. . dedicated to the appreciation and conservation of the Colorado native flora” Volume 16, Number 1 January/February 1992 Update on Wetlands Changes Mark Gershman “My position on wetlands is straightforward: all existing wetlands, no matter how small, should be preserved.” So stated then-candidate Bush in an at- y "mpt to woo potential voters as the en- vironmental president. However, in August of last year the Bush administra- tion released a set of proposed revisions to the federal rules that changed the way wetlands were delineated in the field. By revising these criteria for wetland iden- tification, the administration effectively removed about half of the lower 48’s 100 million acres of wetlands from the protection afforded under the Clean Water Act. The action was not truly a redefinition of wetlands. The federal government’s definition of wetlands has not changed: The term “wetlands” means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal cir- cumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally in- W elude swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. This definition establishes three separate criteria: soils, vegetation and hydrology. In 1989 the four agencies in- volved in wetland regulation [the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Soil Conservation Ser- vice (SCS)] agreed to a set of technical criteria to describe wetland soils, vegetation and hydrology. The resulting document replaced the separate methodologies being employed by each agency (often with conflicting results). The Federal Manual for the Identifica- tion and Delineation of Wetlands was the result of a team of scientists working to provide an objective means of deter- mining which areas were wetlands, and where wetlands began and ended. The proposed changes to the Manual were a response to pressures from the development community. There was a strong sentiment that the Manual had been adopted without public review or comment. In many places throughout the country the application of the tech- niques contained in the Manual re- quired developers to seek a permit from the COE before they could fill wetlands. Although the Corps typically grants per- mission to applicants, many developers were concerned that they would be re- quired to mitigate the impacts of their project by either selecting another site, by changing the design, or by creating compensatory wetlands elsewhere— all potentially costly alternatives. — continued on page*f Contents . . . Announcements 2,3 Workshop reports 8,9 Wetlands, cont. 4 Spiranthes listed 10 1991 Accomplishments 5 Avian observations 10 Annual Mtg Report 5 Horsetail oddity 11 Workshops 6 Book reviews 11 Loosestrife threat 7 Calendar 12 Aquilegia Volume 16 Page 2 Goodbye.. .and Hello! Reader Comprehension Quiz With this issue, Peter Root and I are retiring as Aquilegia editors. A new committee being as- sembled by T amara Naumann will be producing your next issue— and many more, we hope. See details below on sending future contributions. In exchange for the joys and challenges of newsletter production, I’ll be taking on a new role with the Conservation Committee. Please call if you’d like to help out. Perhaps some of our loyal newsletter helpers will find new work there as well: Many thanks to Peter, Velma, Gayle, Gary, Peter, and Julie for all their efforts. And thanks to all of you for the opportunity of newsletter work! May Tamara and her new crew enjoy bringing fresh outlooks and new success to Aquilegial — Sally White Things you’ve learned from recent issues (true or false) You can make an emergency hand lens from a piece of grass and a drop of sunscreen. Plant adoptive parents care for plants at home. Klamathweed {Hypericum sp.) might offer a cure for AIDS. About 12% of North America’s native plants may be threatened, but less than 1% are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Calcareous fens have little botanical interest. Fertilizer is not recommended for establishing blue grama turf. Bindweed is easy to get rid of. The 1991 annual meeting focused on the rainforests of Colorado. Asclepias uncialis is our smallest milkweed. Blemishes on Earth’s satellite are called “moonworts.” Aquilegia is published six times per year by the Colorado Native Plant Society. This newsletter is available to members of the Society and others with an interest in native plants. Contact the Society for subscription information. Articles from Aquilegia may be used by other native plant societies if fully cited to author and attributed to Aquilegia. The Colorado Native Plant Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation and conservation of the Colorado native flora. Membership is open to all with an interest in our na- tive plants, and is composed of plant en- thusiasts, both professional and non- professional. Please join us in helping to encourage interest in enjoying and protecting the variety of native plants in Colorado. The Society sponsors field trips, workshops and other activities through local chap- ters and statewide. Contact the Society or a chapter representative or commit- tee chair for more information. Schedule of Membership Fees Life $250.00 Supporting $50.00 Organization $25.00 Family or Dual $12.00 Individual $8.00 Student or Senior $4.00 Membership Renewals/Information Please direct all membership applications, renewals and address changes to the Member- ship chairperson, in care of the Society’s mailing address. Please direct all other inquiries regard- ing