2025 Plant Changes

A few highlights include changes to the taxonomy of Sticta which included the examination of many many BC specimens. According to Di Meglio and Goward (2023), Sticta fuliginosa was split into four species in western North America including S. arenosella, S. fasciculata, S. globulifuliginosa and S. gretae. A fifth species, Sticta rhizinata, is a new concept for material previously treated as Sticta beauvosii (Spribille et. al. 2020). A project DNA barcoding lichens and allied fungi from Calvert Island identified additional new species for the province: Bryoria furcellata, Chaenothecopsis lecanactidis, C. nigripunctata, Peltigera vitikainenii and Peltigera nigriventris (McMullin et al. 2024), Contributions from the BC parks iNaturalist crew led to new reports of rare species and the revision of several conservation status ranks.

• 105 additions to B.C. flora/CDC
• 4 exclusions/removals from B.C. flora/CDC
• 150 had conservation status reviews or initial rank reviews
• 59 had rank changes
• 46 had BC List changes
• 35 scientific name changes

By far the most notable update was the addition of 575 new fungi for the province from Wild Species 2025: The General Status of Species in Canada.

Of interest to many enthusiasts, is the scientific name for Pine mushroom has changed from Tricholoma magnivelare to Tricholoma murrillianum following a recent publication that revealed the BC material is distinct from the species present in Eastern North America (Trudell et al. 2017).

• 575 additions to B.C. flora/CDC
• 2 exclusions/removals from B.C. flora/CDC
• Conservation status reviews are ongoing from General Status of Species in Canada
• 2 had rank changes
• 1 BC List change
• 106 scientific name changes have been made

 

Few changes this year due to the comprehensive review completed in 2024.

• 1 addition to B.C. flora/CDC
• 3 had conservation status reviews
• 3 had rank changes
• 1 BC List change
• 15 scientific name changes

This species group has already had updates resulting from the General Status of Species in Canada reassessment in recent years. Only one change reported this year is a new liverwort, Black Crystalwort (Riccia nigrella), from Vancouver Island.

Work done by T. Ehlers, R. Durand and P. Janszen, as well as inputs from the General Status of Species in Canada reassessment has increased our knowledge of this group greatly in the last few years.  A highlight this year is the new genus and species described from the Slocan Valley (Yatsiuk & Ehlers, Fungal Syst. Evol. 15: 112 (2024)). Single known occurrence worldwide. https://inaturalist.ca/observations/106098279

• 58 additions to B.C. flora/CDC
• 11 exclusions/removals from B.C. flora/CDC
• 126 had conservation status reviews
• 2 had rank changes
• 1 BC List change
• 29 scientific name changes

A substantial review of BC ranks has been completed by J. Fenneman as part of the General Status of Species in Canada Reassessment of Vascular Plants. There were over 500 rank reviews for species with new data and 326 rank changes since the 2020 assessment, 77 of which are summarized in the CDC 2025 annual update. There were no new species not already incorporated in CDC annual updates resulting from the General Status reassessment, but one notable species this year is Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) which has been more convincingly documented for the province recently via specimens and iNaturalist reports from Jack Pine Remnant Protected Area.

• 2 additions to B.C. flora/CDC
• 326 had conservation status reviews
• 77 had rank changes
• 39 BC List changes
• 55 scientific name changes, 4 English name changes

The references listed below either appear as short citations in the summaries above or in the spreadsheets detailing the changes for each of the groups. The abbreviations related to notes about specimens are institutions, the full name of which can be found here:  https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/herbarium-list/

 

Lichens

Aptroot, A. 1996. New records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi from British Columbia. Bryologist 99: 196-198.

Bartemucci, Paula. 2025. Personal Communication. Gentian Botanical Research. Smithers, BC.

Björk, C. 2022. Personal Communication. Enlichened Consulting Ltd. Clearwater, BC.

Boluda C. et al. 2019. Evaluating methodologies for species delimitation: the mismatch between phenotypes and genotypes in lichenized fungi (Bryoria sect. Implexae, Parmeliaceae). Persoonia. 42:75-100.

Brodo, I.M. 1995. Lichens and lichenicolous fungi of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada. Mycotaxon 56: 135-173.

Brodo, I.M., S.D. Sharnoff, & S. Sharnoff. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press. 795 pp.

Brodo, I. M. and T. Tønsberg. 1994. A new species of Micarea with stalked pycnidia from the west coast of North America. Acta Botanica Fennica 150: 1-4.

