Category: Prairie | Accent on Natural Landscaping

Poinsettia (Euphorbia marginata)

December 8, 2020

I’ve always loved the Poinsettia. Because I had a December wedding date, I had my bridesmaids and maid-of-honor carry Poinsettias in their bouquets, and all around us were plants of all sizes and shapes. Last Friday, December 4th, we celebrated our 55th anniversary!

Poinsettia (Euphorbiai marginata)

The beautiful Poinsettias (genus Euphorbus) we see decorating building interiors this time of the year are not native to the U.S., but rather to Southern Mexico and Central America. But did you know we have a species of native poinsettias here in America as well?

The native Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata) has light-green variegated leaves. Photo by Nan Hampton, courtesy of Wildflower Center.

The native Painted Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora) has fiddle-shaped leaves. Photo by Joseph A Marcus, courtesy of Wildflower Center.

Members of the Spurge (Euphorbiaceae) family, there are a number of native Euphorbus species. The one most like the non-native is the annual Painted Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora). Its bracts turn orange-red, and it is has fiddle-shaped leaves. Sometimes called Fire on the Mountain, it is closely related to Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata), which has showy, variegated light-green and white leaves.

Fire on the Mountain (*Euphorbia cyathophora*). In the south, moister, shadier habitat is more typical, where it grow up to three feet tall and can be a weed. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia by Juni from Kyoto, Japan

In the Midwest, Fire on the Mountain seed can be purchased through Prairie Moon Nursery. The plants grow best in full sun or part shade, in drier soil that has not been composted. It is a good reseeder, but excess plants should be able to be pulled out easily because of the rocky, sandy soil conditions in which it prefers to grow.

All have a thick, white sap that can irritate skin and eyes.

None of the native Euphorbus species, however, are as showy as the non-native Euphorbus species.

Interestingly enough, the Poinsettia gets its name from the first American Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In 1828 he sent the first plants back to the U.S. where he propagated and shared the plant with friends and botanical gardens. (Mr. Poinsett is also know as the founder of the Smithsonian Institution.)

The non-native invasive species Bishop's Weed is often called Snow on the Mountain also. Photo courtesy of Plant Conservation Alliance. — The non-native invasive species Bishop’s Weed (*Aegopodium podgraria*) is often called Snow on the Mountain also. Photo courtesy of Plant Conservation Alliance.

Invasive Non-Native Bishop’s Weed

The native Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata) is different from the invasive non-native Bishop’s Weed (Aegopodium podgraria) often called by the same name.

Read more about the legends associated with Poinsettia.

What’s Happening to Land Use?

December 1, 2020

The first formal study of erosion took place under the Soil Conservation Act of 1935. Through the years, it has been updated by many Acts. The Rural Development of Act of 1972 implemented a land inventory and monitoring program, which generally follows a complex sampling of five-year increments. For 35 years, the NRCS (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) has been collecting information on the status and condition of land, soil, water, and related resources on the nation’s non-federal lands. It covers erosion, agricultural, rangeland, forestry, wetlands, and other lands. It covers 49 states (Alaska is excluded), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands to assess resource quantity and quality.

Developed Land

The National Resources Inventory (NRI) is a statistical survey of natural-resource conditions and trends in the United States. Non-federal land includes privately owned lands, tribal and trust lands, and lands controlled by state and local governments. The 2020 report shows that about 44 million acres of land were developed between 1982 and 2017, bringing the total to about 116 million acres. This represents a 61 percent increase during the last 35 years. However, the developed land has been increased less and less proportional to population change. This results in less land available for agricultural, rangeland, and forests. Loss of rural land will have an impact on wildlife and native landscaping.

The NRI collects data on natural resources, soil and water conservation practices, irrigation, and many other farming practices. For 35 years, NRCS has been collecting information on the status and condition of land, soil, water, and related resources on the nation’s non-federal lands.

The Report

Taken from “What’s Happening on America’s Lands, Soils, and Waters?” by Bob Sowers, NRCS.

“The 2017 report shows trends from 2012 to 2017,…Conclusions from the report will take years to evolve as people study the data, but we can already see that cropland acreage increased, erosion rates stabilized, and the expansion of developed land decreased. Some highlights include:

Cropland acreage increased by 5.6 million acres between 2012 and 2017, continuing a trend since 2007. Eighty percent of that increase came from land coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program, which decreased during that time.
Forest land continued to steadily increase over the last 35 years, with an increase of 1.1 million acres between 2012 and 2017. The increase was mostly from conversion from pastureland, counterbalancing losses to developed land.
Rangeland continued to steadily decline over the last 35 years with a reduction of 1.2 million acres between 2012 and 2017. Most of that reduction was due to losses to cropland and developed land.
Palustrine* and estuarian** wetlands saw no change overall between 2012 and 2017.
Cropland erosion rates remained stable despite the increase in overall cropland, indicating that new cropland does not have a higher likelihood of erosion.

The report also gives a statistical perspective on natural resource and environmental conditions for these lands, with the specific goal of supporting agricultural and environmental policy development and program implementation. It serves as the foundation for critical analytical efforts for USDA and other agencies and groups.”

*Palustrine wetlands include all non-tidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, persistent emergent plants, or emergent mosses or lichens, as well as small, shallow open water ponds or potholes (called swamps, marshes, potholes, bogs or fens.)

**Estuarine wetlands are tidal wetlands that are usually semi-enclosed by land but have open, partly obstructed or sporadic access to the open ocean, and in which ocean water is at least occasionally diluted by freshwater runoff from the land (where a river flows into the ocean).

For the complete report, see the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s What’s Happening on America’s Lands, Soils, and Waters?

