Vascular Plant Collections Research Articles

Survey on the Japanese herbarium collections of vascular plants for the study of geo - distribution in North Korean area

Survey on the Japanese herbarium collections of vascular plants for the study of geo - distribution in North Korean area

The Australian Museum Macquarie Island Expedition, 1977–78

The Australian Museum, with the assistance of the Australian Antarctic Division, supported a team of four biologists during the 1977–78 summer season at Macquarie Island (54°30'S 158°57'E). An extensive survey of marine algae and invertebrates from the intertidal zone, and down to depths of 20 m along the coastline, was a major objective of the marine programme. The terrestrial ecology programme included studies of microscopic terrestrial invertebrates, especially tardigrades or water bears, cryptogam (particularly hepatics, lichens and mosses) and vascular plant collections, and the recovery of sea-bird ectoparasites. The biologists and their interests were Dr D. S. Horning, marine biology and terrestrial ecology (Salem, Oregon); Dr J. K. Lowry, marine biology (Australian Museum, co-ordinator); Dr G. C. B. Poore, marine biology (National Museum of Victoria); and Mr R. W. Ricker, botany (University of Melbourne).

The Vascular Flora of Limestone Hills, Northern Extension of the Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon Territory

Owing to its relative inaccessibility the flora of unglaciated central and northern Yukon, from 65°N to the Arctic Coast, and between the 136°W and 141°W, has until recently remained totally unexplored. The Dempster Highway, still under construction, will provide an easy access to what until now was the largest botanically unknown part of Canada. ... From 3 to 12 July 1970, my brother ... and I made a hurried trip along the southern part of the Dempster Highway to visit places between the North Klondike Pass and Mile 89 where he had made large collections of vascular plants ... during the summers of 1966 and 1968. ... Beyond Mile 89 a few days were spent examining the flora of light-gray limestone hills that form a northward extension of the Ogilvie Mountains, at approximately 65°20'N, 138°30'W, south of Mile 100 to 110 on the Dempster Highway and thus beyond the point accessible by road to R. T. Porsild, in 1968. In strong contrast to the more fertile and better vegetated southern Ogilvie Mountains between the North Klondike Pass and Mile 89, the much lower northward extension of the Ogilvie Mountains, at approximately 65°03'N presents a strange and weird landscape of dendritically eroded plateaus of a general elevation about 3,500 feet above sea-level .... screes and ridges [are] covered by a pale-grey mantle of huge, angular blocks of frost-shattered grey limestone, [and are] often totally or nearly devoid of vegetation .... Soil is either totally absent, or at best confined to small pockets that may harbour tufts of mosses among which may be seen individual plants such as Oxyria digyna, Saxifraga oppositifolia or Luzula confusa, that only there could have gained a precarious foothold. Growing from deep down amongst the rocks, we were surprised also to find occasional specimens of the otherwise exceedingly rare Smelowskia borealis, here mainly sterile and etiolated, because of the shady habitat. ... About 50 species of vascular plants, nearly all pronounced calciphiles, were noted on the lower third of a southwest-facing slope, most of them growing in the ravines. By far the most common were Kobresia myosuroides and Dryas sylvatica. ... Stony flood plain valley bottom is oriented southeast-northwest between low limestone hills [directly south of Mile 110 of the Dempster Highway]. Starting at the head of the valley, the following more or less distinct plant habitats were examined in some detail: 1) Well-drained gravelly or sandy stream banks, the down-stream parts subject to spring flooding; 2) Dry, stony ridges usually with some soil around or between the stones; 3) Moist flood-plain meadows; 4) Moist, peaty bogs well above present flooding; 5) Low willow thickets, mostly on boulder flats between former stream beds but no longer subject to flooding; the space between boulders now well filled by sediments topped by a humus layer; the older and mature willow thickets are now being invaded by white spruce .... [Plants found in each of the above 5 habitats are listed.]