the Society to the Secretary in care of the Society’s mailing address. Newsletter Contributions Please direct all contributions to the newsletter to: Tamara Naumann 940 Guinn Boulder, CO 80303 Deadlines for newsletter materials are February 15, April 15, June 15, August 15, October 15 and December 15. Short items such as unusual information about a plant, a little known botanical term, etc. are espe- cially welcome. Camera-ready line art or other il- lustrations are also solicited. Please include author’s name and address, al- though items will be printed anonymously if re- quested. Articles may be submitted on disks (IBM-compatible, 5.25-in. or 3.5-in. DS/DD) if desired; Word Perfect or DOS format text files preferred; please indicate word processing software and version used and enclose hard copy. Officers President Carol Dawson 722-675? Vice-President Tina Jones 759-971 ^ y Secretary Rob Udall 482-9826 Treasurer Myma P. Steinkamp 226-3371 Board of Directors Betsy Neely (92) Boulder 443-8094 Jan Wingate (92) Denver 989-2137 Jeff Dawson (93) Denver 722-6758 Peter Henson (92) Denver 671-8858 Gary Finstad (93) Denver 791-3790 Tamara Naumann (93) Boulder 440-8933 Sally White (92) Morrison 697-5439 Velma Richards (92) Englewood 794-5432 Bill Jennings (93) Louisville 666-8348 Vicky Trammell (93) Littleton 333-3024 Chapter Presidents Boulder Alison Peck 443-0284 Denver Metro Ron Abbott 333-6151 Ft. Collins Jennifer Crane 493-2142 Yamparika Reed Kelley 878-4666 San Juan Peggy Lyon 626-5526 Committees Conservation Sally White 697-5439 Editorial Tamara Naumann 440-8933 Education Gary Finstad 791-3790 Field Trips Jeff Dawson 722-675 j Inventory Maty Edwards 233-81W* Hort/Rehab Dorothy Udall 482-9826 Membership Myma Steinkamp 226-3371 Publicity Julia Carlson 752-2738 Workshops Bill Jennings 666-8348 Number 1 Aquilegia Page 3 Announcements *w Boone Symposium on Idaho Botany Dues are Due!! Check your mailing label to see if you are "Paid thru 1992." If not, a check in the mail to us will ensure you continue to belong to the only organization in Colorado dedicated to native plants! Also, you’ll continue to receive Aquilegial Cloud Ridge Seminars In 1992, Cloud Ridge Naturalists again offers a variety of seminars with appeal to botanists, including a field trip to the Gore Range with Dr. William Weber in July. Cloud Ridge offers complete ex- periences, often including transporta- tion and lodging. Class sizes are limited, so register early. Seminars are classified as suitable for families and by level of physical ability required. For details on educational trips planned this season, please contact: Audrey Benedict Cloud Ridge Naturalists 8297 Overland Rd. Ward, CO 80481 (303)459-3248 or (303)443-8204 CON PS Exhibit at Garden & Home Show Information on the Colorado Native Plant Society and its activities was ex- hibited at the Colorado Garden & Home Show in early February. Arrangements for the exhibit opportunity were made by Publicity Chair Julie Carlson. Parts of the educational display on Colorado grasslands (also featured at the annual meeting in November) were included in the exhibit. We appreciate Rick Brune’s efforts in preparing the text and photographs for the grassland ex- hibit. ^Additional displays on the Society and native plant conservation are planned for the coming year. 4 , On March 27th, a special session of the Idaho Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting will focus on “interpreting Idaho’s botanical heritage and planning for the future.” Symposium speakers, in- cluding Dr. Ron Hartman, Dr. Pat Pack- ard, Dr. Barbara Ertter, Dr. Doug Henderson, Mr. Bob Mosley, and Dr. Karl Holte, will cover topics related to Idaho floristics. Following the sym- posium, the annual banquet will feature a public keynote address by Dr. Arthur Cronquist of the New York Botanical Gardens. Aquilegia is printed on 100% recycled paper Reprints Available The Prairie Garden, by Rick Brune, is a compilation of practical prairie-garden know-how, collecting Rick’s articles for Aquilegia in one handy reference. The 12 -page booklet, with a new list of selected references, is available from the Society or the author for $3 plus $.75 postage. Order directly, and make checks payable to, either: Colorado Native Plant Society P. O. Box 200 Fort Collins, CO 80522 or Rick Brune 2060 Garland St. Lakewood, CO 80215 For information on quantity discounts, please call Sally White at 697-5439. jf Paper sessions to accompany the Boone Symposium on Idaho Botany are being solicited. Send abstracts on topics re- lated to Idaho floristics by March 7th to: Dr. Eric Yensen or Dr. Don Mansfield Dept, of Biology Albertson College of Idaho 2112 Cleveland Blvd. Caldwell, ID 83605 * Native Landscaping Project Proposed The Jefferson County Conference Center on Lookout Mountain has re- quested the assistance of CONPS mem- bers in planning and implementing a new landscaping project focusing on native plants of the area. The Conference Center is a historic mansion located at about 7500 ft. in a ponderosa pine wood- land setting. Its original gardens have been long neglected and a complete renovation is planned. If you would like to participate in this project, please contact Carol Dawson at (303)722-6758. * Annual Meeting ’92 The theme of the fall annual meeting this year will be wetlands. This topic is criti- cal to the conservation of Colorado’s flora, and the meeting is a learning op- portunity we should all look forward to. Tina Jones is leading a