OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER Volume 4 Number 1 • Oregon State University • February 1998 Checklist: Asteraceae Clay Gautier by Scott Sundberg and Kenton L. Chambers by Rhoda Love We are pleased to announce the completion of the Clay Gautier is the newest member of the Oregon checklist of Oregon composites (Asteraceae) by the Atlas Project Leaders group. He has volunteered with Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist Project. The Scott Sundberg and others since 1996. “Clay has been Asteraceae checklist was written by Kenton Chambers instrumental in developing an electronic version of the and Scott Sundberg and is currently being reviewed by Oregon Plant Atlas that will be fully interactive and Checklist project members. It is a portion of the Oregon accessible to the public via the Internet,” says Scott. Vascular Plant Checklist, which is preparatory to a new Clay, who commutes to OSU from Eugene, brings a Flora of Oregon. The Asteraceae Checklist includes special combination of skills to this task: undergraduate accepted names of all Oregon taxa (species, subspecies and graduate work in ecology and 12 years of experience and varieties) growing outside of cultivation, as well as as a professional software developer. common names, plant origin (native or introduced) and Clay was bom in San Francisco in the mid-fifties comments on taxonomic problems and hybridization. and grew up in California and Nevada. He says, “My Each record is backed up by annotated herbarium wife, Gail Baker, and I both went to Redwood High specimens or by reference to a published monograph or School in Marin County when I was a freshman, but we revision. The accepted names will be cross-referenced to didn’t actually meet until 11 years later in San Diego.” names appearing in ten standard floras and lists of In college. Clay majored in biology, receiving his BS Oregon species. from the University of Nevada at Reno. He moved on to The Asteraceae, or Compositae, comprises one of graduate school at San Diego State University, earning the largest, most rapidly evolving, and most successful his MS in 1981 with a thesis on the impact of post-fire families of flowering plants. It is also the most diverse seeding with ryegrass on soil erosion and regrowth of family in Oregon, with 574 taxa in 124 genera. Some native vegetation. Oregon Asteraceae are dominant members of their See Gautier, page 4 communities, for example sagebrush and rabbitbmsh which are familiar components of arid landscapes east of the Cascade Mountains. The Asteraceae family also encompasses some of our worst non-native weeds, including dandelion, Canada thistle, tansy ragwort, and several species of knapweed. A surprising 22 percent of Oregon composites are non-native species. The nomenclature (naming) of the Asteraceae has been especially dynamic over the past twenty years and this is reflected by a number of new and unfamiliar names for Oregon plants. Also, recent studies in biosystematics and molecular systematics have, in some cases, yielded results that necessitate name changes. Readers who are familiar with the Jepson Manual or the PLANTS database of North American plants will not be surprised by most of these changes. We have spent Clay Gautier, Gail Baker and daughter Nicole hundreds of hours examining thousands of specimens and reviewing taxonomic literature to produce the See Checklist, page 5 Project News A new name for Chamaesaracha in Oregon by Scott Sundberg by Kenton L. Chambers In the past four months we have accomplished a The nightshade family Solanaceae is represented in great deal. The Atlas project is progressing rapidly, Oregon’s flora by approximately 28 taxa, but it seems thanks to the efforts of Clay Gautier, ten student likely that only five of these are native in the state. The workers, and all of you who have sent in species lists. rest are weedy, non-native species—some rare, some We have produced a mockup of the online Atlas to use common—which have high dispersal capabilities and for design purposes. A number of technical challenges thrive in the disturbed soils of farms, rangelands, with the electronic version of the Atlas have recently gardens, and roadsides. Various species of ground- been addressed. The Atlas database now has over cherry (Physalis), nightshade (Solanum), jimson-weed 82,500 records. (Datura), and tobacco (Nicotiana) that are native The Checklist continues to progress. The elsewhere in North America have established themselves Asteraceae treatment is soon to be released and we plan as weeds in Oregon, along with other introduced taxa of to follow this with treatments of other families. We now European and Asian origin such as henbane list 4,432 plant taxa for Oregon. (Hyoscyamus) and matrimony-vine (Lycium). The newsletter is now in its fourth year thanks to the Given the large