NEWSLETTER OF THE ARKANSAS NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

FALL , 1 986

President 's Message- - ,

We're looking forward to the fall meeting in Alma and Devil's Den— a corner of the
state that is foreign territory to the Native Plant Society, Clemy Moore has arranged
supper and evening activities at the Methodist Fellowship Hall as well as field trips
to the Devil's Den and the bat caves (not for the nervous?). Remember the auction
Saturday night and bring your invaluables — plants and seeds and anything else that
strikes the fancy. We buy everything!! Car 1 Amason has agreed to serve as auctioneer
for an unprecedented umpteenth time. He informs the membership that Asa Gray's
vascul urn c i rca 1875— will be among the items up for bid. (Apparently, a vasculum
circulating at past auctions and represented as that of the great Cambridge botanist
has proven to be a forgery!)

We have talked to the Alma Chamber of Commerce as well as to the staff at Devil's Den
State Park and ordered 58° nighttime lows and temperatures in the high 70's for the
afternoons, clear skies, sugar maple and black gum turning, aster and witchhazel at
their peak and 23 species of goldenrod in full bloom. So-said the mother skunk to
het young uns let us pray!’ And Breck Campbell has sent me so many names of new
members, I hope we'll meet some of them October 17, 18, and 19 at the meeting. See
you at Alma.

P.S, If you re coming, please fill out the form at the end of the Newsletter and send
it to Clemy Moor e — today !

*****

Fail 1 Gener-ai 1 Meet: i ng

OCTOBER 17, 18, & 19
ALMA & DEVIL ' S DEN STATE PARK

Reg i st rat i on & even i ng ac: t i v i t i as :i n A1 ma -
Saturday field trips to Devil's Den .

Sunday trips to Fern Holler and Lake Fort Smith

MOTELS! Ozark Plaza Motel. 632-4595.
Meadors Inn. 632-2241.

Ozark Inn. 632-4501.

Single

$25

22

Daub 1 e
25

24/28/32

28

All motels at. junction of 1-40 & Hwy 71.

Friday, Oct. 17s

5s 00 p.m. REGISTRATION! Ozark Plaza Motel

lobby-conference rooms 5-6:30 p.m.

6 s 30 p.m. Dinner at the Methodist. Church Fellowship Hall, Alma (maps

available at regi strat i on ) .

7 s 30 p.m. Sp ea k er s

Brtsnt Daugherity, Naturalist and Ranger at Devil's Den State
Park, will give a presentation on the natural history of the
Devil's Den area, "Ozarks through the Seasons".

Saturday, Oct. IBs

7:00 a.m. Breakfast at Ozark Plaza Motel or on your own.

9:30 a.m. Meet at Visitor's Center, Devil's Den State Park —the park
is a one hour drive northwest of Alma.

10:00 a.m. Field trips: (1) Devil's Den Trail

(2) Yellow Rock Trail

(3) Woody Plant Trail

12:30 p.m. Picnic: lunch at park pavilion (bring a sack lunch park

restaurant closed — Ozark Plaza Restaurant will fix 'em)

2s 00 p.m.
5 : 00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.

Rep eat of mor n i ng field trips.

Meeting of Executive Board , Methodist Fellowship Hall.
Dinner at Methodist Fellowship Hall, Alma.

Short Business Meeting (Election of Officers) & AUCTION:

ELECTION OF OFFICERS: The Nominating Committee, consisting
of Sue Clark (Chairman), Don Culwell, and Neal Kill ion met
on Monday, April 28, 1986, and nominated the following:

f or Vi c:e Presi dent. (Presi dent El ec:t ) s Robert Wr i ght

Treasurer: Fred Greenwood
Ed i t or s Ron Doran

( B la e C lark will r e m a i n as Be c r e t ar y a n d L a ri a C o o k a s
Historian for one more year.)

AUCT I ON

Proceeds from the annual auction will again go to the Aileen McWilliam
Scholarship Fund* BRING YOUR PLANTS, SEEDS, BOOKS, AND TREASURES TO BE
AUCTIONED.

