Carol C. Baskin

The vascular flora of cedar glades of the southeastern United States and its phytogeographical relationships

BASKIN, J. M. (Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225) AND C. C. BASKIN (Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225 and Department of Agronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091). The vascular flora of cedar glades of the southeastern United States and its phytogeographical relationships. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 130: 100-117. 2003.-In the southeastern United States, true open cedar glades, i.e., the type first described in the Central (Nashville) Basin of Tennessee, occur in nine physiographic regions in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. Our compiled-checklist of vascular plants of these glades includes 448 native and 96 nonnative taxa. The largest families are the Asteraceae and Poaceae, and the largest genera are Carex, Hypericum, and Panicum. The most distinct floristic element of the southeastern glades is the 21 endemic/near-endemic taxa, but the species with centers of distribution north and west of the glade region (including several disjuncts) also contribute to the uniqueness of the flora. However, the majority of native taxa occur in a variety of habitats throughout eastern/ southeastern North America.

Life Cycle Ecology of Annual Plant Species of Cedar Glades of Southeastern United States

In southeastern United States, a region where the zonal vegetation is deciduous forests, shallow soils over limestone and dolomitic bedrock support edaphic climax herbaceous plant communities known as cedar glades. The flora includes over 400 species of vascular plants; 79 of these are winter annuals and 47 are summer annuals. This chapter reviews the life cycle ecology of both groups of therophytes in the cedar glade habitat in relation to their tolerances, requirements and adaptations. Temperature, through its influence on seed dormancy, dormancy break and germination, is the single most important environmental factor regulating the timing of the life cycle of annual plants of cedar glades.

Germination ecology of Bidens laevis (Asteraceae) from a tidal freshwater wetland1

LECK, M. A. (Department of Biology, Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-3599), C. C. BASKIN AND J. M. BAsKiN (School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225). Germination ecology of Bidens laevis (Asteraceae) from a tidal freshwater wetland. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 121: 230-239. 1994.-Eight or more weeks of cold stratification (5?C) were required to break dormancy in achenes of Bidens laevis (L.) BSP from a tidal freshwater wetland. When achenes began to come out of dormancy, they germinated to 50% first at 35/20?C, and then with additional stratification the minimum temperature for 50% germination decreased to 1 5/6?C. Germination of stratified achenes was inhibited by darkness and was completely prevented by hypoxia (inundation in closedjars). Seeds inundated in openjars and those in Petri dishes, however, germinated to > 80%. Germination declined sharply with depth of burial (0, 1, and 5 cm). Moisture regime (drained, saturated, and inundated) also significantly affected germination, but afterripening condition (cold greenhouse or 5?C) altered the effect. Interaction between depth of burial and moisture regime was significant (P 1 yr) following winter afterripening of achenes in the field.

Ecology of the endangered species Solidago shortii. VI. Effects of habitat type, leaf litter, and soil type on seed germination'

WALCK, J. L., J. M. BASKIN, AND C. C. BASKIN (School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225). Ecology of the endangered species Solidago shortii. VI. Effects of habitat type, leaf litter, and soil type on seed germination. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 126:117-123. 1999.-Solidago shortii T. & G. (Asteraceae) is a federal-endangered species endemic to a small area in northeastern Kentucky. Seeds sown in December 1994 in a Festuca arundinacea-dominated meadow, in two Juniperus virginiana stands, and in an oak-hickory forest germinated to 39-59% in spring 1995; those sown in gaps of a J. virginiana stand and in the open germinated to 48-66%. Peak germination occurred before the oak-hickory canopy leafed-out and before F. arundinacea produced new (green) growth. Seeds covered with leaf litter either immediately after sowing (on 23 December 1994) or 40 d after sowing germinated to 79-87% in spring 1995; those kept free of litter or with litter removed 40 d after being covered with litter germinated to 58%. Only seeds continuously covered with litter from time of sowing germinated (3%) the second spring. In the laboratory, cold-stratified (nondormant) seeds germinated to 96-100% after 2 wk incubation at a 12/12 h daily thermoperiod of 30/15?C on soil derived from sandstone, black shale, dolomite, calcareous shale, and phosphatic limestone. These and previously-published results show that seeds of S. shortii germinate over a broad range of environmental conditions; thus, this phase of the life cycle probably does not contribute to the narrow endemism of the species.

