May 2010 Volume 84 Number 3 May 2010
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BotSoc News, May 2010 1 Volume 84 Number 3 May 2010 Georgia Botanical Society MarieThe Georgia Botanical Mellinger Society received two ex- practices Grant for lichen diversity. Awards cellent applications for our Marie Mellinger Field The information collected from their sam- IN THIS Botany Research Grant. The review committee* pling trips will be disseminated via range maps ISSUE: ranked both applications as equally deserving of and species accounts will be accessible on a funding and distributed the $1500 allocated in website associated with the University of Geor- Society News – the 2009 budget between the two proposals. gia (www.georgialichens.org). Beeching and p2 Sean Beeching and Malcolm Hodges Hodges will receive $830 from Marie’s Fund for applied for funds to “Create an Atlas of the Dis- travel expenses during eight collecting trips. Book Review- tribution of All Lichen Species in Georgia”. Their We are also pleased to award a Marie Mel- topic is no surprise to those who have had the linger Field Botany Research Grant to Cas- p3 opportunity to attend one of their workshops and sandra Plank, a graduate student in the Plant field trips. Sean Beeching is an accomplished am- Biology Lab at Georgia Southern University. Spring ateur lichenologist, recognized by professionals Ms. Plank will use the funds to research Edna’s Wildflower as the most experienced lichenologist in Georgia. trillium (Trillium persistens), a federally en- Pilgrimage Malcolm Hodges is a student of Beeching’s and dangered species known from only three Geor- Reports- the second most experienced lichenologist in the gia locations and one South Carolina site. p4 state, bringing over 18 years of field experience Her field studies began in Spring 2009 when as a Georgia ecologist to the project. plants at study sites at each of the four known locations for T. persistens were observed for life Upcoming Field Trips – p6 *Hugh Nourse, Richard Ware, Wayne Morris and Elaine Nash served on the 2010 Marie Mellinger Grant Review Committee. Malcolm Hodges and Sean Beeching Cassandra Plank The Lichen Atlas Project is part of a ten year stage and given a numbered metal tag. A follow- effort begun in 2006 to gather basic information up assessment of life stage and any changes in about the occurrence, range and abundance of population number in Spring 2010 will allow Georgia’s lichen species by sampling at least one the trillium’s population size and growth rate site in most of Georgia’s 159 counties. Beeching to be projected over time. and Hodges expect to document more than 800 These population studies are important ob- species statewide and predict that some sites with servations for the trillium’s management at all significant rock outcrops may be home to as many four of its known sites, but especially critical at a as 150 different species. By comparing lichen Tallulah Gorge site where a controlled burn was diversity at differently managed sites, their data conducted in Spring 2009. At Tallulah Gorge, will provide insight into the best management cont. on page 2 2 BotSoc News, May 2010 Society News LEARN TO USE THE BOTSOC FORUM SET UP CARPOOLS, EXCHANGE INFORMATION AND PARTICIPATE IN INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS Right now, only a few members regularly use our online forum (http://www.gabotsoc.org/forum). Rich Reaves is great about posting information there, but if more members get comfortable with BotSoc News is published seven using the forum, I know it would be useful for exchanging info, helping set up carpools or having times a year (Jan, discussions. The forum may seem confusing if you haven’t used something like this before, so here Mar, May, Jul, Sep, are a few tips: Nov and for the Spring Wildflower 1. Visit the forum and register. Until you register, you won’t be able to use some features, Pilgrimage). and you won’t be able to see certain parts of the forum. You’ll receive an activation Submission deadline email, and you can then go ahead and post in the forum. Areas in the forum, such as the is June 1 for the carpool section, are open only to registered members. Posting anywhere on the forum July issue. is safe – no one will be able to see your email. 