BEN
BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS
ISSN 1188-603X


No. 536 April 15, 2019 aceska@telus.net Victoria, B.C.
Dr. A. Ceska, 1809 Penshurst, Victoria, BC, Canada V8N 2N6


DROSERA IN THE WESTERN USA: ABSTRACT & IDENTIFICATION KEYS

From: Barry A. Rice in Phytologia 101: 25-37. https://www.phytologia.org/ From: Barry A. Rice in Phytologia 101: 25-37. https://www.phytologia.org/

Abstract

The genus Drosera is well known among botanists and naturalists because of its carnivorous habit. In the USA most Drosera species occur in the eastern states. Well-known native and introduced taxa in the western USA, treated and keyed in this paper, include Drosera anglica, D. capensis (introduced), D. linearis, D. rotundifolia, and D. × obovata. Drosera × woodii, a sterile hybrid observed from a limited population in Montana during the course of this study, represents a previously unreported taxon for the Pacific Northwest. Drosera intermedia, widespread in the Eastern USA, but unknown for the western states, is also discussed because of previous, incorrect reports of it in the region. Additional non-native Drosera species are included in the discussion as appropriate. In the western USA Drosera populations are often widely separated. In some cases, isolated populations have been identified as potentially rare occurrences meriting particular conservation efforts. Populations of potentially rare Drosera in the western states were visited in the course of this study, to review their identifications.

Key to the Drosera in the western USA

1. Forming an erect stem; roots thick (diameter > 1 mm) and fleshy; inflorescence scape more than 1 mm in diameter and densely hairy; flowers large (> 15 mm across) with usually pale purple petals, rarely white; plants never forming tight winter resting buds......... Drosera capensis L. [Introduced exotic] 1. Leaves all from a basal rosette, forming an elongate stem only in extremely etiolated conditions; roots threadlike (diameter < 0.5 mm); inflorescence threadlike and less 0.5 mm in diameter and not hairy; flowers small (< 9 mm across) with white petals; plants produce tight hibernacula during the winter. 2. Flowering-sized plants with leaf blades that are as wide, or wider, than long; leaves-except for the most recently produced-nearly all appressed against the ground in a flat rosette ................................... Drosera rotundifolia L. 2. Flowering-sized plants with leaf blades that are longer than wide; leaves nearly all vertical or held at various angles, but mostly upwards. 3. Leaf shape linear-leaf blade margins parallel over most of the leaf blade length; seeds rhomboidal, crateriform, 0.5-0.8 mm long; leaf blade length 5-8(20) × leaf blade width .................................. Drosera linearis Goldie 3. Leaf shape short to long oblanceolate-leaf blade margins slowly widening from base for 2/3 or more of leaf blade length, then converging to blunt tip; seeds absent or if present, then fusiform, areolate-striate, 1-1.5 mm long; leaf blade length 1.3-5(15) × leaf blade width. 4. In fruit, once approximately five flowers have opened, the lowest flowers will contain white to black grain-like seeds easily seen at 10×; leaf blade reaches maximum blade width approximately 2/3 the distance from blade base, then narrows to blunt tip; leaf blades generally more elongate than those of any Drosera hybrids present ....... Drosera anglica Huds. 4. Fruit never produce seed; leaf blade continuously widens along leaf blade length, reaching maximum width nearly at the blunt leaf tip; leaf blades generally less elongate than those of D. anglica or D. linearis (if either are present) ................Hybrids: Drosera × obovata Mert. & Koch (=_D. rotundifolia × anglica), D. × woodii Gauthier & Gervais (= D. rotundifolia × linearis)

Key to Drosera intermedia vs. western USA Drosera species

1. Seed coat uniformly papillose; inflorescence emerges from the rosette center nearly horizontally, then arcs upwards to one side of the plant; flowering-sized plants with leaves held at various angles-from nearly straight up to horizontally, so that overall the plant occupies a hemispherical volume ................ Drosera intermedia Hayne 1. Seed coat minutely rough or areolate-striate, or mature seeds absent; inflorescence emerges vertically (or nearly so) from the rosette center; flowering-sized plants with leaves that (except for the most recently produced) are nearly all appressed against the ground in a flat rosette (D. rotundifolia) or the leaves on flowering-sized plants are held mostly vertically, so that overall the plant occupies a volume that is cylindrical, taller than wide (all other taxa) Drosera anglica, D. linearis, D. rotundifolia, D. x obovata, D. x woodii

BEN Editorial Comments:

1) In British Columbia, Drosera linearis has been reported by Patrick Williston & Paula Bartemucci in BEN 371 http://bomi.ou.edu/ben/ben371.html.

2) Curtis Bjork's collection from Wells Gray Park (Stillinger Herbarium, University of Idaho coll.no. ID134968) labelled "Drosera linearis" has been re-identified as Drosera anglica by Ben Legler, 2019-04-12.


