Plant Sciences Commons^™

Floristic Composition And Species Richness Model In Winter Rangelands Of Northeastern Iran, Anahita Rashtian, Mansour Mesdaghi

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Due to the variable annual rainfall, the plant communities of rangelands in northeastern of Iran are fluctuating and the productivity is highly variable. This ecosystem covers about 500,000 ha and is one of the important winter ranges in Iran. In this fluctuating ecosystem, species diversity and floristic composition are changing annually (Pabot, 1967). Under heavy grazing most of the range species were extinct, but under light and moderate grazing, species richness was improved, fitting with the humped-back model (Wilkinson, 1999). The objectives of this research were 1) to determine floristic composition in three vegetation types and 2) to show the …

Bryophytes Of Goochland County, Virginia, Mikayla Quinn

Honors Theses

Bryophytes are non-vascular land plants that include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Although easier to overlook because of their smaller size, bryophytes are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. As such, maintaining record of their biodiversity is important. Yet, records of bryophyte species in Goochland County, VA were low compared to more thoroughly documented counties such as Prince Edward County. This study expands the documentation of bryophyte flora and presents a checklist of bryophyte species found Virginia’s Goochland County from 2020-2023. Fieldwork conducted at public and privately-owned properties throughout the county between January 2020 and March 2023 yielded 702 specimens that …

The Vascular Flora Of Cleburne County, Alabama, Melanie T. Spaulding

Theses

Cleburne County is located in Northeast Alabama and measures 145,298 hectares. Approximately one-third of the county lies within the Talladega National Forest, more than any other county covered by the Talladega National Forest. The county has two physiographic regions: Piedmont and Ridge and Valley. A floristic survey of Cleburne County, Alabama, was conducted on public and private lands from 2014– 2020. Sporadic field collections took place from March 2014 – April 2019, with extensive fieldwork conducted from May 2019 – October 2020. A total of 1,302 vascular plant taxa are reported, including 266 taxa not previously documented for the county. …

Forests, Steppes And Grasslands In Morocco: Diversity, Ecological Importance And Socio‐Economic Role, Mohammed Sghir Taleb, Mohamed Fennane

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Presentation Of Diversity, Life Forms And Chorology Of Plant Species In Rangelands Of Jahrom, Gh. Ghanbarian, E. Jafari, A. Hatami, M. Tayebi Khorrami

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Difficult Creek, Difficult Management Choices, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Virginia is blessed with many botanical wonderlands; see Chapter 4 of the Flora of Virginia (Weakley et al. 2012) for thumbnail sketches describing 50 of these special places. One such treasure, Difficult Creek Natural Area Preserve, is home to a thriving population of the 2019 VNPS Wildflower of the year, Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey Tea). Paradoxically, however, our featured wildflower of last year is inextricably linked to a difficult conservation management decision.

Wildflower Of The Year—Cymes, Not Corymbs!, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

I hit a snag while composing the text for this year’s wildflower of the year brochure on Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum. The problem concerned the proper descriptive term for its inflorescence, i.e., the pattern in which its flowers are grouped. In more than one source, I read that, for the family Geraniaceae, inflorescences are cymes (Figures 1 and 2), but those same sources indicated that inflorescences of Geranium maculatum are corymbs (Figure 4). That conflict caused me to scratch my head because cymes and corymbs are fundamentally different kinds of inflorescences.

Vascular Flora Of Adobe Valley And Surrounding Hills, Mono County, California, Sophie E. Winitsky

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Adobe Valley and the Adobe Hills lie east of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, and are within the Great Basin Floristic Province. The flora of Adobe Valley and the surrounding hills is influenced by the Great Basin Desert to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west and the northern Mojave Desert to the south. Adobe Valley is surrounded by the Adobe Hills, Benton Range and Glass Mountain region, creating a circular closed basin with many small tributaries feeding into it. This topography contributes to the creation of a rare wetland complex, including alkali meadows, marshes, and lakes …

Wild Geranium, Geranium Maculatum, 2020 Virginia Wildflower Of The Year, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Geranium maculatum was named by Linnaeus in his monumental Species Plantarum, published in1753. Geranium has long served as the type genus of Geraniaceae. The genus and family name are derived from the Greek word geranos, crane, in reference to the elongate fruiting styles common throughout the family. English common names like Cranesbill and Storksbill for relatives of Wild Geranium similarly refer to their elongate fruiting-stage styles. The species portion of the binomial, maculatum, means spotted, perhaps a reference to slight irregularities in petal pigmentation sometimes observed in this species.

