Wake Up, Woods: A book review

With illustrations by Gillian Harris, text by Michael Homoya, verses by Shane Gibson

Rubber Ducky Press, Indianapolis, 2019

Reviewed by Katherine Newkirk

Like the forest understory this book explores, Wake Up Woods is richly layered. Though loosely aimed at early elementary kids, the book will entice all ages along its several paths. Each stunningly illustrated two-page spread features understory bloomers along with associated visitors, a four-line verse and a paragraph of botanical information.

Many a preschooler will keep turning pages in search of critters such as the field mouse, six-spotted tiger beetle and marbled orbweaver. Illustrator Gillian Harris brings out the energy and “personalities” of both flora and fauna in exquisite biological detail. More than 50 illustrated species are listed with their common names and Latin binomials in an appendix.

Young readers will enjoy sounding out the rhymes by poet Shane Gibson, while their adults may smile at his humor. Christmas fern, for example: A fiddlehead / No strings attached / Unfurled beauty / Spring’s here at last. I found an occasional rhythm or rhyme challenging and also wondered what will happen when young readers bump into words like sepal, whorl and proboscis. Luckily, a glossary explains 26 specialized terms.

Nature lovers of all ages will enjoy the illustrations, and I predict many will learn new things about relationships among understory species, thanks to botanical text by Mike Homoya. For example, “After bloodroot goes to seed, elaiosomes (food bodies) that are attached to the seeds attract ants, which carry the seeds to their nests underground. Some ants carry them as far as forty feet away from the plant!”

Wake Up, Woods is dedicated to “all children who find delight in the awakening woods,” but I suggest that Wake Up, Woods will delight and inspire nature lovers of all ages. I hope it finds its way into laps and libraries everywhere.

Katherine Newkirk is co-editor of the Indiana Native Plant Society Journal.

Genus SCROPHULARIA in Kentucky:

Scrophularia marilandica (L.) and Scrophularia lanceolata (Pursh)

By Chris Bidwell 

Kentucky has two native species in the genus Scrophularia of the Scrophulariaceae/Figwort family: Scrophularia marilandica (L.) – Eastern/Late Figwort and Scrophularia lanceolata – Early Figwort (Pursh). S. marilandica is infrequent and primarily in Kentucky’s east-central and western counties. S. lanceolata is to be expected as it had been reported in Carroll County in 1986 but no further collections have since been reported. S. lanceolata is found in six of the seven states bordering Kentucky – it is not documented in Tennessee. Both S. marilandica and lanceolata are similar in description, habitats, and usages. Close inspection of the flower’s stamens is necessary to accurately identify which Scrophularia one is examining. S. marilandica has a purple-brown sterile stamen which is longer than wide while S. lanceolata’s sterile stamen is greenish/yellow and is wider than long. Minor differences as blooming times of June-October for S. marilandica and May-July for S. lanceolata can overlap and make identifying difficult from a distance. S. lanceolata has coarser, serrated, narrower leaves and larger seed capsules. These minor differences can be subject to interpretation which makes close examining of sterile stamens mandatory to identify the species. One reason Early Figwort (S. lanceotata) is overlooked may be due to the need to closely inspect flowers – distances/terrains may discourage one from getting to the plant to inspect accurately.

Scrophularia marilandica – Late/Eastern Figwort
Scrophularia lanceolata – Early Figwort