number of undesirable weeds in this hard work of Rhoda Love and Production assistants family, it is understandable that we prize the small group Alisa Anderson and Camille Tipton. Ken Chambers of innocuous native Solanaceae in our flora. One such deserves special recognition for submitting articles on species is called “dwarf chamaesaracha,” an awkward the taxonomy of a number of interesting groups. common name which simply repeats the Latin name of the genus. The plants are perennial herbs with white or pinkish dish-shaped corollas about 1.5-2 cm across. The The Oregon Flora Newsletter is published three times a year species is common along the east flank of the Cascade by the Oregon Slate University Herbarium and the Oregon Range, in the ponderosa-pine/juniper zone, and extends Flora Project. The Editor is Rhoda Love and the Production south into California and Nevada. In nearly every Assistant is Alisa Anderson. reference manual for Oregon and California the scientific Oregon Flora Project Coordinator: name is given as Chamaesaracha natia A. Gray. Scott Sundberg However, in Vol. 5 of Intermountain Flora (1984) the Checklist Project Leaders: species is named Leucophysalis nana (A. Gray) Averett. Kenton Chambers Rhoda Love Karl Urban Richard Halsc Robert Mcinkc David Wagner Curious about this change of names, I looked into the Jimmy Kagan Brad Smith Peter Zika taxonomic literature relating to this plant and its relatives Aaron Liston Scott Sundberg and have concluded that there is indeed good reason to Checklist Advisory Board: move this species from Chamaesaracha into Ed Alverson John Christy Frank Lang Leucophysalis. Karen Anlell Tom Kaye Don Mansfield Henrietta Chambers Susan Kcphart Karccn Sturgeon Typical chamaesarachas are arid-habitat plants Adas Project Leaders: ranging from the southern California deserts east to the Robert Frenkel George Lewis Dick Straw southern Great Plains and northern Mexico. Their berry¬ Clay Gautier Aaron Liston Peter Zika like fruits, with seeds on a basal placenta, become dryish Manuela Huso Bruce Ncwhouse Don Zobcl when ripe. In Leucophysalis the berries remain fleshy, Tom Kaye Charlene Simpson Jon Kimcrling Scott Sundberg and seeds are located all along the central axis of the Adas Project Regional Coordinators: fruit. Only one other species of Leucophysalis occurs in Bruce Barnes Lucile Housley Vcva Stanscll North America—L. grandiflora (Hook.) Rydb., of open Dick Braincrd Jerry Igo Dick Straw woodlands in the northeastern United States and adjacent Paula Brooks Andy Robinson Faye Streicr Canada. These distinctions in morphology and habitat Katie Grenier Charlene Simpson Lisa Wolf were noted in publications by John E. Averett as early as Address correspondence to: Scott Sundberg, Coordinator, Oregon Flora Project 1970, but the taxonomic changes involved are only now Department of Botany & Plant Pathology becoming widely accepted. My question to you readers Oregon Slate University Cordlcy Hall 2082 is: should we keep the common name “dwarf Corvallis, OR 97331-2902 chamaesaracha” for Leucophysalis nana, or is it time to E-mail: [email protected] invent a new English name for the species? Your (541) 737-4338; FAX (541) 737-3573 comments will be welcome. ^ http://www.orst.edu/dept/lxitany/herbarium Printed on Recycled Paper OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(1) 1998 2 Some Taxonomic Notes on Oregon Goldenrods, Solidago missouriensis Nutt., Missouri goldenrod, is Part II common throughout much of eastern Oregon, except alpine by Kenton L. Chambers regions, and is recognized by its glabrous stems and widely (Editor’s note: Part I of Dr. Chambers’ article on the genus Solidago spreading lower inflorescence branches, thus resembling S. appeared in the October, 1997 issue of OFN.) gigantea and forms of S. canadensis. It has elongate, rather Here I continue my review of taxonomic changes in narrow leaves which decrease in size up the stem. In the genus Solidago which arose during my treatment for Hitchcock's Flora, the Oregon specimens are placed in var. the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist. extraria A. Gray, but in the more recent Intermountain In a major generic realignment, one Oregon goldenrod Flora, Vol. 5, Cronquist changed his mind and said it was species has been moved to the genus Euthamia, namely E. “no longer useful” to recognize this variety. Solidago occidentalis Nutt, (western goldenrod), which in Peck’s missouriensis at one time occurred in prairies of the Puget Manual and Hitchcock's Flora is called Solidago Sound area of Washington, as var. tolmieana (A. Gray) occidentalis (Nutt.) Torr. & A. Gray. Cronquist, but I did not find any old This change, based on leaf anatomy collections suggesting it was also and overall growth form, is now in western Oregon in the early days. widely accepted among experts on the It would be