Victorin's water-hemlock (Cicuta maculata) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

Global range

Victorin’s water-hemlock is confined to Canada (Figure 2).  It is considered endemic to the upper St. Lawrence estuary (Labrecque and Lavoie, 2002).

Canadian range

In Canada, Victorin’s water-hemlock occurs only in the freshwater and slightly brackish intertidal zones of the St. Lawrence River.  To date, the plant has been counted in 39 localities (Table 1).  The southwest limit of its range is at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade and the northeast limit is at Saint-Jean-Port-Joli and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (Figure 3).  The former southwest limit of Batiscan (Legault, 1986) is based on a specimen in full flower, the identification of which is questionable.

Figure 2.  Global range of Victorin’s water hemlock.

Figure 2.  Global range of Victorin’s water hemlock.

Table 1.  List of Victorin’s water-hemlock populations with their site quality index in 2002.

Localities
Population size
Disturbance
Site quality index1
Latest observation
Berthier-sur-Mer, anse de Berthier 115-1,060 none A 13/09/1995
Île aux Grues, La Grande Rivière 100-250 none A 04/09/1996
Lévis, pointe Martinière 250 low A 04/09/1996
Saint-Laurent-d'Orléans, anse aux Frères 200-500 low A 02/09/1997
L'Islet, Rocher Panet 200-500 high B 05/09/1996
Saint-Jean, Pointe Dauphine 155-310 high B 29/08/1995
Cap-Rouge, anse du Cap-Rouge 100-1,000 high B 17/08/1995
Grosse-Île 50-100 low B 20/07/1993
Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures 15-60 low B 29/08/2002
Sainte-Pétronille, pointe chez Royer 200-500 high B 02/09/1997
Sainte-Pétronille, Anse à Porteous 50-75 low B 10/08/2002
Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, anse de Trois-Saumons 100-1,000 none B** 05/09/1996
Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, point to the east of the wharf 55-120 high B 12/09/1995
Saint-Vallier, pointe de Saint-Vallier 50-70 low B 10/08/2002
Beaupré 11-50 none C 09/09/1995
Grondines 11-50 low C 20/09/1996
Neuville 30-50 low C 08/09/2002
Saint-Étienne-de-Beaumont, anse de Vincennes 11-50 none C 24/08/1995
Saint-Jean-Port-Joli 30-120 high and none C 05/09/1996
Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, anse Saint-Vallier 11-50 none C 11/09/1995
Berthier-sur-Mer, trou de Berthier 2-10 moderate D 13/09/1995
Île aux Grues, wharf 11-50 low D 04/09/1996
L'Islet-sur-Mer, cove to the east of the wharf 1 low D 27/08/1995
Pointe-aux-Trembles-Ouest, pointe à Alain 2-10 low D 19/09/1995
Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. 3-10 low D 08/09/2001
Sainte-Croix, pointe au Platon 3 low D 20/09/1996
Saint-François 1 none D 02/09/1997
Saint-Jean, Rivière Lafleur 2-10 high D 28/08/1995
Saint-Jean-de-Boischatel 1 low D 24/08/1995
Saint-Laurent, Village-des-Anglais 2-10 moderate D 20/09/1995
Saint-Nicolas, anse Ross 2-10 low D 05/09/1991
Saint-Nicolas, pointe Saint-Nicolas 2-10 low D 18/09/1995
Saint-Romuald 11-50 high D 26/08/1995
Chandler - no date H 06/08/1931
L'Ange-Gardien - low H 23/08/1942
Lotbinière - high H 28/08/1943
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré - moderate H 25/08/1962
Beauport 0 high X 19/08/1913
Saint-Nicolas, pointe à Basile 0 low X 14/07/1950
Total: 1,787- 6,341 Average: 4,064    

1 - See Table 2 for the meaning of classes A-D.  The site quality index X (extirpated) indicates that Victorin’s water hemlock and/or its habitat are extirpated from this location, despite sampling efforts in recent years.  The site quality index H (historic) indicates that the observation of the population dates back more than 25 years. 

** Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, anse de Trois-Saumons site is classified as B due to the difficulty of distinguishing var. victorinii from var. maculata due to their intermixing at the site.

Table 2.  Definition of quality indices of Victorin’s water-hemlock.
Site quality index Meaning of index
A Population of over 100 individuals in a habitat that is only slightly or not disturbed by human activity.
B Population of 51-100 individuals in a habitat that is only slightly or not disturbed by human activity or population of 100 individuals disturbed by filling or pedestrian or vehicle traffic.
C Population of 10-50 individuals in a habitat that is only slightly or not disturbed by human activity or population of 51-100 individuals disturbed by filling or pedestrian or vehicle traffic.
D Population of less than 10 individuals in a habitat that is only slightly or not disturbed by human activity or population of 10-50 individuals disturbed by filling operations, human trampling or vehicle traffic.

Figure 3.  Canadian range of Victorin’s water hemlock (adapted from Labrecque and Lavoie, 2002), excluding the locality of Chandler (in the Gaspé).

One specimen of water-hemlock at the Marie-Victorin herbarium (No. 44 394) raises many questions.  It was collected by E. Jacques and Brothers Marie-Victorin and Rolland-Germain on August 6, 1931, and corresponds to the description of Victorin’s water-hemlock, except for its location:  Baie-des-Chaleurs, Chandler, Gaspé county; wetlands along the seashore.  The validity of this locality should be verified, because it is possible that Victorin’s water-hemlock seeds were transported by currents to this location.  The Pabos River estuary is one of the largest in the Gaspé and the presence of freshwater tides is possible there.  The example of Zizania aquatica var. brevis (endemic to the upper St. Lawrence estuary) and of several other estuarine species in the Miramichi River estuary in New Brunswick would indicate that the phenomenon is possible.

The specimens collected by Brouillet et al. (1996) from the mouth of Rivière du Sud at Montmagny, Château-Richer, L'Islet at Saint-Pierre and Les Fonds at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly were referred to var. maculata.  Although the revision of these specimens was conducted during the preparation of the provincial status report (Coursol, 1999), the database of the Quebec Natural Heritage Information Centre (CDPNQ) had not yet been corrected in 2002.  Lastly, a specimen from Cap-Saint-Ignace collected by the author during the study by Brouillet et al. (1996) was referred to var. maculata in 2002.   A number of achenes had characters of var. victorinii, but others showed clear signs that they were of the variety maculata.

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