Ecology of the endangered species Solidago shortii. VII. Survivorship and flowering, and comparison with common, geographically-widespread Solidago species

WALCK, J. L., J. M. BASKIN, AND C. C. BASKIN (School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225). J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 126:124-132. 1999. Ecology of the endangered species Solidago shortii. VII. Survivorship and flowering, and comparison with common, geographically-widespread Solidago species. Survivorship and flowering of plants at three population sites and vernalization and photoperiod requirements for flowering were determined for Solidago shortii (Asteraceae), a federal-endangered species endemic to northeastern Kentucky. Of 1344 seedlings marked at site 12 in May 1989, ca. 58% and 2% of the plants were alive at the end of their first and ninth growing seasons, respectively. None of the marked plants at this site flowered in 1989 or in 1990; only 1-13% of those alive each year flowered in 1991-1997. All of the 29 and 25 seedlings marked at sites 2 and 11, respectively, were dead by the end of their fifth growing season; none of them flowered. Survivorship curves differed significantly among and within sites. Solidago shortii does not require vernalization to flower, and it is a facultative short-day plant. Survivorship and flowering requirements of S. shortii do not differ from those reported in the literature for common, geographically-widespread Solidago species.

A Geographical Perspective on Germination Ecology: Temperature and Arctic Zones

The chapter discusses seed germination ecology of species growing in temperate and arctic regions of the world. It also illustrates that the temperate-arctic zone possesses many features and types of vegetation, such as sclerophyllous woodlands that grow during winter rain, moist warm temperate woodlands, deciduous forests, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts with cold winters, boreal coniferous zone, tundra, and mountains. For each type of vegetation, a detailed summary of information on germination of trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous species has been provided. Besides this, weeds are also considered; attention is provided to special biotic and abiotic factors influencing germination. This type of vegetation is characterized by dense thickets of woody plants with evergreen sclerophyllous leaves. Evergreen sclerophyllous woodlands are replaced by heath lands in places with low soil nutrients. Matorral vegetation extends to regions with a Mediterranean climate. Moreover, seeds of most matorral trees are nondormant at maturity, but those of a few species have physical or physiological dormancy. Shrubs dominate matorral vegetation as they grow tall.

Professor Elsie Quarterman (1910–2014)

Dr. Elsie Quarterman, known fondly to her students as EQ, passed away on 9 June 2014 at her home in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 103 years. She was born on 28 November 1910 in Valdosta, Georgia. Dr. Quarterman obtained her B.A. degree from Georgia State Women’s College (now Valdosta State University) in 1932, after which she taught English in the Georgia public schools for 11 years. She obtained her M.A. degree in botany from Duke University in 1941 and her Ph.D. from the same institution in 1949. Her Ph.D. advisor was the renowned plant ecologist, Professor Henry J. Oosting. EQ’s M.A. degree was on the distribution of Compositae in Lowndes County, Georgia, and her Ph.D. degree was on the plant communities of the cedar glades of middle Tennessee. She published papers from her dissertation in The Bryologist (1949), Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (1950), and Ecology (1950). Dr. Quarterman joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University as an instructor of biology in 1943 and was promoted through the academic ranks to professor in 1966. She served as chair of the Department of General Biology from 1961 to 1963, and retired from Vanderbilt in 1976, becoming Professor Emerita. In the academic world, Dr. Quarterman is best known for her work on the plant communities of the middle Tennessee cedar glades. She also is well known for the publication entitled ‘‘Southern Mixed Hardwood Forest: Climax in the Southeastern Coastal Plain, U.S.A.,’’ which she coauthored with her long-time friend, the late Dr. Catherine Keever and published in Ecological Monographs in 1962. Her first journal paper, entitled ‘‘A Preliminary Survey of the Bryophytes of Two Cedar Glades,’’ was published in The Bryologist in 1947. Her last paper, which she coauthored Dr. Quarterman with four of her former students. Back left, Jerry Baskin; back right, Tom Hemmerly; front left, Carol Baskin; middle, Dr. Quarterman; front right, Gail Baker