Spring 2018 Volume 9, Issue 1 a Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society

Spring 2018 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Volume 9, Issue 1 Letter from the President A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Kirsten Johnson www.mdflora.org Are there any native plants on this stream bank? Uhh. .let’s see. oh look! P.O. Box 4877 Silver Spring, MD 20914 Yellow trout lily! Get up close. Take a picture. Day lilies? Ground ivy? Don’t look at those! Dear Friends, CONTACTS Sad to say, this is a very common scenario. A good proportion of the species in the herbaceous Membership & Website and shrub layers may be native but the vast bulk of the green biomass is non-native—the stu Karyn Molines, [email protected] we pick through, hoping to nd a native plant somehow hanging on. Next time you’re in the Marilandica Editor Kirsten Johnson, [email protected] eld with your camera, try for a photo showing three or more plant species, but not showing any General Inquiries non-natives. It isn’t easy. ere’s bound to be a ground ivy or a multiora rose lurking in there [email protected] somewhere. But you already know this. e non-native species are not going away. We can pull and dig and spray, and we might MNPS CHAPTERS Eastern Shore “save” some acres of native habitat. But as long as the native plants continue to lose the competi- [email protected] tive battle, it’s a hopeless cause. e non-natives have a major helper on their side, namely the Greater Baltimore white-tailed deer, an animal that, like many non-native invasive species, has no predators (other Kirsten Johnson, [email protected] than humans) to curb its population. It is interesting to note that many of our non-native Montgomery County invasive plants, such as garlic mustard, have existed here for centuries, yet their numbers didn’t [email protected] North East explode until the late 20th century – along with the exploding deer population. Tracey Ripani, [email protected] e Department of Natural Resources is working on a 15-year revision of the agency’s Deer Prince George’s/Anne Arundel Counties Management Plan. is is the agency that manages and licenses hunting and shing in Mary- Robinne Grey, [email protected] land. On behalf of MNPS, I recently attended a stakeholder meeting at which DNR solicited Southern Maryland input from hunters, conservationists, state and federal government agencies and others. I was Karyn Molines, [email protected] Washington, DC pleased to hear that reduction of Maryland’s deer herd remains a priority. DNR plans to hold Claudine Lebeau, [email protected] public meetings during the summer. I hope our members and friends will participate to support Western Mountains eective deer management in Maryland. Liz McDowell, [email protected] ~ Kirsten Johnson, President EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Kirsten Johnson, President Karyn Molines, Vice-president 2018 Research Grants Awarded (vacant), Secretary We’re delighted to announce that the following applicants will receive MNPS research grants. Matt Cohen, Treasurer Lyntana Brougham, grad student at Southern Georgia University: Are leaf gas exchange rates in BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ken Bawer salt marsh plants altered by experimental eld warming and elevated CO2? Vanessa Beauchamp Karin Burghardt, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center: Carole Bergmann Do diverse vs. monoculture tree neighborhoods change caterpillar host use of native trees? Allen Browne Anne Denovo Eric Grin PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center: Assessing Michael Ellis how changes in native tree diversity aect trophic interactions and plant productivity. Marc Imlay Beth Johnson Jones, Kathryn M. and Andrew P. Landsman, e Link Between Herbivores and Native Plant Stephanie Mason Communities. Liz Matthews Brett McMillan Martina Mateu, grad student University of MD College Park: Eects of fungal endophyte inocula- Christopher Puttock tion on salinity tolerance of native and invasive Phragmites australis. Sujata Roy Margaret Park, grad student, Towson University: Ecological impacts of a potentially invasive plant: Roderick Simmons Jil Swearingen Miscanthus sinensis. Lou Aronica, Emeritus Kathy ornton and Sylvan Kaufman, Adkins Arboretum: Tracking changes in coastal plain plant Chris Fleming, Emeritus communities. Joe Metzger, Emeritus Our Mission Congratulations to Liz McDowell! Our Western Mountains Coordinator was the recipient Promote awareness, appreciation and conservation of the 2018 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award, conferred by the Appalachian of Maryland’s native plants and their habitats. We Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science for outstanding pursue our mission through education, research, contributions to environmental science and education. advocacy, and service activities. Marilandica Spring 2018 On the cover: Smooth orange milkweed, Asclepias lanceolata. Photo: Jared Satchell. page 1 Wildflower in Focus — Smooth Orange Milkweed Asclepias lanceolata Walter Smooth orange milkweed, few-owered milkweed Dogbane Family, Apocynaceae State Rank S1: At very high risk of extirpation in the state and probably occurring in ve