Sunday, Oct. 19.

7:30 a.m. Breakfast at Ozark Plaza Motel Restaurant or on your own,.

8:30 a.m. Field trips to Fern Holler and Lake Fort Smith. Meet in
f r o n t of rest a la r a n t .

ARE YOU COMING? SEND FORM AT END OF NEWSLETTER TO CLEMY MOORE TODAY!

*****

THANKS TO EDITH HUEY BARTHOLOMEW AND COMPANY
FOR A WONDERFUL SPRING MEETING
AT MOUNTAIN VIEW

***

FIELD TRIP

Mar k Y our Ca 1 an d ar s

November IS. Around the Cal ion (El Dorado) area with Carl Amason.

Meet 9 a.m. at Carl's house in Cal ion (details at Alma).

Br i n g a s a c k 1 un c h «

Quest i on s : c a 1 1 Car 1 at 7 48-2362 , even i n g s .

***

Dr. Robert H. Mohlenbrock will be offering week-long plant
identification workshops in upland and lowland flora at Carbondale,
Illinois, during late spring and summer of 1987. For information,
contact Dr. Mohlenbrock, #1 Bird Song Drive, Rt. 6, Carbondale,

Illinois 62901, or call 618-549-1884.

***

3 Hundred 3— Birds

This was a good year for nodding pogonia (three bird orchid)! Edith and
Harry Bartholomew found more than 300 plants in the Gunner Pool area
the first week in September. Many had more than one blossom. Ely Sept.
7th, all the flowers were gone and it was difficult to find any of the
p 1 ants.

On behalf of ANPS, Sue Clark sent the following letter on May 7, 1986, to Mr, Henry
Gray, Director of Highways and Transportation at the Arkansas State Highway
Commi ssi on .*

Dear Mr, Gray,

The Arkansas Native Plant Society at its meeting on April 12, 1986, voted
unanimously to recommend the following, and wish you to know the Society's feelings
on this.

The Arkansas Native Plant Society supports an effort toward highway
beautification and recommends that the State consider a program which is being used
in some other states which consists of;

(1) Regular mowing of one mower's width,

(2) A once-a-year mowing of the entire right-of-way in winter,

(3) No spraying of the right-of-way with herbicides.

Mr. Gray responded on May 16th.

Dear Ms. Clark:

Thank you for your letter of May 7, 1986 concerning your organization's
r ecommendat i on for mowing of the State's highways.

Our Department does perform partial mowing as much as possible. However, due to
safety and aesthetics, many areas have to be mowed more than one mower width. In
urban areas it is necessary that we mow many of our rights of way full width whenever
we mow.

We do try to mow our narrow rights of way full width, even in rural areas, at
least once a year. However , there are some highway sections where conditions permit
us to let the right of way grow back to its natural condition. Those areas are very
aesthetic and cut the cost of roadside maintainance.

Our program of herbicide usage is a very controlled program that benefits the
Department in savings of manhours required for maintainance activities and reduces
the cost of multiple mowings each year.

Herbicides are limited to roadways which are suited to their use and are applied
only by licensed applicators.

In addition, the Department is involved in a wildflower program where, if an
organization provides wildflower seeds, we prepare a bed and plant the seed on our
right of way. We also defer mowing in areas of good wildflower growth whenever
possible, until the wildflowers have matured.

We hope this information will be of benefit to your organization. If we can be
of assistance in the future, please advise.

Yours truly,

Henry Gray

Director of Highways
and Transpor tat i on .

###*#

News from the Arkansas Coastal Plain

Saturday, 6 September 1986, was an unscheduled -field trip of the Arkansas Native
Plant Society and a great day for plant exploration for the Arkansas flora. At 9
a.irw, Eric Sundell of Monticello with Melissa and Robin Hartrick of Hamburg, Jim and
Carol Peck of Little Rock met with Archalie Harmon of El Dorado and Carl Amason of
Calion at the intersection of U.S. 167 & Arkansas 4 in Hampton for a botanical trek
in Calhoun County, specifically to study Lycopodium species found by Steve Qrzell and
Carl Amason in the summer of 1985.

The day was overcast and very little sunshine heated the air-~there was no rain.
First we drove in the University of Ar kansas-liont i cel lo van, Prs. Peck with their
paraphernal ia-laden car following, to the wet ditch southwest of Hampton where
Lycopodium appressum is growing with another club-moss species. The ditch is well
populated and apparently there is a hybrid swarm. This remark is unofficial (by Carl
Amason) but later determination will come after extensive laboratory work. Carol Peck
found what might be the prothallium stage, and on close scrutiny, quite a number of
them turned up. Melissa Hartrick found colonies of pink sphagnum. Dr, Sundell found a
jointtail grass reported in Smith's Atlas only from Ashley County. On a dry slope
ahead were beautiful flowering plants of Liatris eleqans . In the immediate area,
other ferns were noted: Athyrium filix - femina (Southern lady fern), Qsmunda
cinnamomea (cinnamon fern), 0_. regal i s (royal fern), and Noodwardia virginica
(Virginia chain fern) .

During the day, we visited at least five more stations of Lycopodium appressum ,
all more or less typical. One station, where it grew last year by the square yard,
was badly burnt by the July-August draught. Here it grows as a ground cover with
Er i ocaul on decanqul are (hat pins). At another place, also suffering from the dry
summer, extensive pure sand washes from an abandonned gravel operation, yielded large
mats of young L . appressum . and in some of the small pools of water were flocks of
rather tame blue-winged teal.

And then to the last Calhoun County stop, the location of the reported
Lycopodium carol inianun . Before the occupants of the van could disembark, Jim and
Carol Peck had already found the colony — less than 2 feet by 3 feet in area — growing
mixed with L. appressum for convenient comparison. Surely there is more of it in
southern Ar kansas--but where?

Then we headed south across the Ouachita River for a soda water break, and then
on to Carl Amason's place to see the ferns which had obligingly come up in a
disturbed area. One look, and Dr. Jim Peck pronounced them to be Thel voter i s
torresi ana . There were seven or eight of them and one T. kun th i i close by. T_. kun t h i i
is cultivated on the place, but the spore source of T. torresiana is a mystery.

Quickly we took in a hurried foray through Carl's place, looking at a fruiting
Acer. 1 eucoderme (chalk bark maple), a flowering Camel I i a sinensis (the source of
tea), and several more plants. Eric Sundell found a weed which has only been
documented in Arkansas from Jim Buldin's backyard in Monticello-- Fatoua
vi 1 1 osa --1 ooks like a nettle, smells like a fig. It was getting late and one roadside
spot with a beautiful fruiting specimen of Erythri na herbacea was found. The Cherokee
bean, mamou, or coral bean is magnificent in flower and fruit, and this one had
opened seed pods, revealing the bright red beans. And then it was time to say
goodbye .

on

As a postscript, the next day, Sunday, the wet ditch northeast of El Dorado,
the Champagnol 1 e Road in Union County, was checked for Lycopodium carolinianum
without success. L. appressum is plentiful in both ditches, and smiling among the
grasses were several plants of Platanthera repens , the green-spider orchid.

Meanwhile, we await eagerly the deter mi nat i on of Dr, Jim Peck of the club-moss
in the Calhoun County di tch--"Gl ory Ditch" they call it to this day--which will be
another great story.

*#*

WE NEED TO TELL THE METHODIST LADIES HOW MANY FOR DINNER FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS.
Meal s will run between 7 & 8 II each, the price including our use of the Fellowship
Hall.

Name (s)

How many for Friday night?

How many for Saturday night?

How many sac-lunches should the

restaurant make for you for Saturday?

PLEASE CLIP THIS OR WRITE OUT YOUR OWN AND SEND IMMEDIATELY TO
CLEMY MOORE
ROUTE i, BOX 32
RUDY, ARKANSAS 72952

Ark. Natural Heritage Dept.
225 East Markham
Suite 2C3Q Heritage Center
Little Rock 5 AR 72201