Piute cypress (Hesperocyparis nevadensis) is a rare cypress species endemic to the Lake Isabella region in the southern Sierra Nevada in California.Piute cypress groves have not been quantitatively studied in the last 40 years and with recent fires (some in short succession) and observed mortality, we had questions surrounding conditions in groves recovering from fire compared to other groves with no recorded fire histories.Piute cypress rarely survive fire and are obligate seeders with serotinous cones and, as such, require sufficient time after fire to grow to reproductive maturity to be able to withstand future fire.We visited five of the 12 known groves of Piute cypress to evaluate current stand conditions and make comparisons with an assessment conducted 40 years ago.We evaluated two recently burned groves nine years post-fire.One grove with a shorter interval between fires (20 years), has only limited regeneration and is at risk of local extinction.Based on our findings, we extrapolated to unstudied groves to conclude that five recently burned groves are vulnerable to immaturity risk if these stands were to reburn soon.We recommend aggressive fire suppression tactics to protect these groves if threatened by fire.Another recently burned grove with a longer period between fires (90 years) appears to be recovering and capable of becoming a self-sustaining population that can survive another fire based on regeneration data.While the 90-year-old trees did not have nearly the level of canopy seed bank that older trees (200 years old) did in another part of the grove, seedling and sapling regeneration after fire occurred at higher densities than tree densities in mature stands and were already developing cones.Though theoretically long-unburned groves also may be at risk, we found no evidence of age-related decline in this long-lived species and some non-fire induced regeneration.We did discover evidence of cedar bark beetle attack (Phloeosinus spp.), particularly in smaller trees at two unburned groves, which was correlated to high tree mortality (31.6%) at one site.While we found no evidence of encroaching non-cypress tree species threatening long-unburned groves among mature cohorts, we did document relatively high densities of regenerating non-cypress tree species in groves.We strongly recommend further monitoring in groves to assess fire, insect, and disease vulnerability in cypress populations.
I conducted a floristic study of the South Fork Tule River watershed, located in the southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare County, California.The primary objectives of this floristic study were to document and catalogue all vascular plant taxa that occur in the watershed, describe the plant communities, analyze the flora and its affinities with other areas, and establish a herbarium for the Tule River Indian Reservation.The upper reaches of the South Fork Tule River originate on the western slope of Slate Mountain in the Sequoia National Forest and drain west through the Tule River Indian Reservation into Lake Success.The highest elevation in the watershed is Slate Mountain Peak at 2790 m and the lowest is at Lake Success reservoir, at 162 m.Prior to my study there were only 176 plant collections from the watershed, representing 159 taxa.I spent a total of 64 days over three field seasons (2013)(2014)(2015) in the study area and made 1356 collections, bringing the total number of minimum-rank taxa to 562, representing 271 genera and 80 plant families.Seven rare taxa were documented during the course of my study, including the federally endangered Clarkia springvillensis.I documented and described 12 plant communities, including giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) forests.Several species find their southern extent in the watershed, including the paleoendemic Torreya californica, which occurs on the Tule River Indian Reservation.Floristic affinities analyses revealed that locally, the South Fork of the Tule River does not have many species in common with the North or Middle forks, but this could be a result of collector bias.Statewide, the South Fork has its greatest affinities with the Sierra Nevada Foothills and the Sierra Nevada High eco-geographic subdivisions of California and the least affinity with the desert regions.Poorly documented plant diversity on tribal trust lands speaks to the need for more collaboration with tribal communities, and this flora is a contribution to that effort.
In California and other Mediterranean-type ecosystems, island species are typically exposed to more fog but less rain than mainland species.Because adaptations to absorb water from fog may conflict with those to minimize water loss, we hypothesized that island species should have greater fog absorption than their mainland congeners due to foliar uptake but at the cost of modifying other leaf structural and functional traits.To determine whether foliar water absorption is an adaptation to insularity, we compared seven physiological and anatomical leaf traits between congeneric island and mainland species of two genera, Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos, in a common garden in Claremont, California.We quantified leaf water potentials, maximum leaf water absorption rates, leaf hydrophobicity, leaf mass per area [LMA], succulence, stomatal density, and wax morphology.All taxa exhibited water permeability through their leaf surfaces, but only one of the three island taxa showed greater water absorption than their mainland counterparts.The island and mainland varieties of C. megacarpus were similar in water absorption and hydrophobicity, but the mainland variety had greater LMA, greater succulence, and thicker epicuticular wax.In Arctostaphylos, insularity promoted species-specific responses: A. catalinae had greater foliar absorption compared to the mainland species, whereas A. insularis displayed mesophytic traits such as hypostomatal morphology, horizontally oriented leaves and low LMA.Relative surface hydrophobicity was not linked to absorption rates, but the mainland species A. glauca had the most hydrophobic leaf surfaces in the study, achieved by their ornate epicuticular wax.Overall, island taxa displayed more mesophytic leaf traits than their mainland congeners.The results may have implications for biogeography in Mediterranean-type ecosystems that may be losing seasonal coastal fog with global change.
