The Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter will be published on a bimonthly basis. The contents will consist primarily of a calendar of events, notes of interest, editorials, listings of new members and conservation news. Until there is a Society journal, the Newsletter will include short articles also. The deadline for the Newsletter is one month prior to its release.https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1015/thumbnail.jp

Eaman, Tom

Harmon, William

Olmsted, Charles

Ratzloff, Jim

Ruzzo, Walt

Weber, William A.

Wilken, Editor: Dieter H.

English

ePublications at Regis University

(;olorado NativePlant Society NEWSLETTER Volume III Number 4 July-August 1979 "IJ:nICATED TO THE APPRECIATION AND CoNSERVATION OF THE CoLORADO FLORA" OFFICERS 1978/1979 President: Bill Harmon Vice President: Tom Eaman 'Secretary: Charles Olmsted rreasurer: Walt Ruzzo BOARD OF DIRECTORS David Buckner Bill Harmon Miriam Denham Karen HollwegVirginia Dionig; Charles Olmsted Tom Eaman Mark PhillipsGail Evans J. Scott Peterson Hugo Ferchau Jim Ratz10ff Libby Goodwi n Walt Ruzzo CORRESPONDENCE All correspondence and inquiries regarding activities of the Society should be addressed to Charles Olmsted. 1419 15th Ave., Greeley, CO 80631. COMMITTEES Endangered SpeciesEducation Environmental Documents /~~cunding Bill Harmon Virginia Dionigi Hugo Ferchau Walt Ruzzo lort i cu 1 ture & Rehabilitation LegislativeMembershipPub1 ications Mark PhillipsLibby Goodwin Sue Martin J. Scott Peterson MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS AND INFORMATION Sue Martin, USDA Crops Research Lab, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 80523. SCHEDULE OF MEMBERSHIP FEES Life $250.00 Supporting 50.00 Society 25.00 Family 12.00 Individual 8.00 Student &Retired 4.00 The CONPS Newsletter is sent to all other Native Plant Societies in exchange for theirs. Nonmem­bers may subscribe to the Newsletter for $4.00. NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Dieter H. Wilken, Dept. of Botany & Plant Pathology. Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 80523. The editor seeks articles of interest to all aspects of Society activities. Such articles should not generally exceed 4 typewritten, double-spaced pages, although consideration will be given to longer articles if space permits. Deadlines for the 6 bimonthly newsletters are the last day of January. March, May, July, Sep­tember, and November. -----.---~-. ----­----------COLORADO CACTI TO BE LISTED AS ENDANGERED WATCH FOR THIS NEI~. POTENTIALLY AGGRESSIVE I~EED. The U.S. Fish and wildlife Service has publisheda notice in the Federal Register. Volume 44, No. 128. p. 38611. July 2~ 1979. announcing their intention to list as endangered. 17 taxa of rare cacti in the Southwest. Among these are: Sc1erocactus mesa-verdae. which occurs in south­western Colorado and northwestern New Mexico; Pediocactus knowltoni i. which is known from .just1 population on the Colorado-New Mexico border; and Echinocereus trlg10chidiatus var • .:iE.ermis. which occurs in west-central ana southwestern Colorado. Critical habitat will not be listed for the cacti. since publication of their locations could result in increased exploitation which is the primary factor currently threatening their survival. Sc1erocactus mesa-verdae, Ped:iocactus knowltonii and Echinocereus trir,ochidfifus var .. rnermTs~ will be the first Co orado plants to be listed as either endangered or threatened. Uponfinal listing, interstate sale of the species will be prohibited and Federal agencies will be prohibited, through their actions and/or decisions. from "jeopardizing the continued existence" of the species. In addition, the CO-NPS has learned that the Fish and Wildlife Service is considering final listingof Sc1erocactus glaucus. a rare cactus which occurs in westcentral Colorado and northeastern Utah. According to Rosemary Carey. EndangeredSpecies Office in 14ashington D.C., the Fish and '~ild1ife Service will try to list this speciesby November, before it is dropped from the proposed endanqered list, along with ca. 1600-1700 other proposed endangered plants which have not received final 1isting. ,§.. ~laucus . will also be listed without accompanYlng cr1tl­cal habitat designation. --- Jim Ratz10ff EDITOR'S NOTE: It is largely through the careful and painstaking efforts of Jim Ratzloff that these species were brought to the attention of the U.S. F. &W. Service. The next NEWSLETTER will consist of the cover sheet and a return address sheet unless the editor receives articles for inclusion. Surely there are those amongthe membership who have much to contribute in terms of newsworthy articles or items of interest with regard to the Colorado' flora! GyrsOphila scorzonerifolia Der. in DC. has been co lected in the City of Boulder. It is a tall plant up. to a meter or more high. with up to 25 stout. leafy stems from a stout taproot. The leaves are up to 2 cm wide, oblong. and somewhat clasping at the base. The leaves are glaucous.The small white or pink flowers are in very open c,ymes at the top of the shoots. This speciesdiffers from G. paniculata L., the often abundantly naturalized "Baby's Breath", in having glandular pedicels, narrow acute calyx lobes, broader leaves and seeds with rounded tubercles. G. scorzonerifo1ia 1s described in the Flora-Europaea and the Flora USSR and is reported to be native in the region of the Lower Volga, the Caucasus and the Transcaucasus of the Soviet Union. Wi 11 i am A. Weber STELlARIA JAMESIANA Stellaria jamesiana Torrey is a common and conspicuous species in the forests of the Southern Rocky Mountains from the foothills through the subalpine. It has always been somewhat anomalous in the genus because of -~, its shallowly notched petals, very large flow. and long leaves. In fact, Shinners (1962)transferred it to Arenaria because of its notched petals. He was