Vol. 22, No. 4 October 1994 FREMONTIA A Journal of the California Native Plant Society &*«*]« i«ii«%r™;:..*;/ ..«r>»Vi FREMONTIA Vol. 22 No. 4 October 1994 Copyright © 1994 California Native Plant Society Phyllis M. Faber, Editor • Laurence J. Hyman, Art Director • Beth Hansen, Designer California Native Plant Society Dedicated to the Preservation of the California Native Flora The California Native Plant Society is an organization of laymen and professionals united by an interest in the plants of California. It is open to all. Its principal aims are to preserve the native flora and to add to the knowledge of members and the public at large. It seeks to accomplish the former goal in a number of ways: by monitoring rare and endangered plants throughout the state; by acting to save endangered areas through publicity, persuasion, and on occasion, legal action; by providing expert testimony to government bodies; and by supporting financially and otherwise the establishment of native plant preserves. Much of this work is done through CNPS Chapters throughout the state. The Society's educational work includes: publication of a quarterly journal, Fremontia, and a quarterly Bulletin which gives news and announcements of Society events and conservation issues. Chapters hold meetings, field trips, plant and poster sales. Non-members are welcome to attend. The work of the Society is done mostly by volunteers. Money is provided by the dues of members and by funds raised by chapter plant and poster sales. Additional donations, bequests, and memorial gifts from friends of the Society can assist greatly in carrying forward the work of the Society. Dues and donations are tax-deductible. EDITORIAL Vivian Parker has compiled an index for twenty-one volumes of Fremontia. It has been a labor of love for the Society. Many fine articles containing timeless information will now be more retrievable for those who save back issues of Fremontia. Many thanks to Vivian for a job well done. CNPS provided grant money to Christine Elder for work on the reproductive biology of the California pitcher plant and to Linda Allen for taxonomic work on the mint, Monardella. Reports on their research are included in this issue. The CNPS grant program is of increasing importance in the work of the society. Young professional botanists are urgently needed to better understand the flora of California, and they need financial support in the increasingly com- petitive world of grant monies. CNPS annually provides funds to augment its three small but important grant endowments. The Executive Council of CNPS is launching a drive to increase membership so it can carry out the ever expanding demands for plant protection and public education about California's extraordinary flora. Each of us can be a part of this campaign by recruiting at least one or two new members. CNPS could double its effectiveness if every member recruited a new member or gave a membership to a friend. Phyllis M. Faber TABLE OF CONTENTS Port Orford Cedar Root Disease 3 by John Kliejunas Bear Valley: Wildflowers as John Muir Described Them 12 by Stephen W. Edwards Vernal Pools in the San Jacinto Valley 17 by Scott D. White Sereno Watson: Early California Botanist 20 by Liam H. Davis Encounter with a Native Plant Fan 24 by Thomas Oberbauer New Fellows 26 Growing Natives: Mock Oranges and their Kin 28 by Nevin Smith Reports from the Grant Committee 29 Notes and Comments 31 Books Received 31 THE COVER: The Port Orford cedar (Cupressus lawsoniana), that grows only in Oregon and Northern California, is widely affected by a fungal root disease. Photograph by James Shevock. 'T$*r- 'jf^f1"*?** ;""^^r ^: " *|§i,*" • 'li'll -J.JP' ^..... -»* : j - * ' !fa*W: .»-'w - rV-^jt-i The Port Orford cedar (Cupressus lawsoniana), now widely affected by a root fungus (Phytophthora lateralis), occurs in a narrow coastal strip from the mid-Oregon coast southward for 130 miles into northern California. Photographs by T. Jimerson unless otherwise noted. PORT ORFORD CEDAR ROOT DISEASE by John Kliejunas ALTHOUGH PORT ORFORD cedar (Cupressus law- soniana, formerly Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) is widely affected by a root fungus (Phytoph- thora lateralis), U.S. Forest Service studies show that the species has not been eliminated from any of its historic range. The Service is optimistic that, through responsible management, significant adverse impacts to the species can be prevented. Phytophthora lateralis affects both Port Orford cedar and Pacific yew (Taxus hrevifolia). It was first reported in a nursery in Seattle in 1923. The fungus spread widely in Washington and Oregon through transport of infected nursery stock. It was first identified in the native range of Port Orford cedar at Coos Bay, Oregon, in 1952. Surveys in the 1950s indicated substantial spread of the fungus along the coastal shelf and up river valleys in Oregon. In 1980 the disease was identified in much of the Smith River drainage in northwestern California. It may have been present in some of these drainages since the 1960s. California has two species of white cedar, Port Orford cedar and Alaska cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis, formerly Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), which is present here in its southernmost range. In the new Jepson Manual the former genus Chamaecyparis is treated as a subgenus within Cupressus. Port Orford cedar was considered for inclusion in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California but was determined to be too common. Alaska cedar is placed on CNPS List 4, since it is a plant of limited distribution in California. Phytophthora lateralis has not been reported on Alaska cedar, although seedling inoculation studies have shown this species to be susceptible. Port Orford cedar and Alaska VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 3 cedar can occur together, but this is rare, occurring only where habitats overlap. There is some speculation that Alaska cedar, as a symptomless host, may be the origin of the fungus, however, extensive surveys have not found the fungus to be present. Port Orford cedar is one of the most commercially valuable conifer species in the United States. From 1988 through 1992, 99 percent of exported Port Orford cedar went to Japan. More than sixty million board feet were shipped to Japan, 190,000 board feet to the People's Re- public of China, and 8,000 board feet to South Korea. The wood of Port Orford cedar has similar qualities to Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), which, through centuries of overharvesting, is in short supply in Japan. The wood of both species is used for sake boxes, countertops, and sup- port beams in temples and shrines. Japan imports whole logs so that they can be milled to local specifications. Species Range and Inventory Port Orford cedar occurs in a narrow coastal strip from about the mid-point of the Oregon coast southward for about 130 miles into northern California and approxi- mately fifty miles in width at its widest point in southern Oregon. It grows in association with several other conifers including Douglas-fir {Pseudotsuga menziesii), Sitka spruce {Picea sitchensis), coast redwood {Sequoia sempervirens), western hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla), Shasta fir {Abies magnified), white fir {A. concolor), ponderosa pine {Pinus ponderosa), and Jeffrey pine {P. jeffreyi); it only rarely occurs in pure stands. Inland populations are scattered in two principal locations in the Sacramento and Trinity River drainages in California. There has been no change in the historic range of Port Orford cedar. However, changes have occurred in some stand characteristics within its range because of harvesting and root disease. The primary change has been a shift in diameter class distribution to a larger proportion of trees in smaller age classes, especially within riparian areas af- fected by the root disease. In 1992 over 384,000 acres with Port Orford cedar were identified on National Forest lands. Three national forests in California (Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers) contain approximately 160,000 acres with Port Orford cedar. Fewer than 9,000 acres are infested by Phytophthora lateralis, and these are limited to the north- west corner of the state. Many of the remaining areas are protected from the fungus by their geographic separation from infested areas, by management activities prescribed to reduce movement of the fungus, and by the limited likelihood of harvesting. Surveys show that harvest volume during the last nine years has been exceeded by annual growth overall, indi- cating that the species is maintaining itself and growing. If the harvest continues at present levels or declines, as is Distribution of Port Orford cedai in California and Oregon within areas outlined by black lines. Various shaded areas outline the Siskiyou, Six Rivers, Klamath, and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Port Orford cedar root disease occurs primarily within riparian areas. expected, then the standing volume should continue to increase. Harvest levels have declined significantly in recent years. This is a result of the decreased amount of timber for sale from federal lands because of a court injunction and the listing of the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Data on harvest levels in the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon show that growth has exceeded harvest for at least the past fifteen years. The Port Orford cedar harvest is a small proportion (about five percent) of the total forest harvest and is not a factor in influencing harvest activities. Until the recent precipitous drop as a result of the injunc- tion and endangered species listings, harvest levels were relatively constant. In California from 1978 through 1991, 34.5 million board feet of Port Orford cedar were harvested, 22.2 mil- lion from private lands and 12.3 million from public lands. 4 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 The figure for harvest on public lands essentially includes only harvests on National Forest lands. Annual growth on these lands exceeds the amount harvested in any one year. The harvest of Port Orford cedar on private lands ex- ceeded that on public lands, but most of the harvest was in the early years of the period. Current levels are about the same on public and private lands. The harvest on private lands during the fourteen-year period has been about 1.5 times annual growth, resulting in decreasing standing vol- ume. The level of harvest has decreased over the last several years and is now exceeded by annual growth. Harvest records from the Six Rivers National Forest con- tain the volume of green and salvage Port Orford cedar. Only the Gasquet Ranger District (now the Smith River National Recreation Area) shows the presence of the root disease. It was assumed that all of the salvage volume from this district was a result of Port Orford cedar root disease. Of the total ten-year harvest, 1983 through 1993, fifty-five percent of the volume harvested (8.22 million board feet) is salvage, and fifty percent is associated with root disease. Therefore, the disease is already present on these areas of salvage, and restricting harvest will have little impact. Also, removing dead trees has no effect on the existing population of Port Orford cedar. Decline of Exports Export of Port Orford cedar has also declined in recent years. Exports have dropped fairly steadily since 1970 from 44.2 million board feet in 1970 to 10.9 million board feet in 1990. Essentially all Port Orford cedar offered for sale is purchased by non-U.S. firms. Prices of material sold for export are substantially higher than those of logs sold for primary manufacture locally. The export value of Port Orford cedar was three to five times that of Douglas-fir. Because the U.S. market for Port Orford cedar is lim- ited, in 1959 the Secretary of Agriculture designated this Port Orford cedar grows in association with Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, coast redwood, western hemlock, firs and pine and is shown here growing with a shrubby understory. Trees growing upslope from infected ones, where it is drier, often escape the disease. f;M"TlK l*^-^"^^ ~ T-\j^V If? "£ - •'¦imMmW • r - "Kl fmWmS *£$/?; -.* ¦* 3SW ***; "*?S"~ ^s?<;';v. V ' %j&i >*-»*• \W VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 5 species as surplus to American domestic needs. This de- termination permits trees cut on federal forest lands to be exported as raw logs. While the evidence is circumstantial, given the sharply decreased timber volume currently of- fered for sale from federal lands, if exports were curtailed the current volume of Port Orford cedar offered for sale would probably be purchased by domestic manufacturers at considerably reduced prices. Spread of Port Orford cedar root disease on public lands is independent of international trade. Spread is influ- enced by silvicultural treatment, vector activity, and weather conditions, none of which is dictated by trade. Spread on private lands may differ, since economics may influence the harvesting of a species with high economic value. State regulations can reduce the likelihood of spread of Phytophthora lateralis when harvest activities are planned on private lands. Infected and healthy cedars grow intermingled throughout its range. The fungus appears to be spread by transporting infected seedlings or soil on tires or equipment into new uninfected areas. ¦¦Se»ift^M:-~«!:.^.. '^gi^-JiS-.: ¦'" :. ¦ A Distribution of the Fungus The current distribution of Phytophthora lateralis on National Forest lands is over more than 30,000 acres, which is less than ten percent of the total estimated acre- age of Port Orford cedar growing on National Forest lands. The fungus is continuous throughout many areas of Port Orford cedar which may be an artifact of the type and intensity of the survey done to gather information and the scale of the map on which it is portrayed. Infested and healthy Port Orford cedars are intermingled throughout much of this area. The occurrence and effects of the fungus are highly dependent on exacting environmental conditions, especially the presence of slowly moving free water. In most areas where the fungus is present, living Port Orford cedars persist because of their topographic location relative to free water. Trees upslope from infested drainages or on slight rises often do not become infected. Four spore forms of Phytophthora lateralis have differ- ent functions in the survival and transport of the fungus. The oospore, which is rarely seen and constitutes the sexual stage, may play a role in long-term survival and overland movement of the fungus. The thick-walled chlamydospore, or resting spore, is commonly found in rootlets killed by the fungus. It is probably the main structure that enables the fungus to survive during adverse conditions or in the absence of a host. It is also the primary means of spread of the fungus to new areas in infested organic matter. In the presence of water the chlamydospores form sac-like structures called sporangia. Sporangia sub- sequently germinate and produce motile zoospores. Once in contact with root tips, zoospores can germinate and infect the rootlet. Subsequent spread within the plant oc- curs by growth of the mycelium through the inner bark and cambium of the root system to the root collar, resulting in the eventual death of the host. How the Fungus Spreads Two types of movement occur with Phytophthora lateralis. Long-distance spread between drainages and watersheds occurs when infested organic matter is trans- ported. Humans have been the main vector of Port Orford cedar root disease. Long-distance spread has resulted from transport of infected seedlings and infested soil into dis- ease-free sites. Major spread of the disease has occurred through earth movement in road construction, road main- tenance, logging, and traffic flow on forest roads. In gen- eral, the disease has not spread into areas where physical barriers or lack of access have prevented humans from serving as vectors, especially during wet periods. In fact, seasonal road and harvest closures have been used as effective prevention techniques. Movement of the fungus in soil clinging to the feet of cattle and elk has resulted in new infestations in a few instances. 6 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 PORT ORFORD CEDAR — SUMMARY INFORMATION HARVEST OWNERSHIP National Forests ACRES WITH CEDAR TOTAL VOLUME1 (mmcf)2 ANNUAL GROWTH1 (mmcf) ANNUAL VOLUME 1983-91 (mmcl) 9 YEAR VOLUME 1983-91 (mmcf) California 160,012 33 0.8 0.19 1.7 Oregon 224,120 93 1.4 0.94 8.5 Bureau of Land Management N A 23.5 NA 0.48 4.3 Private California 28,000 5.3 0.09 0.27 2.4 Oregon 170,000 (>y.5 NA NA NA Total 582.202 224.3 2.3 1.88 16.9 'Estimates based on surveys ur updates from Mlnwim of 5 board feet/cubic fool was used when cubic itii'ih : years: M'S.C\ iremcni was m>i -1 l)S5 i\;iik :M;S.l)R-IW.i hie. MM l9SS:IYi\ak- 1991. A conversion 2 mmcf = million cubic feet In a new area Phytophthora lateralis spreads in water downslope from roads and trails. Steep slopes dissected by drainages quickly channel zoospore-infested water into streams. Cross slope spread is restricted. On broad slopes or flat areas infested water may spread out over larger areas and move more slowly. Concave areas with Port Orford cedar are especially vulnerable to damage because they are easily flooded. Convex slopes are much less vulnerable. The second type of movement is the short-distance "swimming" of motile zoospores. Zoospores can move up to a few centimeters until they contact a host rootlet where they attach themselves and germinate. If they do not con- tact a susceptible rootlet, they will encyst. Encysted spores may be transported in water or may perish. When condi- tions are conducive, sporangia may develop from the roots of infected trees and produce zoospores. These can then invade nearby rootlets, either of the same tree or of a neighboring tree. The length of time between infection and death of the tree probably varies with tree size and extent of the root system available to support the tree. Seedling mortality occurs rapidly and is dependent on weather. It may be a few weeks to three months; larger trees may survive for several years following infection. Infection is highly dependent on the presence of free water in the immediate vicinity of susceptible tree roots. High-risk areas for infection are stream courses, drain- ages, and low-lying areas downslope from infected areas or below roads and trails where new inoculum is intro- duced. However, some Port Orford cedars do survive on infected sites because of their microsite position and lack VOLUME 22, NO. 3 ....." '"" FREMONTIA 7 of direct exposure to inoculum. Port Orford cedar is a prolific seed producer and often regenerates where trees have died in the past. The new trees usually become infected in turn, resulting in chronic disease in such places. Mortality losses due to Port Orford cedar root disease have been evaluated at a stand level in several areas where Simplified P. lateralis life cycle. Spread via water zoospores Saturated soil Spore germinaton in saturated soil Root infection by zoospores "~\. Port Orford Cedar Root System Mycelium and spores in diseased roots Spread via root contact Resting spores in soil and decomposed roots Spread via the disease has been present for ten to thirty-six years. In all cases the disease was found to have caused extensive mortality of Port Orford cedar in portions of the stands where high-risk conditions prevailed, especially along streams and in drainage ditches on the downslope sides of roads. Disease-caused mortality was substantially less and often absent altogether on drier microsites. Resistance to Fungus Field observations of trees that have survived for some time in the midst of dead neighbors suggests that Port Orford cedars vary in susceptibility to Phytophthora lateralis. Tests using various inoculation procedures have shown that some of these phenotypically resistant indi- viduals are demonstrably more tolerant of infection than others. Resistance is expressed as a slowing of the rate of advance of the fungus in diseased tissue rather than as immunity. To date no trees have been identified with the potential to stand up indefinitely in areas of extreme expo- sure to inoculum. Studies have also shown that allozyme variability (in- dicating genetic diversity) is slightly higher in Port Orford cedar stands in Oregon than in stands in California, al- though the range of means was wider in the California populations. Populations with lowest diversity occurred in California in the seven stands in the Trinity and Sacra- mento drainages, disjunct from the main coastal distribu- tion of the species. This amount of genetic variation for Port Orford cedar is similar to that of knobcone pine A branch and cones of Port Orford cedar. Photograph by James Shevock. 8 FREMONTIA (Pinus attenuata) and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), both of which also have small to moderate- sized distributions. An Oregon population of Port Orford cedar just west of the southern tip of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area has alleles at three gene loci that are not present in any other Oregon or California population. Comparing the plot of latitude and longitude patterns of allozyme variation with the map of the President's Plan, Option 9 (the Pacific Northwest), indicates that a portion of all significant genetic variation patterns (based on allozymes) are located within either congressionally or administratively reserved lands. Current Status of Port Orford Cedar A comprehensive program to control Port Orford cedar root disease and ensure the presence and productivity of the tree was begun in 1988 by the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Regions of the USDA Forest Service. The program was the result of a consensus process that involved industry, environmental, agency, university, and local political interests. The program enlists, supports, and coordinates the work of foresters, ecologists, resource managers, and research scientists to ensure that Port Orford cedar remains a viable component of the forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Participants in the program in- clude the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, state universities, private compa- nies, state and local governments, and several foreign countries. The Port Orford cedar program is implemented under a multi-agency and multi-resource coordinating group that ensures that resources are directed to studies of both the host tree and the root disease pathogen. The program provides for inventory and monitoring, research, public involvement and education, and management policy. Strat- egies for monitoring the presence and movement of the disease and for developing and evaluating methods of control are also included. Management direction for this program is incorporated in agency land management plan- ning documents. Disease Control Strategies for controlling spread of the fungus include summer operations to reduce movement of infested soil; cleaning of vehicles and equipment to remove mud and dirt that may contain spores of the root pathogen prior to entering or leaving specified areas; berming roadsides to reduce splash and runoff; removing Port Orford cedar from roadsides to prevent infestation of disease-free stands from vehicles using the road; road closures to eliminate or restrict traffic to the dry season; and use of timber harvest systems that reduce the need for and extent of new access VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 In a new area the fungus spreads downslope from roads and trails where zoospores travel in streams; infections usually occur where there is free water around roots. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 9 f ' A. ., •¦(•.. :. • ' i ' "'St*" ••_».»•'•¦'••''"•• " ; ¦: f x » ¦•«* ". •> -.'V* "SC.''*2*! Port Orford cedar growing on the edge of Blue Lake. 4lfsl^ "***> ..#- roads. The mix of appropriate strategies for use in a par- ticular situation is determined by risk analysis. Every activity on National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands that has the potential for affecting Port Orford cedar is assessed for risk, and monitoring the success of control strategies is an integral part of the risk analysis process. The report for each project or activity contains the objectives, the control strategies implemented, and the results of field monitoring over a three- to five- year period. Project reports indicate that control strategies imple- mented have been successful. Seasonal road and harvest closures have reduced or eliminated the spread of the disease into uninfested areas. Berming of road edges and the removal of Port Orford cedar from roadsides has re- duced the spread of the disease into stands downslope from infested roads. Range-wide monitoring will assess overall movement of the root disease. Results of the monitoring are digitized into a Geographic Information System and are used to produce maps showing the current range of Port Orford cedar and of the disease. CITES Petition In September 1993 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) received a petition to add Port Orford cedar to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). The 120 member nations of CITES ban commercial trade in an agreed-upon list of currently endangered species (Appendix I) and regulate and monitor trade in others that might become endangered (Appendix II). The USDA For- est Service was asked by the USFWS to provide materials and a technical recommendation as to whether the listing of Port Orford cedar in Appendix II of CITES would protect or prolong the biological and ecological viability of the species in its natural range. A narrative response and maps were prepared. The maps displayed the range of Port Orford cedar by land ownership in Oregon and California, the current distribution of areas where Port Orford cedar root disease has been identified, the location of congressionally and administratively re- served areas, and the location of late-successional reserves proposed under the President's Plan, Option 9. The narra- 1 0 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 tive contained data on the current range and amount of Port Orford cedar, history of harvest and export, status of man- agement activities, and a description of Port Orford cedar root disease, including an analysis of potential impact of the disease on the future viability of the species. As much as possible, these data covered all lands within the natural range of Port Orford cedar, including Forest Service, Bu- reau of Land Management in Oregon, state land in Oregon and California, and privately owned lands. The results of the analysis were unambiguous: the listing of Port Orford cedar in Appendix II of CITES would neither protect nor prolong the biological and eco- logical viability of the species in its natural range. Regu- lating and monitoring international trade of Port Orford cedar, the purpose of an Appendix II listing, would not materially affect the fate of this species. The majority of Port Orford cedar exported goes to Japan for premium prices. If export of Port Orford cedar were curtailed, any volume produced through sustainable harvest levels would immediately be absorbed by the domestic market. The value received would be much less, but the current de- mand for logs of any species in the Pacific Northwest would ensure that any volume harvested would be utilized here in the United States. In April 1994 the USFWS determined that Port Orford cedar would not be added to the CITES list. The natural range of Port Orford cedar has not dimin- ished because of the Port Orford cedar root disease. The species has not been extirpated from any area where it has historically been located. Natural regeneration and plant- ing of nursery stock has ensured its continued presence in ecosystems and has even expanded its presence outside its natural range. It continues to exist and even thrive in those areas in which it is managed and where the disease has been introduced. Even in stands where the root disease has been present for more than thirty years, Port Orford cedar continues to reproduce and grow where the fungus cannot reach. The consensus of scientists working in this area is that Port Orford cedar has not been eliminated from any area because of the root disease. Because of all of these factors, it is also not a candidate by USFWS for federal listing as a threatened or endangered species. John Kliejunas, U.S. Forest Service, 630 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA94111 References Carlile, M.J. 1983. Motility, taxis, and tropism in Phytoph- thora. Pages 95-107. In D.C. Erwin, S. Bartnicki-Garcia, and P. Tsao, eds. Phytophthora: its biology, taxonomy, ecology, and pathology. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN. 392p. Goheen, E.M., Cobb, D.F., and Forry, K. 1987a. Roadside surveys for Port Orford Cedar root disease on the Powers Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Manage- ment. Technical Report R6-87-04. 18p. Goheen, E.M., Cobb, D.F., and Forry, K. 1987b. Survey of the Coquille River Falls Research Natural Area. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Manage- ment. Technical Report unnumbered. lOp. Hansen, E.M. 1994. Validation of branch lesion test for screen- ing Port Orford cedar for resistance to Phytophthora lateralis. Oregon State University, Final Report Supplement Agree- ment No. PNW 92-0184. 1 lp. Hansen, E.M., Harara, P.B., and Roth, L.F. 1989. Testing Port Orford cedar for resistance to Phytophthora. Plant Disease 73:791-94. Hansen, E.M., Wilson, M., and Zobel, D. 1993. Stream sur- veys for Port Orford cedar root disease on the Gasquet Ranger District, Six Rivers National Forest. Oregon State University Project Report to the USDA Forest Service, December 31, 1993. 15p. Hansen, E.M., Wilson, M., and Zobel, D. 1994. Roadside surveys for Port Orford cedar root disease on the Powers Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest. Oregon State University Project Report to the USDA Forest Service, February 14, 1994. 21p. Hunt, J. 1959. Phytophthora lateralis on Port Orford cedar. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Res. Note 172. 6p. Harvey, R.D., Jr., Hadfield, J.S., and Greenup, M. 1985. Port Or- ford cedar root rot on the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Management. Technical Report Unnumbered. 18p. Kliejunas, J., and Adams, D. 1980. An evaluation of Phytoph- thora root rot of Port Orford cedar in California. USDA Forest Service Forest Pest Mgmt. Report No. 80-1. 16p. Millar, C.I., Delany, D.A., Westfall, R.D., Atzet, T., Greenup, M., and Jimerson, T. 1991. Ecological factors as indicators of genetic diversity in Port Orford cedar: Applications to genetic conservation. USDA Forest Service, Pacific South- west Forest and Range Experiment Station. Progress Re- port, July 1, 1991. 3p. Ostrofsky, W.D., Pratt, R.G., and Roth, L.F. 1977. Detection of Phytophthora lateralis in soil organic matter and factors that affect its survival. Phytopathology 67:79-84. Roth, L.F., Bynum, H.H., and Nelson, E.E. 1972. Phytoph- thora root rot of Port Orford cedar. USDA Forest Service Forest Pest Leafl. 131. 7p. Roth, L.F., Harvey, R.D. Jr., and Kliejunas, J.T. 1987. Port Orford cedar root disease. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. Forest Pest Management Report No. R6-FPM-PR-010-91. lip. Roth, L.F., Trione, E.J., and Ruhmann, W.H. 1957. Phyto- phthora induced root rot of native Port Orford cedar. J. Forestry 55:294-98. Trione, E.J. 1959. The pathology of Phytophthora lateralis on na- tive Chamaecyparis lawsoniana. Phytopathology 49:306-10. Trione, E.J. 1974. Sporulation and germination of Phytoph- thora lateralis. Phytopathology 64:1531-33. Zobel, D.B., Roth, L.F., and Hawk, G.M. 1985. Ecology, pathology, and management of Port Orford cedar {Cha- maecyparis lawsoniana). USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-184. Portland, OR. 161p. VOtUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 1 1 m^m.:^. W&S; :%t>-^--y t Cream cups (Platystemon californica) and tidy tips (Layia gaillardioides) carpeted the floor of Bear Valley, Colusa County in the spring of 1989. Photographs by the author. BEAR VALLEY: WILDFLOWERS AS JOHN MUIR DESCRIBED THEM by Stephen W. Edwards Late April and May bring a spectacular wild- flower display to Bear Valley in Colusa County. In the middle of the nineteenth century there were parts of the great Central Valley of California so densely carpeted with wildflowers, over such vast distances, that an ant could walk from flower to flower for miles, never touching ground. Painted landscapes were common then, throughout California (even on the San Francisco Penin- sula). In the last years of the twentieth century nearly all of the extensive displays are gone. Isolated patches persist, but for over a hundred years each generation has told a younger one of fields of flowers disappeared. Now, as the lowlands are gobbled up at a furious pace, Californians stand at the brink of losing the last vestiges of their inher- itance of beauty, biodiversity, and peace. Some extravagantly flowery pieces of the earth our ancestors knew are familiar to many—the hills above Gorman in the Grapevine; the poppy fields of Antelope Valley; some of the desert basins in unusually good years; Shell Creek in San Luis Obispo County; Table Mountain near Oroville. But two places in particular give a sense of the vast expanses of color, reaching for miles, that John Muir described in the Central Valley in 1869. The Carrizo Plain, west of Buttonwillow and McKittrick and nestled between the Temblor and the Caliente ranges, had a supe- rior year in 1993. South of Soda Lake the valley was an endless bowl of flowers from range to range; and the sheets of Monolopia lanceolata climbed right up the flanks of the Temblors, seemingly covering all the earth with flowers. The Carrizo is managed and protected by The Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM); so, while the adjacent San Joaquin Valley is obliterated, a sizable remnant of its past glories remains west of the Temblors. Bear Valley in Colusa County is the other remnant that is rich enough, and expansive enough, to give a feeling of 12 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 the old Central Valley flower fields. As the Carrizo is in a sense our last remnant of the San Joaquin Valley, Bear Valley represents the Sacramento. West of Williams and east of Clear Lake, bounded on its west side by magnifi- cent Walker Ridge, Bear Valley is spectacular as a land- form alone. But its flora and fauna draw visitors from around the state, many coming year after year and in varying seasons, to enjoy the changing displays—and many wondering how a place of such ecological richness and beauty can still exist. North Along Bear Creek Most visitors enter via Bear Valley Road, which heads north along Bear Creek from the junction of highways 20 and 16. The Bear Creek drainage is an important wildlife area. On recent field trips there I have seen bald eagles (Wayne Roderick, emeritus director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, reports that he has observed them along Bear Creek over a number of decades), striped racer, and many Pacific pond turtles. The great botanical stops begin right at the junction—on some days there is so much to see that the seven-mile hike to Bear Valley seems to take all day. In late May to early June serpentinite exposures display fields of paper onion (Allium amplectens), shiver- ing dwarf flax (Hesperolinon californicum), and yellow owl's-clover (Orthocarpus lithospermoides, which the new Jepson Manual lists as Castilleja rubicundula subsp. rubicundula), punctuated with Brewer's jewel flower (Streptanthus brewed), the lilac-chaliced splendid mari- posa (Calochortus splendens), here near the north end of its range; serpentine sunflower (Helianthus bolanderi); and short-podded thelypodium (Thelypodium brachycar- pum), a rarity here and more common in the Klamath Mountains. There can be dazzling patches of Calochortus superbus and C luteus, and of one of the largest-flowered and most beautiful of all clarkias—the rare endemic Clar- kia gracilis ssp. tracyi. Farther north, snowdrop bush (Sty- rax officinalis var. californica) comes right down to the road, beginning to bloom in late April. Heading north the road gently rises, finally emerging into open grassland with a view out over Bear Valley (1300 feet elevation), with the jagged hogback of Bear Valley Buttes in the distance. In mid- to late March, zones of pink can be seen far off on the valley floor. The south part of the valley is covered with hundreds of thousands of adobe-lily (Fritillaria pluriflora), the most striking of California's fritillarias and perhaps the most "tulip-like." The adobe-lily is List 1 endangered, and untold numbers of people from all over Northern and Central California make a yearly pilgrimage to see it. There is no comparable display of it elsewhere, and this may be the most extensive aggregation of any species of Fritillaria in North America. The thickest and most expansive sheets of diverse flow- ers cover large sections throughout the Valley in April and early May. Raven and Axelrod's (1978) classic Origins and Relationships of the California Flora presents four color plates of California as our grandparents knew it. Two were taken in Southern California; the other two are of Bear Valley: one in April, a vast bowl of blazing yellow tidy tips; the other in May, a tapestry of tidy tips, gilias, lupines, purple owl's-clovers, and poppies. My favorite fields are mixes of cream cups (Platystemon californicus) with orange poppies and purple owl's-clover (Orthocarpus purpurascens, listed as Castilleja exserta in the new Jepson Manual). Not far south of Bear Valley Buttes there are vast fields of meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum) with diverse wildflowers mixed in: yellow and purple owl's-clover, cream cups, poppies, goldfields (Lasthenia glabrata ssp. glabrata), and the rare large-flowered star- tulip (Calochortus uniflorus) with its pink to pale lilac corollas and sky-blue anthers. Mixes vary from field to field and season to season. Where a solid carpet of twenty acres or so of tidy tips (Layia platyglossa and L. gaillardioides) thrives one year, Platystemon and poppies may dominate the next. According to George Clark, an amateur botanist from Sacramento, "extensive patches of Collinsia sparsiflora, Delphinium variegatum, Lasthenia californica, Lupinus bicolor, Nemophila menziesii, Plagiobothrys stipitatus, and Ranunculus canus can also be observed at one time or another dominating sites on the valley floor." Mixtures vary with pattern and amount of rainfall, timing and intensity of grazing, and other factors. Incurable wildflower enthusiasts find it necessary to visit Bear Valley every year, just to see how the floral kaleido- scope changes. But the overwhelming impression across Star-tulip (Calochortus uniflorus) with its delicate pink-to-lilac corollas is abundant on the valley floor in late April to early May. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 13 all the years is of a vast basin of wildflower fields stretch- ing for miles. It is a place where all Californians may yet experience what CNPS members know so well: from field to field, as number and diversity of wildflowers rise, so does the spirit of the observer. One does not have to be in Bear Valley long before beginning to feel irrepressibly buoyant, maybe even light-headed. Why So Rich? Adjacent valleys do not even remotely compare to Bear Valley in richness. The reasons for this have not been studied, but surely three factors are involved. First, plow- ing in Bear Valley has been limited. Second, grazing of cattle, horses, and sheep has been relatively benign; and, third, perhaps critically, there is apparently a serpentine influence in the soil. Walker Ridge, to the west, is largely ultrabasic, and sediments draining eastward into the valley bear that stamp. Rich (1971) who published a beautiful geologic map of the area in 1971, reasoned that serpenti- nite may formerly have covered much of the western and southwestern parts of the valley. Ultrabasic soils reduce In mid-March the floor of the south part of Bear Valley is covered with hundreds of thousands of pink adobe-lily (Fritillaria pluriflord). competitiveness of many pestilential exotic weeds, so if the Bear Valley soils are even marginally ultrabasic, there should be a competitive benefit for wildflowers. BLM and The Nature Conservancy are managing live- stock grazing on the Carrizo Plain, using livestock as a tool to promote native botanical diversity. John Menke and colleagues have demonstrated at Jepson Prairie south of Rio Vista that livestock impacts can be timed and focused to increase abundance of both bunchgrasses and wildflowers in competition with decreasing exotics. In Bear Valley a similar phenomenon has been going on for decades. Year after year, livestock graze the flower fields, and they subtly tip the competitive balance in favor of native plants. In one pasture after another as you drive the long fencelines, abundant poppies, tidy tips, lasthenias, owl's-clovers, or cream cups come right up to the fence. Outside the fence, along the excluded roadsides, typically (with exceptions) far fewer flowers survive—amid tall jungles of exotic annual grasses and star thistle. It is important to avoid the erroneous assumption that star thistle infestations are caused by livestock grazing or even overgrazing. While overgrazing can contribute to the prob- lem, star thistles nonetheless thrive in excluded areas everywhere, and typically they populate excluded zones even more densely than they do adjacent pastures. Craig Thompsen and W. A. Williams at U.C. Davis have re- cently described, by the way, how cattle can be used to manage star thistle. Yellow star thistle is an increasing problem in the valley, on both sides of the fences. It seems to have received its greatest boosts from soil disturbance resulting from road grading, and from plowing. Bear Valley could change, quickly and drastically, turn- ing a broad bowl of color into a cauldron of ruined memo- ries. A recent plan proposes to turn the valley into a 20,000-person retirement complex. It proposes to plow out the mysteriously potent native soil for vineyards; cover the former glories with golf courses, tarmac, ranchettes, and larger buildings; and/or to develop irrigated pastures for intensified year-round grazing. The core of this aberra- tion was planned for the fritillary fields. Were the plan to proceed, the delightful south-entry road, with all its wonderful displays, and Bear Creek beside it, would become a commute-jam. Bear Valley proper would be gone—just another homogenized clone of all the other trashed lowlands of the North Coast Ranges north of the Bay Area. Walker Ridge To the west of Bear Valley lies Walker Ridge. It is accessible by car via Walker Ridge Road, off Highway 20, or via Bartlett Springs Road up the Brim Grade from Bear Valley Buttes. This is a wild mountain range (elevations around 3000 feet) providing breathtaking vistas of Bear Valley, Sutter Buttes, and the Sierra to the east; Mendocino 14 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 ¦ ^w^^mpip^" =t^r'*'r* 'I f 4V" ^ "k Many of the most exciting and unusual plants on Walker Ridge are confined to delicate scree-slopes that are easily damaged. National Forest (Mt. Snow and Mt. St. John) to the north; and Lake and Napa counties (Mt. Konocti, Mt. Hannah, Cobb Mountain, Mt. St. Helena) to the west. It is managed by the BLM, with primitive camping, endless opportuni- ties for hiking, and a serpentine flora second to none. One among many botanical haunts well known to CNPS is Barrel Springs, with its masses of death-camas (Zigade- nus venosus, swamp larkspur (Delphinium uliginosum), long-rayed brodiaea (Triteleia peduncularis), serpentine sunflower (Helianthus bolanderi), and a host of other interesting taxa, including the rare endemic Jepson's loco- weed (Astragalus rattanii var. jepsonianus). Serpentinite scree areas near the summit of Walker Ridge Road support Greene's collinsia (Collinsia greenei), Purdy's fritillary (Fritillaria purdyi), the rock-loving onions Allium cra- tericola and A. falcifolium, bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva). Amazingly long plant lists have been put together over the years by CNPS field-trip leaders Ledyard Stebbins, Walter Knight, George Clark, David Magney, and others. Just to cite a few of the choicest rarities, one could note Snow Mountain buckwheat (Eriogonum nervulosum), talus milk- weed (Asclepias solanoana), the CNPS List 1 endangered Brodiaea rosea, Morrison's jewelflower (Streptanthus mor- risonii), Hall's tarplant (Madia hallii), disjunct prickly poppy (Argemone munita ssp. rotundata, and large colo- nies of Balsamorhiza macrolepis. The list of interesting plants and exciting habitats and displays is long, and, to anyone interested in natural history, simply overwhelm- ing. One of my favorite places is where a small stream crosses Brim Grade not far above the valley floor. In the streambed are leopard lily (Liliumpardalinum) and stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea), associated with a woody flora the diversity of which is truly remarkable: in addition to more common serpentine taxa, snowdrop bush (Styrax officinalis var. californica), Brewer's willow (salix brew- ed), foothill ash (Fraxinus dipetala), spice bush (Caly- canthus occidentalis), serpentine silktassel (Garrya cong- donii), redbud (Cercis occidentalis), and serpentine cof- feeberry (Rhamnus tomentella ssp. crassifolia)—the last looking so distinctive in form, adaptation, and possibly reproductive isolation as to suggest it may be a separate species. According to Stew Winchester, horticulture in- structor at Diablo Valley College, the extremely rare west- ern viburnum (Viburnum ellipticum) is nearby. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONT1A 1 5 Impending Development If a huge proposed development is to be placed in Bear Valley, the effects on Walker Ridge must also be consid- ered. Many of the most diverse and colorful displays are in and around small, isolated, vernally moist meadows. These can withstand only limited human impacts, not the ORVs Talus milkweed (Asdepias solanoana) (below) is an extreme rarity of sliding talus slopes. It is so distinctive that botanists Greene and Abrams once considered it to belong to its own genus, Solanoa. The prickly poppy (Argemone munita) (bottom), familiar to many as a brilliant denizen of Eastern California and Nevada, is a startling find along Walker Ridge. Photograph by Wayne Roderick. and off-road non-ORVs that inevitably flood delicate ar- eas next to developments. But Walker Ridge also holds immense value in relation to Bear Valley. For if the latter can be preserved for future generations, it will be together with Walker Ridge—which already belongs to the BLM. Together they constitute one of the truly greatest natural areas of California. And it is only two hours by car from the Bay Area. The supreme irony of the recent development plan for Bear Valley is that well meaning people seeking a peace- ful retirement in the country would participate in the destruction of the greatest beauty imaginable, beauty that draws people every spring, from all directions, to enjoy the valley in a profoundly peaceful way. While the people of California in general will suffer if Bear Valley is lost and Walker Ridge perverted, local people will perhaps suffer most. According to Wayne Ro- derick, a local rancher with whom he spoke was deeply concerned about the future of the area, and was at the time investigating ways to prevent development. This under- scores a point that ranchers (who usually do not plow the soil or pave the earth) are potentially the strongest allies of environmental organizations. Many, perhaps most, want the exact same basics that urban natural historians long for: undeveloped open space, clean water, rich native bio- diversity. Younger members may not remember the early days of CNPS, when a rancher named Ernest Twisselmann hosted one of the all-time great CNPS field trips, to the Temblors, with chuckwagon (steaks, sundries, even Rocky Mountain oysters) provided by the Twisselmann Ranch. Technical botanical matters were handled by Twisselmann himself, who had become the authority on Kern County's floristics, and who produced two superb floras—those of Kern County and of the Temblor Range. If CNPS would make a sustained effort to bring ranch- ers into the activities of the society, everyone might be enriched, and perhaps situations like the one in Bear Val- ley could be averted long before crisis stage. Although ecologically attuned ranchers like Twisselmann were once almost unheard of, that is less true today. Increasing de- mands for efficiency are encouraging many to learn how to integrate their management strategies with natural cycles and patterns. CNPS, with its aggregate expertise, can cer- tainly assist ranchers in these endeavors. As for those ranchers who never have been reached— many are convinced that selling off their land for develop- ment is a necessity to provide for their children's future. One can only pray that when the selling price is set, ranchers will remember their love for the land, how hard they and those before them struggled to keep that land healthy and whole, and then try to set the price at a level that can be afforded by those who will continue the struggle. Stephen W. Edwards, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA 94708 16 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Vernal pools have recently been identified in the alluvial clay bottomlands of the San Jacinto Valley near Hemet. Photographs by David Bramlet. VERNAL POOLS IN THE SAN JACINTO VALLEY by Scott D. White IN 1991 David Bramlet identified two series of ver- nal pools in the alluvial clay bottomlands of San Jacinto Valley. One site is on agricultural land in the southeastern valley near the city of Hemet; the other is to the northwest, partly within the San Jacinto Wildlife Area and partly on agricultural land. Several other sites in the Hemet area have been identified since then. Bramlet is now preparing a detailed description of the distribution and flora of these pools. Preserving these vernal pools may require protecting large areas of playa lake beds or alkali flats. Vernal pools are among the rarest and most threatened of California's wetland habitats. They support a variety of unique plants, provide seasonal habitat for migratory birds, and support a host of unusual invertebrates. The vernal pool environment results from a combination of Mediter- ranean climatic regime, nearly flat topography, and imper- meable soil. Topographic depressions fill with rain or flood water during winter. By summer these pools have evaporated completely, often drying to a hardpan where few plants grow. Vernal pools thus present an ephemeral environment: flooding limits oxygen levels available to roots of most plants during the early growing season, and later in the season drying out inhibits the establishment of plants. The vernal pool flora consists mostly of aquatic annuals adapted to this difficult regime. Vernal pools are found in the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Modoc Plateau, valleys of the North Coast Ranges, and in three distinct regions in Southern California. Southern California pools occur on coastal terraces in San Diego and Santa Barbara counties and on basalt flows on the Santa Rosa Plateau in Riverside County. In coastal terrace regions they occur on alluvial soils with VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 17 subsurface iron-silica "cements," on claypan marine ter- race soils, and on sandy soils overlying layers of imperme- able clay. The Santa Rosa Plateau pools occur on basalt flows that provide the impermeable layer. Alluvial Clay Bottomlands The San Jacinto Valley (also called Perris Basin) lies between two arms of the Peninsular Ranges in Southern California: the Santa Ana Mountains to the west and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains to the east. Seismic activity along faults at the valley's boundaries has caused the valley floor to fall relative to adjacent mountain ranges. Alluvial material from the eroding mountains has been deposited on the valley floor, which is characterized by saline-alkali alluvial clay soils. Over geologic time a block of the Peninsular Range geologic province has subsided and has been largely buried. The eroded remains of old mountains emerge above the deep alluvium, supporting coastal sage scrub and some of the easternmost California gnatcatcher populations. Most of the valley bottomlands are now in agricultural production. Vernal pools, some supporting rare or endangered plants, occur on these allu- vial clay bottomlands. The San Jacinto Valley vernal pools occur on soils mapped as the Domino-Traver-Willows association. The pool first identified by Beauchamp and other pools nearby are on similar soil. Knecht describes these as saline-alkali soils, typically heavy in clay or silt content and underlain by an impermeable calcareous "cement" known as caliche. The flora in the pools is characterized by annual aquatic species, including dwarf woolly-heads (Psilocarphus bre- Dwarf woolly-heads (Psilocarphus brevissimus) is an annual aquatic that blooms as the vernal pools dry. vissimus), toad rush (Juncus bufonius), spike rush (Eleo- charis sp.), and water pygmy weed {Crassula aquatica). Some pools support plants listed as sensitive by CNPS, including little mousetail (Myosurus minimus var. apus, List 3) and prostrate navarretia (Navarretia fossalis, List IB); some support state and federally listed endangered California orcutt grass (Orcuttia California!). The state- listed endangered thread-leaved brodiaea (Brodiaea fili- folia) occurs at the margins of some pools. The pools also support an invertebrate fauna, poorly documented to date but possibly including the federally listed endangered Riv- erside fairy shrimp (Streptocephalus woottonii). A Dynamic System Vernal pool floras are dynamic. Species that occur in abundance one year may be absent in others. Changes in species composition may be due in part to seed dormancy, but may also result from constant new colonization bal- anced by local extirpation in individual pools. The pools themselves are dynamic. In dry years small pools may not hold water during the growing season and may not de- velop pool vegetation. In unusually wet years a series of small pools may merge into a single large one, perhaps enhancing seed dispersal between pools. The pools occur in a changing mosaic with a series of unique alkali-flat plant communities. Alkali grasslands, alkali playas, and vernal pools share much of their floristic composition and are often difficult to differentiate. Vernal pool species sometimes occur on alkali vernal plains where no topographic depressions are evident. Vernal pool hy- drology at the northwestern site seems to differ from other pools because they are filled when the San Jacinto River overflows its banks—not by rainfall in a local runoff basin. Historically, the San Jacinto River drained into Mystic Lake (San Jacinto Lake), an expansive playa in the northern San Jacinto Valley, and vernal pool hydrology likely was linked to the lake itself. San Jacinto Valley vernal pools are a remnant of a once extensive seasonal wetland landscape. They have been heavily influenced by agriculture and related disturbances, and many are now threatened by development. Vernal pools and surrounding seasonally flooded soils have been drained and then plowed for grain production or grazed by livestock. Roads have altered hydrology, usually channel- ing runoff along drainage ditches rather than allowing it to stand in open fields or flow naturally from pool to pool in shallow swales. Flood control projects have channelized the San Jacinto River and other waterways, eliminating much of the seasonal water supply. Since the 1980s the cities of Hemet, San Jacinto, Perris, and Moreno Valley have grown tremendously, converting huge areas of agri- cultural land to commercial and residential development. Scattered vernal pools have survived agricultural distur- bance, but if they are to persist along with development in 18 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 the valley, then planning for new development must incor- porate hydrologic and biogeographic requirements of the pools and their biota. How to Protect Pools? If environmental reports properly identify pools sup- porting state or federally listed species, or meeting agency definitions of wetlands, then impacts will be regulated, if not prevented, through the California Environmental Qual- ity Act, state and federal endangered species acts, and the federal Water Quality Act. Pools without listed species or not qualifying as wetlands are less likely to be protected, and meaningful mitigation is less likely to occur. The distribution of rare plants, vernal pools, and other unique plant communities in the San Jacinto Valley may necessitate conservation of large areas of playa lake bed or alkali flats—not just a few isolated pools that happen to support listed species. These rare plants and their habitats should be inventoried and their ecological requirements more fully elucidated. Protection for some vernal pools in the San Jacinto Valley may be forthcoming. The City of Hemet, presum- ably with the intent of avoiding or mitigating future im- pacts, has enlisted local botanists as volunteers to survey and document potential vernal pool sites and is inventory- ing vernal pools in one large planning area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is aware of the pools and hopes to protect some significant sites. Some vernal pools are within the San Jacinto Wildlife Area (managed by the California Department of Fish and Game), and protecting these sites should be consistent with current management practices. New construction in the San Jacinto Valley has slowed with the region's economy, relieving pressures to develop open space. Economic growth and new development likely will rebound in the future, but the present economy offers an opportunity for long-term regional planning for protec- tion of vernal pools. Riverside County and the incorpo- rated cities should begin now to identify the full extent of rare plants and invertebrates and unique plant communi- ties in the San Jacinto Valley and to design a long-term conservation plan for these resources. Scott White, 518 S. Geneva Avenue, Claremont, CA 91718 References Baker, W.S., F.E. Hayes, and E.W. Lathrop. 1992. Avian use of vernal pools at the Santa Rosa Plateau Preserve, Santa Ana Mountains, California. Southwestern Naturalist 37:392- 403. Bramlet, D. Plant species of special concern in the alkaline sinks of the San Jacinto River and the old Salt Creek tributary area. In preparation. A number of plants are listed as sensitive plants by CNPS such as the prostrate navarretia (Navarretiafossalis). Rarefind. 1993. Natural Diversity Data Base. California De- partment of Fish and Game. Eng. L.L., D. Belk, and C.H. Eriksen. 1990. California Anostraca: distribution, habitat, and status. Journal of Crus- tacean Biology 10:247-77. Ferren, W.R. and P.L. Fiedler. 1993. Rare and threatened wetlands of central and southern California. In Keeley, J.E. (ed.), Interface Between Ecology and Land Development in California. Southern California Academy of Sciences, Los Angeles. Ferren, W.R. and D.A. Pritchett. 1988. Enhancement, Resto- ration, and Creation of Vernal Pools at Del Sol Open Space and Vernal Pool Reserve, Santa Barbara County, Califor- nia. Environmental Report No. 13, Department of Biologi- cal Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara. Griggs, F.T. and S.K. Jain. 1983. Conservation of vernal pool plants in California, II: Population biology of a rare and unique grass genus Orcuttia. Biological Conservation 27:171-93. Gunther, J.D. 1984. Riverside County, California, Place Names: Their Origins and Their Stories. Rubidoux Printing Company, Riverside, California. Holland, R.F. and S.K. Jain. 1981. Insular biogeography of vernal pools in the Central Valley of California. American Naturalist 117:24-37. Knecht, A.A. 1971. Soil Survey of Western Riverside Area, California. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C. Willet, G. and A. Jay. 1911. May notes from San Jacinto Lake. Condor 23:156-60. Zedler, P.H. 1987. The Ecology of Southern California Vernal Pools. Biological Report No. 85(7.11). USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. Scott White, 518 S. Geneva Avenue, Claremont, CA 91718 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 19 SERENO WATSON: EARLY CALIFORNIA BOTANIST by Liam H. Davis Sereno Watson wrote the first flora of California in spite of having no formal botanical education. Upon his arrival in California in 1867, seeking adventure, he volunteered to serve as assistant to a geo- logical survey party in the Sierra Nevada, where he was assigned to collecting plants. At the time he was over forty years old and had had various unrelated careers. But dur- ing the party's exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Watson discovered a passion for botany in addition to discovering new species of plants. That experience was the beginning of a prolific and distinguished career in plant systematics. Sereno Watson was born 1 December 1826 in East Windsor Hill, Connecticut, the ninth of thirteen children. His parents, Henry Watson and Julia Reed Watson, were descendants of early Connecticut settlers, one of whom, a Robert Watson, had migrated to America in about 1639 and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. Sereno's father, a merchant in the village of East Windsor, died when the boy was young. After his father's death the family moved to a nearby ancestral farm where Sereno enjoyed a "pleas- ant rural childhood." As a young man Watson acquired sufficient prepara- Sereno Watson in the Gray Herbarium at Harvard, where the first flora of California was written. Photo from Drupree, A. H., 1959, Asa Gray, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. tory schooling at East Windsor Hill Academy to matricu- late at Yale College, where he graduated in 1847 in his twenty-first year. He intended to study medicine and en- tered what is now called New York University. He studied under several physicians in New York state and then in New England. He later studied under his brother Dr. Louis Watson's direction in Quincy, Illinois, where he com- pleted his medical training. Watson's medical studies al- ternated with various teaching posts in New England, Pennsylvania, and New York. During this period, he also went through a series of unsuccessful farming ventures. Neither medicine nor teaching nor farming appear to have held his interest. He abruptly changed careers and next studied insur- ance and banking. In 1856 he moved to Greensboro, Ala- bama, where he joined another brother in the insurance business. He served as secretary to the Planter's Insurance Company for about five years. In February 1861, ninety miles away in Montgomery, the seceeding Confederate States of America inaugurated Jefferson Davis as Presi- dent. It is not known how Watson felt about the historical events unfolding around him in Alabama at that time, but within the year he resigned his employment and moved north to New England near his birthplace. There he found employment with the Journal of Education in Hartford, Connecticut, where he wrote and served as an associate editor. During this time he attended the Sheffield School of Yale for a year and took classes in mineralogy and chemistry. When the Civil War ended Watson resigned from the journal and the following year, "without definite pur- pose," he sailed for California via the Isthmus of Panama. On to California After arriving in California without employment, Wat- son apparently "walked across the Sacramento Valley up into the Sierra Nevada," where he met up with the Clarence King United States geological exploration party, which was surveying the Fortieth Parallel. He applied to the scientific staff for work with a resume that was engaging if not peculiar. Accepted initially as a volunteer, he im- pressed his superiors with his skills and within a month was placed on the payroll with a small wage. The survey party experienced a rigorous year. Many people developed fever, including the party's botanist, William Whitman Bailey, who began to rely heavily on Watson's assistance. From Carson City, Nevada, at the party's base camp near the California and Nevada state line, Bailey wrote to Asa Gray of Harvard: "I will give you an account of my summer's work. It was much interrupted by sickness, chiefly fever and ague, from which nearly our whole party suffered. The pain is too recent, and my recollection of it too vivid for me to speak much of it now. Luckily my associate in this department Mr. Watson was VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Watson's saltbush (Atriplex watsonii) in a saltwater marsh during low tide at Chula Vista Bayfront Reserve in San Diego County. Photograph by the author. well all the time—very energetic and industrious—and his herbarium probably contains twice the number which I have collected. I cannot speak in terms of too high praise of this gentleman—always genial and kind—and ever persevering. His botanical work was in addition to that of topography. He works early and late and seems never tired or ruffled." Bailey's poor health persisted, and four months later he resigned. Watson took over as official botanist, collecting eastward through Nevada into Utah along the Fortieth Parallel. In 1869 Watson returned east to work up his collection at the herbarium of William C. Eaton, professor of botany at Yale College. Sereno Watson began the work on his Fortieth Parallel collection at the Yale herbarium, where he immersed himself in plant systematics. Eaton asked Watson to write Asa Gray at Harvard, where Gray was currently studying the genus Eriogonum. On 9 December 1869 Wat- son wrote to Gray: "Allow me to introduce myself to you through a package of Eriogoneae which I send you today by Express. Prof. Eaton has told you that I have been gathering weeds ... He informs me that you intend shortly a revision of the Eriogoneae ... I send you my entire col- lections in this suborder . . . presuming that you will not complain of the surplus material." Watson goes on cor- dially to make specific taxonomic remarks about some of Gray's previous work. Watson's letter reveals a person already knowledgeable in plant systematics and affirms his characteristic generosity: "I will send you any farther ma- terial that you wish." The letter also states Watson's eager desire to examine the Gray Herbarium. FREMONTIA 21 Three Hearts (Tricardia watsonii), found in the SierraNevadain California and in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona along dry desert mountain slopes. IHustrationfromWatson.Sereno, 1871., Vol. V of Clarence King'sReports. Botany of the 40th Parallel, Plate XXIV. Drawing by Mr. J.H. Emerton. Working Under Asa Gray Asa Gray, from this time until his death, would be closely associated, as both mentor and colleague, to the eager Watson. The following year Watson moved himself and his plant collection to Harvard in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. From his association with Bailey and Eaton, Watson no doubt was aware of this extraordinary botanist, Asa Gray, he would be meeting. But Gray had already received appraisals of Watson's work in California from Bailey and probably also from his former student Eaton. Gray's professional assessment of Watson on meeting him must have been favorable, because soon after Watson's arrival Gray assigned him the task of preparing a biblio- graphical index to North American botany. Under Gray's tutelage Watson's contributions to botany began the following year with his first publication in a report titled "Botany of the 40th Parallel" (1871. Vol. V of the Clarence King's Reports) by Sereno Watson. The vol- ume lists 1,325 plant species with descriptions and some illustrations. There is also a section on introduced plant species. The publication is a classic in that it was the first account of distinctive xerophytic and mesophytic plant life in the Great Basin region, and it is an example of Watson's "painstaking meticulousness in defining the systematics of plants" that would characterize all his later work. 22 FREMONTIA At the Gray Herbarium Watson also was asked to assist Gray with some of his immense correspondence. One biologist Gray had been corresponding with was Charles Darwin. The 1870s "were the high point of Gray's and Darwin's mutual efforts on botanical subjects." Watson's own botanical studies with Gray surely benefited