Subject: BEN # 166

From: Adolf Ceska <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 00:34:11 -0700

BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N             ISSN 1188-603X
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BBBBB    EEEEE    NN N N             BOTANICAL
BB   B   EE       NN  NN             ELECTRONIC
BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N             NEWS

No. 166                              June 1, 1997

[email-masked]        Victoria, B.C.
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 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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BOTANIC GARDENS & CONSERVATION - LECTURE IN VANCOUVER, B.C.
From: Dana DeKoven <[email-masked]>

VanDusen Botanical Garden presents: "Botanic gardens & conserva-
tion" - A Special Lecture with Timothy Walker, Superintendent of
the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.

As we approach the next millennium, botanical gardens world-wide
are  taking  a  leading role in plant conservation. Join Timothy
Walker as he explores botanical  gardens  that  have  turned  to
their  own  backyards to conserve and study local flora, and are
now working together to preserve  plant  diversity  and  protect
threatened and endangered species.

Monday,  June  23,  1997  at 8 pm in VanDusen Botanical Garden's
Floral Hall.  Tickets:  $10  (Canadian)  VanDusen  Members;  $15
(Canadian) Non-members.

To  register,  or  for  more information, please call VanDusen's
Registrar's office at (604) 257-8666.

   VanDusen Botanical Garden
   5251 Oak Street (at 37th Avenue)
   Vancouver BC Canada
   V6M 4H1

THE GENUS HYPERICUM - ST. JOHN'S WORT - IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
From: Frank Lomer, Honourary Research Associate, UBC Herbarium,
         Vancouver, B.C. c/o <[email-masked]>

All species in the family Hypericaceae that are known to grow in
British Columbia can be found within  a  relatively  small  area
around the Fraser River delta near Vancouver. Although there are
only  two or three native species in British Columbia, a growing
number of introduced species have complicated what was  once  an
easy family to key out. I hope the following key will be useful.

Key  was  adapted from  The Flora of Canada Part 3, H.J. Scoggan
1978-79, Flora of the British Isles, Clapham,  Tutin  and  Moore
l989, and my own observations.

1. Petals  purplish,  inconspicuous;  stamens  in  three  groups
   alternating with large orange glands; leaves  oblong-ovate,to
   2 cm. broad; lower leaves often purplish
   .......................  1. Triadenum fraseri (Spach) Gleason

1. Petals yellow, stamens lacking intervening glands

   2. Plants  shrubby,  flowers  about 2 cm. across; leaves 4-15
      cm. long; ripe fruit a purplish-black berry
      .............................  2. Hypericum androsaemum L.

   2. Plants not shrubby; leaves mostly less than 4 cm.; fruit a
      dry capsule

      3. Flowers conspicuous; petals >  8  mm.;  stamens  >  35,
         united at base into 3-5 clusters

         4. Stems rounded with 2 raised lines

            5. Sepals   linear-lanceolate,   mostly  acute,  but
               sometimes not clearly so
               .....................  3. Hypericum perforatum L.

            5. Sepals broader, blunter tipped; leaves broader in
               outline
               4. Hypericum  formosum   H.B.K.   var.   scouleri
               (Hook.) Coult.

         4. Stems quadrangular

            6. Stems  with  wings;  leaves  densely  dotted with
               translucent glands; petals a little  longer  than
               sepals, with few scattered black border dots
               .................  5. Hypericum tetrapterum Fries

            6. Stems  without wings; leaves only sparsely dotted
               with translucent glands; petals 3 times  as  long
               as sepals, with elongated black dots and streaks
               6. Hypericum  maculatum Crantz ssp. obtusiusculum
               (Tourlet) Hayek

      3. Flowers inconspicuous; petals < 6 mm.; stamens not more
         than 35 and not in clusters

         7. Flower bracts foliaceous; leaves oblong to ovate

            8. Stems usually prostrate and rooting at the  lower
               nodes;  flowers solitary or few, not spreading on
               branches
               ...............  7. Hypericum anagalloides C.& S.

            8. Stems usually erect, not rooting at lower  nodes;
               flowers many, spreading on branches.
               ...........  8. Hypericum boreale (Britt.) Bickn.

         7. Flower bracts narrow, subulate

            9. Principal  leaves  lanceolate  to  nearly oblong;
               inflorescence generally erect
               ...............  9. Hypericum majus (Gray) Britt.

            9. Principal leaves  elliptic,  partly  clasping  at
               base; inflorescence in well-developed plants much
               compounded with numerous flowers
               .......................  10. Hypericum mutilum L.

