FALL 2018, VOLUME 19, ISSUE 4

A PUBLICATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

Native Plant to Know Seedbox Ludwigia alternifolia by Lisa K. Schlag Seedbox is a multi-branched, herbaceous wetland perennial that On a winter walk in a nearby park a grows two to three feet (up to a few years ago, curiosity led me down a metre) tall with a fleshy and fibrous narrow, overgrown path between a root system. The stems are glabrous pond’s margin and a wetland where I (lacking hairs) and have a habit of discovered the dried stalks of a plant reclining on neighbouring with distinctly shaped fruit capsules. plants. A prominent identifying The brown capsules were shaped like feature of this plant, typical of little square boxes. Intrigued, I later members of the evening primrose learned that this plant was called family, is that the flower parts are seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia). in fours, including a four- Seedbox is the only plant with a branched, cross-like (lobed) square fruit capsule. Throughout the stigma. The solitary, bright yellow winter, the seeds are shaken out by the four-petalled flowers with four petal- wind and escape their container sized green sepals and four through a small apical pore. The stamens are supported by short capsules can also float. Wind and water stalks that develop in each carry the many seeds to new locations. upper leaf axil. The green, lance- The loose seeds tumbling around shaped leaves have a toothless edge inside their live container have given and taper to a point on either end. The the plant another of its common small flowers bloom from June to names: rattlebox. August. The plant usually sheds its L. alternifolia is a member of the delicate petals after one day, leaving evening primrose family, Onagraceae. the lovely green sepals. When I visited Seedbox is one of 82 species currently a population of seedbox in September, classified within the genus Ludwigia I observed the leaves and sepals had whose specific epithet, alternifolia, begun to display reddish coloration. describes its leaf arrangement: leaves Below the sepals, the fruit capsules that are alternate, not opposite, to each containing the seeds were developing. other on each side of a stem. Carl Seedbox prefers full to partial sun in BRIGITTE GRANTON Linnaeus named the Ludwigia genus wet to moist conditions with acidic, after Christian Gottlieb Ludwig (1709 sandy soil; it would complement – 1773) a German botanist and cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), ILLUSTRATION BY professor of medicine in Leipzig, great blue lobelia (Lobelia syphilitica), Germany. marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), Continued on page 15 The Blazing Star is... 2018 Annual General Meeting The Blazing Star is published quarterly (April, August, November, February) by the North American Native Plant Society On October 27, the North American Native Plant Society held its Annual General (NANPS). Contact [email protected] Meeting and Social at the Toronto Botanical Garden. This year, as one of the for editorial deadlines and for advertising member groups of Ontario Nature, Lake Ontario North region, NANPS hosted the rates. The views expressed herein are regional meeting in conjunction with our AGM. those of the authors and not necessarily We are very fortunate that all the NANPS directors stood for re-election this year. those of NANPS. And we welcome our newest director Nishaa Agarwal who will be taking on the The North American Native Plant Society role of treasurer in 2019. is dedicated to the study, conservation, The NANPS Volunteer Award went to two invaluable volunteers this year: Dilys cultivation and restoration of North Bowman and Ryan Godfrey, who both generously contributed their time, extensive America’s native flora. knowledge and enthusiasm for native plants with NANPS. Fall 2018 The 2018 Founders Conservation Award was presented to Riverwood Volume 19, Issue 4 Conservancy, a 150-acre property in Mississauga, Ontario. Their focus is on ISSN 2291-8280 gardens, stewardship, native plant propagation and environmental education. The conservancy provides a beautiful green space open to the public every day of the Editor: Irene Fedun year. Visit theriverwoodconservancy.org. Production: Bea Paterson Paul Heydon was the recipient of the Richard Woolger Cultivation Award. Paul is Proofreader: Vicki Soon-Ai Low a biologist and landscape designer who operates Grow Wild!, a small company that Printed by: Guild Printing, Markham, Ontario provides biological consulting, ecological restoration, ELC surveying and contract growing for native tree and plant restoration projects. He will lead a seed © North American Native Plant Society cultivation workshop on March 2, 2019. See next page for details. Images © the photographers and The 2018 NANPS Garden Award went to Susan Beharriell, a King City, Ontario illustrators, text © the authors. gardener whose property includes pollinator-friendly gardens, a pond, walking All rights reserved. trails and more. Susan gave a presentation on the steps she took planning and North American Native Plant Society, planting her garden. formerly Canadian Wildflower Society, We capped is a registered charitable society, no. off the day with 130720824 RR0001. a guided hike Donations to the society are tax- through nearby creditable in Canada. Wilket Creek NANPS Membership: Ravine, led by CAN$25/YEAR WITHIN CANADA, Alan Colley of US$25/YEAR OUTSIDE CANADA Toronto Join online or send cheque or money Aboriginal Eco

order to North American Native Plant Tours. TASSIE DANIELLE Society, Box 69070, St. Clair P.O., Highlights of Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4T 3A1. the hike for me:

E-mail: [email protected] HOTOGRAPH BY

spotting P Web: nanps.org. thimbleberry Facebook: facebook.com/nativeplant NANPS AGM attendees gathered outside the Toronto Botanical Garden at the (Rubus Twitter: @tnanps start of a botanical tour of nearby Wilket Creek Park led by Alan Colley. Instagram: parviflorus), instagram.com/nativeplant_society/ whose delicious berries are appreciated by Board of Directors: humans and wildlife, Vice-president: Adam Mohamed and seeing remnants of Treasurer: Ralph Fernando the historic uses of the Secretary: Tyler Doré area, such as the old Nishaa Agarwal metal tubes used for Jason Bernardon tapping maple syrup in Colleen Cirillo Arielle Dillonsmith sugar maples (Acer Janice Keil saccharum). Alice Kong FOSTER © JOHN F. Danielle Tassie Donna Lang NANPS Communications

Harold Smith HOTOGRAPH Coordinator P Wilket Creek

2 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 A Graceful Flower Clings to Mountain Gorges in the Carolinas

by Kay Wade gracing moist ravines and steep banks dried, broken fragments of a plant he of the many streams pouring out of did not recognize. Upon inquiry, he The story of Shortia galacifolia is the mountains. No records, oral or learned that no botanist in America rooted in the history of Jocassee written, appear to exist acknowledging was aware of its existence. He Valley, the Toxaway River and the river the plant’s usefulness as medicine or described the specimen as best he valley known simply as the food. could in the absence of a flower and named the new plant Shortia galacifolia. The quest to discover Shortia living in its native habitat would occupy Dr. Gray for most of the rest of his life. More than a century would pass before the plant would again be found in Jocassee Valley. In the meantime, a small patch of the sub-species Shortia galacifolia var. brevistyla was found in the headwaters of the Catawba River in North Carolina. Dr. Gray visited the state to see the plant before his death, declaring his life complete. Dr. Gray likely never saw Shortia in flower. Gray’s friend and fellow botanist Charles Sargent discovered Shortia galacifolia during a botanical KAY WADE KAY GROWING NATIVE HOTOGRAPH BY

P PLANTS FROM SEED Shortia galacifolia WORKSHOP

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2019 Horsepasture in the southeastern The first documented collection of 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. United States. Here, where the Blue Oconee bells was made by France’s Toronto Botanical Garden, Ridge Mountains face south, royal botanist, Andre Michaux, in Garden Hall, 777 Lawrence headwaters of the Savannah River have 1787. Michaux, perhaps the first Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario cut deep gorges through ancient European to penetrate these wild mountain rock. Here, where an lands, botanized his way up the Learn from an expert and owner imaginary line divides the Carolinas, is Savannah River until it became the of an established native plant where Shortia galacifolia clings to the Seneca and then the Keowee. A couple nursery, Paul Heydon. thin soil of steep mountain slopes. of miles shy of where the Keowee Paul will lead participants When a power company made the River split once again into the through seed harvest and decision to dam the Toxaway River Toxaway and Whitewater Rivers, germination techniques. These and flood these valleys, few people Michaux collected a specimen of an include moist-cold stratification, knew – or cared – that the move evergreen groundcover he merely scarification, double dormancy, would eliminate the majority of the described, misleadingly, as growing in seeds that germinate without any world’s habitat for this rare mountain the “high mountains of the Carolinas.” pre-treatment, slow-growing species. Michaux’s botanical collection woodland plants, and orchids and The Cherokee people who lived at eventually became the property of the ferns, if there’s time. Tickets the base of the Jocassee Gorges were Museum of Natural History in Paris, available soon. To register: surely well acquainted with Shortia. By France. There it languished for more http://nanps.org/events/seed- the mid-1700s the Cherokees had than half a century. germination-workshop/. mostly left these valleys, their towns In 1839, American botanist Asa abandoned to war and disease, but Gray visited France and examined dense mats of Shortia remained, Michaux’s collection, discovering Continued on page 5

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 3 NATHAN DONALDSON NATHAN ILLUSTRATION BY

