Rhexia October 2016

The Rhexia

Paynes Prairie Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society www.paynesprairie.fnpschapters.org October 2016 General Meeting This Saturday! Restoration Efforts at Silver Springs State Park: Yard Tour Lower Maintenance, Higher Wildlife Value Flamingo Hammock Presented by Jeff Kneisley, Park Services Specialist Saturday, October 15, 9-11 a.m. hosted by Doug Hornbeck Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Phillips Hall, Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship Join us for a tour of Flamingo Hammock, an intentional residential community in southeast 4225 NW 34th Street, Gainesville, FL 32605 Gainesville, on Saturday, October 15, from 9 to 11 a.m. In addition, Doug is offering an optional tour of larger scale restoration by neighbors, the City of Gainesville (Boulware Springs Nature Park), and Alachua County (Sweetwater Preserve) for folks who would like to continue their visit after 11 a.m. Bring a bag lunch and make a day of it! A recent article in the Ocala Star Banner, Neighbors pull together to restore sandhill landscape, describes this partnership in Jeff Kneisley, Park Services Specialist at Silver Springs restoration. According to the article, thanks to a State Park will be presenting an overview of the park’s partnership of property owners and government, landscape efforts since becoming a state park in Oct 2013. a 2-mile swath of forest is being restored to its The park has added a high diversity of native plants to the original mix of longleaf pines and wiregrass. You landscaping and gardens as they continually remove can read the article at invasive exotic plants species. The park along with partners http://www.ocala.com/news/20161001/neighbor in the gardens are working towards lower maintenance s-pull-together-to-restore-sandhill-landscape. gardens with higher wildlife value. For carpooling, meet at 8:15 AM at the Main Jeff has worked at SSSP since Oct 2013. He has been Street Publix in the Duck Pond area of with the Florida Park Service since 2010 after completing Gainesville. two years with Florida State Parks AmeriCorps. He holds a Need more info? Email Connie at B.S. degree in Geography from James Madison University. [email protected]

Chapter Contacts, Fall Plant Sale Report...... Page 2 Memorial - Dan Ward...... Page 6 Plant ID Workshop Report...... Page 3 Sponsors...... Page 7 Sweetwater FT Report, Seed Saving.....Pages 4 and 5 Calendar of Events, FNPS Info...... Page 8 The Rhexia Paynes Prairie Chapter Florida Native Plant Society October 2016 Page 2

A beautiful day for a plant sale Paynes Prairie Chapter Contact List Fall Native Plant Sale Report President by Lisa Jelks Rob Garren [email protected] As I write this, Alachua County is preparing for Vice President tropical storm conditions (let’s hope our tree canopy Mark Elliott [email protected] can withstand what comes!). The opposite was true Secretary for our Fall Native Plant Sale at Morningside Nature Ellen Thoms [email protected] Center. The weather could not have been more Treasurer perfect—with just a hint of Fall air and plenty of Goldie Schwartz [email protected] 352-495-3983 sunshine—the Paynes Prairie Chapter closed the Chapter Representative books on yet another plant sale. Sandi Saurers [email protected] Although there were many competing activities Director around town we were still able to maintain a healthy Connie Caldwell [email protected] Friday night preview sale thanks to our members coming out for this special event. Director Saturday was a bit slower but we still enjoyed Karen Schneider [email protected] the lovely songs by Leo Nico, a gorgeous day for a Director wildflower walk with Morningside staff amid the Jill McGuire [email protected] blooming goldenrods and blazing stars, and a lot of Director information dispensed to an eager public. Michael Bubb [email protected]fl.edu A big thank you to all the volunteers, from Director cashiers to booth tenders to park-a-planters, for the Dan White [email protected] assistance! Field Trip Coordinator Karen Garren iluvfl[email protected] Newsletter Editor Karen Ahlers [email protected] Membership Chair Goldie Schwartz [email protected] 352-495-3983 Plant Rescue Jamie Barichivich [email protected] 352-375-1972 Plant ID Paul Cohen [email protected] Chapter Website Maintenance Karen Schneider karenks98@yahoocom Facebook Page Maintenance Lisa/Howard Jelks [email protected] Many thanks to volunteers Jennifer Staiger and Bill Russell for staffing our booth at the sale. Chapter Website www.paynesprairie.fnpschapters.org Photo Credits The Rhexia is published eight times a year by the Our thanks to Wesley Hetrick for permission to use his photo, Sunrise at Paynes Prairie, on Page 1. See more Paynes Prairie Chapter of the Florida Native Plant of Wesley’s images at Society. Comments are welcomed. Readers are https://www.flickr.com/photos/wesleyhetrick encouraged to submit articles and images for publication Also to Peter May for permission to use his Rhexia consideration to [email protected] photo. See more of Peter’s work at http://www2.stetson.edu/~pmay/index.htm The Rhexia Paynes Prairie Chapter Florida Native Plant Society Page 3 October 2016

