LETTERS:

I have moved to Ottawa but still enjoy reading your informative and interesting WN. As always, Patsy C. is always up to date on plant nomenclature and what's what in the Alberta plant environment. Great photos!It is encouraging to see that milkweed and Joe Pye are consciously nurtured on banks of newly developed roads here in Ottawa.Great publication - keep on going!Lucy

Thanks so much! That's so great to hear about the Milkweed and Joe Pye. I think they could do so much more on new roads here (sigh).

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In This Issue:

Events• January 12 - Edmonton Plant Study Group Assisted migrations to mitigate the effects of climate change for rare and range-restricted

plants• February 2015 - Organic Master Gardener Program in Stony Plain, Alberta

News• Exploring Oleskiw Trail Options, November 18, 2014 by Hubert Taube

Articles

• Butterflies of Edmonton - Arctic Skipper Carterocephalus palaemon mandan • Aster Family: Asteraceae; Senecio or Groundsel Tribe – Senecioneae• Winter Flowers

Website of the Month

From your Editor:

Welcome to the Wildflower News for January, and our best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all!

WILDFLOWER NEWS‘Growing Nature’s Garden’ JANUARY 2015

" P.CotterillAn arabesque of empty Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) seed pods in winter

EVENTS - if you would like to post an event that involves native flowers, please email us at

engedmonton@gmail.com

January 12, Monday - Edmonton Plant Study Group Assisted migrations to mitigate the effects of climate change for rare and range-restricted plantsJennine Pedersen, a Master of Science student in the Department of Renewable Resources in the University of Alberta, will describe her thesis work on assisted plant migrations.As climate change progresses, climatically suitable ranges for plant species are predicted to shift to higher altitudes and latitudes. Species with dispersal limitations may not be able to migrate quickly enough to keep pace with their shifting ranges, and therefore could face higher rates of extinction or extirpationThis is especially likely for those species with high habitat specificity, or narrow climatic niches. To prevent these extinctions or extirpations, assisted migrations have been suggested as a proactive conservation tool. This process involves moving organisms from their current range into areas predicted to be more suitable under future climatic scenarios. The effectiveness of this strategy will be assessed using the northern (meadow) blazingstar (Liatris ligulistylis) and long-leaved bluets (Houstonia longifolia); two rare and range-restricted plants in Alberta. Twelve translocation sites consisting of mature plants and seed have been established across Alberta. The success of these assisted migrations (survival, germination, growth, fecundity) is currently being assessed.Time: Doors at 7:00 pm; program starts at 7:30 pm Location: Room 8, 3rd floor of the J. Percy Page Centre - 11759 Groat Road. Park on the south side, go in the south door and sign in. Admission: Free, but membership of the Edmonton Nature Club is encouraged.

February 2015 - Organic Master Gardener Program in Stony Plain, Alberta The Multicultural Heritage Centre of Stony Plain is once again offering its very successful Organic Master Gardener program, beginning February 4, 2015. Partnering with Gaia College of Victoria, B.C., the MHC has designed a certificate program for adult learners with instructors who are well-known and very well-respected in the organic and horticultural community across the province. More information is available on line on the MHC website at www.multicentre.org, or by contacting Judy Kesanko at judyk@multicentre.org. Registrations are being accepted right now.

NEWS... If you have a news item involving native plants that you would like posted, please email us at engedmonton@gmail.com

Exploring Oleskiw Trail Options, November 18, 2014 by Hubert Taube reprinted with permission, from the Edmonton Nature Clubʼs ʻParkland Naturalistʼ September to December 2014 issue

Despite poor weather conditions (overcast skies, about -10C, slight breeze) and a conflicting Edmonton CFL game, seven people came out to explore the various trail options through Oleskiw Park, from the Fort Edmonton footbridge to the future Terwillegar footbridge.

We appreciated the participation of Karen Kennedy of the City of Edmontonʼs Trails, Paths and Routes Advisory Committee, who will have input in the decision-making process.

Going in, we followed option #6: first along the edge of the riparian forest and then through the forest by the single-track trail along the river; on our return, we followed option #5 (along the escarpment). Option #5 is the

alignment preferred by ENC for the planned asphalt trail.