committee to plan arrangements and speakers. Please con- tact her at 759-9701 if you would like to help. * Page 4 Aquilegia Volume 16 Wetlands, continued from front page The biggest impact of the revisions to the Manual deals with the hydrology criterion. For example, an area can only be a wetland if the soil is saturated or flooded during the growing season. The term "growing season" is meaningful only with regard to species which demonstrate dormancy at some point in their lifecycle. Many native upland plants and agricultural crops have a clearly defined growing season. Infor- mation about the growing season for wetland plants makes it clear that many species are actively growing throughout the year — much longer than the growing season indicated by the Soil Conserva- tion Service for crops. Even if the definition of growing season could be adjusted to be meaningful for wetlands, the requirement that an area be flooded or saturated to the surface is completely arbitrary. In the past, a well drained soil could have wetland hydrol- ogy if the water table was as deep as 18 inches below the surface. The depth to water table required was a function of the texture of the soil. The proposed revisions require that an area be flooded for at least 15 days or saturated to the surface for at least 21 days during the growing season. Studies have indicated that seven consecutive days of satura- tion are needed for soil to lose enough oxygen for wetland plants to flourish. No attempt was made to justify the science behind the 21-day requirement. Not only would the proposed change result in a halving of the wetland acreage in Colorado, it would remove from federal jurisdiction the most valuable wetland types. According to a letter report prepared by Dr. David Cooper for Region VIII of the EPA, “In Colorado, the hydrologic regime criteria in the proposed manual would remove from jurisdiction many of the most functionally valuable wetlands; wet meadows which provide critical water quality control, and shrublands and forest on floodplains that provide the most valuable wildlife habitat, streambank stability which creates fish habitat, aquatic food chain support and flood retention functions.” Since release of the proposed changes there has been an outpouring of public comment. The deadline for public com- ment was twice delayed. In December, the EPA, COE, FWS, and SCS agreed to upgrade the wetlands delineation manual from an administrative rule to a regulation. This means that public review of revisions is not up to the ad- ministering agencies — that future revisions will be guaranteed public review. Comments about the proposed manual changes were due to the EPA by January 21, 1992. There have been in- dications that the Bush administration may moderate its recommendations. It may prove fortunate for wetlands that the changes will be announced around the time George Bush announces his candidacy for re-election to the office of (environmental?) president. Jf, Reminder These changes and other wetlands topics will undoubtedly be discussed at the 1992 CONPS Annual Meeting. See page 3 for information on how to get in- volved in planning this important event. Chapter Meetings Boulder Chapter w Meetings are held on the second Tues- day of the month at Foothills Nature Center, 4201 N. Broadway, Boulder. Contact Alison Peck, 443-0284, for meet- ing information. March 10: Western Slope Watershed Plant Communities. Gwen Kittel will present a slide show and talk on the results of surveys of the Yampa, San Miguel, and Dolores Rivers conducted as part of the Nature Conservancy’s em- phasis on Colorado’s riparian ecosys- tem.s. April 14: Weed Management and IPM. Tamara Naumann will discuss In- tegrated Pest Management (IPM), a method of controlling insect, disease, and weed problems using "least-toxic" practices. What are the alternatives to using toxic herbicides for control of in- vasive weeds? Come and find out! May 12: Annual Picnic. Location to b^ , announced _ Denver Chapter Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Contact Ron Abbott, 333-6151, for meeting informa- tion. March 25: Vernal Equinox Potluck Celebration. Loraine Yeatts will briefly discuss how to use the UTM mapping grid. Then we’ll eat! April 22: Some Thoughts on Global Warming and Ecosystem Responses. Dr. Harvey Nichols. j Number 1 Aquilegia Page 5 njW 1991 Annual Meeting: A Look at our Grassands Gayle Weinstein The Grasslands: A Threatened Com- munity was the topic for the November 1991 annual meeting. Held in conjunc- tion with the Denver Museum of Natural History, this timely topic paral- leled the museum’s newly remodeled dioramas of Colorado’s ecosystems and the Smithsonian’s travelling exhibit, the Tropical Rainforest. About 150 people came to enjoy the museum and the Society’s meeting topics. Topics covered grasslands’ history, man and animal dependency on the grasslands, loss of community/clashes in value systems, and better management and vision for today and tomorrow. The speakers were Dr. Jane Bock (Univer- sity of Colorado), Dr. David Armstrong (University of Colorado Museum), Joyce Herold (Denver Museumof Natural History), Dr. Ed Guerrant Jr. (Berry Botanic Gardens), and Bill Floyd ^^?awnee National Grasslands). From the 100th meridian west to the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, once consisting of short to midgrass prairies. But today, in the cities, we have inadvertently replaced an existing biome (the grasslands) with trees from the eastern forests. Animals that lived in the grasslands find it difficult to remain and are displaced by contenders from eastern woodlands. Indigenous plants are supplanted by Eurasian species. As population continues to increase, development and agriculture take a mounting toll on the natural ecosystems. Plant communities that were once part of a larger, unified system become rem- nants, and flora and fauna become ex- tinct or replaced. Today, people are learning more about the tropical rainforest and the global consequences of its destruction. Yet, the grassland is still an enigma. In fact it is the most abused biome in the world, wen though it has supplied the most ^productive cultivated land on earth and given the world its most important food crops: wheat, corn and rice. These changes have eliminated many ecosystems. Different demands have and will continue to be placed on the grasslands and natural resources. To preserve what is left, we need to learn now that vision and discretion are more fitting than the old way of doing things. If we neglect the grasslands as a com- munity, there will be less for everyone. Today we have to look at our ecosys- tems, learn about them, and respond to them. We need to recognize the dif- ferences in biomes and ecosystems. Each system must be managed with vision and awareness that what we do today affects something tomorrow. We as a native plant society will be called upon to make some choices. The nature of our goals must be stronger. We must work together to maintain them and work for a better future. * CONPS Accomplishments for 1991 • Contributed $500 to Nature Conservancy’s "Adopt a Rare Plant Program" • Contributed $1000 to Na- ture Conservancy for Pur- chase of High Creek Fen • Contributed $500 to Floris- tics Survey of the Flat Tops, White River Plateau and vicinity (see report, page ) • Developed exhibit on Using Native Plants in the Landscape • Expanded number of workshops on native plants • Conducted field trips (spring through summer) • Initiatied plant survey at Golden Gate State Park • Prepared and distributed list of "Suggested Native Plants for Horticultural Use in Northeastern Colorado" • Reprinted The Prairie Gar- den by Rick Brune • Revised CONPS Bylaws • Prepared statement on ethics with regard to collect- ing native species • Responded to three hundred plus inquiries on native plants and CONPS • Page 6 Aquilegia Volume 16 Workshops — 1992 Season Botanical Illustration III Saturday, February 22, 1992 Leader: Carolyn Crawford Our workshops on Botanical Illustration remain popular, and Carolyn Crawford has agreed to present a second advanced workshop. Dissection and drawing of flowers and flower parts will be the emphasis of this workshop. In addition to the techniques of colored pencil and pen & ink, Carolyn will demonstrate her main medium, pastel pencil. A guest instructor is tentatively planned. To be held at Foothills Nature Center, Boulder. How to Know the Families Saturday, March 21, 1992 Leader : Miriam Denham Are you bewildered by the huge variety of spring and summer wildflowers you see in Colorado? You want to be able to identify the plant, but you’re not really sure how to use a botanical key? How can you tell if it’s a monocot or a dicot? How can you decide whether it’s in the borage family or the figwort family? Here’s your chance to clear up all your botanical problems (well, some of them, anyway). Miriam Denham will tell us how to identify the most frequently encountered plant families and explain their spe- cial characteristics and terminology. To be held at the Foothills Nature Center, Boulder. Colorado Ferns Saturday, April 4, 1992 Adopt-a-Rare-Plant Workshop Saturday, April 25, 1992 Leader: Peter Root Pteridophytes are the ferns and similar plants which are called fern allies. The main emphasis of this workshop will be iden- tification of the ferns and fern allies of Colorado. The relation- ships of the various groups will also be discussed. There are about 45 species of true ferns in the state, and other than bracken and a few others, most are seldom seen. Participants will find John Mickel’s How to Know the Ferns and Fern Allies to be helpful. To be held at the herbarium, Denver Botanic Gardens, Den- ver. Leaders: Betsy Neely, Tamara Naumann, and Bill Jennings The Nature Conservancy, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, and the Colorado Native Plant Society are developing a volunteer-based program to update the rare plant species database and to help with the Nature Conservancy project selection process. At this training session, participants will see specimens and photographs of some of our rare plants, will learn how to use an herbarium effectively, and will learn when to take and not to take specimens and how to prepare them. We’ll also learn how to take good photographs and record the correct information to document a new site. After lunch, we’ll visit a nearby site where Physaria bellii is found. Even if you don’t plan to adopt a plant, this workshop provides a useful outline of the techniques to use when searching for rare plants. Looking for rare plants is the world’s most frustrating oc- cupation, so find out what you need in your information arsenal before venturing into the wilderness. To be held at the Foothills Nature Center, Boulder. Number 1 Aquilegia Page 7 Exotic Threat: Purple Loosestrife Registration for Workshops Please mail in your registration this year. Jot down the workshops for which you wish to register, include