NEVADA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Rare Plant Committee Meeting
NEVADA RARE PLANT WORKSHOP
Tuesday, 1 April 2003, Las Vegas

2003 MEMBER COMMENTS
http://heritage.nv.gov/nrpw/commnt03.htm

The following comments on 2003 agenda items were offered by participants and/or non-participants prior to the 2003 Workshop, and were made available at the workshop as a handout to participants. Those unable to attend but with thoughts or information to contribute are especially encouraged to submit them!

Member: Pat Leary
Date: 29 July 2002
Comments: My impression of Phacelia geraniifolia is that it is found on limestone cliff areas in canyons from Mount Potosi north to at least La Madre Mountain. It is predictably growing in the right habitat in that geographic range. It would be difficult for me to say to not add it to a watch list because I can only tell you about less than a dozen populations for certain (three that I have written down and documented). Until a formal or informal survey of its occurrence is conducted, I think it might be more prudent to retain it on a watch list.

Member: Noel H. Holmgren
Date: 9 August 2002
Comments: I can't remember how I got the information that your listing of Mentzelia packardiae was based on the collections of Margaret Williams and Jerry Tiehm from near the IL ranch north of Tuscarora, in Elko County. Pat and I visited that site and what we saw was M. dispersa. This is also one of the Nevada locations of Ivesia rhypara. Pat and I had just visited M. packardiae in Leslie Gulch, near the Owyhee Reservoir, Malheur Co., Oregon. Are we looking at what you have listed as M. packardiae or is there yet a locality that we are not aware of? We have Williams & Tiehm 82-133-1 from the IL Ranch site, and it is M. dispersa S. Watson. The flower measurements may have seemed too large to H. J. Thompson to be M. dispersa, but they do lie within the upper end of lengths for M. dispersa. Mentzelia packardiae is a much larger plant with large leaves and flowers, but it very likely evolved from a M. dispersa ancestor.

We have had some good collecting in White Pine, Eureka, and Elko counties, where the moisture favored a good flora. One of the places we collected in Eureka County was Hot Springs Hill, out in the Greasewood, shadscale, and sagebrush flats between Ely and Eureka. This is where the Castilleja salsuginosa twin was found. Are you aware of the Sphaeralcea leptophylla that Duane Atwood collected there? We failed to locate it, but a few days later Jerry Tiehm located a few plants on the travertine hill adjacent to the hot springs. It is the only record for Nevada.

Member: Jim Shevock
Date: 17 March 2003
Comments: Regarding Orthotrichum shevockii, while it is rare, this just may be a function of under-collection and looking. Since it occurs on granitic rock boulders, (not a rare habitat component) there are not many "threats" to its habitat. I would not add it to the FS sensitive species list for the H-T since it is unclear to me what conservation actions could be done for the species. I'm much more concerned with species in Nevada restricted to fens (this habitat is relatively rare to uncommon in NV) and species that occur in them could indeed be given more conservation attention. I think Meesia triquetra, Messia uliginosa, Helodium blandlowii and any Sphagnum species offer a better suite of taxa to conserve these rare habitats. All of these species (and this habitat type) should be viewed as relictual in NV and changes in water transport across fens would most likely cause their immediate impact (i.e. head cutting, lowering of the water table etc.).

Member: Anita Cholewa
Date: 18 March 2003
Comments: For starters, this genus is not an easy one to separate and is fraught with danger for inexperienced botanists. Here's some additional information that might be of help. In the area where these plants occur (southern NV, UT) there aren't too many other species. In fact, Sisyrinchium demissum is the only other one that overlaps in range. (S. bellum is further west and S. halophilum is further northwest -- we've searched extensively and never found these closer). Sisyrinchium demissum, S. funereum, and S. radicatum are all branched species but can be distinguished on the basis of additional bract and floral characters (see table below). The characters are subtle but real. I have done a fair amount of crossing among these [species] and barriers exist. I don't have flowering dates but generally these are all spring to early summer for the particular region.

The Sisyrinchium funereum populations are mostly within Death Valley and thus protected (Furnace Creek near Inn, Sand Springs at north end of Death Valley and the Ash Meadows border area both within -Devils Hole- and outside Death Valley -McGill Ranch and Jackrabbit Springs [maybe this is inside I don't remember]). Populations contain lots of individuals.

The Sisyrinchium radicatum populations are a bit more dispersed, in Clark, Nye, and Lincoln cos. with some also in Washington Co. in UT. Clark: Charleston Mts - Pine Canyon, Charleston Mts - Ash Spring, Spring Mts - Pine Creek, Red Rock Canyon - Calico Basin. Nye: Big Springs (aka Deep Springs) in Ash Meadows, Pahrump Valley. Lincoln: Pahranagat Lakes, Pahranagat Valley - Ash Springs. I can't assess the threats to these populations.

I would be happy to look at your materials [in Nevada herbaria] but I cannot promise a speedy return if more than just a few specimens.

Member: Jan Nachlinger
Date: 26 March 2003
Comments: Regarding Senecio pattersonensis under old business, Jerry [Tiehm] borrowed the Washington State collection and verified that it is Senecio pattersonensis. We spent a field day on Mount Grant on July 18, 2002 and looked for it in appropriate habitats and throughout the general area indicated as its location on the specimen label. We did not find the plant, so it has not yet been relocated in the Wassuk Range.

Member: Kathleen Nelson
Date: 28 March 2003
Comments: Regarding Horkelia hispidula, I suspect it is more common in the White Mountains than the dozen or so California individual records indicate. If that is the case, it seems that putting it on the watch list might help turn up some more populations by making folks aware of looking for it. However, in terms of vulnerability, there is probably quite a bit of habitat that is relatively secure, at least at this point in time.

Regarding Hackelia brevicula - again, adding it to the watch list might help add to the incomplete information on the species. If it is truly taxonomically distinct, then based on it's habitat it would seem to warrant inclusion on the list, given our propensity for wanting to do all manner of things in riparian areas. I guess the real question is whether or not we think it's in Nevada with the info we have at hand, i.e. Dean Taylor's collection?

(last updated 28 March 2003) 

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