The Quarterly of the Virginia Native Plant Society

‘Nature Knows No Boundaries’

Save Sept. 29-Oct. 1 for the Tri-State Native Plant Conference,
Shepherdstown, W.Va. • By Suzanne Dingwell

W hen is the Annual Meet-
ing not the Annual
Meeting? When it’s the Tri-State
Native Plant Conference, that’s
when! This year the native plant
societies of Virginia, Maryland,
and West Virginia will convene
in Shepherdstown, W.Va., for
what promises to be a memora-
ble event. The conference, titled
“Nature Knows No Boundar-
ies,” kicks off the afternoon
of Sept. 29 and runs through
Sunday, Oct 1.

The Potowmack Chapter,
host of the Virginia Native
Plant Society’s Annual Meeting
this year, began planning for
a tri-state event in 2011, when
discussions turned to the hard
fact that Metro D.C. is not real-
ly conducive to convening large
groups. Though we have some
rare and wonderful locations
for walks, the traffic and costs
are generally discouraging to
many.

On the other hand, a num-
ber of our chapter members
remembered with fondness the

Cindy Gustafson stands alongside
an ancient Tulip-tree (L iriodendron
tulipifera ) at Ferry Hill. Below: The
HQ of the Tri-State Conference. (All
photographs by R.H. Simmons)

2003 Conference, put on by the
Maryland Native Plant Society,
when the confluence of all three
organizations provided a lively
synergy and an unparalleled
opportunity for networking. Part
of the success of that gathering
was the setting: the National
Conservation Training Center of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
in Shepherdstown, a venue with
its own well-deserved reputation.
The Tri-State Conference will be
held there again this year.

The grounds at the NCTC
are secluded and lovely; the
buildings are modern, conve-
nient, and comfortable. You
can walk from your room in the
lodge buildings to your meal in
the dining hall without having to
think about your car at all! We
will be offering a wide variety of
field trips both on and off cam-
pus, as well as workshops, talks,
and roundtable discussions.

Field trips will be offered at
many locations, including Ferry
Hill, Snavely’s Ford, several lo-
cations on the C&O canal tow-
path, Stauffer’s Marsh, Yankeur
Preserve, Ice Mountain, Catoc-
tin Mountain, Greenbrier State
Park, Cool Spring Preserve,
Shannondale Wildlife Man-

2

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

agement Area, Eidelon
Preserve, the Blue Ridge
Center for Environmen-
tal Stewardship, Snyders
Landing, and Cranesville
Swamp. There will be
tours, both historical and
botanical, at Antietam.

There will be walks on
the NCTC grounds, each
with its own focus, such as
grasses, trees, and native
plant communities.

And there will be
workshops! We have Lara
Call Gastinger, chief
illustrator of the Flora of
Virginia, coming to do
a workshop titled “Maintaining a
Field Sketchbook.” She promises to
teach us how to observe and docu-
ment plants, and how to successfully
maintain a record of our work.
Vincent Viza-chero, owner of the
native plant design and consulting
firm NativEcology, will give a work-
shop on designing your home garden
using plants that grow harmoniously
in their own native plant communi-
ties. Rodney Dever and Mark Lesser,
from Shepherd University, will give
a tree walk combined with a session

Near-vertical, north-facing limestone cliffs with an overhanging
American Arborvitae ( Thuja occidentalis ) are among the sights to be
discovered at Ferry Hill.

on tree identification in a labora-
tory at the university. We will have
workshops on how to use iNatural-
ist, the Citizen Science project using
crowdsourcing of photos for data
gathering; on learning the meaning
of botanical names; and, if there is
enough interest, on GIS mapping.

Students from Shepherd will pres-
ent poster sessions, too; and Bland
Crowder will be on hand with the lat-
est on news of the new Flora App. He
tells us he is hoping to demonstrate
an advanced prototype.

Wesley Knapp, a 15-year veteran

of the Maryland Natural
Heritage Program and
now mountains botanist
and ecologist with the
North Carolina Natural
Heritage Program, will
be one of our keynote
speakers. Rodney Bartgis,
who was a botanist with
both the Maryland and
the West Virginia Nat-
ural Heritage programs
before serving 12 years
as the West Virginia state
director for The Nature
Conservancy, will also
give a keynote address.
The wealth of knowledge
brought to the conference by these
two gentlemen will certainly enrich
the experience of all who come to
hear them speak.

You can let us know about your
interest in any of these workshops or
topics and suggest other idea for trips
or workshops. Registration opened
June 1 at VNPS.org; click on Tri-
State Native Plant Conference under
Events. Get ready. It’s going to be
great! ❖

Prime Cove and Slope

F erry Hill, part of the C&cO Canal
National Historical Park, will be
the site of several field trips on offer
at the Tri-State Native Plant Confer-
ence this fall. Perched majestically
on a bluff overlooking the Potomac,
the site is cherished for its historic
and ecological value. Home to nearly
pristine old-age rich cove and slope
forests, it is one of Maryland’s finest
examples of this community type.

A diversity of evergreen ferns and
bryophytes is found at the base of
the cliffs, along with many other
native plants. ♦♦♦

Among the plants to look for along the limestone cliffs at Ferry Hill is American Wall-
rue ( Asplenium ruta-muraria).

Black Bugbane &
The Blues

Interactions Between our Wildflower
of the Year and the Insect World

By W. John Hayden, Botany Chair. Illustrations by Nicky Staunton

restricted to flowers and buds of
Black Bugbane, we have: the Spring
Azure, whose primary food plant is
Flowering Dogwood ( Cornus florida ),
but it is also known to use Blueberry
and Viburnum flowers; the Summer
Azure, whose primary flood plants
are summer-flowering shrubby Dog-
woods (e.g., Cornus ammomum) as
well as a variety of other plants; and
the Cherry Gall Azure, also known
to consume flowers of various plants
but, as the name implies, it feeds
mainly on the finger galls commonly
found on the upper leaf surface of
Black Cherry ( Prunus serotina ) —
which is flat-out, mind-bendingly
bizarre. Tiny little mites form min-
ute finger galls on the leaf and the
caterpillars eat the finger galls, mites
and all!

Though morphologically similar,
and evidently closely related, these

butterflies exploit differ-
ent food resources. As
such, these caterpillars
and their food prefer-
ences illustrate the gen-
eral ecological principle
known as niche differentiation;
because food is the distinguishing
environmental factor involved, this
appears to be a special case of niche

N o, this article has nothing to do
with American Roots music.
Black Bugbane is one of several
common names for the 2017 VNPS
Wildflower of the Year, Actaea
racemosa. And Blues refers to a
subfamily of lycaenid butterflies,
commonly referred to as Blues or
Azures. The interactions between
Black Bugbane, a.k.a., Black Cohosh,
Appalachian Azure butterflies
(■ Celastrina neglectamajor) , and
ants was recently summarized by
VNPS charter member and past
president Nicky Staunton (2015).

In brief, Black Bugbane is the sole
food source for caterpillars of
Appalachian Azure butterflies, a
situation that, superficially, might
seem like any other caterpillar and
host plant association. As is so often
the case, however, it is the details
that make this story exceptional.
First, these gray, sluglike caterpillars
feed preferentially on flowers and
flower buds of Black Bugbane.
Further, as they feed, they create
minute vibrations that summon the
attention of ants, who, in turn, feed
on secretions produced by the
caterpillars. In essence,
the caterpillars process
plant flowers and buds
into food that ants readily
consume. In return, ants will
aggressively defend both plant and
caterpillars from other animals.

As long as there are not too many

caterpillars per plant, unconsumed
flowers will complete fruit and seed
production, and all three partners in
the relationship benefit: caterpillars
become butterflies, Black Bugbanes
make seeds, and ants get fed for their
efforts.

While learning about Black Bug-
banes and their Blue/Azure butter-
flies, I started reading about related
butterflies and their host plants, and
I was struck, on the one hand, by the
broad parallels in the relationships
between these other Blues and their
host plants. On the other hand, the
small differences in their natural
histories were intriguing.

One of the first things that I
learned was that there are several
similar and, evidently, closely re-
lated Azure butterflies in eastern
North America that use flowers as
larval food plants. In addition to
the Appalachian Azure, a specialist

Dorsal views of Appalachian Blues,
female, left, and male. This is the largest
Azure butterfly.

Afemale
Appalachian Blue
places an egg on
Actaea racemosa.

4

Sempervirens, Spring 2017

Appalachian Azure caterpillars range in size
(between 0.25 and 0.75 in.) and color during the
various stages of their short life cycle.

differentiation called resource
partitioning. What’s interesting
is that specializing on flowers (or
other highly seasonal food items
like finger galls on cherry leaves)
has profound effects on other
aspects of the natural history of
these butterflies. For example,
seasonal emergence, mating, and
egg-laying by adult butterflies
are necessarily closely tied to
host plant flowering season (or
gall formation). Of the species
discussed here, the Spring Azure
is active in early spring, and
because the flowering period of
Flowering Dogwood is relatively
brief, this butterfly is univol-
tine — adults have to emerge and
mate and females have to lay
their eggs to initiate the next gen-
eration at just the right time for
those hungry little caterpillars to
have access to buds and flowers
of Flowering Dogwood. Conse-
quently, there is just a single gen-
eration of Spring Azures per year,
which is the definition of uni-
voltine. In contrast, food plants
for the Summer Azure bloom all
summer long; these butterflies
can be active from June to Octo-
ber and may progress through two or
three generations per season — i.e., it
is multi voltine. Wedged between the
flight periods of Spring and Sum-
mer Azures, we have flights of the
Appalachian Azure and the Cherry
Gall Azure; these are both univoltine
species for which the establishment of
their new generation coincides with
flowering time of Black Bugbane and
the emergence of cherry leaf finger
galls, respectively.

For these Azure/Blue species, host
food plant preference exerts profound
influence on other aspects of the
natural history of these closely related
butterflies. We have seen how food
preference influences time of breeding

season and number of broods per year.
Because breeding seasons are separat-
ed in time, it is unlikely that Spring
Azures will have an opportunity to
mate with Summer Azures, and the
same can be said of other combina-
tions of butterflies within this group.
These Azure/Blue butterflies appear to
be reproductively (genetically) isolated
from one another — at least to a large
extent. As reproductively isolated en-
tities, each species occupies a different
evolutionary trajectory.

Another consequence of special-
izing to a host plant is the acquisition
of some sort of biochemical strategy
for dealing with the different protec-
tive compounds produced by these

plants. Black Bugbane makes
steroidlike molecules, dog-
woods protect themselves with
iridoids, and cherries defend
themselves with molecules that
release cyanide. To some extent,
feeding preferentially on buds
and flowers might be part of the
toxin-avoidance strategy that
three of these species of cater-
pillar employ, because flowers
and buds are likely to contain
lower concentrations of pro-
tective compounds than leaves
or mature fruits and seeds.
Nevertheless, some facility in
overcoming a host plant’s toxins
is essential. An anecdotal obser-
vation illustrates the importance
of adapting to particular plant
toxins. Appalachian Azure
caterpillars can eat toxic Black
Bugbane leaves if the host plant
has been depleted of buds and
flowers; Summer Azure caterpil-
lars will also eat Black Bugbane
buds and flowers, but they will
die if forced by necessity to eat
leaves of the same plant.

It may be common to think
of plants as hapless victims
of herbivores, and perhaps to
some extent they are. But plants do
fight back with chemistry and, over
time, the diverse molecules they de-
ploy have profound impacts on their
herbivores. If you are an Appalachian
Azure caterpillar, you are what you
eat, and what you eat is Black Bug-
bane. Black Bugbane not only made
the physical substance of every Appa-
lachian Azure flitting in the forest, it
also determined profoundly import-
ant aspects of their natural history.

WORK CITED

Staunton, N. 2015. Fairy candles, butter-
flies and ants. Blazing Star 16(2): 13-15.
[Reprinted in Wild News (04): 3-4.]

Sempervirem , Spring 2016

5

From the President

Plants Need More Advocates

R ecently I had the honor of repre-
senting the Society on a confer-
ence call held by the Native Plant
Conservation Campaign (NPCC),
which is led by Emily Roberson
out in California. The NPCC is a
network of 46 affiliate native plant
societies and other native plant
conservation organizations through-
out the United States representing
about 150,000 native plant advo-
cates. Its mission is to promote the
conservation of native plants and
their habitats through collaboration,
education, and advocacy. The VNPS
has been an affiliate since 2002. The
original NPCC action plan for 2017
had been to focus on funding at the
federal level, but, given the current
political climate, its emphasis has
shifted to advocacy at the local level.

Our two-hour conference call
did not allow for much in-depth
discussion, but each of about 20
participants shared successes and
challenges. The NPCC’s Roberson
noted that she had recently joined
the advisory board for the 12th
annual Endangered Species Day,
which was observed on May 19. An
advocate for curing plant blindness,
she is a voice for the recognition of
endangered plants, which are all too
often overlooked in favor of charis-
matic animals. Learn more about the
efforts of the NPCC online at www.
plantsocieties.cnps.org.

Many of the affiliates mentioned
successes relating to forming part-
nerships, using citizen science, and
capitalizing on the interest in plant-
pollinator relationships. A number
of native plant societies, including

the VNPS, offer some research grants
of varying levels. The small Alabama
Native Plant Society awards a $5,000
scholarship to a student studying
botany. The Arkansas Native Plant
Society partners with the Arkan-
sas Natural Heritage Program in a
seed-collection initiative through
which they provide farmers with
native-seed mixes. The California
Native Plant Society enjoys 10,000
members, a budget of nearly $2.5
million, and more than 25 employ-
ees. Its budget base is one-third
membership dues, one-third grants,
and one-third fees for services, such
as scientific surveys. Colorado has
created a YouTube channel and has
capitalized on the monarch— milk-
weed connection. It also hosted a
virtual plant sale with pickup sites
scattered around the state, which
turned out to be a successful fund-
raiser.

A number of our fellow organi-
zations mentioned the challenge of
developing more ways of reaching
out to people. Other difficult issues
mentioned included the engagement
of more young people and the devel-
opment of members at the leadership
level, matters of particular concern to
the VNPS as well.

The VNPS is at a crossroads
now. We have nearly 2,000 members,
but some chapters are in danger of
folding. We closed the Fredericks-
burg Area Chapter a few years ago
for lack of leaders, and now the
Shenandoah Chapter has requested
to fold for the same reason. Plants
need us as advocates! Please consider
stepping up and taking a turn on the
board of directors of your chapter or
the state organization. You will help
the Society and native plant com-
munities — and maybe make some
friends as well.

Neither a plant nor a field guide is in sight, but these folks engaged in important advocacy
work for Virginia's native plants and ecosystems during a recent state board meeting.
The Society needs more people willing to be leaders and advocates for Virginia’s natural
world. If you’d like to volunteer your talents and interests in such ways, please write
nvehrsi@yahoo.com, and we’ll get right back with you. (Nancy Vehrs photo)

6

Sempervirens, Spring 2017

SOLD-OUT WINTER WORKSHOP

‘Under Stories, Small Communities,
and Secret Agents’

Crowded house: Attendees were captivated by four excellent presenters at Winter
Workshop 2017. (Jonathan Stevens photo)

By Peggy Troyer

South Hampton Roads Chapter

I t was a full house at the auditorium
of the University of Richmond, for
the VNPS’s Winter Workshop 2017
on March 4. The theme was “Under
Stories: Small Communities and
Secret Agents.”

Opening speaker John Townsend
shared with us his new passion for
mosses and liverworts. Staff botanist
with the Virginia Natural Heritage
Program and a coauthor of the Flora of
Virginia , he had focused almost solely
on vascular plants until last year when
he attended a class at Highlands Biolog-
ical Station in North Carolina. When
we watched his video on identifying the
mosses in a sample, there was groaning
from the audience, as he was using two
microscopes in addition to his loupe.

If you can’t see the cell structure, well,
just forget it! Just kidding, you’ll at
least be in the ballpark. Waterfalls are
prime collecting sites, as the humid air
promotes all kinds of bryophytes. He
estimates that Virginia has 580 species.

We got to see some interesting
species. Campylopsis carolinae likes to
grow under Longleaf Pines ( Finns pa-
lustris ). This moss is often mostly hid-
den in sandy soil, with a few little hairs
sticking out. Where else is this species
found? Why, in Brazil, of course! Some
species are quite localized, others have
an amazing range.

If you find a dry specimen,
whatever the moss, add water and
voila! In seconds the leaves plump out
and become easier to identify.

Because identification involves
magnification, John gave us some pho-
tography tips — like getting a bracket to

connect your cell phone’s camera to the
eyepiece of your scope. To get clearer,
more descriptive photos of the moss
in question, John recommends photo
stacking. This is how a CT scan works,
by the way. You take multiple pictures,
adjusting the focus one or two clicks
between shots, then stack the pictures
for one 3-D photo. There are apps for
this. My husband the pathologist was
very interested in this approach.

At the suggestion of Tom Wie-
boldt, John dragged his moss mentor
from Highlands to the Pinnacles of
Dan and other spots, where they
identified some moss species never
recorded for Virginia. John loves his
new pursuit of smaller plant life that
“forces” him to visit stunning water-
falls and other sites across the state.
Interest in bryophytes is relatively
new! Get those magnifiers out and
check your surroundings!

We moved on to a marvelous pre-
sentation on lichens by Manuela Dal
Forno, a National Science Foundation
postdoctoral research fellow with the
Smithsonian Institution. Lichens are the
result of wonderful symbiotic relation-
ships, with fungi providing structure
and protection and algae or cyanobac-
teria (blue-green algae) providing the
photosynthesis, in other words, the my-
cobiont and the photobiont, depending
on how classy you feel. And by the way,
Manuela had a photo of a car covered
in lichens, and says to just move your
car periodically to avoid this. Lichens
come in multiple forms — crustose, fo-
liose, fruticose, gelatinous, dimorphic,
filamentous, and squamulose. They
grow on multiple substrates because,
thanks to the photobiont portion, they
are self-sufficient. They produce some
crazy chemicals. Sunscreen! Water
control! Inhibition of competing

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

7

species for the space! One variety is
poisonous to foxes and wolves! They
are used in creating the dyes that
color Harris tweeds, in perfumes, and
in litmus paper.

Lichens are considered lichenized
fungi and they are named by the fungus
involved. These fungi no longer exist
separately from their photobiont,
and some lichens are tripartite — they
include one fungus species and two pho-
tobionts. By DNA studies, which is how
they definitively identify various lichens,
they have also found lichens with addi-
tional bacteria outside the fungal struc-
ture, and yeasts in the cortex, or fungal
sections. These lichens are considered
hyperlichenized fungi. More than
19,000 fungi are lichenized, and they did
not come from a single ancestor.

When you’re identifying a spec-
imen of lichen, how the underside
looks is very important. Don’t just
note the top, flip it over.

Reproduction is sexual (by spores),
in which case the fungus has to find its
little algal or bacterial buddy after re-
producing, or asexual, which involves
the whole package’s reproducing.

The fungus gets a bit of its alga or
cyanobacterium to get things going.
Multiple species can be found in close
proximity, as in the mosses.

Mary Jane Epps’s presentation was
titled “Lifting the Veil: A Hidden World
of Plant— Fungal Interactions.” Good
thing she was so interesting, because she
spoke right after lunch! She discussed
fungi that are present in leaves, roots,
and flowers of vascular plants. (They’re
even on mosses and liverworts!)

Fungi living inside of leaves are
said to inhabit the phyllosphere. Many
of these are endophytes, that is, they
get nutrition from the plant, though
they don’t cause disease. They can
have various effects on host plant ecol-
ogy, including some interesting effects
on the herbivores that might happen
to ingest the host plants.

Tall Fescue ( Schedonorus arundi-
naceus) , if infested with a certain fun-
gus, can cause fescue toxicosis when
ingested. In cattle this results in weight
loss, heat stress, and foot rot. In voles,
it reduces reproductive capacity. (Can
I put some on the leaves of my garden
plants?) Juncos and Canada Geese
suffer weight loss when eating endo-
phyte-infected fescue seeds.

In Panama, says Mary Jane, one pi-
oneering study treated cacao trees, from
which we get chocolate, with a patho-
gen in the genus Phytophthora , which
also includes the species that caused
the Irish potato famine. Cacao plants
exposed to the disease, but hosting their
friendly endophytes, experience only
a quarter of the leaf drop that afflicts
untreated plants. Some farmers are
already using this technique.

On the down side, spotted knap-
weed, an invasive, has endophytes
that make it stronger. They increase
levels of a chemical in the soil that in-
hibits other species’ growth, increase
its drought resistance, and manufac-

ture growth hormone to bolster host
plant growth. Boo.

In the rhizosphere — the realm of
plant roots and surrounding soil —
mycorrhizal fungi colonize root tips of
almost all land plants. They enhance
nutrient and water uptake, receive
sugars from the plant, and greatly
increase the absorptive area around
the host plant’s roots.

They come in two forms. Arbus-
cular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form
a treelike structure within root cells
of the host plants. These fungi are so
ancient they have been found in fossil
roots more than 400 million years old.
They are thought to have facilitated the
move of plants from aquatic to shore-
line to dry-land locations. The fungus
is on the inside, the photosynthesizing
plant around it in the root cells. In our
flora Jack-in-the-pulpit, Columbines,
Trout Lilies, Trilliums, Wild Ginger,
and Ladies ’-tresses have AMF, as do a
few trees, including Maples, Walnuts,
Tulip-tree, and Ashes. In the tropics,
most trees have AMF.

Hayden Honored with Surprise Award

A t the Winter Workshop we
surprised John Hayden with a
special distinguished service award
in gratitude for his contributions
to the Virginia Native Plant Society.
John has served as our boards Botany
Chair since 2003 and has written the
Wildflower of the Year brochures and
regularly contributes scientific articles
for Sempervirens.

A professor of biology
at the University of Rich-
mond, John has been our
liaison there for the Work-
shop. In addition, he has
sat on the Research Grants
Review Committee since its
inception in 2015 and led
the Seeds of Success effort
in 2005. John participates j 0 hn

on social media and patiently
answers plant identification queries
posted there. He is an active member
of the Pocahontas Chapter, fre-
quently presents chapter programs,
and teaches botany to Master
Naturalists.

In recognition of his accomplish-
ments, VNPS presented John with
the framed award as well as a gift.

John is an active gardener
and lives on several acres in
Powhatan County. With the
aid of his family in the gift
selection, we presented him
with a weed wrench that he
can use to tackle invasives
on his property. Thank you
for your continued service,
Hayden John! — Nancy Vebrs

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

The rest of the party has ectomycor-
rhizal fungi , or EMF. Here, such trees
include Pines, Oaks, Beech, Birches,
Spruces, Firs, and Chestnut. The fungi
provide or assist in uptake of nitrogen,
phosphorus, and water. They grow
between the root cells
and form shaggy sheaths
around the roots. Many
of the mushrooms we see
in the yard are the fruiting
bodies of EMF fungi.

In British Columbia,
an interesting symbiosis
was found between Doug-
las Fir and Paper Birch,
facilitated by fungi that
link trees together under-
ground via a mycorrhizal
network. During the
summer, when the birch
leaves are out and shad-
ing the younger Douglas
Firs, sugar produced by
the birches flows through
their mycorrhizal fungi and into the
firs. In the fall, when the birch have
dropped their leaves and the firs have
more sun exposure, the flow is reversed
as the firs feed sugar to the birches.

Parasitic plants like Indian Pipe
and Pinesap trick the mycorrhizal
network to feed them the sugars they
normally collect for themselves.

Black Walnut and Garlic Mus-
tard produce chemicals that in the
soil can destroy the mycorrhizae of
surrounding plants. This is likely how
garlic mustard can establish itself even
within a well-established native plant
population. We don’t yet know how
long, after removal of those stinkers,
the poison remains active in the soil.

Also awaiting research is fungi
in flowers. While nectar is thought
to be sterile until the flower opens,
very soon afterward it is commonly
infected with yeast. These yeasts serve
to alter sugar content, amino acids,
and even the aroma of the flower,
which can have various implications

for pollination. This is hot-off- the-
press research. In fact all of this fungal
research is pretty new, Mary Jane said,
and has been done primarily in the
western United States, Europe, and
Canada. Get out your grant appli-

cations — the field is wide open for
Virginia and the East Coast!

Jason Davis, a neurophysiologist
at Radford University and a Virginia
Wildlife contributor, wrapped up the
workshop with a lively discussion of
plants that produce chemicals that
are neurologically active in animals.
Mostly this serves to ensure that they
are eaten by the species that are most
useful to their propagation.

