ELEMENT STEWARDSHIP ABSTRACT FOR CALAMAGROSTIS PICKERINGII November 29, 1990 Stewardship Abstract No.: 004 By Alfred E. Schuyler For: State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy Division of Parks and Forestry Office of Natural Lands Management CN 404 Trenton, New Jersey 08625 Element Stewardship Abstract Element Stewardship Abstracts (ESA's) are prepared to provide land managers and other conservation workers with current biological and management related information on those species and natural ecosystems that are most important to protect or for which control is most needed. The abstracts organize and summarize data from numerous sources, including the literature and from researchers and managers actively working with the species or ecosystem. The ESA format was originally developed by The Nature Conservancy as a starting point for the stewardship of the many species and ecosystems, or elements, protected by the Conservancy. The New Jersey Office of Natural Lands Management is developing ESA's for those elements that are of particular importance as components of the biota of the state. This includes globally rare plant species that are also listed on New Jersey's official Endangered Plant Species List. The ESA serves several important functions. It helps to identify information gaps and target future research efforts. It provides a standard format for highlighting specific information about a species or community including its management needs. It also allows information to be readily communicated among various preserves, state offices, regional centers, natural heritage programs and private organizations. The ESA is a dynamic document that is continuously updated as new information becomes available. Users are encouraged to contribute their information to the abstract. This sharing of information will benefit all land managers by ensuring the availability of up-to-date information on management techniques and knowledgeable contacts. Please contact the Office of Natural Lands Management for an ESA publication list. It will contain the date of the latest revision to each ESA. Please refer to the abstract number when ordering ESA's. The abstract is a compilation of available information and is not an endorsement of particular practices or products. Element Name: CALAMAGROSTIS PICKERINGII Gray (Poaceae) Element Code: PMPOA170X0 Preparer: Alfred E. Schuyler Common Name: Pickering's Reed Bent-grass Description: Habit: perennial rhizomatous herb with erect stems having narrow elongate sheathing leaves and terminated by a much branched inflorescence of minute flowers. Stem: culms solitary or few together at tips of slender rhizomes, up to 1.2 m tall. Leaves: lowest basal leaves loosely shredding, numerous other basal leaves and 2-4 leaves along stem with flat glaucous blades, usually smooth on the upper surface, up to 8 mm wide, sheath summits glabrous. Inflorescence: panicle narrowly cylindric to narrowly ovate in outline, up to 17 cm long, with short ascending branches, purplish to greenish, glaucous. Spikelets: 2-5 mm long, glumes narrowly ovate, keeled, acute, about equaling or longer than the lemma. Lemma strongly scabrous, obtuse. Awn attached about 1 mm above base of lemma, geniculate, tip divergently exserted from side of spikelet. Callus hairs at base of floret in 2 tufts, about 1 mm or less long, 1/5 to 1/4 as long as the lemma. Chromosomes: Greene (1984) reports 2n=28 for plants from Newfoundland and New Hampshire. Distinctions from Related Species: Although Calamagrostis pickeringii bears some resemblance to C. porteri, C. perplexa, C. purpurascens, and C. stricta, it is clearly divergent from them and occupies an isolated position in the genus (Greene, 1987). It differs from them by the usually smooth upper leaf surfaces, rather thick and strongly scabrous lemmas, and short callus hairs. Plants of C. pickeringii with small spikelets have been segregated as var. debilis, a distinction of dubious merit (Roland and Smith, 1966). Habitat: Calamagrostis pickeringii is known from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey (Greene, 1987; Hinds, 1986). Fernald (1911) considered it the "most generally distributed grass upon Newfoundland." In Nova Scotia it is "found at numerous stations at widely separated points" (Roland and Smith, 1966). Throughout the remainder of its range, it is rare in disjunct mountainous areas (White and Adirondack mountains) and lowland areas near the Atlantic Coast (Greene, 1987). Substrates are usually recorded as sandy peaty barrens and sphagnous bogs (Fernald, 1911, 1921- 1922, 1922; Greene, 1987). In montane areas, C. pickeringii occurs on granite or gneiss, especially high in potassium according to Fernald (1907). Zika (pers. comm., 1990) reports that it occurs on acidic bedrock at widely scattered sites in the Adirondacks. Fernald (1911) reported finding unusually robust plants growing on limey alluvium in Newfoundland. This species is no longer found in areas near the coast where it was previously known in Massachusetts (Sorrie, 1987) and New York (Snyder, pers. comm., 1990). In New Jersey, at least several thousand plants are known from four extant occurrences and one historical occurrence is presumed to be destroyed (NJNHP, 1989b). In Nova Scotia, Fernald (1921-1922) reported C. pickeringii in bogs with "distinctive coastal plain plants" such as Schizaea pusilla, Xyris montana, Carex exilis, Lycopodium adpressum, and Ilex glabra. In New Jersey, C. pickeringii has been found in a recently burned pitch pine lowland forest on the edge of a white cedar swamp and in a powerline clearing through pitch pine lowland (NJNHP, 1989a). Biology/Ecology: Calamagrostis pickeringii fruits in late June and early September (Fernald, 1950). Greene (1984) reports that it rarely sets fruit in nature even though megagametophyte and pollen formation appear normal. His data further suggest that the species is self- incompatible. He concludes that "populations may depend primarily on vegetative reproduction from rhizomes, and the presence of a restricted number of genotypes in each population, coupled with self-incompatibility, could limit its fruit production." In New Jersey, 