A publication of the VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
www.vnps.org
Conserving wild flowers and wild places
Welcome to Virginia, Harperella! ^
Harperella ( Ptilimnium nodosum),
a diminutive herb in the carrot fam¬
ily, was found for the first time in Vir¬
ginia last June by Virginia Depart¬
ment of Conservation and Recreation,
Division of Natural Heritage, field
botanist Allen Belden. This species is
listed as endangered under the federal
Endangered Species Act. The popula¬
tion was located along Aquia Creek on
Marine Corps Base Quantico property
in Stafford County.
Harperella is unusual in that its
leaves, hollow quill-like structures,
consist of a leaf stalk (petiole) only;
thus, the expanded portion of the leaf
(the blade) is missing. The flowers are
white and in flat-topped clusters
(umbels), resembling those of Queen
Anne's lace but much smaller and
more delicate. For a long time
harperella was believed to be an an¬
nual; it is now known that the type
that occurs along fast-flowing creeks
and rivers (as opposed to pond edges)
behaves as a perennial. Some botanists
believe that this type, which includes
the new Virginia population, is a
(See Harperella, page 4)
Harperella
Ptilimnium nodosum
Illustrations by
Nicky Staunton
Exploring the complexities of biodiversity in Richmond
Biodiversity, explored from several
perspectives, was the focus of this
year's VNPS workshop, held March 8
in Richmond. The wealth of ideas,
facts, and unknowns that came out in
presentations and discussion defies
quick summary. Instead, here's a sam¬
pling of what's in my notes and still
on my mind, which may at least sug¬
gest the workshop's scope.
Martin Ogle, chief naturalist of the
Northern Virginia Regional Park Au¬
thority, outlined elements he considers
part of a compelling case for
biodiversity. Some of them are not those
we usually hear. He emphasized that
such a case must include both the val¬
ues of preservation and the costs of
neglect. Two points he made are par¬
ticularly challenging. One is that cul¬
tural diversity, rooted in indigenous
cultures that reflect the land, is part of
biodiversity. The other - to him “the big
problem" - is that what's driving our
economy and putting it in competition
with the rest of life is the idea of growth
for its own sake. Therefore we need to
seek alternatives in which the primary
indicators of human well-being are not
based on growth. Discussion brought
out connections between the two:
population growth also drives eco¬
nomic growth, and that economic
growth and the way it's seen vary
among cultures. And while cultural
diversity and biodiversity may seem
incompatible, in the long run they are
not, because cultures can change.
In introducing the workshop,
moderator Stan Shetler pictured
biodiversity as "a vast, complex net-
(See Biodiversity, page 4)
- Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society ~ ~~
From the president .
Virginia's plants show us their special places
Snow was falling for the third straight day. Temperatures were low. The lighting for the day was gray. No traffic
passed by, so stillness was a pleasure. The beautiful quiet was ended by the bubbling trill of two house wrens that
really was equally beautiful. The wrens were nearby searching for some seed that might have lasted over winter and
investigating a little nesting site. Their song was a harbinger of spring's return. The arrival of flocks of robins con¬
firmed warm days would be with us soon. The berries that over-wintered filled them. The robins' beautiful colors broke
the gray day and lifted my spirits.
Wherever you are in Virginia, nature is waking. Hungry for blooms and color and life. I've even stooped to look for
speedwells, chickweed and draba. Hepatica, bloodroot, bluebells and our 2003 Virginia Wildflower of the Year, trout-
lily, are pushing to bloom. Their pollinators have waked also and are hungry. What a glorious season in Virginia!
You will read about our VNPS Virginia Wildflower Celebration events during the months of April and May. These
are the busiest months for our chapters. Do join a field trip to visit our native plants where they live in the wild. There
will be some native plant garden tours to enjoy. VNPS chapter spring native plant sales are anticipated, enjoyed and
are the source of support for programs by our 12 chapters. Join us for each and every event you can attend. Many will
be listed on our website: www.vnps.org.
I wish each of you the awesome joy of surprise when you see for the first time one of our natives "at home" in the wild.
I wish you the reassuring joy of relocating and visiting a flower friend of old — just where it was last year. I hope there are more.
Finally, I wish you a renewed zeal to know, love and want to protect our native plants where they choose to live in the wild, natural
areas of Virginia. There is absolutely no other place on earth exactly like Virginia. Where you live in Virginia is uniquely
your "place." The same is true for our native plants. The spots where they live are their unique "places."
Your President, Nicky Staunton
General Assembly session brought mixed results for natural resources
Winter months coincide with the
Virginia General Assembly. We are
pleased that some essential funds re¬
lated to natural resources were restored
to the Virginia agencies before the ar¬
rival of spring.
Regretfully, there was not enough
to restore the jobs lost at the Virginia
Department of Conservation and Rec¬
reation, Division of Natural Heritage.
However, the effort to sublimate the
entire Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries into Coastal Marine Re¬
sources was defeated.
The Occoneechee State Park issue
was returned to the public to decide
Flora Project update -
Chris Ludwig, President of the Flora
of Virginia Foundation, announced that
three new directors have joined the Flora
Board, Deborah Roach, Ann Regn, and
Suzanne Wright.
Chris Ludwig has developed a 45-
minute PowerPoint presentation on the
Flora Project that includes illustrations by
Roy Fuller and Lara Call Gastinger. Board
members will have a copy to use in pre¬
senting the Flora of Virginia Project to
groups.
its resolution. In an effort to avoid the
legally required public resolution of
the controversy, the budget contained
an amendment to transfer 50 acres of
the state park to the town of
Clarksburg. The effect on the park
would be to divide the park land, de¬
stroy historic Occoneechee Indian
tribal land and reduce a state natural
area to a golf course. The land was to
be developed by a private developer
after Clarksburg acquired it. Enough
legislators voted against the amend¬
ment that the issue is back in the com¬
munity for resolution.
Each of you who made time to con-
There is a mock-up of text and illus¬
trations being prepared for release to
the public so an example of a genus/
species treatment ( Chamaecrista ) in the
new Flora of Virginia can be seen. Lara
Call Gastinger is over a quarter of the
way through her current contract for
200 illustrations in the book.
A Flora of Virginia Symposium was
held April 11 at the State Arboretum of
Virginia with all proceeds donated to the
Flora of Virginia Project, Inc. Ludwig,
tact your legislators made a difference.
Thank you. Thank them! Stay in touch
with them through the summer and
autumn. The next General Assembly
meets in just nine months and you can
accomplish much by then if you con¬
tinue to share your thoughts and con¬
cerns with them. If you were to invite
your planners, elected officials, and de¬
velopers to join you on the spring field
trips, they will be able to see the beauty
we describe to them and understand
why we are so passionate in protecting
natural habitats from development, tri¬
county parkways, the threat of trading
away state natural areas, invasive alien
plants and mismanagement.
Ruth Douglas, John Townsend and
Donna Ware spoke.
The Flora of Virginia date of publica¬
tion is to be 2010. Donations to support
the project can be made payable to the
Flora of Virginia Project, Inc., P. O. Box
512, Richmond, VA 23218-0512. To do¬
nate securities, contact Ludwig at 804-
371-6206.
For updates about the Flora of Vir¬
ginia got to: www.dcr.state.va.us/dnh/
vaflora.htm.
Page 2
April 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Hepatica: Harbinger of spring in the Commonwealth
For the past two years, the last
week of February has been brightened
for me by the sight of hepatica flowers.
This year, the ground was covered by a
foot of packed snow in February, and
bloom time came in March.
There are two species of hepatica
in Virginia. The most widespread is
the round-lobed hepatica or liverleaf,
Hepatica americana, which is found in
all but a few eastern counties. The
other is the sharp lobed hepatica, He¬
patica acutiloba, which grows in many
of the mountain counties from the
Blue Ridge west.
Both plants have three-lobed
basal leaves that grow from rhizomes
or underground stems, and their
shape gives rise to the name liverleaf.
As the names suggest, one species has
rounded lobes and the other has
pointed lobes. The leaves are often
purple mottled on the top and some¬
what purple underneath, and form a
clump about 5 inches or 10 centime¬
ters high. Although
they are some of the
earliest bloomers, he-
paticas cannot be con¬
sidered spring
ephemerals.
They produce
new leaves in
late spring after
flowering, and these
leaves are held on the
plant over the winter.
They turn a little darker and hug the
ground, but are ready to begin photo-
synthesizing as weather permits.
The flowers of both species lack
true petals. The petal-like sepals are ar¬
ranged radially and have colors that
vary from white to blue to pink in the
round-lobed hepatica and white to blue
to deep purple in the sharp-lobed he¬
patica. The flowers are less than an
inch (about 2 centimeters) across and
may have 5 to 12 sepals, although 6
sepals is most common. They are held
above the leaves on narrow scapes or
leafless flower stems. The genus is a
member of the Ranunculaceae (Ranun¬
culus family), and so the flower parts
are separate rather than fused. The
flowers have numerous stamens, and
are pollinated by wind or by insects,
including bees, flies, thrips and gnats.
No nectar is produced, so pollen is the
reward for these pollinators.
The achenes (hard dry, one-
seeded fruits) are enclosed within a
rounded head. The achene and stem
of the sharp-lobed hepatica are hairy;
those on the round-lobed hepatica are
less hairy. The seed head opens in
our area in late April or May. The
seeds have an eliasome or lipid filled
structure on their surface, and they
are carried away by ants mainly, or
rodents, aiding dispersal.
The hepaticas are shade tolerant,
and can be found in deciduous forest
land. Round-lobed hepatica can be
found in more acidic sites than sharp-
lobed, which is sometimes associated
with calcareous sites, while both toler¬
ate summer dryness
and may even
be found on
rock out¬
croppings.
These
rhizoma-
tous plants
will form
colonies, can
survive droughts and are
probably resistant to fire, too.
With rhizomes and evergreen
leaves, they ought to be good for
holding soil.
Limited medicinal uses for stom¬
ach and abdominal problems and for
cooling the liver are recorded, but per¬
haps their cheerful early flowers are
their best medicine.
Sally Anderson, VNPS 2nd Vice-President
Hepatica illustration by Nicky Staunton
1762 Flora Virginica comes to Virginia
Title page from the 1762 Flora
Virginica by Gronovius.
April 2003 - -
When Michael Sawyer moved to The
Netherlands last fall, he had set a goal.
Fie visited some rare book dealers to re¬
quest that a copy of the original Flora
Virginica be located to purchase.
The adventure began. Six months
later, Julius Steiner of Asher & Company
in The Netherlands had located a copy.
When the search began, there was no
plan for purchasing a copy that might be
found. A short search for a donor was
successful and a member of the Virginia
Native Plant Society offered to purchase
the rare book that is to be donated to the
Flora of Virginia Project, Inc. and used to
support the Flora. The book has arrived in
Virginia and was at the Flora of Virginia
Symposium held at Blandy in early April.
The contemporary mottled calf cover
with reback (restored spine with original
title on leather embedded) is beautiful.
Text is in Latin and the paper is in excel¬
lent condition. This is the third edition
after the first London edition of 1739-1743
and contains a map of Virginia annotated
with information.
John Frederick Gronovius' work is
(See Gronovius, page 8)
Page 3
Harperella
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
(Continued from page 1)
separate species, Ptilimnium fluviatile.
The new population grows from fissures in the mafic
bedrock that underlies portions of Aquia Creek. During
periods of high water (generally during the cooler months
and after major storm events), harperella plants at this site
and their habitat are inundated. Conversely, during periods of
low water (generally during the summer and early fall), the bed- \
rock fissures where harperella grows are above the creek's water
level. Harperella is adapted to such a variable hydrology and ^
requires it for its continued existence. The species is apparently a
poor competitor, and few other plant species can tolerate the peri¬
odic flood scouring to which the habitat is subject.
Harperella is also known from Maryland, West Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas. The
major threat to the Virginia population is siltation caused by run-off
due to high levels of new residential and commercial development
within the Aquia Creek watershed.
Allen Belden, field botanist, VDCR, Division of Natural Heritage
Biodiversity issues studied at workshop
(Continued from page 1)
work of threads blurred by variation."
Looking more closely at what we know
of that complexity, Bruce Stein, Vice
President of Programs at NatureServe,
underscored how much we don’t know.
One of the greatest threats to
biodiversity, he said, is ignorance. For
example, while the U.S. has more than
200,000 named organisms, probably
three times as many are unnamed or
unknown. Even among the known spe¬
cies, about a third are to some degree at
risk. Moreover, the processes that are
increasing extinction are also reducing
the ability to adapt and diversify.
How Virginia fits in a national con¬
text depends on the measure of
biodiversity that's used. Among the 50
states, it ranks about 12th in overall
species diversity, 13th in flora, but 2nd
in dragonflies and 3rd in amphibians.
In endemic species it ranks about 21st,
and 16th in species at risk. On a map of
the distribution of imperiled species,
some of the state's western edge is part of
a Southern Appalachian "hotspot" cen¬
tered on the Clinch River Valley, in part a
reflection of that area's array of rare cave
species and freshwater mussels.
States are not the best units for con¬
servation planning, however, as Judy
Dunscomb, Director of Conservation
Science for The Nature Conservancy in
Virginia, pointed out. She described a
planning process based instead on
ecoregions, defined by ecological char¬
acteristics rather than political bound¬
aries, that TNC is developing in Vir¬
ginia and nationwide. Across an
ecoregion, it envisions assembling a
"portfolio of functional conservation
areas" - a minimum number of sites
that, managed appropriately, will en¬
sure the long-term viability of all na¬
tive biodiversity within that ecoregion.
Workable definitions of those terms
are not yet established, but it appears
that on average a portfolio may equal
nearly a quarter of the ecoregion's
area. Through examples of compo¬
nents of the portfolio for Virginia's
ecoregion, Ms. Dunscomb illustrated
the importance of tailoring site-spe¬
cific conservation strategies.
Mary Pockman, VNPS Director-at-large
VDACS considers
listing species
On March 13, the Board of the Vir¬
ginia Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services (VDACS) held a
public hearing concerning listing
plants and insects as endangered or
threatened. (See January 2003 Bulletin)
Dr. Donald Butts read the plants rec¬
ommended for listing from those that
were submitted by DCR-Division of
Natural Heritage. At the last minute,
two plants were added to the list:
seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus)
and harperella (Ptilimnium fluviatile; P.
nodosum), known also as mock bishop-
weed. Both were recently identified in Vir¬
ginia and are already federally listed as
endangered. Allen Belden, of DCR-Divi¬
sion of Natural Heritage, located
harperella and tells about the find in a
separate article in this Bulletin.
Dr. Butts read comments and ques¬
tions that VDACS received in response
to the request for public comment. Tom
Smith, of DCR-Division of Natural Heri¬
tage, thanked the board for considering
the submitted list. Ruth Douglas and
Nicky Staunton attended to express
VNPS support for listing the plants and
insects as Endangered or Threatened.
Considering Endangered or Threat¬
ened species is different from most other
business considered by the VDACS
Board. Virginia Secretary of Agriculture
J. Carlton Courter's report to his board
included subjects ranging from soybean
sales, apple exports, goat cheese, dairy farm
concerns - and listing plants in the wild as
endangered or threatened in Virginia.
We hope to be able to report in the
next Bulletin that the species will be
listed and will receive protection.
For more information
Precious Heritage: The Status of
Biodiversity in the United States, edited
by Bruce A. Stein, Lynn S. Kutner, and
Jonathan S. Adams (Oxford, 2000).
Biodiversity, edited by E.O. Wil¬
son (National Academy Press, 1986).
Papers from the National Forum on
BioDiversity sponsored by the Na¬
tional Academy of Science and the
Smithsonian Institution in 1986.
Web sites: NatureServe
(www.natureserve.org); Virginia's
Division of Natural Heritage
(www.dcr.state.va.us/dnh/); Ameri¬
can Museum of Natural History
(http: / / research.amnh.org/
biodiversity/); National Geographic
and World Wildlife Fund
(www.nationalgeographic.com /
wildworld).
Page 4
April 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Wildflower Calendar of Events
Beaver Dam Park Trail Hike - Satur¬
day, April 19, 10 a.m. Near Gloucester on
the Middle Peninsula. Sponsored by North¬
ern Neck Chapter, led by John Clayton
Chapter members. (To register, call Sylvia
and Sid Sterling at 804-693-2953)
Arcadia Field Trip - Saturday, April
19, 9 a.m. at Peaks of Otter visitor center.
Join Rich Crites and his class on a trip to
Peaks of Otter and Arcadia. (Call Crites at
540-774-4518)
Birds and Blooms - Saturday, April
19, 8 a.m. Field trip co-sponsored by Blue
Ridge Wildflower Society and Roanoke Val¬
ley Bird Club. Meet near Bo'jangles,
Botetourt Commons Shopping Center,
Daleville. Bring bag lunch. (Call Butch
Kelly at 540-384-7429)
Wildflower Walk at Great Falls Park,
Balls Bluff - Sunday, April 20, 2:30 p.m.,
Led by Marion Lobstein. (For informa¬
tion or to register, contact Lobstein at 703-
536-7150 or mblobstein@earthlink.net)
Northern Neck Botanizing Hike -
Monday, April 21, 10 a.m. Sponsored by
Northern Neck Chapter on Anne and
John Olsen property. (Call Ann Messick
at 804-435-6673)
Great Smoky Mountains 53rd An¬
nual Wildflower Pilgrimage - April 22-
29, week's worth of activities, lectures and
field trips in Gatlinburg, Tenn. (Contact
865-436-1290 or www.goldsword.com/
wildflower / pilgrimage. hhtml)
Spring Wildflowers of the Potomac
Gorge (Scott's Run) - Friday, April 25, 10
a.m.-12:30 p.m., Audubon Naturalist Soci¬
ety walk led by Cris Fleming. (For informa¬
tion, call 301-652-9188, xl6), $18 fee for
non-Audubon members.
Prince William Forest Park- Friday,
April 25, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Audubon Natu¬
ralist Society walk through a Virginia Pied¬
mont forest. (Call 301-652-9188, xl6), $34
non-Audubon members.
Exploring Dameron Marsh Hike -
Saturday, April 26, 11 a.m. Sponsored
by Northern Neck Chapter and led by
Natural Heritage naturalist Rebecca Wil¬
son. Bring bag lunch. (Call Ann Messick
at 804-435-6673)
Shenandoah Chapter Plant Sale and
Waynesboro Riverfest - Saturday, April
26, all day. This one-day festival held in
Waynesboro celebrates the South River
watershed. Shenandoah Chapter will
have native plants for sale and an exhibit.
(For information, www.riverspirit.org)
Bioblitz at Glencarlyn Park, Arling¬
ton - Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m.-3 p.m..
Co-sponsored by VNPS and Maryland Na¬
tive Plant Society, field studies of terrace
gravel forest community. Bring bag lunch.
