UPCOMING EVENTS! and Center for Plant Diversity

DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY LASTHENIA

LASTHENIA, the Newsletter of the Davis Botanical Society, is published in collaboration with the staff of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory UPCOMING EVENTS! and Center for Plant Diversity. Editor: Ellen Dean Issue Contributors: E. Dean, E. Sando- val, M. Simon, E. Cendejas, T. Barry, D. Saturday April 13 Picnic Day Herbarium and Potter, J. Poore, S. Schoenig, D. York, S. Matson, D. Slipher, D. Cavagnaro Conservatory open houses Design: Susan Gloystein Saturday April 20 Field Trip to Missimer Snell Layout: Ellen Dean DBS OFFICERS, 2018-2019 Valley Wildflower Preserve (FULL) President: Jeffrey Clary Saturdays April 6, April 27, May 11 Arboretum/ President-elect: Elina Nino Membership Vice President: Conservatory Plant Sales Tom Starbuck, Johanna Kwan, & Kate Mawdsley Thursday May 2 Spring Meeting and Speak- Secretary: Chris Walden ers: Tom Rost and Terry Murphy will speak on Treasurer: Robert Rhode “Forensic Botany” at the Davis Public Library Past President: Neal Williams Members at Large: Cherilyn Burton, Steve Schoenig Saturday May 4 Field Trip to the Red Hills ACEC Student Member at Large: Ross Brennan Ex officio: Dan Potter, Ernesto

Sandoval, Ellen Dean

UC Davis Mail ID: BTNY BTNY ID: Mail Davis UC

Davis, CA 95616 95616 CA Davis,

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8 No. 51 Winter 2019 LASTHENIA NEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY

CAPTURING CALIFORNIA’S WILDFLOWERS

The UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity Our California specimen label data are Herbarium received National Science already uploaded on this site, and we Foundation (NSF) funding to digitize are uploading our images to the portal 50,000 specimens from our flowering as we image each batch of specimens. plant (Angiosperm) collection. We are Label data for our California specimens one of 22 California herbaria participat- are also available at the Consortium of ing in a collaborative project, led by California Herbaria website at http://ucj- Jenn Yost at Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo, eps.berkeley.edu/consortium/. called Capturing California’s Flowers. The images will provide specimen This effort will result in production data not yet available online, such of digitized images for over 900,000 as visible features of the plants. For Herbarium specimens of target taxa, example, while the label data for our selected due to their importance in the California specimens are currently avail- California Flora. able online, in many cases the label data The images will soon be available lacks information about flowers and via the new on-line database, Consor- fruits (phenology). Specimen images tium of California Herbaria 2 (CCH2) will allow researchers to answer ques- Symbiota portal, at http://www.portal. tions about plant phenology, health, and capturingcaliforniasflowers.org/portal/. morphology. Understanding what time Imaged specimen of mountain jewel flower, collected by Robert Preston on June 13, 1984. NEW POND ENHANCES CONSERVATORY of year plants have flowered through All top-notch botanical gardens have time can help us understand how cli- a water feature and now the UC Davis mate change has affected our flora over Botanical Conservatory can include the past century. itself on that list. For years, the California’s flora is unique and thought of a pond has been mulling diverse, containing over one-third of all around in the minds of staff. Enter U.S. plant species, and about 32% of the volunteer extraordinaire, Eric Cende- state’s flora is endemic (found nowhere jas. Eric is a plant-obsessed marketing else on earth). Habitat destruction and major at Sacramento State who has continued on page 6 been caring for our Aroid collection. With time on his hands, due to winter break from classes, and much IN THIS ISSUE enthusiasm, he was the impetus for this new feature. Within three weeks, Capturing Wildflowers...... 1 the project was completed, thanks to New Conservatory Pond ...... 1 Eric, conservatory staff and hard- Law Family Awards...... 3 working student workers (shout out The completed and planted pond with an Herbarium Oak Exhibit...... 4 to Chandler Gorman). epiphyte wall at center. Epiphyte branches continued on page 2 coming soon! Photo: E. Sandoval New Assistant Curator...... 6 Monkeyflower Name Changes...... 7

