Sphagnotheca Boreali-americana: A New Exsiccata of North American Sphagna North of Mexico

Abstract

Publication of a new North American Sphagnum exsiccata is announced. Fascicle 1, consisting of 50 numbers, is published concurrently with this publication. Recent upsurge of interest in Sphagnum in North America has created a definite need for a new set of carefully collected and verified duplicate specimens embodying the most recent taxonomic thinking. Under the title Sphagnotheca Boreali-americana, such a set will be issued in several fascicles, the first fascicle is published concurrently with this paper. Several previous exsiccatae covering a similar geographic area have concentrated partially or solely on Sphagnum. Sullivant's (1845) Musci Alleghaniensis contained 10 numbers of Sphagnum, among them the types of S. strictum Sull., S. molle Sull., and S. tabulare Sull. Sullivant and Lesquereux's (1856) Musci Boreali-americana, Edition One, contained 19 collections of Sphagnum including the types of S. lescurii Sull., S. cyclophyllum Sull. & Lesq. and S. tenerum Sull. & Lesq. while Edition Two (Sullivant & Lesquereux, 1865) had 23 numbers of Sphagnum. Geographically, these exsiccatae were limited mostly to eastern United States, and in some cases, collections for the same number were gathered from several locations (Sayre, 1971). Because of this, in several instances, more than one taxon may be found under the same number. In the early 1890's, Faxon distributed a number of collections under the title North American Sphagna. However, these were often collected at different times and places, thus they cannot be considered as true duplicates (Sayre, 1971). Soon after distribution of these collections, Faxon collaborated with Eaton to produce the Sphagna Borealiamericana Exsiccata (Eaton & Faxon, 1896), which consisted of 172 numbers issued in 60 sets. Only three of these, however, came from western North America. The usefulness of the Eaton and Faxon exsiccata is further impeded by currently outmoded species concepts, the limited number of species, and several mixed collections. Thirty-nine species were listed by Eaton and Faxon, but the species concepts employed by us, would expand this to 45; substantially less than the 60+ species actually present in North America. Nearly all of the missing species are ecologically important in some portion of their North American distribution. 1 We thank Stanley J. Smith and Norton G. Miller for their contribution of one number to Fascicle 1. The exsiccata has been funded in part by grants from the National Defense Education Act, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Department of Botany, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 2 Environmental Studies Program, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, New York, U.S.A. 3 Department of Botany, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.58 on Sun, 11 Dec 2016 04:31:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1975] ANDRUS & VITT: SPHAGNOTHECA BOREALI-AMERICANA 65 Between 1893 and 1900, Waghorne also distributed a number of Sphagnum duplicates from Newfoundland and Labrador. Although the collections, due to the variable nature of partially handwritten labels, may not be uniform and therefore cannot be considered as portions of a true exsiccata, they remain historically important because of the inclusion of the types of S. waghornei Warnst. and S. tenuifolium Warnst. Sphagnotheca Boreali-americana will be issued in fascicles of 50 numbers with a total of 50 sets distributed as follows: AAS (BIRM), ABLS, ALA, ALTA, B, BA, BM, BP, BR, C, CANM, CHR, CINC, COLO, DUKE, F, FH, FLAS, G, GL, H, HERB-HOE, HIRO, JE, L, LD, LE, MEL, MICH, MIN, MO, MSC, NFLD, NICH, NY, O, PAC, PC, PR, S, SASK, S.U.N.Y. at Syracuse, TENN, TNS, U, UAC, UBC, US, WIS, WTU. All collections have been verified by the authors and carefully checked over to avoid mixed collections. For many species several numbers have been included to show the range of morphological variation encountered in different geographic and ecologic situations. Although Fascicle 1 contains collections primarily from Alberta and New York, careful attention has been given to broad geographic representation, and the complete set will contain substantial input from southeastern United States and other portions of western Canada, as well as numbers from other areas. Publication date for Fascicle 1 is concurrent with issuance of this number of The Bryologist, the date of accession into the University of Alberta herbarium. The following list itemizes the numbers in Fascicle 1.