Big Blue

Posted on September 16, 2016 by elizabeth

big bluestem,
tall bluestem,
turkeyfoot
Andropogon gerardii
Poaceae

When you read the word “prairie”, what do you think of? Buffalo roaming the grasses of the Great Plains? Amber waves of grain?

Prairies are temperate grassland ecosystems, as are the pampas of South America and the steppes of Eurasia, and “prairie” is most often used to describe very large areas. But there are smaller prairies in different parts of the US, including riverside prairies and bedrock terrace prairies right here in the Potomac Gorge. And on some of those, one of the dominant forms of vegetation is big bluestem, also the dominant grass species of the tallgrass prairies of the midwest. It can be found in most of the rest of the US (except the far west) and Canada, as well.

Big bluestem is a clump forming grass, growing to six feet tall and taller when in flower. Given the right conditions (plenty of water) it can also be a sod-forming grass, but you won’t find that in the Gorge. It has blue-ish stems that turn red in autumn. Dainty yellow flowers appear in August and persist through the winter.

Big bluestem is considered weedy by some authorities, but the terrain and hydrology of the bedrock terraces in the gorge limit its growth there. Look for isolated clumps in areas of full sun well above mean water level.

And A Hundred Miles to the South (Gentians, part 3)

Posted on September 13, 2016 by elizabeth

From Grand Mesa we went south about one hundred miles to Telluride. The San Sophia gondola station, at an elevation of about 10,500 feet above sea level, is a great place to start a hike. But great hiking doesn’t necessarily lead to great botanizing. As a matter of fact, in order to find the good stuff you have to slow down. Which I did. At first I saw nothing but alien invasives, the types of plants that colonize open, disturbed areas. Believe me, ski slopes fit the definition of “disturbed”. But then I saw an area crammed full of plants. Figuring there was some groundwater allowing this dense stand, I worked my way carefully up the slope (trying not to step on anything interesting) and started poking about. One of the first things I found was yet another gentian.

autumn dwarf gentian,
northern gentian, felwort
Gentianella amarella subsp. acuta
Gentianaceae

Some authorities recognize three subspecies of G. amarella. I’m fairly certain from the descriptions on the Southwest Colorado Wildflowers site that this one is subspecies acuta. It’s wide ranging, found in most of the West, upper Midwest, a few occurrences in New England (endangered in Maine and threatened in Vermont), all of Canada, Greenland, Scotland, Finland, China, and maybe more. One of the other sub-species, heterosepala, has a much more limited range: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

G. amarella subsp. acuta is either annual or biennial (sources differ on this point), growing to a height of no more than 18 inches in the montane and subalpine life zones (in Colorado, anyway). The specimens I found were considerably shorter, not quite hidden in the grass, and well-branched and full of blossoms.

Nineteen Hundred Miles to the West (Gentians, part 2)

Posted on September 12, 2016 by elizabeth

Two days after discovering rosepink at Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park, Steve and I were in Grand Junction, Colorado, heading south to Telluride. With most of the day open for exploring, we headed up to Grand Mesa National Forest. And I do mean up – Grand Mesa tops out at 11,332 feet above sea level, or about 6,700 feet above Grand Junction. Many websites claim that it’s the largest flat-topped mountain in the world; even if it isn’t, it covers an impressive 500 square mile area.

It’s certainly a lovely place. We didn’t do much hiking, but I spotted about a dozen different species of wildflowers, including another gentian.

mountain gentian,
Parry’s mountain gentian,
bottle gentian
Gentiana parryi
Gentianaceae

This is one of only two species of Gentian found in Grand Mesa NF, if I’ve done the research correctly. Its range is limited to the Rocky Mountains from southern Wyoming to northern New Mexico, and parts of Utah and Arizona. It grows in open areas in moist soils, usually in the montane, subalpine, and alpine life zones*.

Mountain gentian is a perennial that grows up to about 18 inches tall, with a terminal cluster of just a few flowers (typically three to five), which bloom from June through September. The flowers remain tightly closed, the tips of the fused petals spreading open only when exposed to enough sun (cloudy days won’t do).

For more information visit the mountain gentian page at the excellent Southwest Colorado Wildflowers site.

*montane: 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level
subalpine: 10,000 feet above sea level to timber line (about 12,000 feet)
alpine: above timber line

My Year of the Gentians (part 1)

Posted on September 11, 2016 by elizabeth

Earlier this year I was thrilled to spot my first gentian family species, pennywort (Obolaria virginica), at Rachel Carson Conservation Park. Then last week, I found three more gentian family species, one at Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park, and the other two in Colorado. More on those in the next two posts.

rosepink, bitterbloom,
rose gentian,
American centaury
Sabatia angularis
Gentianaceae

Of the nineteen or so species of Sabatia native to the US, five can be found in Maryland. Of those five, only this one is widespread across the state; the other four are mostly limited to the coastal plain. Two of those are listed as S1/endangered.

Rosepink is a biennial, growing a basal rosette of leaves in its first year and sending up a flowering stalk in its second. The plant reaches to a height of about two and a half feet, with flowers up to an inch and a half across open from July through September. Look for rosepink in meadows and woodland clearings with moist to dry, acidic soils. The two specimens I found were sheltering under the outermost edges of an eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) in a power line right-of-way.

This species ranges from Ontario south into northern Florida, east to New York (with some occurrences in Massachusetts and Connecticut), and southwest into eastern Texas and Oklahoma. It’s threatened in Michigan and endangered in New York.

Common Dittany

Posted on September 9, 2016 by elizabeth

aka American dittany, Maryland dittany,
frost mint, stone mint, sweet horsemint,
fairy skirts
Cunila origanoides
Lamiaceae

Like the blue curls in my last post, common dittany is in the mint family. It has the characteristic square stems and paired leaves, not to mention a marked fragrance like oregano or thyme, but the flowers are a little atypical. They lack “lips”, and have two stamens rather than four. The flowers are found in terminal clusters and in axillary clusters on the upper portions of the stems.

This species is a perennial subshrub that grows to about one foot tall, with branches often sprawling or flopped over. I came across a single specimen in the Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park, growing in textbook common dittany habitat: dry soil, shade from trees overhead, and little to no competition from other plants on the forest floor.

There are about a dozen species of Cunila. All except this one are native to South America and southern North America (as far north as Mexico). C. origanoides‘ range includes an area somewhat to the east and west of the Appalachians, from southern New York through South Carolina, and the Ozarks, with a few scattered occurrences elsewhere.

The plant probably got its common moniker “dittany” from a similar looking old-world herb, dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus). The specific epithet origanoides means “like oregano”. Native Americans made a tea of common dittany for a variety of medicinal purposes, but please note that it does not have FDA “generally recognized as safe” status (according to The Herb Society of America).

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Monthly Archives: September 2016