4 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 Continued from page 3 exploration of the Jocassee Gorges in melon, melding into cantaloupe at its remaining populations cling to thin 1886 and called the graceful flowers tips. The bell-shaped flowers are white soil right where ancient mountain Oconee bells. Thick stoloniferous mats to pale pink, with beautifully veined rock meets lake, peeking out from of Oconee bells were documented petals both rounded and lobed, under masses of rhododendron and along the banks of the Toxaway, the appearing as fringed as the buckskin mountain laurel. Some of the Horsepasture, the Thompson and the dresses worn by Cherokee women. The remaining habitat is protected by the Whitewater Rivers, and along the flower nods to the ground. Banana states of South and North Carolina. multitude of creeks flowing into the yellow stigmas hold five pie-shaped The rest, we pray, is protected by the rivers. As S. galacifolia grows up steep anthers that point towards a much private power company that built the mountain slopes the patches become taller style. Rarely does the height of lake. progressively smaller and spread the plant, flower and all, exceed 4 Find this sliver of temperate further apart. Its native range is inches (10 centimetres). rainforest called the Jocassee Gorges narrow, limited to elevations between In the twentieth century, logging and come, mid-March to April, to see 800 feet (240 metres) and 3,800 feet (1,160 metres), from the Eastern Continental Divide to the South Carolina Piedmont, and entirely within the upper Savannah River watershed. To imagine the beauty of Shortia galacifolia without benefit of pictures, one needs to conjure the image of a fresh fruit salad. The WADE KAY plant’s rosette of slightly HOTOGRAPH BY oblong, P serrate leaves Oconee bells has the colour and gloss of a waxy green apple, with pinnate veins roads began to crisscross Oconee bell the bell-shaped flowers bloom. so prominent the leaves appear almost habitat, and in the late 1960s a dam crinkled. When Oconee bells bloom, was built to create Lake Jocassee. This Kay Wade is a professional gardener, long slender scapes the colour of pink clear, sparkling lake, nestled at the environmental garden writer and co- grapefruit hold aloft persistent bud base of the southern Blue Ridge owner with her husband Brooks of scales reminiscent of ripe papaya, Escarpment, drowned roughly 80% of Jocassee Lake Tours in South Carolina, which in turn hold a persistent calyx. the plant’s original habitat, as jocaseelaketours.com. The calyx has the blush of a honeydew documented prior to 1970. The

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 5 Bee Attraction to Native Flowers in a Small Yard

by Mary Stark and Stephen Johnson with “deep to shallow floral tubes such petals to get to the nectar.” Or the bee as penstemons and salvias, and some may become a nectar thief, chewing Imagine standing in a residential with flat landing pads or shallow through the base of the petals and driveway in summer and suddenly bowls such as most species of poppies, bypassing pollen collection. finding yourself part of the aerial geraniums and sunflowers.” The jewelweed bumble bee workers display of dozens of Virginia carpenter The jewelweed bumble bee (Bombus have a trick shared with other bees. bees (Xylocopa virginica). If you stand impatiens), one of the first bee visitors They exploit plants with anthers that still, these bees will fly near and in the spring, has a medium tongue rely on vibratory sound to disperse around you as if you were a tree. length and is attracted to medium- pollen, instead of just shedding it as As a professor of nature writing and length flower tubes such as those found most plants do. This process is called environmental literature, I have been in some wild indigos (Baptisia spp.), sonication or buzz pollination. learning about the diversity and but this bee is quite versatile. In early B. impatiens workers in Stephen’s interactions of bees and plants from spring, Bombus impatiens queens yard sonicate such species as Virginia ecologist Stephen Johnson. He has search out Virginia bluebells meadow beauty (Rhexia virginica) created an amazing sanctuary on less (Mertensia virginica) for nectar to fuel and southern wild senna (Senna marilandica). I am astonished by sonication. I like the idea that the sound of buzzing dislodges the pollen, which flies to the bee as if by magic. Other early spring visitors are the green bees of the tribe augochlorini, from the vast bee family Halictidae. They are commonly lumped together under the moniker “metallic green sweat bees,” but, with a little observation and practice, we can see that the bees are distinct to genus. The smallest, Augochlora pura, is a common visitor that favours small, radial flowers such as pokeweed

STEPHEN JOHNSON (Phytolacca americana) or short, tubular ones such as lance-leaved frogfruit (Phyla lanceolata) as well as HOTOGRAPH BY

P fall-blooming asters (Symphyotrichum Bombus bimaculatus male on purple coneflower spp.). Bees of the genus Augochlorella are slightly larger and brighter green. In Stephen’s garden, Augochlorella than a quarter of an acre (one-tenth their metabolism and pollen to feed persimilis appears on Kankakee mallow of a hectare) in Pella, Iowa. Since 2012, their growing colonies. The workers of (Iliamna remota), an exceedingly rare I have visited this National Wildlife this species progress through other plant in the wild that is endemic to Federation Sanctuary in spring and short-tube or discoid flowers through Langham Island in Illinois. The largest summer to explore and record the the summer such as blue and white and possibly hairiest metallic sweat phenology of plants and bees. wild indigos (Baptisia australis and bee is the Augochloropsis. A. metallica, Chronicling the visitation of the bees B. alba), gumweed (Silphium another species capable of sonication, has kept us as busy as bees! I record integrifolium), Culver’s root frequents Virginia meadow beauty and my observations to help me remember (Veronicastrum virginicum), giant southern wild senna in Stephen’s yard and understand the intricacies of the purple hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), along with wild roses (Rosa spp.). bees’ behaviour, then Stephen reviews pickerelweed (Pontideria cordata), The long-tongued American bumble them for accuracy. white turtlehead (Chelone glabra) bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) workers Among bees, floral selection is and closed bottle gentian (Gentiana are attracted to the flowers of the usually dependent on tongue length. andrewsii). As Stephen says, the latter spring ephemeral known as midland In order to attract the greatest two “require the worker bee to force shooting star (Dodecatheon media). diversity of bees, says Stephen, it’s a her way past tightly clasping upper Early spring is an important time for good idea to grow a variety of plants and lower petals or completely fused bumble bee queens and, in Stephen’s