Capsaicin, the zinger in chili pep-
pers, affects mammals but not birds.
Birds neither chew up the seeds nor
deposit them close to the adult plant,
so they are the beneficial consumers.
Jason noted that we humans foil this
system, because we can anticipate a
secondary gain. Once the pain recep-
tors are tingling from the capsaicin,
we release endorphins to cope with
the pain, and they feel good. So we, or
certain ones of us anyway, are willing
to endure the pain for the soothing
response that comes next.

Cucurbitacin, from the cucumber,

is a steroid blocker. It stops insects
from molting, so they can’t mature.

Fegumes produce phytoestrogens,
known as isoflavinoids. These act as
birth control for smaller mammals
and birds. Production is increased

during times of drought.
Keep your furry paws off!

Alkaloids are
produced by 20 per-
cent of plants studied.
These include caffeine,
nicotine, strychnine,
and morphine. Caffeine
blocks adenosine, which
is a neurotransmitter
of sleepiness or fatigue.
Nicotine stimulates
acetylcholine, another
neurotransmitter. When
at toxic levels, nicotine
can produce seizures
and heart failure. In-
sects are more sensitive
than vertebrates, so
they are affected first. This is why
putting tobacco in your garden
reduces insect invasion.

Urushiol — from our friends Poi-
son Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Su-
mac — actually causes an autoimmune
reaction: the body turns on itself.

Insects fight back, in the form of
galls, in which the plant produces a lot
more of what the insect wants to eat.
Plants go after each other, roo, with
sunflowers reducing germination rates
in surrounding plants; rice’s “foolish
seedling disease” causing tall but weak
seedlings; and sorghum and Black
Walnut making it difficult for competing
plants to grow near them.

Our membership’s interest in the
smaller plants is clearly on the rise
and presents exciting opportunities.

And areas where more study would be
welcome became apparent. Our thanks
to the Pocahontas Chapter for hosting
the workshop and the Piedmont
Chapter for offering books for sale. ❖

On their lunch break, workshop participants peruse publications at the
Blue Ridge PRISM exhibit. PRISM stands for Partnership for Regional
Invasive Species Management. (Nancy Vehrs photo.)

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

9

Mosses and Their Kin: New
Avenues for Virginia Botanists

I n the last issue you heard about a
new foray into the world of pollina-
tors, particularly bees, being made by
zoologists with the Virginia Natural
Heritage Program. While our zo-
ologists have been digging into the
world of invertebrates for many years,
our botanical
efforts have
focused almost
entirely on vas-
cular plants —
until now

These cryptic species seem to be
experiencing an upswing in popularity
with the public, but they have always
been a focus of the scientific commu-
nity worldwide. This combination of
ready scientific expertise and a height-
ened level of interest among amateur
naturalists has spawned specialized
field guides, numerous classes, and
restoration projects, as well as works
of nonfiction, novels, and poetry.
Thankfully, Virginia Natural Heritage
has benefited from related training
opportunities and now has enough
experience to include these plants as
inventory and protection targets.

Two challenges faced when delving
into any poorly known and highly
technical group are 1) how to identify
the organisms and 2) of the species
you identify, how to know what is
rare and what is common. All of
our inventory efforts at Heritage are
works in progress, but the obstacles
presented by these technical groups
mean we must be cautious with no-
tions of rarity. Luckily, the advent of
large museum databases has made the
process of winnowing down a list of
conservation targets much easier.

Recent field work has already
uncovered regionally and globally rare
species, some found in areas previously

unexplored by Heritage botanists. The
liverwort Appalachian Threadwort
(. Drepanolejeunea appalachiana ), a
globally rare species with tropical
affinities, was discovered recently in the
Dan River Gorge, a dramatic land-
scape feature with very little inventory
history. This
Appalachian es-
carpment gorge
also yielded
Virginia’s first
records for two
other species, one of which — Lejeunea
blomquistii, or Blomquist’s Leafy
Liverwort — is endemic to the south-
ern Appalachians and globally rare.
Our newfound ability to survey for
such species has finally enabled us to
recognize this spectacular gorge for its
biological significance, in addition to
its famously dramatic topography
Many rediscoveries of rare bryo-
phytes have been made on our Natural
Area Preserves and other public lands.
These efforts often follow on the
heels of other scientists’ generalized
collecting, allowing us to refine what
is known about these populations.
Successes include rediscovering several
rare mosses and liverworts from the

high elevations of Mount Rogers, relo-
cating a rare moss known from the
calcareous forests of Natural Bridge,
documenting the rare Keever’s Bristle
Moss ( Orthotrichum keeverae) at
Bald Knob Natural Area Preserve, and
locating populations of a globally rare
moss at the Blackwater Ecological Pre-
serve and South Quay Sandhills Nat-
ural Area Preserve, properties known
for numerous Longleaf Pine^associat-
ed rarities. Deeper understanding of
our preserves has already been gained
through this renewed inventory effort.

Any foray into the biological
unknown is invigorating and re-
warding. With this new effort, we
continue a long tradition of pushing
the boundaries of what is known and
putting that knowledge to work in a
very practical manner. Recalling Aldo
Leopold’s admonishment to “keep
every cog and wheel ...” of the natu-
ral apparatus, we are again pushing
ourselves to learn the many parts that
make it all work.

— John Townsend has been staff
botanist with the Virginia Depart-
ment of Conservation and Recre-
ations Division of Natural Heritage
since 2001 . He conducts rare-plant
inventories across the state as well as
learning and documenting the flora
more broadly, including being coau-
thor of the Flora of Virginia.

The Dan River Gorge is a showcase habitat for cryptic species. (John Townsend photo)

From Your

Xj MC'

H Natural Heritage

Program

i j vbyjg-r.

By John Townsend

10

Sempervirens, Spring 2017

VNPS Awards 3 Research
Grants for 2017

T he Board of the Virginia Native
Plant Society has announced three
recipients of the Society’s Research
Grants for 2017. The grants total
$15,000, and 11 applications were
received. The projects we funded for
2017 are described below.

The Research Grant Program
awards funds for well-defined proj-
ects whose results can be evaluated
and which address the Society’s goals
and mission. VNPS research grants
should advance our understanding of
the biology of native plants and their
relationship to their ecosystems; teach
students about the importance of na-
tive plants and habitat preservation;
measure the benefits of native plant
habitats to the economic and environ-
mental health of the commonwealth;
or address similar topics.

This is the program’s third year. A
call for proposals will go out this fall
for next year’s grant cycle. Check our
site, vnps.org, for information.
—Joyce Wenger, Publicity Chair

Four evolutionary species
in Early Violet ( Viola
subsinuata) in Va.

Under the leadership of Harvey
Ballard, an associate professor of biol-
ogy at Ohio University, this project will
complete critical studies on multiple
undescribed violet species lurking in
Virginia. Opinions on the taxono-
my of North American violets have
diverged widely over the past century,
especially with regard to delineations
and taxonomic status of species in the
acaulescent blue violets ( Viola subsec-
tion Boreali-Americanae ) .

The team has been studying
acaulescent blue violets in Virginia,

including Viola subsinuata, using
intensive field methods, herbarium
collections, and evidence from mac-
romorphology, micromorphology,
reproductive behavior, genetic diversity
based on microsatellite variation, and
ecological niche to detect and delineate
evolutionary species.

They have applied the unified spe-
cies concept as an objective filter for
inferring which sets of populations
deserve species recognition. Their
preliminary studies have confirmed
at least seven distinctive phenotypes
probably representing distinct species,
including four in western Virginia.

This project will complete these
studies to document the geographic
distribution of all four phenotypes in
Virginia, provide a detailed analysis
of niche differentiation among them,
and permit the objective evaluation
of the taxonomic and evolutionary
status of these phenotypes based on
morphological traits, reproductive
behavior, genetic differentiation and
microhabitat preference. The results
will be presented at a regional and a
national conference in 2018, and will
be published as two journal articles. A
full set of voucher specimens will be
submitted to the Massey Herbarium
at Virginia Tech, and the final report
will be given to VNPS and the Virgin-
ia Natural Heritage Program. This
project will enhance the knowledge of
Virginia’s incredible plant diversity.

Biotic Disturbances
and Tree Mortality in
Va. Blue Ridge

This project will be led by Kris-
tina J. Anderson-Teixeira of the
Smithsonian Conservation Biology

Institute (SCBI), in Front Royal, and
Alan J. Tepley of the Smithsonian
Institution. It focuses on the effects of
biotic disturbances — insect pests and
pathogens — on forests of Virginia's
Blue Ridge ecoregion. Insect pests and
pathogens are a leading cause of mor-
tality in the region, yet their impacts
have yet to be quantified.

A student intern will conduct an
annual tree-mortality census of a
large (26 ha) forest-dynamics plot at
the SCBI this summer. The project
team will use data from this plot and
more than 200 forest monitoring plots
at SCBI and in Shenandoah Nation-
al Park to quantify the impacts of
biotic disturbances on forest mortality,
biodiversity, productivity and bio-
mass. They will test the hypotheses
1) that biotic disturbances are the
largest driver of mature-tree mortality
and have substantially reduced the
abundance and biomass of host tree
species throughout the Blue Ridge
ecoregion; and 2) that, over the past
three decades, biotic disturbances have
reduced biodiversity and caused mod-
est reductions in forest productivity
and biomass.

As these hypotheses are novel, not
only for the Blue Ridge ecoregion but
also for forests anywhere in the world,
this study will help improve general
scientific understanding of the net
impact of biotic disturbances on for-
est diversity, structure, and function.
Beyond the scientific advances that
it will achieve, this project will yield
several additional benefits. The 2017
mortality census will bridge a critical
gap between the previous census, in
2016, and the next scheduled full-plot
census, in 2018, and it will also push
the data record past the threshold
required to use it as a basis for appli-
cation for long-term funding from the
National Science Foundation.

The majority of funds will sup-
port an intern, who will learn about

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

11

Leader Tom Wieboldt and participants on Goshen Pass field
trip. (Karen Sheffield photo)

Goshen Pass Trip Offers Up
Mosses, Time Travel

the flora of Virginia, threats to native
tree species, and scientific analysis
and writing. VNPS members will be
invited to SCBI for a plot tour and citi-
zen-science opportunity to learn about
tree mortality in forests of the region.