2. The forum is organized by board, topic and subject, and post. Right now, we have Subscriptions are included with three boards: Forum Rules, General Plant Discussion, Field Trips and Other Events. I membership. can always add others. Any registered user of the forum can add a subject by creating a post, and when people start replying to posts, you’ve got a conversation going. That’s Website: probably one of the most useful things about a forum – using it for discussing things www.gabotsoc.org without cluttering up everyone’s email. Editorial Office 3. If you’d like to start a new subject, click on one of the topics, such as Plant Discus- Jean Smith sions, and you’ll see a list of subjects. Click on one of the subjects, and you’ll see people’s 1135 Barwick Hill Rd posts on that subject. Comer, GA 30629 ph 706.783.2308 4. You may use your name or an alias in your profile on the forum and you can change email: this at any time by clicking on the profile. In your profile, you control what others see jss2holly@ about you. You can also upload a picture that will show when you post a message and windstream.net you can send individual private messages to other members. I’ve set the forum up to avoid having too much spam, but please report any offensive or inappropri- © 2010 Georgia Bo- tanical Society ate posts or any problems you are having to me. I would also be happy to help you if you’d like to a private nonprofit use the forum. Feel free to email me if you have any problems. And please let me know if you have organization under any suggestions about the forum (or web site) and how we can make it better. IRS 501(c)3. Merrill Morris Founded in 1926. [email protected] DON’T FORGET THE CULLOWHEE NATIVE PLANT CONFERENCE JULY 27-31, 2010 REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS JULY 9 http://www.wcu.edu/5033.asp Marie Mellinger Grant Recipients (cont. from page 1) T. persistens is found in the Table Mountain dynamics may lead to a management conflict pine (Pinus pungens) ecosystem - an ecosystem between the conservation of the rare trillium and that requires burning for establishment and the threatened Table Mountain pine ecosystem. maintenance. While reintroducing fire may T. persistens and P. pungens seeds will also be help restore the pine (whose seeds germinate subjected to heat experiments in a laboratory following a fire), little is know about how the drying oven to determine the recovery ability of trillium population at the site will respond to seeds under heat stress. the burn. T. persistens seeds germinate nor- Cassandra Plank was awarded $670 from the mally without fire but macronutrients in the Marie Mellinger Field Botany Research Fund to ash deposited during the burn may affect plant cover travel and laboratory supplies. growth. Ill effects on the trillium’s population BotSoc News, May 2010 3 Book Review OUR WILD ORCHIDS: TRAILS AND PORTRAITS Frank Morris and Edward A. Eames (Charles Scribner’s & Sons: New York, 1929) Although trained in literature and Chairman They accomplished this goal through of a college English department, the Canadian extensive travel and exploration ac- Frank Morris had a lifelong fascination with companied with their wives. botany and, particularly, wildflowers. Born in In the book, orchids are classi- England, he initially learned about flowers by hik- fied into four “Tribes”: Lady Slipper ing in the woods and recording his observations. (Cypripedeae), Eyebrow (Ophryde- After moving to Canada in his early twenties, ae), Bird’s Nest (Neottiae) and Tree he added a more academic level to this interest (Epidendreae). Within these catego- by learning taxonomy and scientific description ries Morris writes from a fellow teacher. His wife Elma shared this two part essays on enthusiasm for wildflowers and the two of them each individual spent much of their spare time and their vacations orchid. An initial on what were essentially self-arranged BotSoc section of a half field trips during which they observed, studied page or so pres- and recorded the plants they encountered. They ents the scientific developed a special interest in wild orchids. information on Their trips in search of orchids brought them the plant: No- in contact with another couple, Edward and Belle menclature (sci- Eames. Edward Eames was a photographer, and entific and com- he and his wife, working with unwieldy cameras, mon), Descrip- had developed ways of taking photographs of tion of Plant and Elma and Frank Morris various plants in their native habitats. Our Wild Flower, Habitat Orchids: Trails and Portraits emerged from and Bloom Season, and Special this chance friendship based on mutual interest. Features. With the objective infor- The essays on orchids (the Trails of the book’s mation established, Morris then title) were written by Morris; the photographs writes a two to five page essay on the (Portraits) were taken by Eames. There are 130 orchid, beginning with a discussion photographs, 126 black and white and four in of the plant in the wild but generally color. Both wives were also involved in this work moving toward a narrative of his and the book is dedicated to the two women. and Eames’ first or most memorable In the first sentence of the Author’s Preface, encounter with the plant.