Mrs. Roy D. Millar Jane Johnson Williamson Mr. Maurice E. Edwards Amy & Richard Wesley Nimon Dr. & Mrs. Harry C. Yeatman Mr. & Mrs. Raymond C. Norris Contributors to the Friends of the Herbarium for 2009 Thanks for your support! Lisa Trimble Actor Dennis and Sherry Horn Upshur Puckette John and Lynn Adams Sally and Charles Hubbard Dennis and Janice Raines Thomas E. and Anita Adams Marilyn and Dick Hull Gwynn W. Ramsey Fred and Clara Allison, Jr. Phillip A. and Pat Johnson, Jr. John H. Reid Allan Richard Applegate Sally D. Johnson Leah Rhys Daisy Arrington Diane Jones Marty Roberts Bob and Margy Ayres Thomas and Debbie Kandul Carlotta Rotman Scott and Phoebe Bates Bob and Karen Keele Robin Rotman Wallace and Patricia Bigbee William T. and Miriam Keener Nanette Rudolf Andrea Shea Bishop Delk and Mary Susan Kennedy Paul and Annabelle Salter James and Betty Barton Blythe Jennifer Kimball Dianne and Calame Sammons Fred Bowyer Pat Kirby John S. and Carole Sergent Anne Boykin Ralph and Virginia Kraft Sewanee Garden Club Sarah Boykin Gloria and Richard LaRoche Caroline Shoemaker Stephen and Nancy Burnett Philip and Valerie Lorenz Susan and Lucas Simons Henry and Beverly Chase Guy and Marjory Lyman Marvin Singleton Ernest M. and Donna Cheek Shirley Manaley Debby Smith Allen Chesney Tom and Brigitte Mankiewicz Jan Smith Chevron Texaco Scott F. May Radford Smith John and Renie Christof Miriam McClendon Jim and Catherine Snell William Cocke Sanford McGee William Louis Stern Marjorie Collier John and Carole McGough, Jr. Allan Strand David C. Conner Robert W. and Elaine Meyer Phil and Aline Summerlin Stewart Connor Trudy Mignery John and Mary Szeglin Jo Ann Coutta J. E. Moffat C. Morris Terry Ken Cowan Monteagle Sunday School Assembly Deb Tucker Rick and R. Simpson Crown Jennie and Rod Murray Roy and Melissa Turrentine Joseph and Mary Sue Cushman Armistead and Sarah Nelson Virginia and James Uden Latham and Mary Davis Gene Nelson Carroll and Marleen A. Varner Lephiew and Anne Dennington Wesley and Melissa Nimon Constance M. Way Hal DeSelm Charles and Gerry Nokes Tom and Connie Wells Mary Lynn Dobson and Robert Eklund June Peters Michael and Judy Werp Tom and Becky Dolan Sam Pickering James O. Williams Janet Duncan Ann Poag D. Reid Wiseman Stephen and Dee Eichler George and Sylviane Poe Marie Cartinhour Woods Jonathan Ertelt Mary Eschbach Jerry L. Faulkner Pamela Foster Howard Fox Sewanee Environmental Institute H. Joseph Fritz Pre-College Field Studies Experience John and Edwina Furman Eleanor Gilchrist Susan Gorrell June 27 - July 10, 2010 Br. Stephen Gregg R. Dale and Nancy Grimes A summer outdoor residential program for talented rising high school John and Dagmar Gundersen juniors and seniors who are passionate about the outdoors and interested Van Eugene Ham in advancing their knowledge and skills in the study of the environment. John and Irene Hamer Katrina Hayes http://sei.sewanee.edu/programs/precollege Cheryl Hiers Glenn and Ellen Himebaugh Winter Calendar of Events THE SEWANEE PLANT PRESS Mega-Mountathon – Sewanee Herbarium, Sat., Feb. 6, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Mary Priestley The Sewanee Herbarium Come in out of the cold, and help us mount our backlog of specimens collected by such giants of Dr. Jon Evans, Director Southeastern as Albert Radford and C. Ritchie Bell. Learn methods that have been passed Biology Department down through generations and are still used today, and take home a guide to mounting pressed Sewanee: The University of the South plants. Meet in the herbarium on the first floor of Spencer Hall.The main entrance is across from 735 University Avenue DuPont Library and there is parking behind the library. Sewanee, TN 37383 Hunt for the First Hepatica – Shakerag Hollow, Sat., Feb. 13, 1:30 p.m., WEB SITE Yolande Gottfried http://lal.sewanee.edu/herbarium Celebrate the day before St. Valentine’s Day, which is also Old Groundhog Day, with a walk to see what might be out early in Shakerag. If flowers are scarce on the ground, we’ll look at mosses, EDITOR liverworts, lichens, clubmosses, and even some ferns, which are not fazed by winter weather. Meet Mary Priestley at the Shakerag Hollow trailhead near the University Gates for this 1-hour moderate walk. Come [email protected] prepared for muddy, wet, and/or rocky conditions. Multiflora Rose Raze – Collins Gulf, South Cumberland State Recreation Area, CALENDAR Sat., Feb. 27, 10 a.m., Mary Priestley Yolande Gottfried Help observe Tennessee Invasive Weed Awareness Week, Feb. 22-28, by joining the Friends of [email protected] South Cumberland, the Tennessee Native Plant Society, and the Tennessee Trails Association in a workday to remove an exotic pest plant from a section of Collins Gulf. Meet at the Collins West CONTRIBUTOR trailhead of Savage Gulf State Natural Area, armed with gloves and clippers. It’s about a 2-mile hike Yolande Gottfried down to the site, and the same distance back, making this a somewhat strenuous outing. Bring lunch and water. Phone the park visitors’ center (931-924-2956) for directions. COMPOSITOR Sondra Bridges Early Spring Wildflowers – Shakerag Hollow, Sat., March 20, 1:30 p.m., George Ramseur Drawings by Mary Priestley are of It’s the first day of spring and time to head out to Shakerag Hollow. If you don’t get out about now cumberland rosinweed and you might miss the beginning of the big show in Shakerag – bloodroot, trout lily, Dutchman’s- some tools for botanizing. breeches, and spring beauties bloom early and fade fast. Meet at Green’s View for this moderate-to- strenuous 2-mile walk that may include a steep rocky section of trail. “Watershed: Prime Elements,” paintings by Janis Wilkey of scenes from herbarium walks at South Cumberland State Recreation Area, showing at Chattanooga’s In Town Gallery for the month of February. See www.intowngallery.com. All times are CST or CDT.

