The Quarterly of the Virginia Native Plant Society

Adirondacks, the Greens, the
Catskills. History is everywhere.

We would walk the Crawford Path,
put up in 1819 by early mountain
guide and tourism promoter Ethan
Crawford to give guests at his Craw-
ford Notch hotel a difficult but direct
hike to Mount Washington and billed
as the oldest continuously maintained
trail in America. Botany has history
here too. Nineteenth- century bota-
nists combed the White Mountains
for alpine rarities, and the landscape
commemorates their names: Tuck-
erman Ravine, Boott Spur, Oakes’
Gulf, Cutler River. And then there
are the rocks. Mount Washington
is called the rock pile, with good
reason. In the 14,000 years since the
glaciers receded, erosion has succeed-
ed only in breaking the mountain into
a surface of jumbled rocks. Trails on
the high peaks often have no discern-
ible path — what we would call tread
in the Blue Ridge — and are marked
only by cairns, often topped with
conspicuous chunks of quartz.

The equipment list that came in
our information packet was a stern
reminder of Mount Washington’s
ability to deliver cold and snow
without regard for the calendar. For
June in the Whites, we packed as
if for February in the Blue Ridge.
Thus equipped, we arrived at Joe
Dodge Fodge in Pinkham Notch on
Thursday afternoon. The lodge’s

Mark and Betty Gatewood enter the
Alpine Zone.

Dwarf Birch, Betula glandulosa
(Illustration by Betty Gatewood)

namesake, Joe Dodge, was an icon
and a legend, a long-time employee
of the Appalachian Mountain Club
who did just about everything
having to do with trails and hiking
in a 30 -year- career. Here we met
our fellow travelers. We were nine,
eight women and me, all from cities
in the Northeast, all having at least
some acquaintance with the Whites.
As you might guess, Betty and I
were the only ones from below the
Mason-Dixon Fine. Our two AMC
guides, Stefan and Molly, made 11.
The guides went over the equipment
list, gave a very favorable weather
forecast, and sent us off to reshuffle
our pack contents. After breakfast
the next morning, we would load
on the van for the trip up Mount
Washington.

The van took us up the Mt. Wash-
ington Auto Road and deposited us
at the Cow Pasture, at an elevation
of 5,700 feet. In the days of the 19th-
century hotel on the mountain, cows
were pastured here to provide fresh
milk for guests. Somehow, the cows
didn’t thrive and the practice was
dropped, but the name remains.

The wind, however, was thriving
Continued on page 8

W e thought we had our summer
planned until we got an e-mail
from the Appalachian Mountain
Club advertising a mid-June lodge-
to-hut hike to see the plants of the
most extreme environment in east-
ern North America, the Presidential
Range of the White Mountains. Hike
distances would be short, packs light,
and we would be carried by van to a
starting point high on Mount Wash-
ington and hike — mostly — down-
ward. We were the first to sign on.

It’s hard to write about the White
Mountains without using the words
iconic, legendary, historic. Mountain
tourism in America got its start in the
19th century in the high mountains
of the northeast — the Whites, the

Botany on the Rock Pile

Alpine Flowers of the Presidential Range

By Mark Gatewood, Shenandoah Chapter

2

Sempervirens, Fall 2016

From the President

Annual Meeting One for the Books

A nother awesome Annual Meeting! Many thanks to
New River Chapter President Mary Rhoades and
her crew for coordinating this year’s event in Blacksburg.
We had a delightful blend of social, musical, botanical,
culinary, and educational components to celebrate
the 30th anniversary of the Virginia Natural Heritage
Program. Following an afternoon board meeting in the
leafy and tranquil Warm Hearth Village Community
Center, we kicked off the weekend at the Day’s Inn
Conference Center with a social hour and entertainment
by a local folk music quartet. With Mary as emcee and
host, we enjoyed a presentation by Claiborne Woodall
after dinner. As the southwest regional supervisor and
western region steward with Natural Heritage, Claiborne
explained the program and its mission over its 30 -year
history, illustrated by slides of beautiful habitats and
plants from the region.

Saturday morning we took over the breakfast nook
and expanded into the banquet room as we prepared for
our field trips, which ranged from native gardens and a
remnant old-growth forest, to the Blue Ridge Parkway
and lakes, parks, and preserves. I registered for a trip to
Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve led by Ryan Klopf,
Natural Heritage mountain region steward. Despite
Mary’s detailed written instructions, two of our car pools
followed a car with a local passenger who knew the area
and deviated from the prescribed route. Unfortunately,
we lost the lead car and after a bit of a side trip caught up
with our group after about an hour. But Ryan patiently
briefed us, and we proceeded on our hike. The mountain
is named for its poor soils, which were created from
metamorphosed sandstone bedrock. While we saw
Table-mountain Pines {Finns pungens ), Eastern Hemlocks
(' Tsuga canadensis ), Mountain Laurel {Kalmia lati folia),
and Blueberry ( Vaccinium spp.), the piece de resistance
was the globally rare Piratebush ( Buckleya distich opbylla)
in fruit. Poor Mountain has the largest population of
this shrub, which is found only at a few sites in Virginia,
Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Saturday evening we enjoyed the music of the Blacks-
burg Panjammers, a steel drum band that inspired some
members to dance. Meanwhile, at the back of the ban-
quet room, Andrea Weeks, of George Mason University,