your name, ad- dress and phone number, and send the vW*ote to: Bill Jennings, PO Box 952, Louisville, CO 80027. Be sure to include your mailing address and phone num- ber. Registration order will be first come, first served, by the date on your letter, or postmark if no date is included. Please register promptly, as workshops tend to fill up fast. If demand is suffi- cient, multiple sessions will be scheduled if the instructor is willing. Registrants will be notified by mail about two weeks before the workshop regarding session date, location, lunch, supplies, suggested references, etc. Unless otherwise noted, the fee for each full-day workshop is $8 for members and $16 for non-members ($8 for mem- bership and $8 for the workshop). Please hold payments until the day of the workshop. It takes time and effort for instructors to plan workshops. We need your sugges- tions for other workshops, and your ^^:eedback on whether you found them in- formative. jf. Mark Gershman Imagine a horror film wherein the wick- ed monster achieves its tragic schemes by effecting a beautiful disguise— and you have the purple loosestrife. Lythrum salicana is an attractive tall herbaceous perennial with bright magenta to purple flowers — but it takes over wetlands. En- demic to Eurasia, loosestrife estab- lished itself in the wetlands of northeastern North America by the early part of the nineteenth century. No one was concerned about the disper- sal of purple loosestrife for many years, and well-meaning people were intro- ducing it as a medicinal herb and or- namental garden plant. Because of its long blooming season, beekeepers planted it for honeybees. By the 1930’s, purple loosestrife had become an ag- gressive weed in the hayfields that flank the St. Lawrence River. Its impacts to agriculture, however, pale in com- parison to the loss of native plant and wildlife habitat throughout the con- tinent. The endemic flora of the St. Lawrence floodplain was obliterated by loosestrife and an exotic flowering rush ( Butomus umbellatus). The decline of Scirpus longii in the northeast has been attributed to the invasion of loosestrife; and Eleocharis parvula in New York is thought to be immediately threatened by the weed. Although few studies have been conducted to quantify the effect of loosestrife, the authors of a Fish and Wildlife Service Research Report on the spread, impact and control of the plant noted “the replacement of a native wetland plant community by a monospecific stand of an exotic weed does not need a refined assessment to demonstrate that a local ecological dis- aster has occurred.” Typically purple loosestrife first occurs in small numbers on a site for a number of years, then the population explodes. Each mature plant is capable of produc- ing millions(!) of seeds which can be transported over water. Loosestrife is brittle and is also capable of reproduc- ing vegetatively from parts which are broken off and dispersed to suitable habitat. Colorado hasn’t yet developed exten- sive problems with loosestrife as other states have. It is widely distributed in local gardens, and sold by nurseries in Boulder and elsewhere. Only two “wild” populations of purple loosestrife are known in Boulder County. Both the populations are on land owned and managed by the City of Boulder: a large population at Coot Lake, and a smaller stand along the shoreline of South Boulder Creek between Valmont Road and Arapahoe Road. Mountain Parks and Open Space staff have been monitoring and working to control these populations. Because the plants grow in wetlands, city workers have con- centrated on removing the aboveground portions of the plants to prevent seed set and effectively shorten the plants’ grow- ing season. Some research indicates that small populations can be controlled by repeated cutting. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agricul- ture are working on biological control agents for loosestrife, and some use of leaf-eating beetles and root mining weevils may be tried in Boulder this year. Members of the Colorado Native Plant Society interested in helping to control purple loosestrife or those who have seen other infestations can contact Mark Gershman (441-3270), Tamara Naumann (441-3440) or Dick Lyman (441-3408). People are needed to help cut plants in late summer. It is wet, sweaty and rewarding work. Members can also help control this plant by dis- couraging its sale and learning to recog- nize it in the wild. ^ Page 8 Aquilegia Volume 16 Carolyn Crawford The Colorado Native Plant Society, in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Rock Garden Society, was able to bring Dr. Robert Price to Denver to present a talk and two workshop sessions. His specialty is Draba, a genus of mostly low, mat-form- ing plants of the mustard family (Bras- sicaceae) particularly noticeable in many of the alpine tundra areas of the West. Many of the species found in Colorado are rare or endemic. Dr. Price is a near-native Coloradoan, who attended George Washington High School in Denver, Cornell University, University of Wisconsin - Madison, and University of California - Berkeley. His master’s thesis was on the taxonomy of Draba in Colorado, while his doctoral work was in Erysimum. He is currently at Indiana University. On the evening of January 10, prior to the workshops the following two days, Dr. Price presented a slide show of many of the species of Draba found in the Rocky Mountains and in the Sierra Nevada of California. In