6 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 yard, Carlin’s digger bees (Andrena the base of a big bluestem well. It is a fine example of what Dave carlini). Stephen notes that for the (Andropogon gerardii) in a bare patch Goulson describes in A Sting in the past four years, his yard has attracted of an area of his yard he calls “prairie.” Tale as a type of bee-assisted not only the queens of jewelweed He also discovered holes made by weediness, a process where bee bumble bees but also those of two- other females in the ground nearby. pollination increases the seedset and spotted bumble bees (Bombus Stephen waited for half an hour, subsequent expansion of some plant bimaculatus) and female and male watching two females emerge from populations. Purple coneflower in Virginia carpenter bees (Xylocopa holes and fly in straight lines away Stephen’s sanctuary attracts six species virginica). The latter two are attracted from them. Three females returned to of bumble bees plus honeybees and to the flowers of Virginia bluebells, the nests, always while the jewelweed bees follow the following what he phenological path laid out earlier. The describes as “an two-spotted bumble bee queen, an imperfect helical open forest species, also visits descent.” Stephen Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaris). Two- spotted bumble bee workers rely on Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum), summer-flowering Kankakee mallow, blueberry plants (Vaccinium sp.) and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). I recall that Thomas Fleischner suggests “paying attention to the bigger world outside our own STEPHEN JOHNSON heads” in his introduction to HOTOGRAPHS BY The Way of P Natural History. In Good vibrations: Augochloropsis metallica buzz Bombus pensylvanicus and Xylocopa virginica on Salvia azurea this little pollination of Virginia meadow beauty (azure blue sage) sanctuary, I practice “mindfulness.” I try to focus, explained that this is no doubt a several aster specialists such as Svastra forget the cell phone and block response to a kleptoparasitic female atripes atripes. To Stephen, this last bee thoughts about a to-do list. Although bee that lays her eggs in the Andrena looks like an extraordinarily hairy but the bees dart, weave, hover and land, I nest. She is a non-pollinating bee of small Virginia carpenter bee. Another remain still and attentive. the genus Nomada and, in this case, common visitor to Echinacea purpurea Carlin’s digger bees collect pollen looks very much like a yellowjacket. I is the sunflower leafcutter bee from – and even mate on – the flowers am conscious of the challenge of (Megachile pugnata). Both males and of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). identifying bees and other insects, but females visit the flower heads and the This bee also likes yellow-flowered I have become more confident of females make nests in its stems. merrybells (Uvularia grandiflora). This identifying plants correctly. Stephen finds the M. pugnata males past spring, Stephen watched a female Summer-blooming purple engaging as they seem to “prance” Carlin’s digger bee taking a circuitous coneflower is a strong bee magnet. It is among the disk flowers of Echinacea. route to return to her nest hole near easy to grow and will spread fairly Continued on page 8

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 7 Continued from page 7

Perhaps because I also teach children’s stem all winter, until her offspring the brown-belted bumblebee also literature, I start to anthropomorphize have completely developed. Once enjoys the short-tubed yellow wild and wonder if this little Megachile lives several broods of small carpenter bees indigo (Baptisia sphaerocarpa). up to his pugnacious name by fighting are mature, we may see them on wild Blackberries also draw several species off other bees on the purple petunia (Ruellia humilis), sunflowers of digger bees such as Andrena vicina coneflower. Stephen says the opposite (Helianthus spp.) and asters. The and the Milwaukee digger bee (A. is true; he usually sees other bees garden reminds me to be patient as I milkwaukiensis). chase off sunflower leafcutter bees. wait for the seasons to unfold. Amorpha, a genus of plants in the Foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon The blue orchard bee (Osmia pea family, is a favourite with digitalis) attracts an assortment of lignaria) comes to flowers of wild numerous bee species. Digger bees are bees, including two species of small geranium (Geranium maculatum) and attracted to a 12-foot (three- to four- leafcutter bees and a larger, distant wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides). metre) tall Amorpha nitens that has been in his yard for 15 years. Also frequenting this plant are honeybees, brown-belted bumble bee workers and difficult-to-identify andrenids, including an Amorpha specialist known as Andrena quintalis. This last has been a consistent visitor for the last three years. The dwarf species Amorpha nana (fragrant or dwarf false indigo) attracts jewelweed bumble bee workers, but also diminutive and delicate leafcutter bees of the genus Hoplitis, including a blue-eyed male Hoplitis producta. Plants in the Verbenaceae

STEPHEN JOHNSON family are attractive to a range of bees. Certain small leafcutter bees from what is