demonstrated the digitized herbarium samples made pos-
sible by grants, including one from VNPS, and Michelle
Prysby, director of the Virginia Master Naturalist Pro-
gram, discussed the results of RareQuest, a citizen-science
project using master naturalists to rediscover rare species.
This, too, was partly funded by a VNPS Research Grant.

Our elegant dinner was followed by our annual
business meeting at which we re-elected the following
officers and board members: Betty Truax, Recording
Secretary; Joyce Wenger, Publicity Chair; Ruth Douglas,
Director- at-Large, Invasive Plant Educator; and John
Townsend, Director-at-Large. Thanks to all for serving.
Marjorie Prochaska, First Vice President, completed her
term on Nov. 1, and we thank her for her faithful service.
We also adopted the annual budget and amended the
bylaws regarding our Nominating Committee.

Chris Ludwig, chief biologist with the Virginia Depart-
ment of Conservation and Recreation, capped off the
evening with a presentation on The Cedars Natural Area
Preserve. The VNPS held a major fund raiser last year
and received $24,250 toward the acquisition of additional
acreage for The Cedars, Virginia’s first Natural Area Pre-
serve. Chris’s slides, with many stunning photos by Gary
Fleming, assured us that our money was well spent. We
hope to offer a field trip there in the next year.

Sunday morning Harry and I followed our written
field trip directions to arrive at Wildwood Park in Radford
without a misstep. There we met up with Ryley Harris, a
senior at Radford University and an outstanding young
botanist. With a seeping rock wall near the parking area
and a stream running through the park, Wildwood is an
oasis within a small city. I especially loved the colorful wet
meadow with goldenrods, jewelweeds, ironweeds, lobe-
lias, and asters.

The Annual Meeting was over too soon, and I wished
that I had been able to attend more of the field trips and
chat with more members. Next year we will join with the
Maryland and West Virginia native plant societies as our
Potowmack Chapter coordinates a tri-state effort at the
National Conservation Training Center in Shepherds-
town, W.Va. Mark your calendar now for the weekend
of Sept. 29-0 ct. 1, 2017, and watch for details on our
website. — Your President , Nancy Vehrs

KUDOS!

To Mary Rhoades and the
New River Chapter: You Rock!

Scenes from the Annual Meeting, by Nancy Vehrs

4

Sempervirens ; Fall 2016

The Cedars:

A Botanical
Treasure Trove

The Valley of The Cedars. (Photo by Gary Fleming)

I n central Lee County, which is
farther west than Detroit, there is
a fascinating, biologically significant
valley known as The Cedars. This
valley and surrounding limestone
terrain encompass 35,000 acres in
which 1 out of every 50 rare species
populations in all of Virginia
is found. Along with its unique
species — the Cedars has its own
species of isopod and millipede —
thriving populations of some of our
rarest plants and animals dwell in the
barrens, caves, woodlands, streams,
and forests.

Delivering the Saturday night
talk at our Annual Meeting, I spoke
about this region and its special
plants. I kept with the theme of
this year’s meeting, celebrating
30 years of the Virginia Natural
Heritage Program, as I talked about
the progression in the program’s
understanding and protection of this
special place.

I joined Natural Heritage in
1988 as staff botanist. Already,
Heritage had encouraged our stellar
conservation partner, The Nature
Conservancy (TNC), to buy five
acres in the heart of The Cedars.
This is because by 1988, we had
mapped more than 50 occurrences
of rare species and significant cave
resources there. Karst biologists
found many unique subterranean
organisms; aquatic biologists knew
of the thriving fish and mussel
populations in the Powell River,
which runs right through the heart
of this area; and botanists had found
a new and unnamed species of native
clover. This clover, known from only

one other site in the world, occurred
at The Cedars in tremendous
numbers. We knew the place was
amazing.

In 1989, the Virginia Natural
Area Preserves Act was passed and
we began protecting Natural Area
Preserves, an official protection
of land with an attached deed of
dedication ensuring protection
and management of a Natural
Area Preserve’s biodiversity into
perpetuity. With that designation,
plus monetary resources provided
by TNC and the Commonwealth
(including $10 million of the 1992
park facilities bond), we were off to
the races, buying land and building
our system.

During the early 1990s, Natural
Heritage staff explored and refined
our knowledge of this incredible
area, realizing that it was more
than merely The Cedars Valley, but
included a larger area with a unique
and relatively intact fauna and flora
of great biodiversity significance.
The Cedars Natural Area Preserve
began in 1997 with the purchase of
the Evelyn Mason tract, 50.7 acres in
the heart of The Cedars not far from
TNC’s five-acre tract. The system

grew from that point onward, a
tract at a time, as Natural Heritage
teamed with the Southwest Virginia
office of The Nature Conservancy.
Larry Smith of Natural Heritage
was always at the center of these
purchases, while the TNC team of
Bill Kittrell and Don Gowan worked
with us — -TNC folks eventually
replaced by the equally driven and
competent Brad Krepps and Steve
Lindemen.

These efforts have resulted in not
one but three Lee County Natural
Area Preserves, The Cedars, Fletcher
Ford, and Unthanks Cave. All of
these are growing preserves and,
when our conservation goals are fully
realized, will merge into a 5,000-acre-
plus protected core of land at the
heart of the site.

As is almost always the case, to
understand why so many wonderful
native plants thrive in this area, we
need to look at the site’s geology.
Virtually all of The Cedars and
surrounding terrain is underlain by
limestone, a rock that yields some
of our richest soils. Most Virginia
limestone sites have been put to the
plow or are heavily grazed by cattle,
but many areas of The Cedars have

Sempervirens ; Fall 2016

5

A restored woodland at The Cedars unveils a thriving population of Rattlesnake-master
(Eryngium yuccifolium ) and Tall Coreopsis ( Coreopsis tripteris). (Photo by Gary Fleming)

escaped that fate, resulting in a real
rarity — limestone terrain with a fully
expressed, intact, native understory.

And what an understory! Due
to its distance from population
centers, much of the land is rela-
tively free of exotic species, so in
places you can find acres of mesic
and dry forests with a floor of
common and uncommon native
plants including such goodies as
Golden-seal ( Hydrastis canadensis ),
Ginseng ( Panax quinquefolius ),
American Gromwell ( Lithospermum
lati folium), and Nettle-leaf Sage
(. Salvia urtici folia). On any trip you
know you will come across rare
Virginia plants, as 16 rarities are
known from the area and some are
nearly ubiquitous.

Two of the rare plant species
deserve special mention. The first
is a ragwort that closely resembles
a southern species, Yarrow-leaved
Ragwort ( Packera millefolium) but
is probably a species new to science.
This plant is particularly common in
the northern parcels of The Cedars
Natural Area Preserve, where you
can see thousands of plants on the
edges of rock outcrops. If it is found

to be a new species — and studies are
under way — then it is known only
from a handful of sites in Lee and
Scott counties.

The second top-shelf rarity is a
native clover known only from The
Cedars and one site in Tennessee.

This is the Running Glade Clover
(' Trifolium calcaricum). It is
astonishingly common at The
Cedars, particularly in the central
valley, where it is unusual not to
come upon it within 15 minutes of
exploration. It is often found with
the mysterious ragwort in the drier,
more open habitats.

There is so much more to know
and see in this area. By all means,
steel yourself for the long drive and
visit this fascinating area. And also,
let’s all pat ourselves and our fellow
VNPS members on the back for
our 2015 fund-raising drive and our
contributing $24,250 to help protect
this wonderful site.

— Chris Ludwig

Chris Ludwig is chief biologist
with the Virginia Department of
Conservation and Recreation and a
co-author of the Flora of Virginia.

Plant Blindness:
Let's Help Cure It

T he term plant blindness was intro-
duced in 1998 by botanists Eliza-
beth Schussler and James Wandersee,
who defined it as the “inability to
see or notice the plants in one’s own
environment, leading to the inabil-
ity to recognize the importance of
plants in the biosphere and in human
affairs.” As members of the Virginia
Native Plant Society, we understand
the value of plants and must fight for
their recognition by both the general
public and the scientific world. The
study of botany does not receive its
fair share of research funding when
compared with animal research. In
an attempt to encourage botanical
research, our 2016 fund raiser seeks
donations for the VNPS Research
Grant program. We started awarding
grants of approximately $5,000 last
year using funds we had received
from unsolicited bequests. The pos-
itive response to our program by the
academic community confirms the
need for such funds. Please consider
making a donation to this worthwhile
endeavor. Our native plants need you
to give them a voice. — Nancy Vehrs

VIRGINIA NATIVE
PLANT SOCIETY

Sempervirens (ISSN 1085-9632) is the
quarterly newsletter of the Virginia Native
Plant Society, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400
Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2, Boyce, Va. 22620,
540-837-1600, info@vnps.org. Nancy Vehrs,
President; Nancy Sorrells, Editor; Karen York,
Office Manager. Original material in Semper-
virens may be reprinted if credit is given to the
Virginia Native Plant Society, to Sempervirens,
and to the author of the material, if named.
Readers are invited to send letters, news items,
and queries for consideration. E-mail items to
Nancy Sorrells at lotswife@comcast.net.

