From aceska@cue.bc.ca Wed May 19 14:48:26 1993 Date: Mon, 17 May 93 19:47:45 -0700 From: aceska@cue.bc.ca (Adolf Ceska) To: ben@cue.bc.ca Subject: BEN # 54 BBBBB EEEEEE NN N ISSN 1188-603X BB B EE NNN N BBBBB EEEEE NN N N BOTANICAL BB B EE NN NN ELECTRONIC BBBBB EEEEEE NN N NEWS No. 54 May 17, 1993 Address: aceska@cue.bc.ca Victoria, B.C. ---------------------------------------------------- VICTORIA BOTANY COMING EVENTS May 17, 1993 Botany Night. Dr. Job Kuijt will talk about parasitic plants. Swan Lake Nature House, 7:30 p.m. No charge. May 29, 1993 Scots Broom removal party in Uplands Park. Cattle Point parking lot, 9:00 a.m. Bring any instrument of mass destruction that would cut, clip, or pull broom. NDP LOSES MORAL AUTHORITY WITH DECISION TO LOG CLAYOQUOT SOUND From: Student Enviro-Link The British Columbia Government decision regarding Clayoquot Sound reflects their consistent bias towards the forest industry. Premier Harcourt announced today that 62% of the remaining unlogged area of this region will now be available for logging. Clayoquot Sound is the largest temperate rainforest ecosystem left on Vancouver Island and has already lost 30% of it's original forests. This area has been identified by conservation biologists as one of only two remaining areas in British Columbia large enough to ensure the continued biodiversity of the temperate rainforest ecosystem. The implementation of Premier Harcourt's decision will remove Clayoquot Sound from this category. "This decision removes once and for all any doubt as to whose interest the B.C. government is promoting," commented Friends of Clayoquot Sound member Garth Lenz. "What can we expect from a government which has requested industry to advise them on forest policy, invested 50 million dollars of taxpayers money in MacMillan Bloedel, and has launched a European propaganda campaign with the help of the logging company International Forest Products?" continued Lenz. "This decision by Premier Harcourt will be held up to the scrutiny of the international community, a community which increasingly associates British Columbia with the kind of environmental practices which Brazil and Sarawak are famous for. The British Columbia Government's ability to speak with any moral authority in the international arena will be severely undermined by this decision", stated Valerie Langer, a director of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound upon her recent return from a slideshow tour of Europe with Lenz. "LAKKA" FROM LAPPLAND IN B.C. LIQOUR STORES From: "Pakarinen, Pekka" [I noticed a new "Cloudberry Liqueur - LAKKA" in the British Columbia Liquor Stores. I asked Dr. Pekka Pakarinen to explain me the name. - AC] LAKKA is the Finnish name for Rubus chamaemorus, especially for the berry. So 'cloudberry liqueur' is is a good generic name for the product. For the plant, another name 'muurain, or suomuurain' is a lso commonly used in Finnish language and botany books. Collection of cloudberries provides locally important additional income for some north Finnish farmers. Berries are sold in marketplaces in late summer at ca 7-10+ $ / kg (and used mainly fresh). By the way, another Rubus, R. arcticus, (sometimes translated Arctic bramble- berry) is also a source of a very special product, 'mesimarja liqueur', sold in taxfree shops of Nordic airports (Helsinki, Stockholm ..) FOOD FROM SALT MARSHES - EC STUDIES From: Bogemans Joost Title : A contribution to the diversification of the production of vegetable crops by research on cultivation methods and selection of halophytes. Objective: The objective is to domesticate a number of plant species, which are adapted to saline or brackish soils and are locally gathered and consumed as a vegetable (Aster tripolium, Salicornia ssp. Crambe maritima and Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima) The endproduct will be a number of cultivars that produce commercially interesting horticultural crops. Specific objectives : Attempting to cultivate halophytic species under low salt conditions, without losing the special attributes that make these species attractive for consumption. Production of vegetable crops that can be used in tropical and subtropical countries, where salinisation renders arable land otherwise improductive. The dept. of plant physiology (VUB, Brussels ) is involved in germination aspects, mineral nutrition of halophytes under low salt conditions, tissue culture methods. Countries involved : Belgium, The Netherlands and Portugal NEW JOURNAL - OECOLOGIA MONTANA Oecologia Montana is an international journal published in close scientific cooperation with the High Tatras National Park in Slovakia. It is devoted to the study of mountain ecosystems, population dynamics of plants and animals, wildlife protection, conservation, problems of pollution, land degradation, etc. Subscriptions: PRUNELLA PUBLISHERS, Jarmocna 1298/16, 058 01 Poprad, Slovakia. Cost: US$35.00. Major credit cards accepted. INTERNET GUIDE Internet: Mailing Lists - 1993 Edition by Hardil, E.T.L. & N. Neou. P.T.R. Printice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 356 p. ISBN 0-13-327941-3 CDN $35.95 This is a list of mailing lists, electronic newsletters and discussion groups. Yes, BEN is listed there as "a newsletter distributed on e-mail, deals with botany and plant ecology of predominantly British Columbia, Canada and the Pacific Northwest (from California to Alaska) with broader reference to planet Earth." BITNET PROBLEMS I have encountered some problems with getting to BITNET. I would greatly appreciate, if the BEN susbcribers on BITNET could give me their Internet address.