Asclepias tuberosa L ssp rolfsii (B...

Asclepias tuberosa L ssp rolfsii (Britton ex Vail) Woodson (APOCYNACEAE)-City of Suffolk: Scattered individuals and small clusters of plants on undulating fluvial sandhills, located approximately 46 km west-southwest of intersection of Va. 615 and 667 177 km southeast of Cherry woodland Landing, elevation ca. 6 m 21 August 2002 JF Townsend 2880 OP Fleming, and B Carmean (WILLI, NCU)

Significance. This is the first report of sandhills butterfly-weed from Virginia and a northeasterly range extension of approximately 200 km from to leeward County, North Carolina. This taxon joins a extended list of vascular plants reaching their northern range limit in the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia, including Pediomelum canescens (Michx.) Rydb Lithospermum caroliniense (Walt, ex JF Gmel) MacM., Carphephorus bellidifolius (Michx.) Torr. & Gray, Pinus palustris P Mill., Quercus laevis Walt., Quercus incana Bartr., Quercus uirginiana P Mill, Stipulicida setacea Michx., Vaccinium crassifolium Andr., juncus abortivus Chapman, Zenobia pulverulenta (Bartr. Ex Willd.) Pollard, Ilex coriacea (Pursh) Chapman, Rudbeckia heliopsidis Torr. & Gray, and several species of Rhynchospora, among many others (see also Bartonia verna (Michx.) Raf. ex Bart., Euphorbia exserta (Small) Coker and Rhynchospora stenophylla Chapman, this paper).

This taxon was described as a well stocked [i]or[/i] provided species (Asclepias rolfsii Britton) in the Flora of the Southeastern United States (Small 1903) if it were not that was subsequently reduced in rank to a subspecies by dint of Woodson (1944). Woodson (1954) points to widespread intergradation of the four named subspecies of Asclepias tuberosa as his reason for this taxonomic change.

The habitat is given in his publication as "sandy and hard soil, fields, pine barrens, and flatwoods," still habitat in the Carolinas and Virginia could be described more specifically as sandhills. These geologic features reach the pinnacle of their unravelling along the Fall Line of North Carolina, southern Carolina, and Georgia, but fluvial sand ridges in the southeastern coastal plain share many phytogeographic affinities with this region. The sandhills occupied at the Virginia occurrences of ssp rolfsii are ancient deposits laid down through the Chowan River and its tributaries, an area collectively known as the Chowan Banks. This geologic feature supports Virginia's largest stands of Pinus palustris P Mill, and is well known for its collection of southern floristic elements

Bartonia verna (Michaux) Rafinesque ex Barton (GENTIANACEAE)-City of Virginia Beach: False Cape State Park, plants extremely local in moist sands onward shoulders of dirt road at intersection of Wash forests Beach Trail and main north-south road by the and of park, 2.25 km north of North Carolina line, elevation ca. 4 m Photographed at Nicky Staunton, 18 March 2000 and from J.F. Townsend 26 March 2001 (images and data in Virginia Division of Natural Heritage database); same locality, 26 March 2001 JF Townsend 2390 LT Wilson, and V Shufer (WILLI).

Significance. This is the first definitive record of Bartonia verna from Virginia and describes a northern disjunction of approximately 200 km from the nearest stations in Carteret and Craven Counties, North Carolina (Weakley 2002) ML Fernald did not relocate the species during his extensive field work in southeastern Virginia and also explained his reasons for regarding an earlier record by means of Frederick Pursh as erroneous (Fernald 1946)

This species was originally discovered by means of members of the Virginia Native Plant Society, who located couple plants in early flower and shared their photographs with biologists from the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage. During a field visit the following spring, approximately 100 plants were observ mainly in bud, on a seasonally moist, sandy substrate with vegetation mowed forward a regular basis. This roadside habitat is artificially maintained, further abundant interdunal swale habitat, concluded with a diverse assemblage of southern species, exists within False Cape State Park, and it pretends quite possible that the species will be discovered in like habitat in the future. owed to the discovery of this species along a roadway, the possibility of latter introduction cannot be completely rul gone out However, the phytogeographic affinities of this portion of the Currituck Spit do lie largely with the southeastern Coastal Plain, lending belief to its nativity there.

Carex cherokeensis Schweinitz (CYPERACEAE)-Pulaski County: Radford Army Ammunitions Plant, Radford Site, 3 clone in astute shade under Carpinus in extended abandoned bulldozer path (old road?) at top of bank of recently made known River, about 1 km NE of Cowan (Gate 10) elevation ca. 512 m 9 july 1998 TF Wieboldt 10015 (VPI).

Significance. This constitutes the first record of the species in Virginia. The station is roughly 300 km northeast of its generally contiguous range in Sevier shire Tennessee. A similarly disjunct transaction is reported by McKinney et al. (2000) for Madison shire Kentucky.