quite right that S. jamesiana waS out of place in Ste11aria, but he may not have been aware of the fact that other characters indicate that neither does it belong to Arenaria. Most collectors find this species very easy to collect. because it pulls up quite easily. However, this is because the base is brittle and separateseasily from the perennial rhizome, which characteristically has fusiform tubers along it. While the flowers are showy, it is apparentthat good seed is rarely set, and while we do not know for sure, possibly the fruits are produced by c1eistogamous flowers. This combination of characteristics in Ste11aria jamesiana suggests an alliance with a pre­dominantly Asiatic genus, P5eudo~tel1aria, of which there are about a dozen species found from Japan to Central Asia (Altai and Afghan­istan) and one species, ~. europaea reaches southeastern Europe as far as Yugos i avia, adjacent Italy and Austria. This instance adds yet another stone to the foundation of relationship between the Rocky Mountains and Central Asia, which Sir Joseph Hooker was so impressed with following his visit to Co10radL in 1877. I am proposing the official transfer of our plant to Pseudostellaria in another journal shortly. --- William A. Weber -~--- .... ~~~--.-.--. "------------_...._-­---------STAMPS COMMEMORATE ENDANGERED FLORA /--~ ,emember the 4· Endangered plant species pictured on each of 4 separate stampsissued in June? Two of them representedspecies from the Antioch Dunes. which formerly covered 500 acres on the south bank of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River in Contra Costa County. California. They are the Contra Costa Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum var. a~gustatum) and the Antioch Dunes Evemng-Pr;mrose (Oenothera deltoides var. howelli;). The following represents an update on the latter twc species from Alice Howard. the legislative Coordinator of the CA-NPS. "The Antioch Dunes have been mined for sand for decades until there is nothing left resembling a dune. In fact renewed sand mining was going on apace soon after the stamps appeared. though' the FWS had been negotiating with the owner to acqui re the property.. "11 ni ng was temporarilyhalted by invoking both federal and state law pending receipt of a new appraisal for acquisition. This figure will be made public at any time. From past history it is very unlikely to be acceptable to the owner. In the meantime. he has given option on the property to a developer who wants to build /--~ondominiums and a marina there. One wonders )out the suitability of such a proposal in an area zoned for heavy industry with a gypsum board plant and a sewage plant for immediate neighbors! Unless FI4S is ready and willing to proceed immediately with emergency condemnation. should it be necessary when the new offer is set before the owner. the situation will be lost and the stamps will have served only to commemorate the passing of a viable ecosystem. 1I THE ENDANGERED SPECIES PROGRAM IS ENDANGERED! Sometime during the last weeks of September (even by now) or early October. Congress will pass reauthorization legislation that primarily extends funding for activities under the Endangered SpeciesAct. Further amendments are possible during this process. A number of these are such that the Fish &Wildlife Service believes that it can nolonger accept additional workloads imposedby the potential amendments and that the best course of action would be to jettison as quickly as possible those species merely proposed for listing. Other amendments /--~quire final rulemakings by November 10, 1979 d the need for consideration of economic lmpact asssociated with designating critical habitat. At the time of writing this item (September 27) the editor contacted Jim Johnson's office in Washington D.C. (U.S. House, northern Colorado). Apparently a compromise involving the PreSident and the congressional committee overseeing the reauthorization bill has been worked out. The President agreed to sign legislation authorizing completion of Tellico Dam (again jeopardizing the Snail Darter) in exchange for no amendments to the Endangered Species Act reauthorization bill. These events strongly suggest that the Endangered Species program may well have provided some good in terms of some species preservation. but that solid. w~supported, complete programs for all endangered and threatened Species are seriously in jeopardy. If current trends among the public and in the Congress continue. there will be many more losses than gains. --- Editor ANNUAL ~EETING SCHEDULED FOR OCTnSER 27 The annual election of the Board of Directors will occur at the October 27 Meetina. The members retiring at this meetinq are Libbv Goodwin, Bill Harmon, Karen Hollwea and Jim R.atzl off. The members continuinq in service throuah 1980 are Miriam Denham. Virainia nioniQi. HUQO Ferchau. Scott Peterson and r4ark Phillips. 5 new members must be elected to serve 2 years. Bill Harmon has aopointed a nominations committee to develop a list of nominees for this election. If vou are interes ted in servina or know of some interested, please notify Scott Peterson at 303-491'-6824~ or in care of Botanv &Plant Patholoqy Dept., CSU, Ft. Collins, 80523. QEMEMREA! The cn NOS annual meetinq, scheduled for Saturdav, October 27, 1979 at the nenver Botanical Gardens, 909 South York Street, Denver. Use the enclosed full paqe flyer as yourpersonal advertisement for this meeting by postinq it conspicuouslv for friends or ootentiallv interested parties can see it. ._._- ....--­-------------------~.--~-....~-~-....-- -~-

Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 4, July-August 1979

https://epublications.regis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&amp;context=aquilegia

Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 4, July-August 1979

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