Northern California Botanists Botanical Leaflets Issue 9 Spring 2012 President’s message It’s summer and with the sporadic rains we had this winter it will be interesting to see what the bloom is like upslope . This spring went fast in the valley with every- thing drying out quickly. Luckily the wildflowers held on long enough to get out and see them! I got to visit Table Mountain seven times this spring, which was won- derful. Retirement for me has had some nice perks! I hope you all have enjoyed the spring wildflowers this year. Our next Northern Califor- nia Botanists Symposium will be January 14-16, 2013 at California State Univer- sity, Chico. See below for more information and our “Call for Papers.” We again have solicited students to apply for our student scholarships and have completed our review and selection of the applica- tions. We received numer- ous fantastic applications which made it hard to make the selections! This year we will be funding 7 proposals, which include 6 individual student projects and one team project with two stu- dents. Hopefully a new batch of botanists doing vital work in Northern Cali- fornia will develop from those scholarships. Have a wonderful summer pursuing your many vast botanical adventures. Linnea Hanson Save the date for the fifth northern CALIFORNIA BOTANISTS SYMPOSIUM! OFFICERS President: Linnea Hanson Vice President: Samantha Hillaire Secretary: Jessica Hammond Treasurer: Gail Kuenster Members-at-large Barbara Castro Matt Guilliams Chris Ivey Lawrence Jane way Chase Lentz Robert Schlising Joe Silveira Daria Snider Mike Williams Newsletter Editors: The Northern California Botanists Symposium will be held January 14-16, 2013 at California State University, Chico. The theme of the 2 -day symposium is “From the Redwoods to the Sage- brush: Botany Ranging Far and Wide.” The third day will include workshops on Whitebark Pine, Electronic Botanical Field Methods, Fungi, and Resources for Professional Botanists. (Continued on Page 3) Mystery plant Can you identify this plant that is found in open areas, especially on de- composed granite and slate, in mixed coniferous, upper montane and subal- pine forests, in the northern Sierra Nevada, 5,900-6,900’? (Answer on Page 3) Photo: Karen Wiese Karen Wiese & Gail Kuenster Inside this issue: President’s message 1 Save the date for the FIFTH NORTHERN CALIFOR- j NIA botanists sympo- sium! Mystery Plant 1 Northern California Botanists in Action 2 2012-2013 Student Re- search Scholarships 3 Save the date (Cont.) 3 Rare plant treasure HUNT ON THE TAHOE NATIONAL FOREST 3 Ansewer to “Mystery Plant” 3 Botanical Leaflets Page 2 Northern California Botanists in Action This issue of Leaflets features a continuing series that highlights well-known to possibly less-well-known botanists, with pho- tographs from the present to several decades back. If you have unpublished pictures of Northern California Botanists to share, please send jpegs and relevant information to rschlising@csuchico.edu Barbara Ertter (University of California, Berkeley) is Cu- rator of Western North American Flora Collections Manager at the University and Jepson Herbaria. She has given numer- ous talks and produced many publications, especially on Jun- caceae, Polygonaceae, and Rosaceae. Barbara is also greatly interested in botanical history and in California floristics. She is shown here reaching for a Potentilla and (inset) near Idaho, her state of retirement. Jenny Marr (Staff Environmental Scientist with the Cali- fornia Department of Fish and Game) also gives time and provides her expertise for many botanical and environ- mental groups, including the Board of Directors for NCB. Here she is one of two instructors that taught a “Name that Wildflower” class for Redbud Chapter, CNPS and Friends of the Chico State Herbarium from 2006 to 201 1 . Lowell Ahart left (well-known rancher and botanist of northern California) and second author of the “Flowering plants and Ferns of Butte County” (with Vern Oswald). Sev- eral California taxa are graced with his name (e.g., Paronychia ahartii). Matt Guilliams (Bruce Baldwin Fab, UC Berke- ley) a versatile and dynamic graduate student studying vernal pools, Montiaceae and Plagiobothrys. He is a member of the Board of Directors for NCB. Rob Schlising (retired, Chico State University) shown collecting seeds of