Wear appropriate shoes on all of these walks. Risks involved in hiking include physical exertion, rough terrain, forces of nature, and other hazards not present in everyday life. Picking flowers and digging plants are prohibited in all of the above-mentioned natural areas. For more information on these or other Sewanee Herbarium events, please contact Yolande Gottfried at the Herbarium (931.598.3346) or by email at [email protected]. For directions go to the herbarium website, lal.sewanee.edu/herbarium/. # Membership Application/Renewal The Friends of the Sewanee Herbarium support the work of the Herbarium: education, research, and conserva- tion. A $10.00 annual contribution would be very much appreciated. The date of your most recent contribution is printed on your address label. Name and Address (if different from that on the mailing label on the back): ______Amount Enclosed: q $10.00 q Other: $______Please make check payable to The University of the South. Gifts are fully tax deductible. Send to: Sewanee Herbarium c/o Mary Priestley 735 University Avenue Sewanee, TN 37383 Others who might like to receive The Sewanee Plant Press:______Interesting Historical Books

he Herbarium has recently received gifts from understanding the precise method of and for Schools (1887). The first was meant, of some historically interesting books. production of the new forms the general as Gray writes, “to serve as an introduction T John Szeglin graciously donated public might be, the tangible fact that widely to the Author’s Manual...and to be to it what an eight volume set authored by Luther divergent forms of plant life might spring a grammar and dictionary are to a classical Burbank and published by P.F. Collier & Son from the same source-witness, for example, author.” The second is a revision of the first Company in 1921. One unique feature of the brier stems of strikingly different forms and is bound with the second edition of the this set is the use of autochrome photog- of(sic) cluster of utterly different leaves Manual (1889). raphy in the color illustrations, one of the grown from the seed of one plant-was made Also donated were, An Introduction to the earliest of their kind, which makes them of clear beyond misunderstanding. And this Natural System of Botany (1831) by John artistic and historical as well as botanical constituted, in the minds of many laymen, a Lindley (Professor of Botany in the Univer- interest. The volumes are titled How Plants clearer and more cogent argument for the sity of London), Botany: An Elementary Text Are Trained to Work for Man and cover truth of the doctrine of evolution than could for Schools (1900) by L. H. Bailey, and Plant Burbank’s life’s work in Plant Breeding, have been found in any amount of theoriz- Materials of Decorative Gardening (1917) by Grafting and Budding, Fruit Improvement, ing or in the presentation of any number of William Trelease, (self-published) – a key to Small Fruits, Gardening, Useful Plants, illustrations drawn from the records of fossil trees, , and woody of the gar- Flowers, and Trees. Also included are forms or the theoretical reconstruction of the den. The Lindley book is the first American biographical material by his sister, Emma genealogies of species of past eras.” edition and includes an “advertisement” by Burbank Beason; an autobiography in which (Vol. VIII, p. 322) John Torrey, M.D., in which he promotes the he reflects on his own genetic heritage and Ross Clark donated several old (and book for its use of “the natural or philosophi- the environment in which he developed; and well-used) volumes on the occasion of the cal method” in place of “the artificial or sex- some intriguing reflections on “The Bearing herbarium’s Jubilee celebration. Two are ual system of Linnaeus” and a dedication by of this Work on Human Life: On Improving by Asa Gray, whose Manual of the Botany the author to the Court of Examiners of the the Human Plant.” of the Northeastern United States (1848) in Society of Apothecaries, London, illustrating Burbank’s work was done in the context its numerous later editions was a standard the importance of botany to medicine. of working out the implications of Darwin’s reference for plant identification for many We are most appreciative of these gifts. theory of evolution, and he states: “ Howev- years. The two books are Gray’s Lessons Come by and have a look! er vaguely the laws or principles of heredity in Botany and Vegetable Physiology (1857) — Yolande Gottfried involved might be understood; however far and The Elements of Botany for Beginners

Printed on Recycled Paper

Herbarium, Biology Department 735 University Avenue Sewanee, TN 37383-1000

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED