From aceska@cue.bc.ca Fri Jun 24 21:43:48 1994 Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 17:24:01 -0700 From: Adolf Ceska To: ben@cue.bc.ca Subject: BEN # 76 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. 76 June 24, 1994 aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- RANDY STOLTMANN (1962-1994) Randy Stoltmann died in a skiing accident in mountains near Kitimat, B.C. on May 22, 1994. "A native of Vancouver, Randy Stoltmann has an unquenchable thirst for exploring, photographing and working to protect the wilderness areas of the west coast. Combining his technical background with his love for wilderness, Stoltmann has measured, mapped and documented record-sized trees and ancient forests since high school more than a decade ago. Much of his spare time is spent hiking, bushwhacking and ski-mountaineering through the backcountry of southwestern B.C." [from "About Author" in the "Hiking guide to big trees of SW B.C."] Randy was the first person to bring attention to the Carmanah Valley and started a pleafor its protection. Randy was working as a draftsman and decrying the lack of time in his life to explore such wilderness places when Paul George, of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WC**2) persuaded him to work full time for WC**2. After about 3-1/2 to 4 years WC**2 had to downsize and Randy worked independently for mountain clubs, advocacy groups and wilderness organizations as an advocate for protection. Randy published three books and contributed photographs to numerous other publications and journal articles. Stoltmann, R. 1987 & 1991. Hiking guide to the big trees of southwestern British Columbia. Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Vancouver B.C., 144 p. - Second Edition, 218 p. Stoltmann, R. 1993. Guide to the record trees of British Colum- bia. Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Vancouver, B.C. 58 p. Stoltmann, R. 1993. Written by the wind. Orca Book Publishers, Victoria, B.C. & White Rock, WA. 95 p. I met Randy only once on a field trip to survey near record-size western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) near Port Alberni [BEN # 36]. I was deeply impressed by his intimate knowledge of "big trees" and their ecology. He was a giant human being and his death is a great loss. - AC LYME DISEASE - BORRELIA BURGDORFERI - IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Sources: Dr. S.N. Banerjee (pers. comm.), Hospital Medicine (August 1993: 53-64), VERONICA search on "LYME" Lyme disease was first recognized during the 1970s when inves- tigators analyzed an unusual cluster of juvenile arthritis in coastal Connecticut. Erythema migrans (EM) served as a clinical marker and field studies revealed ixodid ticks to be the vector. In 1982 Burgdorfer visualized spirochetes in the midguts of these ticks and serum from Lyme disease patients contained antibodies to the spirochete. Soon thereafter, researchers recovered and cultured spirochetes from infected humans, then characterized them morphologically and biochemically and gave them the name Borrelia burgdorferi. In about 60% of the cases, a characteristic rash or lesion called erythema migrans develops. It begins a few days to a few weeks after the bite of an infected tick. The rash generally looks like an expanding red ring with a clear center, but can vary from a reddish blotchy appearance to red throughout. Some- times there are two or more lesions. Unfortunately, in those patients who never get a rash, the diagnosis can be difficult. At about the same time that the rash develops, flu-like symptoms may appear along with headache, stiff neck, fever, muscle aches and general malaise. The later complications of Lyme disease are quite severe. Most common is arthritis, usually of the large joints (e.g., knees, hips, shoulders). Other complications include meningitis and other neurological problems such as numbness, tingling and burning sensations in the extremities, severe pain, loss of concentration, memory loss, confusion, loss of confidence, withdrawal, depression, fatigue, (often extreme and incapacitating), and Bell's palsy (loss of control of one side of the face). Cardiac symptoms include heart palpitations and irregular heart beat. Shortness of breath, dry mouth, voice changes, and difficulty swallowing can occur. Eye symptoms include conjuctivitis, double vision, and loss of vision. Remem- ber, some patients do not get the rash and progress directly to these later symptoms. Symptoms, including pain are intermittent and changing, occurring in any combination and lasting from a few days to several months and possibly years. It is important to seek medical attention if any of these symptoms appear, especially after being bitten by a tick or visiting an area where Lyme disease is common. Timely treatment with antibiotics (within a few days of symptoms appearing) will increase chances of recovery and may lessen the severity of any later symptoms. If ignored, the early symptoms may disappear, but more serious problems can develop months to years later. Chronic Lyme disease, because of its diverse symptoms, is par- ticularly difficult to diagnose. Treatment for later stages is more difficult and is often less successful, sometimes requiring several months of intravenous antibiotic therapy. In British Columbia Borrelia burgdorferi was detected in juvenile ticks Ixodes angustus and adults of Ixodes pacificus collected from Bowen Island, Cultus Lake, Galiano Island, Har- rison, Hope, Lasqueti Island, Langley, Metchosin, Nanoose Bay, Sechelt, and Squamish. According to Dr. Banerjee (pers. com- munication) there are about 30 patients with Lyme disease in British Columbia, 10 of them were most probably infected here in British Columbia. Dr. Satyen N. Banerjee studies Lyme disease in British Columbia and is interested in receiving LIVE ticks and he would like to scan them for Borrelia spirochete. Ticks could be sent in a small screw-top vial in which one should add a small ball of cotton wetted in water. The address to send the ticks is: Tick-borne Diseases Research Laboratory Provincial Laboratory, B.C. Centre for Disease Control 828 West 10th Avenue Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 1L8 (Phone: 604-660-6070) MYOSURUS APETALUS = MYOSURUS ARISTATUS From: Novon 4 (1994): 77-79. In his article on "New names in North American Myosurus (Ranunculaceae)," A.T. Whittemore is treating Myosurus aristatus as conspecific with the Chilean species M. apetalus Gay. B.C. plants belong to a new variety, M. apetalus var. borealis Whit- temore characterized by 1-nerved sepals. Another variety, M. apetalus var. montanus (G.R. Campbell) Whittemore (transferred from M. minimus) occurs in Canada (Saskatchewan), and US (AZ, MT, CO, NV, ND, OR, UT, WY) and has sepals 3(-5)-nerved. CAREX SYLVATICA NATURALIZED ON PENDER ISLAND AND SATURNA ISLAND From: A. & O. Ceska and Jan Kirkby In the 1970's and 1980's Harvey Janszen made several collections of a sedge which he identified as Carex sprengelii from Pender and Saturna Islands (part of Gulf Islands, British Columbia). T.M.C. Taylor, A. Ceska, and others confirmed Harvey's original identification. During a field trip of the Pender Island Naturalists on June 12, 1994, we revisited the locality of the sedge in the "Enchanted Forest" on South Pender Island and realized that the sedge is NOT Carex sprengelii, but naturalized European forest sedge, Carex sylvatica. Consequent examination of the specimens in the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, B.C. [V] showed that all the specimens of "Carex sprengelii" collected on Gulf Is- lands belong in fact to Carex sylvatica. Carex sylvatica Huds. is a European sedge of mesic alluvial forests. In North America it is occasionally planted in gardens as an ornamental "grass" and was reported naturalized on Long Island, NY (Mackenzie, K.K. 1940. North American Cariceae, Vol. II.). C. sylvatica is indeed very similar to C. sprengelii. C. sylvatica is "aphyllopodic" - it has several short bracts at the base of the plant, not fully developed leaves as "phyllopodic" C. sprengelii. C. sprengelii has a rhizome with conspicuous fibrous remnants of old leaves. Two other collections of Carex sprengelii from British Columbia in the Royal BC Museum (from Williams Lake and Prince George) were correctly identified and are C. sprengelii. Carex sylvatica is the second sedge recently found naturalized in British Columbia. Several years ago Richard Martin found Carex pallescens on Hornby Island. C. pallescens grows there in open meadows, along the roads, and in ditches. BIODIVERSITY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA - OUR CHANGING ENVIRONMENT Harding, L.E. & E. McCullum [eds.] 1994. Biodiversity in British Columbia: Our changing environment. Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa. 426 p. ISBN 0-662-20671-1 [paperback] Cost: CDN $29.95 Available from: Crown Publications Inc., 546 Yates Str., Victoria, B.C. V8W 1K8 (604) 386-4636 Fax.:(604) 386-0221 This is a valuable collection of papers on various aspects of biodiversity in British Columbia. Thirty chapters are grouped into four sections: 1) Introducing biodiversity, 2) Species diversity, 3) Ecosystem diversity , and 4) Prospects for the future. Botanical topics are well covered and the book gives good discussions on rare algae (M. Hawkes), fungi (S. Redhead), lichens (T. Goward), bryophytes (W.B. Schofield), and vascular plants (H. Roemer, G.B. Straley, and G.W. Douglas). Native rare vascular plants species are listed, grouped by the status categories established by the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre. Exotic species of animals and plants are discussed as a threat to biodiversity. (The list of introduced plants is unfor- tunately restricted to "Introduced Flowers" - no grasses, sedges or rushes - and even lists as introduced some species that are on the Rare Native Vascular Plants List - e.g. Lupinus densiflorus.) Chapters on Ecosystem diversity deal with forests and grasslands, with urban ecosystems and (mostly marine) ecosystems of the Strait of Georgia. British Columbia Ecological Reserves are listed in the "Prospects for the future" together with an outline of the B.C. Protected Areas Strategy etc.