(Call Rod Simmons at 703-256-7671 or
cecropial3@msn.com)
Green Hill Park Field Trip - Satur¬
day, April 26, 9 a.m., Salem, sponsored by
the Blue Ridge Wildflower Society. (For di¬
rections, call Rich Crites, 540-774-4518)
Prince William Spring Fling Garden¬
ing Extravaganza- Saturday, April 26, 9
a.m.-3 p.m., sponsored by Prince William
Extension Office at Prince William County
Fairgrounds, Manassas. (Call 703-792-7747)
Prince William Wildflower Society
Garden Tours - Sunday, April 27, Noon - 5
p.m. PWWS members will open three gar¬
dens to the public for this free event. A
brochure with directions will be available
in April. (Contact Nancy Vehrs,
nvehrs@attglobal.net)
Potowmack Chapter Garden Tours -
Sunday, April 27. (Call Billie Trump at 703-
960-1476)
Bull Run Ramble- Sunday, April 27,
1-3 p.m., Audubon Naturalist Society pro¬
gram at Hemlock overlook park. (To regis¬
ter, call 703-803-8400)
Manor House Tea and Native Plant
Trail Walk- Sunday, April 27, 1-3 p.m..
Green Spring Gardens Park, (Call 703-642-
5173), $22 fee.
Northern Neck Botanizing Hike -
Thursday, May 1, 10 a.m. Sponsored by
Northern Neck Chapter on Anne and John
Olsen property. (Ann Messick, 804-435-6673)
Hickory Hollow and Cabin Swamp
Hikes - Saturday, May 3, 9 a.m. Picnic
brunch followed by natural walks led by
Ann Messick and Ellis Squires along up¬
land roads of Hickory Hollow and into
Cabin Swamp. Audubon Society spon¬
sored (To register, 804-435-7338), $8 fee.
Bioblitz at Fort DuPont - Saturday,
May 3, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.. Co-sponsored by
VNPS and Maryland Native Plant Society,
field studies of terrace gravel forest com¬
munity, bring bag lunch. (For informa¬
tion, call Rod Simmons at 703-256-7671
or cecropial3@msn.com)
Bluebells and Birding - Saturday,
May 3, 8-11 a.m. Enjoy spring migrants and
blooming bluebells at Bull Run Park in
Centreville. (For information, 703-354-5093
or jmcpherson@nvct.org)
Curry Mountain Field Trip - Satur¬
day, May 3, meet at Daleville park & ride
at 10:30 a.m.. Blue Ridge Wildflower Soci¬
ety. (Call Cindy Burks, 540-977-0868)
Birds & Blossoms - May 8-11, A week¬
end for birders and naturalists at Norfolk
Botanical Garden. (For information and to
register, www.norfolkbotanicalarden.org)
20th Annual Spring Wildflower
Symposium - May 9-11, presented by the
Wintergreen Nature Foundation and Win-
tergreen Resort. (Contact 434-325-7451 or
www.twnf.org)
Spring Wildflowers of the Potomac
Gorge (Bear Island) - Friday, May 9, 10
a.m.-12:30 p.m., Audubon Naturalist Soci¬
ety walk led by Cris Heming. (Call 301-652-
9188, xl6), $18 for non- Audubon members.
Shenandoah National Park Wild¬
flower Weekend - May 10-11, free pro¬
grams, but park entrance fee required.
(For information, contact 540-999-3397 or
www.nps.gov / shen / 2gl .htm)
Prince William Wildflower Society
Plant Sale - Saturday, May 10, 9 a.m.-
noon. Bethel Lutheran Church in
Manassas, corner of Sudley Road (Rt. 234)
and Plantation Lane. (Nancy Arrington
703-368-8431)
Great Falls Walk- Saturday, May 10,
sponsored by the Potowmack Chapter.
(For information, call Marianne Mooney,
703-534-8179)
19th Annual Spring Plant Sale - Sat¬
urday, May 10, 9 a.m. -noon, sponsored
by Blue Ridge Wildflower Society and held
at Community Arboretum at Virginia
Western Community College. (Call Cindy
Burks, 540-977-0868)
Northern Neck Nature Walks -
Monday, May 12, 9 a.m. Picnic brunch
followed by nature and bird walks led
by Jerry Eddy (birds), Ann Messick
(plants), and Ellis Squires (plants).
Audubon Society sponsored (To regis¬
ter, 804-435-7338), $8 fee.
Hickory Hollow Hike - Thursday,
May 15, 10 a.m. Donna Ware, Curator of
the Herbarium at William & Mary will
lead walk. Bring bag lunch. (Call Ann
Messick at 804-435-6673.)
Ferns and Friends at Bull Run
Mountain - Saturday, May 17, sponsored
by the Friends of Bull Run Mountain (To
register, 703-753-2631 or www.fobr.org)
Hopalong Cassidy Trail and Roar¬
ing Run Field Trip - Saturday, May 17,
meet at Daleville park & ride at 9:30 a.m.
to botanize this shale barren, and visit
Roaring Run. Led by Blue Ridge Wild¬
flower Society's Esther Atkinson, Dora
Lee Ellington and Frieda Toler for Cassidy
and Cindy Burks for Roaring Run. (Call
Burks, 540-977-0868)
Hickory Hollow Orchid Walk -
Saturday, May 24, 9 a.m. Ann Messick
and Ellis Squires lead walk through
Hickory Hollow. Audubon Society spon¬
sored (To register, 804-435-7338).
-- Page 5
April 2003
. = Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society -
Practical sense and practical plants combat drought conditions
Even given our moisture-laden win¬
ter, I still look to the coming growing sea¬
sons with an abiding sense of "drought
wariness." In this new year, my own
stock beds will feature ever-increasing
numbers of dry-tolerant species. Plants,
principally natives, have proven their
staying power through repeated seasons
of prolonged dry spells and reduced
water tables.
Whatever your age, you may wish
to write that novel (or even read one); to
travel to other lands; to enjoy a sunset
between your nine-to-fives; to know your
children, or grandchildren. As a middle-
aged nursery grower, I am increasingly
conscious of the time and labor in¬
volved in the maintenance of my liv¬
ing inventory. In 2002, I provided
supplemental watering only twice to
my raised beds, and none whatsoever
to naturalized sites.
Quite simply, the perennial layering
of composted media is what enables us
to sustain plantings through stressful
periods, and to greatly reduce time oth¬
erwise spent in weeding. To the more ex¬
perienced grower/ gardener, this point may
seem all too obvious. Yet, whatever our level
of knowledge, successful gardening with
natives is most critically based in the con¬
tent of our planting ground.
A relatively attractive and inexpen¬
sive model of a compost enclosure is pro¬
vided below. The type featured herein has
effectively served my nursery grounds
for 10 years running, and still shows no
signs of dilapidation. Our perennial
compost pile contents include: whole
and shredded leaves fallen onto lawn
areas from oaks, maples, dogwoods,
(yielding the most nutritious chemistry),
poplars and pine needles.
Also, shredded woody and herba¬
ceous material, available by pruning,
deadheading, or fallen limbs /branches.
We also layer on moderate amounts of
bum pile contents. And when our local
jurisdictions permit, we conduct regular
control bums of our bum pile contents:
clippings, extracted weeds, etc. The bum
process helps to more immediately break
down materials, and rule out the infu¬
sion of weeds or unwanted seeds within
the compost pile. The composition of my
compost pile is moderately acidic. And
so, where certain plants/sites would
warrant it, I dust and work in some dolo-
mitic lime (purchased in bulk from a
Fredericksburg quarry).
My raised stock beds might be con¬
sidered unique micro-habitats, which
maybe considerably amended /manipu¬
lated in order to accommodate the par¬
ticular cultural requirements of certain
native stock. I build soil and soiless me¬
dia above my composite- and clay-based
soils. Here the intention is to increase the
texture and "drainability" of these "con¬
trolled" beds. In naturalized planting ar¬
eas, we are chiefly layering on composted
materials with some gritty sand in order
to increase the moisture-retentive prop¬
erties of on-site soils.
Some of our esteemed VNPS col¬
leagues would hope that fellow members
spend more time and energy on the pres¬
ervation of our native plant communities,
rather than "landscaping" them into our
properties. I believe that the protection of
our natural populations should be our
primary focus. I do also embrace the no¬
tion of landscaping with site-appropri¬
ate natives in order to support a healthy
diversity of life within our homescapes
- from neighbor to neighbor. My own
personal and professional focus contin¬
ues to be on those natives that are par¬
ticularly useful to wildlife. They are
more than pretty faces.
When planting natives, both the
homeowner and professional should be
mindful of several considerations. Gain
a practical knowledge of the particular
cultural requirements of each species on
your wish list. Secondly, select the right
plant for the right place. Your choices
should be based on natural community
models. Respect those native species
which, through their own unique mecha¬
nisms, have historically occurred in your
particular local area. Plant provenance
should be responsibly reflected in our
"sense of place," as well as the sources
of our nursery-propagated purchases.
For the time being, the Atlas of the
Virginia Flora remains the most useful ref¬
erence for field records of native species.
(Send $22.75 to Virginia Botanical Asso¬
ciates, c/o Robert Wright, Virginia Bo¬
tanical Associates, Inc., 10210 Common¬
wealth Boulevard, Fairfax, VA 22302.)
Also, our VNPS website features numer¬
ous texts recommended for guidelines in
the cultivation and proper siting of our
native species. Lastly, our cultivation ef¬
forts should not run contrary to the con¬
servation of our natural resources - such
as water. Hence the practical value of
composting and mulching.
O
o
Here's a recipe for a reasonably attractive and inexpensive composting enclosure:
• One roll (or less) of wood-slat and wire snow fencing }
• 5 or 6 foot metal stakes } available through
• nylon cord, baling twine or wire } most co-ops
Once you decide on the diameter/ circumference, allow for a two- to two-and-a-half foot spacing
between stakes to determine how many you'll need. Allow a little more room between the two stakes
which will define your entry way - enough room to accommodate the width of your wheelbarrow.
After driving in your stakes, unfurl your snow-fence roll around your circle of stakes. Use cord to tie the
fencing slats to your stakes as you gradually unfurl. Start your tying-on at one of the two entry stakes,
securing ties at an upper and lower point on each stake. Mary Painter, VNPS Membership Chair
O
o
Page 6
April 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Native plants with drought tolerance
Arcostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry)
Aster cordifolius (blue wood aster)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)
Aster dumosus
Aster ericoides (heath aster)
Aster linariifolius (bristly aster)
Aster oblongifolius
Aster pilosus (frost aster)
Aster vimineus (small white aster)
Bouteloua curtipendula (side oats gramma)
Carex pensylvanica (sedge)
Carex plantaginea (sedge)
Chasmanthium latifoliuni (river oats)
Celtis occidental is (hackberry)
Clethra acuminata (cinnamon-clethra)
Cornus racemosa (grey dogwood)
Diospyros virginiana (persimmon)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal shield fern)
Geranium maculatum (wood geranium)
Heuchera americana (American alumroot)
Heuchera macrorhiza ('Autumn Bride')
Hydrangea cjuercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea)
Iris cristata (dwarf crested iris)
Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star)
Liatris squarrosa (scaly blazing star)
Opuntia compressa (prickly pear)
Paxistyma canbyi (mountain jade)
Phlox divaricata ('May breeze')
Polemonium reptans (Jacob's ladder)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Rhus aromatica (fragrant sumac)
Rhus coppalina (winged sumac)
Rosa Carolina
Rudbeckia fulgida (orange coneflower)
Rudbeckia triloba (three-leaved coneflower)
Salvia lyrata (lyre-leaved sage)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
Schizacharium scoparium (little bluestem)
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)
Sorghastrum nutans (Indian grass)
Stokesia laevis (Stoke's aster)
Stylophorum diphyllum (wood poppy)
Tradescantia virginiana (spiderwort)
Virburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)
Bugs and gardening topic
of Northern Neck meeting
The Northern Neck Chap¬
ter, one of VNPS’s newest
groups, is planning a buggy
gathering for its summer meet¬
ing on July 17 at 7:30 p.m. at
Wicomico Episcopal Church.
The evening's speaker. Art
Evans, is planning to put up a
screen and use a black light to
attract insects. The program
topic to be complemented by the
creatures is "Gardening with
bugs."
The church is located along
Rt. 200 in Northumberland
County on the Northern Neck.
Call Ann Messick at 804-435-
6673 for more information.
Cullowhee Conference offering scholarships
The 20th Anniversary Cullowhee
Conference, "Native Plants in the
Landscape" will be held July 24-26 at
Western Carolina University,
* Cullowhee, N.C.
Up to 23 scholarships will be
awarded to college students, botanical
garden interns, and nature center or
park interns involved with programs
on native plants and interested in
propagation, production, education
and perpetuation of native plants in
the landscape. Students and interns in
landscape architecture, horticulture,
botany and ecology are especially en¬
couraged to apply.
Any full-time college student (un¬
dergraduate or graduate) during the
2002-2003 academic years may apply
if he /she can demonstrate a particu¬
lar interest in native plants and their
use in the landscape. Application dead¬
line is 5 p.m., Friday, May 9. Results
will be mailed by June 7. For more in¬
formation, contact Elaine Nash, Chair¬
man, Cullowhee Scholarship Commit¬
tee, 3390 Hwy. 20 SE, Conyers, Ga.
30013-2866 or call 770-922-7292 leave
message, number and time to call.
Also visit http://cess.wcu.edu/np.
See the address label for your membership expiration date
VNPS Membership /Renewal Form
Name(s) _
Address _
City _ State _ Zip _
_ Individual $30 _ Student $15
_ Family $30 _ Associate (groups) $40* *
_ Patron $50 _ Sustaining $100
_ Life $500
Tlease designate one person as delegate for Associate membership
To give a gift membership or join additional chapters: Enclose dues, name, address, and
chapter (non-voting memberships in any other than your primary chapter are $5)
I wish to make an additional contribution to _ VNPS or _ Chapter in the
amount of _ $10 _ $25 _ $50 _ $100 _ $(Other) _
_ Check if you do not wish your name to be listed to be exchanged with similar
organizations in a chapter directory
Make check payable to VNPS and mail to:
VNPS Membership Chair, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2,
Boyce, VA 22620
Membership dues are tax deductible in the amount they exceed $5. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.
The Bulletin
ISSN 1085-9632
is published five times a year
(Feb., April, June, August, Nov.) by
Virginia Native Plant Society
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2
Boyce, VA 22620
(540)837-1600
vnpsofc@shentel.net
www.vnps.org
Nicky Staunton, President
Nancy Sorrells, Editor
Original material contained in the Bulletin may be
reprinted, provided credit is given to VNPS and the
author, if named . Readers are invited to send letters,
news items, or original articles for the editor's con¬
sideration. Items should be typed, on disk in Microsoft
Word or e-mailed to: Editor, 3419 Cold Springs Rd.,
Greenville, VA 24440, or lotswife@rica.net
The deadline for the next issue is May 15
April 2003
Page 7
i Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Gronovius book to
aid Flora Project
(Continued from page 3)
based on John Clayton's specimens
and comprised the first systematic
flora of Virginia. It established many
new genera. According to informa¬
tion taken from a website, "John
Clayton came to Virginia in 1705,
where his father was attorney gen¬
eral." Clayton had an estate on the
Piankatank River in Mathews
County and spent much time collect¬
ing Virginia plants and discussing
them with J.F. and Laurens T.
Gronovius, Carl Linnaeus, Peter
Kalm, Peter Collinson and John
Bartram. "After many delays, the re¬
sults of his work were embodied in
the Flora Virginica by Gronovius. Be¬
cause Clayton's herbarium speci¬
mens formed the basis of this work, it
is asserted that it should be called
'Clayton's Flora Virginica,' but the fi¬
nal identification of the specimens,
the science and system of the book,
were largely the work of Gronovius."
In the first edition he used a binomial
nomenclature which preceded
Linnaeus' system by a decade; in the
present edition, he employed a more
Linnaean system of identification.
New book looks at interaction between man, forest
Chris Bolgiano is surrounded by
the subject of her newest book. That’s
because she and her husband, Ralph,
have long made their home on 100
wooded acres in the western mountains
of Virginia. But Living in the Appalachian
Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry
goes far beyond the feel-good prose of
nature writing. Instead she chooses to
examine the hard issues that inevitably
occur when humans inhabit a forest.
She looks at the "good guys" and
the "bad guys" within the forest land¬
scape and notes the blurring of lines be¬
tween those who seek sustainability
and those who seek profitability. In
some cases, however, as with the coal
barons ravaging the landscape
through mountaintop removal, the bad
guys are all too obvious. Native plant
society members will particularly enjoy
sections about low-impact timbering
using horses and about ginseng.
Readers familiar with Chris' ear¬
lier two books on the Appalachian for¬
est and mountain lions will again de¬
light in the descriptive essays that de¬
tail persons and places of the forest. The
paperback, published by Stackpole, re¬
cently won first in the Virginia Outdoor
Writers Association members' contest.
(200 pp., $18.95, ISBN 0-8117-2845-5)
Wintergreen Spring Wildflower Symposium
The Wintergreen Nature Founda¬
tion hosts its 20th Annual Spring Wild¬
flower Symposium May 9-11 . Over 20
well-known authors, botanists and
naturalists will lead more than 60 ac¬
tivities including wildflower walks,
photography and astronomy work¬
shops, garden tours, landscape design
classes and birding activities. This
weekend of relaxation, learning and
fun takes place at the Trillium House
at the Wintergreen Resort, home to The
Wintergreen Nature Foundation,
nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains.
Enjoy a tour of the gardens with
well-known landscape architects;
learn the medicinal properties of the
common plants with author of The
Green Pharmacy, Dr. James Duke; enjoy
the waterfalls as you walk the area.
Whether you are a wildflower en¬
thusiast, outdoor educator or simply
an admirer of the Blue Ridge land¬
scape, this program has something for
you. If you are interested in attending,
contact Liz Salas at 434-325-7451 or
specialevents@twnf.org. A schedule
can be found at www.twnf.org.
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www.vnps.org
A publication of the VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Conserving wild flowers and wild places
Bull Run Mountain a focal point for Annual Meeting
Mark your calendars for the VNPS Annual Meeting to be held September 12-14 in Prince William County and Manassas.
The Prince William Wildflower Society is preparing a wide range of field trips and speakers to highlight the great diversity
to be found in the only county in the state that spans geographically from mountains to tidewater.
The VNPS Board business meeting will take place Friday, September 12 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Bethel Lutheran Church in
Manassas. Participants will reconvene at 7 p.m. for a social mixer.
The capping event for Friday night will be a presentation by Michael Kieffer, Executive Director of the Bull Run Moun¬
tains Conservancy. Michael will guide us through the 800-acre Bull Run Mountain Natural Area Preserve (through a slide
show on Friday and a field trip on Saturday). This preserve was the recent subject of an intense field study by the Virginia
Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage and the conservancy that resulted in the identification of 11
major plant communities. Nodding trillium has been located on the mountain that looks westward from High Point. In the
(See Bull Run, page 6)
Newport News decision favors state's natural resources
On May 22, the Virginia Marine
Resources Commission (VMRC) voted
to deny a permit to Newport News that
would have allowed the creation of the
King William Reservoir. This hearing,
the second of two due to large public
attendance, was the latest in the con¬
troversial project's 18-year history.
The permit, if approved, would
have allowed construction of an intake
pipe that would draw up to 75 million
gallons of water a day from the
Mattaponi River to fill the proposed
1,500-acre reservoir, flooding over 400
acres of wetlands.
The reservoir was to be con¬
structed to supply water to Newport
News, which would in turn supply
water to other localities and businesses
on the lower Peninsula for future
growth of the area. Opponents argued
that Newport News' water projections
were inflated compared to the regional
growth rates. Water projection numbers
used for the permit were those origi¬
nally proposed before Virginia Beach
(See Decision, page 7)
— Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society . =
From the president .
Summer is great for getting to know plant friends
Summer and being 5 years old
meant that I. . .was short enough to
smell the flowers without bending
over... small enough to lie on the
top of the clipped hedge of my
Grandmother's garden and watch
the clouds form images... had time
for just sitting under a humongous
white oak tree, shaded and cooled
by its shadow, watching wood ants
toting their finds to the nest. Once in
a while I'd get to travel to the North
Carolina mountains for a family
visit. It was in the mountains that
the magic of wildflowers entered my
life forever because it was mostly
natural woods, lanes and meadows.
At least, at 5, that is what I saw.
Much of our learning takes
place when we are 3, 4, 5 years old.
The intensity of learning is seldom
met later in our lives. Today, some children still have free summer time to lie on
the ground and watch clouds form images of animals. Some, but not all, children
get to natural areas with parents who understand the refreshing of spirit and the
learning that takes place there. For many, adults and children, there is a vacuum of
knowledge about nature. They really aren't aware that their lives depend on
plants and the life supported by plants — in the wild. Not gardens. Not zoos. But
in wild places.
Perhaps the efforts made by Virginia Native Plant Society and other habitat
conservation groups will make a difference. Let's hope the decline of habitats
and species and a growing appreciation of our regional beauty turns to a change
of public and private policy that will respect the land and its resources.
Meanwhile, whether you travel or stay home this summer, enjoy the regional
flora where you are. Maybe this summer is the time to start a "Native Plant Life
List." This summer, learn to identify plants that you see using a field guide for the
region, note where the plant lives (soil, sun, water, community) along with the
date and location. Also, check to see its origin, whether it is common to the area or
whether it is a rare plant. Sketch or paint or photograph the plant and/or its
habitat. Notice any wildlife in relationship with the plant.
The goal? Once you know a plant friend's name and learn all that you can about
it, you appreciate it. Once you appreciate it, you care about its survival. When you
reach that point, you look for other like-minded people and together, you will find a
way to give your plant friend and its community protection. That is what we are
about in the Virginia Native Plant Society.
My summer? Well, the Bruce Peninsula pilgrimage will soon be under way.
Before going to Newfoundland with our group, there will be visits to my local
natural areas to observe and monitor some special plant species. There will be
removal of the dense and diverse alien plant invasion of my home landscape.
Hopefully, trips around Virginia to enjoy both new and familiar natural areas
will be part of vour summer. Growing season for plants is also a growing
season for our botanical knowledge.
Happy native plant trails, friends.
Your President, Nicky Staunton Berton Braleym Science News Letter
March 9, 1929
June 2003
BOTANY
There should be no monotony
In studying your Botany.
It helps to train
And spur the brain -
Unless you haven't gotany.
It teaches you , does Botany,
To know the plants and spotany,
And learn just why
They live or die -
In case you plant or potany.
You learn, from reading Botany,
Ofwooly plants and cottony
That grow on earth,
And zvhat they're zvorth,
And zvhy some spots have not any.
You sketch the plants in Botany,
You learn to and plotany
Like corn or oats -
You jot dozvn notes,
If you knozv hozv to jotany.
Your time, if you'll allotany,
Will teach you hozv and zvhat any
Old plant or tree
Can do or be -
And that's the use of Botany!
Page 2
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society _ -
Useful plant websites
Websites about invasive alien plants
1. Virginia Invasive Plant Fact Sheets, in¬
cluding information on invasive control and
on native alternatives; also a list of inva¬
sive plants in Virginia. Natural Heritage
Division, Department of Conservation
and Recreation, www.dcr.state.va.us/
dnh/invinfo.htm. Also available. Manag¬
ing Invasive Alien Plants in Natural Areas,
Parks, and Small ]Noodlots by K.E. Heffernan,
1998, www.dcr.state.va. us /dnh/ mnginv.pdf.
2. Information on invasive plants in Vir¬
ginia, and many other links. Virginia Na¬
tive Plant Society website www.vnps.org.
3. Downloadable images of invasive exotic
species in North America, The Bugwood
Network, www.invasive.org.
4. Invasive plants: information and con¬
trol. The Nature Conservancy website,
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu. This is na¬
tionwide in its coverage.
5. Control of Invasive Non-native Plants:
A Guide for Gardeners and Homeowners
in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Maryland
Native Plant Society publication,
www.mdflora.org/publications/
invasives.htm.
6. Voluntary codes of conduct for garden¬
ers and commercial, professional and gov¬
ernment groups whose actions affect the
spread of invasive plant species. Missouri
Botanical Garden website, "Linking Ecol¬
ogy and Horticulture to Prevent Plant In¬
vasions," www.mobot.org/iss/.
7. Information about invasive plants in the
U.S., including fact sheets. Plant Conserva¬
tion Alliance, www.nps.gov/plants/alien. A
publication covering 82 invasives in the Mid-
Atlantic Region can be found in electronic
form by adding: /pubs/midatlantic to above
address.
8. National plant protection issues, includ¬
ing threats from invasive alien plants.
Native Plant Conservation Campaign.
Sponsored by the California Native
Plant Society and The Center for Bio¬
logical Diversity, www.cnps.org and
www.biologicaldiversity.org.
9. Invasive plants of the southeast.
Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council,
w w w.se-eppc.org, and links to other sites,
including various state EPPC chapters.
Websites about Virginia native plants
1. Virginia Native Plant Society, info on
membership, native plants, plus links to
other wildflower sites, www.vnps.org
and www.vnps.org/references.htm
2. Native Plants for Conservation, Restoration,
and Landscaping, Division of Natural Heri¬
tage, Virginia Department of Conservation
and Recreation, a useful publication, available
on www.dcr.state.va. us/dnh/native.htm.
Compiled by Ruth Douglas, VNPS Director-at-large
- . - . — - - Page 3
VNPS FISCAL YEAR 2002
INCOME STATEMENT
Income :
Dues, Membership
$25,179
Donations
$ 6,807*
Income Fundraising Letter
$ 4,600
Sponsored Events (Net)
$ 4,242
Sales, Gifts & Books
$ 299
Interest Income
$ 490
Dividend Income
$ 7
Capital Gains on Donated Stock
$ 306
Other Income
$ 1,033
TOTAL INCOME
$ 42,963
Expenses:
Cost of Gifts, Books Sold
$ 168
Newsletter
$ 13,019
Botany
$ 2,665
Membership Development
$ 1,123
Publicity
$ 200
Registry Program
$ 32
Conservation
$ 952
Long Range Planning
$ 81
Accounting/Tax Preparation
$ 850
Fundraising Letter
$ 880
Insurance
$ 1,785
Taxes/License
$ 25
Dues/Memberships
$ 450
Administration
$20,065
TOTAL EXPENSES
$ 42,295
NET INCOME
$ 668
SUMMARY BALANCE
TOTAL ASSETS
$ 15,638
Current Liabilities
$ 40
Net Worth
$ 15,598
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET WORTH $ 15,638
The above financial statements, as well as bank
reconciliations, and general ledger detail for the year
ending 10/31/02, have been reviewed by Updegrove,
Combs, McDaniel & Wilson, P.L.C.
Leesburg, Virginia
Submitted by Rebecca Clay , VNPS Treasurer
^Includes $2,000 donation from the Potowmack Chapter and $500 donation
from the Prince William Wildflower Society
June 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
John Clayton Chapter to
host program about namesake
On July 17, the John Clayton
Chapter will welcome archaeologist
Robert Harper and his team members
who will present a program on their
ongoing investigation at Windsor Farm.
Long rumored to be the home of bota¬
nist John Clayton, this site has yielded
over 10,000 artifacts in the past year.
The presentation will be deliv¬
ered in three parts. Linda Breaks of
Gloucester Point will give a synopsis
of John Clayton's life, including his
British ancestry, formative years and
adult life in Gloucester County. Ar¬
chaeological volunteer Lisa Harper
will deliver an overview of initial test¬
ing in the area where it is believed
Clayton may have cultivated his gar¬
den, considered the best in Virginia
in the 1730s. Principal investigator
Robert Harper will present research
leading to the selection of Windsor
Farm for excavation, the ongoing ex¬
cavations of the house foundations
and the artifacts recovered in relation
to the site history.
Robert Harper has been overseeing
the Windsor Archaeological Project de¬
spite undergoing an extended period
of rehabilitation for a broken elbow. He
currently serves as national president
of the Colonial American Artifact As¬
sociation headquartered in DeLand,
Florida, and volunteers his other free
time in archaeological projects at
Rosewell Plantation and the Fairfield
Foundation and in the recent past, at
Greenspring Plantation, and Virginia
Institute of Marine Science and the Na¬
tional Park Service's “East of New Town
Survey" at Jamestown. He is the author
of numerous articles on artifacts recov¬
ered from the Commonwealth of Vir¬
ginia, a contributing writer to six
books on Civil War collecting and Vir¬
ginia history and the author of two
books, Richmond County 1692-1992: A
Tricentennial Portrait and What Mean
These Stones.
This meeting will be held on Thurs¬
day, July 17, 7 p.m. in Watermen's Hall
at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sci¬
ence in Gloucester Point. For informa¬
tion and directions, contact Janis Miller
(804-966-9119; janmike@visi.net).
Archaeology gives clues about famous botanist
For almost a year, archaeological investigations have been under way at
Windsor Farm in Mathews County, Virginia, a site rumored for decades to have
been the home of 18th-century botanist John Clayton. To date, 19 five-foot by five-
foot test units have been excavated. They are spread out over an acre hilltop
thought to have been the center of the 450 acres described by Clayton in his 1773
will as, “ all the plantation or tract of land whereon 1 now live in the aforesaid parish of
Ware in county of Gloucester. . . " From almost the moment the ink had dried on that
document, this man who served for 53 years as clerk of Gloucester County, au¬
thor, cartographer, plantation owner, land speculator, father to eight children
and was called in his lifetime “Mr. Clayton the Great Botanist of America," be¬
came one of the most frustrating enigmas in Virginia history.
With the unfortunate passing of Windsor's most recent owner in early 2002,
it became the concern of two Gloucester historians, Lorna Wass and Boyd Gwyn,
that the site would be sold out of the current family ownership and developed,
thus whisking possibly the last physical vestige of John Clayton from the local
soil. A plan was formulated by four friends with archaeological backgrounds to
secure permission, assemble needed materials and funding and arrange sched¬
ules to allow digging during favorable conditions. Logistics from weatherproof¬
ing and grass cutting on the site to the long-term conservation and storage of
artifacts had to be considered, but within 90 days the site had been laid out and the
first secrets of the plantation were being brought to light.
Since June of 2002, nearly 54,000 pounds of soil and building debris have
been examined and over 10,000 artifacts recovered, ranging in date from the late
17th through the early 20th century. While not a single artifact personally attrib¬
utable to John Clayton or his family has been recovered, each day in the field
brings to light more clues to this long-forgotten plantation. The vast majority of
the 18th-century artifacts recovered fall precisely into the date range of Clayton's
supposed ownership (circa 1730-1774), conforming to a letter written by Clayton
in 1764 in which he hints of having lived in Ware Parish for at least 30 years.
Excavations in the possible garden area revealed a row of post holes forming
a fence line at an angle askew to the 19th-century buildings, but amazingly
similar in appearance to those lines drawn on the only surviving land document
concerning Clayton. This 1754 recording of a lawsuit brought by Clayton against
his neighbors was for the sole purpose of straightening his angular land bound¬
aries in order to make two of them into a more perfect square. From one of the postholes
came a remarkably preserved section of cedar post and two shards of ceramic, dating
the fence line to the mid- to late-18th century. A burned post and shell walkway were
also encountered in the garden units, but are more likely of 19th-century origin.
Initial probing disclosed a brick foundation 50 feet west of the current 1880s
farmhouse where family tradition stated the original house was located. Excava¬
tions have revealed a foundation 24 by 16 feet, gone along both end walls down
to the last course of brick, but basically intact along both 24-foot sidewalls. The
remaining walls are five courses high, two bricks (18 inches) in thickness, laid in
English bond and at some time plastered on the interior.
Two wing additions of 16-foot width, but as of yet unconfirmed length, have
been exposed. The south wing appears to have burned along with the main block
of the house, but the north wing may have survived the fire and provided the
family shelter while the new house was under construction. It is thought that
timbers salvaged from this wing might have been used in building the 19th-
century smokehouse whose footing actually overlies the north wing site by a few
feet. The most massive timbers in the smokehouse are hand hewn, show signs of
reuse and are held in place with wooden pegs, all the while being adjoined to smaller
beams that are machine sawn and held together with more modern nails.
Insurance policies of 1802 and 1806, taken out by Clayton's grandson Jasper
on his plantation called “Windsor" describes his house as, “24 by 16, two story
high first story of Brick at 8 feet pitch 2nd of wood about 10' Do. [ditto] The lower floor
(See Windsor Project, page 8)
Page 4
June 2003
. Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Invasive plant conference to be in Philadelphia
The Invasive Plant Conference, to
be held in Philadelphia August 6-7, will
focus on the implications of invasive
plants and possible solutions to this eco¬
logical problem. The Morris Arboretum
of the University of Pennsylvania, The
Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Pest Council,
The Nature Conservancy and Penn State
Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylva¬
nia Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources, and other institu¬
tions are organizing the conference.
The sponsoring organizations ac¬
tively engage in public education re¬
garding the management of invasive
plants and, through the two-day semi¬
nar, will bring together experts from the
fields of research, the green industry,
invasive policy, public education, and
on-the-ground management.
Researchers estimate that there
have been over 50,000 plant species
introduced into North America. Scien¬
tists are now finding proof that certain
invasive plants lead to a loss of
biodiversity in native ecosystems.
Many of these invasive species, which
have been planted in our front yards
and parks, have become "botanical
pollutants" to our native areas. The ef¬
fects of these introductions have re¬
sulted in rapidly shrinking populations
of native plants, and those losses are
threatening native animals and insects,
which depend on the plants for their sur¬
vival. What does this mean for our area
and what is being done to control this
phenomenon? The Invasive Plants Con¬
ference will address the issues of inva¬
sive plants and share knowledge from
all levels of management so that tech¬
niques for control can be found.
The invasive issue is not purely a
topic for natural land managers. Mem¬
bers of the green industry are in the middle
of a growing debate regarding the ethics
of planting invasive species in the
region's public and private landscapes.
The conference, valuable for land
managers, municipal workers, county
and state parks personnel, home gar¬
deners, restoration volunteers, and con¬
servation district personnel, will also
be highly beneficial for landscape pro¬
fessionals and nurserymen. It intends
to raise questions from all sides of the
debate, and will present alternatives to
invasive plants and the latest research
regarding possible solutions.
Speakers include: Emile DiVito "Im¬
pacts of Invasives;" Cole Burell "More
than a Pretty Face: Native Alternatives
to Invasive Species;" and Rick Darke
"Roadside Restoration with Native
Plants." Topics include the St. Louis
Declaration; alternatives to planting in¬
vasive plants; the role of the federal gov¬
ernment in addressing the problem of
invasives; biological control; herbicides
as control measures; deer impacts; eth¬
ics; and case studies.
The cost is $150 per person and in¬
cludes all lunches. To register or for more
information, call 215-247-5777 xl59,
email mabxeduc@pobox.upenn.edu or
go to www.upenn.edu/ paflora.
Make plans to attend
tri-state conference
Mark your calendars for October
4-5. That’s the weekend conference,
sponsored by VNPS and the Maryland
and West Virginia native plant societ¬
ies. The conference focus is on the na¬
tive plants and geology of the Blue
Ridge Mountains and Potomac Valley.
The three societies, together with
the U.S. National Park Service, will ex¬
plore how the Potomac River both di¬
vides and connects the three states.
Speakers, discussions, and a field trip
will look at the native plants and natu¬
ral communities that bridge the arbi¬
trary boundary of the river, and also
at each state's perspective on conser¬
vation issues. The conference will be
at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Conservation Training Cen¬
ter in Shepherdstown, West Virginia,
on the Potomac just east of 1-81.
Plant society and trail conference
members, and Department of Interior
employees registering by July 1 will re¬
ceive a special early bird registration dis¬
count of $35 per person (plus $16.50 for
the Saturday social) as opposed to $45
after July 1. Non-member registration is
$55. To register, please send check (pay¬
able to Maryland Native Plant Society)
to: Meghan Tice, P.O. Box 25, Bowie, MD
20719. For more information, please con¬
tact: Meghan Tice, 2003 Regional Con¬
ference Chair, cecropial3@msn.com or
301-809-0139. Look for more conference
details in the August Bulletin.
Nature newsletter launched
Nature writer Marlene Condon,
whose columns appear regularly in
Virginia Wildlife, is launching a
monthly nature newsletter entitled
The Happy Habitat. If you would like
to receive a complimentary copy of
the first issue (due out this sum¬
mer), send your printed or typed
name, phone number, and com¬
plete address to: "The Happy Habi¬
tat"- Dept. VW, P.O. Box 235, White
Hall, VA 22987-0235.
You will receive the introductory
issue at no cost. At that time, if you
wish to continue the subscription,
you may then send payment for the
next 11 issues (one issue per month).
= Page 5
Lewis Ginter celebrates horticultural education in 2003
Throughout 2003, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond will be pre¬
senting "Branching Out," a series of nine programs to celebrate the opening of the new
36,000-square-foot Education and Library Complex and to demonstrate the breadth of
the garden's vision for year-round horticultural education. The programs, which be¬
gan in February and continue through November 13, partner with nationally recog¬
nized institutions and experts for in-depth exploration of a diverse range of topics.
The October 2 program, "The Botanical Journey of Lewis and Clark" will be
presented by Peter Hatch, Director of Monticello's Gardens and Grounds and Dr.
James Reveal, botanical scholar, working on the unique collection of original
plant specimens from that famed expedition.
The November 13 "Plant Life Conservation Day" is a day-long symposium
focusing on the role of plants in ecosystem management and preservation, water¬
shed issues and environmental education. Included will be a special presentation
on the inventory of native Virginia plants by the Flora of Virginia project.
