Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society Volume 43 No
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Aquilegia Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society Volume 43 No. 1 Winter 2019 Aquilegia Volume 43 No.1 Winter 2019 www.CoNPS.org 1 Miner’s candle, Oreocarya virgata (Boraginaceae). This biennial cryptantha is common in the foothills and mountains of the Front Range, where it usually blooms in late spring or early summer. The one- to two-foot tall single thick stem is enclosed by a dense mass of smaller leaves and calyx tubes, as well as larger projecting leaves. The projecting leaves gradually decrease in size up the stalk. Like many plants in the borage family, all structures except the petals are covered in dense, stiff hairs. Miner’s candle is usually found in dry sandy or gravelly soils. Oreocarya, as well as several other genera, has recently been resurrected as a separate genus from the Cryptantha clade. Nutlet morphology is an important taxonomic criterion. KA Map adapted from Ackerfield, J. Flora of Colorado, p. 218 (2015). Botanicum absurdum by Rob Pudim PHOTO CREDITS: FRONT COVER AND INSIDE BACK COVER: © Jan Gorski. Jan recently joined CoNPS and is grateful for all of the amazing expertise shared by fellow members, especially on field trips and during Native Plant Master® courses. She is an avid photographer, hiker, birder, avocational archaeologist, and all-around outdoor lover. She recently planted over 50 native plants in her yard and has accepted a challenge to replace much of the turf with native plants. © Rob Pudim 2 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 43 No.1 Winter 2019 Aquilegia: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society Dedicated to furthering the knowledge, appreciation, and conservation of native plants and habitats of Colorado through education, stewardship, and advocacy Inside this Issue Featured Stories Lost Flower is Found Again: Campanula aparinoides by ELIZABETH TAYLOR ............................................... 4 The Relationship between Native Plants and Their Native Pollinators by SUSAN CARTER ............................ 6 Trampling of Alpine Vegetation at Hoosier Ridge by MIKE KINTGEN ............................................................ 8 Columns Botany Basics: How Photosynthesis Works by DAVID JULIE .................................................................... 13 Conservation Corner: Pawnee National Grasslands: An Important Conservation Area for Colorado’s Biodiversity by CRYSTAL COGAR ....................................................................................... 15 Garden Natives: Sphaeralcea coccinea, Scarlet Globemallow by JIM BORLAND ............................................. 17 Restoration Roundup: Rebuilding the Dolores River Riparian Corridor with Native Plants by DAVID VARNER ................................................................................................... 18 Poetry: Seasonal Union by ARTHUR CLIFFORD ........................................................................................... 30 Member Profile: Board of Directors by LENORE MITCHELL .......................................................................... 31 Research and Reports Notable New Caryophyllaceae of the Southern Rocky Mountains by MATHEW T. SHARPLES ........................... 20 News and Announcements Year-end Committee Reports .............................................................................................................. 22 2019 Event Calendar Chapter Meetings .......................................................................................................................... 26 CoNPS Workshops ....................................................................................................................... 26 Cross-Pollination Events ..................................................................................................................... 27 In Memorium: Donald Lavern Hazlett ............................................................................................................... 25 Media Review ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Can You ID these Plants and Pollinators? by JAN GORSKI ........................................................................ 