from the collaborations between Darwin and Gray and the new concept of Darwinian evolution applied to botany. In 1873 Gray, who was then sixty-two years old, went into active retirement. He tendered his resignation on New Year's Day, but requested to continue as curator of the Gray Herbarium. Watson was designated assistant cura- tor. The following year Watson was appointed a full cura- tor, a position he would hold until his death. Botany of California It was during this time that Watson began the task of compiling the systematic botany of California, started earlier by William H. Brewer, who had turned over his material to Watson. The work on the first flora of Califor- nia was published in two volumes. In 1876, volume one of Botany of California was published under the joint author- ship of Watson, Brewer, and Gray. Between publication of the two California flora vol- umes Watson started yet another monumental project, the indexing of all plant species west of the Mississippi River. Up to this time only "scattered accounts and descriptions had already been published in the accounts of many west- ern explorations." In 1878 the first part of his Biblio- graphic Index to North American Botany was published, which included the Polypetalae of North America. Mean- while he would continue indexing the Apetalae and Mono- cotyledonae. That same year Iowa College (Grinnell) be- stowed upon Watson an honorary doctorate. In 1880 the second volume of Botany of California was published under the single authorship of Dr. Sereno Watson. This volume contained, as well, a taxonomic treatise on the mosses of California. Watson wrote in the introduc- tion, "The present volume completes the Botany of Cali- fornia so far as it can be at this time satisfactorily done ... there still remains ample opportunity for good botanical work ... it is hoped that these volumes may prove both an incentive and an aid." During the publication year he took a sabbatical from Harvard to botanize in the northwest United States. Part of this time was spent in Montana investigating tree areas for the U.S. Forest Department's 1880 census. Despite these accomplishments and recognition, Watson was known as an "extremely self conscious and shy" person. As an established botanical authority, he never presented his papers in person but instead solicited col- leagues to do so for him. He was associated with "life long diffidence" and "lifelong shyness." He lived in a "modest part of Cambridge and who, though a Congregationalist, VOLUME 22, NO. 3 belonged to a less stylish church than the one Gray at- tended." He never married. Living as a recluse and working at Cambridge in the 1870s, Watson refused to attend larger scientific and so- cial activities. He initially refused teaching positions at Harvard. But as his accomplishments and expertise mounted he assumed the responsibility of instructing phytography from 1881 to 1884. Around 1883 Watson was able to schedule enough time from his teaching position at Harvard to botanize in Ver- mont and New Hampshire. He hiked over the summit of Mount Washington. In 1884 Watson, Thomas P. James, and Charles Leo Lesquereux published the Manual of the Mosses of North America. Watson and Gray gave much effort in preparation and criticism to Lesquereux, an Ameri- can bryologist, on his initial manuscript. Watson's work with California mosses was widely known and accepted. In 1883 Lesquereux had written Gray "I have now to review my table of classification or Key which is about like that of Prof. Watson in Bot. of the California Survey." Watson advised Lesquereux that newer nomenclature and systematics were being employed for mosses, to which Lesquereux replied: "That revolutionary system may be good according to some opinion. But I am too old and therefore too conservative to admit it." During the manu- script preparation T. P. James died. It was a professional and personal loss for Watson. Watson first had begun to collaborate with James fifteen years earlier when Watson was new to botany and shared with interested colleagues his new specimens collected along the Fortieth Parallel. With respect for Watson's friendship for James and Lesquereux, Watson was acknowledged as coauthor. Lesquereux's advanced age and poor health kept him from making necessary trips to Cambridge to collaborate. Watson was left with much of the burden and conse- quently much of the influence over the project. When the manuscript was finished, "Lesquereux urged Watson many times to receive money for his services but each time Watson generously refused." In 1885 Watson took leave of absence again from Harvard. He traveled to Central America to botanize in Guatemala. While there he contracted malaria; he would suffer complications from the disease for the rest of his life. But he was undaunted from his Central American expedi- tion and sickness and visited Europe the following year. Completing the Manual of Northern United States Asa Gray died at the end of January 1888. Gray had been revising his classic Manual of the Botany of Northern United States. Watson and John M. Coulter completed the work before year's end. The following year Watson was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1890 Watson was in his mid-sixties. Judging from his many projects, he showed no intention of slowing down. He was working up his Guatemalan collection, and A Synoptical Flora had been started. Still uncompleted and unpublished was the balance of Watson's Biblio- graphical Index to North American Botany. He now had eight parts at the Gray Herbarium in manuscript form. Watson was in correspondence with John Macoun, who was botanizing in Canada with his son. Macoun had been writing Watson enthusiastic letters about a large number of undescribed mosses and vascular plants he was collecting from Alaska and British Columbia. Macoun planned to have his son attend Harvard University to work up his collection under Watson's direction. In December 1891 Watson contracted influenza, which further compro- mised his health and resulted in a dilated heart condition. On 9 March 1892 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sereno Watson died; he was sixty-five years old. The nineteenth century had established systematics for North American botany. During that period many monu- mental botanical treatises were published. Sometimes dis- agreements among colleagues developed as well. A re- markable altercation was the "Gray and Greene contro- versy." Edward Lee Greene, a plant taxonomist, was then a curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and instructor of botany at the University of California. Greene's dispute with Asa Gray was initially over taxonomic differences. Further disagreements be- tween the two botanists resulted in long, heated exchanges of correspondence. During this time Watson was profes- sionally and amicably associated with both men. In 1887 Green wrote Watson and questioned if there was "out- ward appearances of hostility between us?" Watson re- sponded to Green shortly afterwards, and a copy of the letter found in the Greene correspondence file at the Gray Herbarium reads in part: "In all my botanical writing & doings I have studiously avoided personalities of every kind, in reference to yourself as to everyone else. I have said & done nothing that evidenced hostility to you, as I have felt none." The following year Watson and Greene strove to be friends. All people who associated with the shy, self-learned botanist Sereno Watson appeared to have liked him. Several plants have been named for Watson, including Watson's saltbush (Atriplex watsonii) a prostrate peren- nial plant that forms dense white-scaly mats over some of the sand dunes and salt marshes in southern California and Baja California. The new Latin adjective serenanus was coined to honor his name. [The author gratefully acknowledges the Archives, Gray Herbarium Library, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dr. Jean Cargill for making available the letters of Sereno Watson and Asa Gray.] Liam H. Davis, Department of Fish and Game, 8885 Rio San Diego Drive #270, San Diego, CA 92108 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 23 ENCOUNTER WITH A NATIVE PLANT FAN by Thomas Oberbauer IT BEGAN ABOUT FIVE years ago, during February and early March. I received a number of telephone calls on my office answering machine in which an elderly man with a gruff voice said, "This is Andy Scholes and I need to talk to someone about chocolate bells." He never gave a return number so I could not call him back. The first year, by the time that I finally made contact with him, the flowering season had already past. However, he told me that there were some large and very important "beds" of chocolate bells (Fritillaria biflora) down on Otay Mesa and that someone needed to see them. He also said that he took seeds from some of the beds and spread them, trying to get them to grow in other places. The following February, I received the calls again. It was a good rainfall year, and the chocolate bells appar- ently were doing quite well. Andy really wanted me to come look at them since I was the only one who seemed to express any interest. So I made arrangements to meet him on Otay Mesa in San Diego County. While chocolate bells or lilies are of interest in this region, they had been removed from consideration for sensitive plant lists because they are common elsewhere in California. Still, they are fascinating plants, and the bell- Once, large beds of chocolate lily (Fritillary biflora) occured on the Otay Mesa in San Diego County. Photograph by the author. shaped flowers do look more like a piece of candy than something that would grow, let alone a natural wild spe- cies. I had already seen the plants in a large grassy area in Alpine at the urging of one of the local people there, and had discovered them myself in a few other places: the top of McGinty Mountain, an area by Fortuna Mountain, and an area in Encinitas that was long ago developed with houses. I had spent a considerable amount of time searching for the rare and endangered San Diego thornmint (Acantho- mintha ilicifolia), and found the chocolate lilies in the clay soils where I hoped to find the thornmint. Occasionally they did occur near each other. The distinctive box-like fruiting body of the lily was almost as interesting as the flowers. All in all, chocolate lilies have a combination of factors that make them inter- esting: the unusual soil requirement; early spring-late win- ter flowering when everything is still green; compact size; and an appearance like something that might have been developed for horticultural trade. A friend of mine who is interested in photography rode with me, hoping to get pictures of these plants. We planned to meet Andy in front of the Brown Field air terminal. When I pulled up at the agreed-upon time, there was nobody there who fit my mental image of Andy Scholes. I expected a graying, retired gentleman wearing a flannel shirt and arriving in a conservative but well kept Ameri- can-made sedan. The vehicle we saw was an old military- green Dodge van. It was partly rusty, partly covered with mud, and it looked like it was being driven far beyond its life span. The parts that were not muddy or rusty were covered with dust. The person driving the van was an elderly man, of bulky build, wearing a military surplus jacket, though it was not cold, and a floppy green military hat. He looked more like someone who was used to the ways of life on the street rather than a flower aficionado. I suggested that we follow him in my small pickup truck, but he said we should go in his van since the access trails were muddy. I sat in the front seat, and my friend sat in the back. Stepping into the van was like stepping into a different dimension. There was a well worn cot on one side, some tool boxes, a little cook stove, and a rusty birdcage with a canary. Bird seed was dispersed in many of the nooks and crannies near the cage. Over the driver- side door was a rusty old rifle. The scent of birds and dust was quite noticeable. For the next hour or so, we saw a number of groups of chocolate bells behind the junk and storage yards of western Otay Mesa. On several occasions guard dogs from the yards vocally expressed their displeasure at our VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 •s> €.:*.¦' "4 "..' """ •• >•.*.'<. In 1978, spring brought a sea of color and fragrance that extended across the Otay Mesa in SanDiego; however, today, little of this vernal beauty remains. presence. It was a late winter, early spring day with warm sun, cool breeze, and cottony, fluffy white cumulus clouds. The sounds of meadowlarks and day crickets mixed with the barking junk yard dogs and low-flying airplanes. The sweet scent of shooting stars wafted across as we exam- ined the chocolate bells in little mesa points that had yet been spared the bulldozer. We made a large loop around the yards and the Brown Field runway, and listened to Mr. Scholes talk about his military career, his wives, and his ability to commune with the prehistoric environment. He was serious about his concern for these flowers, which seemed more important to him than anything else at this point in his life. He apparently lived on the road and stayed in Lakeside and Arizona, but rented a storage trailer on Otay Mesa. Each year he made the trek to see the flowers. He spoke about being first introduced to chocolate lilies in the 1930s and carrying that reverence to the present time. We saw many of the plants and flowers, including an unusual white one. We took photographs and had a few laughs with him. Then he dropped us off at my truck. As we drove away, we both wondered if any of the precious natural flower beds could be protected from development. I heard from Mr. Scholes only one more year after that. It was a short message that there were not so many of the chocolate bells in flower even though it was a wet rainfall season. Sadly, the western part of Otay Mesa is more and more being converted to development. The months of February and March have passed this year—without an- other call from Mr. Scholes. Thomas Oberbauer, 3437TrumballStreet, SanDiego, CA 92106 VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 25 NEW FELLOWS DORIS FREDENDALL came to my door prior to the formation of the Bristlecone Chapter in 1982. She had heard that I knew the names of native plants and wondered if she could hire me to help her learn them. Of course I welcomed her with open arms. Since that time she has become a valuable member of our chap- ter, besides being delightful to know. Her deep love of flowers is a major motivation in her life. She is an outstanding field trip leader and a gracious hostess for all of our executive board meetings. The loca- tion of her home, between the northern and southern parts of Owens Valley, make it a most convenient meeting place. Her thoughtfulness and dependability help to keep things running smoothly. A most valuable service is her habit of making plant lists to cover every site that we visit. A large share of her time is spent in the field, checking on where to find any special plants. She enthusiastically shares this knowledge with all of her acquaintances, mak- ing frequent converts to the California Native Plants Soci- ety. For example, she knows where and when to find the lovely Lewisia rediviva, Bitterroot, at its peak, and she has located every Sclerocactus polyancistrus, Fishhook Cac- tus, in the vicinity. She has adopted Highway 190 from Highway 395 to its crest in the Inyo-White Mountains, not only picking up trash but also waging a fierce battle against any weeds in the right-of-way. She informs the state of any problems and gets their cooperation. Recently when Caltrans in- formed her that it was limiting her to two miles of highway Genera: Philadelphus and Carpenteria Family: Philadelphaceae WHETHER WANDERING in a grassy meadow or poking about the native garden at home, one cannot help appreciating the glory of a Califor- nia spring. The rich colors and perfumes of native wild- flowers are all around. Yet all too soon the show is over. Summer is a quieter time, and the native landscape shows subtler shades of tan against the rich greens of oaks and leafy shrubs. Still, all is not lost for those who delight in the sight of flowers in the garden. Mock oranges {Phila- delphus) and bush anemone {Carpenteria) take the floral Doris Fredendall photographed in Owens Valley by Mary Dedecker. because it was too dangerous to have her working the lower section of winding roadway, she indignantly replied that she was not about to let the Russian thistles regain control They let her have her way, warning her to be very cautious. So that scenic highway continues to be a pristine route. Doris served two nonconsecutive years as chapter presi- dent, the second year because we wanted her back again. She is a very special person who finds many ways to help keep the Bristlecone Chapter a healthy link of the Califor- nia Native Plant Society. She is a worthy recipient of the honor of CNPS Fellow. Mary DeDecker stage as spring gives way to summer, and give the gar- dener much to admire at other times as well. Philadelphus, Carpenteria, and a few other shrubby genera make up the family Philadelphaceae. However, they were for many years placed with groups as diverse as heucheras and wild currants {Ribes) in the Saxifragaceae. Common features of the Philadelphaceae include woody stems, opposite (paired) leaves, and four- or five-petaled flowers with ten or more, often showy, stamens. Besides Philadelphus and Carpenteria, California representatives of the family include two other ornamental genera, Jamesia and Fendlerella, which are little known and reputedly diffi- cult to grow, and a useful little plant, Whipplea modesta. GROWING NATIVES: MOCK ORANGES AND THEIR KIN by Nevin Smith 26 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Physical Features Wild mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii) is a common but delightful sight along creeks and hillside seeps in the mountains of northern California. It is cemented in my mind with scenes of rushing water in the Marble and Trinity mountains. Wild mock orange revels in the sun- shine, where its glittering combination of snowy flowers and bright green foliage is shown to best advantage. Botanists once distinguished two subspecies with over- lapping ranges, Philadelphus lewisii ssp. californicus, sup- posedly the more northerly and somewhat larger flowered, and P. lewisii ssp. gordonianus, with more distinctly toothed leaves. This distinction held up better in the textbook than in the wild. The Jepson Manual now places them together as part of one highly variable complex. These are robust shrubs, six to ten feet tall and often producing many strong shoots from the base. The main trunks are openly branched with short, leafy, flowering shoots appearing in late spring or early summer, followed by vegetative branches. One usually sees a combination of more slender, willowy side shoots and much thicker, elon- gated, sucker-like growths, usually produced lower on the plant. Ovate (roughly egg-shaped) leaves up to three inches long are paired along the stems. They are conspicuously veined, sometimes toothed, and bright green above, paler beneath. Showing up beautifully against this backdrop are several- to many-flowered clusters of pure white, usually four-petaled blossoms with dense central brushes of yel- low stamens. The individual flowers measure about an inch, occasionally almost two inches, across. They fill the air around them with a delightfully fresh, fruity fragrance. There is considerable variation in every ornamental feature of this species, suggesting opportunities for supe- rior garden selections. In the mid-'70s Ray Collett discov- ered a bushy, fully double-flowered plant near the Smith River and introduced it as 'Goose Creek.' My own selec- tion, 'Covelo,' made near the town of that name in the early '80s, is a robust, large-leaved plant with single flow- ers up to two inches across. Both of these compare favor- ably with better known selections of the exotic Philadel- phus [x] virginalis line, and they by no means exhaust the more interesting possibilities. Little-leaf mock orange {Philadelphus microphyllus is a smaller shrub, usually under six feet high and globe-shaped to hemispheric in form. It inhabits rocky sites in the ranges bordering our southern deserts and those of Arizona and Nevada to Texas. However, I suspect its presence indicates more moisture than is obvious at the surface, as it thrives with ordinary irrigation in the landscape. The trunks are more slender than those of P. lewisii and more profusely branched. The leaves are also smaller (up to one inch long), narrower, and more closely set. They are covered with fine hairs, giving them an attractive gray-green cast. The flow- ers are generally, though not always, smaller than those of P. lewisii and borne singly or in few-flowered clusters. Carpenteria californica. Illustration courtesy of the Jepson Herbarium. However, the plant makes quite a respectable show, some- times blooming for several weeks. There seems to be wide variation in fragrance among individual clones. My favor- ite among a batch of Arizonan origin, received from Ginny Hunt, suggests a mixture of grape and cinnamon candies. I hope to make further selections within this species and encourage others to do the same. Unlike the mock oranges, bush anemone {Carpenteria californica) has a restricted range. It is found in a small region of the Sierra foothills near Fresno in small colonies along streambanks, in canyons and swales, and even on exposed slopes. Bush anemone is a sturdy, nearly round shrub generally six to ten feet tall, occasionally taller. New stems have a waxy, dark, often reddish cuticle. This gradually gives way to pale, grayish tan bark, shredding with age. Leath- ery evergreen leaves, up to six inches long, are paired closely to rather distantly along the stems. They are dark green and softly shiny on their upper surface, grayish with fine, soft hairs beneath. Clusters of three to many beautiful white blossoms are displayed at the tips of the previous season's shoots in early summer. The individual blossoms measure from a little over an inch to nearly three inches across, with a varying number of broad, often cupped petals. Many threadlike stamens radiate from the center of each blossom, forming a showy corona. The seed pods, which slowly develop once the floral show is over, re- semble little acorns. Unfortunately, they become a bit unsightly as they change from green to tan, though they are easily pruned out. Carpenteria varies widely in form and compactness of VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 27 growth, overall size, and size and number of flowers. Thus it is unsurprising that the British, who so often have appreciated our natives long before we do, were growing selected clones as early as the 1920s. Here at home, the first selection to much attention was 'Elizabeth,' collected by Wayne Roderick in the late 1960s but not commer- cially grown until the early 1980s. 'Elizabeth' is a particu- larly compact selection, displaying up to twenty smallish flowers per cluster. Later collections by Ray Collett and Brett Hall of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum resulted in several introductions, of which one of the bushier and more floriferous, 'Ray Williams Special,' is occasionally available. 'Barbara' is a compact, single- to fully double- flowered selection, introduced by California Flora Nurs- ery following a 1987 expedition by Bart O'Brien, Ken Himes, Phil Van Soelen, and Barbara Coe. Further selec- tions can be expected. Culture and Uses With decidedly different sizes, shapes, and textures, the two native mock oranges and bush anemone present some- what different, though overlapping, possibilities in the garden. Philadelphus lewisii is the most rambling of the group, and a healthy plant is capable of covering a large area. Marjorie Schmidt has described it, perhaps not quite fairly, as a filler shrub. It is admirably suited to this role, with bright, lush foliage from spring to fall and attractive pale bark in winter. With a little pruning and thinning to encourage a fountain-like form, it is also suitable for more prominent display. By clipping young shoots (particularly strong, thick ones) and occasionally pruning plants hard to rejuvenate them, one might even have an attractive infor- mal hedge, as is seen occasionally with the larger spiraeas. Philadelphus microphyllus is useful anywhere a smaller shrub is desired, assuming the site is reasonably well drained. Like its larger sister, this species takes clipping well, though at the expense of some of its natural grace. Bush anemone has perhaps the broadest potential in the landscape, but it can also be a more frustrating subject. The more compact selections, like 'Elizabeth,' maintain an attractive, roundish form and a good foliage mass under favorable conditions, making them outstanding specimen shrubs. Many others, however, grow more open and woody, particularly under drought or heat stress, with tufts of attractive leaves at the ends of not-so-attractive branches. This condition is difficult to correct, as hard pruning of woody branches often fails to stimulate new growth be- hind the cuts. The obvious answer lies both in superior selections and good culture. This leads to the question of cultural requirements and tolerances. Both of the mock oranges and bush anemone thrive in a variety of soils—though Philadelphus micro- phyllus may be a bit fussier about drainage. All will flower most profusely in full sun. However, Carpenteria needs some afternoon shading in hot-summer areas to maintain good appearance. All have been touted from time to time as drought tolerant. This may be true in the sense of sheer survival, but inadequate watering results in sharply re- duced growth, poorer color, and fewer flowers. This is a reversible condition with Philadelphus, somewhat less so with Carpenteria. Moderate irrigation—perhaps two deep waterings per month or more in hot-summer climates, less near the coast—will be appreciated. In terms of cold tolerance, Philadelphus lewisii is clearly a hardy shrub, while the lower limits for P. microphyllus are not well tested here. It has, however, been grown in England for many years, and tenderness is not mentioned as a problem in my British texts. In any case, it should be hardy at lower and middle elevations anywhere in Califor- nia. Carpenteria has also been grown in England for many years and has survived brief bouts of 10°F. or less with no lasting damage. However, unlike Philadelphus, it lacks the natural defense of deciduousness. Each of this useful trio is resistant to many of the diseases and pests for which native shrubs are often ma- ligned. Apart from occasional attacks of aphids, easily controlled, and a few fungous leaf spots in damp weather, diminished by thinning congested foliage, they should be nearly trouble free. Propagation Let us suppose that you have an established plant and would like to raise more for your own or a friend's garden. If this plant is one of the mock oranges, your success is nearly guaranteed. Cuttings of perhaps three to five nodes are made from the current season's shoots, just as they become firm to the touch. The more slender side branches are preferable to thicker, faster growing shoots from the base; the latter contain soft, pithy tissue which can rot before the cut ends are healed over. The softer growing tip is removed, leaves are cut or stripped from the basal node, and this base is inserted in moist sand or perlite. Treat- ment with a mild rooting hormone may speed the rooting process, but it is not required. The only challenge is avoiding dehydration and wilting. In milder climates, placing the pot or flat in a shady, protected spot should suffice; given hotter, drier air, an inverted jar or plastic bag may be called for. Within a month or so, the cuttings should be rooted and ready to plant to a two-inch or larger pot. Growth from this point on is surprisingly fast, and plants are often ready for the open garden before the end of the growing season. Given the ease of this route of increase and the desir- ability of particular clones, I have never tried raising the mock oranges from seed. However, this presents no great problem. Dara Emery, in a useful little book on seeding natives, recommends stratifying the seeds (mixing them with moist sand or perlite and refrigerating them in bags) 28 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 for two to three months. Whether or not this step is ob- served, they should be planted in a well drained potting mix, barely covered with the same, and kept moist until the seedlings are up. Bush anemone is quite another matter. Neither cuttings nor seeding necessitate exotic equipment or techniques, but neither is particularly reliable. Cuttings taken as de- scribed for the mock oranges, using just-matured shoots (usually they reach this stage in early summer), will pro- duce roots quickly, if they survive. However, they may wilt suddenly, particularly in hot weather, or the base of the cutting may shrivel and blacken, or they may contract one of several fungous blights. In each case, death of the entire cutting comes quickly. Once rooted, they should be transplanted with care not to break the brittle young roots, and kept in a cool, shady spot, perhaps even sprinkled once or twice a day, for a short rehabilitation period. With seeding, the trouble starts at the collection stage: The following reports are from two recent CNPS grant recip- ients. —John Sawyer, Grants Committee Reproductive Biology of the California Pitcher Plant {Darlingtonia californica) This is an update on the progress of my research, generously funded by the California Native Plant Society. I am currently completing my Master's degree in biology at Humboldt State University, where my thesis research has focused on the reproductive biology of the California pitcher plant, Darling- tonia californica. Darlingtonia is a monotypic member of the small insect- ivorous pitcher plant family, Sarraceniaceae. Also known as cobra lily, the plant is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon, inhabiting montane and coastal serpentine seeps. It is the family's only West Coast representative. Its carnivorous habit, exotic cobra-shaped leaves, and showy blossoms have made Darlingtonia californica a popular research subject, with work focused primarily on carnivory, leaf mor- phology, and arthropod prey and associates. However, few have delved into other equally fascinating aspects of the plant's life history, especially reproduction and pollination biology. For example, all carnivorous plants face the quandary of their simultaneous need for insects both as prey and as pollinators. The most puzzling unanswered question that propelled my research was that, despite 150 years of observations by various workers, there have been no reports of discovering a pollinator, a seemingly simple task for a species that produces such picturesque meadows of large and colorful blossoms. My first task was to determine whether the pitcher plant relies on self-pollination. I ruled this out by determining that Some clones, such as 'Elizabeth,' set many pods with few or no viable seeds. The seeds are tiny and should be treated as described for the mock oranges. I generally plant them as the weather warms in spring. They germinate well, but are often lost to damping off, a fungous disease. Trans- planting can also be a problem, as they are sensitive to breakage of the delicate roots. Once established, however, they are easy to grow. References Schmidt, Marjorie G. Growing California Native Plants. Ber- keley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Emery, Dara E. Seed Propagation of Native California Plants. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1988. Nevin Smith, 358 Merle Road, Watsonville, CA 95076 blossoms experimentally deprived of pollinators matured few fruits and those that did mature contained few seeds. In addition, I removed pollen-producing stamens from another set of blossoms and found that these matured a statistically similar number of seeds as unmanipulated control blossoms. This second line of evidence shows that self-pollination is not a major form of reproduction. Unmanipulated blossoms matured prodigious quantities of seed, averaging 1,160 three-millimeter-long seeds per fruit capsule. However, this was significantly less than the seed set of blossoms to which I had experimentally added extra pollen, which yielded 1,275 to 2,147 seeds each. This demonstrates that, although a pollinator exists, it is a limiting resource. As have other workers before me, I observed few pitcher plant blossom visitors identifiable as pollinators, despite spending most of the blooming season observing the plants at all hours of the day. Candidates I observed include bees belonging to the andrenid, bombid, and vespid families and several beetles. Nearly every mature blossom is inhabited by a spider that builds a web around the sepals, capturing large numbers of flying insects. Several of the insects are likely pollinators, and I questioned what effect the spider had on the reproductive potential of the pitcher plant. I collected spiders and their prey inhabiting twenty blossoms and am in the process of identifying them. A second focus of my research involved gathering baseline data on blossom morphology and phenology. Pitcher plants are among the earliest spring bloomers, possibly an adaptation to avoid competition with the myriad lilies, orchids, and violets that share their wetland habitat. Their blossoms cover the sphagnum moss carpet in densities of up to one per square foot. The solitary blossom is held aloft on a peduncle that averages REPORTS FROM THE GRANTS COMMITTEE VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 29 sixteen inches high. The blossoms avoid competition for insects with the carnivorous pitcher leaves by the fact that they are held so high above the leaves and the leaves do not become attractive to insects until well after blossoms have matured. I found the average number of anthers and bracts to be higher than previously reported (seventeen and nine, respectively). The anthers mature as soon as the blossoms open and continue dehsicing pollen for eleven to twenty-three days. My preliminary studies suggest that the species is protandrous, but the fact that some self-pollination occurs shows that there is a period of overlap between pollen dehiscense and stigma receptivity. I determined the age structure of the population of blossoms and found that most were of a similar age. This suggests a mass blooming strategy, often interpreted as an adaptation to an unpredictable pollinator. One of the most exciting findings of my research thus far was the discovery of a population of albino blossoms. Instead of the usual maroon-purple petals, these have greenish yellow petals similar in color to the sepals. The thirty individuals were found concentrated in one corner of the discovery site, interspersed among plants with the usual blossom color. The two color forms were indistinguishable from each other in all other measurements, including height, number of bracts, number of anthers, and number of seeds per fruit capsule. Such color polymorphisms, usually a result of genetic mutations, are not uncommon among flowering plants, but they have not been previously reported in this species. Lines of inquiry I hope to pursue in the upcoming field season include the identity of the pollinator and its interaction with the blossom's arachnid inhabitants and the detection of possible blossom scent glands, nectaries, and ultraviolet patterns that serve to attract pollinators. I will keep CNPS informed of my progress on this subject. If any fellow carnivorous plant enthusiasts have questions or comments on my work, they can contact me at the address below. Christine Leigh Elder 4748-A Greenwood Heights Drive Kneeland, CA 95549 Morphometries of the Genus Modardella Subgenus Macranthae (Lamiaceae) Monardella (Labiatae: Nepetoideae), a genus of herbaceous to suffrutescent mints endemic to western North America, com- prises some twenty-five to thirty species with numerous infra- specific taxa. While the genus itself is well defined, species delimitation has been difficult. Attributes contributing to taxonomic ambiguity within Monardella include infraspe- cific variation, polymorphism, phenotypic plasticity, and in- terspecific hybridization. The subgenus and section Macranthae at present encom- pass two species complexes of rhizomatous perennials: Monar- della macrantha Gray, occurring intermittently in the Coast Ranges from Monterey County, California, southward through the Transverse and Peninsular ranges to the Sierra San Pedro Martir of Baja California, Mexico, and M. nana Gray, a Pen- insular Range endemic from the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County southward to the Sierra Juarez of Baja Cali- 30 FREMONTIA fornia. Each group harbors one taxon of concern owing to rarity (CNPS List IB): M. macrantha A. Gray ssp. hallii (Abrams) Abrams andM nana A. Gray ssp. leptosiphon (Torrey) Abrams. Summary of Results A morphometric analysis of over 1,000 field specimens belonging to the Monardella subgenus Macranthae shows complete multivariate segregation of two groups currently recognized at the specific rank, M. macrantha A. Gray and M. nana A. Gray. Overlap between the two species in the measurement ranges for each meristic variable explains the previous unification of the complexes. Within the M. nana complex, four extremes of morphological variation correspond to the four formally recognized subspecies. However, the continuous nature of the variation makes it difficult to assign all but the most extreme morphs to a single intraspecific taxon. Plants from Hot Springs Mountian, Volcan Mountain, and Banner Grade seem to better represent the extreme variation known as M. nana ssp. leptosiphon rather than those from Palomar Mountain, as typically portrayed. The two infraspeci- fic taxa currently recognized within the M. macrantha com- plex may be distinguished on the basis of vegetative features; neither corolla color nor corolla lobe length, as delineated in the California Native Plant Society Status Report, serve to distinguish M. macrantha ssp. hallii. There is an absence of evidence from both field work con- ducted during this investigation and a review of herbarium specimens to support any historic or extant occurrence of the M. macrantha complex sensu stricto in the San Jacinto Mountains, or of M. macrantha ssp. hallii in the Cuyamaca or Laguna Mountains. Linda Allen, Department of Biology Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 NOTES AND COMMENTS CNPS Book Award Readers will be pleased to know that our publication, Cali- fornia's Changing Landscapes, by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Frank Drysdale, and Susan Lindstrom was a finalist in the Nature category for the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publisher's Marketing Association. Their congratulatory letter ended with "Again, congratulations. You are among the best in independent publishing today!" We are also pleased that, for the second printing of this book, the printer reshot all of the black-and-white photographs at his expense, so the halftones are significantly improved. A number of author's corrections have also been incorporated. CNPS Sponsored Conference CNPS is co-sponsoring the conference Ecosystem Manage- ment: Designing with Nature on October 25-26, 1994, at the Sacramento Hilton. Themes will include: perspectives on eco- system management; designing with ecosystems; grassroots and bureaucracy; roles of science; social and political processes; and case studies of multi-habitat conservation programs. There will be six day-long field trips within two hours of the confer- ence. For further information call Mark Nechodom at (916) 757-8952. BOOKS RECEIVED Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, Califor- nia by Vernon H. Oswald and Lowell Ahart. 1994. 348 pages. This long awaited work, in progress for many years, comes complete with keys and fine glossaries of generic and epithet names. It is a joint publication project with the Mount Lassen chapter of CNPS. Available from CNPS. $14.95 spiral bound. A Wildflower By Any Other Name: Sketches of Pioneer Naturalists Who Named Our Western Plants by Karen B. Nilsson. 1994. 151 pages. Thirty-four short, meaty, and lively sketches of nineteenth- and twentieth-century naturalists, with portrait photographs and sketches of plants named in their honor. This charming book by Karen Nilsson (founder of Tioga Press) was completed by her friends following her death from cancer in 1991. Available from Yosemite Press or Environmental Volunteers. 3921 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glos- sary by James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris. 1994. 198pp. An abundantly illustrated guide to botanical terminol- ogy is a great step forward for those wanting to develop pro- ficiency in keying plants. Available from Spring Lake Pub- lishing, Box 266, Payson, Utah 84651. Special price for CNPS members, $15.95 softcover. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Attention lEarlg Gtyristmaa H'tjoonrrs CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY ¦g>pgctal ffobltotttflttB (Hior a frirno a ZU fear Snor-x to iffrr-montia ^ or sorrial bark iaaur-a ^ 55_____of 3 rrmontia_____55 California's Serpentine January 1984 April 1984 California's Chaparral October 1986 Restoration: Disneyland or Hative Ecosystem July 1989 California Native Indian Horticulture April 1990 Special Issue on California Oaks July 1990 Strategy for the Future of California's Flora April 1991 The Biotic Factor of Soils July 1992 Tree Roots: Facts and Fallacies October 1992 COMPLETE SET (20 years): $100 FULL SET of last 10 years: $50 INDIVIDUAL ISSUES: $3.00 each or dine a j>nrrial jlnbliration California's Changing Landscapes by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Susan Lindstrom, and Frank Drysdale $24.95 Terrestrial Vegetation Michael Barbour and lack Major, Editors $53.00 Origin and Relationships of California Flora by Peter H. Raven and Daniel Axelrod $18.95 Flora of Butte County by Vern Oswald and Lowell Ahart $ 14.95 Key to Plant Species of Kern County by L. Maynard Moe and Flora of Kern County by Ernest Twisslemann to be priced To order please contact CNPS, 1722 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 PH: (916) 447-CNPS (2677)/FAX: (916) 447-2727 FREMONTIA 31 A Revised Flora of Santa Barbara Island by Steve Junak, Ralph Philbrick, and Charles Drost. 1993.112 pages. An anno- tated catalog of the ferns and flowering plants of one of the eight Channel Islands and a brief history of botanical exploration on the island. Originally published by the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, this publication is now reprinted and available from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. $6.50 softcover plus tax and $1.00 shipping. California's County Summits: A Guide to the Highest Point in Each of the 58 Counties by Gary Suttle. 1994. 220 pages. A practical guide for hikers, climbers, and geographic trivia buffs. Available from Wilderness Press, 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. $14.95, softcover. Mammoth Lakes Sierra: A Handbook for Roadside and Trail by Dean Rinehart, Elden Vestal, and Bettie E. Willard (edited by Genny Smith). 6th ed. 1993. 220 pages. Chapters on climates and forest communities, trees, and wildflowers add considerable interest to CNPS members for this useful, well illustrated guide to the eastern Sierra around Mammoth Lakes. Available from Mammoth Chapter, Friends of the Library, P.O. Box 1468, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546. $13.95 softcover plus 2.50 tax and shipping. How to Open and Operate a Home-based Landscaping Business: An Unabridged Guide by Owen E. Dell. 1994.224 pages. A down-to-earth informative guide to setting up and operating your own landscaping business and how to make it a success. Available from Globe Pequot Press, 6 Business Park NatureBase CALIFORNIA PLANT COMMUNITY INFORMATION JY/TEM/ The California System 95 Holland's 1986 "Plant Communities" in one easy-to-use computer program. Also includes community descriptions by Kuchler and acreage estimates by Calif. Dept. of.Forestry. All names updated with Jepson synonymy. Listings for each species include family affiliation, common name, and plant growth form. The Desert System 65 Features California desert communities as described by Holland, Barbour & Major, and Kuchler. All names updated with Jepson synonymy. Listings for each species include family affiliation, common name, plant growth form, plus flowering period (for most), elevation range, and habitat. Both systems require MS-DOS operating system & 1.5 megabytes of hard disk space. Simple to use, no typing required. Each screen display describes a single plant community entity in a logical, hierarchical fashion. Species lists and descriptions can be cut and pasted if using Windows 3.1. Prices include tax, shipping and handling. BROCHURE OR END CHECK TO: NatureBase, Fairfax Avenue Culver City, CA 9DZ3Z-739S Road, Old Saybrook, Connecticut 06475. $14.95 softcover plus $3.00 shipping. California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History by Verna R. Johnston. 1994. 222 pages. A delightful and well illustrated series of essays on the dominant forest types of California including Douglas-fir/mixed evergreen, closed-cone pine and cypress, foothill woodlands, red fir/lodgepole pine, and redwood. Available from University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley, CA 94720. $30 hardcover plus tax and shipping. The Pacific Horticulture Book of Western Gardening by George Waters and Nora Harlow (eds.), 1990. 300 pages. A selection of forty articles on plants and landscapes of the West Coast illustrated with line drawings and over 100 color photographs. Available from Pacific Horticultural Foundation, P.O. Box 485, Berkeley, CA 94701. $50 hardcover plus tax and shipping. BOOK REVIEWS California's Changing Landscapes: Diversity and Con- servation of California Vegetation by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Frank Dry sdale, and Susan Lindstrom. 1993.244 pages. Available from California Native Plant Society. $24.95 softcover. Hanging on my office wall is a map of California published in 1855. Los Angeles is a small settlement along the Rio San Pedro. No settlement meriting a name exists in the Mojave or Colorado deserts. Tha-ee-chay-pah Pass leads from these deserts into the swamps of the San Joaquin Valley, a major feature of which is Tulare Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the United States west of the Mississippi River, straddling the border of Buena Vista and Tulare counties. The Sacramento and Feather rivers flow unimpeded on their courses, joining near the marshes that extend from Sacramento City to Suisun Bay. Much of this California once existed; perhaps some of it did not. But it has all changed dramatically in the past century and a half. The title of this book is enigmatic; one with the same title, published in 1971, is a guide to the geology of California, and the "changes" are topographic ones in geologic time. Barbour et al. are also concerned with change, but the landscape they consider is the plant cover of California, and the changes they describe have mostly occurred in a few decades rather than over millennia. In this concisely written and handsomely illustrated book, we are introduced, successively, to coastal plant com- munities (from beach and dune to forests), the Central Valley, the Sierra-Nevada/Cascade "spine," and desert communities, each described in direct and engaging prose. Ecological dyna- mics are discussed, including the roles of soils, fire, climate, and biotic interactions in shaping and maintaining each community. Each of these descriptive chapters concludes with a section entitled "the changing landscape," where human impacts are the focus. I can only marvel at the ingenuity and diversity employed by our species in altering the vegetation of California. Virtually every plant community in the state has been impacted in some way—in a few cases to the point of virtual disappearance. Economic exploitation is perhaps the most familiar motivation 3 2 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 to readers—urbanization, logging, and agriculture. However, well intended actions, such as the introduction of European beachgrass to stabilize coastal dunes, have had disastrous ecological consequences. Wherever this "most abundant beach and dune plant along the California coast" grows, the native biota has nearly disappeared. Because of its pattern of rhizome growth, this grass has altered the coastline from one dominated by low, mobile, parabolic dunes to one characterized by high, steep, immobile dunes. Less obvious effects on our beaches have resulted from damming California rivers, cutting off their annual supply of rejuvenating sand. Recreational beaches must be cosmetized periodically by the importation of sand. While descriptions of human impacts on California plant life could easily be presented as a tiresome series of dolorous tirades, I found these presentations dispassionate and interesting. The authors argue that it is time to step away from the rapidly accelerating demands on our state's lands, "to take measure of what we have, to compare it with what we once had, and to decide what we want for the future. This book is a guide for that step-away process." Acknowledging that the vegetation and flora of the state have "changed dramatically during the long history of the California landscape," the authors refer to the "pristine vegetation" and the problems of reconstructing what was here prior to the first European contact. I believe, however, that much of this "pristine landscape" was an anthropogenic one. The number of Native Americans in California when the first Spanish missions were established has been estimated variously; the authors settle on a conservative figure of 300,000, still making this North America's most densely populated area by a non-agricultural people. Many authorities now believe that nearly all California Indian groups employed fire as an ecological management tool. I think it likely that virtually every plant community in the state, from coastal prairies to the subalpine forests, was burned periodically by indigenous peoples, and that this practice must have had a strong influence on the nature of these manipulated communities. The authors refer to the intimate connection between "the decline of indigenous cultures [and] the decline of pristine vegetation." The latter decline, however, resulted not only from economic exploitation but also from the cessation of environmental management by the indigenous peoples, leading to the kinds of vegetational changes seen in Yosemite Valley during the past century. Whether these changes are heading toward a restoration of the pristine vegetation of the valley is questionable; perhaps during the several centuries of human occupation of Yosemite, many plant species once there have disappeared, and others may have immigrated. True, the technologies of California's original inhabitants may have had "modest impact" on ecosystems, but the ecosystems first seen by European explorers may still have been quite unlike those encountered by the first human immigrants. Fire continues to be an important environmental factor in the dynamics of California plant communities, yet the precise role of fire in most of them is not understood. If we want to continue to see giant sequoia, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, or the closed- cone conifers, human intervention is required. Without fire the ecology of the trees will change, and unimpeded natural succession will lead to their eventual disappearance. The key to a successful conservation movement in Califor- nia, or elsewhere, lies in changing our attitudes from exploitive ones to positive, fostering ones. In the settlement of the West, the newcomers' attitudes toward the different ecosystems and peoples they encountered were largely hostile. The authors quote ecologist and historian J.W. Thirgood about a lesson we have yet to learn: "that environmental ruin was the price paid for the glory that was Greece ... here may be seen the fate of newly opened lands ... if man fails to achieve a balanced rela- tionship with the land." The forest cover of Greek antiquity has been replaced by an anthropogenic degraded scrub. As the authors note, "American beliefs, attitudes, and policies toward the environment are constantly changing," and our society is gradually losing its fear of the environment and its desire to subdue it. Yet agencies charged with stewardship of our biota have been less than successful in protecting it from incessant inroads. The authors are optimistic, however, and present a rarely heard argument that "restoration of past eco- logical richness need not come at the expense of economic richness. Economic prosperity requires ecological richness." If this argument becomes widely accepted by those in California with economic and political power, the future of conservation will look much brighter. Robert Ornduff, Department of Integrative Biology University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 [Reprinted from Pacific Discovery, Spring '94.] Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, Califor- nia by Vernon H. Oswald in collaboration with Lowell Ahart. 1994. 348 pages. Available from California Native Plant Soci- Native Revival Nursery ??? Specializing in native plants of the bay region 0 Plants for coastal climates 0 Plants to attract wildlife fH Drought tolerant natives 0 Local plants for revegetation % Landscape design and installation Wholesale Trade Monday through Saturday Open to Public Thursday-Saturday 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. 8022 Soquel Drive Aptos, California 95003 (408)684-1811 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 33 California Forests Woodlands A Natural History BY VERNA R. JOHNSTON This superbly illustrated book offers an unparalleled view of the Golden State's world- renowned forests and woodlands. In clear, vivid prose, Johnston describes each of the state's dominant forest types. California Natural Hillary GitBej $30.00 cloth, color & b/w illustrations. At bookstores or order 1-800-822-6657 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS ety, 1722 J Street, Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. $14.95 softcover. When Vesta Holt's popular Keys to Wild Flowers, Ferns, Trees and Shrubs of Northern California went out of print a number of years ago, many expressed the hope that it would be revised and republished. Vern Oswald's book deals with the flora of one county, and it is not a revision of Holt's Keys. Nevertheless, most fans of the earlier work will be pleased to find that Oswald's manual not only covers nearly everything originally included in the Keys, but also contains a great deal more information, nearly all of which is current. This book is the culmination of nine years of field, herbarium, and library research and is the eighth revision of a manuscript first assembled in 1986. While no work of this kind is without error, the preliminary revisions and meticulous attention to detail have resulted in an unusually error-free publication. The richness of Butte County's flora is reflected by the inclusion of 2,023 taxa distributed among 125 families, 676 genera, and 1,890 species. More than seventy-seven percent of the taxa included are native plants. Sensitive plants listed in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California (1994) stand out in bold, roman type, and the R-E- D code is also given; a list of such plants is included in an appendix. Voucher specimens are deposited in the herbarium of California State University, Chico, unless otherwise indicated. Nomenclature is based on The Jepson Manual (1993), with 34 FREMONTIA synonymy included primarily from A California Flora (Munz and Keck, 1973) and Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States (Abrams etal, 1940-1960). Significant descriptive features of each taxon are included within the dichotomous keys. A common name follows each scientific name, along with habitat information, elevations, and flowering times. The taxa are arranged alphabetically by scientific name, beginning at the family level. An appendix on plant names and pronunciation is included, along with excellent glossaries of the derivations of generic names and epithets. The glossaries alone are worth the price of the book. The book's compact size (five and a half by eight and a half inches) and light weight facilitate its use in field work. Despite the absence of illustrations, amateurs and professional field biologists alike will find the keys and other features easy to use when compared with those of more comprehensive manuals. Many botanists, particularly those working with plants from northern California and southern Oregon, will find the book useful outside Butte County. Indeed, the family and generic keys should work well throughout the Pacific Coast region. Kingsley R. Stern, Dept. of Biological Sciences California State University, Chico, CA 95928 CLASSIFIED ADS Classified ad rate: 75 cents per word, minimum $15; payment in advance. Address advertising inquiries and copy to: Sue Hossfeld, 400 Deer Valley Road, #4P, San Rafael. CA 94903 Publications LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION Planning by Sheila Peck. (1993). A manual for planners employing landscape ecology and conservation biology. 72 pages. 8-1/2x11. B&W illustrations. $10.00 postage included. (Checks to UC Regents). IHRMP, ESPM-Forestry, 160 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. A PLANNER'S GUIDE FOR Oak Woodlands. (1993). A guide for the professional planner or consultant. 104 pages. 8-1/2x11. B&W illustrations. $ 10.00 postage included. (Checks to UC Regents). IHRMP, ESPM-Forestry, 160 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. A TREAT FOR PLANT lovers, Pacific Horticulture is the West's own gardening magazine. Handsomely printed, excellent color photo- graphs. Quarterly, $15 year. P.O. Box 485, Berkeley, CA 94701. COMMON RIPARIAN Plants of California by P. Faber & R. Holland. 1988. Common Wetland Plants of Coastal California by P. Faber. 1982. Available from Pickleweed'Press, 212 Del Casa, Mill Valley, CA 94941. $18/$15 respectively plus 7.25% tax and $2 shipping. FLORA OF MENDOCINO County by Gladys L. Smith, 1992. 400 pages. $27.95 ppd. Also Flora of the Tahoe Basin, Neighboring Areas, and supplements. Smith, 1983. Published by Wasmann Journal of Biology, University of San Francisco. $15.75. Available from author, 355 Serrano, Apt. ML, San Francisco, CA 94132. THE SOCIETY FOR Pacific Coast Native Iris is an organization CNPS members would enjoy. For $4 annually, $ 10 triennially, receive our illustrated biennial publication, the Almanac, with information on many aspects of Californicae species and hybrids. Also offered each year: a spring field trip by bus to see them in the wild, and a seed list in the fall. SPCNI, 4333 Oak Hill Road, Oakland, CA 94605. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 THE MOST EFFECTIVE thing you can do for California's ecology is to grow native plants. Learn how from the personal (and often amusing) experience of long-time growers through Growing Native Research Institute and its elegant, illustrated, bimonthly newsletter, Growing Native. Annual $30 membership brings other benefits, too, including bonus issue, "The Basics of Growing Native Successfully." Mention Fremontia and receive free wildflower seeds. Write: Growing Native, PO Box 489, Berkeley, CA 94701, or call (510) 232-9865. THE FOUR SEASONS, annual journal of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, founded by celebrated writer-conservationist James Roof, devoted to California native botany and horticulture. $ 12 for 4 issues. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA 94708(510)841-8732. "THE WAY IT IS." For more information send self-addressed stamped envelope to "The Way It Is," 130 Anderson Way, Martinez, CA 94553. Proceeds from CNPS members logged for endowment fund for two CNPS's. HAWAFI FLORA by Wagner, Herbst & Sohmer. 1990. Two-volune set retails for $85.00. Available at 30% discount from Botanies, 1416 Rockglen, Glendale, CA 91205-2019. Nurseries and Seeds YERB A BUENA NURSERY growing over 500 varieties of California native plants and exotic ferns. Open seven days a week 9-5. 19500 Skyline, Woodside, CA 94062. Catalog $1.00. TURN SEEDLINGS INTO trees—fast! Treeshelters not only protect your trees from animals, machines, and chemical sprays, but TUBEX Treeshelters accelerate growth by providing each tree its own green house. Excellent for all tree planting projects. Call or write for free information. Native Oak Nursery, 20316 Fallen Leaf Drive, Teha- chapi, CA 93561. 1 (800) 949-OAKS (6257). GARVER GARDENS Nursery. Rhododendron occidental. Please call 707-984-6724 or write to P.O. Box 609, Laytonville, CA 95454 to receive a free catalog of Smith-Mossman, Mike McCullough and other selections and seedlings. Mail order or by appointment. INTERMOUNTAIN NURSERY. In the foothills of the Central Sierra in eastern Fresno County on Hwy. 168. We specialize in local natives such as Carpenteria, as well as other drought tolerant plants. Retail, hrs. 9-5 Tues - Sat, 10-3 Sun. Wholesale, revegetation. 30443 Auberry Rd., P.O. Box 210, Prather, CA 93651. (209) 855-3113. GARDENING AS RESTORING native plant communities. Seeds of grasses, wildflowers, trees, shrubs. Panphlets $3.50 each: Notes on Growing California Wildflowers, Notes on Native Grasses, Notes on a Coastal Garden. Catalog $2.00. Larner Seeds, P.O. Box 407, Bolinas, CA 94924. (415) 868-9407. MOSTLY NATIVES NURSERY. Growers of coastal natives and drought-tolerant plants. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 9-4:30; Sunday, 11- 4:30. Located in Northwest Marin at 27215 Hwy. One, Box 258, Tomales, CA 94971. (707) 878-2009. Mail order catalogue of West Coast Natives, $3.00. California Native Plant Society MEMBERSHIP Dues include subscriptions to Fremontia and the Bulletin. Corporate......$1,000 Life/Benefactor... $500 Patron...........$250 Plant Lover......$100 Supporting..................$50 Family, Group, International.... $35 Individual or Library..........$25 Student/Retired/Limited Income . $18 ADDRESSES Memberships; Address Changes; Officers; General Society Inquiries: CNPS, 1722 J Street, Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. Tel: (916) 447-CNPS(2677) (FAX) (916) 447-2727 Executive Director: Allen Barnes Fremontia (Editor): Phyllis M. Faber, 212 Del Casa Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941. Tel. and FAX: (415) 388-6002 Fremontia (Advertising): Sue Hossfeld, 400 Deer Valley Road, #4P, San Rafael, CA 94903 Bulletin: Carol LeNeve, Box 1012, Carmel, CA 93921. (408)624-8497 CNPS Botanist, Data Base: Mark Skinner, 1722 J St., Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 324-3816 or (916) 447-2677 EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President................................David Magney Vice President, Administration...............Joan Stewart Vice President, Finance.....................Bob Burka Vice President, Conservation..................Ray Butler Vice President, Legislation........................Vacant Vice President, Plant Programs................Jim Shevock Vice President, Publications................Phyllis Faber Vice President, Chapter Relations.............Halli Mason Vice President, Education..................George Clark Recording Secretary........................Sara Timby Legal Advisor..............................Ken Bogdan DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE Jacob Sigg, Eric Fritsch, Michael Lindsay, Joanna Clines, Cathy Cort, Jennie Haas Chapter Presidents are also members of the Board. CHAPTER PRESIDENTS (AND DIRECTORS) Alta Peak (Tulare)......................Janet Fanning Bristlecone (Inyo-Mono)...................Betty Gilchrist Channel Islands............................Pat M'Daniel Dorothy King Young (Gualala)...................Joan Curry East Bay.................................Glenn Coppe El Dorado................................Phil Corson Kern County..........................Randi McCormick Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains.......George Stevenson Marin County...........................Bonnie Nackley Milo Baker (Sonoma County)................Eric Fritsch Monterey Bay........................Rosemary Donlon Mount Lassen.........................Lawrence Janeway Napa Valley..........................Lucinda LaMaster North Coast.............................Tony LaBanca Northern San Joaquin Valley (Modesto)...........Glen Basey Orange County.........................Tony Bomcamp Redbud (Grass Valley/Auburn)............Chet Blackburn Riverside/San Bernardino counties.........Marty Jacobsmeyer Sacramento Valley........................Karen Wiese San Diego.............................Bertha McKinley San Gabriel Mountains...................Melanie Keeley San Luis Obispo.........................Dirk Walters Sanhedrin (Ukiah).....................Charles Williams Santa Clara Valley........................Lori Hubbart Santa Cruz County......................Fred McPherson Sequoia (Fresno)..........................Joanna Clines Shasta...................................Tom Engstrom Sierra Foothills (Tuolemne, Calaveras, Mariposa). Denise VanKeuren South Coast (Palos Verdes).................Ellen Brabaker Tahoe..................................Steve Matson Yerba Buena (San Francisco).................Jacob Sigg MATERIALS FOR PUBLICATION Members and others are invited to submit material for publication to Fremontia. Two copies of manuscripts, double-spaced, (plus an IBM-compatible disc in Word-Perfect or ASCII file) should be submitted to Fremontia with name, address, phone number, and an identification line for Notes on Contributors. Botanical nomenclature should conform to The New Jepson Manual, with common name followed by botanical name. Black-and-white photographs, preferably 8x10 or accompanied by negatives, or original 35mm color slides. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 35 New C N P S P U BLICATION Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, m.............i ¦ :H V.\M:I.'! .\!\ H..W S S Wm California bv Vernon Oswald and BUTTE 1 Lowell Hart COUNTY, I 1 "!>4. 348 pages, spiral bound. " !T HI California Native Plant Society. |||f SI 4.95 softcover. Unite Countv's rich flora i* drawn from three geo- i^rnphic subdivisions within (California's Floristc V.-r.,n„|'nK„:l:,l S I'rovince. 1 11 is volume is a spiral Lowell Mi.m-i ||§ 1 >« >und book designed for mm: in the field, and is ¦' implete with excellent gl ossane; index and list of Butte (-'lunty rare and endangered spe ies. NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Liam H. Davis is an associate wildlife biologist for the Cali- fornia Department of Fish and Game's Natural Communities Conservation Program in Southern California. Stephen W. Edwards is director of the Regional Parks Botan- ic Garden in Berkeley and editor of the Four Seasons Journal. John Kliejunas is regional pathologist, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. Thomas Oberbauer is a frequent contributor to Fremontia and a member of the San Diego County Planning Department. Robert Ornduff is ermitus professor of botany at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley, and past director of the University of California Botanic Garden. Nevin Smith, a horticulturist by trade, is writing a book on growing native plants for CNPS. Kingsley R. Stern is emeritus professor of biology at Califor- nia State University, Chico. Scott D. White is a biologist with Tierra Madre Consultants in Riverside. MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE. Landscape with hardy California native plants. Economical and convenient mail order shopping. Send $1.00 for our newest catalog to Live Oak Nursery, P.O. Box 815, Knights Ferry, CA 95361, (209) 881-0228. CALIFORNIA NATIVE plants, seeds, and books: Available through Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery. Wildflower seed varieties, seed blends, and informative books also available by mail order. To receive catalogs and information, please send $3.00 to Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352. (818) 768-1802. Please call for nursery hours. SPECIALIZING IN SEEDS for California native plants including wildflowers, grasses, everlasting flowers, drought-tolerant mixtures. Catalog $3. Moon Mountain FR, P.O. Box 725, Carpinteria, CA 93014. Services EXOTICS CONTROL Specialists. We are a Licensed Pest Control Operator specializing in the control of invasive plant species using non-restricted herbicides (Roundup, Garlon). We have special expertise in killing Gorse, Broom, Pampas Grass, and Ice Plant in wildland areas. Contact Victoria Harris at (415) 327-0429 for more information. Vol. 22, No. 4 October 1994 FREMONTIA A Journal of the California Native Plant Society £*»: $.