Marah horrida in the Sierra Nevada sev- eral decades ago. He is on the Board of Directors for NCB and volunteers time with other environmental groups in the Chico area. He is finishing up projects on geophytes and vernal pool plants, and presently “plants for bees” in his small urban garden. Issue 9 Page 3 2012-2013 Student Research Scholarship Awards An important mission of the Northern California Botanists is to provide monetary scholarships for students doing research on botanical subjects in northern California. This year we received 44 applications and awarded seven proposals which includes a two-person undergraduate research team. Individuals awards are $ 1 ,000 scholarships. The undergraduate team proposal was fully funded for $1680. The scholarship recipients are listed in the following table. Congratulations to these students and thank you to all that submitted applications ! 2012-2013 NCB Research Scholarship Recipients Applicant(s) Degree Program College Title of Research Project Jennifer Balachowski PhD University of California, Davis Restoring for the future: evolutionary ecology of Elymus glaucus, and composite provenancing as a tool for native grassland restoration Juliana Moreno & Leena McCann Under- graduate Santa Clara University Sympatric speciation in northern California columbines Meghan Parish MS Sonoma State Functional traits, disturbance, and invasion: response of exotic grasses to mowing and herbicide in an invaded California grassland Lee Ripma MS San Diego State A phylogenetic analysis of the plant genus Cryptantha Oreocarya group (Boraginaceae) Sean Ryan MS San Diego State Molecular phylogeny and character evolution of Fritillaria subgenus Liliorhiza (Liliaceae) Brett Smith MS University of California, Santa Cruz Gene flow and hybridization in a rare, serpentine endemic Monardella Jens Stevens PhD University of California, Davis Interacting effects of snowpack, fire and forest management on plant invasions in the Sierra Nevada Save the date for the fifth northern California botanists SYMPOSIUM! (Continued) We are in the planning stages now and have a Call for Papers out for the Nonseed Plant, Biogeography in Northern Califor- nia, Great Basin Botany, and New Botanical Discoveries sessions. If you would like to give a talk on one of these subjects, please send a couple of sentences describing your subject to Linnea Hanson by June 14, 2012 at linneachanson@gmail . com . Rare plant treasure hunt on the tahoe Join the California Native Plant Soci- ety (CNPS) and the Tahoe National Forest on Sunday, June 24 from 10 am — 2 pm as we search for Hutchi- son’s lewisia ( Lewisia kelloggii ssp. hutchisonii) . This elusive rare plant only has a narrow blooming period, and we are hoping to catch it while it's in flower. We will meet at the Tahoe National Forest, American River Ranger District office at 22830 Foresthill Rd., Foresthill, CA at 9:45 am. From Foresthill, we will carpool and drive about one hour to the survey site, near Robinson Flat, around 7,000 ft. eleva- tion. Plan for a fun day of hiking and botanizing - bring lunch, water, insect repellant, sun protection, hiking shoes, NATIONAL FOREST and your botany supplies (camera, gps, flora, handlens). This hike should be moderately strenuous. Contact Victor at vlyonh/ Is . fed . us for more information or check out the following website: http:/ / www.cnps.org/ cnps/ rareplants/ treasurehunt/ calendar, php Answer to “Mystery Plant”: Hutchison’s lewisia (Lewisia kelloggii subsp. hutchisonii), Miner’s Lettuce Family (Montiaceae) Northern California Botanists P. O. Box 8042 Chico, CA 95927-8042 PleaA^ vuyte/Crur wwulUr^ culd^e^fr ha # cHcwiged /! Membership application/renewal Name: Affiliation: Address: City: State: Zip: Email : Membership and DONATIONS ALSO ACCEPTED ONLINE AT MEMBERSHIP DUES: WWW.NORCALBOTANISTS.ORG Individual $25.00 Student/ Limited Income $15.00 Family or Small Business/Non-Profit (two memberships) $40.00 In addition, I would like to donate $ to Northern California Botanists to help fund NCB programs and student research scholarships. Make checks payable to “Northern California Botanists” and mail to: Northern California Botanists P. O. Box 8042 Chico, CA 95927-8042 NCB is a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Membership dues and donations are tax deductible . E-mail: ncbotanists@gmail.com