PLANT PRESS Volume XIV, No
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Sewanee PLANT PRESS Volume XIV, No. 1 Newsletter of the Friends of the Herbarium Winter 2010 Sewanee’s Rare Plants – 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 (Clematis 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 taxonomy 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/.