Next submission deadline: Dec. 15, 2016

V ‘BHi Hr W

6

Sempervirens, Fall 2016

Jewels of the Orchidaceae

By W. John Fiayden, Botany Chair

T o temperate-zone plant enthusiasts, the orchid family
seems more than a little strange. On the one hand,
native orchids grow wild without assistance from people,
they are rooted in the soil, and they survive freezing cold
winter temperatures. On the other hand, the tropical or-
chids that we encounter are ornamental plants, pampered
by their human caregivers, cultured indoors in pots filled
with fir bark or other media designed to mimic the plants’
natural epiphytic habit, and, as a group, these ornamental
tropical orchids have essentially zero tolerance to frost. Of
course, their flowers, fruits, and seeds define them all as
members of the orchid family, Orchidaceae, but from the
perspective of how they actually live, and how we interact
with them, native orchids and their tropical ornamental
relatives seem utterly, profoundly, different.

Our Wildflower of the Year for 2016, Goodyera
pubescens , or Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, however, is
an exception. It belongs to a small group of orchid genera
known informally as Jewel Orchids, and these plants, as
a group, bridge several of the stereotypical distinctions
between native wild orchids and the tropical orchids
found in cultivation. First, Jewel Orchids are reasonably
closely related to one another; all are members of subfami-
ly Orchidoideae, tribe Cranichideae, and subtribe Goody-
erinae. But most important, though some are tropical and
others are temperate, all are terrestrial, naturally rooted in
soil. Further, these are orchids notable for their attractive
ornamental leaves, much less so for their relatively small

Figure i Goodyera pubescens (Photograph by W.J. Hayden)

Figure 2 Anoectochilus setaceus: by Miss Drake (1803-1857) del.,

J. Watts sc. — Edwards's Botanical Register, volume 23 plate 2010
(http://www.botanicus.org/page/240734), public domain, https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5857934.

flowers. In some ways they are opposites of hothouse deni-
zens like Cattleya , Dendrobium , and Phalaenopsis , which
are drop-dead gorgeous when flowering but downright
plain, some might say homely, otherwise. This article
will explore three genera of Jewel Orchids that are close
relatives of our Wildflower of the Year.

Before considering its exotic relatives, let’s first char-
acterize briefly the genus Goodyera. Our Wildflower
of the Year (Figure 1) is just one of 25 species of Rat-
tlesnake Plantain, only 4 of which are found in North
America. Other species range from temperate forests
of Europe and Asia to tropical and temperate Australia
and various islands of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian
oceans. Their leaves are green, but their leaf shape (out-
line) and the pattern of white veins varies from species
to species.

Anoectochilus (Figure 2) is an even larger genus, with
approximately 50 species distributed from the Himala-

Sempervirens, Fall 2016

7

Figure 3 Ludisia discolor (Photograph by W.J. Hayden)

yas through China, Japan, Southeast Asia, the islands
of Melanesia, and Australia. Although some species of
Anoectochilus have green-and-white leaves much like
Goodyera, most have prominent anthocyanin pigments
that, together with chlorophyll, render interveinal
portions of the leaf as dark green and, in the absence of
chlorophyll, render veins white to red or purple; under-
sides of leaves are often reddish. One species, A. sand-
vicensis , is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Although
known as the Hawaiian Jewel Orchid, its foliar veins only
subtly contrast with the green tissue at large. Also, the
flowers of the Hawaiian Jewel Orchid are yellow, setting
it apart from the white flowers found in other species of
the genus. Though found on most of the major islands
of the Hawaiian archipelago, A. sandvicensis is rare and
threatened by habitat loss.

Another Jewel Orchid belongs to a genus, Ludisia ,
that is monotypic, i.e., it consists of just a single species.
Ludisia discolor (Figure 3) is found in the deep shade of
warm, humid forests from southern China, nearby Thai-
land, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam to the islands of
Indonesia and the Philippines. As might be expected from
a single species occupying a broad geographic area and
having a long history in horticulture, one can find culti-
vated plants with a wide variety of vein and interveinal
colors on the leaves. Most are green with red tinges and
clearly contrasting veins, but some are dark purple with

Figure 4 Macodes petoia: By JMK. Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://
commons.wikimedia.0rg/w/index.php7curuH32596095.

obscure veins, and others, evidently anthocyanin-lacking
mutants, have bright- green leaves with white veins, much
like our Goodyera.

Finally, there is the genus Macodes (Figure 4), consist-
ing of 11 species from more or less the same shady forest
habitats in roughly the same overall range as Ludisia and
Anoectochilus. Though Macodes is not found in culti-
vation as often as is Ludisia, its leaves are striking, with
high- contrast differentiation between veins, mostly white,
yellow, or green, and leaf background colors that range
from yellowish green to dark green or reddish purple.

