Castilleja

A Publication of the Wyoming Native Plant Society

www.uwyo.edu/wyndd/wnps/wnps_home.htm

December 2000
Volume 19, No. 4

In this issue:

The Colorado Butterfly Plant: Wyoming’s

Newest Threatened Plant 1

WNPS News 2

Noteworthy Collections from Wyoming 2

Botany Briefs 2

The Enemy of Native Plants: Noxious Weeds . . 3

Rupert Barneby and Duane Isely 5

Plant Names, Part 1 5

Physiologic Specialization in WY Rust Fungi ... 5

Wild Bees and Floral Jewels 6

The Botany Songbook 8

In Quotes 8

The Colorado Butterfly Plant: Wyoming’s
Newest Threatened Plant

By Walter Fertig

Nearly a quarter-century after first being proposed
for listing, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially
designated the Colorado butterfly plant {Gaura
neomexicana ssp. coloradensis) as a Threatened Species
under the Endangered Species Act on 18 October 2000.
Although populations have been fairly stable in recent
years and are less imminently threatened than once
thought, the Service moved to list this species because
of its inadequate protection rangewide. The butterfly
plant is only the third Wyoming plant to be listed under
the act, joining the Ute ladies tresses {Spiranthes
diluvialis) and Blowout penstemon {Penstemon
haydenii) .

Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis is a short-lived
perennial herb with sword-shaped leaves and reddish,
hairy, multi-branched stems up to 3 feet tall. It can be
recognized as a member of the Evening-primrose family
(Onagraceae) by its 4-petaled, long-tubed flowers and
inferior ovary. The butterfly plant is moth-pollinated and
opens its relatively large (3/8 inch), white flowers in late
evening. The flowers remain open until about noon the
following day, but turn pink or red as they wither. Only

Above: Colorado butterfly plant by Walter Fertig

a few flowers along the upper-middle portion of the
stem are in bloom at any given time, but the
inflorescence can elongate and put forth new blossoms
all summer long (at least until the first hard frost of
autumn). The flowers produce hard, 4-angled, nut-like
fruits throughout the summer and into early fall.
Colorado butterfly plant is monocarpic, meaning that it
flowers only once during its life and then dies (just like
the Century plant of the American southwest).
[Continued on page 4]

WNPS NEWS

Y2K + 1 Student Scholarship : Thanks to generous
contributions by WNPS members, the society’s annual
student scholarship is available once again for qualified
junior college or university undergraduate or graduate
students. One to three scholarships will be awarded in
the amount of $300-500. Interested students should
contact the Secretary of the Society for an application
form. Applications are due by 19 February 2001 .
Winners will be announced by the Board in March.

New and Improved WNPS Web Site : The wnps
web site moved to a new location in late October:
www.uwyo.edu/wyndd/wnps/wnps_home.htm. The site
has been revamped, thanks largely to the efforts of new
volunteer web-master Rebekah Smith of Laramie. The
WNPS has information about Society activities,
scholarships, membership, past newsletters, history, and
a “plant of the month” feature (December’s plant is our
state flower and WNPS namesake, Castilleja). We hope
to add more features in the coming months, including an
index to past newsletters, selected articles, and county-
level plant species lists. The WNPS page is linked to the
home page of the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database,
which contains information on the state’s rare flora and
fauna.

New Members : Please welcome the following new
members of WNPS; Susan Corey (Sundance), Gary Dean
(Kemmerer), Jan Hart (Laramie), Daniel Mathews
(Portland, OR), Rebekah Smith (Laramie), Beth Succop
(Powell), and Sheila and John Thompson (Worland).

Wyoming Native Plant Society
PO Box 3452, Laramie, WY 82071

President: Amy Roderick Taylor (Broomfield, CO)
Vice President: Joy Handley (Laramie)
Secretary-Treasurer: Walter Fertig (Laramie)
Board Members: Steve Laster (Pinedale)

Jim Ozenberger (Jackson)

Newsletter Editor: Walter Fertig (307) 766-3020
(wk)/e-mail: clyde@uwyo.edu .

Teton Chapter: PO Box 82, Wilson, WY 83014
(Joan Lucas, Treasurer).

WNPS Webmaster: Rebekah Smith (Laramie)

Contributors to this issue: John Baxter, Maggie
Byrne, Robert Dorn, Walter Fertig (WF), Debbie
McNeil, Isobel Nichols, Jennie Parsons, Edwin
Payson, Beth Succop, and Vince Tepedino.

We’re looking for new members : Do you know
someone who would be interested in joining WNPS?

Send their name or encourage them to contact the
Society for a complimentary newsletter.

Attention Readers : We are always looking for
articles and illustrations for the newsletter. Items for
the March issue are needed by 5 March 2001 .

Treasurer’s Report : Balance as of 8 December 2000:
General Fund $661.17; 2000-2001 Student Scholarship
Fund $542.50; Total funds: $1203.67. WF

Noteworthy Collections from Wyoming

New Exotic Plants for Wyoming: Robert Dorn
reports two new exotic species for the state from his
field surveys in Sheridan County in the summer of 2000:

Echinops sphaerocephalus (Globe-thistle): This purple-
flowered, perennial member of the sunflower family
(Asteraceae) resembles thistles due to its spine-tipped
foliage, but differs in having a ball-like inflorescence of
numerous, single-flowered heads and a pappus of scales
instead of simple or feathery bristles. Globe-thistle is
native to Eurasia, but has escaped sporadically in the
Pacific Northwest, California, and the eastern United
States.

Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan tree or European mountain-
ash): This ornamental tree, a native of Europe, is
commonly planted across the northern US and
occasionally escapes thanks to bird-dispersal of its bright
red fruits. Rowan tree can be distinguished from our
native mountain-ash, S. scopulina, by its more abundant
leaflets (typically over 13 per leaf), woolly winter buds,
and pubescent inflorescence. WF

Botany Briefs

No Action on Desert yellowhead listing: Citing
budget constraints stemming from lawsuits to designate
critical habitat for over 300 listed species, the US Fish
and Wildlife Service has announced that there will be no
new listings of proposed or candidate plant and animal
species in the United States during the next fiscal year
(1 October 2000-30 September 2001). Among the
affected species is Desert yellowhead ( Yermo
xanthocephalus), an endemic of Fremont County known
from approximately 10,000 individuals in less than 10
acres of habitat. Desert yellowhead was proposed for
Threatened status in October 1998. WF

2

The Enemy of Native Plants: Noxious Weeds

By Jennie Parsons, Beth Succop, & Maggie Byrne
BLM Cody Field Office, Cody, WY

Noxious weeds are our problem. Noxious weeds are
invasive, exotic, alien plant species that spread rapidly
and outcompete native plants once introduced into an
environment in which they did not evolve. Weeds
impact all of our lives: our native plants, our recre-
ational activities, our livestock forage, our wildlife, our
water supply, our fish habitat, our forests, our ranches,
our agricultural food sources, our soil structure, the
temperature of our land, and our gardens. What can be
done? It is vital for every individual to recognize our
connection to and dependence on the land in almost
every facet of our lives. Therefore the attitude that
weeds are our problem is the first step to answering the
question what can be done.

The threats of weeds are not always apparent, but
the effects of weeds are shocking and serious.

According to a BLM fact sheet titled “Growing Pains”,
invasive plants are spreading at a rate of approximately
4,600 acres per day just on federal lands in the western
United States. Around 17 million acres of public range
lands in the West are infested with weeds. The spotted
knapweed in Montana has exploded from a few plants in
1920 to over 5 million acres today. It has been
estimated that the annual economic impact of leafy
spurge is $129 million on grazing and wild lands in
Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming.
According to the book Invasive Plants, written by the
Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of
Noxious and Exotic Weeds, the number one work task in
the world is hand weeding of crops. Some experts
regard non-native species as the second greatest threat
to biodiversity after habitat destruction. Weeds are
oblivious to state boundaries. It is vital for the public to
help prevent, detect, and treat weeds.

The public can take an active role in the battle
against the silent, devastating invasion of weeds.

Actions can include traveling and camping in weed free
areas, pulling and packing out weeds, and becoming
educated about weeds. The public can help stop the
spread of weeds by planting natives to outcompete
weeds; eradicating weeds from the land, removing weed
seeds by planting natives to outcompete weeds;
eradicating weeds from the land, removing weed seeds
that attach to tire treads, shoelaces, and pets; cleaning
recreational gear before leaving an area; giving horses
certified weed free feed four days before entering the
backcountry; and learning to identify local weeds.

The Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act’s
designated list of noxious weeds is: Field bindweed,
Canada thistle. Leafy spurge. Perennial sow-thistle,
Quackgrass, Hoary cress (whitetop). Perennial
pepperweed. Ox-eye daisy, Skeletonleaf bursage.

Above: Rabbit’s-foot grass {Polypogon monspeliensis), an
introduced grass species from Europe found sporadically across
Wyoming. Illustration from Chase (1950).

Russian knapweed. Yellow toadflax, Dalmatian toadflax,
Scotch thistle. Musk thistle. Common burdock. Plumeless
thistle. Dyer’s woad, Houndstongue, Spotted knapweed.
Diffuse knapweed. Purple loosestrife, and Salt-cedar.
County Weed and Pest provides herbicides at a reduced
coast to the public (or in some cases for free) to help
control the spread of noxious weeds. This agency is
responsible for enforcing the laws regarding noxious
weeds and also contracts for the spraying of county
roads.

The BLM Cody Field Office has hired three Weed
Awareness Associates through the Student Conservation
Association (SCA) to promote public weed awareness
and education over the next year. The Weed Associates
had an educational weed exhibit at the Park County Fair
and the Cody library this summer. The display has weed
identification, weed prevention, and weed impact
information. The BLM Weed Associates have educational
lesson plans for the 3^^ to 5^^ grade levels as well as for
adults. The weed team presented weed identification
and impact information to the WYDOT and Northwest
Community College. They have been guest instructors in
the public school systems this autumn to teach weed
awareness. The goal is for teachers to integrate the
material into their curriculum year after year. The weed
educational program is also appropriate for youth groups
such as the 4H and the Scouts. The exercises in the
program include such activities as weed population
explosion math problems, plant pressing, weed
geography, biological control of weeds, informational
videos, weed journals, and an artistic weed drawing
competition. For more information about presentation
programs or weed materials, contact Jennie Parsons,

Beth Succop, or Maggie Byrne at 307-578-5900.

3

The Colorado Butterfly Plant: Wyoming’s Newest
Threatened Plant [continued from page 1]

Colorado butterfly plant is a wetland species, but has
somewhat fussy habitat requirements. It prefers sites
with short and sparse vegetative cover in drainage
bottoms, low alluvial terraces, and old, abandoned
stream channels with a high water table. The plants do
not thrive where cover of competing species is high,
especially where willows or other brush have become
established or where Canada thistle, leafy spurge, or
other noxious weeds have become
dominant. The butterfly plant is
adapted to colonizing areas that
are periodically flooded and
subjected to grazing.

Despite its common and latin
names, Colorado butterfly plant is
almost entirely restricted to
Wyoming. Of approximately 18
surviving populations, 15 occur in
Laramie County, while only two are
found in far western Nebraska and
one in northeastern Colorado.

Apparently this species has never
been widespread, despite its ability
to colonize disturbed ground or
sparsely vegetated riparian areas.

As recently as 1976 it was thought
to occur at only three sites in the
entire world and was proposed for
listing as Endangered under the
US Endangered Species Act.

This listing proposal prompted
an intensive survey effort in southeastern Wyoming.
Robert Dorn discovered the first new population in the
state in 1977 south of Cheyenne. Nearly 20 additional
sites were discovered or relocated during the next 15
years by Robert and Jane Dorn, Robert Lichvar, Hollis
Marriott, Mary Neighbours, and Walter Fertig. Over this
time, the total estimated population grew from several
hundred to nearly 50,000 reproductive plants (over
200,000 if non-flowering vegetative rosettes are
considered).

At the same time, studies were initiated on the
butterfly plant’s population biology, genetic structure,
basic life history, and management needs. Initially, this
species was thought to be quite vulnerable to grazing,
herbicides, mowing, competition from weeds, and loss of
habitat to urban expansion. Follow-up studies have
found that several of these threats are less significant
than initially feared. For example, Colorado butterfly
plant can respond favorably to winter grazing, low
density grazing, or short-rotational grazing cycles, which
remove competing cover that can restrict seedling
establishment and growth. Although edible (and readily
browsed by cattle, horses, deer, antelope, and rodents).

the butterfly plant is able to compensate for loss of
leaves and stems by producing additional branches and
inflorescences. Mowing has also been found to be a less
serious threat, provided cutting is done late enough in
the growing season so that the plant’s fruits have
ripened (mowing may even serve as a dispersal
mechanism). Other threats remain important however,
especially loss of habitat to development, mortality from
herbicides, and competition from other plant species in
the absence of periodic disturbances.

