sep-oct 2009 sego lily newsletter, utah native plant society

8/9/2019 Sep-Oct 2009 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

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Utah Native Plant Society

Officers

President: Bill King (Salt Lake Co)Vice President: Walter Fertig (Kane Co)Treasurer: Charlene Homan (Salt Lake

Co)Secretary: Mindy Wheeler (Summit

Co)Board Chair: Dave Wallace (Cache Co)

UNPS Board: Loreen Allphin (UtahCo), Robert Fitts (Utah Co), Susan Fitts(Utah Co), Bill Gray (Salt Lake Co),Marie Griffiths (Salt Lake Co), Ty Harri-son (Salt Lake Co), Celeste Kennard(Utah Co), Kipp Lee (Salt Lake Co),Margaret Malm (Washington Co), Larry

Meyer (Salt Lake Co), Therese Meyer(Salt Lake Co), Jeff Mitchell (Utah Co),Leila Shultz (Cache Co), Maggie Wolf(Salt Lake Co).

CommitteesCommunications: Larry MeyerConservation: Bill King and Tony

Frates

Education: Ty HarrisonHorticulture: Maggie WolfInvasive Weeds: Susan FittsRare Plants: Walter FertigScholarship: Bill Gray

Chapters and Chapter PresidentsCache: Amy Croft and Michael PiepCedar City: Marguerite SmithEscalante: Harriet Priska

Fremont: Maria UlloaManzanita: Walter FertigMountain: Mindy WheelerPrice: Mike HubbardSalt Lake: Marni AmbroseSouthwestern/Bearclaw poppy: Mar-

garet MalmUtah Valley: Celeste Kennard

Website: For late-breaking news, theUNPS store, the Sego Lily archives,Chapter events, links to other websites(including sources of native plants andthe digital Utah Rare Plant FieldGuide), and more, go to unps.org.

Many thanks to Xmission forsponsoring our website.

For more information on UNPS:Contact Bill King (582-0432) or SusanFitts (356-5108), or write to UNPS, POBox 520041, Salt Lake City, UT, 84152-0041 or email [email protected]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sego Lily Editor: Walter Fertig([email protected]). The deadline forthe November 2009Sego Lily is 15October 2009.

Copyright 2009 Utah Native PlantSociety. All Rights Reserved

TheSego Lily is a publication of theUtah Native Plant Society, a 501(c)(3)

not-for-profit organization dedicatedto conserving and promoting steward-ship of our native plants. Use of con-tent material is encouraged but re-quires permission (except where ex-empted by statute) and must be cor-rectly credited and cited. Articles,photographs and illustrations submit-ted to us remain the property of thesubmitting individuals or organiza-tions. Submit permission requests [email protected]. We encourage read-ers to submit articles for potentialpublication. By submitting an article,an implicit license is granted to print

the article in the newsletter or otherUNPS publications for reprint withoutpermission (in print and electronicmedia). When submitting an article,please indicate whether it has beenpreviously published or submitted forconsideration to other publications.

Chapter News

Cache: Saturday, September 19:activity to be announced. Join us ina surprise outdoor activity. We arekeeping this one under wraps until itis ready to hatch. One hint thoughit will be happening up Logan Can-yon!

Saturday, October 17AnnualUNPS Members Meeting hosted bythe Cache Chapter and to be held atthe Cache Valley Learning Center.Time and Speaker to be announced.

Herbarium activities: White Pine

Lake Walk, Saturday, September 5,9 AM. Meet at Tony Grove LakeParking Lot. This enjoyable walk isloaded with wildflowers and will beled by Dr. Mary Barkworth. We rec-ommend lots of water and a lunch.The hike usually takes 4 hoursround trip. Contact Mary Bark-worth at [email protected] formore information. Michael Piep

Washburn, founder of both the Ce-dar City and Escalante chapters,

who moved to Monte Vista Grove,CA, on August 5th. Mayor Sherrattspoke briefly about the wonderfulcontributions Winnie made duringher too few years in Cedar City.Winnie was presented with a mem-bership in the Huntington BotanicalGardens. Many comments weremade about Winnies boundless en-ergy, positive impact, and the manycontributions she made to the com-munity.

Thanks again to Winnie for hercharitable donations of all proceeds

from her garage sale to the localchapter (a very generous $700).

On September 15-16, a WaterwiseWorkshop will be held for profes-sionals and homeowners at the Fes-tival Hall, 105 N 100 E in Cedar City.Topics will include planning anddesigning your landscape, turf op-tions, efficient irrigation design, andmore. Register on-line or pick upforms from Iron County Extensionby 11 Sept.Alice Maas

Cedar City: Last months pro-gram featured Bill Gray of theUNPS state board and his exqui-site photographs taken in Australiaof exotic wildflowers that onlygrow in that area. The presenta-tion was followed by a receptionhonoring the remarkable Winnie


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Sego Lily September 2009 32 (5)

the September 11-13 hike andcampout at Deep Creek in

Millard County. Contact Bob at435-527-1099 for further infor-mation.

We are sponsoring a MemberAppreciation Dinner on Septem-ber 26. Location is to be an-nounced. Meat will be furnishedby the chapter and potluck bythe members. If you are plan-ning to attend, please contactMaria Ulloa at 893-2176.