interesting to know two genera, and I chose to follow their whether the relict prairies near advice for our Checklist. In Oregon Olympia still contain this this species grows along streams, goldenrod. mainly east of the Cascades, and is Another species of eastern distinctive in having tall stems, linear, Oregon, closely related to Solidago resinous-dotted leaves, and a much- missouriensis, is S. spectabilis branched, flat-topped inflorescence. (D.C. Eaton) A. Gray, basin On bluffs and dunes of the goldenrod. The only difference I immediate Oregon coast is a low- could see between these two taxa growing, densely-flowered species, is that S. spectabilis has short lateral sticky goldenrod. The new taxonomy inflorescence branches and thus a places it in Solidago simplex Kunth, tall but narrow (not pyramidal) as var. spathulata (DC.) Cronquist. inflorescence shape. Its stems and Away from the coast this gives way leaves are glabrous, as in S. to var. simplex (which Hitchcock missouriensis, and most specimens called S. spathulata var. were collected from alkaline neomexicana)’, the two varieties meadows near relict Pleistocene intergrade in Tillamook and Clatsop lake basins. Perhaps this habitat counties. In The Jepson Manual, the preference allows it to remain coastal race is made a separate genetically separate from Missouri species, S. spathulata, but in Oregon goldenrod. it behaves as a coastal ecotype of S. The final species in our simplex. In its range from Mexico to Checklist also finds its northern Alaska and east to Maine, S. simplex limit in southern Oregon; this is also contains a dwarf alpr ine race, ^olldago *impl('* var' sim plcx' 1,ns taxon was formerly ca]ifornia goldenrod, Solidago known asS. spathulata var.neomexicana It intergrades with b ° which in Oregon extends from Mt. the coastal var. spathulata m Tillamook and Clatsop Counties, califomica Nutt. In it, the stems and Hood to the Three Sisters; this is now (See als° "^p, page 6.) illustration by John h. Rumely from leaves are covered by a minute, called S. simplex var. nana (A. Gray) courtesy of university of Washington Press. harsh pubescence, and the G.S. Ringius (formerly it was S. inflorescence tends not to have spathulata var. nana). widely spreading lower branches. The leaves decrease in In the high mountains of eastern Oregon a different size from stem base to apex, as in basin goldenrod. This goldenrod occurs—Solidago multiradiata Alton (northern taxon is related to other hairy-leaved goldenrods of the goldenrod). Its heads are larger than in S. simplex, are not Solidago velutina DC. group, occurring south and east of sticky, and form a tight apical cluster. Also distinctive are Oregon, and in Intermountain Flora, Cronquist used the ciliate hairs on both edges of the basal leaf petioles. latter species name for what I call S. califomica. OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(1) 1998 3 Rare Plants and the Oregon Flora Project throughout their range. ODA staff have conducted field As the Oregon Checklist progresses and work on the research on some species to determine elements of risk. Oregon Atlas gathers steam, we are beginning to turn our At present, ODA lists include 30 Endangered and 31 attention to the Oregon Flora. We plan a Flora which will Threatened species, as well as 78 Candidate species under be available in two versions: a hard copy in traditional review for possible listing. book form and an updatable electronic version, to be fully In addition to the above, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife accessible to the public. Both versions of the Flora will Service (USFWS) maintains a list of endangered species give users information about Oregon’s rare plants. used by federal agencies; and the Lane County Chapter of Oregon was among the first to identify her rare NPSO maintains a list of rare plants that is used in that species. Even before the passage of the 1973 Federal county. Endangered Species Act, Ken Chambers and Jean Siddall The Oregon Flora Project will use information from began to list our rare plants. In 1976 they began a series the above lists to give users information about rarity. The of statewide conferences to gather information on printed version of the Flora will provide general threatened species (see OFN 3(2): 10). Today, both the indications of rarity. The electronic version however can Oregon Natural Heritage Program (housed at The Nature be specific as to categories of rarity and will be able to Conservancy in Portland) and the Oregon Department of provide constantly updated information from ONHP, Agriculture (housed in Salem and at OSU) maintain ODA and USFWS. updated lists of Oregon rare plants. Readers may wonder how the two programs are similar, how they differ, and Gautier, from front page what categories and criteria of rarity are used. Following the completion