True or not Rue?

Rue anemone just opening - Mark Bower

Rue anemone in full bloom- REK

Mark Bower sent Barb pictures of this beautiful little flower that is scattered in the wooded areas along Bull Creek. It far outnumbers other wildflowers at this time of year. It is a rue anemone.  The trick is to separate it from false rue anemone which is also common in this area.

"True" rue anemone has 5-10 sepals which look like petals and can be either pink or white and has a whorl of bracts which look like leaves below the flower head and the true basal leaves will appear after it starts flowering.   False rue is always white, has 5 sepals which look like petals and three-lobed compound leaves which come off the stem.

Rue - note bracts on base of flower head

Both species occur mainly at the base of wooded slopes and bottom land. Rue tends to grow solitary plants on drier sites and open woods while false rue often forms colonies and prefers moist areas.

Mark's plant has 6 sepals and the whorl of bracts off the flower head rather than the stem and therefore is the true rue.  According to Dennison in Missouri Wild Flowers, "they are possibly the longest flowering species of early spring."  Or as Barb says, "Aren't they sweet?"

White trout lily, Erythronium albidum - Mark Bower

Mark's trout lily or dogtooth violet reminds us that it is time to get out and get low.  Most of the spring ephemeral wildflowers are tiny and fighting to get above the leaf litter.  Getting pictures like these means getting down on the ground but it is worth it and the ticks seem to enjoy it as well.

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, blooms for only one day - REK

Spring Ephemerals

Harbinger of Spring - Erigenia bulbosa

"True Rue"

This first warming period is when the spring ephemeral wildflowers wake up.   The Harbinger of Spring is the first up, a week or more before the rest.  They are so tiny that we have to get low and concentrate to find them in the leaf litter of winter, their leaves struggling to reach the light.

Next up usually are the Rue Anemones, false and true.  The "True Rue," Thalictrum thalictroides, has 4-8 petals while the false, Enemion biternatum, has five and tends to grow in clusters.  

Spring ephemerals have developed a strategy to survive along our shaded lane.  With the first warmth of Spring, they pop out before the trees leaf out and block the sun from the forest floor.  After gathering energy from the sun in a few weeks, many of these species their leaves and flowers.  They are perennials that survive the rest of the year as underground modified stems such as rhizomes and bulbs.

Common Flower Fly - Syrphus ribesii

Out early to greet these early blossoms was this Common Syrphid Fly,  Syrphus ribesii.  It was hovering above, then dropping down to the petals for a few seconds before darting to the next one. 

Another name for it is a hoverfly.  The "common" in its name refers to its range in the US, across Europe and scattered reports in China and South America.  Not only does it pollinate but its larvae feed on aphids, an added bonus. Its aposematic colors suggest it could sting, just a big bluff from a little 10 mm fly.

Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis

One of our favorite ephemerals is the Bloodroot, nestled here in the thick dry leaves.  Its leaves and roots have bright red sap that can stain your fingers.  Pictures of the sap and the story of how it is planted by ants are in this previous blog.

Wake Robin - Trillium sessile

Read no further.  Finish up your work and get out into nature this glorious spring but keep your eyes focused on the ground.

 

Finding Signs of Spring

Harbinger of Spring

Harbinger of Spring

Spring is springing in the Ozarks.  We saw our first burst of early spring ephemerals this weekend.  As usual, first and most common are the well named Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa).  These tiny blossoms are easy to miss among all the leaf litter on the forest floor.  The bulb is said to be edible both cooked and raw and the Cherokee were known to chew them as medicine for toothaches.  

Early pollinator

Harbingers live on the floors of   hillsides and valley edges and prefer high quality deciduous woodlands.  I would think that this is a hard time of year to start a family when there aren't a lot of pollinators flying but just as I said that, here came a little fly looking for a touch of nectar.

We found a few Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) on the hillside.  Once again the corms of Spring Beauty can be eaten by humans although their small size makes this impractical.  I suspect they would be a great food source for dieting, as much more energy would be expended in the harvest than you would get in the meal.

 

False Rue Anemone

A surprise was a few False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum) scattered along the drive.  I think of these coming out a few weeks later.  Question - there are two species called Rue Anemone, true or false?  The answer....true as explained here.  The five petals on each flower is a give away.

Dead Nettle

We found many of this winter annual, Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum).  It is an immigrant from Eurasia and considered a weed, so they are often not allowed in Springfield yards. We've learned that they are an early source of nectar for native bees and other insects so we've had a change of attitude about them. We can also be nourished by them.  We had dead nettle in our salad tonight.  It was tasty and added color.  