Patsy Cotterill, our expert botanist, identified the dominant tree species: balsam and aspen poplar; major understory species: dogwood, high-bush cranberry, chokecherry, saskatoon, hazelnut, Canada buffalo-berry, common juniper; forbs and grasses of interest: burnet saxifrage, asters, bedstraws, goldenrods. The rare bristle-leaved sedge in the southern portion of the forest was undetectable due to snow cover.

Tracks of deer and coyotes were everywhere, both in the meadow and in the forest; at the riverʼs edge we saw evidence of fresh beaver activity; and in the distance, a pack of coyotes was howling. We observed 6 species of birds.

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Photo by Hubert Taube

Aster Family: Asteraceae; Senecio or Groundsel Tribe – Senecioneae by Patsy Cotterill

This is the largest tribe in the family, with approximately 120 genera and more than 3,000 species worldwide, of which about 1000 occur in the genus Senecio (groundsel, ragwort, or butterweed). Centres of diversity (i.e., areas with most species) occur in Mexico, Central and South America, southern and tropical Africa, and central and eastern Asia. Alberta has 22 species in the tribe.

Characteristics of the tribe include the presence of only one or two series (or rows) of bracts forming the involucre, the cup-like structure surrounding the flower head (see October and November issues of Wildflower News for more information on flower structure in the Aster family). The involucre is usually cylindrical in shape. Also characteristic is the copious pappus of fine, very white hairs that tops each single-seeded fruit in the head. Flower heads can consist of a mixture of disk and ray florets, or of disk florets alone. The florets are yellow in many species but in some are white or pinkish or blue.

Until fairly recently only two genera were considered to be represented in Alberta, the ragworts or groundsels, Senecio, and the coltsfoots, Petasites. Now, however, Marsh Ragwort (formerly Senecio congestus) has been placed in its own genus, Tephroseris, as T. palustris, and some Senecios have been separated out into the genus Packera (named after John G. Packer, professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, who worked on this group).

Some species in the tribe are grown as ornamentals; for example, Dusty Miller, Senecio cineraria, which is popular in our gardens, and Floristʼs Cineraria, Pericallis hybrida. House-plant fanciers may be familiar with String-of-beads, Senecio rowleyanus, an African succulent in which the swollen, bead-like leaves are modified to store water.

Butterflies of Edmonton - Arctic Skipper Carterocephalus palaemon mandan by "Butterflieslovewildflowers" Trudy. Photo by author.

Palaemon was god of the Sea in Greek myth. There are 26 different species of Skippers in Alberta.

Arctic Skippers use brome grass, bluegrass, and marsh reed grasses as their host plants, seeming to prefer broad-leaf grasses. There is one brood a year and the larvae overwinter on the blades of grasses.The butterfly is on the wing from May to August.

The wildflowers Arctic Skippers visit are asters, Flodmanʼs thistles, violets, wild strawberries, giant hyssop, beebalm, native yarrow, and blanketflowers to name a few.

Let some grasses grow long in spots of your garden to encourage the Arctic Skipper to visit.  (Editorʼs note: Broad-leaved native bunch grasses such as fringed or nodding brome would be suitable.)           

Marsh Groundsel or Marsh Ragwort, Tephroseris palustris, can form huge yellow rings around wetlands when water levels are low. An annual or biennial, it can be present as rosettes of curly leaves, causing people to puzzle over its identity!

This picture, taken in a lakeside meadow in southern Alberta, is of Sweet Marsh Ragwort, aka Tall Groundsel, Senecio hydrophiloides. It shows the green involucral bracts, which are black-tipped, in a single series forming a cylindrical involucre.

There are four subspecies of Arctic Sweet Coltsfoot, Petasites frigidus, in Alberta, which are told apart by their leaves (and habitats). All flower early (May) and are followed by their leaves which persist through the season. Local botanist Donna Cherniawsky did the taxonomic work to establish that, rather than being separate species, all our plants are subspecies of a single species, P. frigidus.

" " " " " " " " " " Photo by J. Derek Johnson" " " " " " " " " " " "" " " " " " " " " Close-up showing the individual male" " " " " " " " " florets in the flower heads. The brown, " " " " " " " " " cigar-like cylinders in the centre of the Largely male flower heads of Mainly female flower heads - the" florets are the rings of anthers. The flower Arrow-leaved Coltsfoot, " " white hair-like things are ripe" heads will wither and turn brown soon P. frigidus subsp. sagittatus. " stigmas awaiting pollination. "" after the pollen is shed.

