Here’s the link to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble.
(All the photos in this post are complements of Don.)
Today’s post was written
by Don Hunter, Linda Chafin and Dale Hoyt.
Twenty-eight Ramblers met
today – a glorious spring morning!
Today’s reading: Jackie Elsner sang a poem by Byron Herbert Reece,
a north Georgia poet (1917-1958). Jackie has been adapting Reece poems to the
music of Christian Harmony Shape Note songs. This one is sung to the tune of
“Watchman” (No. 255 )
We Could Wish Them a Longer Stay
Plum, peach, apple and
pear
And the service tree on
the hill
Unfold blossom and
leaf.
From them comes scented
air
As the brotherly petals
spill.
Their tenure is bright
and brief.
We could wish them a
longer stay,
We could wish them a
charmed bough
On a hill untouched by
the flow
Of consuming time; but
they
Are lovelier, dearer
now
Because they are soon
to go,
Plum, peach, apple and
pear
And the service blooms
whiter than snow.
Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958)
Bow Down In Jericho, 1950, pages 109-110
Jackie pointed out that
the service tree in the poem is what we today call serviceberry (Amelanchior arborea), and was/is
pronounced “sarvis” in Appalachian dialect. The “service”
refers to the early blooming period of the tree that coincided with the thawing
of the Appalachian mountain soil, allowing the burial of people who had died
during the winter. This was the time that mountain roads became passable and itinerant
preachers could reach remote communities to perform funeral services and
weddings. Mary Ann pointed out that in the Northeastern US the same plant is
called the shadbush because its flowering coincides with the running of shad, a
marine fish that enters the rivers in enormous numbers to breed at that time.
Today’s route: We left the parking lot via the Shade Garden path
that begins to the right of the arbor.
We wound our way down through the Shade Garden on the sidewalk and
entered the Dunson Native Flora Garden.
We walked most of the mulched path through the Dunson garden before
heading back to the parking lot, then through the International Garden to the
large pawpaw bushes in the Heritage Garden.
From here we made our way into the Visitor Center and Dondero’s for
refreshments and conversation.
Shade Garden:
Dogwoods in our area have not succumbed to the anthracnose fungus (Discula destructiva) as feared earlier. Trees
need to be located where there is abundant air flow. This apparently makes it
more difficult for the fungus to establish. The prominent white petals of the
dogwood are not really petals; they are modified leaves, properly called bracts.
They perform the function of petals, though, which is to attract pollinators. Each
set of four bracts surrounds a cluster of 30-40 tiny flowers. Those that are
fertilized develop into bright red berries that are devoured by squirrels and
birds in the fall.
Sensitive fern is seen high up on the hillside in the Shade Garden.
The typical habitat of this plant in lower down in moister areas and in
wetlands. Last year’s dried fertile
fronds are still present along with this year’s fresh sterile fronds. The
fertile fronds produce spores; sterile fronds are incapable of spore
production.
Trillium sp.are seen along path.
These have probably been carried to this location by ants as seeds from trilliums
growing in the Dunson Garden (see below for more about ant transport of seeds).
A large group of Mariana
maiden fern is seen along the path – it is an invasive Asian species.
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| Piedmont azalea; note projecting stamens and pistil |
A beautiful white
cultivar of our native Piedmont azalea is currently blooming. If you
look at the photo of the flowers you will notice that the stamens and pistil
extend far in front of the face of the petals, raising the question of what
kind of pollinator this plant relies on. It was recently discovered that Tiger
Swallowtails and other large butterflies are effective pollinators of Azaleas –
but not in the way you might think. When these butterflies are sipping nectar
from the base of the flowers their upper wing surfaces come in contact with the
stamens, picking up pollen. The pollen is carried on the wings to the next
flower. The flapping wings both carry pollen and transfer it to the pistil!
One of the ornamental plants
in this part of the garden is Mahonia, Oregon grape holly, a plant that
is invasive in many parts of the country.