Toothwort

Finally we found a lonesome early Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata).  The name came from the tooth-like shape of the tubers.  They were used for toothaches. (What wasn't... there must have been a lot of toothaches before dentistry arrived in Missouri.)  The Doctrine of Signatures dating back to the early physician Galen around 150 AD states that herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used by herbalists to treat ailments of those body parts.  This idea developed spontaneously in many different cultures and is the basis of the Native American belief in using Rattlesnake Master for treating snake bites.

VWM Plant Survey

Trilllium sessile

Valley Water Mill is a park with a lot of history. There are scattered shards of flint testifying to the long use of the spring and stream by Native Americans. Early settlers valued its water and it became an early municipal water supply for the city of Springfield. This made it an obvious choice for locating the Watershed Center, an educational outreach of the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks.

Newly graduated Master Naturalists are expected to complete a capstone project, designed to get their feet wet (sometimes literally) in volunteer activities.   For Linda, a botanical illustrator and botanist, a plant survey at Valley Water Mill (VWM) was a logical choice.  She could involve others needing a capstone as well as teach a group some plant identification skills.

The trail around the lake at VWM is a gem, winding through wetlands, up through woodlands and along a ridge overlooking the lake. There are stops along the way to see the spring, a karst window and a bluff outlook. Bob R. generously shared his bug spray and suntan lotion as tick, chigger and sunburn season is here.  Alane supplied walking sticks and the No MO Trash bag.   Linda had a resource library in her head and left the heavy Steyermarks in the car for future reference.   Bob was assigned the position of recorder and pack mule and Mary became the specimen "bag lady."

All eyes began searching for something blooming. We spotted the first one along the curb- Yellow Rocket (Barbarea vulgaris), an opportunistic, prolific of the mustard family (Brassicaceae).   Alane, Kathryn, Mary and Barb enthusiastically yanked them from the moist soil. An edible, Barb uses the leaves sparingly in rice dishes as the mustard tang is strong.

Plant specimens were placed in plastic bags for specific species keying out by Linda. The park trail has been disturbed and untended for many decades so invasives are abundant - Japanese and Bush Honeysuckle (Lonicera of Asian kinds) and Winter Creeper (Euonymus hederaceus) as well as Reed Canary Grass in the wetlands.  Not blooming but very recognizable, rapidly growing Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) of the prolific carrot family (Apiaceae) also got yanked when solo plants were found.

Soon everyone was spotting the pink, purple and white flowers of exotic winter annual weeds - the Eurasian Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum) and Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) of the mint family, Poor Man's Pepper (Lepidium) of the mustard family, Chickweeds, and Speedwell (Vernonica).   Although non-native, they add to the beauty of the woodland floor. This is their moment in the sun.

Looking for natives in the wetland, Linda pointed out the leaves of Elderberry.  Marlyss spotted some wild ginger and Barb lifted up the leaves to show everyone the brown-maroon flower underneath. Linda continued a non-stop flow of botanical erudition. Did you know that brown flowers, such as the small wild ginger blossom or our common Trillium_sessile (pictured above) do not have dedicated pollinators such as bees and butterflies?  They smell like rotting fruit, drawing flies and beetles which then spread their pollen to their neighbors.

In the glade the team found other natives -forbs commonly named Rue Anemone, False Rue Anemone, Violets, and Toothwort. There were flowering bushes and small trees: Fragrant Sumac, Viburnum, Bladder Nut trees (Staphylea trifolia), Red Bud, and Dogwood.  David pointed to the mottled leaves of Trout Lily; they had already bloomed and were developing seed. Bob R. found False Solomon's Seal foliage and a small pendular bird nest on a broken tree branch. Stephanie found the Mayapples whose most senior two leafed plants were forming flowers under the umbrella-like leaves. The smallest wildflower was found last, on the slope by the dam - a Johnny Jump Up. Along the lake the Wild Cherry was blooming.

We finished the afternoon in the shelter house with a high magnification lesson on identifying mints and mustards, the perfect spice on a great capstone, all in the name of science.

This is the first of a series of monthly surveys designed to create a plant database of the park. It builds on the species documented during an Audubon and Master Naturalist bioblitz from 2008.

Spring Ephemerals and Their Ants

As usual, the tiny harbinger of spring, Erigenia bulbosa, was the first wildflower we saw this spring, this year at the end of February.  It's name reflects the fact that it's one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the Midwest.  It is also known as "salt and pepper" because of its white petals and dark reddish anthers.  Because it frequently grows on the forest floor, it adapts to the otherwise shady environment by blooming as early as mid February, before the trees leaf out and block the sunlight.

Many woodland flowers adopt this early blooming strategy.  The term spring ephemeral describes plants which quickly grow stems, leaves and flowers, then bloom, go to seed and the die back early, all before the start of summer.  The remainder of the year their surface features disappear, leaving roots and rhizomes underground for the rest of the year.  These plants tend to be found in forested areas. 

The following spring ephemerals are commonly found in our Southern Ozarks:

• Trillium (wake robin) - Trillium sessile*
• Spring beauty - Claytonia virginica *
• Shootingstar - Dodecatheon meadia
• Harbinger of spring - Erigenia bulbosa
• Dogtooth violet (trout lily) - Erythronium albidum *
• Hepatica (liverleaf) - Anemone americana*
• Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis *
• Rue anemone - Thalictrum thalictroides 
• False rue anemone -  Isopyrum biternatum
• Dutchman's breeches - Dicentra cucullaria *
• Wild ginger - Asarum canadense *  
• Large bellwort - Uvularia grandiflora *

A. rudis with S. canadensis seed - Eva Colberg

Some of our spring ephemerals starred above (*) have conned ants into planting their seeds.  Each seed is capped with a little high energy packet of lipid and protein called an elaiosome.  Many species of ants will seek out the seed and haul it off to their underground nest, a process called myrmecochory.  After munching on their treat the seed ends up in their garbage, loosely packed in moist ant waste in what could be called plant heaven.

Elaiosomes occur on the seeds of over at least 11,000 species of plants worldwide.  It is estimated that this relationship has evolved separately over 100 times in 55 families of flowering plants over millions of years. One question from a WOLF student remained - "Will all ants carry seeds like this?"  I received this answer below from Eva Colberg at UMSL.

"It's a good question—there definitely is variation in who is attracted to the elaiosomes, as well as in who can actually carry and disperse the seeds. But the variation is more fine-tuned than even sub-family—genus and species are much better predictors of who takes the seeds and where they end up. It seems like most elaiosomes are chemically pretty similar to dead insects, so ants that are searching for insect carcasses will also be attracted to elaiosomes. Aphaenogaster rudis is the ant species I've seen (and other studies back this up) taking the seeds most often, although there's some evidence that they actually bring the seeds back up out of their nest once they've removed the elaiosomes."

This mutualism between ants and plants is just one dramatic example of the many relationships that go on under our radar or are unknown at present.  This is one more reason to preserve nature and share the wonders with others.
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Some of the spring ephemerals are already out and preparing to bloom along the trail west of the Springfield Conservation Nature Center.  You can download a list of some of these and their photographs at this link.
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The subject of the relationship between ants and plants is huge!  More than you could ever swallow is in the Symbioses between Ants and Plants but it is a fascinating read.
Special thanks to Eva Colberg, PhD candidate at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Phenology

Early Redbuds- Click to enlarge

Everyone is commenting on the wildflowers which have bloomed earlier than usual due to the high temperatures.  Tana Pulles has introduced me to the word of the day, phenology- the scientific study of periodic biological phenomena, such as flowering, breeding, and migration, in relation to climatic conditions.  According to University of Wisconsin, Green Bay:

"Phenological records help alert us about the events of nature and provide interesting comparisons between years and among different geographic regions. If recorded carefully and consistently, these records also have scientific value for understanding the interactions between organisms and their environment and for assessing the impacts of climate change."

This is certainly the banner year for the phenologist.  With the record warm temperatures most every species is ahead of schedule.  We have been finding ticks crawling on us occasionally all winter, but now they are out in force.  Butterflies are out in profusion, ignoring the calendar.  Spicebush has been coloring the woods for several weeks now.  Even the tadpoles seem to be ahead of schedule.

Ohio Buckeye

Buckeyes are the first trees to leaf out and they have all ready expanded their leaves and are well on their way toward blossoming.  By August they will have produced the beautiful nut which any true Ozarker knows will bring good luck when carried in your pocket.

Suddenly the wildflowers were popping out overnight and you could almost hear the trees' buds bursting out.  But not all regional climate is the same so budding varies from place to place.  There is a micro-climate along out deep Bull Creek valley where the trees are behind Springfield a few days.  While Redbuds were fully budded out in town last week,  they were in their early stages in the valley. 

False Rue Anemone

Dutchman's Breeches

Wildflowers are now popping up everywhere, False rue anemone is covering thinly wooded slopes, joined by a few Dutchman's breeches, named for their resemblance to upside-down pantaloon trousers.  (OK, I was just looking for an excuse to post my latest wildflower pictures.)  Anyway, phenology is a good excuse as well for justifying the time you spend journaling your findings.  Enjoy!

Eight Pointed Trout Lily

Linda Ellis sent me this picture of a trout lily with eight petals on one flower and six on the other.  She did it just to send me "down the rabbit hole" of botanical oddities in search of a cause.  I finally  emerged with the help of more knowledgeable friends.

When searching flowers with extra petals, most references are to "double-flowered" plants such as roses and carnations.  These are flowers inside of flowers, giving the appearance of a complete reproduction of the  blossom.  Most of these are sterile and are propagated by cuttings as their normal stamens have been re-purposed by the plant into a new set of petals.  There is a good video on flower development at USCD.edu that explains the genetics and this link demonstrates how flowers develop.

