Look-Alikes: Tree of Heaven

How to distinguish the fast speading invasive tree of heaven from similar looking trees?

Jewel Weed Lessons

This article, by Dick Fisher, first appeared in WildfloraRI, Winter 2022

As the natural forces of the world escalate with strong wind, drought, floods and the like, it is comforting to experience a gentler side, one which has persisted continually for millennia. It would be difficult to find a more fragile relationship than the hummingbird/ jewelweed bond. Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), a native annual, precariously dangles its flower, bouncing with the breeze, on a string two centimeters long. The hummingbird, its chief pollinator, hovers fleetingly to access nectar in an elegant midair dance.

Jewelweed prefers wet areas near streams or boggy areas, where it will grow up to five feet tall with succulent hollow stems.  It will grow in drier areas or respond to drought conditions by being proportionally shorter. Flowers are produced all summer from the axils of alternate leaves along a zigzag stem. The leaves have coarsely serrated margins and are covered with fine hairs that shed water. The orange- yellow flowers are cone-shaped with a terminal spur and hang on a two- to three-centimeter stalk. The flower develops from three petals and three sepals into a horn-shaped nectar sac. A knob of five anthers forms above it. In what has been called ‘tandem ripening’ the anthers release pollen for just 24 hours and then are shed. To prevent self-pollination the pistol then forms and receives pollen for just four hours. It’s another type of special dance, this time to promote generic diversity. In addition to hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and hawkmoths have been noted as pollinators.

Being an annual, jewelweed has to do it all in one season: grow, develop reproductive organs, become pollinated, and mature and scatter its seeds to prepare to begin the process anew each year. Unlike perennials, which can wait out the winter with underground root systems, annual plants must be able to produce and germinate viable seed year after year.

Jewelweed has developed some instructive ways to bolster sustainability, and we can just hope they will be enough to adapt to the changing environment. Its fertilized ovum becomes a one-centimeter long dangling slender pod containing three to five seeds. When ripe, if the stalk is touched, it will suddenly split open, flinging the seeds far and wide, which accounts for one of its common names: ‘touch- me-not.’ The seeds are covered with a thin capsule, which when rubbed off, reveals the shiny blue seed; hence, the other common name, ‘jewelweed.’ The seeds germinate in April and May, producing a thick colony of new plants. The duration of seed viability has been reported to be short, so how long they will remain in the seed bank to bridge stressful years is in question.

But jewelweed has an important adaptation to unfavorable conditions such as we have seen during the dry summer of 2022. That is cleistogamy, a mechanism by which flowers under stressful conditions do not fully form but remain closed and are able to self-pollinate to produce viable seed. This saves the plants valuable energy since they produce only a small amount of pollen and no nectar. The inconspicuous blossoms form on the lower portions of the plant in the leaf axils. Jewelweed uses this trick when conditions are dry or if the plant has been cut back or grazed.

There are two species of jewelweed in the Northeast: Impatiens capensis Meerb, spotted jewelweed, which is orange with reddish-orange spots, and I. padilla Nutt., or pale jewelweed, which has yellow blossoms and is found in more shaded areas. They have an overlapping range and share pollinators, but it is thought that their pollen is incompatible and so they remain genetically distinct. There is currently an iNaturalist citizen science project underway to determine the comparative range of the two species. I. capensis seems to dominate in this area, and the descriptions here are from those populations. Medicinal properties are attributed to the liquid sap from the succulent stems, which is claimed, when applied to the skin, to reduce the itch from poison ivy, nettle, eczema and hives, and to treat fungal infestations in feet. A concoction including crushed flower buds mixed with rum is claimed to treat open wounds and burns.

There were three populations of spotted jewelweed growing in damper areas of our small property, which were doing wonderfully in 2019. During the dry summer of 2020 one of the populations withered in mid-summer and did not obviously flower. I don’t know if cleistogamous flowers were present but in the wet summer of 2021, this population did not return; the others did. During this past very dry summer of 2022, that population again did not return while the other two started out looking normal but faded in mid-summer with few if any blossoms. One population, although looking sparse, has produced some seed pods and the mid-September rains might be helping. It will be interesting to follow jewelweed populations as the drought/ flood climate pattern continues, to determine if jewelweed’s safety systems will be enough to sustain it and the multiple organisms it supports.

Will it be the canary?

 

References

Capon, Brian. 2005. Botany for Gardeners.,Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Del Tredici, Peter. 2010. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

Kaczmarek, Frank. 2009. New England Wildflowers., The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT.

Moerman, Daniel E. 1998. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Schottman, Ruth. 1998. Trailside Notes: A naturalist’s companion to Adirondack plants. Adirondack Mountain Club, Lake George, NY.

Book Review: The Northeast Native Plant Primer 235 Plants For An Earth-Friendly Gardener

By Uli Lorimer | Timber Press 2022 (250 Pages)

This review by Cathy King first appeared in WildfloraRI, Winter 2022

When I heard the title of this book I wondered if I really needed another native plant book when I have many with similar titles in my bookcase. Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe’s book Native Plants for New England Gardens comes to mind. While their book is useful, with lots of beautiful illustrations, I found Lorimer’s book easier to use if you are looking for plants for your garden. The subtitle, 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, hints at one of the differences between the books, many more plants than Richardson and Jaffe’s which lists 100 plants.

Uli Lorimer, author of Northeast Native Plant Primer, is the director of horticulture at Native Plant Trust, and his book is sponsored by the Trust, familiar to most RIWPS members as the Northeast’s first plant conservation organization and with its headquarters at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA — where native plants grow abundantly in its showcase gardens.

A lengthy introduction covers such topics as native alternatives to invasive plants, patterns of light and shade, pruning tips, and several pages of lists including native plant hosts of caterpillars and moths, drought tolerant natives, and evergreen natives. The main part of the book contains sections on native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, and annuals. Each page contains an attractive picture of the plant and symbols indicating its wildlife value: attracts bees, birds, butterflies, provides cover for wildlife. At the top of the page, easy to pick out, it lists the plant’s native habitat, height at maturity, and light needs—full sun, part sun to part shade, or full shade. A paragraph follows describing the plant, its uses in the garden, and its attractions for wildlife.

Native annuals is a section seldom found in a native plant guide, one that may suggest some additions you might not otherwise have thought of for your garden. Some plants will be familiar, such as black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), with their bright yellow flowers visible much of the summer. Others, such as herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum) and forked bluecurls (Trichosterma dicotomum), are not often seen in gardens. Lorimer suggests herb-Robert for dry shady conditions. With its bright pink flowers and dissected foliage, it can attractively peek through other foliage in the garden. He says it blooms in Spring, although mine continues to bloom through mid-October. Forked bluecurls, a member of the mint family, grows in sandy soils and sun. It has attractive blue-purple spotted flowers and foliage. Both annuals attract bees and pollinators.

Whether you are looking for more native plants for your garden or advice to have ready for customers at the Native Plant Sales, this is an ideal book to have on hand. Its paperback composition and price of $24.99 make it an affordable addition for either native plant novice or native plant book collector.

Beech Trees in Peril

– This article, by Marnie Lacouture, first appeared in WildfloraRI, Winter 2022

While walking in the Arcadia Trail in Exeter in late May [2022], tagging along with Shannon Kingsley who was searching for golden groundsel (Packera aurea) for the Reseeding RI project, something seemed uncomfortably amiss. While Shannon was watching the ground, I was looking up at an almost leafless canopy. In what was a forest of mostly beech trees, there were few leaves, and the ones that remained were crinkled, with dark edges. After checking with a DEM forester I learned that the trees were under attack from a microscopic nematode (Litylenchus crenatae) that causes Beech Leaf Disease (BLD). Would they recover? I asked him. Not sure. Would they die? Not sure—maybe.

Beech forest, photo Heather Faubert

According to Heather Faubert, Director of URI’s Plant Protection Clinic, BLD was originally discovered in this country in Ohio in 2012 and has spread eastward across the native range of the American beech (Fagus grandifolia), our only native beech, a stately tree with smooth, gray bark reminiscent of an elephant’s hide. The leaves turn a lovely amber in the fall and are distinctive in the winter woods BLD was first discovered in Rhode Island in the summer of 2020 after an Ashaway landowner contacted DEM about a problem with her beech trees. Heather and a DEM forester found an area five miles in diameter affected with BLD. By the next year infested beech trees had been found in all but Providence and Bristol counties, and this year it has been detected in those as well. Washington County has been especially hard hit in 2022.

The nematode is foliar, living in a beech tree’s cigar-shaped buds and causing dark striping along the veins of the leaves once they emerge. Eventually they may wither and die. Unlike trees defoliated by an insect such as the spongy moth (formerly the gypsy moth) which don’t put out new leaves until late July, beech trees affected with BLD will leaf out again in June allowing them a longer time to recover and to build up reserves for the next year. Heather finds this somewhat hopeful. By the following year though, the nematodes may find their way into the buds, and the cycle will begin again. How the nematodes travel long distances is not known, but since the disease has arrived quickly from Ohio, birds or possibly insects or the wind may be spreading it. Whether they are in fallen leaves on the ground and can make their way to buds is another unknown, as is whether they can travel through the root system of several beeches in a colony.

BLD primarily infects the American beech but can also infect European beeches. Often those are planted as beautiful specimen trees and would be sorely missed in a yard. If a homeowner believes she has a beech infested with BLD, there is a safe treatment being tested by URI and others using potassium phosphate fertilizer. Information may be found on the URI website or the DEM website. If used for several years, it may save a tree.

I returned to the Arcadia Trail in early October to see how the beeches there are doing. They had put out new leaves over the summer, but they didn’t look vigorous, and the canopy was still sparse. After hearing Heather say, “American beech forests may be doomed; it would be a huge catastrophe to lose that unique ecosystem,” I ask her whether it would be like losing the chestnuts (Castanea dentata). She answered that looking at it from a human, economic perspective, losing the chestnuts was worse, but from an ecological perspective she feels it is just as bad. I wonder sadly what our woodlands would be without beeches.