September 2016 Plant Identiﬁcation Workshop Submitted by Paul Cohen and Robert Garren Scientific Name Common Name Family Status Aeschynomene americana Shy-leaf Fabaceae Native Asimina angustifolia Slimleaf pawpaw Annonaceae Native Axonopus fissifolius Common carpetgrass Poaceae Native Calyptocarpus vialis Straggler daisy Asteraceae Not Native Cantinoa mutabilis Tropical bushmint Lamiaceae Not Native Clematis crispa Swamp leather-flower Ranunculaceae Native Crotalaria spectabilis Rattlebox Fabaceae Not Native Croton michauxii Michaux's croton Euphorbiaceae Native Cyperus tetragonus Fourangle flatsedge Cyperaceae Native Drosera capillaris Pink sundew Droseraceae Native Eleocharis sp. (sterile) Spikerush Cyperaceae Native Elephantopus elatus Florida elephant's-foot Asteraceae Native Euphorbia sp. (sterile) Spurge Euphorbiaceae --- Fatoua villosa † Hairy crabweed; mulberryweed Moraceae Not Native Galactia regularis Eastern milkpea Fabaceae Native Helianthus strumosus Paleleaf woodland sunflower Asteraceae Native Illicium parviflorum Yellow anisetree Schisandraceae Native Ipomoea pandurata Man-of-the-earth Convolvulaceae Native Ludwigia octovalvis Mexican primrosewillow Onagraceae Native Lycopodiella appressa Southern club-moss Lycopodiaceae Native Nephrolepis cordifolia Tuberous sword fern Nephrolepidaceae Not Native Oxalis triangularis (cultivar) Three-leaf purple shamrock Oxalidaceae --- Paederia foetida Skunkvine Rubiaceae Not Native Paspalum laeve Field paspalum Poaceae Native Persicaria virginiana Jumpseed Polygonaceae Native Platanus occidentalis American sycamore Platanaceae Native Seymeria pectinata Piedmont blacksenna Orobanchaceae Native Smallanthus uvedalia Hairy leafcup Asteraceae Native Symphyotrichum dumosum Rice button aster Asteraceae Native Thelypteris kunthii Southern shield fern Thelypteridaceae Native Trachelospermum jasminoides Confederate jasmine Apocynaceae Not Native Verbesina virginica White crownbeard Asteraceae Native Vernonia gigantea Giant ironweed Asteraceae Native Xyris brevifolia Shortleaf yelloweyed grass Xyridaceae Native

† Mulberryweed (Fatoua villosa) is a common exotic contaminant in nursery pots and other moist areas where it can establish. According to the IFAS EDIS website (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep517), “…Mulberryweed is native to Eastern Asia and was first reported in Louisiana in the 1950s (Bryson and DeFelice 2009). Mulberryweed has naturalized throughout much of the eastern United States and is found from Texas to Florida and north to Michigan and Delaware. It also occurs along the west coast from California into Washington (Gregory 2014; USDA NRCS 2014). Photo of mulberryweed from http://extension.udel.edu/factsheets/mulberry-weed-fatoua-villosa/. We extend gratitude to all those who participated in the plant ID workshop. The workshop is intended to be educational and is not a plant ID service. Nomenclature adapted from “Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants” (http://www.ﬂorida.plantatlas.usf.edu/) unless otherwise noted. The Rhexia Paynes Prairie Chapter Florida Native Plant Society October 2016!!!!!!!!! Page 4

September Field Trip Report - Alachua County’s Sweetwater Preserve by Rob Garren

of Alachua County Forever who, this is the only known species in along with Michael Drummond this genus. from Alachua County Environ- After crossing the bridge, we mental Protection Department, headed northeast toward the gave us an educational walk sandhill restoration area that the through the Preserve. Our trek County has been steadily started at the SE 16th Avenue improving through the removal of (west) side of the park where oaks and other weedy species in Sweetwater Branch Creek runs order to allow the natural sandhill into the parcel. In this area the vegetation community to once creek is part of a large area of again ﬂourish. seepage wetland and ﬂoodplain As we reached the sandhill forest along with an occasional habitat, we were greeted by a baygall community. Walking lush bloom of (continued on page 5) southeast along the hiking trail led us to the newest bridge installed over the creek. Two seldom seen interesting species observed within these communities were American On Saturday September 24th, hogpeanut (Amphicarpaea our group was treated to a guided bracteata) and a very tiny species tour of portions of the Sweetwater known as nodding nixie (Apteria Preserve, a 125 acre tract aphylla). The latter plant is no purchased by the County in 2006. more than a few inches tall and is Coastalplain honeycombhead Our guide was Sandra Vardaman a monotypic genus meaning that (Balduina angustifolia)

Restored Sandhill habitat at Sweetwater Preserve The Rhexia Paynes Prairie Chapter Florida Native Plant Society Page 5 October 2016

Sweetwater Preserve FT report (continued from Page 4) coastalplain honeycombhead (Balduina angustifolia), the time on a Saturday to entertain and inform our chalky bluestem (Andropogon virginicus var. group. I highly recommend a visit to the Sweetwater glaucus), and wiregrass (Aristida stricta) along with Preserve if you are looking for an easy hike with lots the occasional sky blue lupine (Lupinus diffusus) and of vegetative and hydrologic diversity. It will be coastalplain bristlegrass (Setaria corrugata). As a interesting to watch the continued restoration of result of the restoration effort, the entire sandhill in areas on the Preserve in the coming months and this area has a more natural open appearance as years. would be expected in an undisturbed sandhill. The restoration work performed to date appears to be All images by Rob Garren. very successful, particularly when compared to other sandhill areas on the tract in which this restoration strategy has not yet been initiated. Many thanks to Sandra and Michael for spending

Coastalplain honeycombhead (Balduina angustifolia) and Coastalplain bristlegrass (Setaria corrugata) chalky bluestem (Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus)

Save that Seed! When collecting seed you usually only need a dozen flower heads to produce many dozens of new plants. This By Claudia Larsen leaves the rest to reproduce naturally or provide food for There are different techniques used to create new plants, small birds. and learning propagation techniques for a wide diversity of After flowering, most seeds ripen in 3 weeks to many native plants can be a lifelong hobby. One of the easiest months. They are ready to harvest when they become methods is collecting seed from your own plants. brown and shiny, and fall out of their flowerhead or A nice thing about collecting local seed is that they are capsule. locally adapted to our soil and climate, so they “belong” in Seeds may ripen gradually over time on the same our geographic area and hopefully will be successful in flower stalk, but placing them in a paper bag will allow for their establishment. You can collect from your own garden additional after-ripening of greenish seed and also dry out year-round and other properties with owner’s permission; the seed for longer storage. Examples of this are Tropical but it is against the law to collect from city, county, state or sage and Partridge pea. I think the most fun in this federal parks. Information in this article is mostly for process is looking at the different seed structures wildflower seed, but you can adapt the methods for produced by plants and trying to figure out why they have starting seed of shrubs or trees. adapted into follicles, pods, achenes, (continued on page 6) The Rhexia Paynes Prairie Chapter Florida Native Plant Society October 2016!!!!!!!!! Page 6 In Memorial: Daniel B. Ward 1928 - July 20, 2016