On the other hand, Linda's trout lily was a single specimen with two extra petals.  This can be common in some species where a flower can have 5-10 petals, such as rue anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides, as discussed in a past blog .

Dr. Michelle Bowe* explained that it is likely a meristem mutation in the flower bud itself.  The meristem is undifferentiated tissue in areas of the plant where growth can take place. If the mutation was in the whole plant, both flowers would have 8 tepals.

What I called six petals are actually tepals, three petals and three petal-like sepals.   Wikipedia explains "A tepal is the term used to identify one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth) when these parts cannot easily be divided into two kinds, sepals and petals.

If the two stems both had eight tepals, the mutation would be in the stem itself.  Mutations are just a normal part of life, and sometimes it may just be one gene (like the gene that controls the flower bud). This is important to remember the next time you think you have identified a flower but it has the "wrong" number of petals, tepals, or whatever.

* Professor of Biology, Missouri State University
A more detailed technical explanation from Dr. John Heywood is here.

Springing Forward

Morels of spring 2013 - from "Mushroom Annee" Yarnton

This year "spring forward" applies to nature as well as our "beloved" daylight savings time.  Everything is a week or two ahead of schedule.  According to news just out in Time Magazine: "Global temperatures in February were the most above average since weather record keeping began nearly 150 years ago, bringing the world the closest it has ever been to what scientists consider dangerous levels of warming, a federal government agency confirmed Thursday."  To confirm this, the latest is news of morels found at several locations in southwest Missouri already.  Wonder where.....well DUH!  You expected GPS readings?

Our friend Jeff Cantrell, the MDC educator from the Joplin area sent us a nice description of a spring trip you might consider, along with some enticing photographs.  Here is a guest blog from Jeff with his photographs:

Buds are bursting open - Cantrell

One of the best things about having a “weekend” on a Wednesday/Thursday combo is you can savor several thousand acres of the Mark Twain National Forest to yourself. I spent 6 hours there this morning and I never saw one human being. Solitude can have many meanings; “pure soul refreshing” is one of them.

Piney Creek Wilderness (Barry County) can be one of your favorite starting points for chasing spring, it is mine. What happens here will be taking place in a matter of days in Newton, Lawrence, Christian, Dade counties and perhaps in over a week in Jasper, Cedar, Vernon and Barton... This “Wilderness” is latitude-even with southern McDonald County so there should be equal riches taking place in McDonald as well.

Their serviceberry are ahead of ours - Cantrell

The serviceberry are providing a mid-canopy, white petal-cloud layer against the pines and it is striking from a distance. Plus, you can hand pick your favorite scene by framing the blooms against the dark short-leafs, the blue sky, individually or in a floral swarm.

Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica - Cantrell

Spiderwort - Tradescantia ernestiana. - Cantrell

Pine warblers and white-throated sparrows were in chorus, little midland brown snakes have emerged, and five species of butterflies were out. The ephemerals consisted of bloodroot, toothwort, harbinger of spring, Sweet William, pussy toes, violets, woodland spiderwort (cow slober), spring beauty and false rue anemone (wind flower). The holler/ wet areas harbored southern leopard frogs, peepers, western chorus, and American toads. My mind wandered as always to sleeping Ursids (black bears), wondering what they were dreaming of?

So if you are off this weekend, you might check out Big Sugar State Park, Piney Creek, or other southern Master Naturalist region targets. The life is opening up in our direction and changes daily.

Enjoy! It is a great time of year. - Jeff

Harbinger of Spring

Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa) is the first wildflower we see in spring, this year at the end of February.  It's name reflects the fact that it one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the Midwest.  It is also known as "Salt and Pepper" because of its white petals and dark reddish anthers.  Because it frequently grows on the forest floor, it adapts to the otherwise shady environment by blooming as early as mid February, before the trees leaf out and block the sunlight.

Many woodland flowers adopt this early blooming strategy.  The term Spring Ephemeral describes plants which grow stems, leaves and flowers, quickly bloom, go to seed and the die back early  in the spring.  The remainder of the year their surface features disappear, leaving roots and rhizomes underground for the rest to the year.  These plants tend to be found in forested areas.  More types of ephemerals can be found int Wikipedia.
The following Spring Ephemerals are found on Bull creek:

• Spring Beauty
• Shootingstar
• Harbinger of Spring
• Dogtooth Violet (Trout Lily)
• Hepatica (Liverleaf)
• Bloodroot
• Rue Anemone

One final note- The  Harbinger of Spring bulb is edible.  So are beavers, okra and raw oysters, but that doesn't mean I would enjoy eating them.  The Cherokee were known to chew an unknown part of the plant for toothache- it's probably better to see your dentist.