Includes authors, titles, taxa, and salient concepts appearing in the scientific papers, as well as additional terms of use in information retrieval.New taxa and combinations
The vascular flora described here covers ~2295 square kilometers (~886 square miles) of the Selkirk Mountains that lie in the Idaho Panhandle, covering an elevational range of 540–2330 m (1770–7670 ft). The majority of the mountain range is underlain by granitic rock of the Kaniksu Batholith, and is diversified by the rich glacial history of the Panhandle. The study area contains multiple pockets of alluvial and glacial deposition that serve as specialized habitat for present-day floristic diversity within the range. The Idaho Selkirks are part of the Northern Rocky Mountains and have floristic influences from the Pacific coast, boreal north, the Columbia Basin, and the Rocky Mountains to the south and east. Despite notable collection interest over the last century in the northern Idaho Panhandle, a comprehensive checklist did not exist prior to this project, and previous collecting efforts were uneven, creating significant gaps in coverage and incomplete documentation of the area. A total of 108 collection days were spent in the field in 2019 and 2020, resulting in 4155 vascular plant collections from 665 collection sites, documenting 845 total unique taxa in 94 plant families. Taxa previously collected but not recovered were first verified by the author using historical specimens housed at multiple Pacific Northwest herbaria, and were then included in the final checklist. Sixty-two rare taxa and six state collection records were found in the study area, as well as numerous range extensions and county collection records. While the primary objective was to document and voucher all vascular plant taxa of the Selkirk Mountains of Idaho to create an annotated checklist of the vascular flora, additional objectives included formal assessments of the vegetation types and threats to the flora of the study area, as well as increasing documentation of sensitive, rare, and non-native species occurrences within the range.
Clarity is lacking on the priority of the names Pterospora andromedea Nutt. versus Monotropa procera Torr. ex Eaton, both of which were published in 1818, and the suggested clear answer may not be the correct answer. Taxonomic Literature, second edition, provides a publication date of 14 July 1818 for Nuttall’s Genera of North American Plants and a publication date of June 1818 for Eaton’s Manual of Botany ed. 2. However, upon closer scrutiny, the situation is more complex. The sources for these publication dates are discussed in order to trace the likely sequence of events leading up to publication. Findings suggest that it is unlikely that Eaton’s Manual ed. 2 was published in June 1818. Additional evidence included in Eaton’s Manual ed. 2 and correspondence make it clear that Eaton was in possession of a published copy of Nuttall’s Genera as he was writing his Manual ed. 2. Consequently, regardless of exact date of publication of either of the works, Nuttall’s Genera was published before Eaton’s Manual ed. 2, so Pterospora andromedea Nutt. has priority over Monotropa procera Torr. ex Eaton and should remain the correct name.
Sherwin Carlquist (1930–2021) was an internationally respected and distinguished botanist who held faculty positions in botany at California Botanic Garden, Claremont Graduate University and Pomona College between 1956 and 1992. His legacy includes major scholarly contributions to plant systematics, plant anatomy, especially wood anatomy, island biogeography, evolutionary and ecological reasoning, and a prolific publication record. A loose collection of paragraphs by those who interacted with him addresses Carlquist's tremendous botanical output, teaching, mentorship, scientific scholarship, and his roles as a colleague and friend.
Argophyllaceae (Argophyllum, 14 spp.; Corokia, 6 spp.; Lautea, 1 sp.), are shrubs that occur in the southwestern Pacific and eastern Australia. They occur in habitats where moisture is relatively common but dry days and mild frost may occur. The woods of these genera show enough distinctive features to justify their grouping in a single family: perforation plates with 10–20 bars, vessel elements narrow and numerous per mm2, imperforate tracheary elements about 50% longer than the vessel elements, axial parenchyma scarce, diffuse, multiseriate rays narrow and heterocellular (upright cells common in uniseriate rays), crystals absent, gum deposits common. These features group the genera of Argophyllaceae more closely with each other than with the nearest families in Asterales (Alseuosmiaceae, Phellinaceae). Probable apomorphies of the genera include helical thickenings in vessels and tracheids, together with abundant tracheids and rare septate fiber-tracheids (Corokia); almost total absence of axial parenchyma and tracheids combined with maximal abundance of septate fiber-tracheids and no helical thickenings (Argophyllum, Lautea). Lautea, formerly included within Corokia, has floral and foliar distinctions and is endemic to a single island, Rapa Iti. Woods of Argophyllaceae are alike in their ecological adaptations (perforation plates, vessel diameter and density) but the presence of tracheids and helical thickenings in Corokia suggest adaptations to frost and mild drought. As expected, vessels group more prominently in the tracheid-free species (Argophyllum, Lautea) but very little in the tracheid-rich genus Corokia.