One of the largest known populations of Colorado
butterfly plant occurs along
Crow and Diamond creeks (and
an unnamed tributary) on F.E.
Warren Air Force Base, just
outside of Cheyenne. Annual
monitoring studies on the Base
since the mid 1980s have
documented an overall increase
in plant numbers, although
annual fluctuations are
common. The Air Force has set
aside part of the plant’s habitat
as a natural area for the
preservation of the butterfly
plant and other riparian plants
and animals and is initiating an
experimental weed removal
program to enhance the plant’s
habitat.

Being listed under the
Endangered Species Act affords
Gaura neomexicana var.
coloradensis additional
protection on F.E. Warren Air Force Base and other
federal lands, but will do little to protect populations on
state or private lands. Unlike animals, plants receive
much less protection under the law. Most restrictions on
harming listed plants apply just to public lands or private
landowners using federal money for habitat alteration.

On private lands, listed plants are protected from
collection or harm by trespassers and from mis-
application of some herbicides, but no restrictions exist
on direct harm or habitat alteration by the landowner.
Although current management actions on private
agricultural lands in Laramie County are largely
compatible with the needs of this species, none of the
private land populations are under formal, long-term
protection. Changes in management of these sites
(especially subdivision) could lead to local extirpation of
the plant. The survival of this species will depend on the
cooperation of farmers and ranchers, but better
incentives need to be developed to retain these valuable
lands in agricultural production and to compensate and
reward good land stewards for their actions. If this
happens, the Colorado butterfly plant should continue to
brighten streamsides in Laramie County for years to
come.

4

Earlier this month, the world of botany lost two
leading experts on the Legume family (Fabaceae) with
the passing of Rupert Barneby and Duane Isely. Rupert
Barneby worked for over 25 years at the New York
Botanical Garden and was a leading authority on the
Fabaceae of western North America despite having no
formal training as a botanist. Beginning in 1939,

Barneby and collecting partner H. D. Ripley traveled
extensively in the remote corners of the western US and
discovered dozens of new species (including many rare
endemics). Among the Wyoming plants discovered or
described by Barneby are Astragalus drabelliformis, A.
barrii, A. proimanthus, A. shultziorum, Dalea
cylindriceps, and Oxytropis besseyi var. fallax. Several
species have been named in his honor, including
Lepidium barnebyanum, Lesquerella barnebyi,

Crypt ant ha barnebyi, Castilleja barneby an a, Or si urn
barnebyi, and Trifolium barnebyi (a state endemic
restricted to the southwestern Wind River Range and
vicinity that Barneby discovered in 1947). Barneby will
be best remembered for his significant contributions to
the taxonomy of Astragalus and his treatment of the
Fabales in the Intermountain Flora (Volume 3B)

Duane Isely was a professor of botany at Iowa State
University and spent much of his career monographing
the Fabaceae of North America. With the assistance of
Stan Welsh of Brigham Young University, Isely recently
completed Native and Naturalized Leguminosae
(Fabaceae) of the United States, the most current
treatment of the entire family. Isely also had a keen
interest in botanical history and wrote the book One
Hundred and One Botanists in 1994. WF

Plant Names - Part 1 By Robert Dorn

Plants were first formally named by the ancient
Greeks around 300 B. C. The early names consisted of a
generic name (character naturalis) followed by a short
description (differentia). As an example, the tomato was
known in medieval times as SOLANUM caule inerme
herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incisis, racemis simplicibus. This
method persisted for about 1900 years. As more plants
became known, the system began to get cumbersome.
The first use of our current two word (binomial) system
was in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s by Jean &

Gaspard Bauhin. The binomial system was not used
consistently until Carolus Linnaeus popularized it in the
1700’s after cataloging all of the world’s known flora of
about 9000 species. The tomato then became known as
Solan urn lycopersicum.