3 of the 4 extant occurrences are mostly vegetative. The population in the powerline clearing, however, is estimated to have at least 1000 fruiting culms. This suggests that some kind of disturbance may enhance sexual reproduction in C. pickeringii. Determination of Element Occurrence (EO) Quality: Three of the four New Jersey populations are in the Pine Barrens where habitat quality is high but the capacity for sexual reproduction is low. The population in the powerline clearing has high vitality and vigor from the standpoint of production of fruiting culms; however, this may be a response to habitat disturbance connected with powerline maintenance. Threats: The site in the powerline clearing is vulnerable to potential adverse impacts from powerline maintenance. The other three sites are less vulnerable to human disturbance. Without some kind of disturbance, however, these populations may decline because of competition from other plant species as part of the process of plant succession. Land Protection Specifications: Although habitats for C. pickeringii are reasonably secure in natural areas, the watersheds should be protected from loss of water that would decrease moisture in peaty wetlands. Recovery Potential: If the degree of damage to a site is not extreme, recovery potential may be high if the disturbance enhances the production of fruiting culms. In peatlands, the plants have long spreading rhizomes (Greene, 1987), which may allow the species to expand its population size rapidly after disturbance. Biological Monitoring Needs: Monitoring should continue to evaluate changes in population size and the production of fruiting culms. Biological Monitoring Procedures: Visit known populations once a year for purposes given above. Biological Monitoring Programs: Recommend that interested botanists such as Ted Gordon continue to provide information. Research Needs: We need to know if there is any relationship between culm formation and disturbance. The impact of fire on culm formation should be evaluated. New sites should be searched for this species because infrequent or sporadic culm formation makes it easy to overlook. Management Needs: Powerline maintenance procedures need evaluation to prevent decline or elimination of occurrence in powerline clearing. Management Procedures: Habitat protection program should be designed by state and power company. Summary of Stewardship Needs: Calamagrostis pickeringii is widespread in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but occurs at disjunct localities between Maine and New Jersey. In low areas near the Atlantic Coast it usually grows in peaty barrens and bogs. Although it may be abundant in this habitat, culm formation is infrequent and it rarely sets fruit. Extant sites should be monitored annually to record fluctuations in population size and production of fruiting culms. The impacts of fire and other kinds of disturbance that maintain early successional stages need evaluation to determine if they enhance production of fruiting culms. New sites should be searched for this species because it is easily overlooked. A habitat protection program should be designed for the population occurring in a powerline clearing. Bibliography for Calamagrostis pickeringii gray: Arsene, B.L. 1927. Contribution to the Flora of the Islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon. Rhodora 29: 117-133, 144-158, 173-191, 204-221. Eames, E.H. 1909. Notes upon the Flora of Newfoundland. Rhodora 11: 85-99. Fernald, M.L. 1907. The Soil Preferences of Certain Alpine and Subalpine Plants. Rhodora 9: 149-193. Fernald, M.L. 1911. A Botanical Expedition to Newfoundland and Southern Labrador. Rhodora 13: 109-162. Fernald, M.L. 1921-1922. The Gray Herbarium Expedition to Nova Scotia, 1920. Rhodora 23: 89-111, 130-171, 184-195, 223-245, 257-278, 284-300. Fernald, M.L. 1922. Notes on the Flora of Western Nova Scotia, 1921. Rhodora 24: 157-164, 165-180, 201-208. Fernald, M.L. 1926. Two Summers of Botanizing in Newfoundland. Rhodora 28: 49-63, 74-87, 89-111, 115-129, 145-155, 161-178, 181-204, 210-225, 234-241. Fernald, M.L. 1933. Recent Discoveries in the Newfoundland Flora. Rhodora 35: 1-16, 47-63, 80-107, 120-140, 161-185, 203-223, 230-247, 265-283, 298-315, 327-346, 364-386, 395-403. Fernald, M.L. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany. 8th ed. American Book Co., New York. lxiv + 1632 pp. Fernald, M.L. & K.M. Wiegand. 1913. Calamagrostis Pickeringii Gray, var. debilis (Kearney) n. comb. Rhodora 11: 125-133. Gleason, H.A. 1952. The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, New York. 3 v. Gordon, T. 1990. Vincentown, NJ, personal communication. Greene, C.W. 1980. The Systematics of Calamagrostis (Gramineae) in Eastern North America. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge. Greene, C.W. 1984. Sexual and Apomictic Reproduction in Calamagrostis (Graminae) from Eastern North America. Amer. J. Bot. 71(3): 285-293. Greene, C.W. 1987. Calamagrostis pickeringii in Maine. Rhodora 89: 333-336. Hinds, H.R. 1986. The Flora of New Brunswick. Primrose Press, Fredericton. xxvi + 460 pp. Hitchcock, A.S. 1906. Notes on Grasses. Rhodora 8(95): 205-212. Kearney, T.H., Jr. 1898. Revision of the North American Species of Calamagrostis. U.S.D.A. Div. Agrostol. Bull. 11: 7-42. Louis-Marie, Fr. 1944. The Ancylatheran Calamagrostis of Eastern North America. Rhodora 46: 285-305. NJNHP, 1989a. Element Occurrence Summaries. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton. NJNHP, 1989b. State Ranking Forms. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton. Scoggan, H.J. 1978. The Flora of Canada, Part 2, Pteridophyta, Gymnospermae, Monocotyledoneae. Natl. Mus. Canada Pub. Bot. No. 7(2):93-545. Seymour, F.C. 1969. The Flora of New England. The Charles E. Tuttle Co., Publishers, Rutland. xvi + 596 pp. Snyder, D.B. 1986. Rare New Jersey Plant Species Rediscovered. Bartonia No. 52: 44-48. Snyder, D.B. 1990. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton, personal communication. Sorrie, B.A. 1987. Notes on the Rare Flora of Massachusetts. Rhodora 89: 113-196. Zika, P.F. 1990. New York Natural Heritage Program, Delmar, NY, personal communication.