Both Early Figwort and Eastern Figwort are herbaceous dicot, perennials ranging from 3-8 feet tall with furrowed green stems. The stems do change to a woody texture and color in late summer and persist through winter. Opposite, petioled, and serrated leaves up to 8 inches long and 3.5 inches wide are triangular to lance shaped. Panicled irregular flower clusters are oppositely attached at end of the stems. Flowers are cylindrical/urn shaped 1/3- to 1/2-inch-long with an opening 1/3 of the flower’s length. The floral formula is K(4-5)Co(5)A(5) and 6(2). Each flower has a green calyx with 5 blunt teeth. The corolla with 5 rounded lobes with normally a dull green exterior and a predominantly brown-purple interior depicts Scrophularia marilandica while a reddish-brown exterior and yellow-green interior exist in Scrophularia lanceolata. It is important to realize however that the corolla color may vary/overlap in shades/mixes of green, yellow, red, and brown. The corolla’s 2 upper lobes that function as a hood keep rain/moisture from entering and diluting the rich nectar. The 2 lateral lobes help form the opening and the lower lobe curves downward serving as an excellent landing space for pollinating insects. Five stamens are present: 4 fertile and 1 non-fertile/sterile stamen. Scrophularia marilandica has a reddish/purple/brown infertile stamen while Scrophularia lanceolata’s stamen is yellow/green. These infertile stamen’ s color is the solid key to identifying the respective species. The infertile stamen is appressed against the upper interior posterior corolla. The 4 fertile stamens which may be fused are at the bottom of the anterior corolla. (See accompanying photos.)

Continue reading Genus SCROPHULARIA in Kentucky: →

Plant Family Identification Workshop

WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Plant Family Identification Motifs:
patterns for simplifying the complexity

Instructor: Dr. Richard Abbott*

When: Saturday, March 21, 2020
Time: 9am-4pm Eastern Time
Where: Bernheim Arboretum & Forest, meet at the Garden Pavilion
Cost: $25 /$10 for students
Bring your own lunch, and wear hiking shoes

Using minimal basic vocabulary, approximately 30 plant families, and half a dozen artificial motifs, we will focus on plant identification patterns.  Learning Kentucky plants within a global framework not only empowers confidence in knowing what you know, but enables identifying more than 130,000 plants to family globally and provides a solid foundation for incorporating other family patterns.  Essentially, this workshop is an introduction to a way of thinking about how to organize botanical knowledge in a practical, applied way.

*About the Instructor

Dr. J. Richard Abbott, Assistant Professor of Biology, is the current Curator of the University of Arkansas Monticello Herbarium. At UAM, he teaches General Botany, Regional Flora, and Plants in Our World and conducts floristic, systematic, and taxonomic research, especially with the milkwort family (Polygalaceae). He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology and German from Berea College in Kentucky and both M.S. degree and Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Florida in Gainesville. His primary passion is teaching plant identification, using the local flora to understand global patterns. To that end, he is currently working to establish a living teaching collection on the UAM campus, with the ultimate goal of cultivating as many families and genera as possible.

Workshops are opened to KNPS members for registration 2 weeks before they are opened to the general public. This session has been filled by KNPS members. If you are interested in this workshop you can sign up on the waiting list below. If an opening occurs the first person on the waiting list will be contacted If there is significant interest in the workshop we will try to schedule another session as soon as possible and the people on the waiting list will be the first contacted about the new session.

2020 Nature Summit

Kentucky Nature Preserves, in partner with KNPS and other conservation agencies, is throwing  the first annual Nature Summit at Pine Mountain State Resort Park. This event will be April 24th-26th and will be a gathering of naturalists of all ages to celebrate and explore the biodiversity in the Pine Mountain region.

Join us for hikes, presentations, children’s activities, and exclusive night time field trips all led by the experts! Some field trips have limited space and require sign-up with registration. Others occur on park property all day long and do not require sign-up. There is something for everyone, so bring the whole family!

Kentucky Native Plant Society has helped put together the hike at Bad Branch State Nature Preserve on Saturday, April 25th: Join KNP botanist Heidi Braunreiter and Cumberland Falls SRP Naturalist Olivia Immitt, on a hike through Bad Branch SNP. This preserve protects the largest concentrations of rare and uncommon species known to the state! We’ll pass babbling brooks and hemlock groves through a deep ravine on our way to a 60-foot waterfall that crowns the natural beauty of this site. Learn about rare plants, medicinal plants, and the overall forest ecology of the area. This field trip requires sign-up with registration.

Click here to register and see a full schedule of the Kentucky Nature Summit. All participants must register to attend. An email regarding field trip sign-up will be sent to you once you have registered.

Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2019 Winners!

