Dear Mary Sue and all; Regarding the new report of Fritillaria biflora var. grayana on the Mendocino, Calif. coast, I found a colony of what looks identical last spring a few miles west of Ukiah. To my knowledge neither F. biflora or F. biflora v. grayana has been reported this far north and east. Sincerely, Bob Werra --- Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote: > Dear All, > > I've written before about Fritillaria roderickii > (syn. F. biflora biflora, > F. grayana, F. biflora var. grayana, F. biflora var. > roderickii). Part of > the problem with what to call it is that not > everyone agrees that this > plant should be considered F. biflora so some people > cling to older names. > I wrote about it: > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/… > > The coastal population of this plant has not been > seen for several years. > One of my CNPS (California Native Plant Society) > friends, Mary Rhyne, has > been looking for it every year. She had found some > of the last plants and > rescued them when they would have been lost because > of work on Highway One, > but the ones she relocated she has not found > recently and she thinks they > may have been eaten by rodents or died. The other > populations she knew > about she hasn't seen either. > > This spring she found it again. She found it very > close to a temporary > bridge that CalTrans (the name for the group in > California that builds > roads) has put in to replace part of Highway One > when a winter storm > several years ago caused one lane to slip into the > ocean. They were set to > replace that part of the highway and because of this > plant, that has been > delayed. > > I thought you all might be interested in knowing > that Cal Trans has a > biologist and that they are going to try to save any > that might be found > where they are going to reroute the road. The ones > she found they plan to > put a fence around to protect. Mary and I have > offered to help if they do > indeed find them and need some one to care for them > until they are > replanted in another site they will have chosen. > Whether we would be > satisfactory as they were looking for a suitable > "commercial nursery" I > don't know. We both rather doubt they will find them > and even if they do > rescuing them when they are dormant when they plan > to do the work could be > a challenge. But it is exciting that Mary has once > again found some of > these plants on the Mendocino Coast and that there > will be an attempt to > protect them. > > Mary Sue > > > Mary Sue Ittner > California's North Coast > Wet mild winters with occasional frost > Dry mild summers > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >