Occurrence of the Leafy Liverwort, Frullania bolanderi, in Old-Growth Forests of Northeastern North America

Abstract

MILLER, N. G. AND A. D. MILLER (Biological Survey, New York State Museum, Albany, NY 12230). Occurrence of the leafy liverwort, Frullania bolanderi, in old-growth forests of Northeastern North America. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 125:109-116. 1998-Populations of Frullania bolanderi were discovered on trunks of deciduous trees in an oak-northern hardwoods transitional forest in eastern New York State and a coastal spruce-balsam fir forest in northeastern Maine where this epiphyte, a rarity in eastern North America, was previously unknown. The New York station is in a selectively cut, old-growth remnant that survived from the onset of Euro-American settlement (late 1700s) surrounded by agricultural land for many of the ensuing years. Secondary forest developed later around the remnant as farming declined, beginning early in the 20th century. The forest in which F. bolanderi occurs in Maine was never cleared for agriculture, but conifers were harvested from it at least twice in the 20th century. These new data suggest that forest removal during settlement may explain the rarity of this plant in at least parts of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. It is a potential indicator species of old-growth forest in this region. Study of herbarium specimens establishes that F. bolanderi does not occur in Ohio as previously reported. New stations for it are cited for southern Quebec in the old-growth northern hardwoods forest of the Mont Saint Hilaire Biosphere Reserve near Montreal.