File:Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 11 (1934) (20065839864).jpg

Title: Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 11
Identifier: contributionsfro11univ (find matches)
Year: 1934 (1930s)
Authors: University of Pennsylvania. Botanical Laboratory; University of Pennsylvania. Morris Arboretum
Subjects: Botany; Botany
Publisher: Philadelphia : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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be found lay 10 miles south of Millen and thus fully 50 miles south of Au- gusta. Several rooted clumps were col- lected, packed in wet moss, carried with us until we could find a state inspector and get them certified as pest-free, and then shipped home. Some of these were planted outdoors in a wild-life preserve controlled by Mr. Burk in southern New Jersey, where they have survived the first winter, at least. The remainder w^ere held in a cool greenhouse, and bloomed freely during early spring. Pitcher-plants were, however, not the only thing to claim our attention in this part of the country. AVe planned to make an effort to rescue a native tree which is on the verge of extinction. This plant, discovered by Stephen El- liott in the early 1800's and named in his honor Elliottia by Muhlenberg, is a primitive member of the heath family. The genus is monotypic, being repre- sented by the single species E. racemosa, and its nearest relative is the genus Tri- petalem of Japan. These are evidently relics of the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary floras which spread widely over northern lands, but have been restricted by subsequent geological events, espe- cially the Pleistocene glaciation, to re- mote isolated areas. Elliottia is a small tree, attaining a height of about 15 feet and a trunk di- ameter of 2 or 3 inches. It spreads by rootstocks into colonies of a score or two of individuals, and about the end of June produces attractive large panicles of small white delicately scented flowers. These attract various sorts of bees, which carry pollen from flower tx) flower; as a rule, however, no fertilization occurs, and the ovaries soon drop from the pedi- cels. Evidently individual plants are sterile to their own pollen, and as each of the 5 or 6 known colonies is appar- ently the result of vegetative propaga- tion from a single seedling, this sterility extends throughout. Before the coming of the white man colonies must have grown close enough together for pollen to be borne by insects from one to an- other, and seed was sometimes produced. Clearing the land for agriculture and burning over the woods destroyed so many, however, that this no longer oc- curs, and the seed of the species is actu- ally unknown to science.
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>â -* ^ FIG 1 OUR SHOWIEST SPECIES OF PITCHEK^PLANT IS S. DEUMMONDII WITH THE UPPER PART OF THE LEAVES WHITE, VEINED WITH GREEN AND RED. THIS VIEW WAS TAKEN AT ITS NORTHERNMOST KNOWN STATION, NEAR AmERICUS, GEORGIA. The current practise in that region of burning the low-growing vegetation every year or two causes the Elliottia^ like many other plants which, when un- disturbed, have an arborescent habit, to send up numerous small shoots from their woody underground parts, and thus produce shrubby thickets. These often become so dense that reproduction of the longleaf pine and other valuable trees is prevented, until another fire de- stroys the brush to which the preceding one gave rise, which has led to the curi- ous idea held in many circles that fre- quent burning is natural and desirable. No doubt the great pine forests of the coastal plain got started in the first place when particularly severe fires de- stroyed whatever deciduous climax for- est formerly occupied the areas; but the infrequency of charred rings in stumps and of charcoal layers in peat deposits shows that before the white man came fires occurred only at intervals of many years. Unless and until the present fre- quency of fires shall be reduced to that of primeval times by protective measures and by education, all but the most vigor- ous and aggressive of the native plants of that region are doomed to extinction in the near future, and it seems idle to talk about *'reforesting the south. Because, then, of the impending disap- pearance from native habitats of this relic of past geologic times, Elliottia, all possible efforts to get it into cultivation are worth while. With this in view, Mr. Harry W. Trudell and I had twice be- fore visited this region and had located certain of the remaining colonies of the tree, in part through directions kindly furnished by Dr. Roland M. Harper (who, I should state at this point, dis- agrees with me completely as to the fire situation). Both times w^e had found but a single colony in bloom, the others hav- ing been seriously damaged by the fires of those years. On the present trip, how- ever, conditions were more favorable; not only were two previously known colo- nies blooming, but Dr. Wallace Ken- nedy, of Metter, had discovered near there a new one, which had escaped burning for a number of years and ap- proached the normal arborescent habit of the species. Pollen was accordingly carried, by w^hat I can not refrain from terming an *'automobee, from one locality, which may be designated A, some 5 miles tc locality B, and from the latter 75 miles to locality C. The pollinated plants were carefully located by landmarks, and Dr. Harrold planned to return in the fall to see if any seed had matured. He was unfortunately prevented from doing so by serious illness, so what oc- curred at locality C is indeterminate. During the winter Dr. Kennedy w^ent out to locality B, and found that cap- sules had actually formed on the pol- linated plants, but by that time de- hiscence had occurred, and the contents had fallen out, so the seed of the species is still unknown to science. Horticul- turists have now become interested, how- ever, and clumps from different colonies have been planted side by side on the grounds of Dr. Lee, in Macon, and of Professor De Loach, in Statesboro, where fire can be kept out and the plants watched closely, so by another year we should know what the seed is like, and have some from which seedlings can be grown for cultivation elsewhere. Another group of plants on which data as to geographic range were being sought on this trip was the phloxes. Many of the counties of Georgia tra- versed yielded one which, though ex- ceedingly variable in habit and leaf- shape, could only be classed as P. glahernma L. In an alder thicket near La Grange, Troup County, we found a colony of the tallest plants of this species on record, attaining a height of 175 cm. Driving south through Webster County and watching the roadsides for plants of interest, we suddenly caught a flash of purple on a plant which looked different

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