Celebrating Nj Tea’S Unspecialized Pollination, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Specialized pollination systems are the source of some of the most compelling stories in natural history. There is something appealing to the human psyche about what seems to be a reciprocal agreement between a given plant and its dedicated pollinator: the plant attracts a pollinator and provides ample nectar and/or pollen as a reward for the pollinator’s service in moving pollen from anthers to stigmas while foraging for food. Of course, these organisms have neither signed agreements nor memos of understanding. Instead, it has merely proven to the benefit of the plant, over time, to form certain floral structures, and …

Nitrogen Fixation In Roots Of Ceanothus, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Roots are usually out of sight and, therefore, out of mind. But as any good gardener will tell you, it is of utmost importance to understand those unique plant organs, even if their essential functions occur hidden from cursory observation. The red roots of the 2019 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Ceanothus americanus, are particularly important because they host symbiotic bacteria that perform the essential function of nitrogen fixation. These prominent, knobby, distinctively pigmented roots are also the inspiration for the common name Redroot, applied to many species in the genus.

Plantae Coulterianae: Thomas Coulter’S Californian Exsiccata, Gary D. Wallace

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

An account of the extent, diversity, and importance of the Californian collections of Thomas Coulter in the herbarium (TCD) of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, is presented here. It is based on examination of collections in TCD, several other collections available online, and referenced literature. Additional information on historical context, content of herbarium labels and annotations is included. Coulter’s collections in TCD are less well known than partial duplicate sets at other herbaria. He was the first botanist to cross the desert of southern California to the Colorado River. Coulter’s collections in TCD include not only 60 vascular plant specimens previously …

Floristic Survey Of Crawford And Cherokee Counties In Southeast Kansas: An Evaluation Of Change Over Five Decades, Samantha Pryer

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This project had two main objectives. The first objective was to document comprehensively the vascular flora of Crawford and Cherokee counties in extreme southeast Kansas. Each county had seen limited collecting in recent decades, though a comprehensive survey had never been done for Cherokee County. PSU student E.S. Gibson summarized the flora for Crawford County in 1963. Fieldwork for the present study occurred mostly in 2014 and 2015. Based on 6500+ newly collected specimens, vouchers from Gibson’s study, and taxa documented by Biota of North America (BONAP) (Kartesz 2017), 1440 taxa are reported, which includes 33 state and 263 county …

Vascular Flora Of The Upper Rock Creek Watershed, Eastern Sierra Nevada, California, Joy D. England

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The upper Rock Creek watershed is located on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo and Mono counties. It is ca. 36.5 square miles (94.5 square km) in area and varies in elevation from 7360 to 13,750 ft (2243 to 4191 m). Quaternary glacial erosion and deposition produced striking landscape features, including alpine fell fields and numerous small lakes. Previous floristic inventories in Rock Creek recorded a combined 396 minimum-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, named hybrids) but were restricted to Little Lakes Valley and the surrounding high areas. An updated, annotated checklist of vascular plants is presented, based …

On The Identity Of The Turkish Endemic Cyperus Noeanus (Cyperaceae), Attila Mesterházy, Filip Verloove

Turkish Journal of Botany

Cyperus noeanus Boiss. is known only from the type specimen that was collected in Central Anatolia by Wilhelm Noë. It is considered an endemic species in Turkey. A detailed morphological study of the type specimen and comparison with similar related species in section Compressi Kunth demonstrated that the morphological characters of C. noeanus entirely fall within the range of characters of C. glaber L., which is a widely scattered species in Turkey, and widespread in S Europe and SW Asia as well. Based on our comparative study, we suggest that C. noeanus should be treated as a synonym of C. …

The Vascular Flora Of The Red River Gorge In Powell, Menifee, And Wolfe Counties Kentucky, Thomas Steele Mcfadden

