Twenty-three ramblers met at the arbor
today for a ramble through the Garden to the Orange Trail, up the Orange Trail
to the Upper Parking Lot, onto the White Trail spur to the Dunson Native Flora
Garden and back..
Don Hunter read a wonderful discussion of
weeds from The Nature Connection, an
Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms by Clare Walker Leslie,
Naturalist, Artist and Educator:
"What
about weeds?
“Weed”
is not a botanical term, as weeds are really wildflowers. We call them weeds because they grow happily
even though we don't plant them and often show up in places where we don't want
them! Humans are weeds, too, in the
sense that we can live just about anywhere, we can survive under all kinds of
conditions, and we are hard to get rid of!
"Many
so called weeds are just as beautiful as any cultivated plant (that's what we
call plants we grow on purpose), as well as being tough, adaptable, and often
quite useful. When I look at “A Garden
Guide to Weeds” or “The Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers”, I discover that
most of the plants I know are weeds."
Hugh read a short quote from Edwin Way
Teale, collected in Environmental Writing
Since Thoreau, American Earth, edited by Bill McKibben, p. 313
"The
difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between
telephone wires and the spider's web."
Our first stop was noting that the
Florida Azalea (Rhododendron austrinum)
on which we had observed lichens several
weeks ago, looked dead. The adjacent
plant was in full and glorious bloom.
The lichen covered one looked dead.
We wondered which came first, plant stress, lichens, and death.
In the Endangered Plant Garden we noted
that the golden ragwort (Packera aurea)
had invaded the plot.
In the Indian Garden we noted the rue
anemone and remarked on how long it lasts.
Blooming were lily of the valley (Convallaria
majalis), and a wild hyacinth or Quamash hyacinth (Camasia leichtlinii). The
latter was like the one in the northwest that the Lewis and Clark expedition
learned from the Indians. Also present
was a leaf from the deciduous wild ginger (Asarum
arifolium) along with Mayapples (Podophyllum
peltatum), the first of many we were to see. Above the Indian Garden a shrub was showing
new leaves, and someone thought it was a bloom.
Wanted to know what it was. She
read the label, Kalmia latifolia,
which is Mountain Laurel. There were
also a lot of leaves from a number of plants that were black cohosh (Actea racemosa) that will not bloom
until summer.
As we entered the Physic Garden we noted
the high bush blueberry (Vaccinium
corymbosum), but the sign below said it was a Gaylusachia procumbens, but it was not procumbent and did not have
the leaves of tea berry. The Gaylusachia genus have gold glands on
the underside of the leaf that can be seen with a hand lens. We could not see the gold glands on these
leaves.
Once again we stopped to admire the
PawPaw (Asimina triloba) patch.
Our next stop was at the cultivar, white
Loropetalum. Crossing a bridge to the
Thinking Lady statue, or is it the one with a headache, we admired the blooming
black cherry (Prunus serotina). There was some discussion as to whether it
was Cherry Laurel. Black cherry is a
deciduous tree, whereas Cherry Laurel (Prunus
caroliniana) is evergreen.
On the path through the deer fence gate
and down to the creek along the Orange Trail there were new leaves of Solomon
Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) and wild
ginger (Hexastylis arifolia). Yellow Three parted violets (Viola tripartita) were in bloom, and
bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
had gone to seed. The seed was
beautifully cradled by the leaf, which was continuing to get bigger to absorb
energy for next year. Mayapple (Podophyllum
peltatum) requires two joined leaves to have a blossom, and we did indeed
find one just opened. It was so
beautiful! Fresh hepatica (Anemone americana) leaves were very
attractive. We have been following the beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) to see when their leaves drop and the new ones
appear. Today at this point we found a
tree still with leaves on it, but the new lovely brown sharp leaf buds were
also bursting with new leaves. The
leaves of poison ivy (Toxicodendron
radicans) have started to appear.
Crossing the bridge at the river edge a
vine climbing a muscle wood tree (Carpinus
caroliniana) was leafing out, revealing by its paired leaves that it was
climbing hydrangea (Decumaria barbara). Along the creek were lots of wildflowers: rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides), blue
violet (Viola sororia), the leaves of
violet wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea)
with their purple margins, leaves of river cane (Arundinaria sp), leaves of yellow root (Xanthorhiza simplicissima), and blooms of wild geraniums (Geranium maculatum). Another bloom was perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata). Hugh discussed how to tell it from the other
perfoliate bellwort (U. grandiflora).