In summary, the Jewel Orchids are terrestrial plants
with creeping rhizomes and variegated or otherwise col-
orful leaves and usually smallish flowers found mostly in
the tropics of Southeast Asia but with some species, such
as our Wildflower of the Year, extending to the temperate
regions of North America and Eurasia. So, next time you
encounter that precious jewel we know as Rattlesnake
Plantain, don’t focus on the apparent disconnect between
native and tropical orchids. Rather, recall these relatives
of Goodyera, several of which can be found in conserva-
tories or even household windowsills, and appreciate these
special jewels in the crown of biodiversity’s most extrava-
gant and flamboyant plant family.

AN ETYMOLOGICAL NOTE

The English word orchid is derived from the Latin
Orchis, the name of a genus well known to the ancient
Greeks and Romans. But orchis is also Latin for testicle.
Here is the connection: Orchis orchids are perennial
plants arising from swollen, often paired, storage roots.

To the ancients, when pulled from the ground the lower
extremities of these plants were reminiscent of testicles,
so this somewhat earthy name came to be associated with
them and, by extension, the whole family, Orchidaceae. ♦♦♦

Sempervirens, Fall 2016

In the Alpine Zone

Continued from page 1

and as we came out of the van, we
all dug out our wind shells, gloves,
and knit hats. The Cow Pasture gave
us our first alpine plant, the Moss
Campion ( Silene acaulis). With bright
magenta flowers against dark-green
foliage, it looked like our familiar
Moss Pink ( Phlox subulata ) at one-
quarter scale. You could have covered
the plant with a cereal bowl, and so
it introduced us to the theme and
scheme of plant survival in the alpine
zone: get small, stay low.

Shouldering our packs, we fol-
lowed our guides down the steep,
rocky Huntington Ravine trail to the
Alpine Garden Trail. We were now in
the lee of the cone of Mount Washing-
ton, on a southeast-facing slope. Just
as a snow fence catches and deposits
wind-blown snow on its downwind
side, the Alpine Garden receives and
deposits a heavy snow cover from
the prevailing northerly storm tracks.
Rivulets of melt water coursed down
the mountain, and one patch of snow
remained high on the mountainside.
Here’s where the show began.

Our first, and most common,
plant was Bog Bilberry ( Vaccinium
uliginosum). Then we began to see
willows, Tea-leaf Willow ( Salix plan-
i folia) and Bearberry Willow (Salix

uva-ursi ), sprawling on the ground
or espaliered against rocks. Then
came Mountain Avens ( Geum peckii),
Bluets ( Houstonia caerulea ), and
Labrador Tea ( Rhododendron groen-
landicum). The showiest blooms were
those of Alpine Azalea ( Kalmia pro-
cumbens ), Lapland Rosebay ( Rhodo-
dendron lapponicum ) and Bog Laurel
(Kalmia poli folia), all in the magenta
range. According to our guides, the
bloom cycle was somewhat out of
order due to snow and cold in early
June. None of us minded. The weath-
er was trending mild, the views were
good, and the show on the ground
was still spectacular.

For me, the queen of the moun-
tain was Diapensia ( Diapensia lap-
ponica). It has all the attributes of an
alpine plant, allowing it to prosper
on the windiest, most exposed sites:
shrubby form, prostrate habit, early
blooming. The flowers, which were
mostly gone by, ranged from ivory to
white. I thought it would be rare, a
tuft here and there, but it often forms
extensive mats.

Moving at a slow, nature-
appreciating pace, we reached our
first night’s lodging at Lakes of
the Clouds Hut. The Appalachian
Mountain Club has eight huts
scattered throughout the White
Mountains. “Hut” somewhat belies
the fact that each is a bunkhouse,

some of them accommodating 100
people, with composting toilets, cold
running water, solar panels, and
a full kitchen. Each is staffed by a
croo of lithe, energetic young men
and women who maintain the hut
and serve up a hearty dinner and
breakfast to each night’s guests. The
origins of the word “croo” seem to
be lost in antiquity, but the word
speaks to the easygoing camarade-
rie, the esprit de corps of a group of
young people living together in close
quarters, doing hard work in a beau-
tiful environment — and whose idea
of off-hours fun might be a night
hike several miles to play a prank on
the croo at the next hut, returning
in time to prepare breakfast for the
overnight guests. Because the huts
are not accessible by road, each croo
member makes two trips a week
down to the nearest road to pick up
food and supplies and returns with
a 50- to 80-pound-load piled high
on a vintage Trapper Nelson pack-
board (younger readers may have to
Google that).

Poking around the lakes on
my own, waiting for dinner, I was
pleased to find Dwarf Birch (Betula
glandulosa). It is most unbirchlike,
with thumbnail-size, round scalloped
leaves. A few withered catkins gave it
away as a birch. After dinner, Stefan
showed us Moss Plant ( Harrimanella
hypnoides ), a member of the heath
family with leaves like a clubmoss
and the pendent flowers of the heaths.
It’s found where the snow lies longest
in the rocks.

The next morning — Saturday,
as if it mattered — we continued on
a generally downward route on the
Crawford Path, which is a part of
the Appalachian Trail. We went
over a few Presidential 4,000-foot-
ers — Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce.

We were working our way out of the
alpine zone, into the Krummholz,

Hiking the Alpine Garden Trail among rock cairns. (Courtesy Mark and Betty Gatewood)

Sempervirens ; Fall 2016

9

an area of wind-formed Balsam
Fir {Abies balsamea) and Black
Spruce ( Picea mariana ) seldom
over waist high. Sheltered in
the Krummholz were some
lower- elevation plants more
familiar to us — Northern
Starflower ( Trientalis bore-
alis ), Bluebead Lily {Clin-
tonia borealis ), and Eastern
Twisted-stalk {Streptopus
lanceolatus) . Rhodora ( Rhodo-
dendron canadense ), known to me
only from the writings of Thoreau
and Emerson, appeared among the fir
and spruce.

After crossing Mount Pierce, we
began our descent to our final night’s
lodging at Mizpah Spring Hut. The
last half mile involved lowering our-
selves down rock faces and boulders,
with two very welcome log staircases.
Our rewards were the song of the
Bicknell’s Thrush and a Gray Jay,
which observed us briefly.

Diapensia ( Diapensia lapponica )
(Illustration by Betty Gatewood)

We were now in Balsam Fir forest.
In the perpetual twilight of the firs,
the ground cover was Sphagnum
Moss {Sphagnum spp.) dotted with
Bluebead Lily, Wood Sorrel {Oxalis
montana) and Clasping-leaved Twist-
ed Stalk {Streptopus amplexifolius ) .

Hiking out on Sunday morning,
we would gradually leave the
fir forest for familiar northern
hardwoods — Yellow Birch
{Betula alleghaniensis ),
American Beech {Fagus
grandifolia ), Sugar Maple
{Acer saccharum ) — before
reaching Crawford Notch.
Nothing writes the coda
to a hike like the sudden
appearance of roads, parking
lots, and traffic. Crawford
Notch was packed. It was Ethan
Crawford’s vision, fully realized. And
we were done.

With the logistical precision
that characterized our trip, an
Appalachian Mountain Club van
awaited to whisk us back to Joe
Dodge Lodge and our waiting cars.

A debriefing, lunch, exchange of
e-mail addresses and hugs with our
fellow hikers, and we were back in
automobile -world. ❖

WEATHER The week before our
trip, the Mount Washington Observ-
atory reported sustained 100-mph
winds and snow; a few days after
our trip, snow again. During the
three days of our trip, the high peaks
enjoyed an unprecedented run of
calm winds, mild temperatures (an
afternoon temperature of 57), clear
skies, and 100-mile visibility, with
just a spritz of rain and hail as we
approached Lakes of the Clouds Hut.

CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT
Since we were staying in the huts,
we were freed from carrying over-
night backpacking gear; our packs
weighed 25-27 pounds. With the
mild weather, we didn’t use all the
clothing we carried. Back home,
unpacking, I was dismayed to note
that my rain/wind pants were in a
stuff sack that hadn’t gone in my
pack. That could have been really

FACTS AND STATS

bad, had the weather been less kind.

DISTANCE AND DIFFICULTY

Because this was an educational trip,
we didn’t go far or fast. The trip total
was about 10 miles. With some steep
climbs and descents and rough, rocky
footing, I rate 1 mile in the Whites as
equal to 2—3 miles in the Blue Ridge.

MY PLANT LIST At the end of
the second day, when we began to
leave the alpine zone, my list was 36
species, most new to me. By the end
of the trip, plants in the Krummhholz
and fir forest bumped me up to 47
species. There were a few friendly
faces from home — Three-toothed
Cinquefoil {Sibbaldia tridentata ) and
Whorled Wood Aster {Oclemena
acuminata) among them — but most
plants were new to us.

SWAG Trip fees covered over-
nights and meals at the lodge and
huts, and lunch food and snacks.

And every participant got a copy of
the Appalachian Mountain Club’s
Field Guide to the New England
Alpine Summits, by Nancy Slack and
Allison Bell. It’s beautifully illustrated
with photographs of the plants and
animals that live above treeline. The
guide begins with the early explora-
tions of botanists and naturalists and
ends at current work by citizen and
professional scientists to monitor the
alpine zone. Readers seeking more
rigorous science are directed there.

IF YOU WANT TO GO First, join
the Appalachian Mountain Club
(www.outdoors.org). You’ll quick-
ly recover your membership fee in
discounts on trips, lodging, books
and maps. And you’re supporting
the leading organization conducting
research, education, and conservation
in the White Mountains and through-
out the Northeast. ❖

10

Sempervirens, Fall 2016

Many Natural Area Preserves Are Public-Accessible,
But Stewards Must Be Vigilant to Impacts

W e are so fortunate to have such
a robust and successful Natural
Area Preserve System in Virginia,
backed by the Natural Area Preserves
Act. This act charges the Department
of Conservation and Recreation’s
Natural Heritage Program with
identifying, protecting, and managing
Virginia’s natural heritage resources
(i.e., habitats of rare, threatened, and
endangered species, significant natural
communities, geologic sites, and other
natural features) through a statewide
system of Natural Area Preserves.

Each preserve also provides a
snapshot of an important reference
point for Virginians: they best por-
tray the environment and the ecology
in which human cultures took root in
Virginia millennia ago. For example,
the relatively undisturbed expanses of
shoreline at False Cape Natural Area
Preserve (designated in 2002; 3,573
acres) and the intact maritime dune
forests at Savage Neck Dunes Nat-
ural Area Preserve (1998; 298 acres)
offer a step back in time, to when our
ancestors were first learning how to
live on and steward coastal plains.
Overlooking Rocky Mount, Va., Bald
Knob (2016; 79 acres) harbors
the world’s largest population
of Phemeranthus piedmon-
tanus , one of only five known
populations, and The Cedars
(1997; 1,797 acres), which has
grown via two decades of
land conservation efforts by
Natural Heritage, The Nature
Conservancy, and other part-
ners, protects populations of
18 rare plant species, 12 rare
animals, and 4 natural com-
munity types, as well as fish
and mussel species and cave
and karst features. Indeed,

From Your
Natural Heritage
Program

By Jason Bulluck

the VNPS raised $24,250 last year to
help our efforts at The Cedars.

There is much to treasure and
be proud of in our Natural Area
Preserve system, and we work hard
to share these places wherever and
whenever we can. All preserves are
accessible via our natural area stew-
ards, and one-third of them are open
for public access, with parking, estab-
lished trails, and signs. We realize the
importance of making the preserves
available for nature-based education,
hiking, birdwatching, canoeing, and
other low-impact activities, now and
for future generations.

But, considering Natural Heritage’s
primary charge — to protect biodiver-
sity — balance is critical. Indeed, many
resources are simply too rare, fragile,
and vulnerable to impacts wrought by
open access. Off-leash dogs on coastal
preserves diminish habitat value for
beach-nesting birds. Dogs and exces-

sive beach use can harm habitat of
the federally threatened Northeastern
Beach Tiger Beetle ( Cicindela dorsalis
dorsalis ). In fact, any preserve open
to public access is more susceptible
to invasive plant species and must be
monitored to ensure that invasives are
detected early and eradicated. Similar-
ly, while high-elevation rock outcrops
are a natural draw for hikers, the rare
plant communities that inhabit these
exposed, thin-soiled environments are
especially susceptible to foot traffic.
Plant communities that took millennia
to become established can be con-
verted to bare, eroding soil and rock
within a few years of open access and
increased foot traffic.

We are working to ensure that
when open access is feasible, the
degree of access and types of use are
carefully paired and limited as needed
based on the rare plant and animal
species protected by the preserve.
Management is continually adapted
in light of encroaching development,
invasive species, and climate-change
stressors so that our primary goal —
protection and management of rare
biodiversity — is achieved while
offering visitors unique
nature-based experiences.
Your Natural Heritage Pro-
gram is constantly working
to strike this balance, so we
continue to protect our nat-
ural heritage resources and
share our successes as well.

Recently acquired Deep Run Ponds Natural Area Preserve, in
Rockingham County, is one of the largest remaining Shenandoah
Valley sinkhole pond systems in Virginia. (Photo by Nancy Sorrells)

Jason Bulluck is director
of the Virginia Natural
Heritage Program. Learn
more about Virginia’s
Natural Area Preserves at
www.dcr.virginia.gov
/natural-heritage

Sempervirens ; Fall 2016

11

A t our Annual Meeting, I had the pleasure of going
on a field trip at Wildwood Park led by Radford
University senior Ryley Harris, a budding botanist. I
was impressed with his knowledge and enthusiasm and
wanted to learn more. We engaged in an online interview.

Nancy: How did you get interested
in nature and botany ?

Ryley: Throughout my childhood
I was influenced heavily by my expe-
riences of the natural world. Hik-
ing and exploring the baldcypress
swamps around Virginia Beach were
a regular activity. From a young age,

I was enthusiastic about ethnobot-
any. The first botany course I took
at Radford was “Plants in Society,”
where I learned about the cultur-
al uses of plants, and also about
nontimber forest products like Black
Cohosh and Ginseng. That class was
great, but it wasn’t until later that I
learned to ID plants. The next class I
took was “Flora of Virginia,” taught
by VNPS member John Kell. It was
the only time the class has been
taught at Radford, so I am very glad
I was able to take it. It was through this class that I was
able to learn botany in a way that meshed with my style of
learning. Looking for patterns among plant families made
plant ID a lot more intuitive for me.