HOTOGRAPHS BY termed by bee experts as the P “rotundata” group – meaning Hoplitis producta on dwarf false indigo Agapostemon virescens on Echinacea purpurea nearly indistinguishable close relatives of the alfalfa leaf relative of the honeybee named the Judging by its floral choices, it is likely cutter bee (Megachile rotundata) – red-tipped anthophora (Anthophora that the blue orchard bee has a short- visit lance-leaved frogfruit. Stephen terminalis). In order to keep the to medium-length tongue. Another notes that “males are entertaining to anthophora visiting his garden, Osmia species, the minuscule O. watch as they belligerently knock each Stephen must keep rotten logs pumila, appeared in Stephen’s other off the finial-like, compressed somewhere on his land to provide sanctuary for the first time in 2017, floral spikes of frogfruit. More nesting spots for the females. He tells visiting only the flowers of wood spectacular yet are the tiny, highly me it’s a good idea to leave the dead poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). The active, yellow-eyed males of Calliopsis beardtongue stems standing in the fall. females industriously chew the edges andreniformis that perform amazing Come early spring or late winter, of strawberry leaves, using the leaf acts of aerial-mating competition.” break the dead stems about a foot or paste to partition their nests. Stephen watched enthralled as three two off the ground; you’ll notice that When wild blackberry (Rubus sp.) is males, “all facing each other, flew in an they’re hollow. Later in the spring, go in bloom, its flowers will attract a few unwavering, imperfect (off by about back to see if a small carpenter bee honeybees, but more likely workers of three degrees), right-triangle (Ceratina sp.) is nesting in the hollow the brown-belted bumble bee (Bombus formation all within a human hand- stems. The female may stay in her griseocollis). As a short-tongued bee, sized opening in the densely packed

8 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 frog-fruit. Suddenly one male broke the formation, dropping out of sight. The other two males remained in formation and only fled when they saw a movement [from him].” One researcher calls these and other C. andreniformis male contests “mixed martial arts.” Next to the Phyla in Stephen’s garden is a butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), which attracts members of the Megachile rotundata group mentioned in the previous paragraph. Their legs are too short to accomplish pollination, but their tongues are long enough to extract nectar. The female two-spotted longhorn bee (Melissodes bimaculatus) has legs long enough to contact the pollen, but, according to Stephen, “the STEPHEN JOHNSON nectar alone can draw in unexpected oddities such as a wee resin bee of the HOTOGRAPH BY genus Heriades from the Megachilidae P [family].” Colletes latitarsis on ground cherry In late July or early August, I return to the garden soon after the butterfly attract jewelweed bumble bees, but bicoloured agapostemon also loves milkweeds have finished flowering. more often minuscule masked bees purple coneflower and Kankakee Stephen shows me the seven-foot (Hylaeus sp.) that come to eat the mallow.) (two-metre) stems of Pitcher’s sage pollen. Stephen explains that, having On the cusp of fall, the asters come (Salvia pitcheri or S. azurea) towering no external hair on their bodies, these into their floral glory. New England over their senescing bodies, bearing attractive, painted-faced bees and aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) sky-blue tubular and lipped flowers. other species of the family Colletidae presents its lavender and pink-rayed Pitcher’s sage attracts many larger, are not efficient pollinators. Another heads to many bees, including medium- to long-tongued bees such colletid, a specialist of ground cherry Megachile mendica, M. texana, Bombus as the ever-present jewelweed bumble (Physalis spp.), began to show up in impatiens, Ceratina calcarata, bee, but also the workers and beautiful 2016 when Stephen let a colony of Augochlorella spp., the ligated golden male of the American bumble long-leaf ground cherry (Physalis gregarious bee (Halictus ligatus) and – bee. The plant is also a favourite of longifolia) proliferate. Now each spring in seeming synchrony with the Virginia carpenter bees. when Physalis is in flower, its specialist changing season – the beautiful, Another later bloomer is obedient bee, Colletes latitarsis, can be seen autumnal orange long-horned bee plant (Physostegia virginiana). Its stationed on Physalis leaves. (Melissodes trinodis). moderately deep, pale pink tubes The midsummer flower known as Observing the bees, I am reminded ox-eye (Heliopsis of Fleischner’s “many gifts” of “natural helianthoides) history mindfulness” and its Original Art draws the yellow regenerative power. by longhorn bee (Melissodes Mary Stark is the John and Anna Poole Brigitte Granton agilis), a Professor of Humanities and English at sunflower Central College in Pella, Iowa. Stephen Acrylic, Oil and Ink. specialist, and the Johnson is a botanist and plant ecologist. occasional In 2018, his yard was designated a Commission work by request. bicoloured pollinator habitat with The Xerces agapostemon Society for Invertebrates, a non-profit (Agapostemon organization that advocates for visit www.brigittegranton.com virescens). (The conservation.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 9 Proactive weeding of our gardens of the future