&&&' S'SjS^ •^tf^W1- FREMONTIA Vol. 22 No. 4 October 1994 Copyright © 1994 California Native Plant Society Phyllis M. Faber, Editor • Laurence J. Hyman, Art Director • Beth Hansen, Designer California Native Plant Society Dedicated to the Preservation of the California Native Flora The California Native Plant Society is an organization of laymen and professionals united by an interest in the plants of California. It is open to all. Its principal aims are to preserve the native flora and to add to the knowledge of members and the public at large. It seeks to accomplish the former goal in a number of ways: by monitoring rare and endangered plants throughout the state; by acting to save endangered areas through publicity, persuasion, and on occasion, legal action; by providing expert testimony to government bodies; ;md by supporting financially and otherwise the establishment of native plant preserves. Much of this work is done through CNPS Chapters throughout the state. The Society's educational work includes: publication of a quarterly journal, Fremontia, and a quarterly Bulletin which gives news and announcements of Society events and conservation issues. Chapters hold meetings, field trips, plant and poster sales. Non-members are welcome to attend. The work of the Society is done mostly by volunteers. Money is provided by the dues of members and by funds raised by chapter plant and poster sales. Additional donations, bequests, and memorial gifts from friends of the Society can assist gready in carrying forward the work of the Society. Dues and donations are tax-deductible. TABLE OF CONTENTS Port Orford Cedar Root Disease 3 by John Kliejunas Bear Valley: Wildflowers as John Muir Described Them 12 by Stephen W. Edwards Vernal Pools in the San Jacinto Valley 17 by Scott D. White Sereno Watson: Early California Botanist 20 by Liam H. Davis Encounter with a Native Plant Fan 24 by Thomas Oberbauer New Fellows 26 Growing Natives: Mock Oranges and their Kin 28 by Nevin Smith Reports from the Grant Committee 29 Notes and Comments 31 Books Received 31 EDITORIAL Vivian Parker has compiled an index for twenty-one volumes of Fremontia. It has been a labor of love for the Society. Many fine articles containing timeless information will now be more retrievable for those who save back issues of Fremontia. Many thanks to Vivian for a job well done. CNPS provided grant money to Christine Elder for work on the reproductive biology of the California pitcher plant and to Linda Allen for taxonomic work on the mint, Monardella. Reports on their research are included in this issue. The CNPS grant program is of increasing importance in the work of the society. Young professional botanists are urgently needed to better understand the flora of California, and they need financial support in the increasingly com- petitive world of grant monies. CNPS annually provides funds to augment its three small but important grant endowments. The Executive Council of CNPS is launching a drive to increase membership so it can carry out the ever expanding demands for plant protection and public education about California's extraordinary flora. Each of us can be a part of this campaign by recruiting at least one or two new members. CNPS could double its effectiveness if every member recruited a new member or gave a membership to a friend. Phyllis M. Faber THE COVER: The Port Orford cedar (Cupressus lawsoniana), that grows only in Oregon and Northern California, is widely affected by a fungal root disease. Photograph by James Shevock. RS-* #. .-3S9C- -S^i Raj ,'** ^r;' '":*" **?#***» ;^v''**< •'»•*• . .,#2Li j^^sJ'/ ;./ The Port Orford cedar (Cupressus lawsoniana), now widely affected by a root fungus (Phytophthora lateralis), occurs in a narrow coastal strip from the mid-Oregon coast southward for 130 miles into northern California. Photographs by T. Jimerson unless otherwise noted. PORT ORFORD CEDAR ROOT DISEASE by John Kliejunas Although Port Orford cedar {Cupressus law- soniana, formerly Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) is widely affected by a root fungus {Phytoph- thora lateralis), U.S. Forest Service studies show that the species has not been eliminated from any of its historic range. The Service is optimistic that, through responsible management, significant adverse impacts to the species can be prevented. Phytophthora lateralis affects both Port Orford cedar and Pacific yew {Taxus hrevifolia). It was first reported in a nursery in Seattle in 1923. The fungus spread widely in Washington and Oregon through transport of infected nursery stock. It was first identified in the native range of Port Orford cedar at Coos Bay, Oregon, in 1952. Surveys in the 1950s indicated substantial spread of the fungus along the coastal shelf and up river valleys in Oregon. In 1980 the disease was identified in much of the Smith River drainage in northwestern California. It may have been present in some of these drainages since the 1960s. California has two species of white cedar, Port Orford cedar and Alaska cedar {Cupressus nootkatensis, formerly Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), which is present here in its southernmost range. In the new Jepson Manual the former genus Chamaecyparis is treated as a subgenus within Cupressus. Port Orford cedar was considered for inclusion in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California but was determined to be too common. Alaska cedar is placed on CNPS List 4, since it is a plant of limited distribution in California. Phytophthora lateralis has not been reported on Alaska cedar, although seedling inoculation studies have shown this species to be susceptible. Port Orford cedar and Alaska VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 3 cedar can occur together, but this is rare, occurring only where habitats overlap. There is some speculation that Alaska cedar, as a symptomless host, may be the origin of the fungus, however, extensive surveys have not found the fungus to be present. Port Orford cedar is one of the most commercially valuable conifer species in the United States. From 1988 through 1992, 99 percent of exported Port Orford cedar went to Japan. More than sixty million board feet were shipped to Japan, 190,000 board feet to the People's Re- public of China, and 8,000 board feet to South Korea. The wood of Port Orford cedar has similar qualities to Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), which, through centuries of overharvesting, is in short supply in Japan. The wood of both species is used for sake boxes, countertops, and sup- port beams in temples and shrines. Japan imports whole logs so that they can be milled to local specifications. Species Range and Inventory Port Orford cedar occurs in a narrow coastal strip from about the mid-point of the Oregon coast southward for about 130 miles into northern California and approxi- mately fifty miles in width at its widest point in southern Oregon. It grows in association with several other conifers including Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), coast redwood {Sequoia sempervirens), western hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla), Shasta fir (Abies magnified), white fir (A. concolor), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), and Jeffrey pine (P. jeffreyi); it only rarely occurs in pure stands. Inland populations are scattered in two principal locations in the Sacramento and Trinity River drainages in California. There has been no change in the historic range of Port Orford cedar. However, changes have occurred in some stand characteristics within its range because of harvesting and root disease. The primary change has been a shift in diameter class distribution to a larger proportion of trees in smaller age classes, especially within riparian areas af- fected by the root disease. In 1992 over 384,000 acres with Port Orford cedar were identified on National Forest lands. Three national forests in California (Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers) contain approximately 160,000 acres with Port Orford cedar. Fewer than 9,000 acres are infested by Phytophthora lateralis, and these are limited to the north- west corner of the state. Many of the remaining areas are protected from the fungus by their geographic separation from infested areas, by management activities prescribed to reduce movement of the fungus, and by the limited likelihood of harvesting. Surveys show that harvest volume during the last nine years has been exceeded by annual growth overall, indi- cating that the species is maintaining itself and growing. If the harvest continues at present levels or declines, as is 4 FREMONTIA Distribution of Port Orford cedar in California and Oregon within areas outlined by black lines. Various shaded areas outline the Siskiyou. Six Rivers, Klamath, and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Port Orford cedar root disease occurs primarily within riparian areas. expected, then the standing volume should continue to increase. Harvest levels have declined significantly in recent years. This is a result of the decreased amount of timber for sale from federal lands because of a court injunction and the listing of the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Data on harvest levels in the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon show that growth has exceeded harvest for at least the past fifteen years. The Port Orford cedar harvest is a small proportion (about five percent) of the total forest harvest and is not a factor in influencing harvest activities. Until the recent precipitous drop as a result of the injunc- tion and endangered species listings, harvest levels were relatively constant. In California from 1978 through 1991, 34.5 million board feet of Port Orford cedar were harvested, 22.2 mil- lion from private lands and 12.3 million from public lands. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 The figure for harvest on public lands essentially includes only harvests on National Forest lands. Annual growth on these lands exceeds the amount harvested in any one year. The harvest of Port Orford cedar on private lands ex- ceeded that on public lands, but most of the harvest was in the early years of the period. Current levels are about the same on public and private lands. The harvest on private lands during the fourteen-year period has been about 1.5 times annual growth, resulting in decreasing standing vol- ume. The level of harvest has decreased over the last several years and is now exceeded by annual growth. Harvest records from the Six Rivers National Forest con- tain the volume of green and salvage Port Orford cedar. Only the Gasquet Ranger District (now the Smith River National Recreation Area) shows the presence of the root disease. It was assumed that all of the salvage volume from this district was a result of Port Orford cedar root disease. Of the total ten-year harvest, 1983 through 1993, fifty-five percent of the volume harvested (8.22 million board feet) is salvage, and fifty percent is associated with root disease. Therefore, the disease is already present on these areas of salvage, and restricting harvest will have little impact. Also, removing dead trees has no effect on the existing population of Port Orford cedar. Decline of Exports Export of Port Orford cedar has also declined in recent years. Exports have dropped fairly steadily since 1970 from 44.2 million board feet in 1970 to 10.9 million board feet in 1990. Essentially all Port Orford cedar offered for sale is purchased by non-U.S. firms. Prices of material sold for export are substantially higher than those of logs sold for primary manufacture locally. The export value of Port Orford cedar was three to five times that of Douglas-fir. Because the U.S. market for Port Orford cedar is lim- ited, in 1959 the Secretary of Agriculture designated this Port Orford cedar grows in association with Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, coast redwood, western hemlock, firs and pine and is shown here growing with a shrubby understory. Trees growing upslope from infected ones, where it is drier, often escape the disease. t^. -i ?.:u ':#*/*'.: ¦m-4> * -tV i*^*>« -»# • r*f -*?&¦$*¦ M '. -yw. ¦ ¦ \ %'¦¦& '&:¦ It '^£ VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 5 species as surplus to American domestic needs. This de- termination permits trees cut on federal forest lands to be exported as raw logs. While the evidence is circumstantial, given the sharply decreased timber volume currently of- fered for sale from federal lands, if exports were curtailed the current volume of Port Orford cedar offered for sale wculd probably be purchased by domestic manufacturers at considerably reduced prices. Spread of Port Orford cedar root disease on public lards is independent of international trade. Spread is influ- enced by silvicultural treatment, vector activity, and weather conditions, none of which is dictated by trade. Spread on private lands may differ, since economics may influence the harvesting of a species with high economic value. State regulations can reduce the likelihood of spread of Phytophthora lateralis when harvest activities are planned on private lands. Infected and healthy cedars grow intermingled throughout its range. The fungus appears to be spread by transporting infected seedlings or soil on tires or equipment into new uninfected areas. 6 FREMONTIA Distribution of the Fungus The current distribution of Phytophthora lateralis on National Forest lands is over more than 30,000 acres, which is less than ten percent of the total estimated acre- age of Port Orford cedar growing on National Forest lands. The fungus is continuous throughout many areas of Port Orford cedar which may be an artifact of the type and intensity of the survey done to gather information and the scale of the map on which it is portrayed. Infested and healthy Port Orford cedars are intermingled throughout much of this area. The occurrence and effects of the fungus are highly dependent on exacting environmental conditions, especially the presence of slowly moving free water. In most areas where the fungus is present, living Port Orford cedars persist because of their topographic location relative to free water. Trees upslope from infested drainages or on slight rises often do not become infected. Four spore forms of Phytophthora lateralis have differ- ent functions in the survival and transport of the fungus. The oospore, which is rarely seen and constitutes the sexual stage, may play a role in long-term survival and overland movement of the fungus. The thick-walled chlamydospore, or resting spore, is commonly found in rootlets killed by the fungus. It is probably the main structure that enables the fungus to survive during adverse conditions or in the absence of a host. It is also the primary means of spread of the fungus to new areas in infested organic matter. In the presence of water the chlamydospores form sac-like structures called sporangia. Sporangia sub- sequently germinate and produce motile zoospores. Once in contact with root tips, zoospores can germinate and infect the rootlet. Subsequent spread within the plant oc- curs by growth of the mycelium through the inner bark and cambium of the root system to the root collar, resulting in the eventual death of the host. How the Fungus Spreads Two types of movement occur with Phytophthora lateralis. Long-distance spread between drainages and watersheds occurs when infested organic matter is trans- ported. Humans have been the main vector of Port Orford cedar root disease. Long-distance spread has resulted from transport of infected seedlings and infested soil into dis- ease-free sites. Major spread of the disease has occurred through earth movement in road construction, road main- tenance, logging, and traffic flow on forest roads. In gen- eral, the disease has not spread into areas where physical barriers or lack of access have prevented humans from serving as vectors, especially during wet periods. In fact, seasonal road and harvest closures have been used as effective prevention techniques. Movement of the fungus ^ in soil clinging to the feet of cattle and elk has resulted in new infestations in a few instances. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 PORT ORFORD CEDAR — SUMMARY INFORMATION ACRES TOTAL ANNUAL OWNERSHIP WITH CEDAR VOLUME1 GROWTH1 (mmcf)2 (mmcf) National Forests California 160,012 33 0.8 Oregon 224,120 93 1.4 Bureau of Land Management NA 23.5 NA Private California 28,000 5.3 0.09 Oregon 170.000 oy.5 NA Total 582.202 224.3 2.3 HARVEST ANNUAL 9 YEAR VOLUME VOLUME 1983-91 1983-91 (mmcf) (mmcf) 0.19 0.94 0.48 0.27 NA 1.88 1.7 8.5 4.3 2.4 NA 16.9 'Estimates based on sur.eys or updates from lollowiin: wars: MS.(',\-IW.i: M'S. OR-IW: HI.M-I')nS: Pmnk' I'WI. \ couuTsion of 5 board feet/cubic fool was used when cubit. miMsurcmcni was urn >ivailalilt*. 2mmcf = million cubic feet In a new area Phytophthora lateralis spreads in water downslope from roads and trails. Steep slopes dissected by drainages quickly channel zoospore-infested water into streams. Cross slope spread is restricted. On broad slopes or flat areas infested water may spread out over larger areas and move more slowly. Concave areas with Port Orford cedar are especially vulnerable to damage because they are easily flooded. Convex slopes are much less vulnerable. The second type of movement is the short-distance "swimming" of motile zoospores. Zoospores can move up to a few centimeters until they contact a host rootlet where they attach themselves and germinate. If they do not con- tact a susceptible rootlet, they will encyst. Encysted spores may be transported in water or may perish. When condi- tions are conducive, sporangia may develop from the roots of infected trees and produce zoospores. These can then invade nearby rootlets, either of the same tree or of a neighboring tree. The length of time between infection and death of the tree probably varies with tree size and extent of the root system available to support the tree. Seedling mortality occurs rapidly and is dependent on weather. It may be a few weeks to three months; larger trees may survive for several years following infection. Infection is highly dependent on the presence of free water in the immediate vicinity of susceptible tree roots. High-risk areas for infection are stream courses, drain- ages, and low-lying areas downslope from infected areas or below roads and trails where new inoculum is intro- duced. However, some Port Orford cedars do survive on infected sites because of their microsite position and lack VOLUME 22, NO. 3 of direct exposure to inoculum. Port Orford cedar is a prolific seed producer and often regenerates where trees have died in the past. The new trees usually become infected in turn, resulting in chronic disease in such places. Mortality losses due to Port Orford cedar root disease have been evaluated at a stand level in several areas where Simplified P. lateralis life cycle. Root infection by zoospores ~\^ Port Orford Cedar Root System Spore germinaton in saturated soil Mycelium and spores diseased roots Spread via root contact Spread via infested soil Resting spores in soil and decomposed roots FREMONTIA 7 the disease has been present for ten to thirty-six years. In all cases the disease was found to have caused extensive mortality of Port Orford cedar in portions of the stands where high-risk conditions prevailed, especially along streams and in drainage ditches on the downslope sides of roads. Disease-caused mortality was substantially less and often absent altogether on drier microsites. Resistance to Fungus Field observations of trees that have survived for some time in the midst of dead neighbors suggests that Port Orford cedars vary in susceptibility to Phytophthora lateralis. Tests using various inoculation procedures have shown that some of these phenotypically resistant indi- viduals are demonstrably more tolerant of infection than others. Resistance is expressed as a slowing of the rate of advance of the fungus in diseased tissue rather than as immunity. To date no trees have been identified with the potential to stand up indefinitely in areas of extreme expo- sure to inoculum. Studies have also shown that allozyme variability (in- dicating genetic diversity) is slightly higher in Port Orford cedar stands in Oregon than in stands in California, al- though the range of means was wider in the California populations. Populations with lowest diversity occurred in California in the seven stands in the Trinity and Sacra- mento drainages, disjunct from the main coastal distribu- tion of the species. This amount of genetic variation for Port Orford cedar is similar to that of knobcone pine A branch and cones of Port Orford cedar. Photograph by James Shevock. 8 FREMONTIA (Pinus attenuata) and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), both of which also have small to moderate- sized distributions. An Oregon population of Port Orford cedar just west of the southern tip of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area has alleles at three gene loci that are not present in any other Oregon or California population. Comparing the plot of latitude and longitude patterns of allozyme variation with the map of the President's Plan, Option 9 (the Pacific Northwest), indicates that a portion of all significant genetic variation patterns (based on allozymes) are located within either congressionally or administratively reserved lands. Current Status of Port Orford Cedar A comprehensive program to control Port Orford cedar root disease and ensure the presence and productivity of the tree was begun in 1988 by the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Regions of the USDA Forest Service. The program was the result of a consensus process that involved industry, environmental, agency, university, and local political interests. The program enlists, supports, and coordinates the work of foresters, ecologists, resource managers, and research scientists to ensure that Port Orford cedar remains a viable component of the forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Participants in the program in- clude the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, state universities, private compa- nies, state and local governments, and several foreign countries. The Port Orford cedar program is implemented under a multi-agency and multi-resource coordinating group that ensures that resources are directed to studies of both the host tree and the root disease pathogen. The program provides for inventory and monitoring, research, public involvement and education, and management policy. Strat- egies for monitoring the presence and movement of the disease and for developing and evaluating methods of control are also included. Management direction for this program is incorporated in agency land management plan- ning documents. Disease Control Strategies for controlling spread of the fungus include summer operations to reduce movement of infested soil; cleaning of vehicles and equipment to remove mud and dirt that may contain spores of the root pathogen prior to entering or leaving specified areas; berming roadsides to reduce splash and runoff; removing Port Orford cedar from roadsides to prevent infestation of disease-free stands from vehicles using the road; road closures to eliminate or restrict traffic to the dry season; and use of timber harvest systems that reduce the need for and extent of new access VOLUME 22, NO. 3 I~>!?lt Si.:-. * In a new area the fungus spreads downslope from roads and trails where zoospores travel in streams; infections usually occur where there is free water around roots. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 9 * *'•?/' ^ t\Q* ¦ •I ••-•v^fi J/*~v- ¦$&#'! d^f^^"' Port Orford cedar growing on the edge of Blue Lake. roads. The mix of appropriate strategies for use in a par- ticular situation is determined by risk analysis. Every activity on National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands that has the potential for affecting Port Orford cedar is assessed for risk, and monitoring the success of control strategies is an integral part of the risk analysis process. The report for each project or activity contains the objectives, the control strategies implemented, and the results of field monitoring over a three- to five- year period. Project reports indicate that control strategies imple- mented have been successful. Seasonal road and harvest closures have reduced or eliminated the spread of the disease into uninfested areas. Berming of road edges and the removal of Port Orford cedar from roadsides has re- duced the spread of the disease into stands downslope from infested roads. Range-wide monitoring will assess overall movement of the root disease. Results of the monitoring are digitized into a Geographic Information System and are used to produce maps showing the current range of Port Orford cedar and of the disease. CITES Petition In September 1993 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) received a petition to add Port Orford cedar to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). The 120 member nations of CITES ban commercial trade in an agreed-upon list of currently endangered species (Appendix I) and regulate and monitor trade in others that might become endangered (Appendix II). The USDA For- est Service was asked by the USFWS to provide materials and a technical recommendation as to whether the listing of Port Orford cedar in Appendix II of CITES would protect or prolong the biological and ecological viability of the species in its natural range. A narrative response and maps were prepared. The maps displayed the range of Port Orford cedar by land ownership in Oregon and California, the current distribution of areas where Port Orford cedar root disease has been identified, the location of congressionally and administratively re- served areas, and the location of late-successional reserves proposed under the President's Plan, Option 9. The narra- 10 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 tive contained data on the current range and amount of Port Orford cedar, history of harvest and export, status of man- agement activities, and a description of Port Orford cedar root disease, including an analysis of potential impact of the disease on the future viability of the species. As much as possible, these data covered all lands within the natural range of Port Orford cedar, including Forest Service, Bu- reau of Land Management in Oregon, state land in Oregon and California, and privately owned lands. The results of the analysis were unambiguous: the listing of Port Orford cedar in Appendix II of CITES would neither protect nor prolong the biological and eco- logical viability of the species in its natural range. Regu- lating and monitoring international trade of Port Orford cedar, the purpose of an Appendix II listing, would not materially affect the fate of this species. The majority of Port Orford cedar exported goes to Japan for premium prices. If export of Port Orford cedar were curtailed, any volume produced through sustainable harvest levels would immediately be absorbed by the domestic market. The value received would be much less, but the current de- mand for logs of any species in the Pacific Northwest would ensure that any volume harvested would be utilized here in the United States. In April 1994 the USFWS determined that Port Orford cedar would not be added to the CITES list. The natural range of Port Orford cedar has not dimin- ished because of the Port Orford cedar root disease. The species has not been extirpated from any area where it has historically been located. Natural regeneration and plant- ing of nursery stock has ensured its continued presence in ecosystems and has even expanded its presence outside its natural range. It continues to exist and even thrive in those areas in which it is managed and where the disease has been introduced. Even in stands where the root disease has been present for more than thirty years, Port Orford cedar continues to reproduce and grow where the fungus cannot reach. The consensus of scientists working in this area is that Port Orford cedar has not been eliminated from any area because of the root disease. Because of all of these factors, it is also not a candidate by USFWS for federal listing as a threatened or endangered species. John Kliejunas, U.S. Forest Service, 630 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA94111 References Carlile, M.J. 1983. Motility, taxis, and tropism in Phytoph- thora. Pages 95-107. In D.C. Erwin, S. Bartnicki-Garcia, and P. Tsao, eds. Phytophthora: its biology, taxonomy, ecology, and pathology. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN. 392p. Goheen, E.M., Cobb, D.F., and Forry, K. 1987a. Roadside surveys for Port Orford Cedar root disease on the Powers Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Manage- ment. Technical Report R6-87-04. 18p. Goheen, E.M., Cobb, D.F., and Forry, K. 1987b. Survey of the Coquille River Falls Research Natural Area. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Manage- ment. Technical Report unnumbered. lOp. Hansen, E.M. 1994. Validation of branch lesion test for screen- ing Port Orford cedar for resistance to Phytophthora lateralis. Oregon State University, Final Report Supplement Agree- ment No. PNW 92-0184. 1 lp. Hansen, E.M., Hamm, P.B., and Roth, L.F. 1989. Testing Port Orford cedar for resistance to Phytophthora. Plant Disease 73:791-94. Hansen, E.M., Wilson, M., and Zobel, D. 1993. Stream sur- veys for Port Orford cedar root disease on the Gasquet Ranger District, Six Rivers National Forest. Oregon State University Project Report to the USDA Forest Service, December 31, 1993. 15p. Hansen, E.M., Wilson, M., and Zobel, D. 1994. Roadside surveys for Port Orford cedar root disease on the Powers Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest. Oregon State University Project Report to the USDA Forest Service, February 14, 1994. 21 p. Hunt, J. 1959. Phytophthora lateralis on Port Orford cedar. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Res. Note 172. 6p. Harvey, R.D., Jr., Hadfield, J.S., and Greenup, M. 1985. Port Or- ford cedar root rot on the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Pest Management. Technical Report Unnumbered. 18p. Kliejunas, J., and Adams, D. 1980. An evaluation of Phytoph- thora root rot of Port Orford cedar in California. USDA Forest Service Forest Pest Mgmt. Report No. 80-1. 16p. Millar, C.I., Delany, D.A., Westfall, R.D., Atzet, T., Greenup, M., and Jimerson, T. 1991. Ecological factors as indicators of genetic diversity in Port Orford cedar: Applications to genetic conservation. USDA Forest Service, Pacific South- west Forest and Range Experiment Station. Progress Re- port, July 1, 1991. 3p. Ostrofsky, W.D., Pratt, R.G., and Roth, L.F. 1977. Detection of Phytophthora lateralis in soil organic matter and factors that affect its survival. Phytopathology 67:79-84. Roth, L.F., Bynum, H.H., and Nelson, E.E. 1972. Phytoph- thora root rot of Port Orford cedar. USDA Forest Service Forest Pest Leafl. 131. 7p. Roth, L.F., Harvey, R.D. Jr., and Kliejunas, J.T. 1987. Port Orford cedar root disease. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. Forest Pest Management Report No. R6-FPM-PR-010-91. lip. Roth, L.F., Trione, E.J., and Ruhmann, W.H. 1957. Phyto- phthora induced root rot of native Port Orford cedar. J. Forestry 55:294-98. Trione, E.J. 1959. The pathology of Phytophthora lateralis on na- tive Chamaecyparis lawsoniana. Phytopathology 49:306-10. Trione, E.J. 1974. Sporulation and germination of Phytoph- thora lateralis. Phytopathology 64:1531-33. Zobel, D.B., Roth, L.F., and Hawk, G.M. 1985. Ecology, pathology, and management of Port Orford cedar {Cha- maecyparis lawsoniana). USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-184. Portland, OR. 161p. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 11 >;*¦-¦,• >¦. ' Cream cups (Platystemon californica) and tidy tips (Layia gaiUardioid.es) carpeted the floor of Bear Valley, Colusa County in the spring of 1989. Photographs by the author. BEAR VALLEY: WILDFLOWERS AS JOHN MUIR DESCRIBED THEM by Stephen W. Edwards LATE April and May bring a spectacular wild- flower display to Bear Valley in Colusa County. In the middle of the nineteenth century there were parts of the great Central Valley of California so densely carpeted with wildflowers, over such vast distances, that an ant could walk from flower to flower for miles, never touching ground. Painted landscapes were common then, throughout California (even on the San Francisco Penin- sula). In the last years of the twentieth century nearly all of the extensive displays are gone. Isolated patches persist, but for over a hundred years each generation has told a younger one of fields of flowers disappeared. Now, as the lowlands are gobbled up at a furious pace, Califoraians stand at the brink of losing the last vestiges of their inher- itance of beauty, biodiversity, and peace. Some extravagantly flowery pieces of the earth our ancestors knew are familiar to many—the hills above Gorman in the Grapevine; the poppy fields of Antelope Valley; some of the desert basins in unusually good years; Shell Creek in San Luis Obispo County; Table Mountain near Oroville. But two places in particular give a sense of the vast expanses of color, reaching for miles, that John Muir described in the Central Valley in 1869. The Carrizo Plain, west of Buttonwillow and McKittrick and nestled between the Temblor and the Caliente ranges, had a supe- rior year in 1993. South of Soda Lake the valley was an endless bowl of flowers from range to range; and the sheets of Monolopia lanceolata climbed right up the flanks of the Temblors, seemingly covering all the earth with flowers. The Carrizo is managed and protected by The Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM); so, while the adjacent San Joaquin Valley is obliterated, a sizable remnant of its past glories remains west of the Temblors. Bear Valley in Colusa County is the other remnant that is rich enough, and expansive enough, to give a feeling of 1 2 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 the old Central Valley flower fields. As the Carrizo is in a sense our last remnant of the San Joaquin Valley, Bear Valley represents the Sacramento. West of Williams and east of Clear Lake, bounded on its west side by magnifi- cent Walker Ridge, Bear Valley is spectacular as a land- form alone. But its flora and fauna draw visitors from around the state, many coming year after year and in varying seasons, to enjoy the changing displays—and many wondering how a place of such ecological richness and beauty can still exist. North Along Bear Creek Most visitors enter via Bear Valley Road, which heads north along Bear Creek from the junction of highways 20 and 16. The Bear Creek drainage is an important wildlife area. On recent field trips there I have seen bald eagles (Wayne Roderick, emeritus director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, reports that he has observed them along Bear Creek over a number of decades), striped racer, and many Pacific pond turtles. The great botanical stops begin right at the junction—on some days there is so much to see that the seven-mile hike to Bear Valley seems to take all day. In late May to early June serpentinite exposures display fields of paper onion (Allium amplectens), shiver- ing dwarf flax (Hesperolinon califbrnicum), and yellow owl's-clover (Orthocarpus lithospermoides, which the new Jepson Manual lists as Castilleja rubicundula subsp. rubicundula), punctuated with Brewer's jewel flower (Streptanthus brewed), the lilac-chaliced splendid mari- posa {Calochortus splendens), here near the north end of its range; serpentine sunflower (Helianthus bolanderi); and short-podded thelypodium (Thelypodium brachycar- pum), a rarity here and more common in the Klamath Mountains. There can be dazzling patches of Calochortus superbus and C. luteus, and of one of the largest-flowered and most beautiful of all clarkias—the rare endemic Clar- kia gracilis ssp. tracyi. Farther north, snowdrop bush (Sty- rax officinalis var. califomica) comes right down to the road, beginning to bloom in late April. Heading north the road gently rises, finally emerging into open grassland with a view out over Bear Valley (1300 feet elevation), with the jagged hogback of Bear Valley Buttes in the distance. In mid- to late March, zones of pink can be seen far off on the valley floor. The south part of the valley is covered with hundreds of thousands of adobe-lily (Fritillaria pluriflora), the most striking of California's fritillarias and perhaps the most "tulip-like." The adobe-lily is List 1 endangered, and untold numbers of people from all over Northern and Central California make a yearly pilgrimage to see it. There is no comparable display of it elsewhere, and this may be the most extensive aggregation of any species of Fritillaria in North America. The thickest and most expansive sheets of diverse flow- ers cover large sections throughout the Valley in April and VOLUME 22, NO. 3 early May. Raven and Axelrod's (1978) classic Origins and Relationships of the California Flora presents four color plates of California as our grandparents knew it. Two were taken in Southern California; the other two are of Bear Valley: one in April, a vast bowl of blazing yellow tidy tips; the other in May, a tapestry of tidy tips, gilias, lupines, purple owl's-clovers, and poppies. My favorite fields are mixes of cream cups (Platystemon californicus) with orange poppies and purple owl's-clover (Orthocarpus purpurascens, listed as Castilleja exserta in the new Jepson Manual). Not far south of Bear Valley Buttes there are vast fields of meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum) with diverse wildflowers mixed in: yellow and purple owl's-clover, cream cups, poppies, goldfields (Lasthenia glabrata ssp. glabrata), and the rare large-flowered star- tulip (Calochortus uniflorus) with its pink to pale lilac corollas and sky-blue anthers. Mixes vary from field to field and season to season. Where a solid carpet of twenty acres or so of tidy tips (Layia platyglossa and L. gaillardioides) thrives one year, Platystemon and poppies may dominate the next. According to George Clark, an amateur botanist from Sacramento, "extensive patches of Collinsia sparsiflora, Delphinium variegatum, Lasthenia califomica, Lupinus bicolor, Nemophila menziesii, Plagiobothrys stipitatus, and Ranunculus canus can also be observed at one time or another dominating sites on the valley floor." Mixtures vary with pattern and amount of rainfall, timing and intensity of grazing, and other factors. Incurable wildflower enthusiasts find it necessary to visit Bear Valley every year, just to see how the floral kaleido- scope changes. But the overwhelming impression across Star-tulip (Calochortus uniflorus) with its delicate pink-to-lilac corollas is abundant on the valley floor in late April to early May. FREMONTIA 13 all the years is of a vast basin of wildflower fields stretch- ing for miles. It is a place where all Californians may yet experience what CNPS members know so well: from field to field, as number and diversity of wildflowers rise, so does the spirit of the observer. One does not have to be in Bear Valley long before beginning to feel irrepressibly buoyant, maybe even light-headed. Why So Rich? Adjacent valleys do not even remotely compare to Bear Valley in richness. The reasons for this have not been studied, but surely three factors are involved. First, plow- ing in Bear Valley has been limited. Second, grazing of cattle, horses, and sheep has been relatively benign; and, third, perhaps critically, there is apparently a serpentine influence in the soil. Walker Ridge, to the west, is largely ultrabasic, and sediments draining eastward into the valley bear that stamp. Rich (1971) who published a beautiful geologic map of the area in 1971, reasoned that serpenti- nite may formerly have covered much of the western and southwestern parts of the valley. Ultrabasic soils reduce In mid-March the floor of the south part of Bear Valley is covered with hundreds of thousands of pink adobe-lily (Fritillaria pluriflora). competitiveness of many pestilential exotic weeds, so if the Bear Valley soils are even marginally ultrabasic, there should be a competitive benefit for wildflowers. BLM and The Nature Conservancy are managing live- stock grazing on the Carrizo Plain, using livestock as a tool to promote native botanical diversity. John Menke and colleagues have demonstrated at Jepson Prairie south of Rio Vista that livestock impacts can be timed and focused to increase abundance of both bunchgrasses and wildflowers in competition with decreasing exotics. In Bear Valley a similar phenomenon has been going on for decades. Year after year, livestock graze the flower fields, and they subtly tip the competitive balance in favor of native plants. In one pasture after another as you drive the long fencelines, abundant poppies, tidy tips, lasthenias, owl's-clovers, or cream cups come right up to the fence. Outside the fence, along the excluded roadsides, typically (with exceptions) far fewer flowers survive—amid tall jungles of exotic annual grasses and star thistle. It is important to avoid the erroneous assumption that star thistle infestations are caused by livestock grazing or even overgrazing. While overgrazing can contribute to the prob- lem, star thistles nonetheless thrive in excluded areas everywhere, and typically they populate excluded zones even more densely than they do adjacent pastures. Craig Thompsen and W. A. Williams at U.C. Davis have re- cently described, by the way, how cattle can be used to manage star thistle. Yellow star thistle is an increasing problem in the valley, on both sides of the fences. It seems to have received its greatest boosts from soil disturbance resulting from road grading, and from plowing. Bear Valley could change, quickly and drastically, turn- ing a broad bowl of color into a cauldron of ruined memo- ries. A recent plan proposes to turn the valley into a 20,000-person retirement complex. It proposes to plow out the mysteriously potent native soil for vineyards; cover the former glories with golf courses, tarmac, ranchettes, and larger buildings; and/or to develop irrigated pastures for intensified year-round grazing. The core of this aberra- tion was planned for the fritillary fields. Were the plan to proceed, the delightful south-entry road, with all its wonderful displays, and Bear Creek beside it, would become a commute-jam. Bear Valley proper would be gone—just another homogenized clone of all the other trashed lowlands of the North Coast Ranges north of the Bay Area. Walker Ridge To the west of Bear Valley lies Walker Ridge. It is accessible by car via Walker Ridge Road, off Highway 20, or via Bartlett Springs Road up the Brim Grade from Bear Valley Buttes. This is a wild mountain range (elevations around 3000 feet) providing breathtaking vistas of Bear Valley, Sutter Buttes, and the Sierra to the east; Mendocino 14 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 'S^^ffF ;''S-'^iP» ¦'¦.^JS • ,-,,. ....;%i?W '/' V ^¦^BffluiiEi * *. ^^!::< *tf # 4"- ,*/» ,* ^'*J £&\ ' Many of the most exciting and unusual plants on Walker Ridge are confined to delicate scree-slopes that are easily damaged. National Forest (Mt. Snow and Mt. St. John) to the north; and Lake and Napa counties (Mt. Konocti, Mt. Hannah, Cobb Mountain, Mt. St. Helena) to the west. It is managed by the BLM, with primitive camping, endless opportuni- ties for hiking, and a serpentine flora second to none. One among many botanical haunts well known to CNPS is Barrel Springs, with its masses of death-camas (Zigade- nus venosus, swamp larkspur {Delphinium uliginosum), long-rayed brodiaea (Triteleia peduncularis), serpentine sunflower {Helianthus bolanderi), and a host of other interesting taxa, including the rare endemic Jepson's loco- weed (Astragalus rattanii var. jepsonianus). Serpentinite scree areas near the summit of Walker Ridge Road support Greene's collinsia (Collinsia greenei), Purdy's fritillary (Fritillaria purdyi), the rock-loving onions Allium cra- tericola and A. falcifolium, bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva). Amazingly long plant lists have been put together over the years by CNPS field-trip leaders Ledyard Stebbins, Walter Knight, George Clark, David Magney, and others. Just to cite a few of the choicest rarities, one could note Snow Mountain buckwheat (Eriogonum nervulosum), talus milk- weed (Asclepias solanoana), the CNPS List 1 endangered Brodiaea rosea, Morrison's jewelflower (Streptanthus mor- risonii), Hall's tarplant (Madia hallii), disjunct prickly poppy (Argemone munita ssp. rotundata, and large colo- nies of Balsamorhiza macrolepis. The list of interesting plants and exciting habitats and displays is long, and, to anyone interested in natural history, simply overwhelm- ing. One of my favorite places is where a small stream crosses Brim Grade not far above the valley floor. In the streambed are leopard lily (Lilium pardalinum) and stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea), associated with a woody flora the diversity of which is truly remarkable: in addition to more common serpentine taxa, snowdrop bush (Styrax officinalis var. californica), Brewer's willow (salix brew- ed), foothill ash (Fraxinus dipetala), spice bush (Caly- canthus occidentalis), serpentine silktassel (Garrya cong- donii), redbud (Cercis occidentalis), and serpentine cof- feeberry (Rhamnus tomentella ssp. crassifolia)—the last looking so distinctive in form, adaptation, and possibly reproductive isolation as to suggest it may be a separate species. According to Stew Winchester, horticulture in- structor at Diablo Valley College, the extremely rare west- ern viburnum (Viburnum ellipticum) is nearby. VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 15 Impending Development If a huge proposed development is to be placed in Bear Valley, the effects on Walker Ridge must also be consid- ered. Many of the most diverse and colorful displays are in and around small, isolated, vernally moist meadows. These can withstand only limited human impacts, not the ORVs Talus milkweed (Asclepias solanoana) (below) is an extreme rarity of sliding talus slopes. It is so distinctive that botanists Greene and Abrams once considered it to belong to its own genus, Solanoa. The prickly poppy {Argemone munita) (bottom), familiar to many as a brilliant denizen of Eastern California and Nevada, is a startling find along Walker Ridge. Photograph by Wayne Roderick. 16 FREMONT I A and off-road non-ORVs that inevitably flood delicate ar- eas next to developments. But Walker Ridge also holds immense value in relation to Bear Valley. For if the latter can be preserved for future generations, it will be together with Walker Ridge—which already belongs to the BLM. Together they constitute one of the truly greatest natural areas of California. And it is only two hours by car from the Bay Area. The supreme irony of the recent development plan for Bear Valley is that well meaning people seeking a peace- ful retirement in the country would participate in the destruction of the greatest beauty imaginable, beauty that draws people every spring, from all directions, to enjoy the valley in a profoundly peaceful way. While the people of California in general will suffer if Bear Valley is lost and Walker Ridge perverted, local people will perhaps suffer most. According to Wayne Ro- derick, a local rancher with whom he spoke was deeply concerned about the future of the area, and was at the time investigating ways to prevent development. This under- scores a point that ranchers (who usually do not plow the soil or pave the earth) are potentially the strongest allies of environmental organizations. Many, perhaps most, want the exact same basics that urban natural historians long for: undeveloped open space, clean water, rich native bio- diversity. Younger members may not remember the early days of CNPS, when a rancher named Ernest Twisselmann hosted one of the all-time great CNPS field trips, to the Temblors, with chuckwagon (steaks, sundries, even Rocky Mountain oysters) provided by the Twisselmann Ranch. Technical botanical matters were handled by Twisselmann himself, who had become the authority on Kern County's floristics, and who produced two superb floras—those of Kern County and of the Temblor Range. If CNPS would make a sustained effort to bring ranch- ers into the activities of the society, everyone might be enriched, and perhaps situations like the one in Bear Val- ley could be averted long before crisis stage. Although ecologically attuned ranchers like Twisselmann were once almost unheard of, that is less true today. Increasing de- mands for efficiency are encouraging many to learn how to integrate their management strategies with natural cycles and patterns. CNPS, with its aggregate expertise, can cer- tainly assist ranchers in these endeavors. As for those ranchers who never have been reached— many are convinced that selling off their land for develop- ment is a necessity to provide for their children's future. One can only pray that when the selling price is set, ranchers will remember their love for the land, how hard they and those before them struggled to keep that land healthy and whole, and then try to set the price at a level that can be afforded by those who will continue the struggle. Stephen W. Edwards, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA 94708 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 *MMftlM P?^^iisiit;..,«»."i«S"">*Ss i;.;00f^''""-"7r"'"- ~+J».^ &*&.*&» '£*£ - \ w*fc- •«.-+.". K & *4 *¦ Vernal pools have recently been identified in the alluvial clay bottomlands of the San Jacinto Valley near Hemet. Photographs by David Bramlet. VERNAL POOLS IN THE SAN JACINTO VALLEY by Scott D. White IN 1991 David Bramlet identified two series of ver- nal pools in the alluvial clay bottomlands of San Jacinto Valley. One site is on agricultural land in the southeastern valley near the city of Hemet; the other is to the northwest, partly within the San Jacinto Wildlife Area and partly on agricultural land. Several other sites in the Hemet area have been identified since then. Bramlet is now preparing a detailed description of the distribution and flora of these pools. Preserving these vernal pools may require protecting large areas of playa lake beds or alkali flats. Vernal pools are among the rarest and most threatened of California's wetland habitats. They support a variety of unique plants, provide seasonal habitat for migratory birds, and support a host of unusual invertebrates. The vernal pool environment results from a combination of Mediter- ranean climatic regime, nearly flat topography, and imper- meable soil. Topographic depressions fill with rain or flood water during winter. By summer these pools have evaporated completely, often drying to a hardpan where few plants grow. Vernal pools thus present an ephemeral environment: flooding limits oxygen levels available to roots of most plants during the early growing season, and later in the season drying out inhibits the establishment of plants. The vernal pool flora consists mostly of aquatic annuals adapted to this difficult regime. Vernal pools are found in the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Modoc Plateau, valleys of the North Coast Ranges, and in three distinct regions in Southern California. Southern California pools occur on coastal terraces in San Diego and Santa Barbara counties and on basalt flows on the Santa Rosa Plateau in Riverside County. In coastal terrace regions they occur on alluvial soils with VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 17 subsurface iron-silica "cements," on claypan marine ter- race soils, and on sandy soils overlying layers of imperme- able clay. The Santa Rosa Plateau pools occur on basalt flows that provide the impermeable layer. Alluvial Clay Bottomlands The San Jacinto Valley (also called Perris Basin) lies between two arms of the Peninsular Ranges in Southern California: the Santa Ana Mountains to the west and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains to the east. Seismic activity along faults at the valley's boundaries has caused the valley floor to fall relative to adjacent mountain ranges. Alluvial material from the eroding mountains has been deposited on the valley floor, which is characterized by saline-alkali alluvial clay soils. Over geologic time a block of the Peninsular Range geologic province has subsided and has been largely buried. The eroded remains of old mountains emerge above the deep alluvium, supporting coastal sage scrub and some of the easternmost California gnatcatcher populations. Most of the valley bottomlands are now in agricultural production. Vernal pools, some supporting rare or endangered plants, occur on these allu- vial clay bottomlands. The San Jacinto Valley vernal pools occur on soils mapped as the Domino-Traver-Willows association. The pool first identified by Beauchamp and other pools nearby are on similar soil. Knecht describes these as saline-alkali soils, typically heavy in clay or silt content and underlain by an impermeable calcareous "cement" known as caliche. The flora in the pools is characterized by annual aquatic species, including dwarf woolly-heads {Psilocarphus bre- Dwarf woolly-heads (Psilocarphus brevissimus) is an annual aquatic that blooms as the vernal pools dry. 18 FREMONTIA vissimus), toad rush (Juncus bufonius), spike rush {Eleo- charis sp.), and water pygmy weed (Crassula aquatica). Some pools support plants listed as sensitive by CNPS, including little mousetail (Myosurus minimus var. apus, List 3) and prostrate navarretia {Navarretia fossalis, List IB); some support state and federally listed endangered California orcutt grass (Orcuttia californica). The state- listed endangered thread-leaved brodiaea (Brodiaea fili- folia) occurs at the margins of some pools. The pools also support an invertebrate fauna, poorly documented to date but possibly including the federally listed endangered Riv- erside fairy shrimp (Streptocephalus woottonii). A Dynamic System Vernal pool floras are dynamic. Species that occur in abundance one year may be absent in others. Changes in species composition may be due in part to seed dormancy, but may also result from constant new colonization bal- anced by local extirpation in individual pools. The pools themselves are dynamic. In dry years small pools may not hold water during the growing season and may not de- velop pool vegetation. In unusually wet years a series of small pools may merge into a single large one, perhaps enhancing seed dispersal between pools. The pools occur in a changing mosaic with a series of unique alkali-flat plant communities. Alkali grasslands, alkali playas, and vernal pools share much of their floristic composition and are often difficult to differentiate. Vernal pool species sometimes occur on alkali vernal plains where no topographic depressions are evident. Vernal pool hy- drology at the northwestern site seems to differ from other pools because they are filled when the San Jacinto River overflows its banks—not by rainfall in a local runoff basin. Historically, the San Jacinto River drained into Mystic Lake (San Jacinto Lake), an expansive playa in the northern San Jacinto Valley, and vernal pool hydrology likely was linked to the lake itself. San Jacinto Valley vernal pools are a remnant of a once extensive seasonal wetland landscape. They have been heavily influenced by agriculture and related disturbances, and many are now threatened by development. Vernal pools and surrounding seasonally flooded soils have been drained and then plowed for grain production or grazed by livestock. Roads have altered hydrology, usually channel- ing runoff along drainage ditches rather than allowing it to stand in open fields or flow naturally from pool to pool in shallow swales. Flood control projects have channelized the San Jacinto River and other waterways, eliminating much of the seasonal water supply. Since the 1980s the cities of Hemet, San Jacinto, Perris, and Moreno Valley have grown tremendously, converting huge areas of agri- cultural land to commercial and residential development. Scattered vernal pools have survived agricultural distur- bance, but if they are to persist along with development in VOLUME 22, NO. 3 the valley, then planning for new development must incor- porate hydrologic and biogeographic requirements of the pools and their biota. IPS,, \ How to Protect Pools? ^0mmK'^3K If environmental reports properly identify pools sup- porting state or federally listed species, or meeting agency definitions of wetlands, then impacts will be regulated, if not prevented, through the California Environmental Qual- ity Act, state and federal endangered species acts, and the federal Water Quality Act. Pools without listed species or not qualifying as wetlands are less likely to be protected, and meaningful mitigation is less likely to occur. The distribution of rare plants, vernal pools, and other unique plant communities in the San Jacinto Valley may necessitate conservation of large areas of play a lake bed or alkali flats—not just a few isolated pools that happen to support listed species. These rare plants and their habitats should be inventoried and their ecological requirements more fully elucidated. Protection for some vernal pools in the San Jacinto Valley may be forthcoming. The City of Hemet, presum- ably with the intent of avoiding or mitigating future im- pacts, has enlisted local botanists as volunteers to survey and document potential vernal pool sites and is inventory- ing vernal pools in one large planning area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is aware of the pools and hopes to protect some significant sites. Some vernal pools are within the San Jacinto Wildlife Area (managed by the California Department of Fish and Game), and protecting these sites should be consistent with current management practices. New construction in the San Jacinto Valley has slowed with the region's economy, relieving pressures to develop open space. Economic growth and new development likely will rebound in the future, but the present economy offers an opportunity for long-term regional planning for protec- tion of vernal pools. Riverside County and the incorpo- rated cities should begin now to identify the full extent of rare plants and invertebrates and unique plant communi- ties in the San Jacinto Valley and to design a long-term conservation plan for these resources. Scott White, 518 S. Geneva Avenue, Claremont, CA 91718 References Baker, W.S., F.E. Hayes, and E.W. Lathrop. 1992. Avian use of vernal pools at the Santa Rosa Plateau Preserve, Santa Ana Mountains, California. Southwestern Naturalist 37:392- 403. Bramlet, D. Plant species of special concern in the alkaline sinks of the San Jacinto River and the old Salt Creek tributary area. In preparation. "*|Hy^ **jl# ;>*-'-•• A number of plants are listed as sensitive plants by CNPS such as the prostrate navarretia (Navarretia fossalis). Rarefind. 1993. Natural Diversity Data Base. California De- partment of Fish and Game. Eng. L.L., D. Belk, and C.H. Eriksen. 1990. California Anostraca: distribution, habitat, and status. Journal of Crus- tacean Biology 10:247-77. Ferren, W.R. and P.L. Fiedler. 1993. Rare and threatened wetlands of central and southern California. In Keeley, J.E. (ed.), Interface Between Ecology and Land Development in California. Southern California Academy of Sciences, Los Angeles. Ferren, W.R. and D.A. Pritchett. 1988. Enhancement, Resto- ration, and Creation of Vernal Pools at Del Sol Open Space and Vernal Pool Reserve, Santa Barbara County, Califor- nia. Environmental Report No. 13, Department of Biologi- cal Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara. Griggs, F.T. and S.K. Jain. 1983. Conservation of vernal pool plants in California, II: Population biology of a rare and unique grass genus Orcuttia. Biological Conservation 27:171-93. Gunther, J.D. 1984. Riverside County, California, Place Names: Their Origins and Their Stories. Rubidoux Printing Company, Riverside, California. Holland, R.F. and S.K. Jain. 1981. Insular biogeography of vernal pools in the Central Valley of California. American Naturalist U7:24-37. Knecht, A.A. 1971. Soil Survey of Western Riverside Area, California. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C. Willet, G. and A. Jay. 1911. May notes from San Jacinto Lake. Condor 23:156-60. Zedler, P.H. 1987. The Ecology of Southern California Vernal Pools. Biological Report No. 85(7.11). USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. Scott White, 518 S. Geneva Avenue, Claremont, CA 91718 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONT1A 19 SERENO WATSON: EARLY CALIFORNIA BOTANIST by Liam H. Davis Sereno Watson wrote the first flora of California in spite of having no formal botanical education. Upon his arrival in California in 1867, seeking adventure, he volunteered to serve as assistant to a geo- logical survey party in the Sierra Nevada, where he was assigned to collecting plants. At the time he was over forty years old and had had various unrelated careers. But dur- ing the party's exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Watson discovered a passion for botany in addition to discovering new species of plants. That experience was the beginning of a prolific and distinguished career in plant systematics. Sereno Watson was born 1 December 1826 in East Windsor Hill, Connecticut, the ninth of thirteen children. His parents, Henry Watson and Julia Reed Watson, were descendants of early Connecticut settlers, one of whom, a Robert Watson, had migrated to America in about 1639 and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. Sereno's father, a merchant in the village of East Windsor, died when the boy was young. After his father's death the family moved to a nearby ancestral farm where Sereno enjoyed a "pleas- ant rural childhood." As a young man Watson acquired sufficient prepara- Sereno Watson in the Gray Herbarium at Harvard, where the first flora of California was written. Photo from Drupree,A.H., 1959, Asa Gray, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. tory schooling at East Windsor Hill Academy to matricu- late at Yale College, where he graduated in 1847 in his twenty-first year. He intended to study medicine and en- tered what is now called New York University. He studied under several physicians in New York state and then in New England. He later studied under his brother Dr. Louis Watson's direction in Quincy, Illinois, where he com- pleted his medical training. Watson's medical studies al- ternated with various teaching posts in New England, Pennsylvania, and New York. During this period, he also went through a series of unsuccessful farming ventures. Neither medicine nor teaching nor farming appear to have held his interest. He abruptly changed careers and next studied insur- ance and banking. In 1856 he moved to Greensboro, Ala- bama, where he joined another brother in the insurance business. He served as secretary to the Planter's Insurance Company for about five years. In February 1861, ninety miles away in Montgomery, the seceeding Confederate States of America inaugurated Jefferson Davis as Presi- dent. It is not known how Watson felt about the historical events unfolding around him in Alabama at that time, but within the year he resigned his employment and moved north to New England near his birthplace. There he found employment with the Journal of Education in Hartford, Connecticut, where he wrote and served as an associate editor. During this time he attended the Sheffield School of Yale for a year and took classes in mineralogy and chemistry. When the Civil War ended Watson resigned from the journal and the following year, "without definite pur- pose," he sailed for California via the Isthmus of Panama. On to California After arriving in California without employment, Wat- son apparently "walked across the Sacramento Valley up into the Sierra Nevada," where he met up with the Clarence King United States geological exploration party, which was surveying the Fortieth Parallel. He applied to the scientific staff for work with a resume that was engaging if not peculiar. Accepted initially as a volunteer, he im- pressed his superiors with his skills and within a month was placed on the payroll with a small wage. The survey party experienced a rigorous year. Many people developed fever, including the party's botanist, William Whitman Bailey, who began to rely heavily on Watson's assistance. From Carson City, Nevada, at the party's base camp near the California and Nevada state line, Bailey wrote to Asa Gray of Harvard: "I will give you an account of my summer's work. It was much interrupted by sickness, chiefly fever and ague, from which nearly our whole party suffered. The pain is too recent, and my recollection of it too vivid for me to speak much of it now. Luckily my associate in this department Mr. Watson was VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Watson's sal tbush (Atriplexwatsonii) in a saltwater marsh during low tide at Chula Vista Bayfront Reserve in San Diego County. Photograph by the author. well all the time—very energetic and industrious—and his herbarium probably contains twice the number which I have collected. I cannot speak in terms of too high praise of this gentleman—always genial and kind—and ever persevering. His botanical work was in addition to that of topography. He works early and late and seems never tired or ruffled." Bailey' s poor health persisted, and four months later he resigned. Watson took over as official botanist, collecting eastward through Nevada into Utah along the Fortieth Parallel. In 1869 Watson returned east to work up his collection at the herbarium of William C. Eaton, professor of botany at Yale College. Sereno Watson began the work on his Fortieth Parallel collection at the Yale herbarium, where he immersed himself in plant systematics. Eaton asked Watson to write Asa Gray at Harvard, where Gray was currently studying the genus Eriogonum. On 9 December 1869 Wat- son wrote to Gray: "Allow me to introduce myself to you through a package of Eriogoneae which I send you today by Express. Prof. Eaton has told you that I have been gathering weeds ... He informs me that you intend shortly a revision of the Eriogoneae ... I send you my entire col- lections in this suborder . . . presuming that you will not complain of the surplus material." Watson goes on cor- dially to make specific taxonomic remarks about some of Gray's previous work. Watson's letter reveals a person already knowledgeable in plant systematics and affirms his characteristic generosity: "I will send you any farther ma- terial that you wish." The letter also states Watson's eager desire to examine the Gray Herbarium. FREMONTIA 21 Three Hearts (Tricardiawatsonii), found in theSierraNevada in California and in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona along dry desert mountain slopes. Illustration from Watson, Sereno, 1871., Vol. V of Clarence King's Reports. Botany of the 40th Parallel, Plate XXIV. Drawing by Mr. J.H. Emerton. Working Under Asa Gray Asa Gray, from this time until his death, would be closely associated, as both mentor and colleague, to the eager Watson. The following year Watson moved himself and his plant collection to Harvard in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. From his association with Bailey and Eaton, Watson no doubt was aware of this extraordinary botanist, Asa Gray, he would be meeting. But Gray had already received appraisals of Watson's work in California from Bailey and probably also from his former student Eaton. Gray's professional assessment of Watson on meeting him must have been favorable, because soon after Watson's arrival Gray assigned him the task of preparing a biblio- graphical index to North American botany. Under Gray's tutelage Watson's contributions to botany began the following year with his first publication in a report titled "Botany of the 40th Parallel" (1871. Vol. V of the Clarence King's Reports) by Sereno Watson. The vol- ume lists 1,325 plant species with descriptions and some illustrations. There is also a section on introduced plant species. The publication is a classic in that it was the first account of distinctive xerophytic and mesophytic plant life in the Great Basin region, and it is an example of Watson's "painstaking meticulousness in defining the systematics of plants" that would characterize all his later work. 22 FREMONTIA At the Gray Herbarium Watson also was asked to assist Gray with some of his immense correspondence. One biologist Gray had been corresponding with was Charles Darwin. The 1870s "were the high point of Gray's and Darwin's mutual