Brodo, I.M. & T.Tønsberg. 2019. Opegrapha halophila (Opegraphaceae), a new lichen species from coastal British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska, U.S.A. Bryologist 122: 457-462.

Clerc, P., and Y. Naciri. 2021. Usnea dasopoga (Ach.) Nyl. and U. barbata (L.) F. H. Wigg. (Ascomycetes, Parmeliaceae) are two different species: a plea for reliable identifications in molecular studies. The Lichenologist. 2021;53(3):221-230.

Di Meglio, J. and T. Goward. 2023. Resolving the Sticta fuliginosa Morphodeme (Lichenized Ascomycota: Peltigeraceae) in Northwestern North America," The Bryologist 126(1), 90-110.

Gasparyan, A., Sipman, H. and R. Lucking. 2017. Ramalina europaea and R. labiosorediata, two new species of the R. pollinaria group (Ascomycota: Ramalinaceae), and new typifications for Lichen pollinarius and L. squarrosus. The Lichenologist, 49(4), 301-319.

Gerlach, A et al. 2023. The genus Usnea (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) in the southern Philippines: a first phylogenetic approach. The Lichenologist; 55(6):451-480.

Goward, T., P. Diederich & R. Rosentreter. 1994. Notes on the lichens and allied fungi of British Columbia. II. Bryologist 97: 56-62.

Goward, T. et al. 2012. Four new sorediate species in the Hypogymnia austerodes group (lichens) from northwestern North America, with notes on thallus morphology. The Bryologist 115(1): 84-100.

Goward, T. and L. Myllys. 2020. Gowardia zebrina sp. nov., a new species in a little-known genus of arctic-alpine lichens (Parmeliaceae). Plant and Fungal Systematics. 65(1), 219-226.

Hollinger, J.P., N. Noell, A. Gasparyan, A. Rockefeller and S. Leavitt. 2022. Two new species of Anaptychia (Physciaceae) from western North America, with notes on the other species of section Protoanaptychia. The Bryologist 125(4): 571-601.

Jorgensen, P. 2000. Survey of the lichen family Pannariaceae on the American continent, north of Mexico. The Bryologist 103(4): 670-704.

Konoreva, L.A., Sergei V. Chesnokov, Irina S. Stepanchikova, Toby Spribille, Curtis Björk, and Patrick Williston. 2021. Nine Micarea species new to Canada including five species new to North America. Herzogia. 34(1), 18-37.

Lendemer, J. and D. Stone. 2022. Leptogium stancookii, a new name for the western North American lichen referred to as L. cookii whose type corresponds to L. saturninum s. str. The Lichenologist. 54(1): 85-86.

Magain, N. et al. 2020. Phylogenetic evidence for an expanded circumscription of Gabura (Arctomiaceae). Lichenologist. 52, 3-15.

McCune, B. 2017. Microlichens of the Pacific Northwest. Vol. 2. Wild Blueberry Media. Corvallis, Oregon. 755 pp.

McCune, B. and D. Stone. 2022. Eight New Combinations of North American Macrolichens. Evansia 39(3), 123-12.

McCune, B. & R. Rosentreter. 2014. New lichen records from Oregon to Alaska in North America. Evansia 31: 1-7.

McMullin, R. 2019. New and interesting Canadian lichens and allied fungi II: Reports from British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, and Quebec. Opuscula Philolichenum, 18: 396–419.

McMullin, R. et al. 2024. DNA barcoding aids in generating a preliminary checklist of the lichens and allied fungi of Calvert Island, British Columbia: Results from the 2018 Hakai Terrestrial BioBlitz. Biodiversity Data Journal 12.

Molina, M.C., P.K. Divakar, T. Goward, A.M. Millanes, H.T. Lumbsch & A. Crespo. 2016. Neogene diversification in the temperate lichen-forming fungal genus Parmelia (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota). Systematics and biodiversity (2016): 1-16.

Myllys, L., Velmala, S., Pino-Bodas, R. and T. Goward. 2016. New species in Bryoria (Parmeliaceae, Lecanoromycetes) from north-west North America. The Lichenologist. 48(5):355-365.

Noble, W. et al. 1987. A second checklist and bibliography of the lichens and allied fungi of British Columbia. Syllogeus no. 61. 95 pp.

Spribille, T., A.M. Fryday, S. Pérez-Ortega, M. Svensson, T. Tønsberg, S. Ekman, H. Holien, P. Resl, K. Schneider, E. Stabentheiner, H. Thüs, J. Vondrák and L. Sharman. 2020 Lichens and Associated Fungi from Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. The Lichenologist 52: 61–181.

Spribille, T. & C. R. Björk.  2008.  New records and range extensions in the North American lignicolous lichen flora.  Mycotaxon 105: 455-468.

Stone, D., M. Gordon, and B. McCune. 2020 Pseudocyphellaria holarctica (Lobariaceae) specimens from Oregon are referable to P. hawaiiensis. The Bryologist 123(2), 260-264.

Stone, D., Hinds, J., Anderson, F., and J. Lendemer. 2016. A revision of the Leptogium saturninum group in North America. The Lichenologist. 48(5): 387-421.

Simon, A. et al. 2021. Global phylogeny and taxonomic reassessment of the lichen genus Dendriscosticta (Ascomycota: Peltigerales). Taxon. 71(2), 256-287.

Simon, A., Goward, T., Di Meglio J., Dillman, K., Spribille, T., and B. Goffinet. 2018. Sticta torii sp. nov., a remarkable lichen of high conservation priority from northwestern North America. Graphis Scripta 30 (6):105–114.

 Timdal, E. 1991. A monograph of the genus Toninia (Lecideaceae, Ascomycetes). Opera Botanica 110: 1–137. 

Timdal, E., Hofton, T., Westberg, M., and M. Bendiksby. 2021. The Nephroma helveticum complex (Peltigerales, lichenized Ascomycota) in the Nordic countries. Graphis Scripta. 33(6), 86-110.

Velmala, S., Leena Myllys, Pekka Halonen, Trevor Goward, & T. Ahti. 2009 The Lichenologist. Volume 41 Issue 3. pp. 231 - 242

Macrofungi

Gamiet, S., A. MacKinnon, P. Kroeger. 2025. Reassessment of BC Macrofungi for General Status of Wildlife Species in Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Database of status assessments, records and rank calculators.

Species Fungorum. Web tool. Royal Botanic Garden Kew, London, England. https://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp

Steven A. Trudell, Jianping Xu, Irja Saar, Alfredo Justo  & Joaquin Cifuentes. North American matsutake: names clarified, and a new species described. Mycologia Volume 109, 2017 - Issue 3

Wu, Li, Zhu, Zhao, Han, Cui, Li, Xu & Yang, Fungal Diversity 81: 145 (2016).

Mosses

Kučera, J., O. I. Kuznetsova, A. Manukjanová & M. S. Ignatov. 2019. A phylogenetic revision of the genus Hypnum: towards completion. Taxon 68(4): 628–660.

 

 

Slime molds

 

Bortnikov, F.M., N.A. Bortnikova, V.I. Gmoshinskiy, I.S. Prikhodko, and Y.K. Novozhilov. 2023. Additions to Trichia botrytis complex (Myxomycetes): 9 new species. Botanica Pacifica. A journal of plant science and conservation.

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2025. BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer. B.C. Minist. of Environ. Victoria, BC. Available: http://srmapps.gov.bc.ca/apps/eswp/ (accessed 29 January, 2025).

Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council. 2022. Wild Species 2020: The General Status of Species in Canada. National General Status Working Group.

Durand, R. 2025. Ryan Durand private myxomycete records database.

Ehlers, Tyson. Personal Communication. Ecologist, Biologist, Masse Environmental Consultants. Central Kootenay, B.C.

Ehlers, T. 2025. Tyson Ehlers private myxomycete records database.

García-Cunchillos, Zamora, Ryberg & Lado. 2022. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (online) 177:107609

García-Martín, J.M., J.C. Zamora, and C. Lado. 2023. Multigene phylogeny of the order Physarales (Myxomycetes, Amoebozoa): shedding light on the dark-spored clade. Persoonia 51: 89-124.

GBIF.org (18 February 2025) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.farqmx

Janszen, P. 2025. Pam Janszen privative myxomycete records database.

Lado, C. 2025. An online nomenclatural information system of Eumycetozoa. http://www.nomen.eumycetozoa.com

Li, Hu, Tuo et al., Mycology (online).

Martin GW, Alexopoulos CJ. 1969. The Myxomycetes. Color illustrations by Ruth McVaugh Allen. 41 plates and 367 figures. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Moreno, Sánchez & Castillo. 2023. Bol. Soc. Micol. Madrid 47:4

Mycoportal 2025. Biodiversity occurrence data published by: MyCoPortal (accessed through the MyCoPortal Portal, https://www.mycoportal.org/portal, 2025-02-05).

