chinquapin The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society Volume 16, No. 4 Winter 2008 Happy Holidays from SABS Red spruce “hunkering down” for winter in the Great Smoky Mountains Photo by Scott Ranger 2 Chinquapin 16 (4) The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society SABS Officers & Editors Conley K. McMullen, President Department of Biology, MSC 7801 Field Notes by Scott Ranger James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 22807 3) Do weather conditions control flowering? (540) 568-3805 · fax (540) 568-3333 Three-birds Orchid Update I made a careful comparison of weather [email protected] conditions in 2007 (very hot with 14 days Howard S. Neufeld, Past President With another season of observing this > 90°F and 5 >100°F and dry with ~20% of Department of Biology ephemeral orchid at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield normal rainfall) and 2008 (nearly normal). 572 Rivers Street State Historic Site, I’ve come up with some The same flowering pattern occurred both Appalachian State University observations and questions. The photograph years. It seems weather, at least in these two Boone, NC 28608 below is illustrative for both. If anyone has years, didn’t have an effect on flowering. We (828) 262-2683 · fax (828) 262-2127 any answers, I’d love to hear them. counted a total of 460 stems in 2008, up [email protected] 61.5% from 2007. Weather probably had Charles N. Horn, Treasurer Observations: something to do with this. Biology Department • Even the smallest stems (>2 mm diameter 2100 College Street and >3 cm tall) have at least one well- 4) Is synchronicity overemphasized? I think Newberry College developed flower bud. it is. Most of the literature implies that the Newberry, SC 29108 • All the flowering and fruiting stems are flowers, sometime over a wide geographic (803) 321-5257 · fax (803) 321-5636 [email protected] subhorizontal on my many visits over the range, all flower at the same time. I interpret flowering period of two weeks. this as over a matter of hours and not days. Michael Held, Membership Secretary • The topmost buds are not open or are just Clearly the flowers at this single site did not Department of Biology barely open showing only a small part of a all open at the same time. Some don’t seem to Saint Peter’s College perianth during the entire flowering period. open at all! Many species flowers open over Jersey City, NJ 07306 • Only the bottom flowers have well-devel- a period of days, a common phenology not (201) 761-6439 [email protected] oped and expanding pistils. unique to three birds. • The uppermost pistils are small and with Ruth Douglas, Recording Secretary the perianth still showing white at the end 5) What myco-heterotrophy is going on? 108 Wildflower Drive of the flowering period. On my last day at the site I take Matt Rich- Charlottesville, VA 22911 • Expanding pistils and withering perianth ards of the Atlanta Botanical Garden with (434) 293-6538 of lower flowers are common before peak me. He plans to do some fungus trapping [email protected] flowering. during the late fruiting period and perhaps George Johnson, Editor-in-Chief of • Virtually every stem is a part of a small will find some answers. Is there a connection Castanea community of stems, almost none are with the grapefern? Department of Biological Sciences solitary. Arkansas Tech University • Nearly every clump includes at least one Russellville, AR 72801 Southern grapefern (Sceptridium biter- (479) 968-0312 ) within inches of it. [email protected] natum • Few insects are observed in the area. Audrey Mellichamp, Managing Editor • I discern no scent from these flowers. of Castanea 3036 Ventosa Drive Questions: Charlotte, NC 28205 [email protected] 1) Does this species self-pollinate? Scott Ranger, Editor of Chinquapin The evidence here seems to indicate that yes, 1963 Ferry Drive NE it does. What else could explain the develop- Marietta, GA 30066 ment of fruits when the flowers have not yet (770) 429-1836 · cell (404) 210-3088 opened? The only insects are pesky mosqui- [email protected] toes that pay now attention to these flowers. I was not at the site in twilight or nighttime to observe any insects at that time. 2) Do all the flowers even open? A week after the photograph on the right was taken, the topmost buds were no larger and the perianth was withered. At least on this individual—and many others like it on this site—they never opened. The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society Chinquapin 16 (4) 3 Botanical Excursionsby George Ellison form of resinous chemicals. Conical shapes minimize buildups of Hunkering Down in Winter snow or ice. It’s mid-December 2008 as I write this. This past weekend my wife, Elizabeth, and I spent most of our time in our cabin on the North Other evergreens have developed thick leaves with waxy coats to cut