addition, he showed slides of the associated species and general habitat. This program, held in Mitchell Hall at the Denver Botanic Gradens, was attended by about 100 persons. Many of the showier mat- formers are well suited to the rock gar- den, and Dr. Price was quick to point out which species he felt were most ap- propriate for cultivation. Most species of Draba have long taproots and are un- likely to survive transplantation. However, Dr. Price has performed ger- mination tests on Draba seeds, finding substantial percentage germination in nearly every species. Interestingly, the pollen in some species is infertile, yet the species always sets fruit, apparently par- thenogenetically, based on his experi- ments. Demand for the workshop was suffi- cient that two sessions were held. Dr. Thomas Ranker, curator of the her- barium of the University of Colorado generously made a classroom/ laboratory available for the workshop. The lab was well equipped with both dis- Review of Draba Workshop secting and side-arm microscopes to ob- serve the small details that characterize species of Draba. Dr. Price provided a handout that listed all the species cur- rently recognized for Colorado. The best keys to the species are the ones in Colorado Flora: West Slope and Colorado Flora: East Slope, primarily because they were written for Dr. Weber by Dr. Price. The main features necessary to observe to key a Draba correctly are flower color (white or yellow); number of leaves on the flowering stem (cauline leaves); whether these leaves have teeth; the kinds of hairs on underside of the basal leaves (spectacular shapes under high magnification); the shape of the fruit (length and width); and the length of the style. Dr. Price slowly and carefully walked us through the keying procedure for several species before turning us loose on a number of "unknowns". The unknown species were pressed, dried, but unmounted specimens that atten- dees could examine from every angle. This instruction was invaluable, and by the end of the workshop, most attendees felt confident that they could key species correctly. Some problems were noted in the key. The very first choice requires that the user measure the length of the style and determine if it is longer or shorter than 0.15 mm (West Slope Flora, p. 176). This is a very short length to measure, even under a microscope, and subject to substantial error. In general, if the style is obvious to the unaided eye, it’s longer than 0.15 mm; if you must use the hand lens or scope to confirm its presence or measure it, it’s probably shorter than 0.15 mm. Some specimens proved particularly troublesome to key, mainly because of a lack of leaves on the flowering stem (ap- pearing scapose) when they were nor- mally leafy-stemmed species. Users of the key should be aware that couplet 1, on group I (West Slope Flora, p. 176), which asks the user to observe the presence or absence of cauline leaves, is not always reliable. In the field, as many plants a possible over as large an area as practical should be examined to confirm the presence or absence of cauline leaves. Cauline leaves are sometimes absent or very inconspicuous on Draba cuneifolia and Draba reptans. At couplet 11a, group II (West Slope Flora, p. 178), where Draba crassa is reached, the first part of the identifica- tion calls for noting that the leaves are semi-succulent. On pressed specimens, the leaves dry nearly translucent and are absolutely not succulent. This feature can be observed only on live plants. The best identifying characteristics are the leaf hairs, which are on the margins (ciliate) with the leaf surface hairless (glabrous). All attendees were pleased with the workshop and impressed by Dr. Price’s knowledge and teaching ability. The genus Erysimum is Dr. Price’s otb ^ area of expertise, and we hope inviw*^ him back to sort out this group. ^ Number 1 Aquilegia Page 9 Artist Honored Carolyn Crawford Review of Apiaceae Workshop Bill Jennings We are pleased to report that Marj Leg- gitt, who was co-leader of last fall’s workshop on botanical illustration, will have two pieces of her botanical artwork shown in the 7th International Exhibi- tion of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh. The Institute, which is at Carnegie-Mel- lon University, houses the largest per- . manent collection of botanical artwork in the world. Once every 4 to 5 years mounts an exhibition featuring some of the best illustrators from around the world. Marj will have two pieces in the show, her illustrations of trumpet creeper ( Campsis radicans) and Arizona walnut (Juglans major) from Jack Carter’s upcoming book Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico. Marj also il- lustrated Jack’s previous book, Trees and Shrubs of Colorado. ^congratulations, Marj! 4 , Dr. Ronald Hartman, curator of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium at the University of Wyoming, presented a workshop to CONPS on September 28 on selected genera in Apiaceae. Dr. Hartman has specialized in the parsley family and has published numerous ar- ticles on the family. At the workshop, he explained the ter- minology used for keying the parsleys, particularly fruit morphology. The fruit is a schizocarp, which consists of two one-seeded mericarps, more or less suspended by a caryophore, the dry, wiry remnant of the vascular strand. The size and shape of the dorsal wing, inter- mediate wing, and lateral wing (if present) on each mericarp are impor- tant in determining