UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN NEWSLETTER Vol. 38 Numbers 1 & 2 | Published by the UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN at BERKELEY | Winter/ Spring 2014 The New World Desert Collection 'HVHUWV DUH RIWHQ GH¿QHG DV areas receiving less than 254 mm (10 in) of rainfall each year. Given that the Garden typically receives over 500 mm (20 in), this collection is a horticultural challenge. The Garden’s heavy clay soil has been greatly amended with expanded shale to improve drainage and reduce the incidence of diseases and pests, especially nematodes. Recent efforts to improve plant health with the application of compost tea and organic top dressing has shown good results, with renewed vigor DQGPRUHSUROL¿FÀRZHULQJRIPDQ\ FDFWL%HQH¿FLDOQHPDWRGHVDUHDOVR The hot south-facing exposure and rocky hardscape of the New World Desert provide a dramatic experience in the Garden. employed to keep the harmful ones Photo by Janet Williams in check. stablished early on in the Garden’s history in Strawberry Canyon, the New World Desert (NWD) is an iconic display of arid land plants from North and South America. EIt really started to take shape in the 1930s with the addition of plants collected during the Garden’s expeditions to the Andes. These expeditions focused on Peru and Chile, with forays into Bolivia. Botanical and personal highlights of these expeditions are documented in Garden Director T. Harper Goodspeed’s book, Plant Hunters of the Andes, published in 1961. The most recent desert expedition was to Baja California in 1986, led by then curator Dr. James Affolter and included Horticulturists Kurt Zadnik and Roger Raiche and current volunteer Fred Dortort. Most of the plants collected in 1986 are in the Arid House, with a few exceptions in the Baja Beds (171A, 171B). Perhaps the showiest of these is Baja fairy duster Argentine saguaro (Echinopsis terscheckiiȌ ƪ. (Calliandra californica)—it is planted on the bed margin near the Photo by James Gaither URDGDQGGLVSOD\VGR]HQVRIUHGVWDPHQVZKHQLQÀRZHU 2 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley NWD The crowded columnar stems of Echinopsis lamprochlora (New World Desert) and Euphorbia caerulescens (Southern African Collection) are examples of convergent evolution of form. Photos by Janet Williams The current low rainfall year provides a strong incentive The New World Desert displays 348 taxa (337 species) for choosing drought-tolerant plants for our gardens, and has in 485 accessions. The largest species representation is in the EHQH¿WHGWKH1HZ:RUOG'HVHUWSODQWLQJV7KHUHLVLQIRUPDWLRQ cactus genus Echinopsis with 43 taxa in 123 accessions, in the on how to choose these kinds of plants for your home garden and genus Agave with 36 taxa in 85 accessions and in the cactus genus IRUPDNLQJWKHPRVWHI¿FLHQWXVHRIZDWHULQ\RXUKRPHODQGVFDSH Opuntia with 17 taxa in 28 accessions. Approximately 45% of in this issue of the newsletter. Many of the drought-tolerant native the current accessions are from the 1930s – 1960s, mostly from Garden expeditions to South America. The high survivorship of these older accessions demonstrate the Garden’s suitability for growing these plants outdoors in Berkeley. Severe freezes in 1972 and 1991 were weathered relatively well by this collection. Even so, some of these accessions are also housed in greenhouses for more controlled care. The Arid House is conveniently adjacent to the New World Desert, where visitors can observe specimens that need warmer and drier conditions than can be found out of doors. While the cacti visually dominate this collection, there is diversity in other plant groups too. Over 30 kinds of terrestrial bromeliads, especially Puya, Deuterocohnia, and Hechtia, are found throughout the collection. Relatives of Agave on display include Beaucarnea, Dasylirion, Furcraea, Manfreda, Nolina and Yucca. These, along with dry-growing ferns, are planted with the cacti to show how desert plant communities can be complex and not just assemblages of cacti. In relation to the other Garden collections, the New Argentine saguaro (Echinopsis terscheckiiȌƪǡ ƥ Ǥ Photo by James Gaither World Desert has a high proportion of rare species--56 species in 75 accessions. Succulents, especially cacti, have become rare plants of the American desert southwest and northern Mexico LQKDELWDWIRUPDQ\UHDVRQVEXWFKLHÀ\GXHWRKDELWDWORVVDQGWR can’t tolerate our environmental conditions, and must be grown over-collecting or poaching. The Garden has received many cacti in doors. The South American desert species, by comparison, WKDWZHUHLOOHJDOO\LPSRUWHGLQWRWKH86DQGWKHUHIRUHFRQ¿VFDWHG perform much better in our local conditions, and hence are more at the border. As a Plant Rescue Center for the US Fish & Wildlife prominent in the outdoor collection. 