Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon Dedicated to the enjoyment, conservation, and study of Oregon’s native vegetation VOLUME 35, NO. 10 NOVEMBER 2002 How Old Is That Tree? Oregon Flora Project by Christopher J. Earle Progresses endrochronology, from the Greek Although tree age determination D roots dendros (tree) and chronos can be a fairly complicated process, by Scott Sundberg (time), is the formal study of tree rings. there are basically two methods that he summer of 2002 will long be As a dendrochronologist, I use trees to can be used: (1) tree rings, and (2) T remembered as a turning point in determine the timing of a wide variety everything else. We’ll look at (2) first the history of the Oregon Flora Pro- of events relating to various problems because it’s a relatively short answer. ject. Significant progress has been made in climatology, history, ecology, and in many areas. even law (trees are often used as bound- Everything Else At the end of September Ann ary markers). The most common prob- The best way of determining a Willyard, Thea Cook and I submitted lem I encounter, though, is a seemingly tree’s age is to find out when it was a report and database with lists of all simple one: how old is a certain tree? planted. Obviously, this is frequently plant taxa (species, subspecies and vari- You might suppose that it would be not practical, but it occasionally works eties) for all Oregon counties to the simple to answer this question: cut the if the tree was planted by humans and BLM. The report was the culmination tree down and count the rings. Well, historical information can give us a of one year of work by several volun- for various reasons, it usually just date. For example, a forestry planta- teers, 23 student employees, and doesn’t work that way. In this article I tion, a tree in an extensive garden, or a ourselves. The lists were derived from will explain some of the various ways of non-native tree planted when an area 342,000 records from herbarium speci- determining a tree’s age, and try to give was first colonized, could all be aged men labels from OSU and seven other some sense of the problems and uncer- from historical data. For some kinds of herbaria, species lists, photographs, and tainties involved in aging trees. trees, such as cycads, palm trees, yuccas published literature. or giant cacti, historical information During the summer we completed may provide the only means of getting work on a prototype rare plant guide. a good age estimate. Fifty fact sheets were prepared. Each In This Issue Dating a tree without rings can sheet summarized information on a also be done by measuring its growth western Oregon species and had a dis- Chapter Calendar............111 rate or by using a chemical analysis, tribution map, species description, line such as radiocarbon dating. Growth drawings, photographs, habitat and Other Events ..................113 rate measurements tend to assume that best survey time information, and the growth rate measured over a given identification hints. Highlights of the NSPO recent time period can be extrapolated The online photo gallery is under State Board Meeting .......114 to the entire lifespan of the plant. Such development. Sherry Pittam has estimates can be wildly inaccurate. designed a web page to display photo- A New Hawthorn Nonetheless, extrapolation has been graphs and we are gathering photo- (Crataegus) for Oregon?..115 used to estimate ages of 1000 to 4000 graphs with an emphasis on members (!) years for yew trees in England of the heath family (Ericaceae) and NPSO Items for Sale........116 (Hartzell 1991), and it was used by one rock garden plants. early researcher (Chamberlain 1919) to Over the next couple of months we will put several things online NPSO Contacts................119 infer an age of 2000 years for a cycad based on counting the number of leaf through our website, www.oregon- continued on page 116 flora.org so please drop by for a visit! November 2002 109 Call For Papers OCIE T S TY N O A F L by Cindy Roché, Kalmiopsis Co-editor P O R E E he new issue of Kalmiopsis will be coming out soon, which means that the edi- V G I O T tors are looking for articles for next year. There are openings for an Oregon A N T N Plants, Oregon Places article, Plant of the Year, and an article about historical botanists. We have one exciting feature article already promised (you have to wait, I’m not going to tell you the subject). Fo 1 unded 196 Oregon Plants, Oregon Places and Plant of the Year are your opportunity to showcase a part of Oregon or a species that is special to you! Do you like to draw or photograph Oregon