spring 2004 minnesota plant press
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
1
Minnesota Plant PressThe Minnesota Native Plant Society Newsletter
Volume 23 Number 3 Spring 2004
Monthly meetingsMinnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Visitor Center, 3815 East 80th St.
Bloomington, MN 55425-1600
952-854-5900
6:30 p.m. — Building east door opens6:30 p.m. — Refreshments,
information, Room A7 – 9 p.m — Program, society business7:30 p.m. — Building door is locked
9:30 p.m. — Building closes
ProgramsThe MNPS meets the first Thursday in
October, November, December, February,March, April, May, and June. Check theWeb site for more program information.
May 6: “Recent Research on LittleBluestem (Andropogon scoparius);”Plant-of-the-Month: Little Bluestem,both by Mary Meyer.
June 3: “Native Ferns,” by TomBittinger; Annual plant sale. (See article
on page 5.)
MNPS Web sitehttp://www.stolaf.edu/depts/biology/mnps
e-mail: [email protected]
MNPS ListserveSend a message that includes the word
“subscribe” or “unsubscribe” and yourname in the body of the message to:[email protected]
Interactive key toMinnesota’s woodyplants being developedby George Weiblin, University of Minnesota. He announced this new
key during his talk at the Feb. 5 meeting.
An interactive key to the woody plants of Minnesota is being
developed at the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of
Minnesota with the goal of providing an easy-to-use guide to
identification of all woody plant species occurring in the state.
Interactive keys have many advantages over traditional keys, and this
one is designed to be accessible on the Web to anyone with a basic
knowledge of botany. To use the key, go to http://geo.cbs.umn.edu/
treekey/navikey.html
Traditional keys involve a series of choices that divide organisms
into smaller and smaller groups, eventually leading to a species
description. Each choice leads further down a particular path, and
users become lost if a wrong choice is made at any point. Keys can be
very difficult if the user does not have complete information at hand,
or is not skilled in the art. For example, suppose that a key asks whether
a plant has fleshy fruits or dry fruits, but the plant in question has not
yet flowered. Information technology provides a robust alternative in
which users query a database according to whatever information is
available.
What is unique about the Interactive Key to the Woody Plants of
Minnesota is the web interface that allows anyone with a web browser
free access to this identification tool. We hope to expand this resource
from 277 species of woody plants to more than 4,000 species of plants
and fungi recorded in the state. In the future we hope to enhance the
key with digital images and information on leaves, twigs, flowers,
fruits, and fungi.
We welcome your comments, corrections and suggestions, as weare still in the development phase of this project. Please send feedbackto Dr. George Weiblen ([email protected]) or Dr. Anita Cholewa
Spring Wildflower GuideDo you know where to find wildflowers
in the Twin City metro area? The MNPS
booklet, Guide to Spring Wildflower
Areas, Twin Cities Region, gives the
locations and access rules of 42 parks and
natural areas and lists many of the plants
that may be seen in each location. The
booklets cost $5 ($4 for members) and are
available at all MNPS meetings.
3
Two field tripsplanned in May
MNPS members have organizedtwo field trips in May. One is aweekend at Whitewater State Park,May 7 - 9; the other is a botany walkthrough Louisville SwampManagement Area, near Jordan, onMay 22.