Nancy: What kind of childhood did you have?

Ryley: I was born and raised in the oceanfront area
of Virginia Beach. In a way, the ocean first taught me to
appreciate nature. Throughout my childhood education,

I was given ample opportunity to explore and learn from
local science experts, and I spent a good amount of time
at the Virginia Aquarium on school field trips. I attended
First Colonial High School, where several teachers in-
spired me to pursue a career in the ecological sciences. My
parents have been major supporters throughout all of my
educational endeavors. My mother is the school improve-
ment specialist at Green Run High School in Virginia
Beach, and my father owns an outdoor adventure and
ecotourism company called Rudee Inlet Stand-Up Paddle,
also in Virginia Beach. If you’re ever in the area, pay him
a visit and explore the amazing salt marsh Owl’s Creek
watershed. My grandfather Dave Harris was director of
land protection for the Virginia Coast Reserve office of

The Nature Conservancy for over 14 years. He has always
been a major influence on me and taught me the impor-
tance of conservation. I also spent a lot of time exploring
the maritime forested areas in the northeast corner of
North Carolina. My mother’s parents have a house in the

woods there, 20 miles from any
paved road. Spending time there
definitely gave me an apprecia-
tion for rural living.

Nancy: Why did you choose
Radford , and what are you
studying ? What kind of career
do you see for yourself?

Ryley: From some older
friends, I heard Radford was
a great and affordable school,
surrounded by really biological-
ly interesting areas. Also, I have
always felt drawn to the moun-
tains. It may be all the time I
spent in the rural Outer Banks
that gave me an appreciation for
the isolation and serenity being
in nature provides. I also am
in charge of running Radford’s
first sustainable garden, locat-
ed at Selu Conservancy. We grow food using intensive
planting methods and donate the produce to those in need
in the community. We plan to create a permanent teach-
ing garden, in which native plants can be showcased for
classes that come to tour the garden.

I have several mentors, the first of whom would have
to be Dr. Christine Small, an accomplished forest ecologist
and former chair of Radford’s biology department. In my
sophomore year, I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted
to take with my biology career. She got me involved with
some of her research at Selu Conservancy, looking into
how plant communities respond to the introduction of an
invasive species, in this case Rosa multiflora, which got
me interested in the complexities of the plant world. Her
husband, Darrell White, Radford’s greenhouse manager,
has also done a lot for me.

Another influential person in my academic life has
been Mr. Kell, who taught the class that transformed my
perspective on botany. I am happy to say I learned and
retained more in his class than in any other class I have
taken. He has continued to work closely with me to refine
my plant ID skills, often taking the time to join me for

Continued on page 12

A Visit with Ryley
Harris, a Young
Botanist at Radford

By Nancy Vehrs

12

Sempervirens ; Summer 2016

Ryley Harris, continued

plant ID walks in Wildwood Park and around Radford.

I am hoping to find some sort of career where I can
apply botanical skills. I’m studying data modeling and
GIS systems so I can develop a broad skill set.

Nancy: How did you happen to get involved as a field-
trip leader for the Annual Meeting ?

Ryley: I met Mary Rhoades, head of the New River
Chapter, while working on a flower phenology project for
the University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Sta-
tion. We hiked from the biological station to Bear Cliffs,
an overlook at 4,000 ft., and identified every flowering
plant we could. This was this past May, a great time to
observe and catalogue the amazing floral diversity of
springtime in the mountains. After talking for a while, she
asked me if I’d like to lead a walk at the Annual Meeting,
and I enthusiastically accepted.

Nancy: The VNPS is struggling to engage a younger
demographic. What advice do you have for us and why?

Ryley: Unfortunately, a lot of people truly have no idea
how simple and fun plant identification can be. I think
this is because these skills are rarely taught in a university

setting now. I think holding well-publicized events show-
casing different topics revolving around native flora would
draw a lot of interest from a younger demographic. Going
through university channels to get the word out, or having
a university-sponsored event, could also help.

I recently worked with a woman in Floyd County, lead-
ing a yoga/plant hike. A lot of younger people were there.
They’re out there — it’s just a matter of getting networked.
On a larger scale, I think we seriously need to rethink the
way sciences are taught in schools. Standardized testing
in this country represses curiosity from a young age, and
I think it’s responsible for a lack of interest in some fields.
Instead of sitting in a classroom learning about nature,
children should be actively engaging in outdoor education-
al activities. I firmly believe that when it comes to botany,
nature is the best environment for learning. It is vital to the
future of many fields that we teach them in a manner that
inspires interest and sparks curiosity instead of suppressing
them, and I think the way to do this is to show people how
these fields, including botany, relate to our everyday lives. ❖
Nancy: Thank you, Ryley! We wish you the best and
hope that you continue to engage with VNPS.

Ryley: Thank you. ♦♦♦

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