Online Theses and Dissertations

The Red River Gorge (RRG) is a 26,283 ha natural area within Menifee, Powell, and Wolfe counties of Kentucky. This area is in the Cumberland Plateau Physiographic Section which is a southern subsection of the Appalachian Plateau Physiographic Province. It is a mecca of outdoor recreation, hosting thousands of visitors each year, while also being home to a unique flora worthy of continued protection. A vascular flora was conducted between the fall of 2016 and the summer of 2018. Additional vouchers donated by Dr. Ross C. Clark and the Stanton Ranger District office, as well as vouchers deposited at regional …

A Vascular Flora Of The Kiavah Wilderness, Scodie Mountains, Kern County, California, Erika M. Gardner

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Congress designated the Kiavah Wilderness in 1994 under the California Desert Protection Act. It is located in the Scodie Mountains in Kern County, ca. 24 km (15 mi) east of Lake Isabella and 24 km (15 mi) west of Ridgecrest, and encompasses a total of 137 mi² (354 km²) with elevations ranging from 1000 to 2200 m (3500–7294 ft). The Wilderness is ecologically important because it occurs in a transition zone between two floristic provinces, the Sierra Nevada of the California Floristic Province and the Mojave Desert of the Desert Province. It is of cultural significance because …

The Vegetation And Flora Of Edwards Air Force Base, Western Mojave Desert, California, David Charlton, Philip W. Rundel

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Edwards Air Force Base extends over 121,000 ha in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert, with much of the area part of a closed endorheic basin that held the Pleistocene Lake Thompson. Notable topographic features are Rogers, Rosamond and Buckhorn dry lakes, while rounded domes and scattered hills are present to the north and east. Elevation gradients are limited, ranging from a low of 690 m to 1044 m near the eastern margin. Diverse communities of saltbush scrub dominate the lower plains, while creosote bush scrub and Joshua tree woodlands are present away from the old lake basin. …

Centaurea Bingoelensis (Asteraceae), A New Species From Turkey, Lütfi̇ Behçet, Ahmet İlçi̇m, Yakup Yapar

Turkish Journal of Botany

Centaurea bingoelensis Behçet & İlçim is described as a new species. It is confined to Bingöl in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The diagnostic characters are discussed and taxonomic comments are presented. Seed and pollen characteristics were investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy. Notes on its ecology are also presented.

Vascular Flora Of The Rocky Fork Tract, Tennessee, Usa, And Its Use In Conservation And Management, Foster Levy, Elaine S. Walker

ETSU Faculty Works

A flora of the 3800 ha Rocky Fork Tract in northeast Tennessee produced 749 species of which 19 were on the Tennessee Rare Plant List and 34 were on the Cherokee National Forest Species Viability List with 87 county records from Greene County and 217 from Unicoi County. Rare species were particularly numerous in the Cyperaceae and Orchidaceae. The tract serves as a refuge for several regionally uncommon species by supporting either large populations or metapopulations of these species. Exotic species comprised 15% of the flora and were most common in the Fabaceae and Poaceae. The most unique habitat was …

The Vascular Flora And Community Structure Of Little Calumet Headwaters Nature Preserve, Laporte Country, Indiana, Julia L. Angstmann, Paul E. Rothrock, Thomas W. Post

Julia Angstmann

Little Calumet Headwaters Nature Preserve is a 108-acre tract of woodland and wetland areas that comprise the headwaters of the Little Calumet River in northwestern Indiana. The preserve, consisting of upland hardwood forests, groundwater seeps, and wetland complex, is an area of high diversity due to its topographical variation. A floristic inventory, plot sampling, and seed bank analysis were used to determine the structure and composition of the plant communities. The flora consists of 298 species (27 exotic) representing 188 genera and 84 families. Dominant vegetation of the forest includes Liriodendron tulipifera, Prunus serotina, Packera aurea and Podophyllum peltatum. Each …

Vascular Flora Of The Possum Walk Trail At The Infinity Science Center, Hancock County, Mississippi, Hanna M. Miller

Honors Theses

The North American Coastal Plain contains some of the highest plant diversity in the temperate world. However, most of the region has remained unstudied, resulting in a lack of knowledge about the unique plant communities present there. This flora catalogues the vascular plant species along the Possum Walk Trail on the southeast corner of the Infinity Science Center in Hancock County, Mississippi. Additionally, interpretive signs have been developed to display information about engaging species and phenomena to increase public interest in native plant life and involve them conservation efforts. The site was surveyed from spring of 2015 to spring of …

Bibliographia Phytosociologica Et Floristica Mongolia: Pars Iv, Werner Hilbig

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In Ergänzung zu den bisherigen drei Teilen der Bibliographie vegetationskundlicher, vegetationsökologischer, floristischer und pflanzengeographischer Arbeiten über die Mongolei wird in dieser Arbeit Teil IV der Bibliographie vorgelegt. Er umfasst im Wesentlichen den Zeitraum 2007 bis 2014. Auch Publikationen zur Vegetationsgeschichte und zum botanischen Naturschutz werden berücksichtigt.