native plants, or maybe make up botanical cartoons or write Native Plant botanical poetry? Here is an opportunity for publishing your creativity (we said Society of Oregon publish, not sell). Please refer to previous issues of Kalmiopsis for length and content of articles, and to the ‘notice to contributors’ inside the back cover of volumes 7 to 9 for sub- World Wide Web mission instructions. The submission deadline is December 1, but prospective au- thors may contact Cindy Roché to negotiate a (slightly) later date. (However, if an- http://www.NPSOregon.org other author submits first, your article may wait until the next issue to see the light of publication). Contact Cindy at 109 Meadow View Drive, Medford, OR 97504 E-mail Discussion List or [email protected]. To join send a message to [email protected], with the following in the body of the message: subscribe npso General Business Address P.O. Box 902 Eugene, OR 97440 or correspond directly with Officers and Committee Chairs listed on the inside of the back page. Membership Inquiries Only Jan Dobak 2921 NE 25th Avenue Portland, OR 97212-3460 Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon Editor: Tanya Harvey ISSN 0884-599. Published 11 times per year. Subscription price $18/year. Date and issue number on page 1. The submission date is the 10th of each month for the following month’s issue. Send submissions by e-mail to [email protected]. ANYA HARVEY ANYA Opinions expressed in this publica- T tion are those of the authors of the articles. They do not represent the opinions of the Native Plant Society California groundcone (Boschniakia strobilacea) is a strange and beautiful non-chlorophyll plant of the family Orobanchaceae. The deep, reddish-brown flower stalk looks like a pine cone of Oregon, unless so stated. until you get close enough to see the flowers. It is a parasite on madrone (Arbutus menziesii) roots. This one was photographed along the Rogue River trail near Wolf Creek in late May. 110 NPSO Bulletin NPSO CALENDAR State Contact Susan Williams at 503-538- 8:30am. For more information, call 1865 or [email protected]. Dan Luoma at 541-752-8860 or Jack January 11, 2002, Saturday Murphy at 503-883-2704. Board Meeting: The next State Board Corvallis November 11, Monday, 7:30pm meeting will take place in Eugene. Meeting: Arctic-Alpine Plants of Exact time and location will be November 9, Saturday, 7:00am South-Central Alaska. Loren Russell announced at a later date. Field Trip: Foray to the Coast Range will show slides of his recent trip to June 20–22, 2003 for mushrooms and truffles. Com- Alaska. Avery House, Avery Park, Cor- bined field trip with the Cheahmill vallis. For more information contact Annual Meeting: The Portland Chapter. Corvallis area folks meet at Esther McEvoy at 541-754-0893. Chapter will host next year’s meeting OSU parking lot SW of the Beanery, in John Day. More information will be 26th and Monroe, Corvallis, at December 9, Monday, 7:00pm published later in the Bulletin. 7:00am. McMinnville area folks meet Meeting: Annual Holiday Desert at the Linfield Ave. entrance to Mur- Potluck and Slideshow. Please bring a dock Hall (2 blocks east of Hwy. 99W) desert to share and a 10-20 of slides to Blue Mountain on the Linfield College campus at show the members. We will meet at the For information on the Blue Mountain Avery House, Avery Park, Corvallis. Chapter call Jerry Baker at 541-566-2244. IMPORTANT NOTE TO Emerald FIELD TRIP PARTICIPANTS Cheahmill Field trips take place rain or shine, October 28, Monday, 7:30pm Meeting: Sudden Oak Death—The November 9, Saturday, 8:30am so proper dress and footwear are essential. Trips may be strenuous Latest Information. Dr. Nancy Oster- Field Trip: Foray to the Coast Range and/or hazardous. Participation is bauer, Regulatory Plant Pathologist for mushrooms and truffles. Com- at your own risk. Be prepared to with the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, bined field trip with the Corvallis sign a release form indicating this. and Research Assistant Deirdre Jackson Chapter. McMinnville area folks meet For a sample copy check out the will tell us all we have been waiting to at the Linfield Ave. entrance to Mur- NPSO website. Please contact the hear about the pathogen Phytophthora dock Hall (2 blocks east of Hwy. 99W) trip leader or chapter representative ramorum, now infecting oaks and other on the Linfield College campus at about difficulty, distance, and terrain Oregon species. Potential and existing 8:30am. Corvallis area folks meet at to be expected on field trips. Bring implications for our state will be dis- OSU parking lot SW of the Beanery, water and lunch.