Since our 2009 calendar washighly successful, the chapterwill be creating a new calendar.

We are inviting all chapters inthe state to submit dates of ma-jor 2010 events for their chap-ters so they can be added to thecalendar. Submissions should besent to jbnielson@sisna. com bySeptember 15.Janet Nielson

Manzanita (Kane County):The chapters fall plant sale willbe held on Saturday, September5 in conjunction with the KanabFarmers Market. Janett Warner

of Wildland Nursery will be onhand with her usual eclectic se-lection of native shrubs, grasses,and wildflowers grown in Jo-seph, Utah.

On Tuesday, September 29 wewill have an evening field trip toDianas Throne and The SandHills, north of Hwy 89 and CoralPink Sand Dunes. This area al-ways has a good show of fallflowering composites and other

Escalante: Saturday, August 22, 9AM: Seed collecting and propagat-ing field trip with Maria Ulloa, bota-nist from the Richfield BLM office.Meet downtown at the marquee andbring interested friends and family.We will be going up the Main Can-yon Road into the Dixie NationalForest. Please bring your own water

and sack lunch, plus paper enve-lopes and markers. Afterwards, joinus for a BBQ potluck at the Delt-honys west of Escalante.

Saturday September 19, 9 AM:The Fungus Among Us! field trip.Search for edible mushrooms withCraig Sorensen around the BarkerReservoirs. See the wonderful vari-ety of colors and shapes of fungi.Craig will identify the only two spe-cies that he is certain are good forhuman consumption! Meet at the

marquee and we will carpool. Bringwater, a sack lunch, and your cam-era.

September 23-24, 10 AM5 PM:Escalante Art Festival. Please adviseus if you can work one or two hourshifts at the ENPS table. Thank youfor thinking of things to donate tosell. Proceeds will be split 50/50between ENPS and the Main StreetCommittee. This is our only fund-raiser for both activities and yoursupport is appreciated.HarrietPriska

Fremont (Richfield area): Thexeric plantings at the Sevier Countycourthouse in Richfield have flour-ished and the county commissionersare pleased with the results. Espe-cially showy have been the Fire-cracker penstemon, Missouri prim-rose, andNepeta. The south parkingstrip is eye-catching with sprouts ofLittle bluestem alternating withmounds of Apache plume.

Also the native plant garden at

Sam Stowe Campground in FremontState Park is in its second year,showing real development. Werefinding which plants are happy inthis location, which are not, andwhich ones are delicious treats forrabbits, rockchucks, and deer. Allpenstemons are thriving and resist-ing local critter attacks. Oakleaf su-mac andEphedra are also makingthe lovely red rock canyon home.

We invite anyone interested tojoin us and our hikemaster Bob for

Above: UNPS members experience Ari-zona willow (Salix arizonica) up closeand personal at Cedar Breaks NM onthe Societys annual field trip (july 18)sponsored by the Cedar City chapter.Photo by Harriet Priska.

wildflowers for our viewing enjoy-ment (and many will be in fruit).Meet at the Best Friends WelcomeCenter (on the lower road parallel-ing Kanab Creek) at 6 PM to viewthe gardens before leaving at 6:30PM to carpool to Dianas Throne.Walter Fertig

Salt Lake: Kipp Lee has steppeddown as chapter president to con-centrate on finishing his botanystudies at the U of U. Thanks Kippfor all the work you did to help getthe chapter moving again after along quiescence. Our new presidentwill be Marni Ambrose, and we hopeto put together a varied program ofwinter talks and summer walks.

In late May Kipp and Bill Grayorganized a camping trip to theWedge Overlook in San RafaelSwell, which was attended by 9

members. We had a great time get-ting away from Salt Lake's unsea-sonably wet Spring. Although thediminutivePediocactus despainiihad already finished blooming it wasa treat to see the tiny balls startingto bury themselves as they dry outfor the summer. There were greatdisplays of the Lavender-leaf Sun-drops (Calylophus lavandulifolius)and the always intriguing Giliastenothyrsa. -Bill Gray


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Help Wanted!

Dinosaur National MonumentCan GrowWith Your Help

Although John Wesley Powellsflotilla had passed through the areain 1869, the Green River drainage in

Utahs northern Uinta Basin wasstill largely unexplored in the early20th Century. Paleontologist EarlDouglass of the Carnegie Museumhad a hunch that the exposures ofMorrison Formation rocks in thevicinity of Split Mountain (wherethe Green saws through massiverock walls) might be a good place tohunt for dinosaur bones. Douglasshit paydirt in the summer of 1909,and his dinosaur quarry eventuallybecame the centerpiece of Dinosaur

National Monument when it wascreated by President Woodrow Wil-son in 1915.