1 CONSERVATORY (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

Besides being a great team-building project, the pond will be home to an ample supply of much-needed species such as water lettuce (Pistia), water hyacinth (Eichornia), Salvinia, and other water ferns. The epiphyte wall and “tree” above the pond allow students and visitors to see plants in their simulated natural habitat and will be a showcase for vanilla, ant plants (such as Dischidia), Nepenthes, and other epiphytes. Venus fly traps (Dionaea), pitcher plants (Sarracenia), begonias, orchids and Gesneriads are some other plant types that have found a home in or around the pond and rock wall. The pond has already been a big hit with over 1,000 visitors during Biodiversity Museum Day and another 800 students coming through for BIS 2C during the month of February. In the near future, the Conservatory will be adding “branches” above the pond to the epiphyte “tree.” Over the years Clockwise from top: Cooper Calvin and Eric Cendejas take a refreshing photo as the pond is the Conservatory staff and volunteers first filled. Photo: M. Simon; Shehan Wijesinghe and William Kha dig out the base of the pond. have made many improvements in our Photo: E. Cendejas; Marlene Simon and Chandler Gorman affix rocks to the epiphyte wall. facility and collections; we hope you Photo E. Cendejas enjoy this one. Come visit us 9am-5pm during the week! M. Simon & E. Sandoval

2 RECENT GIFTS

Herbarium Endowment Herbarium Gifts in Kind Davis Botanical Society John & Marsha Anderson Dylan Burge Student Grants Fund Beth Lowe Corbin Ellen Dean & Thomas Starbuck Kirk Ehmsen Shari Kawelo Gerald Dickinson Gerald Dickinson Lewis Feldman The Kwan-Hague Family E. Eric Grissell John Huls Tom Gordon Kevin Rice Sue Nichol Marcel Rejmanek Rosalie Vanderhoef Lesley & John Randall Tom Rost Kevin Rice Jack Major Student Grant Fund Lorraine Van Kekerix Conservatory Endowment Anonymous Carol Witham Judy Jernstedt John Vankat Gary Zamzow Sonia Cook Mary Hektner

Herbarium Operations Conservatory Operations Larry and Charlotte Mitich Student Dylan Burge Friends of the Davis Arboretum Grant Fund Lewis Feldman Joseph Lin James and Catherine Murray San Francisco Succulent & Thank you for Cactus Society your support! LAW FAMILY ENDOWMENT STUDENT AWARDS

her research on the genus Lycianthes and with field work/plant ID at Emer- ald Bay State Park; in addition she has assisted with shifting our general collections and specimen imaging. She has also assisted with outreach at Museum Day. Our second award is being given to senior Ecological Management and Restoration major Shannon McGraw.

Hannah Kang. Photo: D. Slipher Sarina Rodriguez. Photo: D. Slipher This spring, we once again have the opportunity to give out undergradu- Finally, our third award goes to ate awards to students who have been Sarina Rodriguez, a senior in Neu- involved with the Center for Plant robiology, Physiology, and Behavior. Diversity herbarium. The awards are Sarina has worked in the herbarium for funded by the Law Family Endow- three years. She began as a specimen ment, which was established by Dr. mounter, but she was eager for other E. Eric Grissell to honor his family duties, and she became a fast and reli- (see Lasthenia Vol. 41, 2014). We are able filer and databaser. She has assisted recognizing three seniors. with recruiting new student employees The first is senior Hannah Kang, a each spring, spreading the word on Plant Biology major. Hannah’s botany Shannon McGraw. Photo: E. Dean social media. She has also assisted with professor at Sierra College emailed Shannon has worked in the herbarium outreach events, especially Museum me that Hannah might come to our for three years. She began as a specimen Day. I always know that Sarina will be herbarium, and when she did, Hannah mounter and filer, but she now assists willing to help out with whatever needs immediately began to volunteer for us with gift processing, databasing, and doing, and I greatly appreciate that. two quarters; and then we began to soon with specimen imaging. She has Both Sarina and Hannah are featured in employ her. Hannah is very enthusias- helped Ellen organize the bryophyte and a blog post about the herbarium “Every tic about plants, and she spends quite lichen collections and with the transi- Plant Has a Story” – you can find it on a bit of time hunting for plant popula- tion of our database to Symbiota. Her our website, and photos used here were tions. She is very eager to learn more work is incredibly exact, and we know taken by David Slipher for that story. about California plants and botany in that we can trust her to figure out any Congratulations to all three! general. She has assisted Ellen with type of herbarium task. E. Dean