Nannenga-Bremekamp, N.E. and Lado, C., 2022. Descriptive, Illustrated Keys to the World's Myxomycetes.

Pacific Forestry Centre Forest Pathology Hebarium (DAVFP). 2025. Collections Database. Available: https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/herbarium

Poulain, M., Meyer, M., Bozonnet, J. 2011. Les Myxomycetes. (Federation mycologique et botanique Dauphine-Svoie, Delemont, France).

Prikhodko, Shchepin, Bortnikova, Novozhilov, Gmoshinskiy, Moreno, López-Villalba, Stephenson & Schnittler. 2023. Mycol. Progress (online) 22, 11.

Ronikier,Janik, de Haan, Kuhnt.& Zankowicz. 2022. Mycologia (online) 114(6):1028

Schnittler, M. 2022. Myxomycete records, Canadian West, Summer 1996

Yatsiuk, I., D. Leontyev, M. Schnittler, T. Ehlers, V. Mikryukov, and U. Kõljalg. 2024. Arcyria and allied genera: taxonomic backbone and character evolution. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 15: 97–118.

Vascular Plants

Ashburner, K. and H.A. McAllister. 2014. The Genus Betula: A Taxonomic Revision of Birches. Kew Publishing.

Banfi, E. 2018. Thinopyrum obtusiflorum (DC.) Banfi, Nat. Hist. Sci. 5(2): 60

Brainerd, RE., Otting, N. and B.L. Wilson. 2016. New combinations in Bromus sitchensis (Poaceae). Phytoneuron. 36: 1-4.

Brauchler et al. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of Menthinae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55 (2010) 501–523.

Chase, M. et al. 2015. An updated classification of Orchidaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 177.

Christenhusz, M.J.M., Bangiolo, L., Chanse, M.W., Fay, M.F., Husby, C., Witkus, M. and J. Viruel. 2019. Phylogenetics, classification and typification of extant horsetails (Equisetum, Equisetaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 189: 311-352.

Cronquist, A., N.H. Holmgren, & P.K. Holmgren Eds. 1997. Intermountain Flora. Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A. Vol. 3 Part A. Subclass Rosidae (except Fabales). New York Botanical Garden, New York. 446 pp.

Cui, J., Chen, S., Wu, Y., Guo, T. and L. Zhang. 2024. The complete chloroplast genome of Erodium cicutarium: genome characterization and phylogenetic consideration. Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 9(10), 1460–1465

Dickinson, T. and S. Han. 2023. What is Suksdorf's Hawthorn? Revision of the Western North American 20-stamen Black-fruited hawthornes. J. Bot. res. Inst. Texas 17 (1): 151-189.

Essl, F., S. Bacher, P. Genovesi, P.E. Hulme, J.M. Jeschke, S. Katsanevakis, I. Kowarik, I. Kühn, P. Pyšek, W. Rabitsch, S. Schindler, M. Van Kleunen, M. Vilà, J.R.U. Wilson, and D. M. Richardson. 2018. Which Taxa Are Alien? Criteria, Applications, and Uncertainties. BioScience, Volume 68 (7): 496–509.

Fenneman, J. 2024. Personal Communication. EcoLogic Consultants Ltd. Courtenay, BC.

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2024. Volume 13. Magnoliophyta: Geraniaceae to Apiaceae. Oxford University Press, New York

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2023. Volume 11.2. Magnoliophyta: Fabaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2017. Volume 17. Magnoliophyta: Tetrachondraceae to Orbobanchaceae. Oxford University Press, New York

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2009. Volume 8. Magnoliophyta: Paeoniaceae to Ericaceae. Oxford University Press, New York

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2002. Volume 19. Magnoliophyta: Asteridae, Part 1: Asteraceae. Oxford University Press, New York

Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2002. Volume 26. Magnoliophyta: Liliidae. Oxford University Press, New York

FNA Editorial Committee, in prep. Flora of North America north of Mexico. 2024. Volume 15. Magnoliophyta: Fouquieriaceae to Boraginaceae. Oxford University Press, New York

Folk, R., Stubbs, R., Engle-Wrye, N., Soltis, D. and Y. Okuyama. 2021. Biogeography and habitat evolution of Saxifragaceae with a revision of generic limits and a new tribal system. Taxon, Vol. 70 (2)

Giblin, D.E. 2022. Noteworthy collections. Madroño 69(1): 4-5.

 

Guaglianone, E. and G. Wheeler. 2003. Notes on south American Carex (Cyperaceae): C. camptoglochin and C. microglochin. Darwiniana 41.