Dunson Native Flora Garden: DNFG is filled with plants from all over the
state of Georgia, bringing together plants that are normally separated by
hundreds of miles. This has led to some strange hybrids, especially among the
trilliums here.
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|
| Virginia bluebells |
Virginia bluebells are in the borage (forget-me-not) family.
Plants in this family have unique flower clusters that begin as a flat coil of
unopened buds that mature from the bottommost to the top. As the buds open the
coil gradually unwinds bringing the newly opened flowers to the upper, exposed
position of the inflorescence. Because the shape of the coil is reminiscent of the
way a scorpion holds its tail botanists call this a “scorpioid” inflorescence.
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|
| Large flowered bellwort |
Two bellworts can
be found in the DNFG. The common name refers to the way the flowers dangle
downward, like a bell hanging from the stem. (The genus name, Uvularia, also refers to the dangling
flowers. Look into a mirror and open your mouth really wide. You may need a
flashlight to see the back of your throat. You will see a small finger-like
piece of tissue, the uvula, hanging
down from your soft palate. This is the origin of the genus name for bellworts.)
The smaller of the two species, the Perfoliate bellwort, is just
beginning to bloom; the larger species is the Large-flowered bellwort
which, in addition to being a more robust plant, has larger, twisted petals.
Both species have stems that seem to perforate the leaves, the basis of the
Perfoliate (from per-, meaning through and –foliate, refering to foliage or
leaves) part of the common name. The dangling flower is pollinted by beetles
and small flies.
Trilliums: Georgia has 23 trillium species, more than any other state in the
country and the DNFG has a small sample of trillium species from around the
state. Trilliums were not found in the Botanical Garden’s natural areas in 1998,
so any that are found outside the Dunson garden undoubtedly came from seed
produced by plants growing here. We have found trillium in the Shade garden,
the Scout trail and on the White trail hundreds of feet above the DNFG. Trillium
seed is heavy and not blown about like dandelion seed. How could it travel so
far? Trilliums, like many other spring ephemeral plants, produce seeds that have
fat and protein rich “handles” called elaiosomes. When the
seed is mature and falls to the ground it is discovered by foraging ants. The
ants carry the seed back to their nest where the elaisome is removed and fed to
nest mates and ant larvae. The seed itself is not recognized as food and is carried
out of the nest and dropped in the ant’s waste dump where it sits among the
bodies of dead ants and other organic debris removed from the nest. This is
fertile ground for a germinating seed and clusters of trilliums can be found on
former ant dumps. Even longer distance dispersal of trillium seed can be attributed
to Yellow jacket wasps; they have been observed removing seeds from the seed
capsules of trilliums.
Trilliums can be divided
into two groups based on their flowers: stalked and sessile. (Sessile means
attached.) Most of the species that we saw blooming today are sessile
trilliums – they have flowers that are attached directly to the leaves
beneath them. The stalked trilliums have the flowers on a stalk that
arises from the point where the three leaves emerge from the stem. Stalked
trillium typically have solid green leaves whereas the sessile flowered
trilliums have heavily mottled leaves.
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|
| Chattahoochee trillium |
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|
| Spotted trillium |
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| Sweet Betsy trillium |
Today we saw three
sessile flowered trilliums: Sweet Betsy, Spotted and Chattahoochee. The Chattahoochee
trillium has a silvery stripe on the midvein of the leaves; this stripe
is lacking in the Sweet Betsy trillium (but it does have a light green
irregular marking along the leaf midvein). The petals of the Spotted
trillium‘s upright flower taper at the base so you can see through to the
stamens within. In the Chattahoochee and Sweet Betsy the base of the petals
overlap, so you can’t see the stamens through the side of the flower. Sweet
Betsy is widespread in the state; Spotted is found in the Coastal plain in
moist ravines and Chattahoochee is found in the southwestern corner of the
state.
