Horticulture

Staff hiked to a wetland fen and collected several species of sedges (Carex spp.), rushes (Juncus spp.), and bushy aster (Aster dumosum), some of which may prove useful in rain gardening. At Baker Prairie, a rare remnant prairie close to the Arkansas/Missouri border, collections included heart-leaved Alexander (Zizia aptera), western rough goldenrod (Solidago radula), and whorled mountain mint (Pycnanthemum verticillatum var. pilosum). Other mountain mint species attract many species of butterflies, bees, and solitary wasps and are noteworthy garden plants. The 2009 trip ended at Hercules Glade, high in the Missouri Ozarks where the horticulture staff collected fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) and Missouri maiden-bush (Andrachne phyllanthoides). Missouri maiden-bush is a 3-foot-tall shrub with tiny leaves that resembles spirea. Plants like this may some day end up in garden centers and backyards throughout Missouri if they can earn Round-leaved groundsel (Senecio obovatus) their keep in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden first. Featured native plant In 2009, 55 species new to the garden were collected, identified, Round-leaved groundsel (Senecio processed for greenhouse production, obovatus) is at the top of our and excess seed stored in a specially list as a dependable choice for designed seed storage room that low-maintenance native ground is part of the newly constructed cover. This hardy plant performed facility at Shaw Nature Reserve. It well in various locations of the Shaw Nature Reserve horticulturist Diane Donovan collects seed at Whitmire Wildflower Garden, Baker Prairie near the Missouri/Arkansas border. is the new home for the Reserve’s horticulture, education, and preferring dry to average soil in maintenance departments and will shaded areas of the garden. It is The Search for emote sink-holes, craggy bluffs, and soggy river bottoms may seem house several Missouri Department prized for its evergreen foliage R like unlikely places to find new plants for landscaping, but such places of Conservation employees. The and abundance of yellow flowers tend to put plants to the ultimate test. Scouring floods, summer drought, buildings were made possible in part in spring. The rounded foliage is Landscape and erratic temperatures often generate tough plants that work well in the through generous contributions from a pleasant complement to ferns, modern landscape. John and Connie McPheeters and sedges, and other fine-textured Plants Using plants of known local origin is one way to Blanton and Peg Whitmire. woodland plants. Take, for instance, the Ozark alumroot (Heuchera villosa var. Ozarkana). In ensure that additions to your garden will thrive. in the 2009, Shaw Nature Reserve horticulture staff collected seed of this species Authors’ note: Though some of the species Ozarks from wild populations in the southern Ozarks. Found on shaded bluffs mentioned are available in nurseries, few are of a known local origin. The best way to ensure growing out of rocky crevices, one can assume a high level of drought that garden plants will thrive is to use plants of local origin (also called local ecotype). This is by Scott Woodbury and Cindy Gilberg and shade tolerance. Since other Missouri species of alumroot are long- another important reason why seeds are collected from wild populations. It is also important lived, compact, and low-maintenance garden plants, there is a good chance to keep in mind that only small quantities of seed are collected from wild populations. Once that this species is as well. If the Ozark alumroot proves to be as garden- sizeable populations are established in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden, plants are then worthy as its close cousins prairie alumroot, American alumroot, and little- produced in large quantities for public distribution. flower alumroot, then it will be given a prominent place in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden, and efforts will be made to produce and promote it for the public use. Reserve horticulture staff have been searching for species new to horticulture Hunting for endangered native plants for decades, mostly in eastern Missouri but more recently in the bootheel, During the past year, Matthew Albrecht has made several trips to collect seeds of southern Ozarks, and western Missouri. Last year’s trip set its sights on endangered and endemic plants in the Midwestern United States. Last April, he traveled Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas. With Theo Witsell (botanist to Arkansas, where he collected seeds of Claytonia ozarkensis, a newly described species for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission) as our guide, collection that is known only from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma and is in the Center for began at the Kings River Falls Natural Area near the 1921 Dripping Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Species. Last June, Matthew Springs schoolhouse. A few of the species collected were Arkansas alumroot and his assistant, Juan Carlos Penagos, gathered seeds of several glade endemics in (Heuchera villosa var. arkansana), two viburnums (V. rafinesquianum and V. southwestern Missouri, including the federally endangered Geocarpon minimum. In June recognitum) , Arkansas bedstraw (Galium arkansanum), marginal shield fern 2009 as well, under a grant from the Center for Plant Conservation and the National (Dryopteris marginalis), and umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala). This is the Park Service, Matthew and his team collected seeds in Tennessee from two federally most northerly population of umbrella magnolia in our region, and it may threatened and endangered species, Astragalus bibullatus and Conradina verticillata. prove to be a hardy ecotype for St. Louis gardens. Matthew Albrecht

14 Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin Summer 2010 Summer 2010 Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin 15