6HUYLFHWKH*DUGHQFDUHVIRUWKHVHFRQ¿VFDWHGSODQWVLQSHUSHWXLW\ Winter / Spring 2014 3 NWD (ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚĨƌŽŵƉĂŐĞϮ) The placement of the New World Desert on a south-facing slope provides the best growing conditions for these warmth-seeking plants. The Southern African Collection, above the road, also requires these conditions, and is logically placed in juxtaposition to show the concept of convergent evolution (put simply, this is a description of how unrelated plants evolve similar structures in adapting to similar but geographically distant environmental conditions). Our docents regularly point out the similarity of the columnar cacti of the New World Desert to the columnar Euphorbia specimens from southern Africa. Late spring and early summer are the WLPHV WR VHH WKH PRVW ÀRZHUV LQ WKLV FROOHFWLRQ The tallest columnar cacti usually have white ÀRZHUVWKDWODVWMXVWDGD\HDFKWKRXJKWKHUHDUH many in succession. The color range for the cactus ÀRZHUVLVIURPZKLWHWR\HOORZRUDQJHSLQNRU red. The agaves bloom most typically in summer over a long period of weeks to months, depending on the weather. We hope you will come often to see the changes throughout the Garden. — Holly Forbes Echinopsis hertrichiana is an endangered species restricted to two populations in Peru. Photo by James Gaither Some of these rare species include iconic specimens, such as the giant cactus Echinopsis terscheckii in Bed 156. The common name is Argentine saguaro or cardón, because of its close resemblance to the giant saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) of the American southwest. The giant saguaro doesn’t succeed outdoors Cactus Naming in Berkeley, requiring much hotter and drier conditions than the We are using The Cactus Argentine saguaro. Both species are bat pollinated. The Argentine Family by Ted Anderson, VDJXDURZKLFKKDVODUJHZKLWHÀRZHUVLQODWHVSULQJGRHVQ¶WVHW Timber Press, 2001, for our fruit in the Garden because we don’t have the type of bat that would cactus names. There are a pollinate it. It is native to northwest Argentina and was planted in ůŽƚŽĨĚŝƐƐĞŶƟŶŐŽƉŝŶŝŽŶƐ 1956 by staff member Myron Kimnach. Mr. Kimnach went on to about what is related to become the director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens near what in the cactus family Pasadena and periodically returned to visit the Garden. He always and what they should be remarked on the height of this specimen, likely taller than any in called. By using a single habitat due to our more benign conditions. reference we are able to The International Union for the Conservation of ƌĞĨĞƌƋƵĞƐƟŽŶƐƚŽŝƚĨŽƌ Nature Red List includes the cactus Echinopsis hertrichiana ƐLJŶŽŶLJŵƐ͘dŚĞ'ĂƌĚĞŶ͛ƐŶĞǁĚĂƚĂďĂƐĞ͕ŽůůĞĐƟŽŶ as endangered. Only two populations occur its natural range of ^ƉĂĐĞ͕ůĂƵŶĐŚĞĚŝŶƉƌŝůϮϬϭϯ͕ǁŝůůƌĞƚƌŝĞǀĞĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ 20 square kilometers in Peru. One of these populations is in an ŶĂŵĞƐĞǀĞŶǁŚĞŶƐLJŶŽŶLJŵƐĂƌĞƵƐĞĚŝŶĂƐĞĂƌĐŚ Inca ruins heavily visited by tourists, who disturb the habitat and window. collect this species as an ornamental. There are 21 synonyms for this species, just one example of how frequent name changes can be in the cactus family. 4 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley DIRECTOR’S COLUMN While the drought concerns us, it has not Center’s Ornduff Room. The deplorable condition of the roof has prevented us from continuing to care for long prevented us from fully utilizing the facility. I recall some our precious wards: the plants from around both desperate and embarrassing moments when attendees at key the world. programs had to continually move to avoid the drips and we often We are doing our best to suffered damage to our winter exhibits like Fiber & Dye. A rush preserve water in this time of drought. In was put on replacing the roof, which ironically was not tested fact, I’m excited to announce that the long for months because of the lack of rain this winter; fortunately, it Photo by Muinat Kemi Amin awaited, and desperately needed, upgrade ZRUNHGZKHQLW¿QDOO\UDLQHG WRWKH*DUGHQLUULJDWLRQV\VWHPLVQRZZHOOXQGHUZD\7KH¿UVW One of the most visible ongoing projects, which started phase of the project which was focused on the upper slopes of the in December, involved the acquisition of a spectacular Julia ͙͙͙͡ǡ Ǥ Photo by Paul Licht Morgan building from campus. The translocation of the building, about the size of our Conference Center, which was cut into four large sections for the trip up Centennial Drive, was an adventure in itself. The subsequent ongoing work to put it back together has been fascinating and distracting as well as also rather disruptive to activities in the front of the Garden. The work site has been closed, causing detours into the California Area and to the Conference Center. You will be able to enjoy this new adventure if you come for the Spring Plant Sale From left: Damaged irrigation pipe; new irrigation pipe installation. Photo by Paul Licht in April; the building site will be readied for Asian Collection (above the main road) have now been completed this event. Please note and are in use. This project was certainly not without some that the traditional times inconvenience to both our operation and visitors, especially when of the last Friday night the main road was torn up to install new main lines, but it was (member preview and well worth the it. Funds for the second phase of the work, which reception) and Saturday will extend further into the water-dependent Asian Collection, is of April has been moved ơǤ currently in the bidding phase and will hopefully start this summer.