The Newsletter of Native Orchid Conservation Inc. Conservation Orchid ofNative Newsletter The Richard Reeves Eugene Reimer News: Native Orchid Common Milkweed Common Eugene Reimer Dwarf Milkweed Richard Reeves Richard Reeves Green Milkweed Showy Milkweed Native Orchid Conservation Inc. Conservation Orchid Native For more information contact information For more Email: [email protected] Annual General Meeting General Annual Peggy Bainard Acheson Peggy Bainard Volume 16 Issue 4 December 2014 16Issue 4December Volume Friday, March 6,2015 March Friday, www.nativeorchid.org Phone: 204-261-9179 45 Skowron Crescent 45 Skowron Common Milkweed ( Plant Month the of Asclepias syriaca Asclepias NOCI Website: NOCI Eugene Reimer Richard Reeves MB Winnipeg R3W 1N6 R3W Whorled Milkweed Whorled Swamp Milkweed ) ISSN 1499-5468 Plant of the Month Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) By Doris Ames The Genus Asclepias commemorates Asklepios the Greek God of Medicine. Linnaeus named it after Asclepius because of the many uses of the plants in folk medicine. The species name syriaca refers to Syria because Linnaeus mistakenly believed that the plant came from Syria. The common name refers to the milky sap produced by the leaves. The Milkweed genus has now been placed in the Apocynaceae (Dogbane) Family. There are 110 milkweed species in North America. Milkweeds have an unusual pollination mechanism. Like other flowers milkweeds have floral whorls of sepals (collectively referred to as the calyx) and petals (collectively referred to as the corolla). Flowers of milkweeds have a third whorl of 5 hoods each of which encloses a horn (modified filaments of the anthers). Together hoods, and horns are referred to as a corona. The horns of some species are long while the horns of others are so reduced that they cannot be seen. The corolla lobes are bent backwards (reflexed) exposing a 5 lobed crown (corona) The corona is a tube formed by 5 stamen filaments that enclose the 2 pistils. Each lobe of the corona is attached at the outer surface of the corresponding anther and consists of an upward-pointing hood with a horn emerging from its centre. Pollen is produced in pollinia that dangle in pairs from each of 2 adjacent anthers. For successful pollination to take place the insect must slide its leg into the slit between the anthers where it picks up a pair of pollinia by the gland. When the insect flies away to another plant its leg slips into the slit between the anthers and the pollinia are jammed against the sticky surface of the stigma thus fertilizing the flower. Sometimes the insect can't pull its leg free from the slit and it gets stuck and dies there. That happens to small butterflies and non-indigenous bee species most often. Because the chances of this complicated pollination mechanism working out are low the number of fruits produced are low. However each fruit contains hundreds of seeds each with a plume of silky, fibrous hairs attached. Milkweeds are important because they are the host plants for Monarch butterfly caterpillars. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves and eats the milky, bitter and poisonous juice. The chemicals in the juice are in the larvae and remain in the adult butterflies and are a natural defence against predators. The orange and black colours of the adults warn off predators. Any insect or bird that is foolish enough to try to eat a butterfly will vomit immediately and won't try it again. There are 7 species of Milkweed in Manitoba with the first 4 in this list being most common: Common milkweed (A. syriaca) Showy milkweed (A. speciosa) Dwarf milkweed (A. ovalifolia) Swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) Whorled milkweed (A. verticillata) Green milkweed (A. viridiflora) Hairy milkweed (A. lanuginosa) Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) – is a common perennial with hairy stems that grows up to 1.8m tall from a deep tap root. It is usually found in moist soil at the edges of fields and roadsides in the Prairies and the Parklands. The opposite, hairy leaves are oblong to ovate with smooth margins and rounded bases. The leaf veins are prominent and hairy on the underside. Blooms June-August. Continued on Page 3 2 The pinkish-purple flower clusters are dense and globe-shaped. The sweet-smelling flowers have 5 petals and 5 sepals that are both reflexed. There is a short, blunt hood on the corona. The fruit is a broad and warty curved follicle that splits down one side to reveal rows of seeds each with its parachute of silky hairs. Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) – a tall plant (up to 2m) it is occasionally found in the grasslands and southern Parklands. The oval leaves are dark-green, thick and fleshy and heart-shaped at the base. It blooms in July. The flowers are pinkish-purple with long, pointy corona hoods that look like stars and are found in dense globular umbels. They have an intense sweet smell. The fruit is a soft, bristly, many-seeded pod 2-8cm long. Dwarf milkweed (Asclepias ovalifolia) – low plant 20-50cm tall with ovate leaves. Blooms in June and July. The small, greenish-white flowers are found on long stalks in umbels. Grows in moist soil in the Parklands and at the edges of the Boreal Forest. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) – this pretty plant grows up to 1.5m tall in swamps and wet ditches. It has lance-shaped leaves with prominent mid veins. Blooms June-August. The deep pink flowers are found in flat-topped umbels. I see it more commonly now during the last 10 years possibly because there is more rain in the summer and ditches are wetter. Whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) – a 20-50cm tall plant growing in dry prairies. It has very narrow, sessile drooping leaves that occur in whorls of 4-6 along the central stem. It is fairly common but the green of the stems and the leaves blends in so well with the grass that it is often overlooked. Blooms early to late summer. Small, white flowers on short stalks in umbels grow from the axils of the middle and upper leaves The flowers are scentless. The pods are long, brown and narrowly winged along their margins with no warts or prickles. Green milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) – this uncommon plant grows 20-120cm tall on open grasslands and sandhills. The leaves are variable in shape, those in dry locations being long and narrow with whitish prominent midveins and those in moist sites being oval. Blooms in July. Twenty to eighty pale green flowers occur in large clusters in the upper leaf axils. The pods of green milkweed are long and pointed at both ends and have no warts or tubercules. Hairy milkweed (Asclepias lanuginosa) – this rare plant grows 15-30cm tall and has a single stem. The leaves are linear-oblong. Both the leaves and stem are covered with long, soft hairs. Blooms June to July. It has a solitary, small erect umbel of pale green to cream-coloured flowers on a short peduncle on the stem. The 5 hoods surrounding the centre crown do not extend above the flower centre . Unlike most milkweeds this one has no visible horns. It is found in open grasslands and sandhills in the southeastern Parklands. Milkweeds are interesting plants in so many ways. They are very important to the survival of the Monarch Butterfly as the butterfly lays its eggs on them. They have been used all over North America for fibre, food and medicine.The buoyant fluff on their seeds has been used to stuff life jackets. Recently a Quebec man, François Simard, has begun to make oil spill kits from the fibre in the seed pods to use for cleaning up potential oil spills in national parks. The milkweed fibres absorb 4 times more oil than the standard propylene kits. The fields of milkweeds planted in Quebec to produce the fibre provide valuable food for migrating Monarch butterflies. Some people like to deep fry the fresh milkweed flowers dipped in pancake batter. In antiquity a solution made from the roots was used to relieve pain. Note: For more about François Simard and his oil spill kits go to http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/milkweed-touted-as-oil-spill-super-sucker-with-butterfly-benefits-1.2856029 3 President’s Report by Peggy Bainard Acheson Winter seems to have taken hold now. When thinking about winter from the perspective of fall, why do all those negative things about winter come to the fore? – the icy roads, the cold minutes waiting at a dark bus stop in the morning, and the cat endlessly staring wistfully out the window at the white stuff on the deck. Once it’s here I start rationalizing about all the wonderful things about winter – the time spent with family during the Holidays, the walks and ski-trips in Bird’s Hill Park, and then there’s the lengthening days once we’re past the Solstice! I hope you all take time to enjoy the special things you enjoy about winter. I’d like to thank everyone who came out and enjoyed our annual Members’ Night on October 24th. Chris Friesen gave us a wonderful presentation on the work of the Conservation Data Centre and how we can help them by letting them know about new orchid sites when we encounter them, especially for listed species. See Dave’s report elsewhere in the newsletter. The Debwendon board is working hard to get the text for the interpretation project completed so we can proceed to sign production. We will then move on to working on the construction of the trailhead structure and the highway sign.