The Ozark Flora-Some Collections of Note

Recent collecting has produced eight major range extensions or other unusual plants for the Ozark flora. A newcomer to the Missouri area last summer, 1969, I made some 500 vascular plant collections with view to acquainting myself with the plants growing in the Ozarks and the Mississippi River Valley. Most collecting was in the St. Francois Mountain area but one foray was made to the bootheel counties of southeastern Missouri and into adjacent Arkansas; and number of trips included Illinois counties near St. Louis. Material of all collections is lodged with the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO), and duplicates were distributed to other institutions as indicated. The following list of major range extensions or unusual plants does not include all new county records which may have been taken. In spite of the large collections made in the past by such botanists as Bush, Palmer and Steyermark and the very fine presentation of results in Steyermark's (1963) Flora of Alissouri, there is still great deal of work to be done before this area can be said to have wellknown flora. That such indiscriminate collecting as my own last summer could produce the following list is evidence of the need for much more field work. ANEMONELLA THALICTROIDES (L.) Spach f. FAVILLIANA Bergs. in Fass. D'Arcy 3130 (MO). Forma favilliana is a beautiful form of Rue Anemone, resembling miniature tuberous begonia, marigold, or zinnia in the buttonlike condensed flowers' Steyermark, 1963) This pretty little variant was found growing at the wet edge of sloping oak woods b;, il secondary road about one mile north of Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri. Oniy' one pilant was seen growing with the usual understory sprinkling of the typical variety;e and, in fact, my collection is mixed with plants of the typical form. Formerly known in the wild in Missouri only from Putnam County in the extreme north and from Carter County in the south of the state, my collection provides an intermediate station. This distribution does not suggest any former wide-spread distribution or relict status but seems rather to be the result of the rare recurrence of mutant gene. Because they are apparently sterile, new occurrences of the form are unlikely to build up significant populations, although Steyermark (1963) mentions propagating it by dividing the roots. Forma favilliana was first described from Wisconsin in 1946. Bernard Boivin (1957) provided the alternative name: Thalictrum thalictroides (L.) Boiv. f. favilliana (Bergs. in Fass.) Boiv. RANUNCULUS ARVENSIS L. D'Arcy 3181 (MO, BSI, GH, UMO). This very showy yellow buttercup was taken on the north side of Huffman, Arkansas. The flat, low fields in this area were host to frequent rather large patches of the weed. Huffman is in the extreme northeastern corner of Mississippi County, Arkansas, and is less than five miles from the southeastern corner of the Missouri bootheel. Ranunculus arvensis is likely candidate for colonization of any of the low areas bordering the Mississippi River in this latitude. In 1959, Muelenbach found it on the north side of the city of St. Louis, not in St. Louis County as indicated by Steyermark in his Flora. ' Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110. ANN. MissouRi BOT. GARD. 56: 465-467. 1969. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Wed, 31 Aug 2016 04:34:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Vascular Plants of Morton County, Kansas

The purpose of this study, carried out in 1961 and 1962, was to compile as complete a list of the vascular plants of the county as possible. Many collections have been made in the county previous to this study, but only a few have been reported. Carleton (1890-95) reported on five collections, and Hitchcock (1897) cited plants collected by Thompson in 1893. Gates (1940) reported 186 collections of non-cultivated vascular plants from Morton County.

Some Lichens and Bryophytes from the Lake Hazen Area, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada

The first report is made for 38 taxa of lichens and 46 of bryophytes from the interior of northern Ellesmere Island. Protoblastenia terricola is cited as new to Canada, and Acarospora molybdina, Cladonia coccifera, Hypogymnia austerodes, Rinodina nimbosa, Squamarina lentigera, Peltolepis quadrata, Andreaea rupestris, and Splachnum ovatum as new to Ellesmere Island. An additional 14 species are reported as northern range extensions for Ellesmere Island. Studies were carried out in the vicinity of Lake northern Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, as part of the scientific program, Operation Hazen, organized by the Defence Research Board of Canada during the International Geophysical Year. As a member of the expedition from August, 1957, to August, 1958, based at Hazen Camp (81°49'N, 71°18'W), I studied the effect of climate on the vegetation, and made an extensive collection of vascular plants (Powell, 1961) and some cryptogams. I was able to return to the area to continue the botanical studies from May to August of 1959. At that time the camp was set up near the snout of the Gilman Glacier (82°03'N, 70°22'W), and the majority of the lichens and bryophytes reported in this paper were collected within a few miles of this point. The interior of northern Ellesmere Island is dominated by Lake Hazen which lies in a trough between the Garfield and United States Ranges to the west and north, and the Greely-Hazen Plateau to the south and east. The lake, which in some years becomes completely free of ice, is 46 miles long and 520 feet above sea level. The nearby peaks of the Garfield Range rise to heights between 3,500 and 4,700 feet, and are separated by valleys through which flow the major rivers fed by the ice fields and glaciers. The Gilman Glacier is one of the largest glaciers draining into Lake Hazen. The area constitutes an arctic desert, receiving only about two inches of precipitation a year. Summer weather conditions, however, are relatively favorable for vegetation, with a frost-free period of eight to ten weeks, and peak temperatures reaching 60°F. Summer conditions at Lake Hazen can be considered continental, with less precipitation, and temperatures about five degrees higher than at coastal stations of the same