3 HERBARIUM EXHIBIT FOCUSES ON OAK COLLECTORS

In January, the Center for Plant Diver- of oak specimens to our collection. sity held another very successful Botani- John’s research habits were careful and cal Tea with about 50 attendees. The extensive. He took great care to docu- herbarium Botanical Teas are outreach ment populations in their ecological, events where people can gather in the geological and historical context, as herbarium, eat, drink tea, and peruse a well the taxonomic details and mor- botanical exhibit. Our exhibit in Janu- phological architecture of individuals. ary was on the botanical collectors who Therefore, he collected many, many have contributed specimens to our im- specimens from multiple individuals pressive oak collection; our herbarium has over 20,000 oak (Quercus) specimens from around the world. We de- cided on this theme, because in October Gilbert Muth and Rod Myatt (both Ph.D. of 2018, we gave a tour of our collection students of John Tucker) with Warren Roberts to about 30 members of the Interna- and Jean Shepard at the oak exhibit in the tional Oak Society. In preparing for that herbarium in January. Photo: E. Dean tour, Teri Barry and I pulled together information on our oak specimens, Ancil’s trials as a Kinsey student are de- which was then made into an exhibit by scribed in the book Alfred Kinsey, A Life. Jennifer Poore, Teri, and myself. Holloway and Kinsey collected oaks to Dr. John Tucker is the person who document the host plants of their study built our incredible oak collection. organisms. I never asked John Tucker John was Director of our herbarium for when these oak specimens arrived at nearly 40 years, and he was an expert UC Davis. They were sent for deter- on New World oaks, especially those of mination, probably in the early 1950s, western North America. Many people and John must have spent a significant gave John oak specimens to identify, and these were added to our collection. Scan of specimen made by John Tucker show- In addition, he guided many graduate ing the leaf forms found in hybrids between students who added significant numbers Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) and grey oak of oak specimens. Additional specimens (Quercus turbinella). came to us, because other herbaria gave them to us in exchange for specimens in order to document all the variation we sent them. Lastly, many specimens that he observed within oak popula- in our collection are associated with the tions. He was especially interested in living oak collections at the UC Davis hybridization, and he collected both the Arboretum. parental species, as well as many hybrid individuals within the hybrid zone. And he taught his students to do the same. This meant that when I arrived in 1995, there were thousands of unlabeled and unmounted oak specimens that had Scan of specimen of Emory oak (Quercus been collected by John and his students, emoryi) collected in Mexico in 1931 by Ancil many of which were extensive popula- Holloway., a student of Alfred Kinsey. tion samples. Thanks to funding from John, and curation by Jean Shepard and number of hours writing the species many others, those collections are now names on the newspapers. When I ar- all curated and filed. rived in 1995, the specimens were still John collected many different spe- Part of the herbarium oak exhibit at the January tea showing the contributions of John unlabeled and unmounted, sitting in the cies of oaks throughout western North Tucker. Photo: E. Dean original newspapers in which they had America and as far south as Costa Rica. been pressed, each with a small jeweler’s The species that he studied and collect- One of the more unusual parts of tag attached that contained handwritten ed most extensively were the wavyleaf our oak collection are the hundreds of notes on the location. It took many vol- oak (Quercus undulata) complex, grey specimens collected by Ancil Holloway unteer hours (some contributed by Da- oak (Quercus turbinella), and coast oak in Mexico and the southwest U.S. in vis Botanical Society members Marjorie (Quercus parvula), the last of which was the 1930s. Ancil was a graduate student March and Nancy Crosby) to make the studied with the help of Lois Weeth, of the entomologist (soon to become labels, mount, and file the specimens. Stephen Langer, and Kerry Heise. sexologist) Alfred Kinsey in the Depart- John, and the many students whom Two of John’s students followed in ment of Zoology at Indiana University. he guided, contributed thousands his footsteps in studying western North 4 HERBARIUM OAK EXHIBIT (CONT. FROM PAGE 4)

American oaks. Student Jack Maze, who and other non-oak specimens which wild at the time seed was collected for later became a professor at the Universi- greatly enriched our Asian holdings. the Arboretum. Many of these speci- ty of British Columbia, concentrated on Irfan Batat, a Turkish graduate student, mens date back to the late 1960s when hybridization between bur oak (Quercus studied downy oak (Quercus pubescens) the Arboretum had abundant university macrocarpa) and Gambel oak (Quer- and greatly increased our holdings of funding for field trips to collect seed in cus gambelii). Another of his students Turkish oaks; our Turkish collections the wild. An important collector during Rod Myatt, who became a professor at were also enhanced by gifts of Turkish this effort was Roman Gankin, and we San Jose State, looked at the variation oak specimens from Mills College pro- have many Gankin oak specimens that in canyon oak (Quercus chrysolepis). fessor Baki Kasipligil who was originally carefully document the origin of Arbore- Another student who John mentored in from Turkey. As a result, our herbarium tum seed. In addition to these wild- the 1990s and early 2000s, Laura Kinds- is strangely rich in Turkish oaks. collected specimens, we have hundreds vater, studied the present and past (fos- Other associates of John’s also of oak specimens that document the sil) distributions of island oak (Quercus studied oak hybrids. Walter Cottam, cultivated holdings of the Arboretum tomentella), which currently just occurs of the University of Utah, developed itself (see the article in Lasthenia No. 32 on the Channel Islands. In addition to techniques for hybridizing pairs of oak which describes one of these collecting these three students, John mentored nu- species, including many pairs that never projects in 2009). merous entomology students who stud- hybridize in the wild. He started the And there are more collectors and ied insect associates of North American Cottam hybrid oak grove at the Univer- stories in our oak collection, but they oaks. All of these students left valuable sity of Utah, which preserves his work can’t all be described here. But you can oak specimens documenting the varia- as a living collection, and he and John now see that an oak herbarium as varied tion of the species they studied. published a book about the grove. John and extensive as ours has had multiple Two of John’s students increased our Tucker made specimens from the grove, collectors contributing valuable species holdings of Old World oaks. Gilbert which we have in our herbarium. We from many different areas of the world. Muth studied deer oak (Quercus sadleri- also have many of Cottam’s wild-collect- And their work and observations are ana) and its relationship to Asian oaks. ed oak specimens. now preserved for future generations. While collecting in Asia, Muth, who Our herbarium also contains hun- E. Dean was a professor at Pacific Union Col- dreds of specimens collected at the UC lege, collected many oaks, oak relatives, Davis Arboretum or collected in the OAK POEM MYSTERY SOLVED

When I arrived at the herbarium in which June had affixed an “H” to each handwriting and advised me to email 1995, I found a stack of specimens leaflet – for 4-H. And there is a speci- David Cavagnaro, who was a plant that June McCaskill had separated men of a huge oak leaf with a wonderful collector for John Tucker. I emailed out and labeled “herbarium speci- poem written on it (pictured below left). David, and sure enough, he is the men pretties and oddies.” The stack I neglected to ask John Tucker about author! For your reading enjoyment, includes some beautiful specimens the author of this oak specimen poem, here is the poem, written on a leaf that that I use when we have exhibits and before he passed away. no one seems to be able to identify, outreach events. There is a speci- The author remained a mystery until including David, who thinks it might men of clover (Trifolium repens) with recently, when Emily Griswold of the have been a hybrid or bur oak (Quer- atypical leaves with four leaflets to UC Davis Arboretum recognized the cus macrocarpa). E. Dean

OAK POEM:

THERE ONCE WAS A STUDENT OF OAKS WHO LOVED TO TELL CORNY JOKES. HE STUDIED TAXONOMY AND WATCHED HIS SYNONYMY BUT FANCIED HIS LESSONS A HOAX. ONCE DAY HE PLANTED A SEED WHICH SPROUTED AND GREW LIKE A WEED. “A NEW SPECIES IT IS, ALL COVERED WITH FRIZZ.” AND IT EXCITED ALL OF HIS GREED. HE WENT TO HIS MAJOR PROFESSOR, JOHN TUCKER THE FATHER CONFESSOR, WHO WITH GREAT EFFERVESCENCE MEASURED ITS PUBESCENCE AND PRONOUNCED IT A SYNONYM, OR LESSER.