The inner surface of the tepals in P.
perfoliata have orange granular surfaces, which P. grandiflora does not have.
A sweet shrub (Calycanthus
floridus) was just budding. Someone
asked about a sprout with just a whorl of fresh leaves, which turned out to be
wild yam (Dioscorea villas). Several
ferns have now popped out: broad beech
fern (Phegopteris hexagonoptera),
Southern Lady Fern (Athyrium asplenioides)
and ebony spleenwort (Asplenium
platyneuron). As was conjectured by
ramblers, the name Asplenium was
given because it was thought the plant was supposed to cure diseases of the
spleen. Another find was blue star (Amsonia tabernaemontana). It was actually in two place: once early along the creek, and once by a
nice patch of rue anemone. On the slope heading away from the creek another
fern appeared. Just the three basic
leaves of the rattlesnake fern (Botrypus
virginianus) appeared. Its fertile
frond has yet to come up. All along the
trail the leaves of Christmas fern (Polystichum
acrostichoides) was unfurling, the beautiful fiddleheads. Rounding a tree
that hid it from view, the Kidney leaf
buttercup (Ranunculus abortivus)
was quite robust. Hugh had the
scientific name right, but the common name was not early buttercup (Thank you
Don).
On the white trail spur two more black
cherry trees were blooming. Five fingers, Cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis) with its bright yellow flower made this walk
to the Dunson Native Flora Garden more interesting. We talked about the two species of
Cinquefoil: P. canadensis and P. simplex. The difference is that in P. canadensis the first flower is in the
axis of the first well-developed stem leaf, whereas in P. simplex the first flower is in the axis of the second
well-developed stem leaf. The appearance
of dogwood (Cornus florida) in bloom in the forest is different than what you
see in yards. It is a more delicate
wafting scene of the white flowers, a truly wonderful sight in Spring. I can still remember the beauty of seeing it
for the first time in the woods of North Carolina on a trip from the airport to
UNC to give a paper. All along this trail were the leaves of muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia) Amazingly, trilliums
were popping up along this spur.
Just before entering the Dunson Native
Flora Garden the Piedmont Azalea (Rhododendron
canescens) was in bloom with its pinkish flowers. below it the leaves of
Black Cohosh were up. but Dwarf crested iris (Iris crostata) was hidden in vegetation. But the flowers of columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) were not hidden.
In the Dunson Native Flora Garden
trilliums were everywhere, as were Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginiana). More
dwarf crested iris, green and gold (Chrysogonum
virginianum) were blooming. The
wonderful shooting stars were in full bloom.
The sign called them Dodecatheon
meadia, but they have just been moved to Primula meadia. Some botanists have told me that they do not
agree or like this change at all. Across
from the mass of blooming decumbent trilliums (Trilllium decumbent), a lone but quite beautiful yellow trillium (Trillium lutea) was blooming. The
tiny trillium (Trillium pusillum) had
turned red. The medicinal plant with its
very small flower, goldenseal (Hydrastis
canadensis) was also in bloom.
But the joy of the day was to walk up the
rocky dry stream behind the golden ragwort to see two amazing trilliums. One was Catesby's trillium (Trillium catesbaei) and Wateree trillium
(Trillium oostingii) that has only
been named by Chick Gaddy in 2008. Its
distribution is limited to South Carolina.
It grows under a canopy of deciduous trees, such as butternut hickory,
black walnut, slippery elm, box elder,
in rich floodplain soils forming large colonies alongside mayapples. It
has three broadly rounded, mottled leaves and its flowers have three
green-yellow petals and three green to maroon sepals. Cliff, a new assistant in the Dunson Native
Flora Garden planted it.
Blue phlox (Phlox divaricata), wood poppy (Stylophorum
diphyllum), and halberd leaf yellow violet (Viola hastata) were in full bloom.
But at the end of the lower circle we showed everyone the Cherry laurel
(Prunus caroliniana) and how
different it was from the black cherry.
Two other flowers to comment on are foam
flower (Tiarella cordifolia) and the
fact that the petals of Edna's trillium (Trillium
persistence) had turned red with age. We do not think the PawPaw tree along the
trail is Asimina triloba), as the sign reads. Ellen Honeycutt, who was on our Bot Soc
ramble alerted us to the characteristics of the plant that would suggest it
should be dwarf pawpaw (Asimina
parviflora). We have pointed this
out to the curator.
It was time to retire to Donderos for
coffee and snacks.
Hugh Nourse