The Hype about Ecotypes

This article by Shannon Kingsley first appeared in WildfloraRI, Spring 2023. Shannon Kingsley is the botanist for ReSeeding RI initative.

Ecoregion 59 seedling tray of Common
yarrow (Achillea millefolium) being grown for ReSeeding RI. photo, Shannon Kingsley

For the ReSeeding Rhode Island Initiative—RIWPS’ five-year plan to amplify native, ecotypic plants and seeds across the state—the concept of “ecotypes” is paramount. For native plant enthusiasts, it is exciting to see the availability and popularity of ecotypic seeds and plants increase. Yet, an ecotype is still a complex and oftentimes baffling concept. For starters, what exactly is an ecotype? What makes a population ecotypic? Does planting ecotypic seed increase regional biodiversity? Here, we hope to address some of these persistent questions and demystify some key evolutionary concepts to aid in our collective understanding of ecotypes.

An Ecotype is Born

In a groundbreaking paper in 1922, Swedish evolutionary botanist Göte Turesson coined the term “ecotype.” Turesson noted how environmental factors such as climate, soil, and light exposure play significant roles in establishing genetically distinct populations in a variety of plant populations. He advocated the use of a new word, ecotype, to describe these unique populations. He states that an ecotype is “an ecological unit to cover the product arising as a result of the genotypical response of an ecospecies to a particular habitat.” Simply put, Turesson thought of an ecotype as a population that is genetically adapted to a specific environment.

Over the next 100 years, scientists have expanded, shifted, and interrogated the ecotype concept within fields from ecology and evolution to genetics and virology. Today, the ecotype concept is still complex, and there does not seem to be any straight-forward guidelines for its application in scientific inquiry. Some studies apply genetic analyses to gauge ecotypic differentiation, while other studies purely focus on tracking changes in phenotypic (observable) traits over time.

Evolution and Ecotypes

The concept of an ecotype is intrinsically tied to evolution and the mechanisms that drive evolutionary change. One of the major drivers of evolutionary change is natural selection, or the process through which adaptation to environmental factors favors survival and reproduction. These adaptations are typically phenotypic (observable) traits that are inheritable, or genetically passed down to offspring.

As populations adapt and change, evolutionary change is at play. Ecotypic differentiation, or the process through which populations diverge ecotypically, is a form of natural selection. Ecotypes give rise to morphologically and genetically distinct populations of the same species so as to aid them in survival and reproduction.

For example, when we observe the salt-laden leaf blades of Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass), we observe the species’ phenotypic adaptation to its saline environment. This adaptation, expressed by its genetic makeup, allows the species to expel salt from its system, thus helping it to survive in its specific environment. Now, say we find a population of Spartina alterniflora growing in a dry-mesic forest. To adapt to its drier environment, this population might have thicker leaf blades to allow for greater water storage. We may wonder whether these two populations are ecotypic. Of course, this is an extreme scenario because Spartina alterniflora does not grow in dry-mesic forests. However, the principles remain the same: ecotypes arise when populations of the same species exhibit distinct adaptive responses to varying environmental conditions.

Exploring the Ecotype

How do we know whether the population we find is truly ecotypic? Well, the truth is — we don’t, not without conducting extensive research. When we say “ecotypic seed,” we broadly refer to seeds originating from wild populations in a certain locality (or from plants whose seeds are wild-derived). For ReSeeding Rhode Island, we define an ecotype as “a population of a species that is adapted to a local environment.” We do not engage in rigorous scientific research to determine whether, for example, one population of Pycnanthemum muticum (broad-leaved mountain mint) possesses distinct genetic variation from another population of P. muticum based on environmental differences (although wouldn’t that be cool?). Instead, we operate under the assumption that Rhode Island wild-collected seeds will be best adapted to local environmental conditions and therefore have higher rates of survival when planted back into the RI landscape.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency outlines 182 “Level III Ecoregions” across North America, geographic areas grouped by factors such as topography, soil composition, and biodiversity. Ecoregion 59, or the “Northeastern Coastal Zone,” spans Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and southern Maine and New Hampshire. Ecoregion 59 is characterized by nutrient-poor soils, oak-pine forests, continental glacial lakes, and irregular plains. Over the last year, we collected the seeds of thirty native species from wild populations across Ecoregion 59, guided by our understanding that this ecoregion is home to ecotypic plants and therefore these seeds may possess adaptive genetic diversity.

Year 2: What’s Next for ReSeeding Rhode Island?

Wavy-leaved aster (Symphyotrichum
undulatum) seedlings sown in 2022, the first
year of the ReSeeding Rhode Island Initiative.
Photo by Shannon Kingsley.

After one year of learning, growing, and yes—adapting!—we head into the 2023 growing season with a reinvigorated

vision for ReSeeding Rhode Island. We seeded nineteen species in early January and our horticulturist, Barbara Shaughnessy, has carefully tended to these plants through the winter. In early March, a couple seedlings poked their green heads out of the chilly soil, an exciting occurrence for our eager Steering Committee members! Dave Vissoe and Brenda Woodward continue to work with RI farmers to establish founder plots where we will plant these seeded species.

This season, we plan to collect many of the same species we collected in 2022, while increasing our collection of spring-blooming species. In addition, we hope to collect the seeds of several native shrubs, including Vaccinium sp. (blueberry) and Viburnum sp. (arrowwood). We are currently expanding our educational and outreach efforts. In the meantime, follow our Instagram page (@reseedingri) to stay up-to-date on ReSeeding Rhode Island. See our ReSeedingRI homepage for more general information.

Celebrating 35 Years of RIWPS

– This article by Karen Joy Asher first appeared in WildfloraRI, Winter 2022

It all began sometime in 1986 when Lisa Lofland Gould, botanist, educator and author, gathered a few interested people at ASRI’s Eppley Refuge for a workshop in wild plant gardening. She told them about a wildflower club to which her mother belonged. This group had three primary interests: growing wild plants, working toward their conservation, and going on walks to see them in their native habitats. They were intrigued. “The seed had been planted and the ground was fertile,” Lisa said. “People were ready for it.” In its first year RIWPS had about 50 members. The next year, about 100. Today, we number more than 650 members.

The mission of RIWPS today is essentially the same as then. We are well-known for the plants we grow for our plant sales, our naturalist-led botany walks throughout the state, and our educational programs.

Plant Sale

The RIWPS plant sale has earned its reputation as “The best native plant sale in Rhode Island.” The first one was held in the back yard of founding member, Betty Salomon. Back then, members dug plants from their gardens, both native and nonnative, for the sale. Over time, the plant selection evolved to include more native plants, ferns, and shrubs, and non-native plants were gradually eliminated from the inventory.

Few retail nurseries carried native plants, so as word about the sale spread, crowds increased. Soon people were lining up before the sale opened to get first pick. Then RIWPS decided to allow members into the sale half an hour before the public. There was always a membership table at the plant sale, so eager plant shoppers could join on the spot. An information booth, “Ask the Experts,” provided advice and assistance.

This year we added native shrubs to the inventory; they were supplied on consignment from Morningstar Nursery in South County. We filled up the back of a pick-up truck, and the owner wished us luck. He expected that many would come back unsold. RIWPS sold every single one. In addition, Dorothy Swift, long-time leader of Seed Starters East, made sure we had plenty of azaleas, mountain laurels, and rhododendrons available.

WildFloraRI

RIWPS’ first newsletter invited its members to a “Pot Party”—asking our members to bring in small plastic flower pots to restock Seed Starters’ supply. The newsletter was a mix of scholarly articles and news about the society. In the pre-computer days  it was typed; it had no photographs and few illustrations. Articles included “The RI Natural Heritage program” by Rick Enser, DEM botanist; “Competition” by Irene Stuckey, Botany Professor at URI; and “Thoughts on Herbicide” by URI Professor Larry Englander.

Today, the newsletter is called WildFloraRI and the photos are in color. The quality of the content has remained high, and the layout and design exemplary.

RI Spring Flower & Garden Show

One of the highlights of the RIWPS calendar every year was the RI Flower and Garden Show held at the Convention Center, a tradition that continued for 22 years, ending in 2016. Landscape architect Judy Ireland designed the exhibit and Jules Cohen chaired the show committee for many years. The committee of creative, devoted, and very hard-working volunteers essentially created a natural woodland on a bare cement floor in a huge open space in less than a week, year after year. Barney Webster of Nelumbo Water Gardens added the ponds, streams, and seeps.

Many visitors said our gardens brought back childhood memories of walking in the woods. Children delighted in finding the hidden animals and birds in the trees or hiding behind a rock. The sounds of the forest, which played on a continuous loop in the background, added to the charm. So spectacular and so realistic was the RIWPS garden it regularly received awards for Best in Show, People’s Choice, The Roger Swain Award for Design and Execution, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal among others.

Walks, Talks & Programs

RIWPS is known for its excellent walks and talks. Gilbert George led one of the first ones at Parker Woodland in Greene, RI, to collect seed. For many, the walks provide a way to safely explore RI’s outdoor spaces and learn about our native flora. One man I met on a walk said he went from seeing everything as one big mass of green to noting the individual plants and trees, each with its own story.

Over the years we’ve sponsored many talks by experts in the field. Some examples: “The Importance of Maintaining Species Diversity,” “Meadow Gardening,” “Making A Habit of Restoration,” and “New England Plant Conservation.” More recently we’ve had Doug Tallamy speaking on his book, Nature’s Best Hope.

 In the past RIWPS sponsored several garden tours. The first ones featured gardens in northern RI, each chosen for its uniqueness and beauty, followed the next year by gardens in the southern RI.

In the early days there was an education committee. The members, led by Ethel Halsey, put together “Plant Discovery Boxes,” designed to assist elementary school teachers in sharing the world of plants with their students. The boxes contained books, games, posters, and other age- appropriate teaching materials.

Wild Plant Week was celebrated by RIWPS for many years. When the RI State Legislature officially declared the second week of May Wild Plant Week, members were asked to bring a live native plant (dug from their own garden and potted up) to their local library to be placed prominently on a library table accompanied by a small sign saying, “Do You Know This Wildflower?” Library visitors would guess, then check the back of the sign for the correct answer.

Over the years RIWPS has sponsored several Native Plant Conferences: In 2011 “Eco-System Gardening with Native Plants”; in 2013, “Challenges of a Changing Landscape: From Your Garden to the New England Forest”; and in 2015, “Growing Awareness: Planting Bio-Diverse and Resilient Landscapes,” including renowned guest speakers Uli Lorimer, then the Curator of Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden; Claudia West, the ecological sales manager at North Creek Nurseries; and landscape architect Larry Weaner.

Publications

One of our first publications was a compendium of Cultivation Notes 1987-1997. In 1995, RIWPS member Gil George self-published “Botanical Survey Check List of the Naturalized Plants, Shrubs, and Trees of Rhode Island by Cities, Towns, and Counties”, a comprehensive work by a self- taught botanist. Gil’s work was an important source of baseline data for the Vascular Flora of Rhode Island, published in 1998 by the newly formed RI Natural History Survey.

The first RIWPS Coloring Book was published in honor of RIWPS 10th Anniversary, in 1998. It featured 31 of Rhode Island’s best-known native plants from early spring through late fall. All were illustrated by RIWPS members. Ten years later it was revised and reprinted; it is still in print and available today. This introductory field guide encourages children and their parents to go outdoors to find these plants in real life.

Creative Collaborations

The Society has always collaborated with other environmental groups including the Native Plant Trust (formerly the New England Wildflower Society), the Audubon Society (the RIWPS office was once located there) and particularly the RI Natural History Survey, also co-founded by Lisa Lofland Gould. We co-sponsor the annual Lisa Lofland Gould Native Plant Program with RINHS and the URI Master Gardeners.

And the collaborations have reached beyond environmental groups. In 2018 RIWPS collaborated with the RI Historical Society and the Brown University Herbarium on an exhibition at the John Hay Library entitled “Entwined: Botany, Art and the Lost Cat Swamp Habitat,” a show featuring the mid-1800 botanical illustrations of Edward Peckham. Also in 2018 Trinity Rep performed a new play, “Native Gardens,” that told the story of neighbors with very different gardening styles. A RIWPS article, Grow Wild! Use Native Plants in Your Garden, was published in their playbill. RIWPS set up a display in their lobby and handed out our plant sale flyers—helping us spread our message to so many Rhode Islanders.

Scholarships/ Grants

In 1992 RIWPS began offering a scholarship for an undergraduate enrolled in a four-year college in Rhode Island or a Rhode Island resident from an out-of-town college with a goal related to native plants and their habitats. Scholarships were awarded for “Studying the genetics of Pink Lady’s Slipper,” and “Studying ribosomal DNA in Sea Lavender.” Over the years the scholarship evolved into a grant that was available to everyone, not just college students. The grant has grown from the original $500 to $2,500 available annually for worthy native plant endeavors.

Fundraising Fun

RIWPS members have always enjoyed each other’s company. We could talk about plants all day long. In the very early days members would get together for informal picnics. Family BBQs, and the occasional Herbal Tea Party. These events usually included plant sales and raffles as well as garden tours.

In 1997 the Harvest Dinner and Auction was born. It was held at URI’s Alton Jones campus in West Greenwich. It included a silent auction, a live auction, and a gourmet dinner buffet. Live auction items included such treats as a half-day botanical inventory of your property by Hope Leeson and a botany walk and lunch with Anne Wagner for the winner and three friends. The Harvest Dinner went on for several years with a switch in venue to the Yawgoo Clam Bakes & Barbecues in Exeter.

RIWPS has kept up with the times. Our newsletter is now printed in full color. The plant sale now sells only plants native to our ecoregion. We set up our first website around 2008 when our office was located in Peacedale. We started an E-Newsletter in the early 2000s;  it was a whole new way to keep in touch with our members and other interested folks. We’ve never looked back.

 

RIWPS has had a real impact on the environment in RI. Through our plant sales hundreds of thousands of native plants are growing in people’s gardens across the state. The pollinators are thanking us. We should be proud that today using native plants in your garden has gone from being a fringe interest to something many people are trying to do. Clearly, we were right all along. RIWPS was founded by visionaries who understood the importance of native plants in the environment. Today, the majority of the population agrees with what we knew all along, native plants rock!

 

pile of books

Winter Reading

By Anne B. Wagner Feb. 2, 2023

Opportunities abound to walk on roads and trails and to notice the natural world in this season. Here are some book selections that may guide you to plant identification, snow flake information, tracks and other winter signs.

