[SOS-PCA] Advice on Phlox collecting

[O'Dell, Ryan]

How I deal with Polemoniaceae (and other species that tend to readily
dehisce and disperse seeds upon sensecence):  Collect when the plants are
still a little green and not fully senesced and dry.  At that point, the
seeds are mostly to fully mature, but the fruits have not yet opened,
making them vulnerable to seed loss upon collection.  Pull out and collect
the whole plant into buckets or tubs.  Try to limit the amount of soil
particles getting in with the plants. Dry the plants.  As the plants dry,
the capsules will open and release the seeds into the tubs/buckets and they
can then be separated from the rest of the plant material by sieving.

For those collecting *Ceanothus* and dehiscent legume (popping) fruits,
this is also my preferred method versus tediously tying mesh bags around
fruit clusters:  When the fruits near maturity (begin to turn
red/yellow/bronze and dessicate slightly), strip the fruits off of the
plant, place in a shallow layer in a closed cardboard box and keep the box
in a warm, dry environment.  The fruits will dry and pop, flinging the
seeds that then hit the walls of the box and settle to the bottom.  Once
all of the fruits pop, it is easy to sieve out the seeds from the rest of
the plant material.

On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 10:10 AM, Stutzman, Diane <dstutzma at blm.gov> wrote:

> *Phlox longifolia *does indeed disappear into the grasses when it is in
> seed.  Phlox is one of the most difficult of genera to get sizable
> collections for.  When they are ripe, the seedpods tend to drop from the
> plants with the slightest jar and roll into the grass or rocks.
>
> My only suggestions would be to mark the locations on the ground with
> flagging of some sort when the plants are blooming, and revisit the sites
> frequently. Just having a GPS location isn't enough.
>
> Not sure of the phenology where you are, but they are already in seed and
> mostly dispersed in eastern Washington.
>
> Diane
>
> ******************************************
> Diane Stutzman
> GeoBOB Regional Data Coordinator
> 1103 N. Fancher
> Spokane, WA 99212
> (509)536-1250
> *******************************************
>
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 9:09 AM, Vi Nguyen <vidbnguyen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> We're hoping to collect Phlox longifolia this season, but have heard from
>> a previous SOS intern that her Phloxes tended to up and disappear without
>> warning. Has anyone had any experience with collecting Phlox, or perhaps
>> related species in the Polemoniaceae? Any tips?
>>
>> Thank you!!
>>
>> Vi Nguyen
>> Prineville BLM SOS Intern
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> SOS mailing list
>> SOS at lists.plantconservation.org
>>
>> http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/sos_lists.plantconservation.org
>>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> SOS mailing list
> SOS at lists.plantconservation.org
>
> http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/sos_lists.plantconservation.org
>
>


-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RYAN E. O'DELL

Natural Resource Specialist - Ecology:

T&E Species Recovery/Botany/Soils/Geology/Climate Change
Science/Paleoclimate/Paleontology

Bureau of Land Management

Central Coast Field Office

940 2nd Avenue

Marina, CA  93933

PHN: (831) 582-2224

FAX:  (831) 582-2266

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/sos_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20160623/6f0f719c/attachment.html>