Congrats to our iNaturalist project winners! For the Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2019 project, we awarded prizes to the top five people in three categories:

Most Observations:

Kendall McDonald, winner in two categories of the iNaturalist Project: Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2019
  • Joey Shaw
  • John Abrams
  • Tara Littlefield
  • Kendall McDonald
  • Elsa Wachter

Most Observed Species:

  • Tara Littlefield
  • John Abrams
  • Joey Shaw
  • Elsa Wachter
  • Kendall McDonald

Most Identifications:

  • Mikayla Groce
  • Dwayne Estes
  • Margaret Carreiro
  • Richard Abott
  • John Abrams

Prizes will be given out Saturday, April 4th at our 2020 Wildflower Weekend at Natural Bridge State Resort Park during the evening speaker session. Each winner will receive a KNPS mug with the project name and their winning category on it!

Check out the project on iNaturalist to see where you ranked: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-botanists-big-year-2019

KNPS President’s Message-Looking Forward to a Green 2020

We hope everyone is having a peaceful winter.  I have been enjoying the mild weather, spending time analyzing plant data from last year’s projects, studying winter tree ID, and lots of planning for the year ahead.  Out in the forest we are seeing incredible moss displays and the greening up of many overwintering basal rosettes of spring wildflowers. The term rosettology comes to mind, coined by a notorious southeastern botanist, meaning the study of plant rosettes. It is true I am a rosettophile, or one who loves rosettes, including dutchman’s breeches, harbinger of spring, spring beauty, and winter annuals such as glade cress that are visible now.

Select mosses and rosettes seen in Kentucky over the past month (from L to R): 1. Spoon moss (Bryoandersonia illesebra), common moss in Kentucky Forests; 2. Dutchman’s Breeches ( Dicentra cucullaria), Anderson County, Kentucky. 2020-01-12; 3. Kentucky Glade Cress rosette-Federally threatened winter annual (Leavenworthia exigua var. laciniata), Jefferson County Dolomite Glade, 2020-01-11. T.R. Littlefield

The KNPS board and officers have been busy planning for some fantastic events this year.  We will announce our field trip and workshop schedule soon, so check back by mid-February to view our 2020 calendar.  Several workshops and classes will be offered either individually or as part of our Native Plant Stewardship Certification Program.  Classes offered include Botany in a Day, Natural Communities of Kentucky, Remnant Natural Community Management, Native Plant Gardening, and more.  Hikes by legendary botanists are currently in the works.

We will be meeting in late February for a strategic board meeting at Bernheim Forest.  The board will be revising our strategic plan with emphasis on prioritizing our efforts in native plant education, conservation, and restoration.  A reminder that this year we have the 34th Annual Wildflower Weekend at Natural Bridge, April 3-4.  It is earlier than usual this year, but with warmer temperatures we might expect the wildflowers to be early as well.

Don’t forget our website can be a resource to find out about other botanical events not directly organized by KNPS occurring throughout the state, so please contact us if you have an event that you would like to promote on our website.    We are stronger together! 

For the love of native plants and natural communities,

Tara Littlefield- KNPS President

Editors’ Note

KNPS’s “The Lady Slipper” has supplied native-plant enthusiasts across Kentucky with relative information for a long time—over thirty years. In fact, the February 2020 issue marks the newsletter’s 34th anniversary. A lot has changed over the years. What started as a typewritten newsletter distributed via snail mail eventually made the change to electronic format. During the summer of 2019, we made the switch to blog newsletter.

Articles are available as published; simply visit the blog! On or about the first of each month, subscribers will receive an email announcing the current issue that contains a short synopsis of each blog and a link. Of course, you’re invited to review the blog at any time.

Our content will maintain the same comprehensive quality you’ve grown to trust. We hope you enjoy the new format as we are excited for this transition.

Please share news and events that you think our readers would want to know. If you are interested in writing for us, our submission guidelines are simple: Contact us with a brief description of what you’d like to cover… that’s it! We’ll get back to you quickly.

Susan Harkins and Nick Koenig, Editors, ladyslipper@knps.org