Doug Mensing and Joel Dunnettewill lead several wildflower walksduring the Spring WildflowerWeekend, May 7 – 9, at WhitewaterState Park in southeasternMinnesota. The society has reservedcamping area #2. Participantsshould bring their own campingequipment and food. The society isonly providing the campsite andguides. A fee of $5 per person willbe collected to cover the cost of thegroup campsite. For moreinformation, contact Doug Mensingat [email protected]
Jason Husveth, Doug Mensing andScott Milburn will lead the LouisvilleSwamp walk on May 22. It willbegin at 9 a.m. at the trailhead, whichis about 4.5 miles south of Shakopee.Take Hwy. 169 to 145th St, go pastthe Renaissance Festival entranceand cross the railroad tracks. TheLouisville parking lot will be on yourleft. The walk will end at about 2p.m., so bring a lunch. This event islimited to 30 participants. Moredetails are on the MNPS Web site.To sign up, contact Jason Husveth at
by Jason Husveth, presidentGreetings, Native Plant Society
members! Spring is finally here, andit’s time to start enjoying the nativeplants and natural areas that makeMinnesota so special. The skunkcabbage is flowering, and I haveheard that snow trillium is in bloomat Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
I am pleased to report that our 2004Symposium, “Our HistoricLandscape, The Ecology ofWoodlands and Savannas in theMinneapolis / Saint PaulMetropolitan Area,” was a greatsuccess. I would like to especiallythank all of our speakers, whograciously gave their time to prepareand present a varied and informativeselection of topics concerning theecology of these habitats. Thesociety owes a debt of gratitude toall who contributed to the planningand preparation for the symposium.
In October 2003, Karen Schik tooka lead role in planning and pullingtogether much of this year ’ssymposium. Shirley Mah Kooyman,Linda Huhn and I assisted Karenwith the planning, arrangingspeakers, and advertising thesymposium. A special thank you toRon and Cathy Huber, who steppedin and masterfully handled the dutiesof registration when Shirley becameill. We are grateful to Ken Arndt,Janet Larson, Scott Milburn, DougMensing and many others whovolunteered their time and energy onthe day of the symposium to makesure everything went as smoothly aspossible. Finally, a debt of gratitudeto the Anoka Conservation Districtstaff for generously allowing us theuse of their computer projector whenwe were unable to get ours to work!
Maybe the most exciting thingabout the symposium is that we hadover 50 new memberships andmembership renewals! If you arenew to the society, I want to welcomeyou on behalf of the board and all of
our members. If you are renewingafter a brief hiatus, I want to welcomeyou all back to the society as well.
We currently have two field tripsplanned for the spring season, andseveral others in the works. DougMensing and Joel Dunnette havetaken the lead on planning our SpringWildflower Weekend in WhitewaterState Park in southeastern Minnesotafor the weekend of May 7 - 9. If youwere unable to make the trip last year,I highly recommend you join us inexploring the flora of WhitewaterState Park and Whitewater WildlifeManagement Area. The springephemeral displays are magnificent.
Doug Mensing, Scott Milburn, andI will lead a day trip to the LouisvilleSwamp Management Unit of theMinnesota Valley National WildlifeRefuge on Saturday, May 22. Othermembers are working on organizingadditional field trips throughout thesummer. These will be announcedat the May and June membershipmeetings, as well as on the MNPSWeb site. Mark these dates on yourcalendar and join us in the field.
In addition to field trips, be sure toparticipate in our native plant sale,which will be held immediatelyfollowing our June 3 meeting at theMinnesota Valley National WildlifeRefuge. We will hold the plant saleout of doors this year, to allow formore space to arrange and display theplants that our members donate.
There are many ideas in the worksfor the future of the society. I havebegun discussing holding our regularmonthly meetings through thesummer, possibly on Saturdays, invarious natural areas. This wouldprovide opportunities for ourmembership to experience and learnabout our native flora and naturalareas first-hand in the field during thegrowing season. I would enjoyhearing from the membershipregarding regular summer meetingsstarting in 2005. I consider it a
privilege to serve as president of thisdiverse and growing society. Iencourage each of you to contact meor a board member if you have ideasfor ways to make the society evenbetter. I hope you all enjoy thebeautiful spring weather, and I lookforward to seeing you at the monthlymeetings and on this spring’s fieldtrips.
Welcome, new members
by Karen Schik, symposium chairThe Minnesota Native Plant
Society has a history of excellentannual symposia, and this year wasno exception. On Saturday, March27, nearly 160 participants packedthe Bunker Hills Activity Center toattend “Our Historic Landscape: TheEcology of Woodlands and Savannasin the Minneapolis/St. PaulMetropolitan Area.”
The day got off to a rocky start withPowerpoint projector difficulties, thebane of new technology. Fortunately,staff from Anoka ConservationDistrict saved the day by fetchingtheir projector from their nearbyoffice. Once underway, participantswere treated to an entire day ofthoroughly interesting andinformative presentations. HannahDunevitz became the first speaker,due to the technical difficulties. Herdescriptions of savannas andwoodlands provided an excellentoverview of these communities andlaid the groundwork for thefollowing talks. No doubt there willbe many new visitors this season toall the wonderful places shedescribed where native savanna andwoodland remnants can be found.
Dr. Cynthia Lane, EcologicalStrategies, followed with a moredetailed look at the insect world ofsavannas, especially focusing on theinteresting life history of the karnerblue butterfly, a state endangeredspecies. Because savannas andwoodlands are now rare plantcommunities in the state, they alsoharbor numerous rare plant species.Barb Delaney provided interestingdetails and wonderful photographs ofmany of those rare plants. JohnMoriarty, Ramsey County Parks andRecreation, finished the morningwith a comprehensive view of mostof the vertebrate animals that findresidence in savannas andwoodlands. He demonstrated how
gophers are a keystone species.Many animals depend on them eitheras a food source or for theunderground shelter they create.
After a wonderful lunch of organicfood, the equipment was finallyready for our keynote speaker. Dr.Ed Cushing, University ofMinnesota, gave a stimulating andintriguing geologic history of theplant communities. Using maps, heshowed how they are very stronglytied to the soils in the area, whichformed from different glacialprocesses. Oak barrens occur onsandy soils, maple-basswood forestsoccur on heavier till soils of sand,gravel and silty clay. Topographywas also a strong influence, withprairie in flatter areas. Fire, whichalso shapes plant communities, wasdetermined in part by the topography.
Steve Chapman gave an overviewof native American uses for manynative plants and showed howimportant their discoveries were topresent day uses of plants. Someplants, such as wild rice, are moreimportant regionally, but others, suchas corn and squash, are usedworldwide.
Degrading factors of woodlandsand savannas was the next topic,presented by Doug Mensing, AppliedEcological Services. He gave a clearsynopsis of the characteristics of ahealthy system, causes ofdegradation, and subsequent effects.One interesting slide showed thedramatic decline of plant and birdspecies in natural communities afterbuckthorn invasion. Doug alsooutlined basic restoration andmanagement strategies.
Kim Chapman, also from AppliedEcological Services, followed witha more philosophical view of lessonslearned from savanna restorations inthe Midwest. He introduced the term“polymorphous” to describe the
changing nature of savannas and howthis means different things todifferent people. He also discussedrestoration efforts and showed howsome components of the system areoften overlooked. Forbs, forexample, often regenerate well, butgrasses and sedges do not. Groundcover also establishes well at drysites, but not at mesic sites becausethere is more weed competition anddamage from grazing.
Fred Harris wrapped up the daywith a discussion of an oak savannaand prairie restoration project at PineBend Bluffs along the MississippiRiver in Dakota County. The mostchallenging exotic plant to control atthe site has been cheatgrass (Bromustectorum). Carefully timed burningseemed to provide the best results.
In addition to the speakers, manypeople contributed huge amounts oftime and energy to helping make thesymposium a success. Special thanksgo to Jason Husveth and Shirley MahKooyman, co-chairs of thesymposium committee and MNPSboard members. Jason, in particular,donated countless hours in manymonths of planning, organizing, andtrouble-shooting. When Shirleybecame ill, Cathy and Ron Huberjumped in to take over theregistration work. Board membersLinda Huhn, Dianne Plunkett-Latham, Doug Mensing, ScottMilburn, Joel Dunnette, Ken Arndtand David Johnson all helped withpreparation tasks and the event itself.Members who volunteered at theevent include Kathy Colla, DorothyPaddock, Mary Nolte, and MelissaArikian. Many thanks also go to allthe people who attended the event.