Linnaeus also introduced principles to determine the
correct name for each plant species. For example, no
two genera could have the same generic name and no
two species in a given genus could have the same
specific epithet. The first published description for a
species was generally given priority, but this was not a
specific principle.

Two generations of de Candolles added more
principles in the 1800’s, but there was still no world-wide
standardization. The first international congress to
resolve the standardization problem met in Paris in 1867,
but standardization would not be achieved until 1930.
The starting point for naming plants (except mosses and
fungi) was Linnaeus’ first edition of Species Plantarum
published in 1753. Authors of plant names are generally
abbreviated unless their name is short. Linnaeus is the
only person whose name is abbreviated with a single
letter (L.), except sometimes when a plant name is co-
authored by two or more authors (for example, T. & G.

= Torrey & Gray).

Physiologic Specialization in Wyoming Rust
Fungi By John Baxter

This reports the results of a study of physiologic
specialization in the Wyoming rust species, using
urediospore and overwintered teliospores in controlled
inoculations.

Uromyces junci (alternates between Juncus spp. and
many hosts in the Asteraceae): In testing several col-
lections, two races were differentiated. Race 1 infected
Cirsium canescens but failed to infect Cirsium arvense,
Carduus nutans, and species of Helianthus. Race 2
failed to infect Cirsium canescens, C. arvense, and Car-
duus nutans, but infected Helianthus annuus, H.
petiolaris, H. nuttallii, and H. tuberosus. This is the first
proof by inoculation of the susceptibility of Helianthus
spp.

Puccinia menthae: A collection on Mentha arvensis
infected M. piperita and M. spicata but failed to infect
Mentha pulegium, Hedeoma drummondii, Monarda fis-
tulosa, and M. didyma. Infection of both Mentha piper-
ita and M. spicata demonstrates that this race differs
from Race 2 (described by Baxter and Cummins, 1953).

Pucciniastrum epilobii: Field observations in the
Medicine Bow National Forest indicated that there are at
least two races of this rust in Wyoming, one infecting
Epilobium angustifolium and another occurring on E
adenocaulon. This was confirmed by inoculations using
urediospore material. Both races failed to infect Fuschia
spp.

Reference: Baxter, J.W. and G.B. Cummins. 1953. Physiologic
specialization in Puccinia menthae. Phytopathology 43:178-180.

5

Wild Bees and Floral Jewels

By Vince Tepedino

Research Entomologist, USDA Agricultural Research
Service Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, Logan, LIT

The western United States is among the richest areas
of bee diversity in the world. Flower patches from the
Sonoran Desert to Sierran meadows buzz softly with the
paeans bees pay to flowers. Most of our wild, native
bees are found in the arid regions west of the hundredth
meridian: California has 1,500 species, Utah and Arizona
more than 1,000 each, the Columbia Basin over 800, and
Wyoming, that land of cool, dry summers and frigid
winters, claims over 600 species. These insects are
chosen matchmakers for plants: they have evolved in
intimate association with our flora. Indeed, bees have
helped shape the flora and have, in turn, been shaped
by it.

What do we mean by the somewhat suspect term
“native bees?” We certainly do not mean honey bees,
either domesticated or feral, which are native to Eurasia
and Africa, and were first established in North America in
1622. Honey bees play little part in the pollination of the
rare plants bee scientists have studied. Nor should bees,
which are vegetarian, be confused with their
carnivorous, less hairy relatives, the wasps. The term
“native bees” refers to the 3,000 to 5,000 species that
are both indigenous and ubiquitous across unpaved
areas of the United States.

Most native bees are solitary: they do not, like
bumblebees or honey bees, live in annual colonies or
perennial hives; there is no comb or honey. Because
there are no workers, there is no division of labor and no
aggressive defenses of the nest. Solitary thus means
mostly placid females acting alone in their own best
interests. These bees visit flowers for food (pollen and
nectar) and, while foraging, transfer pollen from one
flower to another.