species. Dr. Hartman made keys available to the attendees and had 50 "unknown" plant specimens in plastic sleeves. The un- knowns were herbarium sheets with the labels blanked out, but with a photocopy of the label and specimen inserted on the opposite side. Dr. Hartman gave these 50 photocopies to me. Readers of Aquilegia wishing to have a complete set of 50 photocopies of specimens of Apiaceae, should write a note to Bill Jennings, P.O. Box 952, Louisville, CO 80027. Although these will be second- generation photocopies, key features can be distinguished surprisingly well for most species. Significant differences in nomenclature exist between Hartman’s work and the books of Weber and Harrington. Dr. Hartman developed a comparison chart to enable translation between the species as interpretated by various workers. Dr. Hartman prepared a display of the activities carried out by the Rocky Mountain Herbarium, and this and the rest of the herbarium were seen during the tour. Rocky Mountain is now the largest herbarium between St. Louis (Missouri Botanic Garden) and Califor- nia (Jepson Herbarium at Berkeley). Handouts entitled "The Rocky Moun- tain Herbarium— Purpose and Goals" and "Status Report on the Rocky Moun- tain Herbarium" were passed out to at- tendees. The three floras of Robert Dorn (Montana, Wyoming, and Black Hills of South Dakota) were available for sale and most participants pur- chased copies. All in all, this was an excellent workshop, with good information presented by Dr. Hartman and a helpful opportunity to key unfamiliar species in this family. ^ Page 10 Aquilegia Volume 16 Official Listing for Spiranthes On January 17th, 1992, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published the official listing of Spiranthes diluviatis (Ute ladies’ tresses) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. According to the Federal Register notice, the new status will take effect February 16th. The USFWS Regional Office cited the reopening of the comment period, the need to collect more data on the dis- tribution of the species, and the effort to handle other regulatory packages with more urgent deadlines (e.g., the black- footed ferret and Kanab ambersnail rulings) as factors in the delay of this list- ing. In December, the Spiranthes listing package was forwarded to Washington with a request to “expedite this rulemaking” because of the expectation of a lawsuit being filed after January 19th (see, Aquilegia, Vol 15#6). In September 1985 Spiranthes diluvialis was listed in a notice of review as a Category 2 candidate species. Its status was changed to Category 1 in February 1990, thanks in part to work by Society member and orchidologist Bill Jennings and others in defining its biological vul- nerability and potential threats. Among the potential threats continuing to affect Ute ladies’ tresses are habitat destruction, possible overutilization, in- adequate protection for existing populations, and low reproductive capacity. Changes to the ground water regime in its range are also likely to af- fect its numbers. + Colorado’s newest threatened species Spiranthes diluvialis Ute ladies’ tresses Illustration by Carolyn Crawford ; shown approx, two-thirds life size. Avian Observations of a Nose-to-the-Ground Botanist Tim Hogan An old friend once told me that it’s a good idea to take both a birder and a botanist along on field trips — the one keeps you from bumping into trees, while the other keeps you from stepping into holes. We all know how difficult it is to do more than one thing at a time in the field. A singular focus seems neces- sary to really see the object of our inter- est. The more time we spend out, the better our chances of being graced with those rare observations that give mean- ing to the naturalist avocation. Some- times these observations are not what we have come looking for. One August 15th, I was looking at plants in one of my favorite haunts on the north side of Green Mountain in the Boulder Mountain Parks. As I started out that morning I was greeted by the raucous calls of an unknown bird. I was able to pick it out as it flew from perch to perch in the open forest, so I took out my glas- ses to see what I could see. I wasn’t too surprised to discover that it was one of the young goshawks whose nest I’d stumbled on a month before. I was amazed to see how rapidly it had grown and a bit curious about all the noise it was making. I figured it was simply the juvenile way of all species. A little later I saw what I had not come looking for. I was sitting on a rock trying to key out a grass when the young delin- quent again let out a cry. Glancing up from my important Poa , I noticed another bird flying in from the corner of my vision. I watched in silence as the two approached each other; among a flurry of flapping feathers, the second bird banked away from the young one. I could now see it was an adult goshawk with a small bird in its talons. Suddenly it dropped its prey and the young hawk deftly plucked it out of the air. A moment later the woods were quiet and the drama was over. It seemed I had just been privy to a rare exchange of in- formation between mother and child. This is the way a young hawk is taught to hunt. I had witnessed its apprenticeship. The rest of the day was consumed with botanizing in the quiet canyon. As I ap- proached the trailhead that afternoon the cry of the juvenile hawk once again came from the woods and I wondered how much longer before stealth and quiet would replace its raucous ways. 4 , Number 1 Aquilegia Page 1 1 Books of Interest S^iviewed by Jim Borland Weeds of the West, Tom D. Whitson, editor. The Western Society of Weed Science (in cooperation with the Western U.S. Land Grant Universities Coopera- tive Extension Services). 630 pages ; paperback, $19.00. Highlighting approximately 300 species with generally excellent photographs and text describing distinguishing characteristics, this book has already been touted as an excellent source. Al- though the undertaking and completion of such a massive project as this is high- ly commendable, the included text is not without faoul and is particularly not agreeable to native plant enthusiasts. The authors established the following minimum criterion for a weed: “A plant that interferes with management objec- tives for a given area of land at a given point in time.” In addition, the authors considered a plant’s abundance, and its 'bility to reproduce, compete, spread t e pidly, and prove toxic to livestock or humans. Given this rather broad approach, we should not be surprised to find at least a few Colorado native plants on the list. In fact, more than 90 species are listed! As nativity to a state or to the nation is not mentioned for each plant, and as no control measures are mentioned for any plant, the usefulness of this book is severely limited, aside from its assis- tance in identification. Colorado readers might be surprised to learn that four species of Artemisia (sagebrushes), Yucca glauca (plains yucca), Tetradymia canescens (horse- brush), Xylorhiza glabriuscula (desert aster), Prosopis glandulosa (common mesquite), Iris missouriensis (wild iris), Sphaeralcea coccinea (cowboy’s delight), and Typha latifolia (cattail) made the list, among many other na- tives. On the bright side, both Eleagnus angustifolius (Russian olive) and all \ , i amarix species (saltcedars) are also in- ^""cluded. Curious, considering that older weed literature usually contains many species, that only one Astragalus is listed An Unusual Horsetail Peter Root A couple of years ago I found a specimen in the Rocky Mountain Her- barium of an unusual Equisetum with cones at the tips of green, branching stems. It was filed as E. pratense but didn’t look quite right. I made a photocopy of it and finally decided it must be an unusual form of E. arvense. Equisetum arvense is widespread and highly variable and a form like this has been described. It is probably a response to very cold spring weather that kills the normal fertile stems. There are specimens of this form in the herbarium at Boulder which were col- lected on the north side of Hoosier Pass in Summit County. I visited this site in July and found the aberrant form grow- ing on the exposed bank of a roadside ditch. Nearby, in more sheltered habitats, there were thousands of nor- mal stems of this species. Later that month, I saw this unusual form in three locations in Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park. I believe that plants of this form have been misidentified as Equisetum pratense. The keys in both of Weber’s Colorado floras use the characteristic of 4-angled branches to separate E. ar- vense from E. pratense. E. arvense in Colorado often has 3-angled branches and this unusual form could seem to be E. pratense to someone who has not seen it before. Actually, E. pratense is quite different in the texture of its branches, the shape of branch teeth, and the color of the plant. It probably has not been found in Colorado yet, but it is something to look for in cool, shaded locations in the mountains. ( Astragalus bisulcatus , two-grooved milkvetch). The cover photograph depicts western mountains and a hayfield with grazing cattle as a backdrop to a traditionally symbolic old wooden wagon wheel sur- rounded by what appear to be two species of rabbitbrush and a sagebrush in the close foreground. After studying it, I cannot decide whether the original western landscape or the cowboy cul- ture is the favored view. Because there is little guidance between the covers, readers will have to decide for themsel- ves. Roadside Wildflowers of the Southern Great Plains. Craig C. Freeman and Eileen K Schofield, 1991. University of Kansas Press. 280 pages; paperback, $17.95. Area covered: eastern Colorado, all of Kansas, the northwest two-thirds of Ok- lahoma, Texas panhandle, small north- east corner of New Mexico, and southern strip of Nebraska. Arranged by bloom color, each of ap- proximately 235 native and introduced species is represented by a color photograph and the occasional black- and-white illustration of key identifying features. Text includes information on identification, bloom period, habitat, and additional comments. jf. Page 12 Aquilegia Volume 16 Calendar Overview 1992 Workshops Denver Chapter Meetings Feb 22 Botanical Illustration at Foothills Nature Ctr, Bldr. Carolyn Crawford Feb 26 Aspens Mar 25 Vernal Equinox Potluck Mar 21 Know the Families at Foothills Nature Center Miriam Denham Apr 22 Global Warming Boulder Chapter Meetings Apr 4 Colorado Ferns at Denver Botanic Gardens Peter Root Apr 25 Adopt-a-Rare-Plant at Foothills Nature Center Neely, Naumann, Jennings Mar 10 West Slope Riparian Communities Apr 14 Weed Mngt. & IPM Colorado Native Plant Society P.O.Box 200 Fort Collins, Colorado 80522 Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit #1475 Denver, Colorado PAID THRU 1992 TAMARA S „ NAUMANN P E T E R A W I L {.... I A M B 940 QUINN ST BOULDER CO 80303