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|
| Dwarf trillium |
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| Edna’s trillium |
Two species of stalked
trillium were blooming today: Dwarf trillium (Dwarf wakerobin) and
Edna’s trillium. Edna’s trillium (Persistent trillium) was discovered by
Edna Garth near Toccoa and was described by Wilbur Duncan, the late, well-known
UGA botanist. It is also found in adjacent South Carolina.
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|
| Small-flowered pawpaw flowers |
There is only one kind of Paw Paw in the DNFG, the Small-flowered
pawpaw (Asimina parviflora). It is a
small shrub. In the Heritage garden there are several large Paw Paw trees (Asimina triloba). Both species are
currently flowering and their flowers are very similar, differing mostly in
size. They are dark purple or maroon in color, resembling rotten flesh and are
reported by some to have a foul smell. Others say that the flowers have a
yeasty odor. The color and odors are typical of fly-pollinated plants.
Spring beauty.is not open this early in the morning, but the
flowers will be open in the afternoon on a warm day. It is pollinated by native
solitary bees and flies and has one pollinator that is totally dependent on it
– the Spring beauty bee (Andrena
erigeniae). The Spring beauty bee gathers pollen only from Spring beauty
flowers and in the course of its visits to other Spring beauty flowers some of
the pollen it has collected is brushed onto a receptive pistil. The rest of the
pollen is taken home to a solitary nest where it is fashioned into a ball,
moistened with a little nectar and an egg is laid on it. That chamber of the
nest is then sealed off and the whole process repeated. But the mother bee
never sees her offspring. She will die later in the spring and her young will feed
on their pollen cakes, pupate and emerge as adult bees next year at the time
that Spring beauty begins to bloom.
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|
| Dimpled trout lily (closed flower) |
There are two species of
trout lily in the DNFG: American trout lily and Dimpled trout lily.
Both have a life history similar to trillium. The first several years after the
seed germinates they produce a single leafand no flowers, but after
several years and under right conditions, two leaves are sent up and flowering starts.
The American trout lily forms large patches of clonal plants, as seen at the
base of a large Tulip tree in the DNFG. The Dimpled trout lily does not form
these large clones. To tell the two species apart you have to wait for the seed
capsule to form. The front end of the capsule has a dimple or is flat in the
Dimpled trout lily and is tapered in the American trout lily.
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| Meadow rue female flowers; note the pollen grains on the stigmas |
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| Meadow rue male flowers; note the many stamens |
Meadow rue is a dioecious plant, meaning that there are separate male and female
plants (all the flowers on a single plant are the same sex). This species is wind pollinated — the petals are absent or very reduced.
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| Silver-leaf violet |
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|
| Long-spurred violet |
There are several violets
that have been planted in the DNFG. Today we saw Silver-leaf violet, a
stemmed yellow violet formerly called Halberd-leaf violet. (A halberd is an
mediaeval weapon consisting of a spear with an axe blade mounted below the
spear point. It is carried ceremonially by the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the
Vatican.) Long-spurred violet has a long tube that contains nectar
projecting back from the purple flowers. And, of course, there is the Common
violet that is found everywhere in the garden.
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| Cinnamon fern |
We took note of a few
ferns today. Southern maiden hair fern leaves are longer than broad with
leaflets arranged pinnately along the shiny, black stem. Northern maidenhair fern (not in the gardend)
leaves are wider than they are long, and the leaflets are fanned out in a
semi-circle. The Cinnamon fern has two types of fronds, the green leafy
sterile frond that does not produce spores and the taller, cinnamon-colored
fertile fronds that produce the reproductive spores.
There are several buckeye
species found in Georgia. The Ohio buckeye tree is found only in northwest
Georgia where the soils are basic. The Yellow buckeye tree found in the
mountains of northeast Georgia. It has a bark textured like the older, patchy
bark of the Sycamore and grows to considerable size. Of three other buckeyes
planted in the garden only Painted buckeye is in the DNFG. It has large
inflorescences of tubular pale yellow flowers and has just begun to flower.