In 1983, former South Dakota rancher Claude Barr
capped a lifetime of fascinations and work with native
plants of the Great Plains by publishing Jewels of the
Plains. Jewels was Barr’s apt metaphor for the bright,
showy flowers that many of our usually subdued plant
neighbors display when the time arrives for them to
reproduce. For humans, the heady odors and brilliant
hues of wildflowers enliven springs and summers on the
Great Plains. For native bees, the more traditional
members of the grassland community, the seasonal
reappearance of flowers acts as a cue to once again
assume their ongoing role in the process of natural
selection - that of winged lapidaries, fashioning floral
gems into jewels.

The flowers that fascinated Barr have many relatives
west of the Great Plains, some of which, if not more
beautiful, are even more precious. From the Colorado
Plateau to the Great and Columbia basins, to the deserts

Above: Barr’s milkvetch {Astragalus barrii) by Debbie McNeil
from Schassberger (1990).

of the Southwest, there are about 150 plants so rare
that they have merited special designation as threatened
or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In
the Southwest, these include rare barrel cacti
{Pediocactus Sclerocactus species) that bend their
stamens to form an arbor over brilliant green sweat bees
that have plunged, nectar-bent, into the flower. Along
riparian corridors in Utah and Colorado, orchids
{Spiranthes diluvialis) paste packages of pollen called
“pollinia" to the mouth parts of visiting bumblebees and
anthophorid (miner) bees. In Nevada and Utah, small
andrenid (digger) bees seek pollen from nectarless rare
poppy flowers {Arctomecon species), and pack so much
of it onto their hind legs that they look like they have
been planted in yellow barrels. Blueviolet beardtongues
{Penstemon species) in Nebraska and Colorado offer a
hirsute, modified stamen that aids pollinators in
exploiting the flowers, but also dissuades less
trustworthy insect visitors from doing so. Four o’clock
flowers {Mirabilis macfarlanei) in Oregon and Idaho,
beyond the distribution range of their usual moth
pollinator, remain open and nectar-filled into the late
morning to attract miner bees.

These plant species, and the others on the list of
150, are each limited to a few small, isolated, genetically
impoverished populations on federal lands. Frequently
they must compete for living space, and the attention of
land managers, with mining, timber, livestock, and
recreational interests. Because the danger of species
extinction increases as the numbers of individuals and
populations decline, conserving these plants requires
careful management: human caused threats may be
excluded or mitigated, and informed recovery plans must

6

be designed and implemented that support growth in
number of individuals and populations.

Recovery of any species begins with successful
reproduction: extant populations cannot grow, extirpated
populations cannot be restored, and new populations
cannot be initiated in promising areas without a supply
of new individuals. For rare plants, it is critical that
these new individuals be the products of sexual
reproduction, because only sexual reproduction yields
individuals with new combinations of genes. Genetic
enrichment of populations is all but mandatory if rare
plants are to cope with the numerous environmental
vagaries they are almost certain to face over long
periods of time.

Because they are immobile, plants are hard pressed
to produce genetically new individuals without enlisting
outside aid. The scent and shape of their flowers do not
serve to attract other plants. Nor do their showy blooms
make better use of water or wind to move pollen.
Instead, plants have flowers because their progenitors
successfully reproduced by inveigling insects, birds, bats,
and other animals to transport viable pollen (which
contains the male zygotes) from the stamens of one
flower to the female stigma of another. Not
uncommonly, transfer must take place between flowers
on different plants, i.e., cross-pollination, for seed-set to
occur.

Over the past decade, I have been studying the
reproductive biology and pollinators of rare plants in the
West with several colleagues at the USDA Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) Bee Biology and Systematics
Laboratory and the Department of Biology at Utah State
University. Our purpose has been threefold. First, we
wanted to confirm that rare plants need pollinators.

Some scientists have reasoned that automatic self
fertilization should be a common development in rare
species that produce relatively few flowers because they
are less likely to attract high energy and nutrient
demanding pollinators such as bees. A second objective
has been to identify important pollinators of species that
require them, and to learn something of their biology.
Finally, we wanted to inform land managers of the
importance of pollinators of rare plants, and provide
advice on how best to preserve them. The first two
inquiries yielded disconcertingly uncomplicated answers:
the flowers of all but a few of the 27 rare plant species
we have studied must be pollinated by insects to
reproduce sexually, and the insects usually responsible
for pollination are native bees.