efforts on botanical subjects." Watson's own botanical studies with Gray surely benefited from the collaborations between Darwin and Gray and the new concept of Darwinian evolution applied to botany. In 1873 Gray, who was then sixty-two years old, went into active retirement. He tendered his resignation on New Year's Day, but requested to continue as curator of the Gray Herbarium. Watson was designated assistant cura- tor. The following year Watson was appointed a full cura- tor, a position he would hold until his death. Botany of California It was during this time that Watson began the task of compiling the systematic botany of California, started earlier by William H. Brewer, who had turned over his material to Watson. The work on the first flora of Califor- nia was published in two volumes. In 1876, volume one of Botany of California was published under the joint author- ship of Watson, Brewer, and Gray. Between publication of the two California flora vol- umes Watson started yet another monumental project, the indexing of all plant species west of the Mississippi River. Up to this time only "scattered accounts and descriptions had already been published in the accounts of many west- ern explorations." In 1878 the first part of his Biblio- graphic Index to North American Botany was published, which included the Polypetalae of North America. Mean- while he would continue indexing the Apetalae and Mono- cotyledonae. That same year Iowa College (Grinnell) be- stowed upon Watson an honorary doctorate. In 1880 the second volume of Botany of California was published under the single authorship of Dr. Sereno Watson. This volume contained, as well, a taxonomic treatise on the mosses of California. Watson wrote in the introduc- tion, "The present volume completes the Botany of Cali- fornia so far as it can be at this time satisfactorily done ... there still remains ample opportunity for good botanical work... it is hoped that these volumes may prove both an incentive and an aid." During the publication year he took a sabbatical from Harvard to botanize in the northwest United States. Part of this time was spent in Montana investigating tree areas for the U.S. Forest Department's 1880 census. Despite these accomplishments and recognition, Watson was known as an "extremely self conscious and shy" person. As an established botanical authority, he never presented his papers in person but instead solicited col- leagues to do so for him. He was associated with "life long diffidence" and "lifelong shyness." He lived in a "modest part of Cambridge and who, though a Congregationalist, VOLUME 22, NO. 3 belonged to a less stylish church than the one Gray at- tended." He never married. Living as a recluse and working at Cambridge in the 1870s, Watson refused to attend larger scientific and so- cial activities. He initially refused teaching positions at Harvard. But as his accomplishments and expertise mounted he assumed the responsibility of instructing phytography from 1881 to 1884. Around 1883 Watson was able to schedule enough time from his teaching position at Harvard to botanize in Ver- mont and New Hampshire. He hiked over the summit of Mount Washington. In 1884 Watson, Thomas P. James, and Charles Leo Lesquereux published the Manual of the Mosses of North America. Watson and Gray gave much effort in preparation and criticism to Lesquereux, an Ameri- can bryologist, on his initial manuscript. Watson's work with California mosses was widely known and accepted. In 1883 Lesquereux had written Gray "I have now to review my table of classification or Key which is about like that of Prof. Watson in Bot. of the California Survey." Watson advised Lesquereux that newer nomenclature and systematics were being employed for mosses, to which Lesquereux replied: "That revolutionary system may be good according to some opinion. But I am too old and therefore too conservative to admit it." During the manu- script preparation T. P. James died. It was a professional and personal loss for Watson. Watson first had begun to collaborate with James fifteen years earlier when Watson was new to botany and shared with interested colleagues his new specimens collected along the Fortieth Parallel. With respect for Watson's friendship for James and Lesquereux, Watson was acknowledged as coauthor. Lesquereux's advanced age and poor health kept him from making necessary trips to Cambridge to collaborate. Watson was left with much of the burden and conse- quently much of the influence over the project. When the manuscript was finished, "Lesquereux urged Watson many times to receive money for his services but each time Watson generously refused." In 1885 Watson took leave of absence again from Harvard. He traveled to Central America to botanize in Guatemala. While there he contracted malaria; he would suffer complications from the disease for the rest of his life. But he was undaunted from his Central American expedi- tion and sickness and visited Europe the following year. Completing the Manual of Northern United States Asa Gray died at the end of January 1888. Gray had been revising his classic Manual of the Botany of Northern United States. Watson and John M. Coulter completed the work before year's end. The following year Watson was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1890 Watson was in his mid-sixties. Judging from his many projects, he showed no intention of slowing down. He was working up his Guatemalan collection, and A Synoptical Flora had been started. Still uncompleted and unpublished was the balance of Watson's Biblio- graphical Index to North American Botany. He now had eight parts at the Gray Herbarium in manuscript form. Watson was in correspondence with John Macoun, who was botanizing in Canada with his son. Macoun had been writing Watson enthusiastic letters about a large number of undescribed mosses and vascular plants he was collecting from Alaska and British Columbia. Macoun planned to have his son attend Harvard University to work up his collection under Watson's direction. In December 1891 Watson contracted influenza, which further compro- mised his health and resulted in a dilated heart condition. On 9 March 1892 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sereno Watson died; he was sixty-five years old. The nineteenth century had established systematics for North American botany. During that period many monu- mental botanical treatises were published. Sometimes dis- agreements among colleagues developed as well. A re- markable altercation was the "Gray and Greene contro- versy." Edward Lee Greene, a plant taxonomist, was then a curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and instructor of botany at the University of California. Greene's dispute with Asa Gray was initially over taxonomic differences. Further disagreements be- tween the two botanists resulted in long, heated exchanges of correspondence. During this time Watson was profes- sionally and amicably associated with both men. In 1887 Green wrote Watson and questioned if there was "out- ward appearances of hostility between us?" Watson re- sponded to Green shortly afterwards, and a copy of the letter found in the Greene correspondence file at the Gray Herbarium reads in part: "In all my botanical writing & doings I have studiously avoided personalities of every kind, in reference to yourself as to everyone else. I have said & done nothing that evidenced hostility to you, as I have felt none." The following year Watson and Greene strove to be friends. All people who associated with the shy, self-learned botanist Sereno Watson appeared to have liked him. Several plants have been named for Watson, including Watson's saltbush (Atriplex watsonii) a prostrate peren- nial plant that forms dense white-scaly mats over some of the sand dunes and salt marshes in southern California and Baja California. The new Latin adjective serenanus was coined to honor his name. [The author gratefully acknowledges the Archives, Gray Herbarium Library, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dr. Jean Cargill for making available the letters of Sereno Watson and Asa Gray.] Liam H. Davis, Department of Fish and Game, 8885 Rio San Diego Drive #270, San Diego, CA 92108 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 23 ENCOUNTER WITH A NATIVE PLANT FAN by Thomas Oberbauer IT BEGAN ABOUT FIVE years ago, during February and early March. I received a number of telephone calls on my office answering machine in which an elderly man with a gruff voice said, "This is Andy Scholes and I need to talk to someone about chocolate bells." He never gave a return number so I could not call him back. The first year, by the time that I finally made contact with him, the flowering season had already past. However, he told me that there were some large and very important "beds" of chocolate bells (Fritillaria biflora) down on Otay Mesa and that someone needed to see them. He also said that he took seeds from some of the beds and spread them, trying to get them to grow in other places. The following February, I received the calls again. It was a good rainfall year, and the chocolate bells appar- ently were doing quite well. Andy really wanted me to come look at them since I was the only one who seemed to express any interest. So I made arrangements to meet him on Otay Mesa in San Diego County. While chocolate bells or lilies are of interest in this region, they had been removed from consideration for sensitive plant lists because they are common elsewhere in California. Still, they are fascinating plants, and the bell- Once, large beds of chocolate lily (Fritillary biflora) occured on the Otay Mesa in San Diego County. Photograph by the author. shaped flowers do look more like a piece of candy than something that would grow, let alone a natural wild spe- cies. I had already seen the plants in a large grassy area in Alpine at the urging of one of the local people there, and had discovered them myself in a few other places: the top of McGinty Mountain, an area by Fortuna Mountain, and an area in Encinitas that was long ago developed with houses. I had spent a considerable amount of time searching for the rare and endangered San Diego thornmint (Acantho- mintha ilicifolia), and found the chocolate lilies in the clay soils where I hoped to find the thornmint. Occasionally they did occur near each other. The distinctive box-like fruiting body of the lily was almost as interesting as the flowers. All in all, chocolate lilies have a combination of factors that make them inter- esting: the unusual soil requirement; early spring-late win- ter flowering when everything is still green; compact size; and an appearance like something that might have been developed for horticultural trade. A friend of mine who is interested in photography rode with me, hoping to get pictures of these plants. We planned to meet Andy in front of the Brown Field air terminal. When I pulled up at the agreed-upon time, there was nobody there who fit my mental image of Andy Scholes. I expected a graying, retired gentleman wearing a flannel shirt and arriving in a conservative but well kept Ameri- can-made sedan. The vehicle we saw was an old military- green Dodge van. It was partly rusty, partly covered with mud, and it looked like it was being driven far beyond its life span. The parts that were not muddy or rusty were covered with dust. The person driving the van was an elderly man, of bulky build, wearing a military surplus jacket, though it was not cold, and a floppy green military hat. He looked more like someone who was used to the ways of life on the street rather than a flower aficionado. I suggested that we follow him in my small pickup truck, but he said we should go in his van since the access trails were muddy. I sat in the front seat, and my friend sat in the back. Stepping into the van was like stepping into a different dimension. There was a well worn cot on one side, some tool boxes, a little cook stove, and a rusty birdcage with a canary. Bird seed was dispersed in many of the nooks and crannies near the cage. Over the driver- side door was a rusty old rifle. The scent of birds and dust was quite noticeable. For the next hour or so, we saw a number of groups of chocolate bells behind the junk and storage yards of western Otay Mesa. On several occasions guard dogs from the yards vocally expressed their displeasure at our VOLUME 22, NO. 3 'VJw.i? i>, In 1978, spring brought a sea of color and fragrance that extended across the Otay Mesa in SanDiego; however, today, little of this vernal beauty remains. '¦'^m^&tmMf presence. It was a late winter, early spring day with warm sun, cool breeze, and cottony, fluffy white cumulus clouds. The sounds of meadowlarks and day crickets mixed with the barking junk yard dogs and low-flying airplanes. The sweet scent of shooting stars wafted across as we exam- ined the chocolate bells in little mesa points that had yet been spared the bulldozer. We made a large loop around the yards and the Brown Field runway, and listened to Mr. Scholes talk about his military career, his wives, and his ability to commune with the prehistoric environment. He was serious about his concern for these flowers, which seemed more important to him than anything else at this point in his life. He apparently lived on the road and stayed in Lakeside and Arizona, but rented a storage trailer on Otay Mesa. Each year he made the trek to see the flowers. He spoke about being first introduced to chocolate lilies in the 1930s and carrying that reverence to the present time. We saw many of the plants and flowers, including an unusual white one. We took photographs and had a few laughs with him. Then he dropped us off at my truck. As we drove away, we both wondered if any of the precious natural flower beds could be protected from development. I heard from Mr. Scholes only one more year after that. It was a short message that there were not so many of the chocolate bells in flower even though it was a wet rainfall season. Sadly, the western part of Otay Mesa is more and more being converted to development. The months of February and March have passed this year—without an- other call from Mr. Scholes. Thomas Oberbauer, 3437TrumballStreet, SanDiego, CA 92106 VOLUME 2 2, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 25 NEW FELLOWS DORIS Fredendall came to my door prior to the formation of the Bristlecone Chapter in 1982. She had heard that I knew the names of native plants and wondered if she could hire me to help her learn them. Of course I welcomed her with open arms. Since that time she has become a valuable member of our chap- ter, besides being delightful to know. Her deep love of flowers is a major motivation in her life. She is an outstanding field trip leader and a gracious hostess for all of our executive board meetings. The loca- tion of her home, between the northern and southern parts of Owens Valley, make it a most convenient meeting place. Her thoughtfulness and dependability help to keep things running smoothly. A most valuable service is her habit of making plant lists to cover every site that we visit. A large share of her time is spent in the field, checking on where to find any special plants. She enthusiastically shares this knowledge with all of her acquaintances, mak- ing frequent converts to the California Native Plants Soci- ety. For example, she knows where and when to find the lovely Lewisia rediviva, Bitterroot, at its peak, and she has located every Sclerocactus polyancistrus, Fishhook Cac- tus, in the vicinity. She has adopted Highway 190 from Highway 395 to its crest in the Inyo-White Mountains, not only picking up trash but also waging a fierce battle against any weeds in the right-of-way. She informs the state of any problems and gets their cooperation. Recently when Caltrans in- formed her that it was limiting her to two miles of highway Genera: Philadelphus and Carpenteria Family: Philadelphaceae WHETHER WANDERING in a grassy meadow or poking about the native garden at home, one cannot help appreciating the glory of a Califor- nia spring. The rich colors and perfumes of native wild- flowers are all around. Yet all too soon the show is over. Summer is a quieter time, and the native landscape shows subtler shades of tan against the rich greens of oaks and leafy shrubs. Still, all is not lost for those who delight in the sight of flowers in the garden. Mock oranges (Phila- delphus) and bush anemone (Carpenteria) take the floral Doris Fredendall photographed in Owens Valley by Mary Dedecker. because it was too dangerous to have her working the lower section of winding roadway, she indignantly replied that she was not about to let the Russian thistles regain control They let her have her way, warning her to be very cautious. So that scenic highway continues to be a pristine route. Doris served two nonconsecutive years as chapter presi- dent, the second year because we wanted her back again. She is a very special person who finds many ways to help keep the Bristlecone Chapter a healthy link of the Califor- nia Native Plant Society. She is a worthy recipient of the honor of CNPS Fellow. Mary DeDecker stage as spring gives way to summer, and give the gar- dener much to admire at other times as well. Philadelphus, Carpenteria, and a few other shrubby genera make up the family Philadelphaceae. However, they were for many years placed with groups as diverse as heucheras and wild currants (Ribes) in the Saxifragaceae. Common features of the Philadelphaceae include woody stems, opposite (paired) leaves, and four- or five-petaled flowers with ten or more, often showy, stamens. Besides Philadelphus and Carpenteria, California representatives of the family include two other ornamental genera, Jamesia and Fendlerella, which are little known and reputedly diffi- cult to grow, and a useful little plant, Whipplea modesta. GROWING NATIVES: MOCK ORANGES AND THEIR KIN by Nevin Smith 26 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 Physical Features Wild mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii) is a common but delightful sight along creeks and hillside seeps in the mountains of northern California. It is cemented in my mind with scenes of rushing water in the Marble and Trinity mountains. Wild mock orange revels in the sun- shine, where its glittering combination of snowy flowers and bright green foliage is shown to best advantage. Botanists once distinguished two subspecies with over- lapping ranges, Philadelphus lewisii ssp. calif amicus, sup- posedly the more northerly and somewhat larger flowered, and P. lewisii ssp. gordonianus, with more distinctly toothed leaves. This distinction held up better in the textbook than in the wild. The Jepson Manual now places them together as part of one highly variable complex. These are robust shrubs, six to ten feet tall and often producing many strong shoots from the base. The main trunks are openly branched with short, leafy, flowering shoots appearing in late spring or early summer, followed by vegetative branches. One usually sees a combination of more slender, willowy side shoots and much thicker, elon- gated, sucker-like growths, usually produced lower on the plant. Ovate (roughly egg-shaped) leaves up to three inches long are paired along the stems. They are conspicuously veined, sometimes toothed, and bright green above, paler beneath. Showing up beautifully against this backdrop are several- to many-flowered clusters of pure white, usually four-petaled blossoms with dense central brushes of yel- low stamens. The individual flowers measure about an inch, occasionally almost two inches, across. They fill the air around them with a delightfully fresh, fruity fragrance. There is considerable variation in every ornamental feature of this species, suggesting opportunities for supe- rior garden selections. In the mid-'70s Ray Collett discov- ered a bushy, fully double-flowered plant near the Smith River and introduced it as 'Goose Creek.' My own selec- tion, 'Covelo,' made near the town of that name in the early '80s, is a robust, large-leaved plant with single flow- ers up to two inches across. Both of these compare favor- ably with better known selections of the exotic Philadel- phus [x] virginalis line, and they by no means exhaust the more interesting possibilities. Little-leaf mock orange {Philadelphus microphyllus is a smaller shrub, usually under six feet high and globe-shaped to hemispheric in form. It inhabits rocky sites in the ranges bordering our southern deserts and those of Arizona and Nevada to Texas. However, I suspect its presence indicates more moisture than is obvious at the surface, as it thrives with ordinary irrigation in the landscape. The trunks are more slender than those of P. lewisii and more profusely branched. The leaves are also smaller (up to one inch long), narrower, and more closely set. They are covered with fine hairs, giving them an attractive gray-green cast. The flow- ers are generally, though not always, smaller than those of P. lewisii and borne singly or in few-flowered clusters. Carpenteria California*. Illustration courtesy of the Jepson Herbarium. However, the plant makes quite a respectable show, some- times blooming for several weeks. There seems to be wide variation in fragrance among individual clones. My favor- ite among a batch of Arizonan origin, received from Ginny Hunt, suggests a mixture of grape and cinnamon candies. I hope to make further selections within this species and encourage others to do the same. Unlike the mock oranges, bush anemone {Carpenteria californica) has a restricted range. It is found in a small region of the Sierra foothills near Fresno in small colonies along streambanks, in canyons and swales, and even on exposed slopes. Bush anemone is a sturdy, nearly round shrub generally six to ten feet tall, occasionally taller. New stems have a waxy, dark, often reddish cuticle. This gradually gives way to pale, grayish tan bark, shredding with age. Leath- ery evergreen leaves, up to six inches long, are paired closely to rather distantly along the stems. They are dark green and softly shiny on their upper surface, grayish with fine, soft hairs beneath. Clusters of three to many beautiful white blossoms are displayed at the tips of the previous season's shoots in early summer. The individual blossoms measure from a little over an inch to nearly three inches across, with a varying number of broad, often cupped petals. Many threadlike stamens radiate from the center of each blossom, forming a showy corona. The seed pods, which slowly develop once the floral show is over, re- semble little acorns. Unfortunately, they become a bit unsightly as they change from green to tan, though they are easily pruned out. Carpenteria varies widely in form and compactness of VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 27 growth, overall size, and size and number of flowers. Thus it is unsurprising that the British, who so often have appreciated our natives long before we do, were growing selected clones as early as the 1920s. Here at home, the first selection to much attention was 'Elizabeth,' collected by Wayne Roderick in the late 1960s but not commer- cially grown until the early 1980s. 'Elizabeth' is a particu- larly compact selection, displaying up to twenty smallish flowers per cluster. Later collections by Ray Collett and Brett Hall of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum resulted in several introductions, of which one of the bushier and more floriferous, 'Ray Williams Special,' is occasionally available. 'Barbara' is a compact, single- to fully double- flowered selection, introduced by California Flora Nurs- ery following a 1987 expedition by Bart O'Brien, Ken Himes, Phil Van Soelen, and Barbara Coe. Further selec- tions can be expected. Culture and Uses With decidedly different sizes, shapes, and textures, the two native mock oranges and bush anemone present some- what different, though overlapping, possibilities in the garden. Philadelphus lewisii is the most rambling of the group, and a healthy plant is capable of covering a large area. Marjorie Schmidt has described it, perhaps not quite fairly, as a filler shrub. It is admirably suited to this role, with bright, lush foliage from spring to fall and attractive pale bark in winter. With a little pruning and thinning to encourage a fountain-like form, it is also suitable for more prominent display. By clipping young shoots (particularly strong, thick ones) and occasionally pruning plants hard to rejuvenate them, one might even have an attractive infor- mal hedge, as is seen occasionally with the larger spiraeas. Philadelphus microphyllus is useful anywhere a smaller shrub is desired, assuming the site is reasonably well drained. Like its larger sister, this species takes clipping well, though at the expense of some of its natural grace. Bush anemone has perhaps the broadest potential in the landscape, but it can also be a more frustrating subject. The more compact selections, like 'Elizabeth,' maintain an attractive, roundish form and a good foliage mass under favorable conditions, making them outstanding specimen shrubs. Many others, however, grow more open and woody, particularly under drought or heat stress, with tufts of attractive leaves at the ends of not-so-attractive branches. This condition is difficult to correct, as hard pruning of woody branches often fails to stimulate new growth be- hind the cuts. The obvious answer lies both in superior selections and good culture. This leads to the question of cultural requirements and tolerances. Both of the mock oranges and bush anemone thrive in a variety of soils—though Philadelphus micro- phyllus may be a bit fussier about drainage. All will flower most profusely in full sun. However, Carpenteria needs some afternoon shading in hot-summer areas to maintain good appearance. All have been touted from time to time as drought tolerant. This may be true in the sense of sheer survival, but inadequate watering results in sharply re- duced growth, poorer color, and fewer flowers. This is a reversible condition with Philadelphus, somewhat less so with Carpenteria. Moderate irrigation—perhaps two deep waterings per month or more in hot-summer climates, less near the coast—will be appreciated. In terms of cold tolerance, Philadelphus lewisii is clearly a hardy shrub, while the lower limits for P. microphyllus are not well tested here. It has, however, been grown in England for many years, and tenderness is not mentioned as a problem in my British texts. In any case, it should be hardy at lower and middle elevations anywhere in Califor- nia. Carpenteria has also been grown in England for many years and has survived brief bouts of 10°F. or less with no lasting damage. However, unlike Philadelphus, it lacks the natural defense of deciduousness. Each of this useful trio is resistant to many of the diseases and pests for which native shrubs are often ma- ligned. Apart from occasional attacks of aphids, easily controlled, and a few fungous leaf spots in damp weather, diminished by thinning congested foliage, they should be nearly trouble free. Propagation Let us suppose that you have an established plant and would like to raise more for your own or a friend's garden. If this plant is one of the mock oranges, your success is nearly guaranteed. Cuttings of perhaps three to five nodes are made from the current season's shoots, just as they become firm to the touch. The more slender side branches are preferable to thicker, faster growing shoots from the base; the latter contain soft, pithy tissue which can rot before the cut ends are healed over. The softer growing tip is removed, leaves are cut or stripped from the basal node, and this base is inserted in moist sand or perlite. Treat- ment with a mild rooting hormone may speed the rooting process, but it is not required. The only challenge is avoiding dehydration and wilting. In milder climates, placing the pot or flat in a shady, protected spot should suffice; given hotter, drier air, an inverted jar or plastic bag may be called for. Within a month or so, the cuttings should be rooted and ready to plant to a two-inch or larger pot. Growth from this point on is surprisingly fast, and plants are often ready for the open garden before the end of the growing season. Given the ease of this route of increase and the desir- ability of particular clones, I have never tried raising the mock oranges from seed. However, this presents no great problem. Dara Emery, in a useful little book on seeding natives, recommends stratifying the seeds (mixing them with moist sand or perlite and refrigerating them in bags) 28 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 for two to three months. Whether or not this step is ob- served, they should be planted in a well drained potting mix, barely covered with the same, and kept moist until the seedlings are up. Bush anemone is quite another matter. Neither cuttings nor seeding necessitate exotic equipment or techniques, but neither is particularly reliable. Cuttings taken as de- scribed for the mock oranges, using just-matured shoots (usually they reach this stage in early summer), will pro- duce roots quickly, if they survive. However, they may wilt suddenly, particularly in hot weather, or the base of the cutting may shrivel and blacken, or they may contract one of several fungous blights. In each case, death of the entire cutting comes quickly. Once rooted, they should be transplanted with care not to break the brittle young roots, and kept in a cool, shady spot, perhaps even sprinkled once or twice a day, for a short rehabilitation period. With seeding, the trouble starts at the collection stage: The following reports are from two recent CNPS grant recip- ients. —John Sawyer, Grants Committee Reproductive Biology of the California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia californica) This is an update on the progress of my research, generously funded by the California Native Plant Society. I am currently completing my Master's degree in biology at Humboldt State University, where my thesis research has focused on the reproductive biology of the California pitcher plant, Darling- tonia californica. Darlingtonia is a monotypic member of the small insect- ivorous pitcher plant family, Sarraceniaceae. Also known as cobra lily, the plant is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon, inhabiting montane and coastal serpentine seeps. It is the family's only West Coast representative. Its carnivorous habit, exotic cobra-shaped leaves, and showy blossoms have made Darlingtonia californica a popular research subject, with work focused primarily on carnivory, leaf mor- phology, and arthropod prey and associates. However, few have delved into other equally fascinating aspects of the plant's life history, especially reproduction and pollination biology. For example, all carnivorous plants face the quandary of their simultaneous need for insects both as prey and as pollinators. The most puzzling unanswered question that propelled my research was that, despite 150 years of observations by various workers, there have been no reports of discovering a pollinator, a seemingly simple task for a species that produces such picturesque meadows of large and colorful blossoms. My first task was to determine whether the pitcher plant relies on self-pollination. I ruled this out by determining that Some clones, such as 'Elizabeth,' set many pods with few or no viable seeds. The seeds are tiny and should be treated as described for the mock oranges. I generally plant them as the weather warms in spring. They germinate well, but are often lost to damping off, a fungous disease. Trans- planting can also be a problem, as they are sensitive to breakage of the delicate roots. Once established, however, they are easy to grow. References Schmidt, Marjorie G. Growing California Native Plants. Ber- keley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Emery, Dara E. Seed Propagation of Native California Plants. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1988. Nevin Smith, 358 Merk Road, Watsonville, CA 95076 blossoms experimentally deprived of pollinators matured few fruits and those that did mature contained few seeds. In addition, I removed pollen-producing stamens from another set of blossoms and found that these matured a statistically similar number of seeds as unmanipulated control blossoms. This second line of evidence shows that self-pollination is not a major form of reproduction. Unmanipulated blossoms matured prodigious quantities of seed, averaging 1,160 three-millimeter-long seeds per fruit capsule. However, this was significantly less than the seed set of blossoms to which I had experimentally added extra pollen, which yielded 1,275 to 2,147 seeds each. This demonstrates that, although a pollinator exists, it is a limiting resource. As have other workers before me, I observed few pitcher plant blossom visitors identifiable as pollinators, despite spending most of the blooming season observing the plants at all hours of the day. Candidates I observed include bees belonging to the andrenid, bombid, and vespid families and several beetles. Nearly every mature blossom is inhabited by a spider that builds a web around the sepals, capturing large numbers of flying insects. Several of the insects are likely pollinators, and I questioned what effect the spider had on the reproductive potential of the pitcher plant. I collected spiders and their prey inhabiting twenty blossoms and am in the process of identifying them. A second focus of my research involved gathering baseline data on blossom morphology and phenology. Pitcher plants are among the earliest spring bloomers, possibly an adaptation to avoid competition with the myriad lilies, orchids, and violets that share their wetland habitat. Their blossoms cover the sphagnum moss carpet in densities of up to one per square foot. The solitary blossom is held aloft on a peduncle that averages REPORTS FROM THE GRANTS COMMITTEE VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 29 sixteen inches high. The blossoms avoid competition for insects with the carnivorous pitcher leaves by the fact that they are held so high above the leaves and the leaves do not become attractive to insects until well after blossoms have matured. I found the average number of anthers and bracts to be higher than previously reported (seventeen and nine, respectively). The anthers mature as soon as the blossoms open and continue dehsicing pollen for eleven to twenty-three days. My preliminary studies suggest that the species is protandrous, but the fact that some self-pollination occurs shows that there is a period of overlap between pollen dehiscense and stigma receptivity. I determined the age structure of the population of blossoms and found that most were of a similar age. This suggests a mass blooming strategy, often interpreted as an adaptation to an unpredictable pollinator. One of the most exciting findings of my research thus far was the discovery of apopulation of albino blossoms. Instead of the usual maroon-purple petals, these have greenish yellow petals similar in color to the sepals. The thirty individuals were found concentrated in one corner of the discovery site, interspersed among plants with the usual blossom color. The two color forms were indistinguishable from each other in all other measurements, including height, number of bracts, number of anthers, and number of seeds per fruit capsule. Such color polymorphisms, usually a result of genetic mutations, are not uncommon among flowering plants, but they have not been previously reported in this species. Lines of inquiry I hope to pursue in the upcoming field season include the identity of the pollinator and its interaction with the blossom's arachnid inhabitants and the detection of possible blossom scent glands, nectaries, and ultraviolet patterns that serve to attract pollinators. I will keep CNPS informed of my progress on this subject. If any fellow carnivorous plant enthusiasts have questions or comments on my work, they can contact me at the address below. Christine Leigh Elder 4748-A Greenwood Heights Drive Kneeland, CA 95549 Morphometries of the Genus Modardella Subgenus Macranthae (Lamiaceae) Monardella (Labiatae: Nepetoideae), a genus of herbaceous to suffrutescent mints endemic to western North America, com- prises some twenty-five to thirty species with numerous infra- specific taxa. While the genus itself is well defined, species delimitation has been difficult. Attributes contributing to taxonomic ambiguity within Monardella include infraspe- cific variation, polymorphism, phenotypic plasticity, and in- terspecific hybridization. The subgenus and section Macranthae at present encom- pass two species complexes of rhizomatous perennials: Monar- della macrantha Gray, occurring intermittently in the Coast Ranges from Monterey County, California, southward through the Transverse and Peninsular ranges to the Sierra San Pedro Martir of Baja California, Mexico, and M. nana Gray, a Pen- insular Range endemic from the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County southward to the Sierra Juarez of Baja Cali- A maroon-purple flower of the pitcher plant (Darlingtonia californicd), a plant easily recognized by its cobra-shape leaf. Photograph by the author. fornia. Each group harbors one taxon of concern owing to rarity (CNPS List IB): M. macrantha A. Gray ssp. hallii (Abrams) Abrams andM. nana A. Gray ssp. leptosiphon (Torrey) Abrams. Summary of Results A morphometric analysis of over 1,000 field specimens belonging to the Monardella subgenus Macranthae shows complete multivariate segregation of two groups currently recognized at the specific rank, M. macrantha A. Gray and M. nana A. Gray. Overlap between the two species in the measurement ranges for each meristic variable explains the previous unification of the complexes. Within the M. nana complex, four extremes of morphological variation correspond to the four formally recognized subspecies. However, the continuous nature of the variation makes it difficult to assign all but the most extreme morphs to a single intraspecific taxon. Plants from Hot Springs Mountian, Volcan Mountain, and Banner Grade seem to better represent the extreme variation known as M. nana ssp. leptosiphon rather than those from Palomar Mountain, as typically portrayed. The two infraspeci- fic taxa currently recognized within the M. macrantha com- plex may be distinguished on the basis of vegetative features; neither corolla color nor corolla lobe length, as delineated in the California Native Plant Society Status Report, serve to distinguish M. macrantha ssp. hallii. There is an absence of evidence from both field work con- ducted during this investigation and a review of herbarium specimens to support any historic or extant occurrence of the M. macrantha complex sensu stricto in the San Jacinto Mountains, or of M. macrantha ssp. hallii in the Cuyamaca or Laguna Mountains. Linda Allen, Department of Biology Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322 30 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 NOTES AND COMMENTS CNPS Book Award Readers will be pleased to know that our publication, Cali- fornia's Changing Landscapes, by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Frank Drysdale, and Susan Lindstrom was a finalist in the Nature category for the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publisher's Marketing Association. Their congratulatory letter ended with "Again, congratulations. You are among the best in independent publishing today!" We are also pleased that, for the second printing of this book, the printer reshot all of the black-and-white photographs at his expense, so the halftones are significantly improved. A number of author's corrections have also been incorporated. CNPS Sponsored Conference CNPS is co-sponsoring the conference Ecosystem Manage- ment: Designing with Nature on October 25-26, 1994, at the Sacramento Hilton. Themes will include: perspectives on eco- system management; designing with ecosystems; grassroots and bureaucracy; roles of science; social and political processes; and case studies of multi-habitat conservation programs. There will be six day-long field trips within two hours of the confer- ence. For further information call Mark Nechodom at (916) 757-8952. BOOKS RECEIVED Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, Califor- nia by Vernon H. Oswald and Lowell Ahart. 1994. 348 pages. This long awaited work, in progress for many years, comes complete with keys and fine glossaries of generic and epithet names. It is a joint publication project with the Mount Lassen chapter of CNPS. Available from CNPS .$14.95 spiral bound. A Wildflower By Any Other Name: Sketches of Pioneer Naturalists Who Named Our Western Plants by Karen B. Nilsson. 1994. 151 pages. Thirty-four short, meaty, and lively sketches of nineteenth- and twentieth-century naturalists, with portrait photographs and sketches of plants named in their honor. This charming book by Karen Nilsson (founder of Tioga Press) was completed by her friends following her death from cancer in 1991. Available from Yosemite Press or Environmental Volunteers. 3921 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glos- sary by James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris. 1994. 198pp. An abundantly illustrated guide to botanical terminol- ogy is a great step forward for those wanting to develop pro- ficiency in keying plants. Available from Spring Lake Pub- lishing, Box 266, Payson, Utah 84651. Special price for CNPS members, $15.95 softcover. Attention iEarlg (Efyrtatmaa ^onnrcs CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY jgymal fttbltntttottg d>tu? a ftunh a 20 f mt 3no?x to iFrentontia jg^ or atrial bark tSBuw jjfe of 3 n mnntia California's Serpentine California's Chaparral Restoration: Disneyland or Native Ecosystem California Native Indian Horticulture Special Issue on California Oaks Strategy for the Future of California's Flora The Biotic Factor of Soils Tree Roots: Facts and Fallacies January 1984 April 1984 October 1986 July 1989 April 1990 July 1990 April 1991 July 1992 October 1992 COMPLETE SET (20 years): $100 FULL SET of last 10 years: $50 INDIVIDUAL ISSUES: $3.00 each or diug a l^pgrial f ubttratton California's Changing Landscapes by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Susan Lindstrom, and Frank Drysdale $24.95 Terrestrial Vegetation Michael Barbour and lack Major, Editors $55.00 Origin and Relationships of California Flora by Peter H. Raven and Daniel Axelrod $18.95 Flora of Butte County by Vern Oswald and Lowell Ahart $14.95 Key to Plant Species of Kern County by L. Maynard Moe and Flora of Kern County by Ernest Twisslemann to be priced To order please contact CNPS, 1722 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 PH: (916) 447-CNPS (2677)/FAX: (916) 447-2727 VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 31 A Revised Flora of Santa Barbara Island by Steve Junak, Ralph Philbrick, and Charles Drost. 1993. 112 pages. An anno- tated catalog of the ferns and flowering plants of one of the eight Channel Islands and a brief history of botanical exploration on the island. Originally published by the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, this publication is now reprinted and available from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. $6.50 softcover plus tax and $ 1.00 shipping. California's County Summits: A Guide to the Highest Point in Each of the 58 Counties by Gary Suttle. 1994. 220 pages. A practical guide for hikers, climbers, and geographic trivia buffs. Available from Wilderness Press, 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. $14.95, softcover. Mammoth Lakes Sierra: A Handbook for Roadside and Trail by Dean Rinehart, Elden Vestal, and Bettie E. Willard (edited by Genny Smith). 6th ed. 1993.220 pages. Chapters on climates and forest communities, trees, and wildflowers add considerable interest to CNPS members for this useful, well illustrated guide to the eastern Sierra around Mammoth Lakes. Available from Mammoth Chapter, Friends of the Library, P.O. Box 1468, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546. $13.95 softcover plus 2.50 tax and shipping. How to Open and Operate a Home-based Landscaping Business: An Unabridged Guide by Owen E. Dell. 1994.224 pages. A down-to-earth informative guide to setting up and operating your own landscaping business and how to make it a success. Available from Globe Pequot Press, 6 Business Park NatureBase CALIFORNIA PLANT COMMUNITY INFORMATION JYlTEMf The California System $ 95 Hollands 1986 "Plant Communities" in one easy-lo-use computer program. Also includes community descriptions by Kuchler and acreage estimates by Calif. Dept. of«Forcstry. All names updated with Jepson synonymy. Listings for each species include family affiliation, common name, and plant growth form. The Desert System 65 Features California desert communities as described by Holland, Barbour & Major, and Kuchler . All names updated with Jepson synonymy. Listings for each species include family affiliation, common name, plant growth form, plus flowering period (for most), elevation range, and habitat. Both systems require MS-DOS operating system & 1.5 megabytes of hard disk space. Simple to use, no typing required. Each screen display describes a single plant community entity in a logical, hierarchical fashion. Species lists and descriptions can be cut and pasted if using Windows 3.1. Prices include tax, shipping and handling. Request free brochure or send chLu- NatureBase, Z535 Fairfax Avenue Culver City, CA 9DZ32-7396 Road, Old Saybrook, Connecticut 06475. $14.95 softcover plus $3.00 shipping. California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History by Verna R. Johnston. 1994. 222 pages. A delightful and well illustrated series of essays on the dominant forest types of California including Douglas-fir/mixed evergreen, closed-cone pine and cypress, foothill woodlands, red fir/lodgepole pine, and redwood. Available from University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley, CA 94720. $30 hardcover plus tax and shipping. The Pacific Horticulture Book of Western Gardening by George Waters and Nora Harlow (eds.), 1990. 300 pages. A selection of forty articles on plants and landscapes of the West Coast illustrated with line drawings and over 100 color photographs. Available from Pacific Horticultural Foundation, P.O. Box 485, Berkeley, CA 94701. $50 hardcover plus tax and shipping. BOOK REVIEWS California's Changing Landscapes: Diversity and Con- servation of California Vegetation by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Frank Drysdale, and Susan Lindstrom. 1993.244 pages. Available from California Native Plant Society. $24.95 softcover. Hanging on my office wall is a map of California published in 1855. Los Angeles is a small settlement along the Rio San Pedro. No settlement meriting a name exists in the Mojave or Colorado deserts. Tha-ee-chay-pah Pass leads from these deserts into the swamps of the San Joaquin Valley, a major feature of which is Tulare Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the United States west of the Mississippi River, straddling the border of Buena Vista and Tulare counties. The Sacramento and Feather rivers flowunimpeded on their courses, joining near the marshes that extend from Sacramento City to Suisun Bay. Much of this California once existed; perhaps some of it did not. But it has all changed dramatically in the past century and a half. The title of this book is enigmatic; one with the same title, published in 1971, is a guide to the geology of California, and the "changes" are topographic ones in geologic time. Barbour et al. are also concerned with change, but the landscape they consider is the plant cover of California, and the changes they describe have mostly occurred in a few decades rather than over millennia. In this concisely written and handsomely illustrated book, we are introduced, successively, to coastal plant com- munities (from beach and dune to forests), the Central Valley, the Sierra-Nevada/Cascade "spine," and desert communities, each described in direct and engaging prose. Ecological dyna- mics are discussed, including the roles of soils, fire, climate, and biotic interactions in shaping and maintaining each community. Each of these descriptive chapters concludes with a section entitled "the changing landscape," where human impacts are the focus. I can only marvel at the ingenuity and diversity employed by our species in altering the vegetation of California. Virtually every plant community in the state has been impacted in some way—in a few cases to the point of virtual disappearance. Economic exploitation is perhaps the most familiar motivation 32 FREMONTIA VOLUME 22, NO. 3 to readers—urbanization, logging, and agriculture. However, well intended actions, such as the introduction of European beachgrass to stabilize coastal dunes, have had disastrous ecological consequences. Whereverthis "most abundant beach and dune plant along the California coast" grows, the native biota has nearly disappeared. Because of its pattern of rhizome growth, this grass has altered the coastline from one dominated by low, mobile, parabolic dunes to one characterized by high, steep, immobile dunes. Less obvious effects on our beaches have resulted from damming California rivers, cutting off their annual supply of rejuvenating sand. Recreational beaches must be cosmetized periodically by the importation of sand. While descriptions of human impacts on California plant life could easily be presented as a tiresome series of dolorous tirades, I found these presentations dispassionate and interesting. The authors argue that it is time to step away from the rapidly accelerating demands on our state's lands, "to take measure of what we have, to compare it with what we once had, and to decide what we want for the future. This book is a guide for that step-away process." Acknowledging that the vegetation and flora of the state have "changed dramatically during the long history of the California landscape," the authors refer to the "pristine vegetation" and the problems of reconstructing what was here prior to the first European contact. I believe, however, that much of this "pristine landscape" was an anthropogenic one. The number of Native Americans in California when the first Spanish missions were established has been estimated variously; the authors settle on aconservative figure of 300,000, still making this North America's most densely populated area by a non-agricultural people. Many authorities now believe that nearly all California Indian groups employed fire as an ecological management tool. I think it likely that virtually every plant community in the state, from coastal prairies to the subalpine forests, was burned periodically by indigenous peoples, and that this practice must have had a strong influence on the nature of these manipulated communities. The authors refer to the intimate connection between "the decline of indigenous cultures [and] the decline of pristine vegetation." The latter decline, however, resulted not only from economic exploitation but also from the cessation of environmental management by the indigenous peoples, leading to the kinds of vegetational changes seen in Yosemite Valley during the past century. Whether these changes are heading toward a restoration of the pristine vegetation of the valley is questionable; perhaps during the several centuries of human occupation of Yosemite, many plant species once there have disappeared, and others may have immigrated. True, the technologies of California's original inhabitants may have had "modest impact" on ecosystems, but the ecosystems first seen by European explorers may still have been quite unlike those encountered by the first human immigrants. Fire continues to be an important environmental factor in the dynamics of California plant communities, yet the precise role of fire in most of them is not understood. If we want to continue to see giant sequoia, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, or the closed- cone conifers, human intervention is required. Without fire the ecology of the trees will change, and unimpeded natural succession will lead to their eventual disappearance. The key to a successful conservation movement in Califor- nia, or elsewhere, lies in changing our attitudes from exploitive ones to positive, fostering ones. In the settlement of the West, the newcomers' attitudes toward the different ecosystems and peoples they encountered were largely hostile. The authors quote ecologist and historian J.W. Thirgood about a lesson we have yet to learn: "that environmental ruin was the price paid for the glory that was Greece . . . here may be seen the fate of newly opened lands ... if man fails to achieve a balanced rela- tionship with the land." The forest cover of Greek antiquity has been replaced by an anthropogenic degraded scrub. As the authors note, "American beliefs, attitudes, and policies toward the environment are constantly changing," and our society is gradually losing its fear of the environment and its desire to subdue it. Yet agencies charged with stewardship of our biota have been less than successful in protecting it from incessant inroads. The authors are optimistic, however, and present a rarely heard argument that "restoration of past eco- logical richness need not come at the expense of economic richness. Economic prosperity requires ecological richness." If this argument becomes widely accepted by those in California with economic and political power, the future of conservation will look much brighter. Robert Ornduff, Department of Integrative Biology University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 [Reprinted from Pacific Discovery, Spring '94.] Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, Califor- nia by Vernon H. Oswald in collaboration with Lowell Ahart. 1994. 348 pages. Available from California Native Plant Soci- Native Revival Nursery ?E3Q Specializing in native plants of the bay region 49 Plants for coastal climates 0 Plants to attract wildlife ® Drought tolerant natives fS Local plants for revegetation 9 Landscape design and installation Wholesale Trade Monday through Saturday Open to Public Thursday-Saturday 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. 8022 Soquel Drive Aptos, California 95003 (408) 684-1811 VOtUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 33 ety, 1722 J Street, Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. $14.95 softcover. When Vesta Holt's popular Keys to Wild Flowers, Ferns, Trees and Shrubs of Northern California went out of print a number of years ago, many expressed the hope that it would be revised and republished. Vern Oswald's book deals with the flora of one county, and it is not a revision of Holt's Keys. Nevertheless, most fans of the earlier work will be pleased to find that Oswald's manual not only covers nearly everything originally included in the Keys, but also contains a great deal more information, nearly all of which is current. This book is the culmination of nine years of field, herbarium, and library research and is the eighth revision of a manuscript first assembled in 1986. While no work of this kind is without error, the preliminary revisions and meticulous attention to detail have resulted in an unusually error-free publication. The richness of Butte County's flora is reflected by the inclusion of 2,023 taxa distributed among 125 families, 676 genera, and 1,890 species. More than seventy-seven percent of the taxa included are native plants. Sensitive plants listed in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California (1994) stand out in bold, roman type, and the R-E- D code is also given; a list of such plants is included in an appendix. Voucher specimens are deposited in the herbarium of California State University, Chico, unless otherwise indicated. Nomenclature is based on The Jepson Manual (1993), with 3 4 FREMONTIA synonymy included primarily from A California Flora (Munz and Keck, 1973) and Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States (Abrams et al., 1940-1960). Significant descriptive features of each taxon are included within the dichotomous keys. A common name follows each scientific name, along with habitat information, elevations, and flowering times. The taxa are arranged alphabetically by scientific name, beginning at the family level. An appendix on plant names and pronunciation is included, along with excellent glossaries of the derivations of generic names and epithets. The glossaries alone are worth the price of the book. The book's compact size (five and a half by eight and a half inches) and light weight facilitate its use in field work. Despite the absence of illustrations, amateurs and professional field biologists alike will find the keys and other features easy to use when compared with those of more comprehensive manuals. Many botanists, particularly those working with plants from northern California and southern Oregon, will find the book useful outside Butte County. Indeed, the family and generic keys should work well throughout the Pacific Coast region. Kingsley R. Stern, Dept. of Biological Sciences California State University, Chico, CA 95928 CLASSIFIED ADS Classified ad rate: 75 cents per word, minimum $15; payment in advance. Address advertising inquiries and copy to: Sue Hossfeld, 400 Deer Valley Road, #4P, San Rafael, CA 94903 Publications LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION Planning by Sheila Peck. (1993). A manual for planners employing landscape ecology and conservation biology. 72 pages. 8-1/2x11. B&W illustrations. $10.00 postage included. (Checks to UC Regents). IHRMP, ESPM-Forestry, 160 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. A PLANNER'S GUIDE FOR Oak Woodlands. (1993). A guide for the professional planner or consultant. 104 pages. 8-1/2x11. B&W illustrations. $ 10.00 postage included. (Checks to UC Regents). IHRMP, ESPM-Forestry, 160 Mulford Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. A TREAT FOR PLANT lovers, Pacific Horticulture is the West's own gardening magazine. Handsomely printed, excellent color photo- graphs. Quarterly, $15 year. P.O. Box 485, Berkeley, CA 94701. COMMON RIPARIAN Plants of California by P. Faber & R. Holland. 1988. Common Wetland Plants of Coastal California by P. Faber. 1982. Available from Pickleweed Press, 212 Del Casa, Mill Valley, CA 94941. $18/$ 15 respectively plus 7.25% tax and $2 shipping. FLORA OF MENDOCINO County by Gladys L. Smith, 1992. 400 pages. $27.95 ppd. Also Flora of the Tahoe Basin, Neighboring Areas, and supplements. Smith, 1983. Published by Wasmann lournal of Biology, University of San Francisco. $15.75. Available from author, 355 Serrano, Apt. ML, San Francisco, CA 94132. THE SOCIETY FOR Pacific Coast Native Iris is an organization CNPS members would enjoy. For $4 annually, $ 10 triennially, receive our illustrated biennial publication, the Almanac, with information on many aspects of Californicae species and hybrids. Also offered each year: a spring field trip by bus to see them in the wild, and a seed list in the fall. SPCNI, 4333 Oak Hill Road, Oakland, CA 94605. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 THE MOST EFFECTIVE thing you can do for California's ecology is to grow native plants. Learn how from the personal (and often amusing) experience of long-time growers through Growing Native Research Institute and its elegant, illustrated, bimonthly newsletter, Growing Native. Annual $30 membership brings other benefits, too, including bonus issue, "The Basics of Growing Native Successfully." Mention Fremontia and receive free wildflower seeds. Write: Growing Native, PO Box 489, Berkeley, CA 94701, or call (510) 232-9865. THE FOUR SEASONS, annual journal of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, founded by celebrated writer-conservationist James Roof, devoted to California native botany and horticulture. $ 12 for 4 issues. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA 94708(510)841-8732. "THE WAY IT IS." For more information send self-addressed stamped envelope to "The Way It Is," 130 Anderson Way, Martinez, CA 94553. Proceeds from CNPS members logged for endowment fund for two CNPS's. HAWAII FLORA by Wagner, Herbst & Sohmer. 1990. Two-volune set retails for $85.00. Available at 30% discount from Botanies, 1416 Rockglen, Glendale, CA 91205-2019. Nurseries and Seeds YERB A BUENA NURSERY growing over 500 varieties of California native plants and exotic ferns. Open seven days a week 9-5. 19500 Skyline, Woodside, CA 94062. Catalog $1.00. TURN SEEDLINGS INTO trees -fast! Treeshelters not only protect your trees from animals, machines, and chemical sprays, but TUBEX Treeshelters accelerate growth by providing each tree its own green house. Excellent for all tree planting projects. Call or write for free information. Native Oak Nursery, 20316 Fallen Leaf Drive, Teha- chapi, CA 93561. 1 (800) 949-OAKS (6257). GARVER GARDENS Nursery. Rhododendron occidental. Please call 707-984-6724 or write to P.O. Box 609, Laytonville, CA 95454 to receive a free catalog of Smith-Mossman, Mike McCullough and other selections and seedlings. Mail order or by appointment. INTERMOUNTAIN NURSERY. In the foothills of the Central Sierra in eastern Fresno County on Hwy. 168. We specialize in local natives such as Carpenteria, as well as other drought tolerant plants. Retail, hrs. 9-5 Tues - Sat, 10-3 Sun. Wholesale, revegetation. 30443 Auberry Rd., P.O. Box 210, Prather, CA 93651. (209) 855-3113. GARDENING AS RESTORING native plant communities. Seeds of grasses, wildflowers, trees, shrubs. Panphlets $3.50 each: Notes on Growing California Wildflowers, Notes on Native Grasses, Notes on a Coastal Garden. Catalog $2.00. Larner Seeds, P.O. Box 407, Bolinas, CA 94924. (415) 868-9407. MOSTLY NATIVES NURSERY. Growers of coastal natives and drought-tolerant plants. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 9-4:30; Sunday, 11- 4:30. Located in Northwest Marin at 27215 Hwy. One, Box 258, Tomales, CA 94971. (707) 878-2009. Mail order catalogue of West Coast Natives, $3.00. California Native Plant Society MEMBERSHIP Dues include subscriptions to Fremontia and the Bulletin. Corporate......$1,000 Life/Benefactor... $500 Patron...........$250 Plant Lover......$100 Supporting..................$50 Family, Group, International.... $35 Individual or Library..........$25 Student/Retired/Limited Income . $18 ADDRESSES Memberships; Address Changes; Officers; General Society Inquiries: CNPS, 1722 J Street, Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. Tel: (916) 447-CNPS(2677) (FAX) (916) 447-2727 Executive Director: Allen Barnes Fremontia (Editor): Phyllis M. Faber, 212 Del Casa Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941. Tel. and FAX: (415) 388-6002 Fremontia (Advertising): Sue Hossfeld, 400 Deer Valley Road, #4P, San Rafael, CA 94903 Bulletin: Carol LeNeve, Box 1012, Carmel, CA 93921. (408) 624-8497 CNPS Botanist, Data Base: Mark Skinner, 1722 J St., Suite 17, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 324-3816 or (916) 447-2677 EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President................................David Magney Vice President, Administration...............Joan Stewart Vice President, Finance.....................Bob Burka Vice President, Conservation..................Ray Butler Vice President, Legislation........................Vacant Vice President, Plant Programs................Jim Shevock Vice President, Publications................Phyllis Faber Vice President, Chapter Relations.............Halli Mason Vice President, Education..................George Clark Recording Secretary........................Sara Timby Legal Advisor..............................Ken Bogdan DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE Jacob Sigg, Eric Fritsch, Michael Lindsay, Joanna Clines, Cathy Cort, Jennie Haas Chapter Presidents are also members of the Board. CHAPTER PRESIDENTS (AND DIRECTORS) Alta Peak (Tulare)......................Janet Fanning Bristlecone (Inyo-Mono)...................Betty Gilchrist Channel Islands............................Pat M'Daniel Dorothy King Young (Gualala)...................Joan Curry East Bay.................................Glenn Coppe El Dorado................................Phil Corson Kern County..........................Randi McCormick Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains.......George Stevenson Marin County...........................Bonnie Nackley Milo Baker (Sonoma County)................Eric Fritsch Monterey Bay........................Rosemary Donlon Mount Lassen.........................Lawrence Janeway Napa Valley..........................Lucinda LaMaster North Coast.............................Tony LaBanca Northern San Joaquin Valley (Modesto)...........Glen Basey Orange County.........................Tony Bomcamp Redbud (Grass Valley/Auburn)............Chet Blackburn Riverside/San Bernardino counties.........Marty Jacobsmeyer Sacramento Valley........................Karen Wiese San Diego.............................Bertha McKinley San Gabriel Mountains...................Melanie Keeley San Luis Obispo.........................Dirk Walters Sanhedrin (Ukiah).....................Charles Williams Santa Clara Valley........................Lori Hubbart Santa Cruz County......................Fred McPherson Sequoia (Fresno)..........................Joanna Clines Shasta...................................Tom Engstrom Sierra Footliills (Tuolemne, Calaveras, Mariposa). Denise VanKeuren South Coast (Palos Verdes).................Ellen Brubaker Tahoe..................................Steve Matson Yerba Buena (San Francisco).................Jacob Sigg MATERIALS FOR PUBLICATION Members and others are invited to submit material for publication to Fremontia. Two copies of manuscripts, double-spaced, (plus an IBM-compatible disc in Word-Perfect or ASCII file) should be submitted to Fremontia with name, address, phone number, and an identification line for Notes on Contributors. Botanical nomenclature should conform to The New Jepson Manual, with common name followed by botanical name. Black-and-white photographs, preferably 8x 10 or accompanied by negatives, or original 35mm color slides. VOLUME 22, NO. 3 FREMONTIA 35 New CNPS P U B L I C. A T I O N Manual of the ¦KP ^^&&VSp&$$:V; Vascular Plants of )?/ Butte County, SJ ¦&: California igj W by Vcruon Oswald and hs U- W JL Ji. JLJ ^?l Lowell Hart pi COUNTS. [¥ 1994. 348 pages, spiral bound. P.C-* California Eg; California Native Plant Society. JF&> $14.95 softcovcr. '% l Butte CounlVs rich flora |s is drawn from three geo- i&. P^i graphic, subdivisions within ail lfc3 California's FJoristc 4i{ VW..O. H (Wld fiff Province. f"?S ...„.,;--„..,,, (:*s This volume is a spiral l.-wcli Ali;in ££ bound book designed for SiiMMHgg use in the field, and is complete with excellent glossaries index and list of Bum- County rare and endanger >d spec ics. NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Liani H. Davis is an associate wildlife biologist for the Cali- fornia Department of Fish and Game's Natural Communities Conservation Program in Southern California. Stephen W. Edwards is director of the Regional Parks Botan- ic Garden in Berkeley and editor of the Four Seasons Journal. John Kliejunas is regional pathologist, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. Thomas Oberbauer is a frequent contributor to Fremontia and a member of the San Diego County Planning Department. Robert Ornduff is ermitus professor of botany at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley, and past director of the University of California Botanic Garden. Nevin Smith, a horticulturist by trade, is writing a book on growing native plants for CNPS. Kingsley R. Stern is emeritus professor of biology at Califor- nia State University, Chico. Scott D. White is a biologist with Tierra Madre Consultants in Riverside. MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE. Landscape with hardy California native plants. Economical and convenient mail order shopping. Send $1.00 for our newest catalog to Live Oak Nursery, P.O. Box 815, Knights Ferry, CA 95361, (209) 881-0228. CALIFORNIA NATIVE plants, seeds, and books: Available through Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery. Wildflower seed varieties, seed blends, and informative books also available by mail order. To receive catalogs and information, please send $3.00 to Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352. (818) 768-1802. Please call for nursery hours. SPECIALIZING IN SEEDS for California native plants including wildflowers, grasses, everlasting flowers, drought-tolerant mixtures. Catalog $3. Moon Mountain FR, P.O. Box 725, Carpinteria, CA 93014. Services EXOTICS CONTROL Specialists. We are a Licensed Pest Control Operator specializing in the control of invasive plant species using non-restricted herbicides (Roundup, Garlon). We have special expertise in killing Gorse, Broom, Pampas Grass, and Ice Plant in wildland areas. Contact Victoria Harris at (415) 327-0429 for more information.