The result of all this good energywas that the society raised over$2,000 from the symposium andgained 58 members. These fundswill go far toward continuing topromote outreach and educationabout Minnesota native plants.
2004 symposium is a great success
4
5
Would you like somesawdust with that?by Ethan Perry
Remember last year when the Minnesota Legislature threatened toprohibit the Minnesota Department of Transportation from using nativeseeds in roadside planting? Well, researchers from the University ofMinnesota Department of Agronomy have published a study thatdemonstrates yet another benefit of roadside prairies: weed control. DanaBlumenthal and his colleagues compared weeds in plots of seven-year-oldprairie restoration to plots of well-established old field on sandy soils.Weeds had declined by 94% in the restored plots. (Weeds were definedagriculturally, so old field grasses — Kentucky bluegrass and smooth brome— were not considered weeds, while some natives, such as ragweed andhorseweed, were.)
These researchers also looked deeper into factors that give either weedsor prairie species a competitive advantage over the other. In a study thathasn’t been published yet, they added weed seeds to the same experimentalplots. As expected from the first study, many fewer weeds becameestablished in the prairie plots. When they added nitrogen to the soil,however, the benefits of restoration were reduced. Nitrogen is often alimiting nutrient for plants. The experiment suggests that prairies canexclude some weed species because prairie plants are better competitorsfor scarce nitrogen. When nitrogen is plentiful, the weeds have a betterchance. This also explains why restoring prairie is often easier on sandysoil than on nitrogen-rich loam.
How can we use our knowledge of nitrogen to help restorations? In athird study, the researchers tilled various amounts of carbon (in the formof sawdust) into the soil before planting both prairie and weed seeds. Soilmicrobes respond to increased carbon by immobilizing nitrogen, reducingthe amount available to plants. The highest level of carbon addition resultedin fewer weeds and more prairie.
Most other carbon enrichment experiments have not been so successful,but researchers at the U of M Department of Horticulture have just publisheda study of carbon enrichment to control reed canary grass. Rank mats ofthis grass have smothered acres and acres of wetlands across the Midwest.Laura Perry and her colleagues grew reed canary grass and a native sedge(Carex hystericina) together in a greenhouse. In untreated wetland soil,reed canary grass had five times the biomass of the sedge, but when sawdustwas added, the sedge was six times more abundant than the grass.
Is it just coincidence that of the few studies finding a benefit to carbonenrichment, two were conducted in Minnesota? Actually, no. Laura, whohappens to be my sister, and Dana, who happens to be her husband, pointout that they both used much greater amounts of carbon than previousstudies. Even if adding carbon to soil proves impractical for actualrestoration projects, we can still reduce nitrogen inputs in order to benefitnative species. Buffer vegetation around wetlands can significantly reducethe amount of nitrogen reaching them in runoff. We can also try to minimizethe amount of nitrogen released by burning fossil fuels, which then falls inthe rain. But maybe, bizarre as it sounds, site preparation for some futurerestorations will include tilling sawdust into the soil.
Plant sale to beheld outdoors
The annual MNPS native plant salewill be held June 3 at the MinnesotaValley National Wildlife Refuge. Forthe first time, the sale will be heldoutdoors, rain or shine.
Plants will be arranged on the lowwalls near the building entrance. Theywill be grouped according to habitat(sun or shade). Woody plants will bein a separate area. In order to providemore time for the sale, we need thecooperation of every member. TheJune meeting will start early, at 6:45p.m. The sale will start at about 7:30p.m., after Tom Bittinger’s talk onnative ferns.
Plants must be delivered early.Bring your plants after 5 p.m. and nolater than 7 p.m. Each plant must beindividually potted and labeled.Include your name, the location wherethe plant was grown, the plant’scommon and scientific names, and anyother pertinent information, such asseed source. Do not put a price on theplant. However, you may designatespecial plants to be considered for thesilent auction. Plants that arrive after7 p.m. or are not potted and labeledon arrival may not make it into thesale.