Hoch, P. and K. Gandhi. 2022. A Corrected Name in North American Epilobium. Harvard Papers in Botany, Vol. 27, No. 1.

Kirschner, J., H. Balslev, S.E. Clemants, B. Ertter, M.C.F.C. Alvarez, L. Hämet-Ahti, F. Miyamoto, H.J.Noltie, L.J. Novara, V.S. Novikov, S.S. Simonov, S. Snogerup, and K.L. Wilson. 2002. Juncaceae 2 Juncus subgenus. Juncus, Species Plantarum: Flora of the World. 1-336 pp.

Knapp, W., Gandhi, K., Naczi, R. and A. Floden. 2022. Juncus tweedyi (Juncaceae sect. Ozophyllum), the correct name for Juncus brevicaudatus. Phytotaxa 566 (2).

Les, Donald H., Nancy M. Murray and Nicholas P. Tippery. 2009. Systematics of Two Imperiled Pondweeds (Potamogeton vaseyi, P. gemmiparus) and Taxonomic Ramifications for Subsection Pusilli (Potamogetonaceae). Systematic Botany, 34(4): 643-651

Messerschmid, T. et al. Linnaeus's folly - phylogeny, evolution and classification of Sedum and Crassulaceae subfamily Sempervivoideae. Taxon. Vol 69: 5

Nazaire, M. 2013. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Mertensia (Boraginaceae): Taxonomy, divergence times, and biogeography. Washington State University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2013. 3587151.

Noyes, R. 2000. Biogeographical and evolutionary insights on Erigeron and allies (Asteraceae) from ITS sequence data. Plant Systematics and Evolution: 220.

Ohashi, H. 2005. A new name of the east Asian plant of Nephrophyllidium crista-gallii. Journal of Japanese Botany, Vol. 80 (3)

P.M. Peterson, K. Romaschenko, Y. Herrera Arrieta, J.M. Saarela. 2014. A molecular phylogeny and new subgeneric classification of Sporobolus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Sporobolinae). Taxon. Vol. 63, Issue 6.

Peterson, A., Levichev, I. and J. Peterson. 2008. Systematics of Gagea and Lloydia and infrageneric classification of Gagea based on molecular and morphological data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Vol. 46: 2

P. Lesica. 2012. New combinations for the Montana flora. Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas 6(1): 25-27

Peterson, P.M., K. Romaschenko, Y. Herrera Arrieta, J.M. Saarela. 2014. A molecular phylogeny and new subgeneric classification of Sporobolus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Sporobolinae). Taxon. Vol. 63, Issue 6.

Polatschek, A. 2010. Revision der Gattung Erysimum (Cruciferae): Teil 1: Russland, die Nachfolgstaaten der USSR (excl. Georgien, Armenien, Azerbaidzan), China, India, Pakistan, Japan und Korea. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, B 111: 181-275.

POWO. Plants of the World Online. 2025. Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Hér. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed online at:  https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:372219-1

Reveal, J.L., Gandhi, K.N. and Nicolson, D.H. (2004), The demise of the name Astragalus tenellus Pursh (Fabaceae). Taxon, 53: 1055-1058.

Rolfsmeier, S. 2013. The Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Lappula Moench (Boraginaceae) in North America. Ph.D. Dissertation, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, Kansas.

Saarela, J. 2008. Taxonomy of Bromus sections Bromopsis, Bromus and Genea in British Columbia. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2 (1): 323 -372.

Saarela et al. 2017. Molecular phylogenetics of cool-season grasses in subtribes Agrostidinae, Anthoxanthinae, Aveninae, Brizinae, Calothecinae, Koeleriinae and Phalaridinae. PhytoKeys 87: 1-139

Stace, C. 1997. New Flora of the British Isles 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. 1165 pp.

Weakley, A. et al. 2017. New Combinations, Rank Changes and Nomenclatural and Taxonomic Comments in the Vascular Flora of the southeastern United States II. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 11(2): 291

Wu et al. 2022. Sequencing and characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Thinopyrum obtusiflorum (DC.) Banfi, 2018 (Poaceae) Mitochondrial DNA Part B: Resources Vol. 7 (3). Pages 539-540

https://mexico.inaturalist.org/projects/king-county-noxious-weeds-and-monitor-list/journal/94667-cedar-river-leopards-bane-species-finally-gets-a-name

https://rex.libraries.wsu.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/A-phylogenetic-analysis-of-the-genus/99900581851601842