Earl Douglass purchased a smallfarm near his beloved quarry, whichhas remained in his family to thisday despite the expansion of themonument in the 1930s and 1960s.This 80 acre inholding is centeredon Orchard Draw (as the familycalled it) or Orchid Draw (as de-picted on USGS maps) and is lo-cated just west of the monumentsquarry visitor center. For botanists,

Orchard Draw is as significant amotherlode of rare and endemicplant species as the adjacent Quarryis for dinosaur bones. At least 9 rareand unusual plant species areknown from Orchard Draw, includ-ing Jones amsonia (Amsonia jone-sii), Duchesne milkvetch (Astrag-alus duchesnensis), Dinosaur milk-vetch (A. saurinus), Uinta Basincryptanth (Cryptantha breviflora),Duchesne spring-parsley(Cymopterus duchesnensis), Giant

helleborine orchid (Epipactis gigan-tea), Orchard snakeweed(Gutierrezia pomariensiswhichwas first discovered as a new speciesby Stan Welsh from a specimentaken at Orchard Draw), and thefederally Threatened Ute ladies-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis).Many of these species are highlythreatened in the Uinta Basin andare only protected within DinosaurNational Monument. Loss of thiscritical inholding to development

would impact their survival, aswell as potentially detract from thepaleontological and historical val-ues of the monument itself.

Earl Douglass heirs have of-fered to trade the Orchard/OrchidDraw inholding to the federal gov-ernment for BLM lands in Colo-rado that would transfer to a localranching family. If approved byCongress, the inholding would be

incorporated into Dinosaur Na-tional Monument and be added toan existing Special Botanical Inter-est Area on the south side of SplitMountain.

If you would like to see this bo-tanically important area protectedin perpetuity, please contact ourstate congressional delegation andask them to support the OrchidDraw land swap. - Walter Fertig

Help Needed to Save the

Dwarf Bear PoppyEditors Note: In the July issue, wemistakenly reported that the fundingfor TNCs White Dome Preserve nearSt. George was already complete.Larrisa Barry, communication direc-tor with TNC offers a correction andan appeal for help!

The Nature Conservancy needsyour help to protect some of thelast remaining habitat for the

Above: Dwarf bear poppy (Arctomeconhumilis) just visited by a departing bee.Photo by Shirley Surfus.

dwarf bear poppy (Arctomecon hu-milis), an endangered wildflowerfound in Washington County, Utah,and nowhere else on Earth. TheConservancy and its partners havealready secured protection for 330acres of critical habitat in south St.George, creating the White Dome

Nature Preserve. Thanks to recentfederal funding, the Conservancy isnow poised to acquire an additional470 acrescompleting the preserveand establishing a viable oasis for arange of at-risk Mojave desert spe-cies.

To make these vital land pur-chases, the Conservancy must stillraise more than $300,000 in privatedonations from supporters. In bur-geoning Washington County, humanimpacts have already destroyed 50

percent of the dwarf bear poppyshistoric habitat. The White DomeNature Preserve will not only pro-tect precious land for the poppy, butit will give scientists a chance tostudy the plants life cycle and polli-nation processes, creating a restora-tion plan to ensure the poppys longterm survival. To help the Conser-vancy complete the White DomeNature Preserve, contact Heidi Mos-burg at [email protected] (801)531-0999.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Native Gardens and Native Animals

Native pollinators are not asdependent on native flowers asherbivorous insects are on theirfood plants. For example a mon-arch caterpillar must feed on milk-weed, but the monarch butterflywill sip nectar from many differentflowers. Furthermore, some exoticplants are actually beneficial tonative pollinators. For example,leafy spurge, which was introducedas an ornamental, produces copi-ous, easily-accessible nectar and isregularly visited by native bees.Nonetheless, non-native ornamen-tals often will have flowers that arenot beneficial to native pollinators.A team of Oxford researchers com-

pared native pollinator visitationto five native and several non-native horticultural plants in Eng-land. They found that all five na-tives were commonly visited bynative bees and flies. On the otherhand, one of the exotics was ofsubtropical origin and was birdrather than insect-pollinated. Inaddition, some of the non-nativespecies failed even to produce nec-tar.

Above: Milberts tortoiseshell butterfly(Aglais milberti)on Cut-leaved ground-sel (Senecio eremophilus) at Brian HeadPeak on Cedar Mountain. Photo by KenKingsley.

It is clear that additional studieson the thousands of introducedornamentals are needed to sort outwhich species can be beneficial fornative animals. Many may be asgood as some natives. But right nowits a good bet that, all else beingequal, natives will do more for ourbirds and bees than conventionallandscaping.

ReferencesBurghardt, K.T., D.W. Tallamy, andW.G. Shriver. 2008. Impact of nativeplants on bird and butterfly biodiversityin suburban landscapes. ConservationBiology 23:219-224.

Corbet, S.A., J. Bee, K. Dasmahapatra, S.Gale, E. Gorringe, B. La Ferla, T. Moor-house, A. Trevail, Y. Van Bergen, and M.Vorontsova. 2001. Native or exotic?Double or single? Evaluating plants forpollinator-friendly gardens. Annals ofBotany 87:219-232.

By Peter LesicaReprinted from the Summer 2009issue ofKelseya, the newsletter of

the Montana Native Plant Society

Development has converted mil-lions of acres of native vegetation tourban and suburban landscapes.Preservation of the remaining nativehabitat is critical, but allowing forthe survival of native species in al-tered environments also has a majorpart to play in conservation.

Recent studies have shown thatgardening with natives can play arole in conserving native diversity in

urbanized landscapes. The mostcommonly mentioned reason forusing natives in landscaping is thatexotic plants can escape cultivationand become troublesome or evendestructive weeds. Indeed, morethan half of the noxious weeds in theUnited States were first introducedfor horticultural purposes. Butthere are other ways that gardeningwith natives can help conserve bio-logical diversity. Evidence that na-tive urban landscaping results ingreater animal diversity and abun-dance is beginning to accumulate.

Douglas Tallamy and colleaguesat the University of Delaware com-pared a half dozen Pennsylvaniasuburban yards landscaped withnative plants to similar yards withconventional exotic ornamentalsand turf. They found that therewere three times more species ofnative butterfly and moth larvae andtwice as many insectivorous birdspecies in the native compared toconventional yards. Moreover, both

native birds and butterflies weremore abundant in the native yards.This should not be surprising be-cause the vast majority of herbivo-rous insects, such as butterfly larvae,are specialiststhey thrive on onlyone or a few closely-related plantspecies. Non-native plants, no mat-ter how pretty they are, just wont dofor a meal. And since non-nativeyards have fewer insect species,there are fewer insectivorous birdsas well.


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By Walter Fertig

In order to stave off the threat ofwidespread species loss, conserva-tion biologists hope to eventuallycreate a network of protected areasacross North America that will pre-serve a representative sample of thecontinents full native plant and ani-mal diversity. National park unitsare an important component of thisnetwork, as they are among themost highly protected of all landsand are managed with an emphasis

on preserving native species. Utahhas one of the highest concentra-tions of national parks and monu-ments in the United States, as wellas one of the richest biotas.

But how effective is the existingsystem of Utah parklands in meetingthe goal of full representation of bio-logical diversity? To find out, I com-piled vascular plant species check-lists for 14 national parks, monu-ments, recreation areas, and historicsites in the state managed by theNational Park Service and the Bu-

reau of Land Management into amaster species database derivedfrom the 4th edition ofA Utah Flora(Welsh et al. 2008). I wanted to seehow many species were present inthese parklands, what sort of specieswere absent, and how importanteach park was to the overall net-work. I hoped that patterns mightemerge that would help guide futureprotection efforts for geographicareas, habitats, and species that re-main inadequately protected.

Species Richness: Not surpris-ingly, I found that larger parklands,on average, had the greatest numberof species (also called species rich-ness or alpha diversity). Based ondata current through 2008, GrandStaircase-Escalante National Monu-ment (GSENM) had the highest spe-cies richness of any of the parklandsI examined, with 999 taxa. At over761,000 ha, GSENM is also the larg-est protected area in Utah. Overall,the six largest parks all had the larg-

est floras (see table above). Like-wise, the six smallest units had thelowest species richness. These

patterns generally hold if park areais normalized by taking the naturallog of the area, though Zion Na-tional Park then emerges as havingthe richest flora with 90.1 species/ln(area), followed by Capitol ReefNational Park and Grand Stair-case*.

Protection Status: The 14parklands studied here contain atleast 2007 of the states 3659 na-tive and naturalized vascular plantspecies (54.8% of the flora of

Utah). Rare or endemic species(those with ranges limited to asmall geographic area) are morethan twice as likely as common orwidespread species to be missingfrom the protected area network.

*New discoveries in Zion NP in 2009 haveincreased the parks flora by nearly a dozenspecies and have enabled the park to passGSENM in total plant species richness. Thecomplete list of new species will be pub-lished in a future issue of the Sego Lily atthe conclusion of the field season.

Protection also tends to be biased

towards species found in habitats oflow economic value. In the Colo-rado Plateau area, 70% of the unpro-tected plant taxa occur in just 12hotspots of endemism (the La Sal,Abajo, Henry, Tushar, Boulder, andPine Valley mountains, Book Cliffs,Tavaputs and Fish Lake plateaus,Sevier Valley, Uinta Basin, and SanRafael Swell). Many other unpro-tected species are found on low ele-vation private lands.

Comparing Florasthe Im-portance of Complementarity:While small parks tend to havefewer species, their contribution tothe overall protected area networkmay greatly exceed their diminuitivesize due to the concept of comple-mentarity. Also called beta diver-sity, complementarity measures thedegree of dissimilarity between thefloras of different parks. The fewerspecies that two parks have in com-mon, the greater the degree of com-plementarity and the more impor-tant the contribution of the park

with the most unique flora. Parkswith high beta diversity tend to haverelatively high numbers of endemicor rare species that might not other-wise be represented in the protectedarea network.

The table on page 7 documentsthe degree of similarity (or dissimi-larity) between each of the 14 park-lands I analyzed. The data in theupper right hand columns show thenumber of species shared amongparks. This number can be deceiv-ing because of the disparity in sizebetween many parks. Jaccards Co-efficient of Similarity (JCS) is a use-ful way to compare the size of florasby taking into account disparities inoverall species richness. Based onJCS, two of the smallest parks(Golden Spike NHS and CedarBreaks NM) are the least similar toother parks, and thus make signifi-cant contributions of unprotectedspecies to the network.

