BotSoc News, September 2011 1 Volume 86 Number 5 September 2011 Georgia Botanical Society Brief Notes from the Botanical World IN THIS ISSUE: USPS Honors Botanist Asa Gray Weakley’s Flora Updated Society News – Asa Gray (1810-1888) is one of four scientists A new version of Alan S. Weakley’s Flora of p2 honored by the US Postal Service in their 2011 the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States (May American Scientists (Forever®) stamps. Gray, 2011) has coverage for the states of Alabama, one of the nation’s first professional botanists, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mis- Book Review- advanced the specialized field of plant geography sissippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten- p3 and became the principal American advocate of nessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District evolutionary theory in the mid-nineteenth cen- of Columbia, and parts of Florida (northern Discoveries - tury. The stamp art features illustrations of plants and Panhandle counties), Louisiana (Florida p4 studied by Gray and the words "Shortia galacifo- Parishes), and New Jersey (Coastal Plain lia" in Gray’s handwriting. counties). Arrangement of families (and genera within Upcoming Take the quiz! families, increasingly) is Field Trips – Lisa Samuelson, Mike Hogan, phylogenetic. If you have a p6 and Tom Stokes of Auburn high-speed internet connec- University’s School of Forestry tion, you can download the Field Trip and Wildlife Sciences have de- flora as a PDF file http:// Reports– veloped an interactive web site www.herbarium.unc.edu/ p9 featuring the trees of Alabama flora.htm. To purchase a and the Southeast (https:// hard-bound copy, contact fp.auburn.edu/sfws/samuelson/dendrology/in- Carol Ann McCormick at 919-962-6931. dex.html). You can test your tree identification skills by examining photos of leaves, flowers, and Choices bark in dendrology quizzes for beginner, interme- No matter how sophisticated our field guides, diate, and advanced skill levels. a plant ID often ends with a simple choice between two traits ... Leafsnap A revolutionary new electronic field guide that The Path Not Taken can identify a tree species by looking at a pho- Two traits diverged in a murky key, tograph of the leaf is now available – for free And sorry I could not fathom both, (http://leafsnap.com). Leafsnap requires you And know the sedge, long I stood And pondered each as well as I could: to use a smartphone (e.g., iPhone, iPad) to take Were there stigmas two or three? and upload a photo of a leaf of the tree you wish I went for three, just as fair, to identify. The guide uses visual recognition And having perhaps the better claim software to analyze and compare the leaf’s shape Because I threw my hands up in the air and features against an index of species curated For as except the little beak They both to me looked just the same. by botanists at the Smithsonian Institution. You And both that morning equally lay receive a ranking of most likely species, along with In mysteries of Haines and Gray other characteristics to help confirm the tree’s Oh, I kept the first for another day! Thanks to Linda Chafin and Hal Massie for identity from photos in the guide. Scientists use Yet knowing how way leads on to way, contributing to this article the uploaded photo and the geographic coordi- I wondered if I should maybe pray. and special thanks to an nates of the tree’s location to “map and monitor I shall be telling this with a sigh anonymous member of Somewhere ages and ages hence: the Connecticut Botanical the ebb and flow of flora nationwide”. Leafsnap Society’s Sedge ID Two traits diverged in a murky key, and I – currently includes the trees of New York City and Project whose frustration I took the one less stupefied with a dichotomous key Washington, D.C. but will eventually cover the And never will know the difference. was inspiration for “The trees of the entire continental United States. (with apologies to Robert Frost) Path Not Taken”. 2 BotSoc News, September 2011 Society News PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE The long Georgia summer is slowly merg- area has dried up the swamp and caused great ing into a beautiful autumn. Fortunately, a fair stress on its inhabitants, the Fakahatchee is still amount of rain accompanied this year’s temper- a remarkable place. BotSoc News ature and humidity. The heat did not deter Bot- Although summer is one of my four favorite is published seven times Soc members, though. As an example, the well- seasons, the cooler temperatures of fall will be a a year (Jan, Mar, May, attended mid-July roadside botanizing trip, led welcomed relief. As we all know, fall is the realm July, Sept, Nov and for by Rich and Anita Reaves, to the Waycross