A variety of gardening subjects will also be offered monthly. For informa¬
tion, contact Lucy Coggins at 804-262-988 7 or go to www.lewisginter.org.
June 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
• Bull Run
(Continued from page 1)
1940s an intense multi-year inventory
of the area was conducted, the results
of which were published in Castanea.
Saturday of the Annual Meeting
weekend will be a day of field trips.
Participants can choose half-day or
all-day trips. Locations include (from
west to east): Bull Run Mountain,
Conway Robinson Memorial State For¬
est, Manassas National Battlefield
Park, Prince William Forest Park,
Leesylvania State Park and Occoquan
National Wildlife Refuge. After a day
of adventure, members will have time
to freshen up before the evening events.
VNPS Annual Meeting
When: September 12-14
Where: Prince William County
& Manassas
Sponsoring Chapter: Prince
William Wildflower Society
The annual meeting and election of of¬
ficers, dinner and a speaker will follow
a silent auction.
On Sunday morning, some short
field trips are planned for those who
wish to participate before departing for
home. These include a tour of the na¬
tive plant trail at the Northern Virginia
Community College Manassas Cam¬
pus, a tour of a member's garden and
canoeing at Bull Run Marina on the
Occoquan Reservoir. Please come join
us and help us enjoy and celebrate
Virginia's botanical diversity that can
be found in Prince William County.
Fall plant sale
Fairfax County's Green Spring
Gardens will host a fall plant sale Sat¬
urday, September 6 from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Rare and unusual plants, native
plants, perennials and shrubs suitable
for northern Virginia gardens will be
sold. Visitors can also shop at the
Manor Flouse and Horticulture Cen¬
ter. The center is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
every day except Sunday, when it opens
at noon. For information call 703-642-
5173 or go to www.greenspring.org.
Page 6 ~ - — —
Annual Meeting
Prince William rich in habitat diversity
Prince William Forest Park -
This forest, managed by the U.S.
Department of the Interior's Na¬
tional Park Service, preserves ap¬
proximately 17,000 acres of mixed
hardwood forest covering a major
portion of the Quantico Creek wa¬
tershed. The park represents one
of the largest parcels of undevel¬
oped land in the area and is the
third largest unit of the national
park system in Virginia. That, com¬
bined with the fact that this park
is the largest example of a pied¬
mont forest ecosystem in the na¬
tional park system, makes it a sig¬
nificant natural resource. In addi¬
tion, the park contains two physi¬
ographic provinces, the Piedmont
and Coastal Plain. It straddles the
southern and northern climates; a
transition zone that supports
many species to the outer limits of
their ranges. This creates a wide
diversity of habitat, vegetative
communities, and species compo¬
sition not generally found in any
single forest type. It is the location
of the small whorled pogonia
( Isotria medeoloides) federally listed
as Threatened and listed in Virginia
as Endangered. John Dodge (VNPS
member) and Dr. Ted Bradley of
George Mason University are cur¬
rently conducting a two-year plant
inventory of the forest.
Manassas National Battle¬
field Park - Although rich in Civil
War history, this 5,000-acre tract is
also significant for its natural habi¬
tat. As part of the Piedmont dia¬
base (dark colored igneous rock)
uplands, it consists of a mosaic of
open fields, fencerows, woodlands
and thickets, and patches of sec¬
ondary forest on a rolling land¬
scape. Most of this area in the
Culpeper Basin is underlain by
coarse-grained Triassic diabase or
metasiltstone, both of which
weather to circumneutral, clay-rich
soils. Four significant communi¬
ties and 10 occurrences of rare
plants associated with diabase
and prairies were located at this
site. Some unusual flora located
here are: blue-hearts ( Buchnera
americana ), marsh hedge-nettle
( Stachys pilosa var. arenicol ), buffalo
clover ( Trifolium ), Appalachian
quillwort ( Isoetes appalachiana ), and
hairy beardtongue ( Penstemon
hirsutus).
Conway Robinson Memorial
Forest - The Virginia Department
of Forestry manages this 400-acre
forest at the intersection of Rt. 29
and 1-66 in Gainesville. The forest
is not a working timber forest. It
overlooks Little Bull Run on the
north side. The Washington (D.C.)
Wildflower Preservation Society
received the memorial land from
Conway Robinson's daughter and
it was named in honor of her fa¬
ther, the founder of the Virginia
Historical Society. The forest is
home for several habitats, includ¬
ing an open meadow maintained
over a gasline. Historically, the
forest contains the end of the un¬
finished railroad of pre-Civil War
era. Plants found here include: the
toothache tree ( Zanthoxylum
americanum ) and its insect compan¬
ion, the giant swallowtail butterfly.
The Occoquan Bay National
Wildlife Refuge - This refuge, lo¬
cated in Woodbridge, combines
both botany and birding opportu¬
nities. There are upland meadows
and wetlands that are on the shore
of the Occoquan River, which flows
to the Potomac. The 500 acres sup¬
port over 700 species of plants and
223 species of birds. The butterfly
species counts have reached 70.
The original land received by
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from
the U.S. Army supported 20 differ¬
ent plant communities. Eastern
gama-grass ( Tripsacum dactyloides)
of the upland meadows is the larg¬
est stand in Virginia and supports
rodents that in turn support raptors,
including the northern harrier.
June 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
•Decision
Memo offers good news
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Joe Maroon, Director, Va. Dept.
of Conservation and Recreation
DATE: May 9, 2003
RE: Decision on Proposed Lease of 23
Acres at Occoneechee State Park
Today, I am announcing the deci¬
sion to deny the request by the Town of
Clarksville and their Industrial Devel¬
opment Authority to sublease 23 acres
of land for three golf holes at
Occoneechee State Park. I will approve
the draft Master Plan for the
Occoneechee State Park without refer¬
ence to the proposed sublease. Given the
high level of interest in this matter, I
thought you might be interested in hear¬
ing about the decision.
Governor Warner and I have each
sent a letter to town officials. Mine out¬
lines the decision; the Governor's out¬
lines several state initiatives, including
developments at the park, which are
aimed at helping the area economically.
Secretary of Commerce and Trade
Michael Schewel is in Clarksville today
announcing the initiatives.
In brief, my letter to the town out¬
lines the following reasons for the deci¬
sion: The transfer of state park land for a
non-park use would set an unacceptable
precedent for Virginia's State Park sys¬
tem. The proposal would result in the
(See Memo, page 8)
(Continued from page 1)
started withdrawing water from the
Roanoke River basin through the con¬
troversial Lake Gaston Pipeline project,
approved in the 1990s.
Several groups, such as the Chesa¬
peake Bay Foundation, the Sierra Club
Virginia Chapter, the Mattaponi and
Pamunkey Indian Tribes, the Mattaponi
and Pamunkey Rivers Association, fish¬
ermen, and individual citizens
throughout the Commonwealth,
turned out to oppose the permit.
VNPS presented its opposition to
this project based on the large environ¬
mental impacts to the local community,
impacts to Virginia's indigenous popu¬
lation, and the largest destruction of
wetlands in Virginia in over 30 years.
These wetlands, and others along the
Mattaponi River, support numerous na¬
tive plant communities and contain
populations of the federally threatened
sensitive joint-vetch ( Aeschynomene
virginica).
Opponents also argued that there
were other options for providing wa¬
ter to the region, such as installing de¬
salination water treatment plants to re¬
move salt from brackish waters. One
such water treatment plant was recently
completed in the region.
The Virginia Institute of Marine
Science (VIMS) opposed the project due
to the negative impact the intake would
have on populations of American shad.
Shad are anadromous (migratory) fish
species that live their adult lives in the
ocean and return to freshwater to spawn.
The shad populations have been so im¬
pacted in Virginia that a moratorium has
been passed on fishing this species. The
proposed intake would have been located
in the middle of Virginia's prime shad
spawning grounds.
The rejected reservoir has experi¬
enced a series of ups and downs over
the past several years. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers Norfolk District de¬
nied a permit for construction of the res¬
ervoir after it determined water needs
were exaggerated and impacts to the en¬
vironment and cultural resources were
too great. Governor Jim Gilmore ap¬
pealed the decision to the corps' North
Atlantic Division in New York, which
overruled the Norfolk District's deci¬
sion last October. The decision by VMRC
was the latest act in this drama.
Members of VNPS and other oppo¬
nents to this project will continue moni¬
toring this issue in case Newport News
decides to appeal the VMRC decision.
Many thanks to the members who wrote
letters, attended public meetings, and
contacted public officials. This success
would not have been possible without
your involvement.
Chris French, VNPS Conservation Chair
See the address label for your membership expiration date
VNPS Membership/Renewal Form
Name(s) _
Address _
City _ State _ Zip _
_ Individual $30 _ Student $15
_ Family $40 _ Associate (groups) $40*
_ Patron $50 _ Sustaining $100
_ Life $500
*Please designate one person as delegate for Associate membership
To give a gift membership or join additional chapters: Enclose dues, name, address, and
chapter (non-voting memberships in any other than your primary chapter are $5)
I wish to make an additional contribution to _ VNPS or _ Chapter in the
amount of _ $10 _ $25 _ $50 _ $100 _ $(Other) _
_ Check if you do not wish your name to be listed to be exchanged with similar
organizations in a chapter directory
Make check payable to VNPS and mail to:
VNPS Membership Chair, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2,
Boyce, VA 22620
Membership dues are tax deductible in the amount they exceed $5. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.
The Bulletin
ISSN 1085-9632
is published five times a year
(Feb., April, June, August, Nov.) by
Virginia Native Plant Society
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2
Boyce, VA 22620
(540)837-1600
vnpsofc@shentel.net
www.vnps.org
Nicky Staunton, President
Nancy Sorrells, Editor
Original material contained in the Bulletin maybe
reprinted, provided cred it is given to VNPS and the
author, if named. Readers are invited to send letters,
news items, or original articles for the editor's con¬
sideration. Items should be typed, on disk in Microsoft
Word or e-mailed to: Editor, 3419 Cold Springs Rd.,
Greenville, VA 24440, or lotswife@rica.net
The deadline for the next issue is July 1
June 2003
Page 7
-- Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Windsor Project
(Continued from page 4)
of the large room Several feet below the
surface of the Earth. " At each end was a
wing "12 by 16, underpinned with brick,
built of wood." This policy appears to
match the foundations uncovered in all
aspects, but tells us only that this
house existed in 1802, but not how
much earlier it might have been con¬
structed. The policy informs us that
$250 in value is deducted from the
(Continued from page 7)
removal of public parkland from use by
state park visitors; be inconsistent with
the voter's recent approval of the 2002
State Parks and Natural Areas Bond Is¬
sue that directed the Commonwealth to
acquire more land for parks and make
facility improvements at existing parks;
open the door for other efforts to remove
land from the state park system for non¬
park uses; be a breach of trust with the thou¬
sands of Virginians who use our state
park system and who recently voted fur¬
ther bond support for those same parks.
The Governor's letter contains the
following directives relating to DCR:
•Speed up construction of the cabins,
equestrian campground, and visitor con¬
tact station (totaling $4.2 million) autho-
house for "decay or bad repair," leading
us to believe that the house was old at
that time. It is certain that Clayton
willed his 450-acre home plantation to
his son Jasper, who passed it to his son
Jasper, but it is only speculation and
family tradition that our site is part of
those 450 acres and this house was the
home of the famous botanist.
Clayton, from the time of his arrival
m Virginia as a young man in 1715,
probably never journeyed from his
rized under the 2002 State Parks and
Natural Areas Bond for Occoneechee State
Park. (They were initially scheduled for the
last phase of bond implementation.)
•Actively work with the town and other
parties to explore and evaluate the pos¬
sibility of locating a conference /dining
facility at the park. Any such facility would
need to be constructed and operated con¬
sistent with the master plan for the park,
park rules and the park's other uses.
•Work with the town and VDOT to cre¬
ate direct links for recreation between the
town and the state park (including a pe¬
destrian and/or bike link).
I believe this is a very fair and bal¬
anced outcome that will benefit the town
and the park and maintain the integrity
of our state park system. If you have any
questions, please let me know. Thank you.
home more than a few hundred miles.
His education in botany and his re¬
training to fit the established norm of
more “educated men" came from his
own readings of items that sometimes
took many months to reach him from
Europe. Friends of high esteem in the
colonies like Benjamin Franklin, Gov¬
ernor John Page and Thomas Jefferson
acknowledged his value in the study
of flora. The most scientific minded
botanists in Europe hailed his achieve¬
ments with honors and knowingly
used his works (sometimes without
proper credit) to enhance their own
places in history. Like most gifted men
of his enlightened age, Clayton took
the established facts to memory in or¬
der to communicate with his contem¬
poraries, but applied the fire of “reading
between the lines" and seeing past the
haze of established theories of the given
to advance his love of plants into ideas
and names that are still used almost
three centuries later in the study of flora.
It is with this same flare of quest that the
Windsor Archaeological Project volun¬
teers return to the site each day to dig -
with the hope of solving the mystery of
where John Clayton lived.
Robert R. Harper
Principal Investigator at the Windsor Project
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August 2003
Vol. 22, No. 4
ISSN 1085-9632
www.vnps.org
A publication of the VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Conserving wild flowers and wild places
How full is the
Flora planting hole?
You have all read about the out¬
reach efforts and technical workings
of the Flora of Virginia Project Board of
Directors and Flora Advisory Board.
I'd like to tell you something about
where the project stands in terms of
fundraising. First, we (the Flora Project
Foundation's Board of Directors) are
j) working with a big budget. We now
estimate that the project will cost a little
over $2 million. This will cover all
costs of preparing the manual for pub¬
lication: coauthor contracts, illustra¬
tors, editors, taxonomists, fees to incor¬
porate the Virginia Botanical Associ¬
ates' Atlas, accountant fees (for audits),
attorney fees (for contracts and intel¬
lectual property issues), miscellaneous
fees for expenses and fundraising, and
director and officers insurance.
Second, we have actually covered
a lot of these expenses through agree¬
ments, matching funds, and gifts-in¬
kind. The Department of Conservation
and Recreation's (DCR) Division of
Natural Heritage has a Memorandum
of Agreement with the Foundation of
the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc. to pro¬
vide staff, office space, equipment, ex¬
penses, administrative support, meet¬
ing space, and website access. This
component alone is estimated to be
worth approximately $360,000 over the
\ life of the project, making DCR its pri-
► mary organizational partner. A law
firm in Washington, D.C., has pledged
work equaling $45,000 to the project.
(See Flora Project, page 7)
Shale barrens
Cowpasture River hosts unique habitat
When paddling down the Cowpasture River in Augusta, Highland, Alleghany
and Bath counties or driving its valley, one is bound to notice the rocky, barren slopes
which dot the landscape along the river. Rocky, treacherous, steep, and devoid of lush
forest growth, these slopes are covered in a distinctive and well-studied vegetation
community known as an Appalachian shale barren. Most students of natural history
or vegetation in this region are familiar with this very distinctive habitat.
Appalachian shale barrens are found on steep, drought-prone hillsides under¬
lain by shale and undercut by a stream or river. They are hot, facing southeast to west
with surface temperatures sometimes approaching 145 degrees Fahrenheit at mid-
afternoon. The barrens feature a sparse canopy of Virginia pine, oaks and a
mix of other trees including white ash, pignut hickory, redbud and red
cedar. Underneath the thin canopy, shrubs are sparse and the herb
layer ranges from bare rock to reindeer lichen to a thatch of little ft
bluestem and other grasses and herbs. The occurrence of prickly
pear cactus ( Opuntia compressa ) on many of the shale barrens is testa¬
ment to the barren aspect of these sites. Cliffs, outcrops andv
large patches of open ground may occur on the barrens. ^
The shale barrens are best known for their distinctive plant
life. Providing dry, open habitat amidst a historically for¬
ested landscape, the barrens provide a home for grasses
and herbs that cannot grow in shade. Wildf lowers 1
abound such as moss phlox in the spring, sunflowers in
the summer, and asters in the fall. Amidst the
open barrens, species that are uncommon or
rare in the region can be found including the
yellow nailwort ( Paronychia virginica), narrow¬
leaved bluecurls ( Trichostema setaceum ) and the
(See Shale barrens, page 7)
Arabis serotina
shale-barren rock cress
Illustration by
Nicky Staunton
VNPS Annual Meeting: " Prince William
Flora and Fauna from the Mountains to the Tidewater "
The Prince William Wildflower Society chapter invites you to the 2003 VNPS
Annual Meeting September 12-14. Explore the varied flora and fauna in
Virginia's only county which spans three geologic provinces, from Bull Run
Mountain to the coastal plain on the Potomac River. The Prince William area
is historically rich and provides an exciting backdrop for hiking, canoeing,
exploring the urban and rural wilds, hearing exciting speakers and visiting
with old and new friends. (See Annual Meeting, page 8)
_ : Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society - — . -^=
From the president .
Plan on attending the 21st Annual Meeting
"From Mountain Boulders to Sandy Shores"
i
I hope you will attend the 21st Annual Meeting of VNPS on September 12, 13 and 14. The members of
the Prince William Wildflower Society are hosting the meeting for 2003. When you accept their invitation,
you will enjoy the surprisingly diverse wildflowers and natural areas in Prince William County. Natural
areas in Prince William, you ask? You bet! Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal tidal natural areas are all here.
Here you will find everything from mountain boulders to sandy shores with wide-ranging diversity of flora.
Martha Slover is lining up those mountain to shore field trips. Check out the article in this issue by
Charles Smith, President of PWWS, that tells you more. Watch for a separate registration mailing soon.
Please respond as early as possible because the meeting space is limited to 100 attendees.
The business meeting and banquet will be in the Manassas Center for the Arts, the renovated Candy
Factory located by our historic railroad and Manassas Depot. There is plenty of parking. The Saturday
evening meal will be catered by Boyd & Parker of Oakton. The silent auction, organized this year by Joann
Krumviede and Carol Nelson, is always fun. Friday evening's speaker, Michael Kieffer, director of the Bull
Run Mountains Conservancy, will provide insight into one of the field trip venues. Our special banquet
speaker for the event is Douglas Ogle, a southwest Virginia botanist.
Now that 90-degree days are here, it might be difficult to think of September. We have just begun to
enjoy summer. But focus, and think of September. Please do plan to join us for the fun of seeing VNPS
friends after a year, for the opportunity to visit unexpected rare plants; and, yes, to squeeze in the business
of electing our new president and directors. See you in Manassas!
Your President, Nicky Staunton
Welcome to our newest member: the Northern Neck Chapter
We are happy to welcome the
Northern Neck Chaptej as our twelfth
Virginia Native Plant Society chapter.
Ami Messick presented the petition for
status as a chapter of VNPS on June 14
at the Board of Directors meeting in
Norfolk and it was approved.
The idea for a new regional chap¬
ter arose from the Stakeholders Meet¬
ing in 2000 when a state-wide predomi¬
nant factor holding back member par¬
ticipation was identified as distance to
events. The John Clayton Chapter had
responsibility for the area from New¬
port News to the Northern Neck.
Michael Sawyer, then president of
the chapter, initiated the idea of a new
Page 2
center of Virginia native plant activity
in Lancaster County. At a meeting
hosted by the John Clayton Chapter in
Kilmarnock on September 17, 2002, Ann
Messick and Ellis Squires agreed to
serve as coordinators for the new chap¬
ter. When efforts by Ellis needed to turn
toward his presidency of the Northern
Neck Audubon Society, Ann became the
person to bring together potential mem¬
bers for a new chapter. The Sterlings, Sid
and Sylvia, joined in giving them sup¬
port from their "mother" chapter. Some
members of the John Clayton Chapter
moved their membership to form a
nucleus for the new chapter.
Ann and Ellis had worked together
to obtain recognition and protection for
Hickory Hollow, the home of a rare cyp-
ripedium orchid, C. kentuckiense. This
sturdy inhabitant of wet areas is yel¬
low as is C. calceolus, but nearly as tall
as C. regime, the queen lady-slipper. C.
kentuckiense is now part of the chapter
logo, along with a more commonly
found orchid of the upland acidic
woods, C. acaule, the pink lady-slipper.
The new chapter's petition identi¬
fied 66 charter members and has been
formed within less than a year of that
first meeting. It took an impressive
amount of vision, effort and determi¬
nation by the organizers, led by Ann.
(See Welcome, page 8)
August 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Exp
Calypso bulbosa
calypso orchid
Illustration by
Nicky Staunton
What do the famous naturalist
John Muir and 11 travelers on the Vir¬
ginia Native Plant Society's annual
Bruce Peninsula trip have in common?
They sought the elusive calypso orchid
in the Bruce Peninsula area of Canada.
According to a Muir biographer, Muir
said that finding the calypso was one
of the two supreme moments of his life.
From June 8 to 14, a VNPS group sought
the calypso and other rare plants.
Our group had three people pro¬
viding seamless leadership. Nicky
Staunton organized the trip and coor¬
dinated daily activities. Dr. Stanwyn
Shetler, Botanist Emeritus of the
Smithsonian, identified plants (at
times simultaneously identifying birds
while keeping his eyes on the flower at
hand), explained the relationship of
the plants to their environment, and
answered innumerable questions.
Elaine Shetler documented the group's
finds, supplied plant lists at each lo¬
cation, and made daily car-pooling as¬
signments. Also attending were Edna
Alexander and her sister, Carol Brown,
Lisa Billow, Irene Caperton, Judith
Falk, Jim Hastings, Mary Korte,
Rosemarie Palmer and Mary Vogel.
For a traveler from Virginia, the
Bruce Peninsula experience actually
eriencing nature's miracles at the Bruce
begins at Niagara Falls, the first
glimpse of the Niagara escarpment that
on the Bruce Peninsula is the heart of the
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The ridge
moves on up Ontario, lifting the eastern
edge of the peninsula and providing dra¬
matic vistas and caves along the brilliant
blue water of the Georgian Bay. In con¬
trast, the land slopes down to the west,
resulting in sandy beaches with memo¬
rable sunsets along Lake Huron.
Like a visual fanfare, a brilliant
patch of Indian paintbrush competes
with an adjacent stop sign for the
driver's attention when nearing Wild¬
wood Lodge, the group's home base.
Around the cabins are gay wings, for¬
get-me-nots and yellow lady-slippers.
Blooms of the striped coralroot stand
elegantly within a canopy of ever¬
greens. Shafts of sunshine make them
appear as miniature stained-glass win¬
dows in a darkened cathedral. All of
these flowers will be found in abun¬
dance in many locations during our
stay; however, nearby is a rarer find
than the calypso.
The group begins the week with a
walk through Kemble Forest, which is
made up mainly of maple trees. The at¬
tention this day focuses on the ferns.
We count 12 varieties, including the
rare hart's tongue and the northern
holly fern. A surprise during the walk
is a beautiful vista of the Georgian Bay,
which emerges as we reach a cliff at
the edge of the forest. The afternoon
stop is Bruce Caves. Our visit overlaps
with a local school's field trip that de¬
parts while we enjoy lunch. The future of
this pristine environment may be assured
if a new generation is learning to value
it. The Bruce Caves also feature a wide
variety of ferns and introduce us to the
Steller's rock brake and walking fern.
Day two sees the group on the west
side of the peninsula. From a board¬
walk accessing Oliphant Fen, we have
our first encounters with the sundews,
butterworts and pitcher plants. The
group lunches beside the cascading
Sauble River and returns to more ex¬
ploration at Walker's Woods, site of the
fascinating goldthread, common and
three-leaf Solomon's seal, and magnifi¬
cent marsh marigolds. The boardwalk at
Petrel Point yields sightings of glaucous
wild honeysuckle, dark-scale cotton
grass, alder-leaved buckthorn and four
forms of equisetum. A disappointment
is that the showy lady-slipper was not
near bloom time.
Dorcas Bay on Lake Huron is the
destination for the next morning's
travel. There, we find the ram's head
lady-slipper in peak bloom. Several of
the diminutive plants even obligingly
bloom at the edge of the path. Across
the alvar are the brilliant splotches of
the butterworts' rich blue, the wild col¬
umbines' red /yellow, and the pitcher
plants' deep red. These are the survi¬
vors in the reality show of the alvar 's
inhospitable environment. Bruce
County officials assert that Dorcas Bay
is the site of half of the world's dwarf
lake iris, and we see some lovely ex¬
amples. On the return trip, the group
stops at Crane River Park and at Dyer's
Bay Cross Roads to see more ferns, in¬
cluding the rare Robert's oak fern.
After earlier postponements due to
weather and with only one day to
spare, the Flower Pot Island trip is on
for Thursday. The wait is rewarded
with glorious weather. At a fern wall on
the island, we see our first green spleen-
wort, and the nearby grotto is adorned
with bird's-eye primrose. There are 105
items on the VNPS list for Flower Pot Is¬
land, to which we make three additions.
The island is dense with stunning sights
including a lighthouse and the noted
flowerpots or stacks. But, will we find
the calypso orchid, one of the highpoints
of Muir's life? Yes! The calypso or fairy
orchid is a miniature masterpiece, and
we find it in prime condition.
Our group experienced the Bruce
Peninsula. We walked in the steps of
John Muir and saw his beloved calypso
orchid. You may wonder what was the
other high point Muir valued in his life.
It was meeting Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Emerson in his essay, "Nature," wrote:
"The invariable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous in the common." We
have, in a sense, met Emerson, too, for
we have traveled to the Bruce Peninsula
and found the miraculous in the com¬
mon, or, maybe in our case, we found the
miraculous in the uncommon.
Irene Caperton, Pocahontas Chapter
- - . = Page 3
August 2003
=^====^= Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society =
Seeds for the future held at Millennium Seed Bank
It was precisely a year ago now that
I found myself in the West Sussex coun¬
tryside, south of London, visiting the
facilities of Kew Garden's Millennium
Seed Bank. It all began with a casual
word mentioned by a friend at the Natu¬
ral History Museum's Herbarium. Steve
Cafferty works at the Herbarium on the
Linnean Typification Project, and we
had been looking at the Clayton Her¬
barium specimens sent to Europe over
250 years ago, now part of the collec¬
tion of the Natural History Museum in
London. As we sat drinking tea in the
staff lounge, mostly talking about Vir¬
ginia, John Clayton and the early trade
in botanic specimens from the New
World, Steve suddenly mentioned that I
really should visit the Millennium Seed
Bank. Two or three phones calls later, ar¬
rangements were made and later that
week I was heading south on the M23
with the Quaker friend with whom I had
been staying, toward Kew Garden's
Wakehurst Place, site of the seed
project.
Wakehurst Place, formerly a coun¬
try estate dating from the 13th century,
with a large 16th century manor house
surrounded by acres of landscaped gar¬
dens and pastureland, provides the set¬
ting. One approaches the Millennium
Seed Bank site from atop a slope as the
facility is built into the rural hillside.
Before you, unobstructive to the bucolic
vista beyond, is a long horizontal build¬
ing comprised of a series of low arches.
Glass, steel and concrete form a non¬
assuming structure designed for effi¬
ciency and nestled into the landscape.
The first impression of this understated
structure belies the extraordinary facil¬
ity housed within.
Entering the visitors' hall you im¬
mediately become aware that this is not
just the usual tourist stop. Yes, there are
informative display panels running
vertically down the length of the hall
explaining the importance of plants to
humanity with an emphasis on threats
to global bio-diversity. But this is a
working building first and a visitors
center second. A full turn reveals that
you are standing in a large glass enclo¬
sure. Through thick glass walls you see
scientists and staff busy going about
their work and suddenly you get the
sense that it could be you who is on
display. Like Alice gazing into the look¬
ing glass for the first time you are con¬
fronted with two worlds and wonder to
which one you belong. But through ad¬
vance arrangements made in London, I
was able to enter this other world where
I met Clare Tenner, International
Programme Officer, for a private tour and
a rare look beyond the glass.
With security passes in hand, one
enters through a series of doors. A
long corridor reveals laboratories
branching off to the side where seed
samples, collected from all over the
planet, are starting to be cooled and
dried. Staff here are assessing, clean¬
ing and x-raying the seed all within
sight of visitors just beyond. As im¬
portant as this first phase is in the seed
conservation process, the real story lies
underground, where the seeds are ac¬
tually held for storage.
Descending a large spiral steel
staircase, the reflection of which in the
surrounding glass walls seems to form
a double-helix, an interesting coinci¬
dence in this story of genetic preser¬
vation, you enter the underground
level. Here, after passing through ad¬
ditional security, one is able to access
the storage chambers and final pro¬
cessing rooms of the seed bank.
Having been cleaned, counted
and quality assessed above, seeds ar¬
rive in this area of reduced humidity
and temperature, gradually begin¬
ning the storage process. Relative hu¬
midity at this point is around 15 per¬
cent. Sensors here constantly monitor
the air for external radiation and in
the event of the detection, the chamber
automatically seals, preventing con¬
tamination of the seed; a poignant re¬
minder of the nature of the 21st cen¬
tury world in which we live. The walls
of the chamber have been designed to
last 500 years. Within this chamber are
the actual cold storage units housing
the seeds at temperature -20 degrees
Celsius and with a final relative hu¬
midity of less than 10 percent. Under
these conditions seed are thought to be
able to remain viable for not just de¬
cades but hundreds of years.
Apart from the seed processing and
storage units, the building also con¬
tains living quarters for researchers
and students who come from all cor¬
ners of the globe for training in seed
collection and conservation. Bedrooms
for these international guests open
onto a corridor surrounding a sunken
courtyard planted with native British
species. The project offers training in
all aspects of seed collection and con¬
servation, including theory and prac¬
tice. Such training is an essential com¬
ponent of its many partnerships with
various governmental and non-govern¬
mental organizations world-wide.
Reflecting back on those 250 year-
old herbarium specimens in the Natu¬
ral History Museum, only half the age
these walls in the Millennium Seed
Bank are designed to endure, I thought
"How might the world change? How
might the world be 250 years on?"
We can't predict the future but we
can look to trends of the recent past and,
seeing the environmental degradation
and loss of bio-diversity, get a sense of
the direction of things to come. Who
knows what benefits or secrets of medi¬
cine yet to be discovered these plants
may possess should the plants them¬
selves still exist? Will populations in
the wild be wiped out by development
or unforeseen events? And what may
be the impact of genetic engineering?
Could genetically altered plant ma¬
terial escape cultivation and perhaps
cross back into wild plant popula¬
tions? No one knows, which is pre¬
cisely why measures are being taken
now to preserve species worldwide.
(See The Future, page 5)
August 2003
Page 4
Virginia Native Plant Society
Conserving Wild Flowers and Wild Places
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2
Boyce, VA 22620
540-837-1600 www.vnps.org
Education - Research - Advocacy
Protection - Rescue - Propagation
J
Virginia Native Plant Society's Position on Conservation
The Virginia Native Plant Society is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the native
plants of Virginia and their habitats, in order to sustain for generations to come the integrity of
the Commonwealth's rich natural heritage of ecosystems and biodiversity for purposes of enjoy¬
ment, enlightenment, sustainable use, and our own very survival. To this end, we advocate and follow
practices that will conserve our natural endowment, and we discourage and combat practices that will
endanger or destroy it. We are committed to do all we can to slow the accelerating conversion of natu¬
ral landscape to built and planted landscape and to reduce its damage to natural ecosystems.
Conservation Philosophy and Principles
Conservation of the native flora is the unifying, highest goal of all activities and actions of the Vir¬
ginia Native Plant Society. Plants provide the foundations of the world's ecosystems and ultimately
sustain us and virtually all other life on earth. They give us oxygen to breathe, food, clothing, medicine,
and shelter; they moderate temperatures, conserve water and soil. They also give us beauty, majesty,
and mystery that nurture the human spirit. Virginia's natural landscape - from wild coastlines W cr¬
ested mountains and fertile valleys, from shale barrens and rugged heights to great rivers and swamps
- has through the millennia evolved and nurtured plant communities unrivaled in America in richness
and diversity. We believe that preserving the Commonwealth's native plants is of the highest impor¬
tance, and that ultimately this can be done only by saving their native habitats.
Because ours is a rapidly-changing landscape, this is an urgent task. Population expansion and
changes in the way we live have produced never-ending development and road-building. The rampant
destruction and fragmentation of habitat that results is the most serious threat to our native plants.
Foremost among the others, many of them also directly related to human activities, is the spread of
invasive alien plants. Already, scientists estimate that 10 percent of the native plants in the United
States are at risk of extinction. To avert such significant loss, we believe it is essential to adopt, vvithout
delay, approaches to land use that serve the needs both of human communities and of the wild commu¬
nities that are vital to their well-being.
We believe that conservation is everyone's responsibility. Our daily actions can have positive or
negative consequences for nature and the environment, and we work for greater understanding
by all Virginians of their native plant heritage and their responsibility to conserve it. Intelligent
action by caring, informed citizens can stem much needless loss. Landowners, in particular, even
in suburban subdivisions, play a role in conservation and recovery, and the larger the holdings the
larger the role. Landscape professionals, a wide range of businesses, local, state, and federal gov¬
ernments all make important contributions. Voluntary organizations, which bring together people
with varied perspectives, are especially important in calling attention to issues and in educating
the public and key decision-makers.
(Please continue on page 2)
. Virginia Native Plant Society ■ -
While in a broad sense the Virginia Native Plant Society's concern for conservation extends to the
animal world and the physical environment, our focus is the native flora in its entirety - the incon¬
spicuous as well as the conspicuous, trees and shrubs, sedges and grasses as well as showy wildflowers.
We do not divide the plant world into weeds and wildflowers; each species has its own special history
and its own role in the ecosystem. While our attention is mainly on vascular plants (horsetails, clubmosses,
ferns, conifers, flowering plants), we also encourage the study and conservation of other plants and
plantlike organisms (algae, mosses and liverworts, fungi, lichens) and the education of the public to
their place in the ecosystem.
Native plants are species or other distinct genetic forms that have either evolved in the wild settings
where they now occur naturally or arrived there from where they originated, whether near or far, by
natural forces of dispersal operating over time without the help of humans. They are integral parts of
these ecosystems, and part of our history and heritage as well. Alien or exotic plants, those that humans
have introduced from other places, deliberately or inadvertently, may thrive, but they are not adapted
to play the ecological roles of natives. For practical purposes, in North America a species is deemed
native wherever it occurred when the first Europeans arrived and wherever it has migrated naturally
since then, although it must be presumed that the very earliest peopling of the continent brought with
it some Old World plants. On a finer scale, a hard-and-fast distinction is difficult to make. For example,
when a species native to one part of the continent is introduced to a part it did not historically occupy,
or when a species is reintroduced to a place where it once occurred but has since been extirpated, that
species is native on one level, introduced on another.
Without question, alien species make an enormous, essential contribution to human welfare, in
the fruits of our agriculture and the beauty of our gardens. Many become naturalized, persisting
and spreading without assistance. In Virginia, as in North America generally, naturalized species
have long been a significant part of the wild flora, a third or more in many places. Some are
beloved as wildflowers or have a fascinating cultural history, and many have proven to be rela-
tively benign in the ecosystem.
A few naturalized introductions have become aggressive pests, however, crowding out native spe¬
cies and causing costly damage or destruction to native ecosystems, agriculture and forestry, and the
built environment. This is a serious, ever-growing problem, and we believe that, where feasible and
advisable, appropriate measures should be taken to control or eradicate such invasive alien species, and
to prevent the introduction of new invasives. Nevertheless, we encourage the citizens of Virginia to
respect their flora as a whole, without a priori discrimination against all naturalized species.
The Virginia Native Plant Society welcomes gardeners and persons with allied interests and encour¬
ages them to garden so far as possible with plants native to Virginia, a diverse palette that offers many
novel and beautiful elements for the garden or public landscape. These plants are adapted to the local
conditions in Virginia's ecosystems and thus less likely to need high maintenance, and they pose less
risk of invasive escape than alien species.
Conservation Policies
The foremost task of the Virginia Native Plant Society is to do everything we can to save the present
diversity of Virginia's plant communities and natural habitats and secure its continuation. To this
end, it is the policy of the VNPS:
• To foster in Virginians of all ages love and respect for the natural world and appreciation of the
diversity and interdependence of the Commonwealth's plants and wildlife, with primary focus on plant
life in all its natural settings.
• To treat all wild places with respect and care, avoiding disruption of native plant communities through
needless trampling or other damage or destruction of fragile habitats, niches, or species, and taking into
account the concerns of landowners and of other visitors. A few careless actions can ruin much for many.
Page 2
=^=========^= Virginia Native Plant Society 11
• To encourage and support scientific research on Virginia's flora as a whole, in order to
increase knowledge and understanding of the plants, their communities, and their ecological require¬
ments and interactions.
> • To promote a land ethic that encourages landowners to preserve as much habitat as possible on
their land, especially natural areas and protective corridors and waysides that provide for the migra¬
tion and dispersal of plants and animals.
• To offer activities and programs that educate the public about the importance of preserving
Virginia's native habitats and flora and instill the values espoused by the VNPS.
• To urge and support voluntary action, legislation, and regulation aimed at the preservation of
rare, threatened, and endangered species or habitats, the curbing of invasive species, and the protection
and natural recovery of landscape diversity, through the agency of governments, corporations, organi¬
zations, and private citizens.
• To make officials and the public aware of specific strongholds of rare and interesting native
plants through programs such as the VNPS Registry that recognizes outstanding plant sites, and to
foster and aid efforts to preserve such strongholds by the use of all appropriate means.
• To cooperate whenever possible with appropriate officials and agencies at all levels of gov¬
ernment, and with local, regional, and national organizations that share our concerns to fashion a
unified conservation effort.
• To encourage developers to find creative ways to save natural habitats and native species
whenever possible.
• To use rescue or salvage operations only as a last resort, taking care that salvage does not
become a convenient way out for developers, and that rescued species are not transplanted to
other native habitats, thus falsifying the local history of natural dispersal, or to sites where their
survival is doubtful.
• To combat the spread of alien invasive plants through advocating stricter regulation by public
agencies; informing and educating government officials, plant-related industries, and the general pub-
^ lie about prevention and control of invasives; and sponsoring and participating in direct eradication
and control campaigns.
• To foster habitat restoration, where feasible by natural recovery, allowing the land to revert and
reseed itself from local seed sources resident in the soil or disseminated by local dispersal agents such as
wind and birds. Where active planting is deemed necessary to success, local genotypes should be used.
In either case, the recovering landscape should be monitored and appropriately managed to ensure that
native species, not invasive alien species, become established.
• To encourage gardeners, landscapers, and the nurseries that supply them to use native species
and local genotypes insofar as possible, obtaining them only from stock that is certified to have been
propagated and grown in a nursery, not dug in the wild, and when they do use alien species to exclude
any that are known to be invasive.
• To discourage and minimize the use of herbicides and other pesticides on lawns, gardens, and
other planted landscapes and in the environment generally, while recognizing that when used carefully
and selectively, following the principles of integrated pest management (IPM), they can be a valuable
management tool, and that alternatives may not always be feasible or adequate.
• To urge that wildflower-picking be limited to very common species, and that collecting na¬
tive or non-invasive naturalized plants in the wild be limited to authorized rescues from land
about to be developed, or bona fide educational or scientific uses for which alternatives such as
taking photographs or collecting cuttings will not serve. Any collecting, whether of whole plants
or parts such as seeds, should be conducted with adequate safeguards to assure the continued
viability of the wild population, and should recognize that the cumulative actions of many people
can be particularly harmful.
Adopted by the Virginia Native Plant Society Board of Directors June 7, 2003
Page 3
Virginia Native Plant Society
r - -
he Virginia Native Plant Soci¬
ety Position on Conservation
adopted by our Directors at
the June 14, 2003, meeting is now
our official framework to guide
chapters, members, and VNPS ac¬
tions regarding conservation. I en¬
courage you and chapter boards to
read, discuss, and use it.
VNPS goals are set high inten¬
tionally in this conservation posi¬
tion, outlining all we would like to
do if we were able. These aspira¬
tions to protect our native plants
and their communities are what
drive our programs and actions. Be
certain to note the phrases, "if pos¬
sible" and "where feasible," that rec¬
ognize the practical constraints we
face in a less-than-ideal world. We
expect that each chapter will em¬
phasize those aspects of the policy
_
that fit its resources and will make
the greatest difference locally in pro¬
tecting Virginia's native plants in
their natural communities.
This position paper is intended
for use within VNPS, and by people
reached through the wider distribu¬
tion of posting it on the VNPS website
as soon as possible. You are welcome
to quote from the paper or share it
with any individuals you think
would find it helpful.
Building on this paper, Shirley
Gay, as Education Chair, is coordi¬
nating development of a more concise
brochure (or brochures) on plant con¬
servation that can be put in literature
racks or handed out to the public at
chapter and other events.
As with any position paper/this
one is subject to future board review.
Your thoughts, questions or other re¬
sponses are welcome. Let us know if
there are other subjects for which you
would like more detailed guidelines.
For instance, a group led by Jessie
Strother, former VNPS Conservation
Chair, is drafting a paper on plant
rescues.
A sincere thank you goes to the
members of the Committee for the
VNPS Position on Conservation: Dr.
Stanwyn Shetler, Jocelyn Sladen,
Charles Smith, Mary Ann Lawler,
and chair Mary Pockman. The
board members' review, sugges¬
tions, and final approval are appre¬
ciated, also.
Use these guidelines often in
your work to protect Virginia's na¬
tive plants and their communities.
Nicky Staunton
VNPS President 2003
The Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) was founded in 1982 as
The Virginia Wildflower Preservation Society. It is a statewide organiza¬
tion with approximately 1,800 members supported primarily by dues and
contributions. Membership is open to anyone, amateur or professional.
Its purpose is to further appreciation and conservation of Virginia's
native plants and habitats. Incorporated in Virginia as a not-for-
profit, publicly supported organization, it is tax-exempt under the
U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The Society's work and activities
are carried out by volunteers.
The Society's programs emphasize public education, protection
of endangered species, habitat preservation, and encouragement of
appropriate landscape use of native plants.
Page 4
-- Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society . — ■=
VNPS has an opportunity to plant Seeds of Success
Seeds of Success is a conservation
and native plant materials develop¬
ment program, jointly sponsored by the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
(RBG Kew), and the Plant Conserva¬
tion Alliance. A number of partner in¬
stitutes are working with Seeds of Suc¬
cess toward an overall goal to make
seed collections from over 4,000 native
species by 2010. We are now actively
seeking partners in Virginia to join the
program, and are very keen to facili¬
tate the involvement of the VNPS.
Seeds of Success is the U.S. arm of
the Millennium Seed Bank Project
(MSBP), an international plant conser¬
vation project, catalyzed by RBG Kew,
in England. The MSBP aims to collect
and conserve seeds from 10 percent of
the world's seed bearing flora (about
24,000 species), principally from the
drylands, by 2010. This is being
achieved though the development of
capacity building partnerships in coun¬
tries throughout the world. To date,
partnership projects have been set up
in 16 different countries, including
Kenya, South Africa, Australia, Mada¬
gascar and Jordan. The MSBP works
with partners to facilitate the collect¬
ing and conservation of seeds in their
country of origin. Duplicate collections
are held for safety at the MSB in the
U.K. Scientific, technical and financial
support is provided to help partners
develop collecting, banking and re-
•The Future -
(Continued from page 4)
As these topics are being debated,
quietly seeds are being collected and
stored in the English countryside, a
genetic snapshot, frozen in time, of
the world as we have inherited it in
the early years of the new millen¬
nium. And hopefully, once again, like
those 250-year-old Clayton Her¬
barium specimens, plants and seed
will be making the transatlantic voy¬
age to Europe. In the 18th century it
) was about scientific discovery, explo¬
ration, even novelty that those early
botanic specimens were sent over. In
the 21st century, reflecting the uncer-
search programs and set up or improve
their seed bank facilities. Procedures
and techniques for collecting and bank¬
ing seeds, seed germination and plant
propagation are shared between RBG
Kew and partners. Further information
is available from the MSBP website
(www.rbgkew.org.uk/msbp).
Seeds of Success comprises a
number of sub-programs, co-ordinated
by RBG Kew and BLM. To date, the larg¬
est component has been collecting on
BLM lands in the west by BLM staff and
Student Conservation Association
teams. BLM's first priority is to collect
species needed for restoration, but other
conservation targets have been identi¬
fied including native species that are
important to rare pollinators, native spe¬
cies closely related to non-native inva¬
sive species, and 'flagship' species such
as state trees and flowers. The Califor¬
nia Native Plant Society is also involved
in collecting in the west, and talks have
begun with the San Diego Zoo and
Botanic Gardens with regard to collect¬
ing endemic species of San Diego
County. In Texas, the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center is working to collect
and conserve the plants of the Edwards
Plateau, also prioritizing species of
value for restoration. Meanwhile, the
Chicago Botanic Garden is collecting
from the entire tallgrass prairie flora.
This partnership includes a consider¬
able research element including resto¬
ration genetic studies, seed longevity
tainty of our time, plants will now be
sent over for safekeeping, for survival
— survival of Virginia species from
whatever may happen in Virginia.
Ninety-five percent of British flower¬
ing species have been collected, and
the goal of the Millennium Seed Bank
is to shelter 10 percent of worldwide
flowering species by 2010.
Persons interested in participat¬
ing or knowing more about this project
can contact me by e-mail:
michael@dds.nl or by mail at: M.A.
Sawyer, Nassaukade 68-2, 1052 CR
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Michael Sawyer, VNPS 1st Vice-President
studies and seed sampling studies. All
projects include capacity building el¬
ements such as in-country collecting
courses and workshops, and the
training of specialists at RBG Kew
in the U.K.
Each Seeds of Success partner
decides on its own what are the prior¬
ity species for collection and conser¬
vation. The resulting target species
lists are co-ordinated by the Seeds of
Success national co-ordinator at BLM
to minimize duplication of effort
across the different sub-programs. Tar¬
get species lists can be viewed by
ecoregion on the Seeds of Success
website (www.nps.gov/plants/sos/).
The seed collections, and accompany¬
ing herbarium vouchers and data, are
stored at partner seed banks and her¬
baria, the USDA's National Seed Stor¬
age Laboratory, and also at RBG Kew.
They are available for scientific re¬
search, including conservation, resto¬
ration and management efforts. In ad¬
dition, the base collections insure the
future of the banked species against
the many threats they face in situ.
Seeds of Success is seeking to es¬
tablish partnerships with organiza¬
tions in the east to complement the ac¬
tivities in other parts of the United
States. VNPS is an obvious choice
given the unrivalled expertise and
dedication of its members for the flora
of the area. A sub-program in Virginia
could also include other organizations,
particularly those with relevant exper¬
tise such as herbarium techniques or
conservation assessments.
MSBP representatives plan to visit
Virginia in early October to talk to inter¬
ested organizations and individuals on
potential means to take such a collabo¬
ration forward. If you are interested in
any way, please let us or Michael Saw¬
yer know. Write to me, Clare Tenner,
MSBP International Programme Officer,
or Michael Way, MSBP International Co¬
ordinator (Americas), The Millennium
Seed Bank Project, RBG Kew, Wakehurst
Place, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, W.
Sussex, RH17 6TN, UK or e-mail
c.tenner@rbgkew.org.uk or call 00 44
(0)1444 894121.
August 2003
Page 5
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Elder: Common shrub has uncommon number of uses
I learned about elder ( Sambucus
canadensis ) in college, in a poisonous and
edible plants class that I was taking at
the University of Louisville. I learned first
that "all parts are considered poisonous
except the flowers and ripe berries." (Al¬
kaloids — cyanogenic glycosides) The
flowers were said to be used "in past¬
ries, eggs, pancakes, etc.; the fruit made
into wine or jelly." I recognized the plant
as one I had seen growing up on the farm
but never knew the berries were edible.
Elder is a native shrub with repre¬
sentatives throughout the United States.
The most common one in the eastern U.S.
is common elder (S. canadensis). There is also
another elder, the red-berried elder (S.
pubens), that is considered poisonous. I have
only seen that shrub once in Virginia and
that was on higher elevation. There are also
red-berried elders and black-berried elders
on the west coast (S. melanocarpa, and S.
caendea) — the red fruits are considered
poisonous, the black edible.
Finding elder is pretty easy. It starts
blooming in May and can be spotted
from the car while driving down the .
road. Look for its large, white flat- /
topped clusters of flowers grow- /
ing on shrubs along ditches,^'-— •'
stream banks, hedgerows and edges of
swamps — often, in places where you
don't want to gather -- roadsides, edges
of sprayed fields, and polluted water¬
ways. Leaves are opposite, toothed, and
divided into 5-11 leaflets. When I spot¬
ted elder growing at my doorstep, I let it
grow, as though it had been planted
there. It was about four years old before
it fully bloomed; the year before it had
only a few clusters of flowers.
I waited until the flower heads had
filled out and then used my pruning scis¬
sors to snip off some of the tiny flowers,
minus the stems, into my bowl. I wanted
to let most of the flowers remain on the
plant to become berries. Soon after this I
located a patch of elder plants in an area
that was protected from most pollutants.
A friend and I collected enough flowers
to experiment making elder blossom
champagne. A recipe from The Wild Foods
Forum bimonthly newsletter (Vol. Ill, No.
4) sounded easy, and we had enough
flowers to triple the recipe. The cham¬
pagne had a great flavor, but a very low
alcohol content. I continued experiment¬
ing with the flowers, using them in teas,
fritters and omelets.
Page 6 ======================
My most recent experiment hap¬
pened by chance last June. I had gone
paddling with my friend and co-author,
Lillie Gilbert, on a small creek in north¬
eastern North Carolina along with a few
other people. It was a scouting trip for
our next river guide. For me, I discovered
some new foraging grounds. The banks
on the north side were covered with el¬
der, blackberries and wild roses. Elder
was past its peak, but I was able to find
a few late-bloomers and clipped off sev¬
eral heads. To keep them fresh, I put
them in a large zip-lock bag and added
a little water. I also found some wild
roses blooming and did the same with
Sambucus canadensis, elder
Illustration by Vickie Shufer
them. When I got home I cut off the flower
heads from the elder and removed the
rose petals from the stems and placed
them in a clear glass bowl. I filled this
with water arid set it out in the sun for
several hours to make elder /rose flower
water that tasted delicious. To preserve
the flower water, I added an equal
amount of grain alcohol, put the mixture
in a jar with a lid, and let it sit for about
10 days. Then I strained and bottled it.
Not only does elder flower water
taste good, but it's also good for you. At
the Appalachian Herb Gathering in Ohio
last summer, botanist and herbalist Chris¬
topher Hobbs referred to elder flowers as
blood movers. If you were holding heat
in one part of your body, as with eczema
or other skin conditions, elder flowers
would help clear the blood of heat and
toxins. In the Native American Ethno-
botany Database, Dan Moerman also
listed elder flower as a blood purifier. In
The Cayce Herbal, elder is recommended
as a "stimulant to the urinary and repro¬
ductive systems and as an aid to diges¬
tion." According to Virgil Vogel, in Ameri¬
can Indian Medicine, elder flowers and
fruits were used "as a household rem¬
edy for diuretic and diaphoretic pur¬
poses." The Iroquois used the flowers
in hot water for tea.
The flowers can also be dried. Na¬
tive Americans would pick the flower
heads and leave in heaps for a few hours
until the petals fell off and would then
dry them. Dried flowers can be steeped
in hot water to make a tea. Following the
flowers are the berries, developing first
as little green balls that gradually turn
red, then deepen to a purple and turn
almost black before they are finally ripe.
The berries can be removed by rubbing
the stems gently between your fingers.
I've used the berries to make elderberry
wine, elderberry pies and elderberry
cake. Freshly picked elderberries still re¬
tain some of the strong flavor that some
people find disagreeable. Drying them
on trays in the sun improves the flavor.
Elder is easily started from seed. Scat¬
ter the ripe berries in disturbed soil in the
fall in a sunny area. The next spring
young shoots will spring up and start
spreading.
Vickie Shufer, South Hampton Roads Chapter
Tri-state plant and geology conference slated for October
Reserve October 4-5 for the conference,
sponsored by VNPS, the Maryland and
West Virginia native plant societies and the
U.S. National Park Service. Conference fo¬
cus is native plants and geology of the Blue
Ridge Mountains and Potomac Valley. The
event will be at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service National Conservation Training
Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va., on the
Potomac just east of 1-81 . Confirmed speak¬
ers include Avery Drake, USGS Scientist
Emeritus, talking about Blue Ridge geol¬
ogy, and Gary Fleming, Community Ecolo¬
gist, Virginia Department of Conservation
and Recreation (DCR), speaking on the Blue
Ridge natural communities. Trip leaders in¬
clude Carole Bergmann, Cris Fleming, Joe
Metzger, John Parrish, Bob Pickett, Rod
Simmons and Larry Stritch. Registration ($45
member/$55 non-member) includes 3
meals. Rooms are $84 per night based on a
one person occupancy. To register, send
check (Maryland Native Plant Society) to:
Meghan Tice, P.O. Box 25, Bowie, MD 20719.
For information, contact: Meghan Tice,
cecropial3@msn.com or 301-809-0139.
- . — . " August 2003
- - - : Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
•Flora Project
(Continued from page 1)
Between 15 and 20 members of the Flora
^ Advisory Board have pledged work on
the writing of descriptions worth
$125,000. An illustrator has pledged all
the fern illustrations worth $10,000. And
a generous VNPS member bought a 1762
edition of Flora Virginica, worth $5,000,
for publicity and fundraising purposes.
These contributions total $545,000!
Third, over $100,000, in cash and
stock contributions, has been raised.
Adding that to the above $545,000, and
•Shale barrens -
we find our planting hole 32 percent
FULL! But, there is even greater news
for VNPS members. Where we could eas¬
ily identify VNPS members, we added
up cash contributions, and they total
over 70 percent of that $100,000! AND
individual chapters have contributed al¬
most $10,000, bringing the total VNPS
contribution to 80 percent of the cash
raised! What a wonderful and generous
effort. That very statistic speaks to the
dedication of VNPS members and chap¬
ters to this important and historic project.
We have farther to go in a very in¬
hospitable fundraising climate, but the
foundation's board is fully committed
to raising the needed funds - the very
reason for the foundation's existence.
We are heartened by the VNPS contri¬
butions, monetary and otherwise, and
are fully immersed in the fundraising
process to fulfill our obligation.
Please follow our progress, and
keep up to date with the project on the
website: www.dcr.state.va.us/dnh/
vaflora.htm. And thank you, everyone!
Keep up the good work.
Joslin D. Gallatin, Flora of Virginia Project
(Continued from page 1)
smooth coneflower ( Echinacea laevigata).
If that were the extent of their spe¬
cial plant life, Appalachian shale bar¬
rens would not reach their current level
of notoriety among biologists. What
makes the barrens flora so very interest¬
ing is its endemics. An endemic is a spe¬
cies that is specialized and limited to a
certain region or habitat type. Shale bar¬
rens have no fewer than 10 plant spe¬
cies known to be nearly or entirely en¬
demic to the barren habitat including
shale-barren onion ( Allium oxyphilum),
i shale-barren pussytoes ( Antennaria
virginica), shale-barren rock cress
(Arabis serotina), white-haired
leatherflower ( Clematis albicoma),
Millboro leatherflower ( Clematis
viticaulis), shale-barren buckwheat
(Eriogonum alleni), shale-barren evening
primrose ( Oenothera argillicola), moun¬
tain parsley (Pseudotaenidia montana),
shale-barren ragwort ( Senecio
antennarifolius) and Kates Mountain clo¬
ver ( Trifolium virginicum).
While a number of these species are
found throughout the shale barren re¬
gion of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir¬
ginia and West Virginia. Others are lim¬
ited to just Virginia and West Virginia,
and two are extremely limited - the on¬
ion to a small area of western Virginia
and West Virginia shale barrens, and the
Millboro leatherflower to a small region
centered around Millboro, Virginia. A
composite range map of the special shale
barren flora shows its center to be
squarely focused on Bath and Alleghany
counties and the drainage of the
Cowpasture River. All of the endemics
except the onion are found in this area
and there is a high density of the other
rare plants found on shale barrens.
Citizens of the Cowpasture and its
tributaries - you are in the heart of the
shale barrens!