Carolina side of the Smokies, feeding wood into the two woodstoves down on evaporation. These tend to be shrubby or ground hugging. In in our living and kitchen areas. Out the back windows, we could see order to avoid having their leaf cells ruptured by frost, water is chan- birds foraging around the feeders. Through the front windows, across neled to spaces between the cells where expansion does less damage. the little creek that flows through our property, rhododendrons And finally, the sugar content of the cells is increased to lower their drooped their leaves like forlorn sheep, indicating beyond all doubt freezing points. that the first really cold snap of the winter was upon us. Individual evergreen species often have their own distinctive over- Animals make it through the cold by generating warmth from food, wintering devices. Everyone has observed how rhododendron leaves movement, shelter, or contrived means like fire. Plants, on the other curl and droop in extreme cold. Drooping (a dormant posture also hand, have devised a series of ingenious devices that allow them to assumed during periods of drought) lessens exposure to wind, while survive in potentially lethal curling temporarily shields conditions. and closes off air-circula- tion pores (stomata) on the All plants in upland or undersides of the leaves. northern environments face the double-edged dilemma of low In Life in the Cold: An temperature stress and lack of Introduction to Winter moisture in winter. Most opt Ecology (Hanover NH: to lay low: annuals survive as University Press of New over-wintering seeds; bien- England, 1987), Peter nials produce low-growing, J. Marchand provides first-year plants protected by interesting informa- leaf litter or a blanket of snow; tion on this topic. I was herbaceous perennials die back especially interested in the completely and over-winter as tables Marchand presents dormant corms or regenerative that provide the freezing root stock; and broadleaved (“killing temperature”) deciduous trees, shrubs, and for various tree species. various vines shed their leaves He makes the point that and assume other protective most species have adapted measures. Come spring, these to the cold by adjusting plants really have to hustle to their freezing tolerance so do their thing and produce seed that it closely matches the or fruit during the growing minimum temperature at season. their northern range limit. Evergreens have “chosen” the other fork in the evolutionary path. For instance, live oak, a southern tree of the Gulf Coast and lower They tough winter out with their foliage intact so as to obtain a Atlantic coastal plain will tolerate temperatures down to 15 or so head start when the growing season arrives. For this group of plants, degrees Fahrenheit. Eastern redbud, a tree that ranges northward photosynthesis can continue longer in the fall and begin earlier in the from the southern states to the Great Lakes, dies when subjected to coming year; indeed, keeping their leaves (or needles) actually helps temperatures approaching minus 31 degrees. these plants survive since they can use them in photosynthesis on mild winter days. Come spring, energy that would otherwise be channeled Other deciduous trees that range into the higher elevations here in the into producing leaves is saved for direct reproductive efforts. Smokies like northern red oak and yellow birch withstand tempera- tures in the minus 35-49 degree range. Red spruce and Fraser fir, trees Additional strategies allow evergreens to weather the drying winds that grow in our highest elevations above 6,000 feet, could make it in and freezing temperatures of winter. Conifers have needlelike leaves temperatures below minus 80 degrees. that expose less surface to cold drying winds than broader leaves. Their needles, stems, and roots are filled with “botanical antifreeze” in the continues on page 8 4 Chinquapin 16 (4) The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society proven worthy of taxonomic recognition. As seen in the examples Taxonomic Advisory! below, many of these decisions have important implications for our by Alan Weakley conservation and for our understanding of the evolution and biogeog- raphy of the eastern North American flora. Small’s small species, or there and Solidago pulchra (Beautiful Goldenrod; Asteraceae) back again. In his 1933 Manual, Small named Solidago pulchra, a species endemic As mentioned in earlier columns, John Kunkel Small was a prolific to wet pine savannas of eastern North Carolina. The species was (some would say profligate!) namer of new species in the Southeastern collected very few times in the next three decades, and Radford, Ahles, United States flora, from the 1890s to the 1930s. An index of his & Bell (1968) and Godfrey & Wooten (1981) synonymized it under taxonomic activity is The International Plant Names Index (2008): S.