 A Guide to Nature in Winter (1976) is one of Donald Stoke’s well-known field guides. As the author points out in the introduction it contains several mini-guides to identifying weeds, mushrooms, tracks, insects and more. Liberally illustrated, the drawings assist in keying target subjects. The author suggests reading before your walk “to sharpen your approach to seeing,” then carry it with you. Includes an index and a bibliography of classic guides for further study.

Weeds in Winter (1976) by Lauren Brown features her line drawings to accompany the texts with hints to identifying dead or dried plant materials. The book is arranged by plant family and contains a key with instruction in how to use it. Lauren is also the author of Grasses, Sedges and Rushes, eminently useful for the growing season.

Wandering Through Winter (1965) by Edwin Way Teale. Mr. Teale was a prominent naturalist in the 1950s and ’60, but don’t let the date dissuade you from reading his books. He and his wife Nellie criss-crossed the United States in each season noting natural signs and interviewing people and then publishing their experiences. Wandering Through Winter was the fourth and final volume and won the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction. Since their time we have become aware of climate changes and you may note some of these from your own experiences as you read. Excellent fireside reading! (Note: Edwin Way Teale’s farm, Trail Wood, is owned by Connecticut Audubon Society and is open to the public. It makes a fine day trip in any season. Link: https://www.ctaudubon.org/trail-wood-home/)

Winter World: the ingenuity of animal survival (2003) by Bernd Heinrich delves into the author’s studies of animal and plant strategies for living in the cold, snowy winters of northern New England. He approaches his keen observations as a scientist with a love and respect of the snowy world around him and its inhabitants. While the emphasis is on birds and animals plants and water come into the picture as essential components to their survival. Lovely drawings by the author throughout the book. Bibliographies for each chapter and index. Another fascinating fireside read!

Life in the Cold: an introduction to winter ecology (1996, 3rd ed.) by Peter J. Marchand. The author has devoted his life to the study of winter and teaching others to appreciate all aspects of the season—the wonders of survival in snow and cold, the chemistry and physics of snow, and the effects of cold on warm- and cold-blooded creatures. Copious notes, glossary and index. Fascinating for advanced information, more scholarly than the other titles mentioned here, and not necessarily easy fireside reading.

 

Our Botanist in the Field

This story and photos by Shannon Kingsley first appeared the the RIWPS publication WildfloraRI, Winter 2022

A calm, September Sunday afternoon finds me waist-deep in the leech-filled waters of the Wood River, searching for the inconspicuous Allegheny monkey- flower (Mimulus ringens). Among Joe-Pyes (Eutrochium spp.) and some late-blooming cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), the monkey-flower has shed its light purple flowers for lime-green seed pods. Slicing through a pod with a small pocket knife, I find the tiny rust-colored seeds packed into the walls of the carpel, like a sugar cone jammed full of ice cream. These teeny lives hold such potential, such life bursting at each pod’s green seams.

Using a tallying app on my phone, I begin to count every individual that I see, wading along the shore and recording each one through a simple click. As I observe each plant, I make mental notes: no visible insect damage, pods still green. Once I tally fifty plants on the app — the minimum population size for sustainable collecting — I record my observations in my field notebook. I also collect seeds of the cardinal flowers, their pods brown and dry, held upright on their stems, the opening of the pod sheltered by the wilted calyx. Sporting its red flowers like funky party hats, this colorful species is an important nectar source for hummingbirds, which in turn, spread its pollen to neighboring flowers.

Monkey-flower and cardinal flower serve as crowning examples of the mission of the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society’s ReSeeding Rhode Island initiative: to increase both native plant populations and their pollinators across the state. While monkey-flower serves as a host plant for native butterfly species, including Baltimore Checkerspots and the Common Buckeye, cardinal flower attracts hummingbirds, bees, and moths.

The project began with a list of approximately thirty-two species, many of them known for both attracting pollinators and tolerating sunny, dry conditions. Some exceptions include species that prefer wetter conditions, such as the monkey-flower and cardinal flower, and several grass species that serve more of an ecological role, such as improving soil stability and providing bird and insect habitats. Although RIWPS has a target list of ‘most-wanted’ species, our species list is mutable.

Bushy clover with little bluestem, photo Shanon Kingsley

Our collections ultimately depend on the availability of these seeds in the wild and the sustainability of the target populations. As the project unfolds, I find myself shuttling from the blistering fields of Carter Preserve in Charlestown, to the squishy water’s edge of Browning Mill Pond in Arcadia; I have searched along the wooded paths of Cumberland Land Trust, and explored the varied topographies of private landowner property.

With each new site, I approach my work with a similar mentality: I am a citizen of this natural space, and this work requires an intentional, reciprocal relationship to the land and its inhabitants. To this end, I follow the Seeds of Success (SOS) protocol, a publicly accessible document produced by the Bureau of Land Management that outlines the responsibilities of collecting wild seeds. Some of these regulations include collecting plants from populations with more than fifty individuals and collecting no more than twenty percent of the population’s seeds on any given day. Additionally, I must return to the same population of a specific species to collect seeds two or three times per season in order to maximize genetic diversity within the collected population. I also evaluate the health of the population throughout the season to monitor how insect damage or negative environmental conditions, such as extreme drought or heat, affect seed production.

