
First Ever Survey at Beltsville
Farm Reveals Some Rare SpeciesBy Hank Becker July 18, 2000A new comprehensive survey of the
Henry A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.)
Agricultural Research Center reveals some interesting rare plants and great
plant diversity. Annotated List of the Flora of the Beltsville Agricultural Research
Center, Beltsville, Maryland provides both scientific and selected common
names for 901 native and naturalized plant species. The list includes data on
the habitats and frequency of occurrence of 13 lichens, 71 mosses, 24 ferns and
fern-like relatives, 7 pines and pine-like relatives, and 786 seed plant
species. The book was compiled by Agricultural
Research Service botanist Joseph H. Kirkbride, three retired ARS scientists
(E. E. Terrell, R. F. Whitcomb, and R.W. Spjut) and
University of Maryland-College Park plant
systematist James L. Reveal and graduate student Mat T. Cimino. The 89-page
book inventories plants found at the 6,866-acre research farm operated by ARS
and located in Prince George's County, about 6 miles from the District of
Columbia. According to Kirkbride, the farm's location makes it an important and unique
ecological niche--an environment where the floras of the Atlantic Coastal Plain
and the Piedmont Provinces meet. Over the years, the plant flora has been
described and documented with herbarium specimens. But a complete list of
plants that occur in this area has never been published. About 141 (17 percent) of the total number of species of vascular plants at
the Beltsville Center are designated as "rare." Twelve species (1.5
percent) are designated as "rare or infrequent." Many are invasive
Eurasian plants. Others are native species that may be scarce or rare in
Maryland. The survey revealed the recent absence or reduction of two formerly
more frequent species--the ladyslipper and false solomon's seal. While supplies last, single copies can be obtained from Kirkbride. Multiple
copies can be purchased from the National
Technical Information Services, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161;
phone (703) 605-6000. ARS is the chief research arm of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientific contact: Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr., ARS
Systematic Botany and Mycology
Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., phone (301) 504-9447, fax (301) 504-5810,
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture |