Kentucky Native Plant Society Sandbox

Category: The Lady Slipper

The Lady Slipper newsletter

  • Citizen science opportunity: have you seen falcata alfalfa?

    By Jonathan O.C. Kubesch, University of Tennessee—Knoxville

    Falcata alfalfa (Medicago sativa ssp falcata) is a stunning subspecies of the purple-flowered alfalfa commonly seen in the eastern United States (Figure 1; USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Program, 2015). Falcata alfalfa was introduced to South Dakota from Siberia by an eager professor in the early 19th century, however, the subspecies has appeared in the Kentucky flora in the time since (Shaw et al., 2020; Smith 1997). Falcata alfalfa improves the quantity and quality of forages for rangeland with tradeoffs for native species richness in South Dakota (Xu et al., 2004). The Kentucky collections may have come in seed bagged from elsewhere, especially as seed production shifted from the region to the Willamette Valley of Oregon (Figure 2).



    Figure 1. Falcata alfalfa. Courtesy of Bing Creative Commons (accessed August 19, 2020).

    Falcata alfalfa’s use in rangelands presents a question: why alfalfa has not naturalized into the South? Given it has historically been found in cultivated and disturbed environments, has the species formed any stable populations outside of agricultural use? And given falcata’s success in the High Plains, why hasn’t the species been used in the South?

    Figure 2. The Willamette Valley of Oregon. July 10, 2020.
    Figure 3. Falcata alfalfa (USDA PI 631577) growing on a misting bench in Knoxville, Tennessee. August 19, 2020.

    Falcata is promising given its performance in low fertility conditions (USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Program, 2015). A research project at the University of Tennessee is investigating the horticultural performance of falcata alfalfa in the Southeast. Seed from the United States Department of Agriculture—by way of Canada and originally from eastern Italy—is being grown to study the plant in the eastern United States (Figure 3; USDA PI 631577). Concerns about introducing new plant species into the Southeastern flora prompted this present article. A fair number of plants introduced to the eastern United States have gradually moved outside of agricultural fields, such as tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus), but the subspecies of alfalfa have not escaped and persisted for extended periods in the wild. 

    The Tennessee-Kentucky Plant Atlas is a helpful tool for this sort of research (Shaw et al., 2020). Documenting the localities and conditions that falcata alfalfa has been found in the native flora should expound on these questions and theories regarding the species and subspecies persistence in the Southeast. Through the Atlas we can tell that escaped alfalfa does not necessarily take over native habitat in Kentucky and Tennessee in the same way that alfalfa has persisted in the High Plains of South Dakota. However, the Atlas is limited to collections made before 2002 (Shaw et al., 2020). With that in mind, citizen scientists are critical to documenting falcata alfalfa in Kentucky in 2020. The species should be seen where the purple flowered alfalfa occurs, such as disturbed areas and pastures.

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  • iNaturalist Tutorial

    By Nick Koenig

    Ever run across a flower in the forest and want to know what it is immediately? The app “iNaturalist” is a great tool that can serve as an excellent addition to field guides to help a plant lover come to a correct identification!

    Video on How to Use iNaturalist

    Associate Editor – Nick Koenig
    Nick Koenig is a senior Biology Major with a Botany Concentration at Eastern Kentucky University.  At EKU, he serves as the Co-President of the student environmental group, Green Crew, works as a Biology Tutor, and volunteers in the Greenhouse. He fell in love with plants through gardening and the Kentucky State Fair but has continued with his passion through research at EKU.

  • Pollinators of Native Plants: A Book Review

    Written by Heather Holm; Published by Pollination Press, LLC

    Reviewed by Susan Harkins

    I’m fond of saying that my favorite flower is the one I’m looking at. Similarly, my favorite book is the one I’m currently reading. However, when I say that Heather Holm’s Pollinators of Native Plants is one of my favorite books, I mean it. I keep just a few reference books close at hand, and this book is one of them.

    It’s the most comprehensive, photo-filled book I’ve found on identifying the native pollinators that depend on our native flora. Every plant has a two-page spread that contains what you need to know about that plant to determine if it’s a good fit for your property and a full page or more of all the native pollinators it will attract. You get a full picture.

    Its use goes beyond identifying pollinators: it’s one of the first books I pull out when wanting information about a particular plant, with or without consideration of its pollinators. However, when I want to identify a pollinator, it’s my go-to book. Often, I’m looking for host plants. This book supplies that information plus clear pictures of the pollinator in larvae form, which is invaluable when determining if I have an invading force in the yard or I’m seeing normal wear and tear by native beneficials.

    The largest part of the book comprises the two-page spreads of 65 native plants. A few chapters in the beginning offer general advice from anatomy to ecothreats. At the end of the book, you’ll find visual botany glossaries, charts, garden designs, and more.

    Pollinators of Native Plants is an outstanding reference on native trees and flowers that support our native pollinators. The detailed yet friendly layout make it easy to apply the information to your own property.

    Heather Holm currently lives in Minnesota where she assists with native been research projects, the most recent being a study on native pollinators and cultivated blueberries. As a community supporter, she helps restore city-owned property for pollinators and people. You can keep up with Heather’s speaking engagements here: https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/.

    Susan Harkins is the Managing Editor of The Lady Slipper.

  • Presidents message

    Cumberland Pitch Pine Barrens of Pine Mountain, a rare community in Kentucky

    Hello fellow native plant enthusiasts.  It’s been roughly 6 months since the pandemic took hold of our daily lives.  Plans were put on hold.  Refocused efforts on health and safety of our families and friends immediately became priority.  KNPS had started out the year with a lot of momentum with our strategic planning meeting, and I would like to personally thank our board member Jeff Nelson for leading this effort.  Our committee members were planning hikes, symposiums, seed exchanges, forming an official plant conservation alliance, and bringing back our native plant stewardship program.  But these plans quickly had to be canceled or postponed out of caution for our members and friends.  So much uncertainty affected everyone and it does not seem to be getting any better at this time.  Life is precious and we only have one chance to live it.  It’s okay to switch gears in order to remain focused on what is fundamentally most important.  Despite all the unexpected events of this year, our online newsletter continued with some really great articles.  I want to personally thank Susan Harkins, our editor in chief, for all her work organizing and publishing The Lady Slipper along with coeditor and EKU student Nick Koenig. 

    We are now beginning to regroup and plan for a virtual meeting this fall.  In the meantime, I know many of you all have been getting outside and continuing to find solace and comfort in the constant yet ever changing natural world, where spring fades to summer, fall, and the inevitable winter,  always changing, yet always there for us to witness all of the amazing diversity we have outside our back doors.  Seek out diversity of the plants in our natural areas, as well as the company you keep.  It’s important.  We will all come together again eventually, but until then let’s navigate this virtual world. 

    Join our Facebook and Instagram groups.  Join the discussions.  Don’t forget to document your observations on our naturalist projects for documenting native plants on roadsides and our Botanists Big Year 2020, https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-roadside-native-plants and https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-botanists-big-year-2020.  If you are interested in helping with any of our ongoing plant conservation projects, please contact us to find ways to plug you into some of our ongoing projects that we coordinate through the Office of Kentucky Nature preserves.   

    Tara R. Littlefield, KNPS president and Kentucky Plant Conservation Coordinator

    Above are a few of the interesting plants and communities I have worked on this year, from remnant grasslands in our natural areas, powerline and roadsides, to seeps/bogs and orchid restoration, and forest biodiversity surveys. Kentucky is such a beautiful state with so much diversity! T.R. Littlefield

  • From The Lady Slipper Archives: New England Aster: 2010 Wildflower of the Year

    From The Lady Slipper Archives: New England Aster: 2010 Wildflower of the Year

    The Lady Slipper newsletter of the Kentucky Native Plant Society has been published since the Society’s founding in 1986. With this article, we will begin to occasionally feature an article from a past issue. This one, about one of Kentucky’s loveliest natives, the New England Aster, first appeared in the summer of 2010, Vol. 25, No. 2. If you would like to see other past issues, visit the Lady Slipper Archives, where all issues from Vol. 1, No. 1, February 1986 to Vol. 34, No. 1, Winter/Spring 2019 (after which we moved to this blog format) can be found.

    The author, Mary Carol Cooper, left a huge legacy to the native plant community when she passed in 2016. In almost every native plant gathering, her name is mentioned and a moment is given over to appreciate her knowledge, which she freely shared. Her passion led many of us to our love of natives; she was a mentor and friend to many of us.