of his degree. Clay moved Oregon Natural Heritage Program (ONHP) bases to Oregon. Here is how he describes the move: its extensive lists on rare plant sighting reports and “Research funding was becoming increasingly hard to information gathered at rare plant conferences organized find, and I was tired of living in a big city, so after by Chambers, Siddall, David Wagner, Jimmy Kagan and finishing my MS I moved to Eugene and found a job as a others, and continued every other year from 1982 to the computer programmer.” This was no small feat present. At these conferences, information on a long list considering that he had no formal training in computer of species is provided by field botanists and land science and very little experience as a programmer. managers from federal and state agencies as well as Life in Eugene in the early 80s was wonderful academic botanists and members of such groups as the according to Clay. Important events took place in his life. Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO). Based on He and Gail Baker were married and Gail began to teach information from these conferences, ONHP maintains biology part-time at Lane Community College. They four lists of rare plants (see box). Approximately 768 bought a house, planted a beautiful garden and their plant species are tracked in the ONHP lists. (To view daughter, Nicole, was bom. Then, in 1988, while he was information on ONHP lists, visit web site: taking courses in the Department of Computer Sciences www.abi.org/nhp/us/or). at OSU, Clay was contacted by Microsoft. “We didn’t want to leave Oregon, but Microsoft made me an offer I Oregon Natural Heritage Program lists: couldn’t refuse, so we sold our house, packed our things (Based on The Nature Conservancy global and state ranks) and moved to Redmond, Washington.” However, Clay List 1 Species endangered or threatened throughout range - 165 spp. adds, “We knew that some day we would find a way to List 2 Species threatened, endangered or possibly extinct in Oregon, get back to Eugene and we did.” They returned in 1994 but more common elsewhere ~ 230 spp. List 3 Species for which more information is needed ~ 238 spp. when Gail was offered a teaching position at Lane List 4 Species of concern which need to be watched -135 spp. Community College. The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) Clay first heard Scott Sundberg describe the Oregon Flora Project at a Eugene meeting of the Native Plant Plant Conservation Biology Program began after the 1987 Society. He realized that his own background in biology passage of Oregon Senate Bill 533, commonly known as and computer science might make him useful to the the Oregon Endangered Species Act. This legislation, project and began to volunteer almost at once. Clay which was initiated by NPSO, provides statutory states, “Publishing an interactive web-based atlas is an protection for vulnerable plants on state land. The ODA interesting challenge, and I have really enjoyed rare plant program is currently overseen by Dr. Robert researching and working with the new technologies that Meinke from offices in Salem and at OSU. Under state need to be woven together to make it a reality.” He adds, law, a plant may be listed as endangered or threatened if it “It has really been great working with Scott and everyone is native and there is evidence of risk to populations or else at OSU.” . habitats. Generally, plants listed by ODA are threatened OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(1) 1998 4 Thanks Checklist, from front page Asteraceae Checklist. The greatest number of Thanks to the Native Plant Society of Oregon, which nomenclatural differences are with older floras, such as has renewed its commitment to the Flora Project. We Peck’s Manual of the Higher Plants of Oregon (216 have received generous contributions from the state name changes in Asteraceae) and the Abrams’ organization and from the William Cusick and Blue Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States (206 changes). In Mountain chapters. Thanks also to the following Hitchcock and Cronquist’s Flora of the Pacific individuals who have recently contributed to the project: Northwest, which was published 25 years ago, 156 Glen Cole, Jan & Dave Dobak, Florence Ebeling, Nancy names have been changed. The genus name has been Eid, Wayland Ezell & Yvette Villeneuve-Ezell, Mike & changed in about one fourth of these; varieties or Nancy Fahey, Linda Hardison, Aileen Ho (in memory of subspecies are submerged in one third; and the rest Leighton Ho), John Koenig, Shane Latimer, Aaron & consist of species name changes and changes in Sara Liston, Kenneth & Robin Lodewick, Rhoda & Glen taxonomic rank (e.g. varieties changed to subspecies, or Love, Cheryl McCaffrey, Esther & Peter McEvoy, elevation of varieties to species). Margaret & Stan Meierhenry, Theodore & Laramie The Asteraceae checklist is the first of many such Palmer, Ginny & Jim Post, Don Roberts, Charlene lists of Oregon plants to be distributed by the Checklist Simpson, Veva Stansell, Kareen Sturgeon, Mildred group. Watch for announcements on our web site Thiele, Karl & Elaine Urban, Jim & Nancy Weber, (http://www.orst.edu/dept/botany/herbarium) and in this Carolyn Wright and Jo Ann Yeager. newsletter. Thanks to the following who have helped by volunteering, sending species lists or specimens, or How to Get Your Copy of the Asteraceae Checklist providing information on Oregon plants: Ed Alverson, • For those of you who have participated in or donated to Wilbur Bluhm, Mike Fahey, Ron Halvorson, Don the Oregon Flora Project, the Asteraceae Checklist is Heinze, Daryl Ianni, Jay Lunn, Danna Lytjen, Esther available free of charge upon request. Please use the McEvoy, Margaret Meierhenry, Rich Old, Nick Otting, form below. Joyce Owen, Hawk Rondeau, Cliff Schmidt, Gail Smith, • Or you may receive a copy in return for a donation of Marcia Wineteer and Michael Woodbridge. any amount to the Oregon Flora Project. Please use the form below and enclose your check to the OSU Foundation. (The cost of printing and postage is approximately $4.00.) • Bonus: When we mail your Asteraceae checklist, we Illustrations of Erythronium oregonum on the front and will include a list of name changes and their page back covers by Linda Ann Vorobik. numbers in the Flora of the Pacific Northwest by Hitchcock and Cronquist., Map on the back cover was produced with the assistance of A. Jon Kimerling. Would you like to make a donation? Name Address Tax-deductable donations can be made to the Oregon Flora Project by sending a check made out to the Oregon State University Foundation to Scott Sundberg. Please note on the check that it Phone and/or e-mail is for the Oregon Flora Project. Your donations go primarily toward newsletter expenses and Mail to: student wages. Scott Sundberg Oregon Flora Project Please send the Asteraceae Checklist Dept, of Botany & Plant Pathology (include check if appropriate). Oregon State University Please put me on the Oregon Flora Newsletter 2082 Cordley Hall - mailing list. Corvallis, OR 97331-2902 OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(1) 1998 5 Did you know? (Asteraceae Checklist Facts) • Asteraceae is the largest family in Oregon with 574 taxa. (Second is Poaceae with 378). • Erigeron is the largest Asteraceae genus in Oregon with 48 taxa; Aster is second with 33; Artemisia is third with 29. • Oregon Asteraceae includes 448 native taxa, 125 introduced taxa and one, Achillea millefolium, which has both native and introduced populations. • The genus Haplopappus has been split into six genera: Columbiadoria, Ericameria, Hazardia, Pyrrocoma, Stenotus, and Tonestus. However, in the Oregon Vascular Plant • Oregon distributions of Solidago simplex var. Checklist the genus Aster was not split into simplex (triangles) and S. simplex var. spathulata Brachyactis, Canadanthus, Eucephalus, (squares) based on herbarium specimens at OSU. Eurybia, lonactis, Oreostemma, Sericocarpus, We would appreciate receiving additional and Symphyotrichum, as proposed by some specimens of var. simplex. other authors. OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER Volume 4 Number 2 • Oregon State University • June 1998 Richard Halse, Curator of the Amelasorbus: An intergeneric hybrid and a OSU Herbarium new taxon for the Oregon Checklist by Rhoda Love Richard Halse was rescued from a life of Last spring I worked on treatments of the Rose Family mathematics teaching by a pair of superb botany genera Amelanchier and Sorbus for the Oregon Checklist. teachers at Northern State College in Aberdeen, Both groups have pome fruits, but the leaves are quite South Dakota. different. While species of Amelanchier, the serviceberries, Richard was bom and raised in Clear Lake, have simple leaves which are often toothed near the apex, South Dakota where his family owned a store. He is our members of Sorbus, the mountain ashes, have pinnately the second botanist associated with Oregon from compound leaves. As I began the project, Aaron Liston Clear Lake. Ethel I. Sanborn, from the same home walked into the Herbarium with the latest volume of the town, was at the University of Oregon from 1914 to Intermountain Flora (See OFN 3(3): 16,1997). Reading the introduction to Amelanchier in the new 1917 and at OSU from 1928 to 1948. volume, I noted the existence of a named intergeneric Richard entered college expecting to get a degree hybrid between serviccberry and mountain ash from Idaho. in mathematics. However, during his second The Intermountain Flora reported that the taxon had been semester he fell under the spell of Mrs. Evelyn named XAtnclasorbus jackii by Alfred Rehder in 1925, Roberts, a botanist with an interest in plant based on a 1918 collection by J. G. Jack from Clearwater taxonomy, who convinced him to change his major County, Idaho. Intrigued, I checked Hitchcock’s 1961 to biology. Later he took his first plant taxonomy Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest to see if the hybrid class from Dr. Gertude Miller and that, in his words, was known from Oregon. Hitchcock noted the existence of "... convinced me to stay in the field. It was a great the hybrid in his introduction to Sorbus, but mentioned only class and a lot of fun." Richard graduated from the Idaho collection. Northern State with a BS in secondary education in I turned next to a 1939 monograph of Sorbus, by G. N. Jones in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, and was See Halse, page 10 excited by his report that pioneer Oregon collector, William Conklin Cusick, had collected the hybrid in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon near the mining settlement of Cornucopia, Baker County. Cusick called the entity Pyrus sambucifolia, a name used in Howell’s 1898 Flora of Northwest America for Sorbus scopulina. Jones reported that a Cusick sheet had been seen at the University of Minnesota and commented on in 1927 by P. A. Rydberg in the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. Rydberg recognized the specimen as an AmelanchierXSorbus hybrid, but was apparently unaware that Rehder had named the hybrid two years earlier. Rydberg’s note includes the illustration reproduced here. Despite Rydberg’s note and Jones’ monograph, it had apparently been overlooked for years that the hybrid had been collected in Oregon and I wondered if the OSU Herbarium had any specimens. I started in the Peck Herbarium where the last sheet in Peck’s Amelanchier folder was XAmelasorbus. The specimen was annotated Richard Halse hard at work in the taxonomy lab See Amelasorbus, page 8 Amelasorbus, continued from front page Amelasorbus jackii Rehder by an unknown person with the He collected the specimen bearing immature fruits “in initials E. L. N. in 1936. It is Peck’s number 4169, collected mountains west of Cornucopia.” The sheet was not 2 miles northeast of Cornucopia in 1915 (three years before specifically dated, however Cusick’s label suggests it was the Jack type collection from Idaho). Although the Peck collected in the 1880s. Like the specimen seen by Rydberg, specimen is sterile, the foliage is much like the illustration it bears the name Pyrus sambucifolia. It seems likely that in the Rydberg article, with the general appearance of Cusick collected the hybrid at least 25 years before Peck. Amelartchier — leaves and leaflets toothed near the tips — Taxonomists agree that XAmelasorbus jackii is most but with most of the leaves pinnately compound as in likely a hybrid between Amelanchier alnifolia and Sorbus Sorbus. Peck did not mention the entity in his Manual of scopulina, both of which are found in the Wallowa and the Higher Plants of Oregon. Clearwater Mountains. The hybrid could thus be expected At this point I began to suspect that the OSU Herbarium to occur wherever the parent species come in contact. might also own a Cusick collection of the hybrid, as I was Rehder based his 1925 description in part on plants then aware that the University of Oregon had purchased growing at the Arnold Arboretum, which he reported had approximately 10,000 sheets from Cusick around the year been raised from seeds from Jack’s original Idaho 1913. Indeed we do have a Cusick specimen, which I collection. It is unusual for an intergeneric hybrid to located filed with Sorbus. It was a duplicate of the one seen produce fertile seed, but apparently nothing is yet known by Rydberg at Minnesota, Cusick’s number 1380. about the ploidy level or breeding system of the hybrids. Thus the very interesting intergeneric hybrid, Illustrations of Erythronium oregonum on the front and XAmelasorbus jackii (common name amelasorbus), back covers by Linda Ann Vorobik. Drawing of Azolla although collected in Oregon at least as early as 1915, and from Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest courtesy of probably in the 1880s, named in 1925, and noted in print in University of Washington Press. 1927 and 1939 to have been collected in Oregon, will now, after over 100 years, be recognized as part of the Oregon The Oregon Flora Newsletter is published three times a year flora. by the Oregon State University Herbarium and the Oregon I wonder if XAmelasorbus can still be found in the Flora Project. The Editor is Rhoda Love and the Production Wallowas near Cornucopia? Assistant is Alisa Anderson. Oregon Flora Project Coordinator: [Note: After XAmelasorbus jackii Rehder was added to the Scott Sundberg Oregon Checklist on the basis of this investigation, it was Checklist Project Leaders: discovered that the taxon is noted to occur in Oregon in the Kenton Chambers Rhoda Love Karl Urban PLANTS database.] Richard Halse Robert Meinkc David Wagner Jimmy Kagan Brad Smith Peter Zika Aaron Liston Scott Sundberg Checklist Advisory Board: Ed Alverson John Christy Frank Lang Karen Antell Tom Kaye Don Mansfield Henrietta Chambers Susan Kcphart Karcen Sturgeon Atlas Project Leaders: Robert Frenkel George Lewis Dick Straw Clay Gautier Aaron Liston Peter Zika Manuela Huso Bruce Newhouse Don Zobel Tom Kaye Charlene Simpson Jon Kimerling Scott Sundberg Atlas Project Regional Coordinators: Bruce Barnes Lucile Housley Veva Stansell Dick Brainerd Jerry Igo Dick Straw Paula Brooks Andy Robinson Faye Streier Katie Grenier Charlene Simpson Lisa Wolf Address correspondence to: Scott Sundbcrg, Coordinator, Oregon Flora Project XAmelasorbus jackii, Rehder is intermediate between its putative parents, Department of Botany & Plant Pathology Sorbus sitchensis and Amelanchier alnifolia. Drawing from an article by Oregon State University Cordley Hall 2082 P.A. Rydberg reprinted with permission from the Journal of the New York Corvallis, OR 97331-2902 Botanical Garden, (28)333 copyright 1927. It is based on a William C. Cusick E-mail: [email protected] collection from northeastern Oregon, at the University of Minnesota. A (541) 737-4338; FAX (541) 737-3573 duplicate specimen is filed in the OSU Herbarium. http://www.orst.edu/dcpt/botany/hcrbarium Printed on Recycled Paper OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(2) 1998 8 Beware the hybrid gumplant! by Kenton L. Chambers abundance of hybrid populations. I thought of subtitling this article, “How Morton Peck In Oregon we can recognize just five species, one of was right even when he was wrong.” This would help me which (Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal, curlycup combine two themes: first, that much of the difficulty in gumweed) may be an adventive weed from farther east in assigning names to specimens of the genus Grindelia North America, not an original Oregon native. Natural (gumplants of family Asteraceae) in western Oregon is due wetlands in the Willamette Valley are home to the very to rampant hybridization between two common species distinctive species, G. integrifolia (Willamette gumweed), there, and second, that Peck’s Manual of the Higher Plants which ranges from Lane County northward to the Puget of Oregon does not have the correct name for one of these Sound region. In the latter area it hybridizes abundantly species, namely Grindelia with the coastal species G. integrifolia DC. Both of stricta DC. (Oregon these themes became gumplant), but the apparent to me recently Willamette Valley during the preparation of a populations are isolated from treatment of Grindelia for the coastal ones in Oregon the Oregon Vascular Plant and there is no intergradation Checklist. possible. I have known for many Nonetheless, outside of years that the genus the valley’s marshlands, exhibits both hybridization often in pastures and on and polyploidy, and that in disturbed roadsides, are fact nearly every species is many gumplants which able to form hybrids with somewhat resemble G. related ones where there is integrifolia but clearly do not geographical contact and fit comfortably into that disturbed habitat available species. it turns out, for their interspecific according to Dr. Lane, that offspring. But that this these are hybrids whose could be happening in the other parent is a weedy Willamette Valley did not species, G. nana Nutt. var. sink in until I read the nana (Idaho gumweed), comments which Dr. which may have entered the Meredith Lane attached to valley from east of the herbarium specimens at Cascades or from the Oregon State University southwestern parts of the when she prepared the state. Grindelia nana differs treatment of the genus for from G. integrifolia in many The Jepson Manual. morphological traits, but the Only six species of Grindelia integrifolia, Willamette gumweed, ranges from Lane County hybrids recombine all their northward to Puget Sound. Hybrids between this species and G. nana var. Grindelia are recognized nana can be found along roadsides and in pastures in the Willamette Valley. differences and blur one by Dr. Lane for California, Illustration by John H. Rumely from Hitchcock el al. 1969,Vascular Plants of species into the other. the Pacific Northwest, courtesy of University of Washington Press. although nearly twice that For the Oregon Flora number had been listed in Checklist I have created a the earlier reference manual A California Flora, by Philip hybrid category for the intermediates, using a formula with Munz and David Keck. Lane reduced some of Munz & an “x” between the names of the parents: Grindelia Keck’s “extra” species to varieties, and others she explicitly integrifolia x G. nana var. nana. This will greatly simplify called interspecific hybrids. Some of the varieties are the naming of many specimens and perhaps will satisfy those themselves intermediates which blend one species into readers who have been uncomfortable trying to fit the another. Earlier botanists in California had simply named various hybrid forms into either of the parental species. too many species of gumplants; they were misled by the See Gumplant. page 10 OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(2) 1998 9 Halse, continued from front page Gumplant, continued from page 9 With the encouragement of Roberts and Miller, Serendipity means discovering the truth through accident. Richard entered graduate school in botany at the In his Manual of the Higher Plants of Oregon, Morton Peck University of Arizona in Tucson. Working under accidently confused two different gumplants bearing the Dr. Charles Mason, he earned his MS in 1973 with a name “integrifolia He should have used the name G. . ” thesis on the flora of Canyon de Chelly National integrifolia (proposed by the botanist DeCandolle) as a Monument. specific epithet for the Willamette gumweed; instead he used Richard came to Oregon in the 70s to work with a varietal name G. nana var. integrifolia (proposed by the Kenton Chambers at OSU. He completed his PhD botanist Nuttall for a completely different plant!). Yet, in here in 1980 with a thesis on the systematics of genus using the name of a variety of G. nana—by mistake—for Phacelia Section Miltitzia. plants of the Willamette Valley, Dr. Peck was actually Asked to name the botanists who have most expressing a truth, namely that many gumplants in the valley inspired him, Richard named Ken Chambers and are hybrids between the wetlands species G. integrifolia LaRea Johnston at OSU, Dr. Charles Mason, at the and the eastern drylands species G. nana. Although he was University of Arizona, and his original mentors in technically incorrect in his choice of a name, Morton Peck South Dakota. understood quite well the mixed-up nature of our western Richard is currently Curator of the OSU Oregon gumweeds. >' Herbarium as well as an Instructor in biology and botany. In addition he holds an appointment in OSU Extension. In the latter capacity he identifies plants for the Extension Service and for the general public. As Herbarium Curator he is responsible for the daily Wanted: floating ferns and duckweeds operation of the Herbarium. He explains, “I take care of the loans, borrowing of specimens and exchanges. A lot of paperwork is involved in these operations.” For the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist Project, Richard has completed or is currently working on treatments of a large number of groups including the Hydrocharitaceae, Sparganiaceae, Typhaceae, Lythraceae, Zosteraceae, Capparidaceae and parts or Azolla all of the Malvaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, In Oregon we have two species of floating ferns, or Ranunculaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Brassicaceae and water ferns: Azolla filiculoides Lam. and A. mexicana others. He is currently working on the Boraginaceae. Presl. These are difficult to identify and previous Richard was asked what rules govern submission identifications, which were based on characters that are of pressed material to the Herbarium. He explained, not reliable, are suspect. In the Flora of North America “If a person wishes to submit plants, they must have a Volume 2, Thomas Lumpkin uses characters of the spores properly pressed specimen with a sufficient amount of and leaf hairs to distinguish the two species. The leaf material - a scrap is unacceptable. A label must hairs are best observed in fresh material. The floating accompany the specimen and it must be detailed ferns are small (usually one to two centimeters in enough so one may relocate the site.” Minimal diameter) branching plants that float on the surface of information is location, collector's name and date. ponds. They are typically green but often turn red, when Richard emphasizes that visitors are welcome at they are most visible from a distance. the Herbarium. He asks however that they check with We still have very few records of duckweeds (Family him at the time of their visit so that the rules Lemnaceae) from Oregon. If you see floating ferns or governing the examination of specimens can be duckweeds (they often grow together) please send explained. The herbarium is located on the ground material to me in a moist paper towel inside a sealed floor of Cordley Hall (Room 1045) on the OSU plastic bag. A mixed collection is perfectly acceptable. I campus, and is generally open from 9:00 am to 5:00 will provide an identification and you will be helping us pm Monday through Friday. Richard's phone number unravel some of the mysteries of our smallest vascular is (541) 737-5297. V plants! - Scott Sundberg OREGON FLORA NEWSLETTER 4(2) 1998 10