While excellent shale barren ex¬
amples abound along the Cowpasture
River, few are on public lands. However,
along State Route 629 (between McClung
and Green Valley), there is a well devel¬
oped shale barren on the east side of the
Cowpasture River north of the road on
U.S. Forest Service land. Take a hike and
enjoy - you are in the midst of the most
fascinating vegetation in the region. Just
remember to watch your step!
Chris Ludwig, Virginia DCR botanist
See the address label for your membership expiration date
VNPS Membership /Renewal Form
Name(s) _
Address _
City _ State _ Zip _
_ Individual $30 _ Student $15
_ Family $40 _ Associate (groups) $40*
_ Patron $50 _ Sustaining $100
_ Life $500
*Please designate one person as delegate for Associate membership
To give a gift membership or join additional chapters: Enclose dues, name, address, and
chapter (non-voting memberships in any other than your primary chapter are $5)
1 wish to make an additional contribution to _ VNPS or _ _ _ Chapter in the
amount of _ $10 _ $25 _ $50 _ $100 _ $(Other) _ _
_ Check if you do not wish your name to be listed to be exchanged with similar
organizations in a chapter directory
Make check payable to VNPS and mail to:
VNPS Membership Chair, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2,
Boyce, VA 22620
Membership dues are tax deductible in the amount they exceed $5. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations
The Bulletin
ISSN 1085-9632
is published five times a year
(Feb., April, June, August, Nov.) by
Virginia Native Plant Society
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2
Boyce, VA 22620
(540)837-1600
vnpsofc@shentel.net
www.vnps.org
Nicky Staunton, President
Nancy Sorrells, Editor
Original material contained in the Bulletin may be
reprinted, provided credit is given to VNPS and the
author, if named. Readers are invited to send letters,
news items, or original articles for the editor's con¬
sideration. Items should be typed, on disk in Microsoft
Word or emailed to: Editor, 3419 Cold Springs Rd.,
Greenville, VA 24440, or lotswife@rica.net
The deadline for the next issue is October 1
- Page 7
August 2003
=========== Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
•Annual Meeting
(Continued from page 1)
Look for your registration packet in
the mail soon. It contains a detailed
breakdown of the weekend's events
and the registration form. Please fill out
and return your forms as quickly as
possible to assist preparations.
Here is a brief breakdown of the
annual meeting schedule of events:
On Friday, September 12, there will
be a quarterly board meeting in the af¬
ternoon and an evening social that will
include registration, chapter and state
displays and a dessert social. Michael
Kieffer, Executive Director of the Bull Run
Mountains Conservancy, will speak on
the rich flora and fauna and the recent
intensive botanic survey of Bull Run
Mountain. Disjunct plant communities
on this eastern-most mountain chain in
the state play host to nodding trillium
and table mountain pine.
Saturday, September 13, is a day
full of field trips. The evening's events
include a social, silent auction, cash bar
and appetizers followed by the annual
business meeting and election of offic¬
ers. A dinner and a program follow the
annual meeting (casual dress). Keynote
sneaker, Douglas Ogle, will discuss
... - and Unusual Plant Species and
Their Communities in Southwestern
Virginia." As touched on in the most
recent Winter Workshop on Virginia's
biodiversity, southwestern Virginia has
a higher biodiversity than almost any
other region in North America. Our
uniquely qualified speaker will con¬
duct a slide presentation on this biologi¬
cally rich region based on 30 years of field
work, publications and personal obser¬
vation. Ogle recently retired from Vir¬
ginia Highlands Community College
where he was associate professor of bi¬
ology. He is a member of the Botanical
Associates that publishes the Atlas of the
Flora of Virginia and is on the advisory
board of the Flora of Virginia project.
The meeting concludes Sunday,
with field trips from 9 a.m. until noon.
•Welcome -
(Continued from page 2)
The officers for the newest VNPS
chapter are: Ann Messick, president;
Amy Wilson, vice-president; Loreta
Stover, corresponding secretary; Joan
Gillions, treasurer; Jackie Ferriter, mem¬
bership chair; Judy Ripley, nominating
chair; Pam Kedl and Pam Collins, co¬
chairs, refreshment.
Welcome! Members of VNPS
across the state look forward to discov¬
ering your unique flora by joining you
in your field trips, as well as sharing
your knowledge and fellowship as you
join in the work to conserve Virginia's
flora on the Northern Neck.
What would you like to buy at the Silent Auction?
That is the question you should
ask yourself when choosing some¬
thing to donate for the Silent Auction
to be held on Saturday, September 13.
PWWS is seeking items from each
VNPS Chapter and from individual
members. Items could include plants,
decorative garden or yard items, art
work featuring Virginia wildlife, pub¬
lications on Virginia flora or fauna,
selections of Virginia made goods
such as wines or honey - use your
imagination. Proceeds benefit VNPS.
Winners will be announced at the
meeting. Sponsors and patrons will
be recognized.
Contact Charles Smith (703-361-
5125, chrlssmith@juno.com) or
Martha Slover (571-238-5713,
mslover@gmu.edu) about item(s)
you would like to donate. Auction
items may be sent in advance or
brought to the Friday, September 12,
social event.
LUESTER T. MERTZ
LIBRARY
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www.vnps.org
A publication of the VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Conserving wild flowers and wild places
Camaraderie lauded at 21st Annual Meeting
Friday was a dark and stormy night but the tasty treats, camaraderie and
interesting presentation by featured speaker Michael Kieffer made venturing out
worthwhile at the 21st Annual Meeting hosted by the Prince William Wildflower
Society September 12 through 14.
Kieffer, the Executive Director of the Bull Run Mountain Conservancy, cov¬
ered geology, topography and ecological communities of Bull Run Mountain in
his talk. Ecological communities are reoccurring patterns in the landscape. His
presentation preceded the walk on Saturday with a preview of what we would
see. Besides pictures of the eco-communities that would make them recognizable
in the field, he included pictures and information about plants that were at the
very limits of their normal distribution and some beyond.
The Bull Run Mountain field trip was an all-day trip. Of the 11 major plant
communities on Bull Run Mountain, we saw nine, including the Weaverton
quartzite formation complete with table mountain pines. The boulder fields were
impressive too. The mountain area designated as a Heritage Natural Area Pre¬
serve encompasses 2,846 acres. Before walking the mountain, it is advisable get a
trail map as it is easy to get lost.
Pocahontas member Louise Richards reported that fortunately there were
trips also for the mountain-climbing challenged. She took morning and afternoon
trips to the Manassas National Battlefield Park and explored historical, archeo¬
logical and botanical sights. The group was surprised by the large numbers of
fall-blooming wildflowers that were sighted. Among the plants noted (blooming
and otherwise) were Bidens polylepis (tickseed sunflower), Eupatorium coelestinum
(mistflower), Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink), Agrimonia parviflora (small flow¬
ered agrimony), and Cypripediwn acaule (pink lady-slipper).
The Saturday evening banquet was held at the “Candy Factory" in old down¬
town Manassas. The meal was delicious, the silent auction lucrative and the
speaker was Douglas Ogle. His slide presentation of “Rare and Unusual Plant
Species and Their Communities in Southwestern Virginia" was just one beautiful
picture after another with Ogle as the guide.
On Sunday morning, some members opted for the Northern Virginia Commu¬
nity College Nature Plant Trail walk led by Marion Lobstein. This is her home
campus and as she has been intimately involved with this trail since its inception, no
(See Annual Meeting report, page 7)
Multi-state conference
deemed a success
From October 3 to 5, a native plant
conference was held that centered on
the Potomac River and the nearby
portions of the Blue Ridge Moun¬
tains. The conference was put on by
the three states that come together in
this area: Virginia, Maryland and
West Virginia. The meeting took place
at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
National Conservation Training Cen¬
ter in Shepherdstown, W.Va., a spec¬
tacular meeting facility in a woodsy
setting on the Potomac. A Saturday
dinner and social was held at the
landmark Hilltop House in Harpers
Ferry, with a view across the Potomac
to the beautiful mountains.
The Saturday morning program
began with a detailed presentation on
the geology of the Blue Ridge Moun¬
tains by U.S. Geological Survey geolo¬
gist Avery Drake. The area is extremely
complicated geologically, which has
implications for the types of plant com¬
munities found there. A stunningly il¬
lustrated presentation on the plant
communities of the Blue Ridge given
by Gary Fleming, Vegetation Ecologist
for Virginia's Division of Natural
Heritage, followed Drake. (Note:
(See Conference, page 8)
( WIN A CHINC0TEA6UE 6ETAWAY, PAGE 6 )
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
From the presidents, past and present .
New president extends hand of educational outreach
Hello, and thanks to all of you who have put
your trust in me as the head of this organization. I
feel that I have a big job ahead of me, and large
shoes to fill. As I go forward, I want to keep in my
mind the VNPS mantra “conserving wild flowers
and wild places." Several important steps were
made on the conservation front this past year, the
most important of which was the Conservation Po¬
sition that was adopted. Soon we hope to have this
four-page document boiled down into a brochure
that we can distribute to the general public so that
our conservation priorities become better known.
This past week, Chris Ludwig of the Virginia
Department of Conservation and Resources-Natu-
ral Heritage Division, spoke at a Conservation Fo¬
rum held in Richmond. He emphasized the differ¬
ent areas of activity that promote conservation of
our natural resources including education, re¬
search, legislation, land protection programs, the
flora project, and off-site conservation of plants.
This structure seems to me a good way to measure
our accomplishments and examine areas that
would benefit from increased activity. As an ex¬
ample, VNPS efforts in education are currently
directed at our members in our spring workshop
and annual meeting, and through chapter host
talks and field trips. Our efforts could be expanded
to include educational materials for schools and
the general public. Plant rescue has been our ma¬
jor way of supporting off-site conservation; how¬
ever, we may soon have the opportunity to par¬
ticipate in the Seeds of Success program begun by
Great Britain's Kew Gardens (see related article
page 7). We may be able to improve our distribu¬
tion of information to our members on legislative
issues involving natural resource protection. You
get the idea — we have some good programs in
place, but there is more we can do.
I appreciate your support in these efforts and
also your honest assessment of the efforts that are
made, and I am eager to hear your ideas. In the
meantime, I hope you will find a way to get out
and enjoy the outdoors in the coming seasons. Our
chapter hosted a walk at Sky Meadows State Park
today, and even though most plants are dormant,
we were able to learn a lot about tree structure,
bark and fruits. What fun!
Your president, Sally Anderson
Outgoing president reflects on VNPS membership
Not "Farewell," but, rather, "I'll be seeing you."
As Second Vice President for the next two years,
my assigned responsibilities will be much simpler.
Sally Anderson has the VNPS brass gavel now, the
tool of the VNPS President, and has taken charge.
The torch is passed, or in this case, the gavel.
As I reflect on 21 years as a VNPS member, I
realize that the society has given me two things
that I was looking for when I joined. One is a way
to locate Virginia's wildflowers in wild places
through other members guiding field trips. There
are many other ways to enjoy native plants, but
this is my focus. I hope that your expectations have
been met and if not, please let us know so we can
Page 2 .. _
help you be able to say the society has given you
what you expected and hoped to find.
Advocacy for conservation of Virginia's flora
is the other thing I wanted. Plants are very quiet
and stationary. They need people to speak for their
welfare and community conservation. VNPS is still
growing in this arena. I have enjoyed growing in
both of my areas of interest with your new presi¬
dent, Sally Anderson. I know that she will enable
VNPS to continue to be effective in bringing native
plants and people together. People who enjoy na¬
tive plants and habitats care enough to want to as¬
sure their future. Semper fora virginiensis!
Nicky Staunton, Past President & current
Second Vice President
^=;=^^==^=^==== November 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
VNPS group seduced by Newfoundland botany
Newfoundland is a land of many
large panoramas and small botanical
wonders. It is a storied place of beauty
and discovery, with a flora guaranteed
to mesmerize wildflower aficionados
and botanists alike. To a North Ameri¬
can botanist, Newfoundland is a clas¬
sic locale, where famous predecessors
endured many hardships to trek
through barrens and bogs and bring
gem after gem to the light of science.
Today, in relative comfort you can re¬
trace some of the steps of these pioneers
and relive some of their joys and woes.
By logic, the plant life of New¬
foundland should be similar to the
flora at comparable northern latitudes
on the continent and thus not be espe¬
cially diverse, but a close look tells an¬
other story. Although many botanists
had visited Newfoundland over the
years from as early as the latter half of
the 18th century, it took the extensive
field explorations and publications of
Merritt Lyndon Fernald (1873-1950)
and his colleagues and students in the
early 20th century to reveal how re¬
markable this flora is.
Fernald was a renowned Flarvard
University professor who kept the Asa
Gray legacy alive during the first half
of the 20th century, producing the
monumental eighth and still the latest
edition of the classic Gray's Manual of
Botany, published the year he died. It
includes all his discoveries in New¬
foundland in the context of the flora of
the northeastern United States and ad¬
jacent Canada as a whole. After not¬
ing, in an article published in 1918,
that the plants of greatest phytogeo¬
graphic interest have very special¬
ized requirements and thus are local¬
ized, he wrote: "They are not to be
seen from the stage-coach, steamboat
or railroad-train but must be sought
in their exclusive haunts. It is for
this reason that many easy¬
going botanists have en¬
tirely missed the truly sig¬
nificant plants of regions
they have glimpsed from the
steamboat or train."
This past July 12-20, my wife,
Elaine, and I were among 14 members
of the Virginia Native Plant Society, in¬
cluding President Nicky Staunton,
who eagerly embarked on the society's
first exploration of Newfoundland,
going to perhaps the most interesting
part. We, as Fernald did in 1910, vis¬
ited the botanically rich Great North¬
ern Peninsula in the northwest, a cal¬
careous region dominated by Gros
Morne National Park, the north-south
Long Range Mountains, and extensive
coastal limestone barrens.
The other VNPS members were
Vice President Sally Anderson, Bill and
Carol Gardner, Cliff and Shirley Gay,
Diane Flolsinger, Chip and Dahne
Morgan, Joan Nowicke, and Jay and
Shelda Shaner. With the help of mod¬
ern roads and "stagecoaches" (three
minivans) and two incredible guides,
husband-and-wife team Karl Ander¬
son and Gale Cannon from New Jer¬
sey, who seemed to remember every
plant they saw and where they saw it,
we botanized the peninsula from one
end to the other, first south to north and
then north to south. We searched out
many "exclusive haunts." Although we
often could drive right to these haunts,
we also did a lot of botanizing on foot,
including a few very long walks.
Our tour began and ended at Deer
Lake. There we rented
vans and drove north to Rocky
Harbour, Port au Choix, St. Lunaire,
and several capes reaching as far north
as you can go in Newfoundland, in¬
cluding the 1,000-year-old Viking site,
L'Anse aux Meadows, where two of the
interesting arctic wildflowers that we
saw were Labrador-tea (Ledum
groenlandicum) and Swedish bunchberry
(Cornus suecica). From these northern
points we were able to glimpse Labra¬
dor, spot a few small icebergs, and watch
humpback whales breaching. Going
north we botanized at many points along
the way and on the return south revis¬
ited several and stopped at a few new
ones. Our indefatigable van drivers
were Karl, Gale, and Joan, with Nicky
taking a turn or two.
The weather in general was beau¬
tiful, and we had comfortable lodgings
and good food in Deer Lake and the
other three towns. For lunches, we
bought the makings and fixed our own
to eat in the field. A highlight was to
top off dinner with pie or a dessert top¬
ping made from the locally harvested
wild berries, either "partridge-berries"
or "bake-apples," Vaccinium vitis-idaea
and Rubus chamaemorus, respectively.
These dwarf shrubs, both common
there, occur widely in arctic and alpine
heaths in North America,
Greenland, and Eurasia.
The Vaccinium is often
called lingonberry
lsewhere.
Of the hun¬
dreds of trees,
(See Newfound¬
land, page 4)
Newfoundland harebells ( Campanula rotundifolia )
Illustration by Nicky Staunton
November 2003
Page 3
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
•Newfoundland
(Continued from page 3)
shrubs, and wildflowers seen, only a
few can be mentioned here to illustrate
this fascinating flora. Most were captured
on film or disk by the avid photographers
iii our group. Surely, no one left the trip
without adding many new species to his
or her life list. From forest, bog, fen, marsh,
and pond edge to the many kinds of bar¬
rens, cliffs, headlands, and shores, the
variety of habitats is one of the striking
features of this land.
Balsam fir and white spruce are
dominants of the largely coniferous for¬
ests, with black spruce and American
larch often dominating in the more boggy
habitats. The most common deciduous
trees are the paper birch and balsam pop¬
lar, often forming groves. In Lomond For¬
est in Gros Morne National Park, two of
the wildflower treats along the River Trail
were the regal showy lady's-slipper
(Cypripedium reginae ) in peak condition,
and, a week later, the always impres¬
sive round-leaved orchid ( Platanthera
[Habenaria to us old-timers] orbiculata).
These are just two of the more than
20 species of orchids observed in a va¬
riety of forest, wetland, and barrens
habitats. From the tall showy lady's-
slipper to the tiny white adder 's-mouth
( Malaxis monophyllos), heart-leaved
twayblade ( Listera cordata ), and lesser
rattlesnake-plantain ( Goodyera repens ) it
was an orchid lover's holiday. Every¬
where we went, some orchid jewel
awaited us, such as the delicate fairy-
slipper ( Calypso bulbosa) at Burnt Cape,
and the diminutive but bold pink
dragon's-mouth ( Arethusa bulbosa) that
highlighted a fen north of St. Paul's In¬
let, with each stalk topped by a single,
gaping bloom. The small-flowered va¬
riety of our old friend, the circumboreal
yellow lady's-slipper ( Cypripedium
calceolus), popped up at what seemed
the most unlikely places, as at Phillip's
Garden and Burnt Cape. This variety
occurs also in western North America
and southward in the mountains of the
east and the west.
We had a veritable feast of rein or¬
chids ( Platanthera species), including the
relatively common boreal blunt-leaved
orchid (P. obtusata), the arctic Newfound¬
land orchid (P. straminea ), in Phillip's
Page 4
Garden at Port au Choix, and the long-
spurred Hooker's orchid (P. hookeri). By
July 20, on our return visit, the turf on
Lobster Cove Head was ablaze with
purple fringed orchids (P. psycodes) and
carpeted with palate-teasing ripe wild
strawberries ( Fragaria virginiana).
The ferns were a constant fasci¬
nation. Never before had I seen the
moonwort ( Botrychium lunaria), an arc¬
tic species, growing in such weed-like
abundance that I had to watch my
step, as on the turfy shores of Broom
Point. The very common wood-ferns
sparked endless debate about whether
we were seeing Dryopteris
campyloptera, D. carthusiana, or D.
intermedia. Every new frond or clump
provided proof for somebody else's
interpretation! The circumboreal male
fern ( D.filix-mas ), last met up with by
some of us at Kemble Forest on the
Bruce Peninsula, is always a nice find,
and the Newfoundland variety of the
maidenhair fern seen on the serpen¬
tine barrens of Table Mountain is the'
Aleutian maidenhair ( Adiantum
pedatum var. aleuticum), otherwise
found mainly in Alaska and western
North America.
Of the many noteworthy species
found in the wetlands, I was particu¬
larly intrigued to see the water lobelia
(Lobelia dortmanna), with its submerged
leaves and emergent blue flowers, in
Berry Hill Pond. Though they lacked
the charisma of the more obvious
"wildflowers," many of the sedges and
sedge-like plants were pointed out. I
mention only the two species of cot¬
ton-grass, dark-scale ( Eriophorum
viridicarinatum ) and rusty (E.
chamissonis), and the two species of ar¬
row-grass, common (Triglochin mar-
itima) and slender (T. palustris), a new
one to my life list. Labrador-tea and
the superficial look-alikes, bog-rose¬
mary (Andromeda glaucophylla ) and
bog-laurel (Kalmia polifolia), which we
were able to compare directly in a
small bog near our motel in St. Lunaire,
are three of the common wetland
heaths.
The beaches along the Gulf of St.
Lawrence yielded their own interest¬
ing species. Oyster-plant or sea lung¬
wort (Mertensia maritima ), a close rela¬
tive of our Virginia bluebell, and Scotch
lovage (Ligusticum scothicum) both
range widely on the arctic shores of
North America as far north as
Greenland. This species of lovage oc¬
curs also in arctic Europe, and the lung¬
wort, which I last saw on the beaches
of Reykjavik, Iceland, is circumpolar.
The tall seaside or leafy ragwort ( Sene -
cio pseudoarnica), seen in bud at
Flower's Cove, is a disjunct that has
its center of distribution on the shores
of Asia and Alaska in the Bering Sea
region and along the coast down to
British Columbia, with a few outposts
across the continent.
The beautiful beachhead iris (Iris
setosa), growing on the turf of Lobster
Cove Head, is another Beringian-New-
foundland disjunct, which Elaine and I
once collected along the Redstone River
in Alaska. It is similar to the familiar,
wide-ranging northern blue flag (I. versi¬
color), common in the wetlands of north¬
western Newfoundland, but is shorter
and has only rudimentary, bristle-tipped
petals. At the time it was discovered in
Newfoundland, it was known only
from Siberia and is still not known to
occur anywhere between Alaska and
Newfoundland.
As many of the species already
enumerated suggest, we, like Fernald
nearly a hundred years before us, were
struck by the arctic-alpine character of
the flora, especially on the limestone
and serpentine barrens. He viewed
everything through the eyes of a
phytogeographer, who focuses on the dy¬
namics of history and process and seeks
to explain the origins of floras in terms
of geological history, habitat, and migra¬
tion. He saw clearly that Newfoundland,
November 2003
From the tall showy lady's-slipper to the tiny white
adder's-mouth, heart-leaved twayblade, and lesser
rattlesnake-plantain, it was an orchid lover's holiday.
Everywhere we went, some orchid jewel awaited us. . .
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
floristically, is not merely a patch of conti¬
nental eastern Canada severed from the
mainland. In fact, the purely Canadian el¬
ement in its flora is small. Rather, New¬
foundland is a land apart whose flora has
been shaped by its own unique geology
and history of ancient land connections
and inundations. The large arctic-alpine
and western floristic elements in the flora
consist of outliers of species that otherwise
belong to the circumpolar flora of high alti¬
tudes and latitudes or the western coasts.
He emphasized the number of limestone-
loving species (calciphiles) and the control¬
ling influence of the calcareous habitats.
Dwarf birches and willows, alpine
bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina), but-
terwort ( Pinguicula vulgaris), moss cam¬
pion ( Silene acaulis), three-toothed
cinquefoil ( Potentilla tridentata), black
crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum), milk-
vetches ( Astragalus spp.), mountain-
avens ( Dryas integrifolia), oxytropes
( Oxytropis spp.), Greenland primrose
(Primula egalikensis), Lapland rosebay
(Rhododendron lapponicum), and alpine
sweet-vetch ( Hedysarum alpinum) are
but a few more of the many species we
saw that evoked the Arctic especially
on the limestone barrens and turfs.
Many arctic-alpine species are what I
call "belly plants," because you have
to lie down on your stom-
ach, eyeball to flower, in
order to appreciate them 1
fully, while always
watching, of course that you^k
don't flatten other rare dwarfs^L
in the process.
As already said, many of the arc- ^
tic-alpine species are calciphiles. Com¬
ing to mind are such flowers as the north¬
ern saxifrages at Burnt Cape, particu¬
larly the striking circumpolar purple
saxifrage ( Saxifraga oppositifolia) and the
island gentian ( Gentiana nesophila) at
Point Riche. The limestone barrens of the
Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve on the
shores of the Strait of Belle Isle harbor
many rare arctic-alpine and calcicolous
species, where, fortunately, they are pro¬
tected. We greatly appreciated the local
experts who showed us the plants of
Cape Burnt.
I was personally attracted in our
travels to the ubiquitous harebell (Cam-
panula rotundifolia) that seemed to be
thriving in many locations, often in the
sparest of habitats, because I had stud¬
ied the enormous variation of this spe¬
cies in many other North American loca¬
tions during my doctoral work. Finally, I
was able to see first-hand the nature of
the variation here, where it is a calciphile,
which is not the case everywhere in its
range. With their low stature and ten¬
dency to have a single, large, intensely
violet-blue flower, the plants here com¬
bine features of the harebells of southern
coastal Alaska and the harebells of al¬
pine and arctic areas, as in the Rocky
Mountains and Greenland.
Now for a word about the endemics,
plants known only from Newfoundland.
These are usually among the rarest plants
iia a flora. Over the years, Femald and
others have discovered many localized
species or local varieties of wider-rang¬
ing species in Newfoundland. Some of
these, having been found later to occur
elsewhere or not to be sufficiently dis¬
tinct, have since lost their "endemic" sta¬
tus. Two of Newfoundland's rarest
endemics are Femald's braya or rockcress
(Braya fernaldii) and Long's braya or
rockcress (B. longii). Braya is a small ge¬
nus of tiny arctic mustards - true belly
plants — with inconspicuous purplish-
white flowers that grow on limestone
barrens and calcareous cliffs, talus, and
gravel. We were privileged to see B.
fernaldii at Cape Burnt and in a research
plot at Pointe Riche and both species in
the vicinity of Savage and Sandy Coves.
Years earlier I had collected a commoner,
wide-ranging braya species on the arc¬
tic shores of Alaska, but I needed the
help of the late Canadian arctic expert,
A. E. Porsild, to identify it.
Finally, botanizing was not the sole
preoccupation of everyone. Among the
notable species seen: bald eagle, com¬
mon eider (including whole families
of young), pine grosbeak, common red-
poll, white-winged scoter, fox,
Lincoln's, swamp, and white-crowned
sparrows, arctic tern, magnolia and
Wilson's warblers, and black-backed
three-toed woodpecker. The subtle
song of the gray-cheeked thrush was
heard coming from the forest one early
morning at St. Lunaire. The most obvi¬
ous mammal, besides the hump¬
backed whale, was the moose.
If this trip is ever repeated, don't
miss it!
Stan Shetler, VNPS Botany Chair Emeritus
A GIFT FROM NICKY
Images of Newfoundland landscapes and of someTcommon and rare flora
may be enjoyed on the internet. While searching Google Images for Braya
spp., I linked to the website of the Newfoundland Museum (http://
www.nfmuseum.com/flora.htm). Also use Google and search for New¬
foundland Flora Images and/or "A digital Flora of Newfoundland and
Labrador Vascular Plants." The images will enhance your enjoyment of]
Stan Shetler's Newfoundland article. The entire website is seductively in-J
teresting; one page leads to another interesting one and to another. Notj
only are the images clear, but there is a section for best places to visit,
in itself a pleasure. A mystery plant photographed at Burnt Cape
^vas on the site: Vanilla Scented Bog Orchid, Pseudorchis a lb i da _
subsp. Straminea.
November 2003
Page 5
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Weekend Getaway to Chincoteague Island
VI\PS Fundraiser Drawing
$20 tax-deductible donation fop one ticket; $50 donation fop 3 tickets
Drawing held at the VNPS Annual Workshop, March 6, 2004
Win a 3-Day, 3-Night Weekend Getaway at Chincoteague Island, Virginia. Relax in a reno¬
vated 1906 farmhouse in the center of the village. The house has 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths,
central heat and A/C, microwave, TV, VCR, W/D, porch, outside shower & grill. Available
April and May and Labor Day through Thanksgiving in 2004. Have a look at some of the
rooms by going to www.harbourrentals.net, click onto "3 to 5 bedrooms" and scroll down to
Summer Quarters. (Donated by Jim and Joslin Gallatin.) Need not be present to win.
To enter, fill out one or three tickets (For additional tickets, make photocopies). Mail tickets
and your tax-deductible donation to: VNPS WEEKEND, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400
Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2, Boyce, VA 22620.
**Buy a chance to share a getaway ivith friends, use for a family reunion, or give as a reward to a good student!
You may use this coupon below, or photocopy it the number of times you need.
Name
Name
Name
Address
Address
Address
Phone
Phone
Phone
‘
What: 2004 VNPS Annual Workshop
When: March 6, 2004
Where: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond
Topic: Virginia's Biological Diversity
Shirley Gay, VNPS Education Chair, announced plans for the
2004 VNPS Annual Workshop. Gary Fleming, Vegetation
Ecologist, VA DCR-DNH, will help continue the VNPS 2003
theme of Virginia's Biodiversity. A panel of conservation
specialists is also planned for the workshop.
Biologist posts research
papers on DCR website
The presentation by Gary
Fleming, Vegetation Ecologist at Vir¬
ginia Department of Conservation
and Recreation-Division of Natural
Heritage, at the multi-state conference
is now available for download. One file
is a pdf powerpoint and the other is a
narration similar to his conference
presentation. Both versions can be
found at the Virginia Natural Heri¬
tage website (www.dcr.state.va.us/
dnh/ community.htm).
Page 6 =
Invasive guide available
A new booklet on invasive plant
control is available from the Alliance
for the Chesapeake Bay. The booklet
outlines case study restoration
projects involving volunteers. An
overview of invasive plant control
methods in various settings along
wetlands is given, as is useful infor¬
mation about volunteer recruitment,
deployment and retention.
The book is available for a $2
shipping cost from the Alliance for
the Chesapeake Bay (804-775-0951 or
hmilliken@acb-online.org).
Annual giving campaign
receives positive response
By now, VNPS members should
have received the 2003 VNPS An¬
nual Fund Raising letter. Your di¬
rectors hope you will be able to send
a gift of any amount before the end
of this year. There are many oppor¬
tunities to expand our society's edu¬
cation programs. In turn, these pro¬
grams enable greater appreciation
of our native plants and help us
conserve wild flowers and wild
places. Your 2003 gift will enable us
to network with other conservation
organizations and carry a new edu¬
cational outreach to Virginians of
all ages.
Within several days of receiving
the letter, members began respond¬
ing and we thank each of you who
so quickly let us know you feel the
work by VNPS is important to our
native plants.
Thank you on behalf of the (
VNPS Directors.
November 2003
New York Botanical Garden Library
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
3 51
85 00345 5795
Seed preservation partnership underway
After communicating by e-mail for
months, it was a pleasure to meet Clare
Tenner, International Program Officer
and Michael Way, Americas Coordi¬
nator, for RBG Kew Gardens' Millen¬
nium Seed Bank Project's Seed of Suc¬
cess. They came to Virginia in early
October to locate Virginia partners for
Seeds of Success. Sally Anderson and
Nicky Staunton of VNPS and staff
members of Blandy Experimental Farm
met with them to explore the possibil¬
ity of participating as partners.
In the last issue of the Bulletin,
Michael Sawyer (VNPS First Vice
President, currently living in The Neth¬
erlands) and Tenner explained Kew's
Millennium Seed Project. It is an am¬
bitious project to collect 10 percent of
the world's seed-bearing flora — over
24,000 species — by 2010. You can learn
about the program at the KEW website
(www.rbgkew.org.uk/seedbank/
msb.html) or http://www.rbg.ca/
cbcn/en/index.html).
The Blandy meeting began a week-
long visit with botanists across Virginia.
Tenner and Way attended the Multi¬
state Native Plant Society meeting in
Shepherdstown, W.Va.; visited the
Massey Herbarium in Blacksburg; the
Herbarium of the College of William and
Mary; University of Richmond; Division
of Natural Heritage; Adkins Arboretum;
Chesapeake Native Nursery; and, BLM
Eastern States Office in Springfield. In
addition to meeting potential partners,
these visits occurred during the peak of
Virginia's autumn colors.
Chicago Botanic Garden is already
into the program and plans, over the
next five years, to harvest, dry and pre¬
serve the seeds of 1,500 tall grass prai¬
rie plants native to Illinois, Iowa, Mis¬
souri and Minnesota. Most partners to
date are in the American West. This Oc¬
tober trip was the first venture in our
Eastern states.
The two will return to lead a two-
day training session in 2004, the date
to be determined. To have a program
presented on the KEW Millennium
Seed Bank Project, please contact
Nicky Staunton (703-368-9803 or
nstaunton@earthlink.net).
•Annual Meeting report -
(Continued from page 1)
plant or animal has escaped identifi¬
cation. She was able to bring an over¬
view and history of the area, tell of the
topography of the trail as well as the
smallest detail along the path and un¬
der the rotted log. It is always a joy to
spend time with someone who has
personal charm as well as knowledge.
As always, the VNPS Annual
Meeting provided an opportunity to
VDACS adds to list
At its October meeting, the Virginia
Department of Agriculture and Con¬
sumer Services (VDACS) Board ap¬
proved amendments to proposed regu¬
lation changes enforcing the Endan¬
gered Plant and Insect Species Act.
VNPS appreciates the action by the
VDACS Board for granting approval for
the list of plants and insects submitted
last year by DCR Division of Natural
Heritage.
The next step is for the amendments
to the regulations to be approved by
Virginia's Attorney General. Then the fi¬
nal form of the regulation must be posted
in the Register of Rules and Regulations.
With approval, 20 plant and insect species
will be added to the regulation. Once the
regulations are posted, VNPS will receive a
copy of the complete list of species and
their Virginia status to share with you.
share ideas, catch up with old friends
and acquaintances, learn more about a
specific Virginia region and its plants
and last, but not least, to meet and get
to know new people.
Daune Poklis, Pocahontas Chapter
VNPS OFFICE HOURS - Beginning
December 1, VNPS office hours at
Blandy Experimental Farm (Karen
York) will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
See the address label for your membership expiration date
VNPS Membership /Renewal Form
Name(s) _
Address _
City _ State _ Zip _
_ Individual $30 _ Student $15
_ Family $40 _ Associate (groups) $40*
_ Patron $50 _ Sustaining $100
_ Life $500
*Please designate one person as delegate for Associate membership
To give a gift membership or join additional chapters: Enclose dues, name, address, and
chapter (non-voting memberships in any other than your primary chapter are $5)
I wish to make an additional contribution to _ VNPS or _ Chapter in the
amount of _ $10 _ $25 _ $50 _ $100 _ $(Other) _
_ Check if you do not wish your name to be listed to be exchanged with similar
organizations in a chapter directory
Make check payable to VNPS and mail to:
VNPS Membership Chair, Blandy Experimental Farm, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2,
Boyce, VA 22620
Membership dues are lax deductible in the amount they exceed $5. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations
The Bulletin
ISSN 1085-9632
is published five times a year
(Feb., April, June, August, Nov.) by
Virginia Native Plant Society
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2
Boyce, VA 22620
(540)837-1600
vnpsofc@shentel.net
www.vnps.org
Sally Anderson, President
Nancy Sorrells, Editor
Original material contained in the Bulletin may be
reprinted, provided credit is given to VNPS and the
author, if named. Readers are invited to send letters,
news items, or original articles for the editor's con¬
sideration. Items should be typed, on disk in Microsoft
Word ore-mailed to: Editor, 3419 Cold Springs Rd.,
Greenville, VA 24440, or lotswife@rica.net
+
The deadline for the next issue is January 5
- . . - Page 7
November 2003
Bulletin of the Virginia Native Plant Society
Thinking about The
The Botanical Society of
America, Northeast Region, plans
a trip to the Bruce Peninsula,
Ontario, Canada. The trip will be
June 13-17, Sunday evening until
Thursday morning. The group
plans to stay at Wildwood Lodge,
Mar, Ontario.
The dates and place are the
same as those planned by VNPS
when there last June. Since the BSA
is going to be there, VNPS will not
offer its own trip in 2004. Stan
•Conference -
(Continued from page 1)
Gary will be the keynote speaker at
the VNPS spring workshop in Rich¬
mond). Cris Fleming, formerly of
Maryland's Natural Heritage pro¬
gram and a respected teacher of plant
identification, talked on the rare
plants of the Harpers Ferry area.
Sunday's program started with a
report on the changes taking place in
the Appalachian forests presented by
Bill Grafton of West Virginia Univer¬
sity. To start off the subsequent panel
Bruce in 2004? Sign i
Shetler, a member of BSA, reported
that BSA membership is not a require¬
ment to go on trips. Encouraged by
that information, VNPS has commu¬
nicated with Nan Williams, the or¬
ganizer of this trip, who said we
would be welcome to join the group
for this year's visit.
Participants will provide their
own transportation to the Bruce and
once there the group will carpool or
travel by bus to locations. The cost is
not available at this time.
A focus on ferns, orchids, geol-
discussion, Stan Shetler, Botanist
Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institu¬
tion, gave a provocative statement
about native plants and the role of
native plant societies in plant and
habitat conservation.
The afternoons were devoted to
field trips and workshops. Carole
Bergman of MNPS and I chose a site
along the C&O Canal at Snyder's
landing where we were treated to riv¬
erine habitat and a limestone cliff
plant community that included the
today!
ogy and a day on Flower Pot Island
are planned.
If you would like to join the BSA (
trip, please send your name and ad¬
dress to: Nan Williams (e-mail:
NNWROWE@aol.com). She will send
you a letter and registration form
early in February. If you have any
questions (for instance, directions to
the Bruce, carpooling from Virginia,
itinerary, what flora you would ex¬
pect to see), you may contact Nicky
Staunton (nstaunton@earthlink.net
or 703-368-9803).
globally rare spreading rockcress
( Arabis patens) and plenty of ferns.
Sunday, Cris Fleming led a group to
the banks of the Potomac at Short
Hill, part of Harpers Ferry National
Park located in Virginia. Our best
plant finds were the state rare Short's
aster (Symphiotrichutn shortii) in
bloom and plants of the sweet-
scented Indian plantain (Cacalia
suaveolens). I'm sure the other field |
trips were equally interesting.
Sally Anderson, VNPS President
SjO'sdltA’MMM
LUESTERT. MERTZ
LIBRARY
DEC 2 3 2003
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL GARDEN
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