or fewer populations. his year MNPS focuses on the Dogbane Family, species. All these insects have evolved strategies for avoiding or tolerat- and that includes the milkweeds. Once again, my ing the milkweed defenses. Natural selection favored the evolution of choice for our cover was dictated by a beautiful those strategies just as it favored ever more eective defenses on the photo, in this case by Jared Satchell. part of the milkweeds. Hence the term “co-evolutionary arms race.” Maryland is at the northern end of the range of Given the number of insect species that successfully feed on smooth orange milkweed, as it is for many milkweeds, what’s the next evolutionary step for Asclepias? Will the species. According to Jim Brighton of the Maryland Biodiversity arms race continue, with milkweeds becoming ever more toxic? Or Project, “A. lanceolata is super rare and I only know of two popula- will natural selection favor a shift of strategy? Researchers at Cornell tions in Dorchester. e good news is that there are lots of stems in examined growth habits of numerous species of milkweeds, and both locations. e biggest issue is that I’m sure there would be a lot mapped their evolutionary tree. It turned out that the evolutionary more stems but the plants are being trend is for milkweeds to grow back crowded out by phragmites. Both more vigorously after insect damage, and locations are in the oligohaline zone. is that other defenses are actually getting is basically the zone between fresh and weaker. at is, more recently diverging brackish marshes. is habitat is disap- Asclepias species have relatively weaker pearing quickly due to salt inclusion. chemical defenses, but greater capacity Many rare plants are found in this zone for regrowth compared to earlier evolved including long-leaved lobelia (Lobelia species. e researchers propose that this elongata)(S3), which is found in one of is due to the dominance of specialist the A. lanceolata locations. Other insects among milkweed herbivores. interesting plants that are found in the ose insects have been so successful in same area are rattlesnake master (Eryngi- overcoming the milkweeds’ defenses that um aquaticum), and marsh rose gentian Gallagher Judy selection has favored a new evolutionary (Sabatia dodecandra)(S3). All these plants path for their host plants. is Above: Red milkweed beetles (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) bloom around the same time in mid-sum- path—vigorous regrowth—makes plants Below: Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) mer.” more tolerant of the inevitable damage from insect specialists. How will the Milkweeds and Insects: story play out? Check back in a few A Co-evolutionary Arms Race million years. ~Kirsten Johnson Everyone knows that monarch butteries (Danaus plexippus) specialize on milk- References weeds. ey have evolved strategies to Agrawal, A.A., Natural selection on cope with the milkweeds’ defenses against common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) by insect herbivory. After a monarch a community of specialized insect herbi- caterpillar hatches, it nds itself on a vores, Evolutionary Ecology Research, milkweed leaf in a bed of dense hairs. But 2005, 7: 651–667 the caterpillars have evolved the ability to Agrawal, A.A. and M. Fishbein, Phylo- shave the hairs in order to access the Gallagher Judy leaves. Next, when the caterpillar sinks its genetic Escalation and Decline of Plant mandibles into the leaf, it encounters a sticky, poisonous liquid called Defense Strategies, Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci,, 2008, 105: 10057–10060. latex. Some of the larvae are killed by this latex. But most survive by Agrawal, A.A., A Primer on Coevolution: Monarch & Milkweeds, cutting o the veins through which the latex ows. In the third level http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/agrawal/2017/04/26/a-primer-on-coe- of defense and counter defense, milkweed contains a highly toxic volution-monarch-milkweeds/ chemical called a cardiac glycoside. Again, the monarch has evolved Maryland Natural Heritage Program. 2018. Rare, reatened, and not only to tolerate the cardiac glycoside, but to sequester it and put Endangered Plants of Maryland, C. Frye Ed., Maryland Department it to work in its own defense from its bird predators. of Natural Resources, 580 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401. DNR 03-010418-43. Monarchs aren’t the only insects that can feed on milkweeds. Others include red milkweed beetles (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus), stem weevils Zalucki, M.P. and S.B. Malcolm, Plant Latex and First-Instar (Rhyssomatus lineaticollis), small milkweed bugs (Lygaeus kalmii) and Monarch Larval Growth and Survival on ree North American milkweed leaf miner ies (Liriomyza asclepiadis), as well as aphid Milkweed Species J. of Chem. Ecol. 1999, 25:1827–1842. Marilandica Spring 2018 page 2 O Where are the Pines of Piney Branch? Whenever I see the black metal door on the sewer pipe outfall in Another Magnolia Bog was studied a bit to the north, where Ingraham Piney Branch, a Rock Creek tributary in Washington DC, I think of Street NW now meets 5th Street NW.

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