by Bethany Bradley

When I moved back to Massachusetts several years ago and started planning my garden, my mother dug out an old backyard planting guide published sometime in the 1970s and sent it to me. Reading it later, I was chagrined to discover that the guide was a “who’s who” of northeast invasive plants. Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), Japanese barberry (Berberis thungerii), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) and buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) all made an appearance. I was not surprised. Before I began studying invasive plants, or nonnative species that spread and have negative impacts on native

species and ecosystems, I thought that READ LINDA most species arrived accidentally – inadvertently stuck to a sock or passing HOTOGRAPH BY through the stomach of a woolly sheep. P A series of unfortunate events, but Non-native Japanese barberry produces countless seeds which can easily find a purchase nothing to do with me. It turns out in neighbouring soils and grow into new plants, crowding out native plants. that’s not the case. In our enthusiasm for variety, colour and beauty, gardeners and property owners have become the major vectors of introduction and dispersal of invasive plants. More than 1,300 plants are identified as invasive in the United States and by far the most prominent pathway to their introduction is the ornamental plant trade. Of those species with known introduction histories, 53% were introduced and spread as ornamentals, according to a 2013 study published in The American Journal of Botany. It would be nice to imagine that our unfortunate planting decisions went out with polyester in the ’70s, but it’s likely that we’re continuing to make similar mistakes. A challenge for controlling invasive plants stems from something invasion ecologists refer to as the invasion “lag phase.” For many species, the time between when a plant is initially

Planting “local-ish” reduces the likelihood that we will inadvertently introduce an invasive species and also helps to expand the ranges of native species, thus helping them keep up with climate change.

10 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 introduced and when it is identified as invasive can be upward of 50 years! By the time a label like “problematic invasive” can be applied to a plant, it’s far too late to eradicate it and often barely possible to control it. Our grandkids may well have my same chagrined reaction when looking at planting guides from the 2010s. Not only are we good at introducing new invasive plants, we also do an excellent job of spreading them around the country. Usually the spreading around happens early in the lag phase, which is before we recognize a plant as invasive. A 2015 study published in Global Ecology and Biogeography analyzed the distribution of native vs. invasive plants in the lower 48 U.S. states and found that invasives were far more widespread. The median latitudinal range for an invasive plant was 14 degrees (for reference, the lower 48 states span 25 degrees of latitude) vs. only 7 degrees for native plants. Longitudinal extent differences are similarly striking (50 degrees for invasives vs. 9 degrees for natives). Introduced as ornamentals, invasive plants easily overcome distance as well as dispersal barriers (like mountains) that otherwise restrict native plants. Our widespread introduction of invasive plants relative to native plants is particularly alarming in the context of © CAROL L. EDWARDS © CAROL L. climate change. The current rate of climate change is unprecedented in Earth’s history. The closest analog to our HOTOGRAPH current rate of change happened about 55 million years ago, P during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, when Great spangled fritillary on purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) temperatures rose by about 6°C (10.8°F), over a span of 20,000 years. If emissions continue on our current trajectory, it is likely that temperatures will rise by 6°C in less than 200 years. Current change is incredibly fast. Put another way, my home state of Massachusetts could have a climate more akin to today’s North Carolina. If species are going to survive through this massive and rapid change, they need to move. Many studies have already observed ranges of species shifting poleward and upward in elevation in response to climate change. But, plants have a hard time keeping up. Not surprisingly, plants tend to stay rooted in place and are slow dispersers on their own. One study in southern Vermont analyzed forest composition change over 40 years and found that northern hardwoods had migrated up into formerly boreal forests by about 600 feet during that time period. To keep up with climate change, those same trees would need to move 300 miles (500 kilometres) over the next 40 years. For the vast majority of species, natural dispersal is just not enough. Ironically, human dispersal of invasive plants means that

they will have little trouble keeping up with climate change. READ LINDA Scientists have been debating the merits and perils of “assisted migration,” which would involve transplanting

native species to help ranges shift with climate change. HOTOGRAPH BY P Species transplanted between continents are 40 times more Goldenrods (Solidago spp.) are very popular with pollinators such as likely to become invasive than ‘natives’ transplanted within a this orange-belted bumble bee continent, a 2012 study found. Transplanting natives is not Continued on page 12