Daniel Bertram Ward died on July Emeritus but he never stopped 30, 2016. Dan was born in 1928 in researching and writing, and was Crawfordsville, Indiana to Forrest and dictating changes to his most recent Ursula Ward. He was preceded in work, on the early botanist Thomas death by his wife, Sue, and is Walter, as recently as a week ago. survived by their four children, Dan authored two books and Forrest, Gordon, Sylvia and Douglas over one hundred forty technical and 10 grandchildren. papers. His work focused on plant Dan was fascinated with Botany nomenclature, through which he was at an early age and earned his A.B. in influential in determining and Botany from Wabash College in stabilizing the technical names of 1950. He completed his Master's many southeastern plant species. degree at Cornell University before Professor Ward's field trips into the Korean War intervened and he the swamps of Florida with his served in the United States Army for students were legendary. He loved a two years, first as a cadre with the good road trip and traveled with Sue Chemical Corps Leadership Program was among the first to employ and his family all over North America at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and then mathematical techniques for plant in the 1962 International Travelall and as a technician in developing and classification. He and Sue then Airstream Trailer he still owned at the testing chemical munitions at the moved to Gainesville for Dan to work time of his death. Edgewood Arsenal facility in at the University of Florida, first as a He was a life long Maryland. staff member of the Florida environmentalist, and his passion for He returned to Cornell in 1954, Agricultural Experiment Station and the outdoors shaped the lives and completing his Doctorate in 1958. His curator of the Station's herbarium, careers of his children and family. He thesis was on the numerical analysis then as faculty of the College of was tenacious, brilliant and funny and of the northeastern species of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He retired a trusted confidant. Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae), this study in 1995 with the title Professor

Save that Seed! covering or chaff by picking out the outdoor weather variation. (continued from page 5) actual seeds, but it is also OK to just You can plant your seeds in small crush them together and plant the pots or flats containing potting media or nutlets to ensure their success in whole thing, since the chaff will just or sand. Place containers in a shady nature. Be prepared to pull apart the decompose. spot and water if the media on top seed heads and find the true seed. Seeds with hard coats like coral dries out. Just check them weekly Some plants like violets and false bean, need a process called and when plants emerge, acclimate petunia have capsules that explode at scarification to get the seeds ready them to a sunnier location. Plants maturity so look inside the capsule to for germination. Some growers use with well-established roots can be determine if the seeds are still inside. sandpaper to rough the coats; but a moved to the garden. After drying several days in paper 12-24 hour bath in hot water will also Of course seeds can be sewn bags, you can store your seeds in air do the trick. directly back into your garden like tight containers or Ziploc bags in the Most seeds also need some Mother Nature does. Fall refrigerator. Germination fluctuation in temperature and (October-November) is usually the percentages will diminish over time, moisture to germinate. The scientific best time to sew wildflower seeds. so plan to plant within the year for name for this process is stratification. Give propagation a try – you will best results. These plants take longer to germinate be rewarded with lovely plants you Cleaning seed will also increase – up to 3-4 months. The easiest way can put back into your garden, or the percent germination at planting. to achieve this is by starting seed in even bring to the FNPS meeting plant You can clean the seed from the fall and allowing it to receive normal raffle each month! PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS – THEY HELP FUND OUR CHAPTER ACTIVITIES

Can you grow Rhexia from seed?

You could win $100 worth of plants from Notestein’s Nursery if you are the ﬁrst to propagate Rhexia, our namesake, from seed. You will need to grow several ﬂats of four inch pots in time for either our Spring or Fall Native Plant Sale to qualify. Call Jim with questions - 352-372-2107.

To become a sponsor of the FNPS Paynes Prairie Chapter email your business card size ad in JPG or TIFF format to Goldie Schwartz at [email protected]. Ads appear in eight issues January-November (except for summer months) for $100 or monthly for $12.50. Florida Native Plant Society Paynes Prairie Chapter Post Ofﬁce Box 1004 Archer, FL 32618

Paynes Prairie Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society

Please join us for these upcoming events! The Mission of the Florida Native Plant Society is to Saturday, October 15, 9:00 a.m. promote the preservation, Yard Tour - Flamingo Hammock conservation, and restoration See Page 1 for more details of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. Tuesday, October 18, 7:00 p.m. General Meeting: Restoring Native Habitat The Society fulfills this mission through: at Silver Springs State Park in Ocala Come early for the Plant ID Workshop at 6:15! • Support for conservation land acquisition; See Page 1 for more details • Land management that enhances habitat suitability for native plants; Saturday, October 22, 9:30 a.m. • Education; Silver Springs State Park and Museum • Public policies that protect our native flora, Meet at the Pearl Store in Micanopy to carpool especially rare species; Park admission is $2; Museum admission is $2 • Research on native plant species; and, Bring water, snacks, insect repellant, hat, • Encouragement of local landscaping practices and and wear sturdy shoes policies that preserve Florida's native plant Call 352-371-0008 or email iluvfl[email protected] for more info heritage.