Dave Crawford, park naturalist atWild River State Park, and GerryDrewry are co-chairs of the plant sale.Dave will price the plants, select somefor the silent auction, ensure that onlynative plants are in the sale, andspecify the habitat if there arequestions. If you would like to helpat the sale, call Gerry at 651-463-8006.
Biodiversity exhibitMay 2 will be the final day to see
the exhibit “Biodiversity 911: SavingLife on Earth” at the Bell Museumof Natural History on the Universityof Minnesota Minneapolis campus.For information, call 612-624-7083.
Plant Loreby Thor KommedahlWhat is goldenseal?
Goldenseal is Hydrastiscanadensis, in the buttercup family.Other names include groundraspberry.
How did it get these names?Hydrastis is made up of two words
meaning water and to act, referringto the plant’s active juice. Thegoldenseal name comes from theyellow scars left on the rhizome bythe stem that emerges each spring. Ithas been called ground raspberrybecause of its resemblance.
What does the plant look like?It is a low, perennial herb with
leaves and fruit similar to raspberry,has a fleshy rhizome with yellowinterior, hairy stems, two alternateleaves that are palmately five- toseven- lobed, and flowers with threesepals but no petals and mostlygreenish-white stamens. The fruit isa globose berry made up of manyminiature, one- to two- seededdrupes.
Where does the plant grow?It thrives in rich soil of shady
woods and moist places at the edgesof wooded lands. It flowers fromApril to May and fruits in June. It isnative to Minnesota in southeastcounties. Because of overharvesting,it is almost extinct.
Did American Indians use thisplant?
The Indians valued the root as atonic, to improve digestion, to treateyes, and as a dye. Pioneers adoptedthe goldenseal in their folk medicine.
Does it have medicinal uses?Root teas were made to treat
membranes in mouth, throat, anduterus, and a tea (wash) was a remedyfor eye infections. Until the 1980s,root components were part ofcommercial eyewash preparations.Goldenseal may help in treatment oftuberculosis, according to a 1998study. It contains the alkaloidberberine.
by Dr. George WeiblenAssistant Professor, Department ofPlant Biology, Curator of FloweringPlants, Bell Museum of NaturalHistory, University of Minnesota.This is an abstract of his talk at theFeb. 5 MNPS meeting.
The tropical island of Papua NewGuinea is about as far from theMinneapolis neighborhood that I callhome as you can get. New Guinea’sforests are one of the last greatbiological frontiers on earth, andtheir incredible diversity is what firstattracted me to this far-away place.
For instance, the island has at least20 times more species of plants thanare found in Minnesota. Nobodyknows exactly how many becausemuch of Papua New Guinea remainsunexplored. Countless new speciesawait discovery, if only biologistscan locate them before it’s too late.This tropical forest wilderness isslightly larger than the state of Texas,an area that continues to shrink underintense pressure from industriallogging and a growing localpopulation.
I first went to Papua New Guineain 1992 in an effort to catalogue thediversity of tropical trees, but I keepreturning because of the people I metthere. Over the years, my botanicalresearch has developed into anongoing exchange with localresidents whose future criticallydepends on the fate of the forest.
Papua New Guinea doesn’t havenational parks protecting itsbiological riches. Instead, 98 percentof the country is owned according totribal tradition, which means thatenvironmental protection is the soleresponsibility of landowners. This
unique situation is a challenge forbiologists confronted by a rising tideof species extinction in tropicalforests worldwide. Tribal landownership in Papua New Guineameans that a botanist can’t so muchas set foot in the forest withoutintruding on somebody’s backyard.Local people share the names andtraditional uses of native plants withbotanists like me in the hope that thisinformation can be preserved forfuture generations in the face oftremendous cultural change.