Our studies of rare plant pollination, and of the
matchmaking bees that accomplish it, also reveal how
conservation issues can become complex, and why
managing communities or ecosystems rather than
individual species is so important. Conserving
endangered plants, and preserving the integrity of our
native flora in general, will require not only removing
direct threats to the plants, but will also require
preservation of their pollinators.

For bees to be successful, they must, at the very
least, have adequate nesting habitat and food, i.e.,
pollen and nectar. Additional requirements, such as
water and leaves or other extraneous materials
sometimes used in nest construction, must be readily
available. The first complication of note is that there is
no guarantee that acceptable nesting habitat of the bee
is conterminous with the habitat of the rare plant it
pollinates. Indeed, they may be distant. The remedy is
straightforward: we must discover where the bees nest,
and offer those sites the same protection we offer the
plants.

A second complication is that some plants, like the
rare poppies mentioned above, offer only pollen, while
others, like the four o’clocks, are visited only for nectar.
Bees need both. This means that bees visiting such
“single resource” rare plants must have other
contemporaneously blooming species that supply the
missing food item. Clearly, we must have detailed
information about the biology of all participants to
ensure that such supplementary species are available,
and we must be prepared to use that information in a
broader, community approach to conservation.

An additional complication ensues when rare species,
like the riparian orchid, are pollinated by social bees,
such as bumblebees. A bumblebee colony is active for a
much longer period than are solitary bees. Frequently,
bumblebees fly for much of the blooming season. Thus,
to have a healthy bumblebee colony in July, when the
orchid flowers, means the bee colony must have
adequate floral resources from the time of its inception
in the spring. It is therefore necessary in some cases to
include a temporal component in management plans: we
must ensure that an acceptable sequence of flowers is
available for the entire season.

I hope these few examples convey the many facets
of the problem presented by species-centered
conservation efforts, and help establish the importance
of a shift to community conservation. Pollination
systems are among the best illustrators of this concept
because of the clear interdependency of our living floral
jewels and their winged lapidaries.

This article is reprinted, with permission, from
Wings, the membership magazine of The Xerces
Society (Copyright 1997 The Xerces Society). The
Society is an international nonprofit organization
dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates - the
little things that run the world - and to the
preservation of critical biosystems worldwide. For
more information, contact The Xerces Society, 4828
Southeast Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97215.

7

The Wyoming Native Plant Society, established in
1981, is a non-profit organization dedicated to
encouraging the appreciation and conservation of the
native flora and plant communities of Wyoming. The
Society promotes education and research on native
plants of the state through its newsletter, field trips, and
annual student scholarship award. Membership is open
to individuals, families, or organizations with an interest
in Wyoming’s flora. Members receive Castilleja, the
Society’s quarterly newsletter, and may take part in all of
the Society’s programs and projects, including the
annual meeting/field trip held each summer. Dues are
$7.50 annually.

To join the Wyoming Native Plant Society, return the
membership form below to:

Wyoming Native Plant Society
PO Box 3452
Laramie, WY 82071

Name:

Address:

$7.50 Regular Membership
$15.00 Scholarship Supporting Member
($7.50 goes to the annual scholarship
fund)

The Botany Songbook By John Baxter
Rubber Yucca

(To the tune of “Rubber ducky”)

Rubber yucca, you’re the one

You don’t need soil, you don’t need sun

Rubber yucca, you’re handy to have around.

Plastic flowers, hear my song -

I love you ‘cause you last so long

I hate bees, and the bees never hang around

In Quotes By Robert Dorn

Charles A. Geyer, Botanist
Astragalus geyeri, Delphinium geyeri
Notes on the Vegetation and general character of the
Missouri and Oregon Territories made during a Botanical
journey ... across the south-pass of the Rocky
Mountains.... London J. Bot. 4:656. 1845.

August 1843

“An almost total absence of animal and vegetable life,
and a death-like stillness pervade these regions, which
together with the want of good water, of grass for the
horses, and the parching sun of August, rendered this
the most intolerable place I ever visited in my botanical
rambles. Yet I was not disappointed, for some of the
rarest specimens of plants in my collection were
gathered from one solitary cliff within this region, about
the junction of Ham’s and Black’s rivers, of the
uppermost waters of the Colorado on the west.”

Wyoming Native Plant Society
PO Box 3452
Laramie, WY 82071