35 AQUILEGIA: Newsletter of the Colorado OPERATING COMMITTEE & LEADERSHIP TEAM: Preston Cumming, [email protected]; Mo Ewing, Native Plant Society [email protected]; Ann Grant, [email protected]; David Julie, [email protected]; Denise Wilson, Aquilegia Vol. 43 No.1 Winter 2019 [email protected]; Amy Yarger, [email protected]; Secretary: Amy Yarger, [email protected]; ISSN 2161-7317 (Online) - ISSN 2162-0865 Treasurer: Mo Ewing, [email protected] (Print) Copyright CoNPS © 2019 CHAPTER PRESIDENTS: Boulder: Pam Sherman, [email protected]; Metro-Denver: Lenore Mitchell, Aquilegia is the newsletter of the Colorado [email protected]; Northern: Hugh Mackay, [email protected]; Plateau: Susan Carter, Native Plant Society. Members receive at [email protected], Jim Pisarowicz, [email protected], David Varner, [email protected]; Southeast: least four regular issues per year (Spring, Maggie Gaddis, [email protected]; Southwest: John Bregar, [email protected] Summer, Fall, Winter). At times, issues may be combined. All contributions are subject to MEMBERS-AT-LARGE: Christina Alba, [email protected]; BethAnne Bane, [email protected]; editing for brevity, grammar, and consistency, Deryn Davidson, [email protected]; Steve Olson, [email protected]; Tom Zeiner, [email protected] with final approval of substantive changes by the author. Articles from Aquilegia may be COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Conservation: Mo Ewing, [email protected]; Education & Outreach: David Julie, used by other native plant societies or non- [email protected]; Field Studies: Steve Olson, [email protected], Lara Duran, [email protected]; Finance: Mo profit groups, if fully cited to the author and Ewing; Horticulture: Ann Grant, [email protected]; Media: Deryn Davidson, [email protected], Lenore attributed to Aquilegia. Mitchell, [email protected], Steve Olson, [email protected]; Research Grants: Stephen Stern, Managing Editor: Mary Menz, [email protected]; Restoration: Erica Cooper, [email protected]; Scholarships: Cecily Mui, [email protected] [email protected] Associate/Design Editor: Kelly Ambler, SOCIAL MEDIA: E-News Editor: Linda Smith, [email protected]; Facebook: Carol English, [email protected] and [email protected] Jen Bousselot, [email protected]; Twitter and Instagram: Ean Thomas Tafoya; Webmaster: Mo Ewing, Assistant Editor: Nan Daniels [email protected] Cartoonist: Rob Pudim Botanical names reviewer: Elizabeth Taylor CoNPS STAFF: Linda Smith, administrative coordinator, [email protected], 970-663-4085; Ean Thomas Tafoya, Proofreaders: Sue Dingwell, Cathi Schramm, marketing & events coordinator, [email protected]; Kathleen Okon, workshop coordinator, Linda Smith, John Vickery [email protected] Aquilegia Volume 43 No.1 Winter 2019 www.CoNPS.org 3 Featured Story Lost Flower is Found Again: Campanula aparinoides By Elizabeth Taylor On the morning of August 3, 2018, three amateur plant bellflower. However, the keys we were using caused enthusiasts—Barb Harbach, Cathy Fischer, and I— us to have an element of doubt. Weber writes on page were inventorying plant species along the bank of 150 that the plant is extremely rare in Colorado and Gove Ditch in Sandstone Ranch, Douglas County’s that it was “collected by Parry in northern South Park newest open space. We were participating in the in 1861, and once in the Denver area by Eastwood.” Sandstone Ranch Natural Resource Inventory project. Ackerfield notes on page 261 that the plant is “rare in The day was beautiful, and our survey efforts were moist meadows and along streams, known from 2 going well. Among the numerous water-loving species very old collections in Colorado along the South we observed, we were pleased to find several that Platte.” She says that it is “possibly extirpated from were not yet on our Sandstone Colorado.” She goes on to provide Ranch plant inventory list, including the following details: marsh skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata), mountain sneezeweed “The first collection of this species (Helenium autumnale), water in Colorado was made by Hall and crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis), Harbour in 1862, labeled as coon’s tail (Ceratophyllum collected in South Park but demersum), common duckweed probably collected along the Platte (Lemna minor), and tall manna grass as South Park would be out of (Glyceria elata). Although none of range and habitat for this species. these plants are uncommon in The other collection was made by Colorado, I list them here to provide Alice Eastwood sometime prior to you with an idea of the marshy, 1893 for her Popular Flora of stream-side habitat. Denver. Eastwood notes that this was found several years ago near As I leaned over to look more closely Smith’s Bridge along the Platte in at a marsh skullcap close to the Denver but hasn’t been seen water’s edge, a low growing plant since. These collections may stuck to my pant leg from behind. At represent depauperate forms of first, I thought that it might be a One of the first photos of the C. rotundifolia, which rarely can bedstraw such as stickwilly or rediscovered Campanula have pale blue or white flowers. If cleavers (Galium aparine), one of aparinoides against