Additionally, it is important we remember and give honor to the indigenous people who first stewarded this land upon which RIWPS now collects seeds. These tribes include the Narragansetts, the Niantics, the Pequots and the Pokanokets. I spend considerable time researching public lands and networking with local environmental stewards who know the histories of public lands across Rhode Island. I determine wild status through learning about the history of different lands from professionals within the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), local stewards of various land trusts, and private landowners. On numerous occasions, I have been disappointed to learn that a promising population I found was in fact seeded for restoration purposes. Although it is amazing that much of Rhode Island’s public lands have been restored and seeded to improve ecosystem health and to aid wildlife, these sites pose a challenge for finding “truly” wild populations.

For each site where I find a healthy, sizable population from which to collect seeds, I gain official written or verbal permission from the managers of the site and confirm its wild status. I collect seeds from sites managed by various organizations within Rhode Island, including RIDEM, The Nature Conservancy, Norman Bird Sanctuary, Warren Land Conservation Trust, and Westerly Land Trust. There is also a rigorous documentation aspect of the project which aligns with the project’s goal of utilizing a data-driven approach to this work.

This documentation starts in the field with comprehensive field notes and systematic collections of both seed and voucher specimens. In alignment with SOS Protocols, I collect one to two voucher specimens per species at the site of seed collection for documentation and herbaria accession purposes. I also record exact GPS coordinates for each voucher and seed collection. With this coordinate data, I create an interactive map through Rstudio, software that accommodates R computer programming for data science and visual scientific communication. The continual mapping of sites and species across the state helps visualize the spread of our collections, especially as we aim to collect from all three subregions of Ecoregion 59.

As of late summer, I am seed- deep in collections. I have collected approximately 20 species of seeds, including notable pollinator plants such as common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), licorice-scented goldenrod (Solidago odora), and narrow-leaved mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium). As autumn unfolds, I plan to collect several late-seeding species, including wavy-leaved aster (Symphyotrichum undulatum), bushy bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus), and blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia).

Seed cleaning is another important step in this project, and this process varies depending on the cleaning requirements for each species. For some species, such as bladder-pod lobelia (Lobelia inflata), it is as simple as splitting the seed pod and emptying the seeds into a small paper bag for storage. For others, it requires the use of screens and sifters to separate the seed from its pappus, or the feathery tuft attached to the seed, as in the case of goldenrod (Solidago) species.

From the barely perceptible seeds of blue vervain (Verbena hastata) to the trigger-spring seed explosions of wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), the silky parachutes of swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and velvety tear drops of round-headed bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), it is a transformative experience to be responsible for the collection of such varied and intricate life forces. Especially during the uncertainty of the global climate crisis, it is more imperative than ever to remember the importance of aiding in the proliferation of native plants and the pollinators that depend on them.

 

 

 

Retrospective – RIWPS

This talk, by Lisa Lofland Gould, was delivered on November 12, 2022 during a Panel Discussion: Seeding the Future at the University of Rhode Island. This event commemorated RIWPS 35th Anniversary. Brian Maynard, Professor of Plant Sciences at URI and RIWPS Board member served as moderator. Lisa Lofland Gould, a founder and former leader of RIWPS opened with this talk.  Lisa and the other two panelists Uli Lorimer, horticulture director of the Native Plant Trust, Heather McCargo, founder of the Wild Seed Project, in Maine then went on to discuss where we go from here, in this era of climate change and exploding interest in native plants.  Link to a recording of Seeding the Future.    

The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society had its beginnings in 1986, in the cookhouse at the Audubon Society of RI’s Eppley Wildlife Refuge, where several of us had gathered to learn about wild plant cultivation. I remember telling the group about the Wildflower Garden Club that my mother belonged to, in North Carolina—a group of people who enjoyed gardening with native plants and also loved exploring natural areas. As we talked, we agreed that it would be great to have a Rhode Island group dedicated to wild plants, both in our yards and in the state’s wild areas, but we quickly decided that we wanted to go beyond gardening and having fun together in beautiful places: we wanted to reach out to the wider community to provide education in native plant appreciation, cultivation, and conservation.

With Betty Salomon and me leading the charge but with many others in the brigade, contacting friends and bringing together like-minded people, within a year we were a fully incorporated organization, with a Board of Trustees, dues, and by-laws (drawn up by the current RIWPS president, Peter Lacouture); within a few months of our incorporation, we already boasted 150 memberships!