    New England Aster: 2010 Wildflower of the Year

    By Mary Carol Cooper, Salato Center Native Plant Program Coordinator

    The Wildflower of the Year is chosen based on the number of nominations it receives and this year more wildflower enthusiasts statewide voted than ever before! They chose New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) as the Salato Native Plant Program Wildflower of the Year for 2010. Aster comes from the Greek word for “star.” It describes the star-like form of the flower. Other familiar words using “aster” are astronomy, astrology and astronaut. According to Greek legend, the aster was created out of stardust when Virgo (the maiden Astraea, goddess of innocence and purity) looking down from heaven, wept. Asters were scared to all the gods and goddesses and beautiful wreaths made from the blossoms were placed on temple altars on very important festive occasions. Known in France as “eye of Christ” and in Germany as starworts, asters were often burned to keep away evil spirits. A hodgepodge of asters was thought to cure the bite of a mad dog. Shakers used the plant to clear their complexions and ancient Greeks used it as an antidote for snakebites and to drive away snakes. Virgil believed that boiling aster leaves in wine and placing them close to a hive of bees would improve the honey. Native Americans found many uses for asters, from treating skin rashes and earaches to stomach pains and intestinal fevers. Nerve medicines and cures for insanity were made from some asters and others were eaten as food. Some were smoked in pipes as a charm to attract game, especially deer. Today there are no medical uses for asters.

    New England Aster, photo by Thomas Barnes

    The genus Aster has recently undergone a name change due to close study using DNA testing and other techniques. There are about 150 flowering plants in North America traditionally placed in the aster genus. About 50 of them are considered common and widespread. Now there is only one species left with the name Aster. The other species have been given several tongue-twisting generic names. For the botanist, renaming of the asters brought accuracy and order. For the layperson, it removed some wonderfully colorful names and replaced them with unspellable and unpronounceable names! Aster novae-angliae was translated as “star of New England” and now as Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, it is literally “fused hairs of New England.” The word Symphyotrichum was created in 1832 to describe the hairs on the seeds of a European plant.

    New England Aster is an erect perennial that grows to a height of 2’ to 6’ tall with a stout root crown or thick, short rhizome and clustered stems, usually with spreading hairs. The leaves are alternate, sessile, entire, lanceolate, 1” to 4” long with pointed lobes at the base that conspicuously clasp the stem. The ray flowers range from violet, rose, or magenta and are very showy. The disk flowers are yellow. This aster is one of our largest and showiest asters. There can be from 40 to 80 ray flowers on a head! These asters bloom from August to October and are a critical late-season nectar plant for butterflies, especially the Monarch, that stock up for their long migration to Mexico. New England Asters are found in mesic to wet open woods and fields across Kentucky. They prefer average to moist soil and full sun. Not only are the New England Asters critical for Monarch butterflies, it is the host plant for the Pearl Crescent and one of the host plants for the Saddleback Caterpillar Moth. Several game birds, including the wild turkey, a few songbirds, including the tree sparrow, and small mammals, such as the chipmunk and white-footed mouse, feed on the leaves and seeds. Work plantings of New England Aster into your fall landscape. Use them singly or in small groups in the rear of a sunny border. They look beautiful with our native sunflowers, goldenrods, mistflower and rose mallow. They are also perfect for rain gardens as they thrive on moist to dry soil. They are easy to naturalize in roadside ditches, road banks, and open grassy areas. A sunny site where soil remains moist throughout the season is also ideal. Asters have always been recognized as decorations. The flowers of most species last several days after being picked and put into vases, so what better than New England Asters in beautiful fall arrangements along with other fall bloomers.

  • Invasive Plant Corner – Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)

    By Nick Koenig

    Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), often called Stiltgrass or most commonly Microstegium, is a shade tolerant grass in the Poaceae/Grass plant family. This is the second most biodiverse plant family in Kentucky right behind Asteraceae/Sunflower family. Given the massive number of species in the family and the distinctness between members in the family, recognizing Microstegium can be tricky but I hope to help so that native plant lovers can start to remove this species from their landscape!

    Description

    It is likely if you have hiked along a creek in a disturbed area or walked along a road, you have probably come across Japanese Stiltgrass and thought nothing of it. However, this should be of great concern to landowners/land managers/native plant enthusiast. Once you can competently identify the next patch of Microstegium you come across, you can help eradicate it from the area.