SEÑOR ANONYM, 1979 (DAVID CAVAGNARO)

5 CAPTURING CALIFORNIA’S FLOWERS (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

climate change are great threats to our flora. The higher temperatures pre- dicted by climate change models have already been observed in California, which means many plants will have to shift their range to higher elevations to survive. Understanding phenology will help us better understand how we can protect our treasured flora. For more information about the Capturing Cali- fornia’s Flowers project see https://www. capturingcaliforniasflowers.org. Researchers are already using our images. A group of collaborators at UC Davis, Dr. Jennifer Gremer, Dr. Johanna Schmitt, Dr. Sharon Strauss, and Dr. Julin Maloof (all co-PIs on a grant entitled “Diversity and constraint in Our photo box for imaging specimens with Our photo box for imaging specimens with the germination niche: Implications for internal lighting turned off. Photo: T. Barry internal lighting turned on. Photo: T. Barry persistence in a biodiversity hotspot”) will make use of images of our jewel research applications, this project is a dates will help researchers understand flower specimens Streptanthus( ) as well good opportunity for students to learn how flowering time has changed over as those of closely related genera. Dr. about the California flora and develop the past century. After that, we plan to Susan Mazer’s lab at UC Santa Barbara, new skills. Volunteers, interns, and stu- continue digitizing our whole 300,000+ in collaboration with iDigBio, will use dent employees will gain valuable work specimen collection. Our collection our images of specimens of the jewel experience. contains specimens from North Ameri- flower speciesStreptanthus tortuosus After we image the grant’s target ca, the New World Tropics, and the Old and Streptanthus polygaloides, as well taxa, we will continue to image other World as well as an extensive cultivated as images of our baby blue eyes speci- target families known to have a wide collection. Most of our collections from mens (Nemophila menziesii), to establish range of historical collections (back to outside California are not even databas- a protocol to score phenology using the early 20th century) as well as newer ed yet. We have a world of knowledge herbarium specimens. In addition to collections. This range of collection waiting to be shared! T. Barry & D. Potter MEET OUR NEW ASSISTANT CURATOR, JENNIFER POORE Editor’s note: New Assistant Curator, Jen- newsletter. I have also worked in Yosem- nifer Poore, began working at the UC Da- ite National Park, sampling alpine flora vis Center for Plant Diversity herbarium found on the Dana Plateau Sky Islands, November 1, 2018. Her position is funded and participated in the GLORIA study by a generous gift from Shirley Tucker. (Global Observation Research Iniative I graduated from UC Davis with an in Alpine Environments) at the White undergraduate degree in Plant Biol- Mountain Research Center. In addition, ogy, and I am thrilled to be back on for a genetic research project on Drum- campus working in the herbarium. My mond’s rockcress (Boechera stricta), I hometown is Redding, CA, where I collected seeds the entire length of CA have worked in the timber industry for in the White, Sierra, Cascade, and War- the past five years, leading rare plant ner Mountain ranges, while camping surveys across northern California. I am alone with my dog, and I volunteered in currently interested in plant systematics, Death Valley National Park document- alpine environments, and the long-term ing rare plants endemic to the Eureka preservation of dried plant collections. I Dunes. find that herbaria are some of the most Botany endeavors are such worth- interesting places in the world, because while efforts and always memorable one is just as likely to find a new spe- adventures. I am excited to be involved cies in an herbarium as during a walk in research and outreach now at the through the woods. UC Davis herbarium, while helping to I am a member of the California Na- curate the growing and very useful col- tive Plant Society and have contributed lections. Jennifer Poore with her dog Deja in the Marble Mountains. Photo: Courtesy of the articles to the CNPS Shasta Chapter J. Poore author 6 MONKEYFLOWERS IN FLUX!