English summary:

In addition to the hitherto existing three parts of the bibliography of geobotanical, ecological, floristic and plant-geographical papers on Mongolia the part IV of the bibliography is given. It comprises in the main point the period from 2007 until 2014. In addition, publications on vegetation history and botanical nature protection are considered.

Astragalus Topalanense (Fabaceae), A New Species From Turkey, Ahmet İlçi̇m, Lütfi̇ Behçet

Turkish Journal of Botany

Astragalus topalanense Behçet and İlçim sp. Nov. (section Malacothrix Bunge) is described as a new species from Bingöl Province, East Anatolia in Turkey. The new species is similar to Astragalus macrouroides Hub.-Mor., a species endemic to Turkey, and A. Macrourus Fisch. And C.A.Mey. The diagnostic characters and taxonomic comments on the species are presented. Seed and pollen characteristics are investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy. Notes are also presented on its ecology. A distribution map of the new and related species is also provided.

A Floristic Study Of The Oak Leaf Lake Unit Of The Swan Lake Wildlife Management Area In Nicollet County, Minnesota, Heidi Rauenhorst

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Prairies play an integral ecological role, protecting biodiversity and providing habitat for fauna. The number of prairie acres has significantly declined in Minnesota, making the existing prairies that much more valuable. The Oak Leaf Lake Unit of the Swan Lake Wildlife Management Area in Nicollet County, Minnesota (latitude 44.311050, longitude -94.015577) was purchased by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 1994 and is being managed as tallgrass prairie. Floristic surveys were performed during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons to gather baseline data. These data were used to assess the quality of the site through calculation of various indices …

Status Of Plants In Virginia, Michael H. Renfroe

Virginia Journal of Science

OVERVIEW OF BOTANICAL DIVERSITY

Virginia possesses a unique and varied assemblage of plant life. There are 3,164 species, subspecies and varieties of plants in Virginia (Weakley et al. 2012). As classified by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH), they form some 94 ecological groups and 317 community types across five distinct physiographic provinces: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Appalachian Plateau. The state extends 469 miles from east to west and 201 miles north to south at the widest points, enclosing 42,326 square miles of territory. This diverse range of environmental …

There's Much Left To Learn: Clethra's Chromosomes, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Many would argue that chromosomes, genes, and DNA form the ineluctable essence of modern biology. Not only do these fundamental components of living cells provide moment-to-moment instructions by which cells carry out basic life processes, they also control inheritance of characteristics from one generation to the next. These essential functions of DNA stem from its repetitive structure. Hugely long DNA molecules are built from just four components, referenced by their singleletter abbreviations, A, C, G, and T. It is the specific sequence of these As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that constitutes the coded information of DNA. Moreover, molecular biologists have …

When It Comes To Clethra: Roots Matter, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Roots, too often, are out of sight and out of mind, but they are critical for vigorous, healthy plant growth. All plant enthusiasts—including gardeners, farmers, foresters, and naturalists—should think about and appreciate roots if they wish to acquire a holistic understanding of plant biology. This article introduces readers to the mycorrhizal roots of the 2015 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), and explores the diversity of mycorrhizae in a closely related family, Ericaceae.

Upside-Down Anthers Of Clethra Stand Out, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

For the most part, the flowers of the 2015 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), are unremarkable. Five separate sepals, 5 sepa rate petals, 10 stamens in 2 whorls, and a 3-carpellate superior ovary—an organization that can only be considered prosaic among the dicots. One floral feature, however, stands out: the anthers in the open flowers are upside-down! (See Figure 1A.) Further, these upside-down anthers open by pores (Figures 1B, 1C) rather than longitudinal slits, as in most flowering plants. These pores initially form on what would normally be the lowermost extremity of the anther, the inversion …

Obituary For Robert F. Thorne

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.