Only one or two flowers of each inflorescence are currently open. It naturally
grows in the piedmont. Elsewhere in the garden are planted Red buckeyes
and these are now in full bloom. (See the later account in this post.) (The
third species is Bottlebrush buckeye; there is one in the International Garden
and one on the White trail. It blooms much later in the summer.)
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|
| Mayapple with bud visible between the two leaves |
Toward the bottom of the
DNFG is a large patch of Mayapple, some with flower buds (found only on
plants with two leaves). The ripe fruit can be eaten by humans but unripe fruit
is toxic, as is all the other parts of the plant. Box turtles are the primary
disperser of the seeds. One chemical extracted from this plant, podophylline,
is or has been used in cancer chemotherapy; it is also used to get rid of warts.
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| Ground pine |
New to the DNFG is Ground
pine/ground cedar, which is a club moss, a member of a very early group of
vascular plants. Vascular plants have specialized tissues that conduct water
and dissolved nutrients to distant parts of the plant body. The evolution of vascular
tissue allowed plants to grow to very large sizes and our Pennsylvanian age forests
were filled with giant Club moss relatives. The remains of these forests were
converted to coal and oil by geological processes and are now being used to
contribute to global warming.
We were a little dismayed to find a few Spanish
bells in the DNFG, especially because two years ago Ramblers spent 21 man hours digging these
invasive plants out of the DNFG.
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| Dwarf crested iris |
Dwarf crested iris has started to bloom. The colorful,
pollinator-attracting structures are sepals, with the yellow, blue, and white
patch, not petals.
A few short stems of Coral honeysuckle have just
emerged. Like other woody vines, they will not bloom if they can’t run up a
fence, trellis or shrub toward the sun (also toward pollinators).
A patch of Lion’s foot exhibiting highly
variable leaf shapes was seen. Shapes vary from a single, arrowhead shaped leaf
to a three lobed leaf.
Like the edible strawberry, Lobed barren strawberry
is in the Rose family, but the fruit is an inedible, dry achene. This species is rare in Georgia and on our
Special Concern list.
Coral bells are most often found growing on
rocks or shallow, rocky soil.
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| Woodland phlox |
Woodland phlox are found in several places,
their flowers in shades of pink to blue.
Cut-leaf toothwort
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| Ashe’s magnolia, newly opened bud |
Ashe’s magnolia — finally leafing out
Green-and-gold patch really coming into full
flower now after a winter of a few, scattered flowers.
Windflower/Rue anemone
Golden ragwort — scattered all throughout Dunson garden.
Wood poppy is blooming in several locations.
Wild ginger and Heart leaved ginger.
Bloodroot; the flower closed this early in the
morning but will open later in the day.
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| Shooting star |
Shooting stars
Leatherwood now in full, beautiful leaf
Foam flower
Bedstraw/Cleavers
Seersucker/plantain-leaved/pleated sedge
Allegheny spurge is still in bud, not flowering
yet.
Doll’s eyes (?)
not flowering yet should have
bud….have to wait for flowers to distinguish from black cohosh
Columbine
from Spanish word for dove (genus Aquilegia
means eagle). Pollinated by hummingbirds.
Sparkleberry in early leaf
A Pileated woodpecker was heard drumming on a
tree.
A Sedge, Carex
sp., was seen but we’ll have to wait for mature fruits to identify it.
Visitor Center Parking Lot:
On the SW corner of the
lot there are several Red buckeyes, which is mostly a coastal plain
species. Hummingbirds that visit red buckeyes on their northward migration may
sometimes bring red buckeye pollen north to the piedmont on their bills. Sometimes that pollen is transferred to the
flowers of the piedmont’s Painted buckeye which has pale yellow flowers. This
pollen transfer may result in offspring with traits of both the red buckeye and
the painted buckeye, most noticeably in a multi-colored flower.