we have known as Mimulus (the genus that California monkeyflowers used to belong to), there are similar and related species throughout the world. As the evolutionary tree of all these related species was assembled, it became clear that California monkeyflowers should be placed in more than one genus. More importantly, these genera are not each other’s closest relatives. Without getting into further details, the best way to re- solve the tree of monkeyflower evolu- Calico monkeyflower (Diplacus pictus), a tionary history was to split Mimulus and rare plant and one of the author’s favorite its relatives into a number of genera. monkey flowers. Photo: S. Schoenig The monkeyflower genera in Califor- nia are now Diplacus, Erythranthe, and I think everybody loves monkeyflow- Mimetanthe (the last genus just has one ers. They are cheerful and colorful and species); we still have one non-native occur all over the state in a variety of Mimulus species from the east coast. habitats and substrates. My own obses- Keys to the species included in these Pink-margined monkeyflower (Erythranthe trinitiensis), a rare plant recently described sion with monkeyflowers began the new genera, as well as new species by Guy Nesom. It occurs on serpentine soils same year I moved to Davis to begin descriptions, are now available online at in Trinity County. Photo: D. York graduate school in 1983. My interest has the Jepson eFlora website. deepened and grown over the years, but cal name change, 2) are resurrected nothing prepared me for the tsunami of species (brought back from old descrip- taxonomic changes and new discover- tions) or 3) have been elevated from va- ies that have happened over the last ten rietal status to full species. That is a lot years. This article reviews those changes of changes! I find this all exciting and and showcases a few of the new wonder- a reason to get outdoors and discover ful discoveries. this new diversity. One particular group Change #1 THE BREAKUP OF of monkeyflowers, however, is going to THE SCROPHULARIACEAE: In 1999 be very challenging for all botanists to Dr. Richard Olmstead and co-authors wrap their heads around. This group published news that many botanists is known to most as the old “Mimulus expected – that the family Scrophula- guttatus” or “seep spring monkeyflow- riaceae, which used to include monkey- er.” In the new treatment, Erythranthe flowers, needed to be broken up, and Carson Valley monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata only applies to perennial plants many of the included genera were sent carsonensis), a rare plant native to Nevada with a specific set of characters. There off to other families. Monkeyflowers and California recently named by Naomi are fully 15 other species now in this Fraga, of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. now belong to the family Phrymaceae. group that must be separated out with a Photo: S. Matson The analysis of plant DNA has clarified key and will provide heartburn to those the true history of evolution, and as Change #3 A BUNCH OF BRAND determined to place a name on a plant plant-lovers we are better off knowing NEW SPECIES, OLD SPECIES RE- in hand. these facts, rather than sticking with RECOGNIZED, AND FUSSY NAME So that is the monkeyflower tsu- old conventions and speculation. I say CHANGES AFFECTING FAMILIAR nami! I hope it doesn’t drown you in this, even though the constant “name MONKEYFLOWERS: In my opinion a froth of new names, but rather floats changes” require constantly learning this is the most exciting part of the you to higher ground. new names. Ellen Dean and Richard new Jepson eFlora treatment. The S. Schoenig Olmstead ably covered the reasons for new treatment distributes California the breakup of the Scrophulariaceae monkeyflowers between the genera as in the journal Fremontia vol. 30, 2002 follows: Diplacus (43 taxa), Erythranthe (available online at the California Native (62 taxa), Mimetanthe (1 taxon) and Plant Society website). Mimulus (1 taxon). That is a total of 107 Change #2 THE BREAKUP OF monkeyflower taxa! By comparison, the THE GENUS MIMULUS: The type of 2012 Jepson Manual II printed edition DNA analysis which led to the breakup included 72 Mimulus taxa. There are 14 of the Scrophulariaceae has been refined species new to science recognized in and expanded to include all global the new eFlora treatment. Furthermore, groups and unique species within the 15 species of Diplacus and 20 species of The rare Kelso Creek monkeyflower Phrymaceae. In addition to the plants Erythranthe have had either 1) a techni- (Erythranthe schevockii). Photo: S. Schoenig 7