Tag Archives: Allilaria

Superhero

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Every spring I go looking for long-tube valerian, aka few-flowered valerian or large-flower valerian (Valeriana pauciflora), a forb of wet wooded areas that sports a stunning inflorescence. In Maryland it’s listed S1/E [see my previous post for definitions]. I know of four distinct populations in the Maryland piedmont.

Last week I was at one of those sites, setting up the camera on the tripod, and while looking around for a good candidate (since the flowers were just starting to bloom and the dappled forest light was making annoying shadows), I noticed a fair amount of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and a few star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), too.

Those two species are invasive aliens. While garlic mustard is a well-known pest, star-of-Bethlehem gets less attention. The first time I saw it in those woods, maybe seven or eight years ago, there were just a few. But every year, there are more and more.

 

 

Here’s a picture of its close cousin, nodding star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum nutans), invading a floodplain in Frederick County.

 

 

 

So anyway, before shooting, I donned this vest and pulled some weeds.

I don’t do this nearly as often as I should. But I took a class, was given a vest, and am therefore allowed to do a certain amount of invasive alien plant removal in a few specified areas. There are so many invasive aliens in those areas that I’ve decided to limit my efforts to places with populations of RTEs (rare, threatened, endangered species).

I’m not sure who originated the Weed Warrior concept, but Carole Bergmann of Montgomery Parks started our local  program in 1999, and there are others in the DMV. If you’re inclined to do some volunteering and make a difference, I urge you to look for a local Weed Warrior group and sign up. At the same time I strongly urge you not to just start pulling weeds. It’s illegal to do so in most public parks, unless you have permission, for a good reason: it’s easy to do real damage to native plant populations if you don’t know what you’re doing. So please, get involved, but do so responsibly.

Heart-Shaped Basal Leaves

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At this time of year many plants are putting out – or have already have put out – heart-shaped leaves that stay close to the ground. Like the violets in my last post, for example. Or like these, which belong to wild ginger (Asarum canadense).  —>

I was thinking recently about two other species with similar cordate basal leaves. When young, they are easily confused with each other, at least at first glance. Luckily, I was able to find both growing right next to each other!

<—At bottom center in this photo is a particularly despised alien invasive called garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). Surrounding it is a much-loved native called golden ragwort (Packera aurea, formerly Senecio aureus). Here’s a little primer on how to tell them apart.

 

These are leaves of golden ragwort. ->

Note that the leaf edges are somewhat crenate (scalloped), almost serrate, and that the leaf vein pattern is pinnate. The underside of the leaf has a purplish blush. 

 

This one belongs to garlic mustard. –>

The leaf edges are clearly scalloped rather than toothed. The leaf venation is also pinnate, but also netted, giving the leaf a bit of a crinkled appearance.

 

<— This is a stem leaf of golden ragwort. Look at how different it is from the stem leaves of garlic mustard [below], which look similar to the basal leaves. Also in this photo you can see the flower buds at top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are buds of golden ragwort. By the time the plants reach this stage, they are easy to tell apart.

 

 

 

 

And here they are in bloom.

 

 

 

Garlic mustard is in the Brassicaceae, a family which also includes several of our native spring ephemerals, like the toothworts and rockcresses. Golden ragwort is in the Asteraceae, and is by far the earliest blooming native of that family (in this region, anyway).