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 11 Continued from page 11

risk free, but it’s far less risky than the status quo of biased by this ancient barrier to northward dispersal. importing and introducing new species from other Similarly, a 2016 study of plants endemic to the U.S. that continents. Nonetheless, very few native species have yet have been introduced as ornamentals showed that these been assisted due to concerns about risks to ecosystems on species thrive well outside the climate conditions found in the receiving end. Yet, most homeowners have few qualms their native range. The typical species was found in climates about introducing species from far and wide into our yards. 3°C (5°F) warmer than their native range. Thus, even It is these species that will seed ecosystems of the future. narrowly distributed native species are likely to establish But, is it worth the effort of trying to expand the ranges successfully in cooler zones, ultimately providing that of native species when we don’t know whether they’ll be much-needed head start on climate change. able to persist in cooler climates? One trait of invasive Planting “local-ish” reduces the likelihood that we will plants is that they tend to have broad ranges and therefore inadvertently introduce an invasive species and also helps to broad climatic tolerances. Until recently, many narrow- expand the ranges of native species, thus helping them keep ranged native plants were thought to have correspondingly up with climate change. A win-win! narrow climatic tolerances. But, recent studies of plant If you haven’t seen them already, two great resources for biogeography have cast doubt on that assumption. For identifying nurseries that specialize in native plants in your example, a 2007 study of trees in Europe showed that their are plantnative.org and nanps.org. If you don’t have a distributions are more closely aligned to the extents of the specialty nursery nearby, these websites also list plants last glacial maximum some 21,000 years ago than they are native to your region that are commonly found in most to current climate. Assumptions we make about the climatic nurseries. Another good resource is Wild Ones Seeds for tolerance of European trees based on their distributions are Education Nursery Partners. © CAROL L. EDWARDS © CAROL L. HOTOGRAPH P Monarch butterfly on Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum)

12 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 Late October Woods

If you’re interested in “assisted migration” of native Glen Sorestad species, try looking at native plant lists from states (or provinces) that are slightly warmer than your current locale I love autumn aspen woods – for ideas. Encourage specialty nurseries to consider expanding their stock of native plants to test out greater the clinging pungence varieties from the region. Planting local-ish reduces the likelihood that we’ll accidentally introduce an invasive of fallen leaves, species, supports native birds and other wildlife, and will a sudden sense of antiquity give a much-needed assist to native species in light of climate change. gathering in the nostrils like

Bethany Bradley is an associate professor of biogeography and musty cellar memories, spatial ecology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a constant reminder an investigator with the Northeast Climate Science Center. Learn more about her research at of how earth https://people.umass.edu/bethanyb/people.html. This article was reproduced with permission from Wild Ones Journal, replenishes itself yearly. published by Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, wildones.org. I love the way each footfall releases SEEDS STILL WANTED! a burst of aromas to the senses. I can even empathize Thank you to everyone who has taken the time with these to collect native plant seeds from their gardens wind-stripped trees, or the wild for NANPS how they stand stoic, annual seed exchange. Please keep them denuded, coming. Seeds will be awaiting winter’s breath distributed on a first- come, first-served basis to turn them to anyone who requests brittle skeletons them, although seed donors get first pick! clacking and clattering Send your seeds, against each other separated by species and like ill-fitting dentures. identified with the source/parentage, to These trees will be NANPS Seed Exchange, locked into Box 69070, St. Clair Post Office, Toronto, Ontario, long night dreams M4T 3A1. Visit of re-awakenings, VIVIENNE DENTON nanps.org/seed- collection-reaping-what- of finding Spring. you-sow/ for tips on how HOTOGRAPH BY P to collect Glen Sorestad, who lives in Saskatoon, was Saskatchewan’s Verbena hastata and first poet laureate. This poem was reprinted with permission Thank you! Asclepias incarnata from Heartwood: Poems for the Love of Trees.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 13 New & Noted I saw a perfect tree today

Heartwood: Poems for the Love Lillian Allen of Trees Edited by Lesley Strutt, with a I saw a perfect tree today foreword by Diana Beresford- Kroeger From my cabin bed on a Via Rail train 2018, The League of Canadian Through the North of Ontario Poets, Toronto I saw a perfect tree today ISBN 978-1-896216-51-5 It was tall and thin (softcover) 275 pages and scraggly and prim Then I saw another just as perfect A review of this exquisite Short and sturdy with branches and brambles anthology seems superfluous. And then another with a rugged fat trunk Suffice it to say that poets and their gems are mined from every corner of Canada resulting in a rich, vibrant Older than the rest, but just as perfect collection that reflects the love we all have for our trees. Renowned botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger draws on her I saw a dozen trees in a clump sharing the light inner poet in the foreword: “We must turn to poets to expand their dreams. This is because trees are the parents to So their growth was stunted the child deep within us. Forests bear silent witness to the But regal they were, plumped and perfect tides of time upon which we will be judged. Trees are a gift And then a small twisted tree of the galaxies, their fabric a web of stardust. The web holds with leaves fallen, trunk slanted the great plane of creation. The entire music of the universe, ceolta na cruinne, is held in the trees. It is all the more perfect amplified again, again, and again within the forest. To listen to this music is to meditate. Taken alone, this is sufficient I saw tens and hundreds, and thousands reason to make all forests sacred. And us accountable.” And hundreds of thousands of trees Editor Lesley Strutt alighted upon the idea of an anthology of tree poems after hearing Diana speak and Not one single tree exactly like another recognizing the reverence in which she held trees. Diana And yet they were all perfect, all perfect trees urged her: “Write poems about trees and remind people that we need trees to survive.” Lesley found that so many A man-child from Mississauga heading to bend steel other poets had written about trees it seemed natural to collect the poetry into a book. Her colleagues at the League To make his fortunes in the Alberta oil fields; of Canadian Poets championed her vision, asking poets in “I’ve never seen so many trees in my whole life” each region of the country to make contributions. A balding dude 30 years a social worker Lesley writes: “Poets are ordinary people who pay close attention. We watch, we listen, and we feel things deeply, Retiring home to Winnipeg, calms; beyond the self. Trees matter, and we have written about “Where I come from they cut them all down, them with the windows of our hearts open, breathing in the long, long, long before I was born.” good air that forests provide.” The book is available at amazon.com/Heartwood-Poems- Trees-Lesley-Strutt/dp/189621651X/ for $21.50 for the And I am reminded – This land, this land softcover and $9.16 for the Kindle version plus shipping Where cities have sprouted, and taxes. Funds from its sale will be directed to Blooming glistening skyscrapers at night educational poetry and ecological programs across Canada T’was all covered with trees once in partnership with the Call of the Forest initiative. Visit calloftheforest.ca to watch the trailer of a one-hour One big forest we were once documentary that follows visionary and scientist Diana All perfect trees. Beresford-Kroeger on a journey to the most beautiful forests of the northern hemisphere. The documentary Lillian Allen is an internationally acclaimed dub poet and shows what has been done to protect trees and forests and language innovator. She is a long-time professor of creative what we can all do. writing at OCAD University and a member of the League of Review by Irene Fedun, editor of The Blazing Star Canadian Poets. This poem was reprinted with permission from Heartwood: Poems for the Love of Trees.