Additional information is availableat http://geo.cbs.umn.edu
Native plant speciesabound in PapuaNew Guinea
6
Volunteers neededto search for rarelilies and orchidsby Linda Huhn
Could you help find rare dwarftrout lilies or orchids? Nancy Satheris again conducting the NaturalHeritage and Nongame ResearchProgram’s rare plant search andmonitoring program.
The hunt for dwarf trout lilies willstart April 20 in Nerstrand State Parkand other locations in Rice andGoodhue counties. It will continuethrough the month of April.
Orchid work will be conductedJuly 5 - 14, primarily in Polk,Pennington and Kittson counties innorthwestern Minnesota.
People with GPS capabilities are
especially needed for both projects.
To volunteer, contact Nancy Satherat [email protected] her your e-mail address, phonenumber and specific information onwhen you could work.
Minnesota Native Plant SocietyMember Registration
Name ____________________________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________________________________
City _____________________________________________ State ____________________ Zip ____________
Phone (work) _____________ Phone (home) _____________ e-mail ________________________________
New member? _____ Renewal? _____ Is this a gift? _____ From __________________________________
$12 _________ Individual $15 ________ Family (2 or more related persons, one address)$ 8 _________ Student (full time) $ 8 ________ Senior (62 or over or retired)$20 _________ Institution $25 ________ Donor
Please complete the form above, check the appropriate membership category, and enclose your check made payableto the Minnesota Native Plant Society. Mail this form and your check to the Minnesota Native Plant Society,University of Minnesota, 250 Biological Sciences Center, 1445 Gortner Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108
Memories ofNerstrand Woodsby Jean McIntosh. She was asecretary in the University ofMinnesota Department of Botany formany years.
As a botany major at the Universityof Minnesota, I joined the Linnaean
Club and participated in its activities,especially field trips. In the springof 1939, Bruce Ledin introduced us
to Nerstrand Woods. He never couldremember which road to take out ofNorthfield, so we approached the
woods from all different directions.(There weren’t many road numberson country roads.) I finally made a
chart of the road on the return trip sowe could go the most direct route.The club members lobbied the
Legislature, and we think we helpedmake the area a state park in 1945.
During the latter years of WorldWar II, there was gas rationing (1943,1944), so we couldn’t drive downthere. However, the Chicago Great
Western train went from St. Paulthrough the town of Nerstrand andon into Iowa. It left St. Paul at 8:30a.m. and took an hour or so to reachNerstrand. It was just a mile hikewest to the woods. The family wholived on the southwest corner of thecrossroads halfway to the woods letus use their pump to get drinks ofwater. It wasn’t until the early ‘50sthat any paths or picnic facilitieswere put in. We brought our lunches,and carried vasculums to collectsamples of all the plants that grewthere. The collection was laterdonated to the Herbarium of theBotany Department.
We usually hiked back to town by4:30 or 5 p.m. and bought quarts ofice cream at the little store. The clerkcut them in half, and we each ate apint out of the carton. The train toSt. Paul came at about 6 or 6:30 p.m.The fare was very reasonable. Onetrip it rained part of the day, and wewere a bedraggled bunch when mymother picked us up at the depot in
downtown St. Paul.
Illinois botanist toteach about grasses,sedges and rushesby Scott A. Milburn
A growing number of plantidentification courses offered aroundthe country are not affiliated withacademic institutions. These courses
tend to be targeted towards an
audience of wetland regulators and
wetland consultants, and are usually
taught by professors who have now
transitioned into training
professionals in such a manner.
One of the most prominent of theseprofessors is Dr. Robert H.Mohlenbrock, who has retired fromSouthern Illinois University.
He will come to Minnesota in Juneto teach, in partnership with JasonHusveth and Scott Milburn, a classon the grasses, sedges, and rushes ofMinnesota. For more informationregarding the course, contact Jasonor Scott at 651-433-4410.
7
Minnesota Native Plant SocietyUniversity of Minnesota250 Biological Sciences Center1445 Gortner Ave.St. Paul, MN 55108
Spring 2004 Issue