1. Triadenum  fraseri  (Spach)  Gleason (Hypericum virginicum L.
   var. fraseri (Spach) Fern.)
   Native to eastern North America and introduced in  the  Lower
   Fraser  Valley.  First  collected September 4,1991 from south
   Burnaby (Lomer 91-259). Now known from four locations:
    1) Burnaby peat extraction bog
    2) Richmond cultivated cranberry bogs
    3) Douglas Island (20 km east of Vancouver)
       in an undisturbed swamp
    4) Pitt River on a rotting log  Probably  originally  intro-
   duced  in  cranberry bogs, but now found in completely undis-
   turbed areas though never abundant. Reported by  J.M.  Macoun
   in  1913  from Ucluelet, Vancouver Island where it was intro-
   duced in a cranberry bog.

2. Hypericum androsaemum L.
   Introduced from Europe. Perhaps a garden escape, but I've not
   seen it grown in any garden or sold  in  any  nursery.  First
   collected  in  a  ditch  along a railroad track west of White
   Rock, a few km from the  Washington  border  (Lomer  88-070).
   Also  well established in blackberry thickets above Horseshoe
   Bay ferry terminal, and on  wet  cliffs  of  Capilano  River,
   North Vancouver.

3. Hypericum perforatum L.
   A common Eurasian weed in southern B.C.

4. Hypericum formosum H.B.K. var. scouleri (Hook.) Coult.
   Infrequent  native  species  throughout  southern B.C. In the
   Lower Fraser Valley it is rare along the tidal shore  of  the
   Fraser River.

5. Hypericum tetrapterum Fries
   Known in B.C. only from the UBC Botanical Garden where it was
   first  collected September 10, 1991, in a ditch at the corner
   of Southwest  Marine  Drive  and  16th  Ave.,  University  of
   British  Columbia  Campus,  Vancouver  (Lomer  91-269).  Also
   collected by Gerald Straley along a small stream in the Asian
   Garden. Native to Europe.

6. Hypericum maculatum Crantz ssp. obtusiusculum (Tourlet) Hayek
   A European weed much like H. perforatum but stouter and  with
   wider, more rounded leaves. First collected August 8, 1937 at
   "Spanish  Banks",  Vancouver  (Eastham 4278). It can still be
   found today at Spanish Banks in Jericho Park.  Now  it  is  a
   widespread  weed  in  the Lower Fraser Valley. Collections at
   UBC also from Pemberton and Prince Rupert.

7. Hypericum anagalloides C.& S.
   Infrequent native in southwest B.C. in bogs, ditches, and wet
   lawns.

8. Hypericum boreale (Britt.) Bickn.
   Native to eastern North America. Now  a  locally  common  and
   often abundant plant of cranberry bogs and wet river banks in
   the  Lower  Fraser  Valley. First collected in B.C. from Van-
   couver on September 25, 1961 (K. Beamish s.n. UBC 90257).  It
   can  be  invasive  in  open muddy habitats where rare natives
   like  Lindernia  anagalloides,  Gratiola   neglecta,   Tillea
   aquatica, and Lilaeopsis occidentalis grow.

9. Hypericum majus (Gray) Britt.
   Infrequent  in southern B.C. Variable in size and leaf width.
   I've seen this species in the following habitats:
      -dry pond in railroad yards
      -muddy tidal shore of the Fraser
      -abandoned gravel pit
      -cultivated cranberry bogs
   H. majus is considered a native plant in B.C., but I think it
   might be introduced. Our populations seem well  west  of  its
   typical range in eastern North America, it can be quite weedy
   in  both disturbed and natural habitats, and I believe it was
   unknown in B.C. until less than 50 years ago.

10. Hypericum mutilum L.
   Another introduced species native to eastern  North  America.
   Similar  to H. majus, but the leaves are broader and rounder,
   and the inflorescence is more widely spreading. Also  similar
   to  H. boreale from which it can be told by the narrow rather
   than broad flower bracts. These last three species are  vari-
   able  and  not  always  easily told apart. First collected in
   Coquitlam (25 km east of Vancouver) on a newly  cleared  lot,
   on September 7, 1991 (Lomer 91-264). It also grows on a small
   island  in  the  Fraser  River  down  the  hill from Hospital
   Street, New Westminster. Probably more widespread.

WILDFLOWERS OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS IN ALASKA
From: Mary Stensvold / Don Muller <[email-masked]>

The new Alaska  Region  brochure  entitled  WILDFLOWERS  OF  THE
NATIONAL  FORESTS  IN  ALASKA  has  just  been  published. About
150,000 copies were printed and sent  to  Forest  Service  units
throughout the Alaska Region for distribution to the public.

WILDFLOWERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORESTS IN ALASKA contains color
photographs and descriptive information highlighting 50  of  the
most common wildflowers occurring in southern Alaska.

The  production  of  the  brochure was coordinated by the Alaska
Region Botany Program in response to numerous  wildflower  iden-
tification  questions  from the public. They were also developed
enhance people's awareness of Alaska's flora.

Mary Stensvold, Regional Botanist, USDA Forest  Service,  Alaska
Region 204 Siginaka Way, Sitka, Alaska 99835 (907) 747-6671

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