14 NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY FALL 2018 Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY 12, 2019 Roseann McKay of the Garden Club of London’s Woodland LONDON’S URBAN FOREST Restoration Project will talk about the legacy we leave 7-8:30 p.m. behind in nature, focusing on conservation and stewardship. Central Library Co-sponsored by Nature London and the London Public 251 Dundas Street, London, Ontario Library. Free admission. Sara Rowland, Urban Forestry Planner for the City of London, will discuss the city’s urban forest with a focus on FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 1, 2019 climate change. Co-sponsored by Nature London and the LAND & WATER SUMMIT 2019: WORKING TOGETHER London Public Library. Free admission. FOR WHOLE BRAIN SOLUTIONS Albuquerque, New Mexico FEBRUARY 19, 2019 Presented by the Xeriscape Council of NM and the Arid LID WOODLAND RESTORATION FROM THE GROUND UP Coalition. Keynote speaker: Benjamin Vogt, author of A 7-8:30 p.m. New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Central Library Uncertain Future. Visit landandwatersummit.org for the speaker list and to register. 251 Dundas Street, London, Ontario

Continued from page 1 – Seedbox

monkeyflower (Mimulus spp.), Canada, this species is and various rushes and sedges in extremely rare and can a wetland or garden setting. It only be found in isolated would do well in a rain garden. populations such as the In an 1892 edition of the Ojibway Prairie near Botanical Gazette, Illinois biologist Windsor, Ontario. Charles Robertson noted that it It was a delight for me to was primarily bees that visited the discover seedbox growing at seedbox flowers for nectar (bumble Lake Metroparks Veterans bees) and pollen (mining bees) Park in Mentor, Ohio. I from July 19 to August 10 of that showed it to fellow nature year. A century later in 1991, while lovers and waxed enthusiastic conducting research on the about its peculiar traits while relationship between a leaf beetle leading a Native Plant Society and seedbox, Texas State University of Northeastern Ohio biologist James R. Ott also discovery walk. Wherever your observed that bees were the walks carry you throughout primary pollinators: the introduced the seasons, observe the honeybee, native bumble bees and intricacies and interesting the eastern carpenter bee. He also relationships that abound reported on other faunal in nature; perhaps you too LISA K. SCHLAG SCHLAG LISA K. associations throughout the will find seedbox growing seasons. Seedbox is the host plant in the wild.

for a leaf beetle whose larva feeds HOTOGRAPH BY P on its seeds. In early fall, small Lisa K. Schlag is an Ohio mammals, such as white-footed Certified Volunteer Naturalist mice and field voles, selectively (OCVN) with The Wilderness consume fruit containing the beetles. Seedbox ranges from the U.S. Center (wildernesscenter.org) chapter in During winter months, white-throated Eastern Seaboard to Colorado and Wilmot, Ohio. She is the treasurer and sparrows sometimes open and into the Canadian provinces of web administrator for the Native Plant consume the insect contents of the Ontario and Quebec. In my home Society of Northeastern Ohio fruit capsules. Flea beetles and pearly state of Ohio, L. alternifolia is found in (nativeplantsocietyneo.org) and a wildlife wood-nymph moth caterpillars are 53 of our 88 counties. In 2014, L. and plant enthusiast who enjoys learning also dependent on various parts of alternifolia was assessed as globally about nature through discovery, seedbox. secure by NatureServe. However, in observation, and recording.

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