Fall 2020 Volume 11, Issue 2 a Publication of the Maryland Native
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Fall 2020 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Volume 11, Issue 2 Fall 2011 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Volume 2, Issue 2 Spring 2018 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Volume 9, Issue 1 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Tina ieme Brown Tina www.mdflora.org Letter from the Editor P.O. Box 4877, Silver Spring, MD 20914 Dear Members, CONTACTS Membership & Website Ten years is a long time and it’s also a short time. is will be my last issue Karyn Molines, [email protected] of Marilandica. Marilandica Editors Kirsten Johnson, [email protected] Unless someone else wants to step in, this will not only be my last issue, it Vanessa Beauchamp, [email protected] Fall 2019 A Publication of the Maryland Native Plant Society Volume 10, Issue 2 will be the last issue altogether. Perhaps the era of print publications has run Kerrie Kyde General Inquiries its course. On the other hand, MNPS members have continued to say they [email protected] appreciate the publication, and I have thought it important to provide our members with a tangible benet from their membership. MNPS CHAPTERS Eastern Shore [email protected] If you would like to take over as editor, please contact me, and I’ll do my best Greater Baltimore to help you get started. e format we developed over the years is not set in Kirsten Johnson, [email protected] stone, and a new editor would have free rein for their own ideas. Montgomery County [email protected] North East Many thanks to all who contributed to this publication over the years: Tracey Ripani, [email protected] Co-editors Carolyn Fulton, Vanessa Beauchamp, and Kerrie Kyde; Tina Prince George’s/Anne Arundel Counties ieme Browne for cover illustrations in the early years; numerous local Robinne Grey, [email protected] photographers who generously allowed us to use their work; Liz McDowell Southern Maryland for her Mountain Maryland columns; many other writers too numerous to Karyn Molines, [email protected] Washington, DC mention; and last but by no means least, graphic designer Marjorie Paul. You Claudine Lebeau, [email protected] can view back issues on our website, mdora.org. Western Mountains ~ Kirsten Johnson Liz McDowell, [email protected] EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Christopher Puttock, President Grasses in Winter Sujata Roy, Vice President Lauren Hubbard, Treasurer 1 2 Front cover left to right: Jil Swearingen, Secretary 1. Sorgastrum nutans, Photo: J Brighton BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2. Schizachyrium scoparium, Photo: R Orr 3. Andropogon ternarius, Photo: J Stasz Vanessa Beauchamp 3 4 5 6 Allen Browne 4. Elymus hystrix, Photo: B Springer Carole Bergmann 5. Cenchrus tribuloides, Photo: W Hubick Karyn Molines 6. Andropogon virginicus, Photo: E McDowell Sujata Roy 7 8 7. Sporobolus alterniorus, Photo: J Brighton 10 Lou Aronica, Emeritus 8. Danthonia spicata, Photo: T Bell Cris Fleming, Emeritus 9 9. Sporobolus pumilus, Photo: J Hill Marc Imlay, Emeritus 10. Dichanthelium commutatum, Photo: J Wilkinson Joe Metzger, Emeritus Rod Simmons, Emeritus Our Mission Promote awareness, appreciation and conservation of Maryland’s native plants and their habitats. We pursue our mission through education, research, advocacy, and service activities. Marilandica Fall 2020 page 1 Invasive Grasses in Focus Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Spreng, syns: Cenchrus purpurascens unberg; Cenchrus compressus (R.Br.) Morrone, Fountain Grass, Black Fountain Grass Miscanthus sinensis Anderson, Chinese or Japanese Silvergrass n the last few years. I’ve noticed two species of you’ll start seeing it everywhere, in all its various manifestations. ornamental grasses spreading into open areas and along roadsides. An especially unfortunate example Chinese silvergrass is quite easy to spot. It can grow over 6 feet tall, that I’m aware of is the invasion of both species and the silvery owers sparkle beautifully in the sunlight. It’s easy to into the rare serpentine grassland at Lake Roland in grow and hard to kill. No wonder it’s so popular as an ornamental in Baltimore County. gardens and in plantings around Silvergrass and commercial establishments. Unfortu- fountain grass are relatively new nately, this grass spreads readily and invaders. Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlan- Hill Jane appears to outcompete bluestems and tic Natural Areas lists silvergrass as a other native grasses. If you notice a plant to watch, and it doesn’t list row of silvergrass meandering down a fountain grass at all. Rick Darke’s roadside, you can often trace it back to Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable the gas station or garden where the Landscapes contains useful descrip- infestation originated. Please see tions of many silvergrass and fountain Margaret Park’s research report on grass cultivars. He comments that page 5 for more information about certain cultivars can be “weedy,” but silvergrass. he doesn’t warn of their ability to invade natural areas. Control. Both fountain grass and silvergrass are extremely hard to Fountain grass is a name that can control. ey self-sow prolically and include any of the various species, they spread rapidly by underground Pennisetum rhizomes. A home gardener might win varieties and cultivars of , Chinese silvergrass on a roadside in Montgomery County. only some of which are hardy in our the battle against a few interlopers by area. P. alopecuroides is my focus here. It is native to open grasslands repeated digging. But unfortunately, glyphosate is the only known in Japan and much of southeastern Asia. is species appears quite way to eliminate, or at least reduce, a signicant invasion. variable because a number of cultivars are sold in the horticultural ~ Kirsten Johnson trade. Darke lists ten. Most of them grow about three feet in height, References some shorter, some taller. Caldwell, Catherine. Ornamental Grasses–Easy, Beautiful–and Invasive. https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/ornamental-grasses- e cultivar I’ve been noticing is, I believe, either “Moudry” or easy-beautiful-and-invasive/ “National Arboretum.” It has dark green, glossy, relatively wide leaves, and dark purple owers. Variety “Moudry” is named for Darke, Rick. 2007. e Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Land- Gerard Moudry, who was the Baltimore City’s Chief Horticulturist scapes. Timber Press. 487 pp. from 1958 to 1994. He apparently provided the seed to the US National Arboretum, from plants he noticed in Baltimore. Not all Swearingen, J., B. Slattery, K. Reshetliki and S. Zwicker. 2017. Plant the Pennisetum cultivars have the dark purple or “black” ower parts Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, 5th ed. National Park Service characteristic of those cultivars. But once you’re aware of Pennisetum, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, DC. 168 pp. Kerrie Kyde Kerrie Kirsten Johnson Kirsten Johnson Black fountain grass photos left to right: Along the C&O Canal. Invading a meadow in Stony Run Park, Baltimore City. Flower in late September. Marilandica Fall 2020 page 2 We developed a novel approach we called suggesting that an untold number of plants Survey of Known Plant Extinctions in the US and Canada the Index of Taxonomic Uncertainty went extinct before scientic discovery. (ITU). To calculate the ITU, we vetted Florida, with the highest concentration of Editor’s Note: Wesley Knapp, former Eastern Region Ecologist with A further revelation came in 2015, when I saw Reed Noss (one of the each scientic plant name by reviewing the endemic plants in the North American Maryland’s Natural Heritage Program, is the lead author of an import- eventual coauthors of the plant extinction paper) give a talk in which literature, mostly monographic and oristic Coastal Plain biodiversity hotspot, likely lost ant paper on plant extinctions recently accepted for publication in he described how many plants and animals were expected to go treatments, in which each taxon was many endemic plants before they were Conservation Biology. We asked Wes to tell us about it. extinct in Florida over the next 100 years (based on sea-level rise, critically evaluated against other related described. Our data document only four population growth, etc.). It was then that I realized we had no under- taxa by an expert. We did not use taxonom- extinct plants in Florida, but it is unlikely Way back in 2001, when I rst started with the Natural Heritage standing of how many plants had already gone extinct. Shortly after ic databases to calculate the ITU because that this hotspot would lose fewer plants Program of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, I tirelessly this, I reached out to a number of experts from across the country to these often reect other published literature than a less diverse area of similar size, such as studied the Program’s List of Rare reatened and Endangered Plants determine if I’d missed something in my literature review. Not only rather than novel taxonomic evaluations. If New England (ve in our data). Since 1995, the authors of consulted literature univer- four extinct species have been described or sally accepted a taxon as a distinct entity, recognized as new to science from old regardless of taxonomic rank, it received a herbarium vouchers. ere are likely more score of A. If a taxon was placed in synony- undescribed and already extinct species my by some authors but the majority hiding in herbaria today. recognized it as distinct, it received a score of B. If the name was usually placed in ese data provide us a baseline to compare synonymy but numerous treatments still future extinction events and rates. Scientists recognized the taxon as valid, a score of C agree that extinction rates will rise as we was applied. Scores of D and F were move through the Anthropocene Epoch. applied if a taxon was rarely recognized Numerous factors, including sea-level rise, (i.e., <85% of the time) or never recognized climate change, and human population after initial publication of the name, respec- growth, will have massive impacts on our tively.