area of my beloved bane, Asteraceae. I noticed that the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage). was highly successful. In fact, it revealed some Eddi Minche has scheduled a fine assortment of interesting rare finds including, among others, fall-flower-related trips, including a workshop, Submission deadline Florida orangegrass (Ctenium floridanum), for the upcoming months. No longer will I have is October 1 for the and night flowering ruellia Ruellia( noctiflora). an excuse for an aster-deficient noosphere. November issue. Although the route taken necessitated avoiding Fall is also prime time for gentians, of which Subscriptions the burn area and firefighting efforts, there were Georgia has a wide variety of species. I always are included with mem- still plenty of places to explore. Please stay tuned look forward to re-visiting areas around Track bership. and read the official trip write-up in November’s Rock Gap and Brasstown Bald looking for Gen- Website: newsletter for all the tantalizing details. tiana decora, Gentianella quinquefolia and the www.gabotsoc.org From a personal standpoint, I was able to rare Gentianopsis crinita. scratch off a bucket list item by visiting the PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND THE ANNUAL MEET- Editorial Office Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park in ING (11:30 AM, October 1, 2011 at the Gwinnett Jean Smith 1135 Barwick Hill Rd south Florida and seeing Environmental and Heritage Center Comer, GA 30629 the rare ghost orchid (Den- in Buford). See page 6 for details and ph 706.783.2308 drophylax lindenii). Did I directions. email: mention the hot summer? From the good news department, jss2holly@ windstream.net Many thanks go to park Parrie Pinyan recently reported that volunteer Saul Friess, park her treatments are having a very botanist Mike Owen and positive effect. We will keep her in our © 2011 Georgia Botani- park manager Renee Rau thoughts and look forward to seeing her cal Society a private nonprofit for a memorable trip. By the on the trail soon. organization under IRS way, the orchids were ac- Have a wonderful autumn. 501(c)3. commodating photography Jim Drake Founded in 1926. subjects. Also found were a James Powers took this month’s photo of Lonicera couple of Sabatia species sempervirens during the 2011 Pilgrimage. Also among the array of interest- known as Carolina honeysuckle and sometimes ing plants. Even though the thought of as a spring wildflower, this plant blooms profusely all summer and well into the fall in my extended drought in that back yard to the delight of hummingbirds. Help Stop Threat to Sosebee Cove We have a confirmed report of Ranunculus River in Ohio, I walked about a quarter mile ficaria (now moved to Ficaria verna, but I of floodplain that was nothing but R. ficaria learned to hate this one as R. ficaria so I stick from toe of slope to river's edge (5 to 10 acres with that), which goes by the common name of botanical wasteland). We are going to work of buttercup fig or lesser celandine, in Sosebee with the Chattahoochee NF to set up a workday Cove in the Chattahoochee National Forest. This sometime around the end of March or the first is a very aggressive species that could quickly of April (very early by definition at the elevation overwhelm Sosebee Cove and potentially invade and aspect of Sosebee Cove). You can get addi- other botanically rich areas nearby such as the tional information on this species at http://www. Coosa Bald Research Natural Area. This spe- nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/rafi1.htm. Please try cies emerges early and can blanket the ground and make plans to join me in the first attempt at and exclude native wildflowers. Several years eradication - we go in with high hopes, but this ago, while conducting a survey along the Mad will likely be a multi-year effort. Rich Reaves BotSoc News, September 2011 Book Review ADY S LIPPERS OF THE ASTERN NITED TATES LJim Drake’s’ booklet, S Lady’s Slippers of the Eastern EThis booklet also introduced U me to one newS lady’s slipper, United States, precedes and is much shorter than his book ram’s head lady’s slipper (Cypripedium arietinum). These on gentians that I reviewed in the July BotSoc News; how- plants grow from the northern Midwest, Minnesota and ever, the 24-page booklet is equally as informative as the Wisconsin, east to New York and New England. These flow- longer work. There are many fewer species of lady’s slippers ers have a slightly different physical appearance from other than gentians, but there is a mystique to lady’s slippers, lady’s slippers and have a deep purple coloration interspersed and to orchids in general, that makes reading about them with white. They may require a trip north on my part.