A patch or clone of female plants of Arrow-leaved Coltsfoot that Another very common local species of coltsfoot, Palmate-have gone to fruit. (The heads are white due to the abundant leaved Coltsfoot, Petasites frigidus subsp. palmatus, is a pappus on the individual fruits at the base of the florets.) Note denizen of mixedwoods. If shade is too intense, it will notthat the characteristically shaped leaves have begun to appear flower, but produce only leaves, and rely on rhizome growthbut remain small. This very common species is found in wet, to spread. When an opening in the forest occurs, as after aopen places, including ditches. " " " " fire, it will burst into bloom the following spring.

All photos by P. Cotterill except where noted otherwise.

Packera species differ from Senecio members in rather technical ways, but one hint for the observer is that Packeras lack the tiny blobs (callouses) on the leaf teeth that Senecios have. Left: the picture of Rocky Mountain Groundsel, Packera streptanthifolia, was taken on a rocky slope near Cadomin. Right: Balsam Groundsel, Packera paupercula, grows closer to home, in moist, peaty places. Look for it at Shooting Star Hill, above the Alfred Savage Centre in Whitemud Park.

Winter Flowers by J. Golub, P. Cotterill and L. DeLeeuw

If you, like us, are suffering from native plant withdrawal, here are some beauties looking good in the snow! All of them were found in the Edmonton area river valley and ravines.

Ostrich Fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris Biennial Sagewort, Artemesia biennis. The prickly hooked seed heads of Many of us have this in our shade A somewhat weedy plant that is found Wild Licorice, Glycyrrrhiza lepidota. gardens, not realizing it is a native on moist ground and disturbed areas. Found on moist prairie slopes and plant. In the wild, it is found in moist "" " " " " " stream banks. forests and along stream banks.These are the fertile (spore-bearing) fronds; they are more robust and durable than the fronds without spores.

" " " " " " " " " The black button seed heads of Nodding " " " " " " " " " Beggarticks, Bidens cernua. Found in marshy" " " " " " " " " ground, and shallow water; here in the " " " " " " " " " stream bed in a ravine.

Cut-leaved Ragwort, Puffball seed heads of Meadow Senecio eremophilus " " Blazingstar, Liatris ligulistylis, in winter. Found in moist, open woods.

Not a wildflower, but beautiful nonetheless! A bracket " " The half-inch long miniature seed cones of River Alder, fungus about 7-8 inches across, and although you "" " Alnus rugosa. Because these shrubs flower very canʼt really see it in the photo, the band running " " " early, they are very important to bees who use the along the underneath edge was a lovely delicate " " " pollen to feed their first batch of young. rosy pink! Fomes fomentarius on balsam poplar.

Please send compliments, concerns and complaints to engedmonton@gmail.com.  To unsubscribe, or subscribe, email engedmonton@gmail.com

! ! Cherry Dodd, editor" " Judith Golub, publisher" " http://edmontonnativeplantgroup.org/

Website of the Month:

Farmers doing good work - while energy production has huge impact on our planet, many of us forget that over the last 10,000 years, agriculture has emitted almost double the amount of atmospheric carbon than all the coal, oil, and gas ever burned. What if we can address climate change and its adverse impacts through changing what we eat, who grows it, and how itʼs produced? Soil Carbon Cowboys tells a story of ranchers who learn to focus on regenerating their soils while providing some real food for thought.We really like this. Here are farmers who like sow thistle!

Soil Carbon Cowboys: http://vimeo.com/80518559

" " " " " " On a grey winterʼs day, the green lichen and orangey-red birch " " " " " " bark were beautiful together.

Photos: Wild Licorice by J. Golub; Bracket Fungus and Cut-leaved Ragwort by P.Cotterill; all others by L. DeLeeuw.

Sources:Flora of Alberta, E.H. Moss. Second edition revised by John G. Packer. 1983Wildflowers of Alberta, R.G.H. Cormack. 1977Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland, Johnson, Kershaw, MacKinnon and Pojar. 1995

ENPG would love to showcase any photos youʼve taken of native plants this winter in next monthʼs newsletter. You can send them to engedmonton@gmail.com.