I wish I could name everybody who has worked so hard making RIWPS such a great success these past 35 years, but then we would be here all day, as there are so many dedicated people who deserve recognition! However, I would like to name our original Board, as some of you are still actively involved with RIWPS (and far too many who are no longer with us):

First Board of Directors: Lisa Gould, President; Betty Salomon, Vice-president; Nancy Magendantz, Recording Secretary; Martha Marshall, Corresponding Secretary and Marnie Lacouture, Treasurer

Members-at-large: Edith Calderara,Rick Enser, Gilbert George, Roger Goos, Millie House, Katherine Kinsey, Helen Lusi, Margaret Stone, Irene Stuckey and Dorothy Swift

We worked hard to put together a board of people who hailed from all over Rhode Island, and who represented a wide range of backgrounds and interests.  Basically, RIWPS was formed around a shared love of wild plants and especially wild plants in context, in their natural communities. That led us to want to go beyond being a garden club and have conservation and educational components. To me, the great success of RIWPS has been its broad base, offering activities of all kinds that appeal to a wide group of people.

Within the first 5 or 6 years of our existence, we were offering 50 or 60 events per year, including walks, plant sales, propagation workshops, lectures, garden tours, and ID classes. The first Seed Starters group was formed in our early years. We conducted many plant inventories for townships and conservation organizations, providing a great deal of valuable data about Rhode Island’s natural areas. We published newsletters, cultivation notes, Fun Pages for children, and informational handouts. We created library displays and Plant ID boards and Plant Discovery boxes to entertain and inform school children, and we were giving prizes at the State Science Fair and small scholarships to college students. We sponsored legislation to add Sea Lavender to the Christmas Greens law. And in our 5th or 6th year, I believe, we were making plans to prepare a display for the first R.I. Spring Flower & Garden show; those displays, as most of you know, won many awards over the years. Kay Kinsey put it well: “Education and Agitation”!

What motivated us? In preparation for our 10th anniversary celebration, I asked a random selection of members to talk about just that. A major theme, of course, was development: the carving up of open land and woodlands into house lots, subdivisions, malls, and roads, and the subsequent loss of the plants and animals that once inhabited our fields, hedgerows, and forests. There was grief over the loss of specific plants—gentians, orchids, lilies–and the loss of wild land you could freely walk over. Others mentioned invasive plants overwhelming our native vegetation. In general, people felt sadness at the changes and powerless to alter their course. 125 years ago, W. Whitman Bailey, who published Among Rhode Island Wildflowers, had the same lament: “Now, in view of the inevitable encroachment of streets and houses, we are silent while the heart is aching. It is hard to see what Nature made so beautiful debased and ruined.”

More importantly, people were motivated by a love of place: Rhode Island’s flora may not be so grand as the flora of the Midwest prairies or the Great Smoky Mountains, but the small scale in itself creates a kind of intimacy, a treasuring of what is here, in the full awareness that there is so little of it. There is such pleasure in greeting old friends, like the first Trailing Arbutus of spring, or being introduced to a plant you’ve never met before, say, Bastard Toadflax. “Flowerizing” was what Ken & Betty Weber called it.

What other small state has as many land trusts as Rhode Island, as well as a very active Audubon Society and Nature Conservancy, both major conservation-land owners in Rhode Island? Rhode Island is about the same size as the county I live in in NC + the county to the immediate east, but those counties, and 7 others, have one large land trust. Rhode Island has 45 land trusts and conservancies!

RIWPS members were also motivated by the delight in being with people who share a common passion and want to spread that pleasure around. Many of us have stories about the people who got us interested in wild plants, maybe during our childhood or by adult friends who shared their excitement and passed the contagion along.

And yes, we were aware of climate change. In 1988, the year after RIWPS formed, I was sent to represent RIWPS at a World Wildlife Fund conference in Washington, D.C., called Consequences of the Greenhouse Effect for Biological Diversity, attended by over 300 people from conservation agencies, botanical gardens, zoos, international, federal, and state agencies, and academic institutions. And kudos to RIWPS: we were the only state plant society represented there. I should note that virtually everything predicted by the ecologists and climatologists who spoke at that conference has come to pass: more severe and frequent storms, melting icebergs and sea level rise, collapsing permafrost, warmer winters, movement of tropical diseases into temperate zones, droughts, floods, and wildfires, and much more, and all of it happening at such a rate that our plant and animal communities cannot keep up with. If you want to learn more about this conference, check out the Winter 2018 edition of WildfloraRI. Climate change has been on our mind, so I’m grateful to participate in today’s discussion about it.

Finally, I just want to say how wonderful it is to be with so many friends today and commend ALL of you for the amazing work you’ve done over these past 4 decades. Whether you’ve served on the Board, written newsletter articles, created websites and blogs, started seeds and tended plants for the sales, kept the office going, led walks, donated funds, inventoried properties, helped create the garden show displays, grew native landscapes in your yard, or simply enjoyed participating in the Society’s activities—whatever you’ve done—you deserve great credit. Kudos to you all and keep up the wonderful work!

Great Swamp Botanizing Walk – Revisit August 2022

RIWPS Great Swamp Field Trip 16 August 2022 Beth Dickson Seventeen plant enthusiasts joined Anne Wagner and Kathy Barton to explore the Great Swamp on August 20, 2022, following the same path taken earlier in the spring (see earlier blog).