    DISTINCT FEATURES

    By far, the most distinctive feature for Microstegium that I use in field identification is the faint silver line running down the middle vein of the leaf. This characteristic is not as prominent and distinctive among any other native grasses in Kentucky.

    Silver line on leaf of Microstegium (picture taken by Nick Koenig).

    APPEARANCE

    Japanese Stiltgrass is a “weak-stemmed annual, branching, decumbent [running along the ground then rising up], rooting at the lower nodes [points where leaves or stems come out].” (Weakley 2015).

    Picture of a few Microstegium shoots prior to flowering and seeding (picture provided by Jeff Nelson).

    LEAVES

    As described in the Flora of the Southeast (Weakley), the leaves are ovate-lanceolate (meaning oval and much longer than wide, roughly 2.5-7 times longer than wide ), 2-10 cm long tapering at the base.

    HABITAT

    Microstegium can most likely be found in “disturbed areas, colonizing moist, rich soil, especially in floodplains” such as along a creek bank where it is often found (Weakley 2015). Due to the Japanese Stiltgrass’s ability of being shade-tolerant, the species can make deep incursions in a forested area.

    Example of Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stiltgrass) growing alongside the beautiful native, Impatiens capensis (Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Orange Jewelweed; picture provided by Jeff Nelson).
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  • Observations on Cohabitation with a Native Landscape

    By Karen Lanier

    I am a transplant. I’m not a Kentucky native, and I’ve become naturalized here. In 2012, I shifted my lifestyle from migratory traveler to a rooted homesteader when I moved from the arid southwest to the lush and verdant southeast. By staying in one place for the past several years, my restless wandering spirit has calmed down. In the forest garden that my partner, Russ Turpin, and I call our yard, I find unexpected joy in relationships between myself and the place, the plants, and the animals.

    Curiosity and a disdain for boredom spurs me to learn more about the natural world. I don’t take for granted the beauty of our natural yard that buffers our home from the traffic, heat and noise of the city.

    My home environment is much more urban than many of the places I’ve lived, so it’s important for me to bring nature as close as possible. A landscape full of native plants, providing habitat for insects, birds, amphibians, and mammals, is also a vibrant space for human creatures like me to just be. Daily comforts of my forest-y yard include the smell of moist leaf litter, dappled shade of oaks and redbuds, rain droplets bejeweling jewelweed, wild mushrooms appearing in all colors and shapes, and spicebush hedges that provide a privacy screen.

    It’s not all peace and harmony though. Nature can be a difficult neighbor. I’d like to share four main considerations for the novice natural landscaper to be mindful of. In any relationship, it’s important to manage our expectations and work with natural tendencies.

    1. Scaling Down

    As I’ve come to terms with the smaller adventures that await me just outside my back door, my appreciation for the little things has grown immensely. I had never known the spectacular scenes of fireflies as a child, so I’m full of wonder at these luminescent fairy-like creatures on warm summer nights. (https://www.hobbyfarms.com/the-decline-of-fireflies/)

    A spicebush swallowtail caterpillar graced our garden and kept us turning leaves over to check on it for weeks. Finding other insect eggs underneath leaves is like discovering new life on another planet, but it’s right under our noses all the time! Within our 7,000 square foot yard, keeping an eye out for the incremental changes in the landscape gives me a reason to take slow and quiet walks, and look and listen closely.

    Spicebush swallowtail

    Fitting everything we want into the property requires a lot of creativity, and some compromises. Planting in layers maximizes space. I have learned that there are not many colorful flowers that grow in the shade, so our yard is monochromatic compared to our neighbors’ sunny and nearly treeless lots. Accepting that the yard is a woodland rather than a park ecosystem was an important step in stopping the cycle of wanting something to grow just because I like it, only to watch it die because it’s the wrong plant in the wrong space.

    Now, we have agreed to leave a space open until we find the right shade-loving plant for the forest floor layer. Some happy residents there are wild ginger (Asarum canadense), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), and a variety of ferns and sedges. Our newest additions are forest medicinals: black cohosh (Actaea racemosa), ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis). Planted last fall, they are thriving under the protection of our big pin oak. It feels like we have made a new friend who feels right at home. Their habitat is the right size, has the right amount of light, and fits them with just the right amount of space.

    Black cohosh
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