NEW PUBLICATION: PINGUICULA (LENTIBULARIACEAE) IN THE GREATER ANTILLES

From: Casper, S.J. 2019. The insectivorous genus Pinguicula (Lentibulariaceae) in the Greater Antilles. Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Englera 35: 1-126. ISBN 978-3-946292-30-2

In the Greater Antilles, there are 15 species of the insectivorous genus Pinguicula L. (Lentibulariaceae). This work discusses their taxonomy, ecology and biogeography. Fourteen species are native to Cuba and one to Hispaniola. In Cuba, the genus is found in three regions: Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud (three species), Cienfuegos (two species) and the former province of Oriente (nine species). Three new species are described: Pinguicula baezensis Casper, P. moaensis Casper and P. orthoceras Casper. The taxonomic status of P. benedicta, frequently mentioned in botanical literature, is discussed. Two truly epiphytic species, Pinguicula casabitoana (Hispaniola) and P. lignicola (eastern Cuba), as well as the 'bird-lime-twig-leaved' ('leimrutenblättrige') P. filifolia (western Cuba), are of particular biological interest. Pinguicula is a relatively recent member of the Greater Antillean flora, the genus probably having arrived prior to the end of the Pliocene (c. 3.7 mya) and diversified when the Panamanian land bridge was formed (2.5-2.3 mya). Combining floral morphology and phytogeographical data, two main radiations can be distinguished: (1) taxa with indistinctly 2-lipped, subisolobate corollas (e.g. Pinguicula albida, P. baezensis, P. casabitoana, P. filifolia, P. jackii and P. lithophytica), occupying all three Cuban distribution centres and Hispaniola; and (2) taxa of the Pinguicula benedicta species group with distinctly 2-lipped, unequal to subequal lobed corollas that are restricted to a limited area of eastern Cuba.


FLORA OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, 2ND EDITION REVISITED

From: David Giblin, University of Washington, [dgiblin@uw.edu], Ben Legler, University of Idaho, & Richard Olmstead, University of Washington. Originally published in The Vasculum Vol. 14, No. 1. From: David Giblin, University of Washington, [dgiblin@uw.edu], Ben Legler, University of Idaho, & Richard Olmstead, University of Washington. Originally published in The Vasculum Vol. 14, No. 1.

The University of Washington Herbarium of the Burke Museum is pleased to announce the publication of Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual, 2nd Edition (Flora, hereafter). It has been 45 years since C. Leo Hitchcock and Arthur Cronquist published the one-volume, condensed version of their 5-volume Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Interest by regional botanists for a revision was strong, and the timing was right, after the creation of the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database (http://www.pnwherbaria.org/index.php ) through National Science Foundation funding.

Hitchcock was the curator of the University of Washington (WTU) herbarium from 1937-1972, where his research interests were the taxonomy and floristics of Pacific Northwest vascular plants. Over his career, he developed WTU into the world's largest collection of plants from the region. Given WTU's history of floristic work and the extensive collections, it was both logical and pragmatic for us to initiate and lead the revision effort.

The geographic region covered in the 2nd edition Flora is nearly identical to the 1st edition: southern British Columbia (including all of Vancouver Island), all of Washington, the northern half of Oregon, the mountainous areas of Montana, and Idaho north of the Snake River Plain: http://www.pnwherbaria.org/florapnw/boundary.php In the 2nd edition, digital mapping and databases permitted a fine-tuning of the regional boundaries based on records of plant distributions.

Initial administrative and fundraising work for the project began in 2012, which involved gaining permission from the University of Washington Press and the Hitchcock and Cronquist heirs (collective copyright holders) to update the book. With the assistance of Pat Holmgren and the archives at NY, we were able to secure the permissions needed to reuse the 3,000+ illustrations used in the 1st edition Flora. Without those illustrations, the project would have confronted prohibitive time and costs associated with generating new illustrations for all taxa included in the original edition. Work on the project began in earnest in 2013, took approximately five years to complete, and raised a little over $500,000 to support the project. Expenditures covered revising approximately 800 pages of text, generating over 1,300 new illustrations, placement of over 7,000 images into the text, and printing a first run of 5,000 copies. Significant financial support for the project came from Chris Davidson and Sharon Christoph, Region 6 of the U.S. Forest Service, and the OR/WA office of the Bureau of Land Management. Individual donors, regional foundations, and native plant societies from Washington and Idaho rounded out the philanthropic support.

Changes between the two Flora editions are extensive: 25% net increase in the number of species and infraspecies treated; 38% net increase in the number of genera treated; 23% net increase in the number of families treated; 42% of species and infraspecies treated in the 1st edition Flora have seen nomenclatural or taxonomic changes.

Like its predecessor, the 2nd edition Flora is compact enough (7" x 11"; 936 pages) to be taken into the field. Providing identification keys and illustrations to over 5,000 taxa in a book of this size is achieved through the novel format developed by Hitchcock and Cronquist in the 1st edition: embedding species descriptions across key leads and illustrating a diagnostic feature for nearly every taxon in the adjacent margin. For those interested in using a digital version of the 2nd edition Flora, the University of Washington Press is working to produce an ebook version that should be available shortly.

Because any printed flora is a snapshot of what is known at the time of publishing, our efforts over the next year will focus on creating an editable, online presence for the Flora that builds on the project's current website: http://www.pnwherbaria.org/florapnw.php. The site currently contains a map of the Flora boundary, a quantitative summary of the Flora contents, a table comparing the two editions, and a downloadable checklist of the 2nd edition Flora that allows unambiguous crosswalks between the taxa treated in both editions. Going forward we plan to post revised keys as new information becomes available, provide nomenclatural and taxonomic updates to taxa treated, and post corrections to the printed text.

We are confident that publication of the 2nd edition Flora will have significant impacts on plant conservation, land management decisions, and undergraduate instruction across the Pacific Northwest. Such an outcome would not have been possible without the more than 100 financial supporters, 26 authors, 20 illustrators, and nearly 100 volunteers who made this project possible. Finally, we are simply pleased to finally have a comprehensive, contemporary flora for the region and a plan in place to ensure that it is not another 45 years before the book's contents are updated.

How to cite the new Flora:

C.L. Hitchcock and A. Cronquist. 2018.
Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual, 2nd Edition. Edited by D.E. Giblin, B.S. Legler, P.F. Zika, and R.G. Olmstead. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA. 936 p.

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