Beneficial Effects of
Native Plants and
Pollinators in Ashland

This project will be performed un-
der the direction of Assistant Professor
Nicholas Ruppel of Randolph-Macon
College. A recent focus on the impor-
tance of native plants and pollinators
has highlighted the critical interac-
tions among local species in natural
ecosystems. As urban encroachment
continues to threaten native habitats,
it is increasingly important to promote
the use of local green spaces as refuges
for native plants and their pollinators.
Educating the public on the value of
native plant— pollinator relationships is
one way to accomplish this. The aim
of this project, therefore, is to assess
the diversity of insect pollinators on
native plants in Ashland.

This project will involve under-
graduate students and faculty from
Randolph-Macon, as well as students
from John M. Gandy Elementary
School. This summer and fall, several
modes of insect identification (e.g.,
digital photography, trapping) will be
used to assess pollinator abundance
and diversity at the Moores Native
Plant Garden. From these collections,
the team will assess the diversity of
insect types and the nature of the
insects (i.e., native vs. nonnative). The
ultimate goals are to expand the edu-
cational utilization of Randolph-Ma-
con’s Moore Native Plant garden by
undergraduate students, school chil-
dren, and community members, and to
increase knowledge of plant— pollina-
tor interactions and the importance of
native plant gardening. ❖

(\ A # hat does this rock say to you?”

V V asks Tom Wieboldt on a
recent Virginia Native Plant Society
geology and botany trek through the
Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve
in Rockbridge County. The pass was
formed by the Maury River, a tribu-
tary of the James.

Maybe you’re drawn in hoping to
see the details of the lichen Tom is de-
scribing. Perhaps your eye catches the
beautiful limestone rock in the bright
sunshine or the fantastic dolomite stri-
ations caused by years gone by shallow
sea events. As VNPS enthusiasts, we’re
often attracted to the greener side of
life, and several different mosses shared
this rock along with many species of li-
chen. We could have stayed at the rock
all day, but we had millions of years of
geologic time to cover, so off we went
to our next location. David Spears
led our journey back in time, taking
us to special places with outstand-
ing sandstone, shale, and limestone
outcroppings, each representing a
different geologic era. Many lichens,
mosses, and liverworts enjoy life on
the rocks, and Tom identified many for
us, but he also shared his microscope

photography of them so we could see
the identifying characteristics and their
exquisite design. For me, the trip was a
reminder that so many things are right
in front us if we would only take the
time to settle in and observe them.

Many thanks to David Spears,
Tom Wieboldt, the Upper James
River Chapter, and the Rockbridge
Baths Firehouse for a fantastic
journey fexploring the smaller side of
life. — Karen Sheffield

VIRGINIA NATIVE
PLANT SOCIETY

Sempervirens (ISSN 1085-9632) is the quar-
terly newsletter of the Virginia Native Plant
Society, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400 Blandy
Farm Fane, Unit 2, Boyce, Va. 22620, 540-837-
1600, info@vnps.org. Nancy Vehrs, President;
Nancy Sorrells, Editor; Karen York, Office
Manager. Original material in Sempervirens
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 in-
vited to send letters, news items, and queries for
consideration. E-mail items to Nancy Sorrells at
lotswife@comcast.net.

Next submission deadline: June 15, 2017

^ w

12

Sempervirens ; Spring 2017

Crow's Nest
Natural Area
Preserve Opens

A t long last Crow’s Nest Natural
Area Preserve in Stafford County
is open! With Preserve Steward Mike
Lott as emcee and Gov. Terry McAu-
liffe as one of the many honored
guests, the preserve opened April 1
with a ceremony and sign unveiling.

A 1.5-mile access road on an ease-
ment through private property allows
the Raven Road Access Point to serve
as the entrance to the main preserve.
(A boat launch on the Accokeek
Creek side was already open.) A part-
nership between Stafford County and
the Commonwealth of Virginia begin-
ning in 2008 led to the preservation of
the nearly 3,000-acre Crow’s Nest.

Trailing Arbutus, left, at Crow’s Nest. At right, Tom Smith and Mike Lott explore a trail
carpeted with Dutchman’s Breeches. (Nancy Vehrs photos)

Following the ceremony, Mike
Lott led a short hike on one of the
recently developed trails. We enjoyed
views of the wetlands and Accokeek
Creek and saw a number of early
spring wildflowers on the hilly trails
including Trailing Arbutus ( Epigaea
repens ) , Early Saxifrage ( Micranthes
virginiensis) , Spring Beauty ( Clayto -
nia virginica ), and carpets of Dutch-

man’s Breeches (. Dicentra cucullaria ) .

I look forward to seeing the abundant
Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia)
in bloom later this spring and visiting
in all seasons. For more information
about Crow’s Nest, visit the Depart-
ment of Conservation and Recreation
website at www.dcr.virginia.gov
/natural-heritage/natural-area
-preserves/crowsnest. — Nancy Vehrs

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