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| Redbud with enhanced cauliflory |
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| Redbud with doubled floral structures |
Near the Arbor is a
horticultural variety of Redbud with two unusual features: doubled
flowers and prominent cauliflory (flower clusters emerging directly from buds
beneath the bark of the branches and trunk). Doubled flowers does not mean that there are twice as many; it means that the number of petals per flower has increased by two or more times. When plant breeders create doubled
flowers the additional petals are usually formed from the sexual parts (stamens
and pistils) that have been converted into petals. As a result the flowers are
sterile or have greatly lowered fertility. Wild Redbuds are weakly
cauliflorous, having a small number of flowers on the trunk and branches. Cauliflory
is largely a trait of tropical plants, like Papaya and Cacao, from which we get
chocolate. You can learn more about cauliflory here.
Heritage Garden:
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| Paw paw flower interior Anthers surround the pistil yellow flecks are pollen |
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| Paw paw flowers |
We saw the Small-flowered
pawpaw, a small shrub with tiny flowers, in the DNFG and here there are several
large Paw Paw trees (Asimina
triloba). You probably remember the old ditty:
“Picking up paw-paws; put ’em in a
basket.
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch“
It refers to the
delicious fruit produced by this tree. The flowers are larger versions of the small
flowered species and their dark maroon color mimics rotting flesh, making them
attractive to flies, their major pollinator. In addition to the color they are
reported by some to have a foul smell. Others say that the flowers have a
yeasty odor. Jeff told us that an effective way to guarantee paw paw fruit
production is to hang ripe road killed possum in the paw paw patch, which
should have led to a new chorus line in the old song: “Picking up possums; put ’em in a paw paw
patch”.
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES
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Shade Garden |
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Dogwood |
Cornus |
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Sensitive |
Onoclea |
|
Mariana |
Macrothelypteris |
|
Piedmont |
Rhododendron |
|
Oregon Holly-leaved barberry |
Mahonia |
|
Virginia |
Mertensia |
|
Perfoliate |
Uvularia |
|
Sweet |
Trillium |
|
Dunson Native Flora Garden |
|
|
Small-flowered |
Asimina |
|
Chattahoochee |
Trillium |
|
Lion’s |
Prenanthes |
|
Spring |
Claytonia |
|
Spanish |
Hyacinthoides |
|
American |
Erythronium |
|
Meadow |
Thalictrum |
|
Southern |
Adiantum |
|
Coral |
Heuchera |
|
Woodland |
Phlox |
|
Large-flowered |
Uvularia |
|
Dwarf |
Iris |
|
Cut-leaf |
Cardamine |
|
Ashe’s |
Magnolia |
|
Green-and-gold |
Chrysogonum |
|
Windflower/Rue |
Thalictrum |
|
Golden |
Packera |
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Long |
Viola |
|
Coral |
Lonicera |
|
Mayapple |
Podophyllum |
|
Painted |
Aesculus |
|
Wood |
Stylophorum |
|
Wild |
Hexastylis |
|
Heart-leaved |
Hexastylis |
|
Bloodroot |
Sanguinaria |
|
Dwarf |
Trillium |
|
Shooting |
Dodecatheon |
|
Dimpled |
Erythronium |
|
Eastern |
Dirca |
|
Foam |
Tiarella |
|
Lobed |
Geum lobatum (-Waldsteinia lobata) |
|
Bedstraw/Cleavers |
Galium |
|
Cinnamon |
Osmundastrum cinnamomeum |
|
Edna’s |
Trillium |
|
Silver-leaf |
Viola |
|
Spotted |
Trillium |
|
Ground |
Lycopodium (= Diphasiastrum digitatum) |
|
Seersucker plantain-leaved sedge pleated sedge |
Carex |
|
Allegheny |
Pachysandra |
|
Doll’s Black cohosh? |
Actaea Actaea racemosa? |
|
Columbine |
Aquilegia |
|
Sparkleberry |
Vaccinium |
|
Pileated |
Hylatomus |
|
Sedge |
Carex |
|
Visitor Center Parking Lot |
|
|
Red |
Aesculus |
|
Eastern |
Cercis |
|
Heritage Garden |
|
|
Paw |
Asimina |