Species Richness and Complementarity:Sizing Up Utahs National Parks, Monuments,

Recreation Areas, and Historic Sites

Rank of Park Units in

Plant Species Richness(based on data through 2008)

Park # Vascular Size (ha)Plant Taxa

1. GSENM 999 761,0702. ZION 991 59,9003. GCNRA 889 505,868

(863 in UT)4. CARE 888 97,8955. DINO 757 85,096

(485 in UT)6. CANY 600 136,610

7. BRCA 587 14,5028. ARCH 523 30,9669. NABR 428 3,09910. CEBR 354 2,49111. HOVE 340 318

(240 in UT)12. TICA 235 10113. RABR 224 6514. GOSP 149 1,107


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Number of Species in Common

Park ARCH BRCA CANY CARE CEBR DINO-UT

GLCA-UT

GOSP GSENM HOVE-UT

NABR RABR TICA ZION

ARCH 215 402 414 73 260 425 75 418 182 293 160 80 3

BRCA 0.24 250 390 227 229 288 81 423 126 224 85 111 365

CANY 0.557 0.267 455 83 261 495 80 482 198 342 179 83 367

CARE 0.415 0.359 0.44 168 321 547 90 648 204 353 178 129 499

CEBR 0.091 0.318 0.095 0.156 92 103 29 172 37 89 32 75 202

DINO-UT

0.347 0.272 0.317 0.305 0.123 293 90 329 137 220 95 110 281

GLCA-UT

0.442 0.248 0.511 0.454 0.092 0.278 87 630 201 360 208 96 469

GOSP 0.125 0.124 0.12 0.095 0.061 0.165 0.094 108 63 66 27 62 97

GSENM 0.378 0.364 0.432 0.523 0.146 0.285 0.511 0.104 214 357 195 140 613

HOVE-UT

0.313 0.18 0.308 0.221 0.066 0.233 0.223 0.193 0.209 162 88 42 180

NABR 0.445 0.283 0.499 0.367 0.128 0.317 0.387 0.129 0.334 0.32 137 79 299

RABR 0.272 0.117 0.278 0.191 0.059 0.155 0.237 0.078 0.19 0.234 0.266 22 157

TICA 0.118 0.156 0.11 0.13 0.146 0.18 0.096 0.193 0.128 0.097 0.135 0.05 156

ZION 0.272 0.301 0.3 0.362 0.177 0.235 0.339 0.093 0.445 0.171 0.267 0.148 0.146

ARCH BRCA CANY CARE CEBR DINO-UT

GLCA-UT

GOSP GSENM HOVE-UT

NABR RABR TICA ZION

Jaccards Coefficient of Similarity

Annotated checklists for 16 parks, monuments, andhistoric sites managed by the National Park Service inthe Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) arenow available as downloadable pdfs from the NCPNwebsite (http://science.nature. nps.gov/im/units/ncpn/). These checklists were developed from 2004-2008 and include information on species confirmedfor each park with an herbarium voucher, plants re-ported in literature (without a voucher), species thatare falsely reported or questionable, and species thatmay potentially occur in the park based on recordsfrom the vicinity. Each list is annotated with informa-tion on synonyms, common name, growth form, geo-graphic distribution, nativity, abundance, floweringperiod, habitat preferences, and other data of interest.

Left: Map of Utah showing the distribution of park-lands examined in this study and their standard ab-

breviations: ARCH (Arches National Park), BRCA(Bryce Canyon National Park), CANY (CanyonlandsNational Park), CARE (Capitol Reef National Park),CEBR (Cedar Breaks National Monument), DINO(Dinosaur National Monument), GLCA (Glen CanyonNational Recreation Area), GOSP (Golden Spike Na-tional Historic Site), GSENM (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), HOVE (HovenweepNational Monument), NABR (Natural Bridges Na-tional Monument, RABR (Rainbow Bridge NationalMonument), TICA (Timpanogos Cave NationalMonument), ZION (Zion National Park).


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Mighty Phragmites:USU Researcher Studies Wetlands Invader

By Mary-Ann MuffolettoReprinted with permission from

Utah State Today

When Utah State University re-searcher Karin Kettenring tells rela-tives in her native New Jersey thatshe moved to the IntermountainWest to teach and study wetlandecology, she receives incredulousstares and a few unsuppressedchuckles.

Utah? They askIsnt that adesert? says Kettenring, whojoined USUs Department of Water-shed Sciences faculty in August2008. I have to explain that, yes,Utah has wetlands and theyreamong the states most critical eco-systems.

Wetlands are especially impor-tant in an arid region, she says, asthey supply many of the basic needsof wildlifefood, water, a breedingground and shelter from predatorsin a surprisingly compact space.

Among Kettenrings current re-search projects is the investigationof a prolific invasive plant known asPhragmites australis . The white-

tasseled plant is often referred to asCommon reed. The pesky perennial,which is threatening native ecosys-tems, is a type of grass.

When I first flew in to the SaltLake International Airport anddrove up to Logan, I noticedPhrag-mites all along Great Salt Lake, shesays. I knew they had a strongholdback East but didnt know they wereso pervasive in this region.

Prior to joining USU, Kettenringstudied the plant extensively in theChesapeake Bay area, where sheserved as a postdoctoral fellow forthe Smithsonian Environmental Re-search Center. Shes continuing herstudy ofPhragmites here in theWest.

With my students and col-leagues, Im investigating how thisplant is spreading, why it is so suc-cessful, and what the best ways areto control it she says. Among thequestions were asking is has some-thing changed about the environ-

Above: Karin Kettenring, assistantprofessor in the Department of Wa-tershed Sciences, walks through aninvasive grass calledPhragmites in aLogan, Utah, wetlands area. Photocourtesy Utah State University.Right: Phragmites australisfromManual of the Grasses of the UnitedStates, second edition, revised, byAgnes Chase, 1950.

ment thats acceleratingPhrag-mites growth?

Kettenring says increased fertil-izer and sediment runoff fromfarms, residential developmentsand industrial areas could explainPhragmitesproliferation. Climatechange may also be contributing tothe plants spread.

Phragmites secretes gallic acid,which is toxic to native plants.Researchers at the University of

Delaware recently announced find-ings that increased ultraviolet raysfrom the sun, a possible conse-quence of warming temperatures,degrades gallic acid and producesanother toxin, mesoxalic acid,which also hinders the growth ofnative plants.

Aside from toxins, KettenringsaysPhragmites crowds out nativeplants with its sheer physical sizeabove and below ground. Phrag-

mites can reproduce by seed or rhi-zomes, she says. Left alone, it cantake over a large area in justa few years.

Rhizomes are fleshy underground

stems that grow horizontally to formextensive reed beds. Highly adapt-able,Phragmites can form reed bedsin a variety of soils and water types.Lateral shoots fromPhragmitesmay grow as much as 16 feet peryear Kettenring says. And it growsstalks that rise 10 to 15 feet tall.

Uncontrolled,Phragmites pre-vents the growth of native plants,including varied species of bulrushthat provide critical food and nest-ing habitat for birds. Wildlife man-agers typically use herbicides suchas glyphosate to controlPhrag-mites, Kettenring says. Comm-ercial applications of glyphosate areapproved for use near wetlands buttheyre not always effective. Amongthe things were investigating iswhen the best time is to spray herbi-cides and how much should be ap-plied. Were also investigating othermethods of control, including flood-ing of wetland areas.


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range in 1906 (Garrett 2022UT)*". From that point I kept it inmind while hiking in the spruce-fircommunities of our local WasatchMountains in late summer, but drew

a complete blank until this year.Was it very rare? Had we alreadydestroyed its habitat? Or was itmerely very elusive?

Then in early August, while I wasleading a wildflower walk for SaveOur Canyons, one of the group toldme she had seen some Wood-nymphs by a trail in Big CottonwoodCanyon. The habitat sounded right,and I knew her to be a good ob-server, so I immediately planned avisit. Thanks to good directions wefound 2 small populations by thetrail. As implied by the epithet'uniflora'a single flower was oneach stem. Five wavy white petalsand 10 large stamens surrounded adark green female center that couldbe taken for a medieval handweapon. All flowers were facing de-murely downwards, but the stemswill progressively straighten as theydevelop further, until the ripe seedcapsule will be facing upwards. Theflowers are about inch across, ona 2-3 inch stem. Since the plants

were sufficiently numerous I col-lected a couple to add to Garrett'sown 1906 collection in the U of UHerbarium that bears his name.There we discovered that Lois Ar-now herself had also been inspiredto go searching for Woodnymphsand had located some in 1980!

The other challenge was Bitter-root (Lewisia rediviva of thePurslane family). This is another low-growing plant with beautiful white/pinkish flowers. It was first collected

on July 1, 1806 by Meriwether Lewison his epic exploration of the North-west. His original specimen, morethan 200 years old, still sits in theLewis & Clark herbarium in Phila-delphia. Or at least the petals do.The fleshy roots had sprouted inLewis's dried herbarium specimen

* Herbarium specimens are identified by thename of the collector, his/her specimen num-ber, and an abbreviation to indicate the her-barium where the collection is deposited.

Above: Woodnymph (Monesesuniflora). Look for it in late summeron cool shady slopes in high spruce-fir

forest. Woodnymph likes loose crum-bly leaf litter similar to that enjoyedby other members of the Wintergreenfamily.Photo by Bill Gray.

and were removed by a Mr. M'Ma-hon, and planted. They grew backto life - hence the epithet 'redi-viva'! Sadly, M'Mahon's gardeningskills were not up to the task ofcultivating a dry land species inthe humid East and the plant didnot survive more than a year.

Arnow's description finishes

with the comment "Known in ourrange from a single populationnear the southern boundary of SaltLake County (Woodruff 1469UT)". Dorde was able to give megeneral directions, but I did notfind the plant until this year. Fromher description it seemed unlikelythat the habitat would have beendisturbed greatly by human activi-ties since her discovery. A flurry ofcoincidences led to a successfultrip in late May. First, a visitor to

the UNPS website sent photos of aplant in Washington County, thatproved to be Bitterroot. Second,non-blooming plants were foundnear I-15 in Tooele County. Then,while helping to make a plant listfor Corner Canyon Regional Parkin southeast Salt Lake County Iwas told about a plant that grewfurther along the trail towardsLone Peak, and we knew it had tobe the one. Bill Nelsen and I were

Lost and Found in Salt Lake County[continued from page 1]

both successful in locating a smallpopulation in full bloom.

Slender half inch succulent leavesare all that can be seen aboveground in early Spring, and these

may be shriveled by the time budsappear. The buds seem to grow di-rectly out of the ground, then burstopen into stunning two-inch widewonders that have a passing resem-blance to cactus flowers: thePurslane and Cactus families areclosely related. This populationseems very vulnerable, growing onan outcrop of unusual soil. Its bestchance for survival is probably for itto be forgotten again for a while,rather than to be loved to death.

So both of these plants, thoughuncommon locally, have a very widedistribution, and are in no danger asspecies. However, both are very pre-cious as local examples of the beau-ties that are out there awaiting one'sown individual discovery. It helpstremendously to spend time withother flower enthusiasts who canshare their knowledge of where thegems are to be found. I feel fully rec-ompensed for the time spent show-ing others how to look, and what tolook for.

Other plants are not so lucky withtheir choice of living quarters. Ourfoothill and stream habitats aroundthe valleys are prime targets for de-velopment, or have been severelyaltered by grazing and water man-agement. Two beautiful plants thatmay survive only in protected areasaround the Salt Lake Valley are Yel-low Lady Slipper orchid (Cypri-pedium calceolus) now known onlyfrom Red Butte Canyon ResearchNatural Area, and Beckwith's Violet

(Viola beckwithii), which was redis-covered by Faye Rutishauser in RedButte Garden natural area two yearsago. Despite a lot of searching bySalt Lake Chapter members overseveral years this once fairly com-mon native has not been found out-side the confines of the garden.

Do you have seldom seen plantsin your area? Would you be willingto share stories about them? If so,please contact Bill Gray ([email protected]).


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By Walter Fertig

Frederick Pursh sought botanicalfame in North America, but due to

some unscrupulous deeds achievedgreater infamy instead. Despitepublishing one of the first floras tocover North America, he died penni-less at the age of 46 with the reputa-tion of a drunkard and a cheat. Per-haps it is no surprise that bitter-brush is a common name of thegenus named in his honor.

Pursh was born in Saxony in 1774and was educated in the ways ofhorticulture and taxonomy at theRoyal Botanical Gardens in Dres-

den. At the age of 25, Pursh emi-grated to the United States where hewas employed at several botanicalgardens in Baltimore and Philadel-phia.

In 1805, Pursh was hired by Ben-jamin Smith Barton to work as aplant collector and assist with thepreparation of Bartons plannedflora of North America. Barton hadpreviously written the first Ameri-can textbook of botany and was re-garded as one of the young repub-lics leading botanists. President

Jefferson had tapped Barton to pro-vide training in botany and medi-cine to Meriwether Lewis and to de-scribe any new plant species docu-mented by the Corps of Discovery.The elderly Bartons days as a fieldcollector were well past, and hehired several capable younger bota-nists (including Thomas Nuttall) togo into the wilds seeking new plantspecies. Pursh spent two years ex-ploring eastern North America fromSouth Carolina to New Hampshire

and the Great Lakes, collecting hun-dreds of specimens for his mentorand gaining valuable first-hand ex-perience with the flora.

Meriwether Lewis returned toPhiladelphia in 1807 with about 150botanical specimens in need of iden-tification and publication. Techni-cally, Barton remained in charge ofpublishing Lewis discoveries, buthis advanced age, poor health, anddecreasing productivity (Bartonsflora never came close to being

Above: Bitterbrush (Purshia triden-tata), a widespread yellow-floweredmember of the rose family with ache-nes having a simple style (lacking thefeathery ornamentation of Cliffrose).Purshia was named by DeCandolle tocommemorate Frederick Pursh, afamous (some might say notorious)taxonomist of the early 19th Centurywho described 40 new species fromthe Lewis and Clark expeditionincluding Bitterbrush. Illustration byA.E. Hoyle from Range Plant Hand-book (US Department of Agriculture1937).

completed) prompted Lewis tohire Pursh for the task. Pursh waspaid $70 to organize the collection,prepare illustrations, and writenew species descriptions as part ofa planned publication on the scien-tific findings of the Lewis andClark expedition.

Unfortunately, this publicationwas never completed. Lewis com-mitted suicide in the fall of 1809.Barton failed to live up to his obli-

gations to publish the collectionsof the Lewis and Clark expeditionbefore his own death in 1815.Meanwhile, Pursh continued towork on the collections, but leftBartons employment and eventu-ally returned to England. Purshultimatelly published 94 of Lewiscollections as new species in his1813 publicationFlora America-nae Septentrionalis (latin forFlora of North America). Forty

of the names Pursh gave to thesespecimens are still accepted, includ-ing three new genera he described:Lewisia (bitterroot) and Clarkia

(clarkia) named for the explorers,and Calochortus (literally beautifulgrass). Purshs book includednearly 3100 species from NorthAmerica and was well received bythe botanical community as theleading flora of its time.

Pursh might be forgiven for ab-sconding to London with the Lewisand Clark material, given that Bar-ton had failed in his publishing re-sponsibilities. Where Pursh got intotrouble, however, was in helping

himself to collections of undescribedspecies sent to England for safe-keeping by English collectors Tho-mas Nuttall and John Bradbury.Pursh took the liberty of publishinghis own names for their materials,denying both men their rights toname the plants as they saw fit.Nuttall would overcome this slightby publishing his masterpiece Gen-era of North American Plants in1818, which supplanted Purshs floraas the preferred reference for thecontinent. Bradbury never recov-

ered and abandoned his pursuits in botany altogether. He remainedbitter for the rest of his life and hisangry correspondence regardingPursh did much to tarnish the Ger-mans reputation.

Pursh returned to North Americain 1816 to establish a botanic gardenin Montreal and to collect specimenstowards a flora of Canada. Hisspecimens were destroyed in a fireand the project was never com-pleted. He died in 1820 having

never restored his reputation fromthat of a botanical charlatan.One of the Lewis and Clark plants

that Pursh described as a new spe-cies was Tigarea tridentata, a yel-low-flowered shrub with three-lobed, wedge-shaped leaves in therose family, collected by the explor-ers west of Lewis and Clark Pass inwestern Montana in 1806. The ge-nus name proved to be illegitimateunder the technical rules of nomen-clature and was replaced with

Whats in a Name? Pursh andPurshia


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Above: Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana

orP. mexicana var. stansburyana) inflower. The aromatic blossoms of cliff-rose may cover the entire plant and besmelled from several feet away. Photoby W. Fertig.

densely yellowish-woolly below,rather than whitish hairy inPurshia.Fallugia is also distinctive in havingseparate male (staminate) and fe-male (pistillate) plants and unisex-ual flowers (this is the paradox ofF.paradoxa!). Hybrids betweenApache plume and Cliffrose have

been reported in the past fromnorthern Arizona. Recently, the va-lidity of these hybrids has beenquestioned, as they appear to beP.mexicana plants with aberrantlydeveloped stamens. Though closelyrelated, the two genera are in nodanger of being combined.

References:Dorn, R.D. and J.L. Dorn. 2007. Grow-ing Native Plants of the Rocky Moun-tain Area. Mountain West Publ., Chey-enne, WY.

Meyer, S.E., R.K. Kjelgren, D.G. Morri-son, & W.A. Varga. 2009. Landscapingon the New Frontier. Utah State Univ.Press, Logan, UT.

Phillips, H.W. 2003. Plants of the Lewisand Clark Expedition. Mountain PressPublishing Company, Missoula, MT.

Reveal, J.L. 2003. Frederick TraugottPursh (1774-1820). http://lewis-clark.org/

Williams, R.L. 2003. A Region of As-tonishing Beauty: The Botanical Ex-ploration of the Rocky Mountains. Rob-erts Rinehart Publ., Lanham, MD.

plant specimens. His collections

are among the earliest to come outof Utah.

Bitterbrush and cliffrose canhybridize when they grow togetherand the two taxa are thought tohave given rise to a third species,Purshia glandulosa or Desert bitterbrush. This species stronglyresemblesP. mexicana in flowerand leaf characters but has thefruit traits ofP. tridentata. InUtah, Desert bitterbrush is foundprimarily in the Beaver DamMountains west of St. George.

Cliffrose is a popular gardenornamental in the west because ofthe beauty and sweet aroma of itsflowers. Plants are often availablefrom native plant nurseries or canbe grown from seed following 30days of cold stratification. P.mexicana thrives in rocky soilsand full sun, though in hot cli-mates may do better on a shadiernorth aspect.

Though less showy, bitterbrushis also used in cultivation. It can

be grown from stem cuttings orseed that is cold stratified for 90days. Plants do best in full sun orlight shade on moist, well-drainedsoils.

Cliffrose is sometimes confusedwith Apache plume (Fallugiaparadoxa), another shrubby spe-cies in the rose family withenlarged, feathery styles in fruit.Apache plume is distinct in havingwhite flowers and leaves that are

Purshia by Decandolle in 1816.Originally, the concept ofPurshiawas restricted to two shrubby spe-cies from western North Americawith one or two achenes lacking anelongated, feathery style. Recently,the genus has been expanded to ab-sorb four species formerly placed inthe genus Cowaniabased on evi-

dence that the genera are capable ofhybridization.

Purshia tridentata , the bitter-brush or antelope bitterbrush, is amulti-branched woody shrub thatoften grows nearly prostrate to theground and occurs widely acrosswestern North America, from south-ern Canada to northern Arizona andNew Mexico. True to its name, thefoliage of the plant is extremely bit-ter tasting to us, but quite palatableto deer, elk, and livestock. The

stunted habit is often a consequenceof heavy browsing, as bitterbrushcan become tall and upright whereprotected or in favorable, sandysoils. Bitterbrush is also importantecologically for the nitrogen-fixingbacteria that live in specialized nod-ules on the plants roots.

Cliffrose (Purshia mexicana var.stansburyana orP. stansburiana)resembles bitterbrush, but tends tobe a taller shrub with one maintrunk, five-lobed leaves, and creamywhite petals. It also differs in having

numerous achenes, each tipped atmaturity with an elongated, featherystyle that helps disperse the fruit.The leaves of cliffrose are frequentlycoated in a resin-like varnish whichhelps impart an unpleasant taste tohumans, but less so to browsing ani-mals. Southwestern Indian tribesused the bitter leaves to induce vom-iting, to make cough syrup, and towash wounds or treat skin prob-lems. Leaves and twigs were alsoused to make a gold dye and the

shredded bark was valuable as stuff-ing for pillows and baby beds.The type locality ofPurshia mexi-

canavar. stansburyana is Stans-bury Island in the Great Salt Lake.The plant was collected there byCaptain Howard Stansbury in 1850during his survey of a potential rail-road route around the Great SaltLake. Stansbury was a topographi-cal engineer by training, but likemany other early explorers in thewest kept an eye out for unusual


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