Hummingbird exchanging pollen for nectar from this Cardinal Flower. Photo by Larry Master masterimages.org

Conclusion

The net change of rural land into developed land has averaged 1.6 million acres per year over the last 25 years. This results in reduced agricultural land, rangeland, and forests. This loss of rural land — compounded by climate change — leads me to think that our environment and the extreme weather caused by climate change will result in a loss of wildlife and native landscaping.

Gathering, Cleaning and Sharing Prairie Seed

September 29, 2020

White Wild Indigo (*Baptisia alba*) seed. The stratified (chilled) seeds must then be scarified, which means the seed coat should be sluffed by sandpaper or nicked with a knife point. Photo by Joan Rudoph

GATHERING

This is the time of year when we plan to gather seed from most of the prairie plants. It’s a pretty easy task to accomplish and is an excellent opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the fall. Most grass seeds can be easily stripped from the stalk, but not all forbs species are as easy. Some have pods, some have heads that cling tightly to the seed, while others have parachutes that help them fly away.

You can gather the seeds into empty plastic milk jugs that have had their tops cut off, with their handles attached to your waist by a belt. Or, you can gather them into paper grocery bags. Plan to store them in the garage, but up off the floor until they are completely dry.

CLEANING

Then, when the plants are dry enough to start cleaning, while wearing gloves, start breaking the seeds free from the heads and pods that haven’t loosened the seed on their own. Some you can just strip off on your own. Others, such as the Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), you’ll need to roll off on a screen.

RESOURCES

Here are some resources to help you find the best way to gather seed. Enjoy!

Seed Collecting provided by Wild Ones Natural Landscapers, Ltd.

Collecting Advice by Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter.

Germination Instructions by Prairie Moon Nursery.

Pods: Wildflowers and Weeds in Their Final Beauty, a book by Jane Embertson.

SHARING

If you have extra seed, plan to share with your fellow Wild Ones at your local chapter’s Seed Exchange, with your extended family or friends, or with your next door neighbors.

And, as you gather milkweed seed this fall and find you have extra, plan to send the pods on to Monarch Watch. Be sure to read the guidelines on how to handle the seed. If you live in Ohio, you can share your milkweed seed through the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative. See also Milkweed for Monarchs ’19.

Sunflowers

September 1, 2020

Sunflowers are members of the Aster family (Asteracease), and are classified in the genus Helianthus – from the Greek (“helios” meaning sun and “anthos” meaning flower).

Native sunflowers have smooth to variably hairy stems, hairy leaves and daisy-like yellow to golden yellow petals. I have three sunflowers in my yard. They grow in quite different soils, and they grow to be different heights, ranging from three- to twelve-feet high.

The native Ox Eye Sunflower and the Sawtooth Sunflower are common to all but one of the southwest states, with the exception of Washington. The native Woodland Sunflower is common the all states east of the Mississippi and the western states along the Mississippi River, except Minnesota.

They are aggressive. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous and form clonal colonies of variable size.

Woodland Sunflower (Heliantus divaricatus)

The Woodland Sunflower has a composite flower and is 1½ to 4 inches across and consists of eight to fifteen ray florets. The yellow corollas are petal-like and widely spreading to recurved appearance.

At the base of each blossom there are phyllaries or floral bracts, which are arranged in several overlapping series. These are light green and linear-lanceolate in shape, becoming slightly recurved when the flower blooms. They have short stiff hairs or smooth.

The stem and the leaves of the Woodland Sunflower. There are floral bracts arranged in several overlapping series and the petals become recurred. Note the floral bracts or the phyllaries of the seed heads.

The blooming period occurs from mid-summer to early fall for about two months. Later, the corollas are replaced by achenes about 2 mm (1/4 inch) long. They are oval and somewhat flattened seed, but with two bristly scales at the tip.

The Stems and Leaves

The stems are 2½ to 6 feet tall. This stem is light green to dark purple, slender, smooth to sparsely covered with short stiff hairs (sandpapery texture), and sometimes glaucous (covered with a bluish waxy or powdery bloom as a plum is). There is branching on the upper half of the plants where the central and secondary stems terminate in slender peduncles where flowers occur. Flowering stems are rough textured.

Pairs of widely spreading opposite leaves occur along the central stem and any secondary stems; each pair of leaves rotates 90° from the pair of leaves below. Leaf blades are 2 to 6 inches long and ½ to 2 inches across. They are rather wide, either toothless or with spaced teeth. The base of each leaf blade is rounded-truncate, while its tip is long and gradually tapering. The leaves taper into slender petioles. The upper surface of the leaf blades is yellowish green to medium green and moderately covered with short stiff hairs, with pale lower underneath.

The Woodland Sunflower is normally found in relatively dry upland habitats and normally prefers woody and shady areas.

At the base of flower, there are several outer floral bracts that are arranged in a single series of the Ox Eye Sunflower (*Heliopsis helianthoides*) or False Sunflower.

Ox Eye Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) or False Sunflower

This sunflower is about 1½ to 3 inches across. Each flower consists of 8 to 20 ray florets that surround numerous disk florets. The golden yellow to orange-yellow corolla are triangular in shape and spreading to recurved appearance. Both the ray florets and disk florets of the flowers are fertile.

At the base of flower, there are several outer floral bracts that are arranged in a single series. These phyllaries are light to medium green and oblong-ovate in shape, tapering abruptly to blunt tips that are recurved when the flower blooms. They are rough-hairy.

Blooming periods occur from early summer to late summer, lasting about three months. The florets are replaced by achenes that are 4 to 5 mm (1/2 – 5/8 inch) long. They are oval, somewhat flattened, and dark-colored.

The Ox Eye Sunflower stems are green to reddish green. The petioles are up to 3/4 inch long.

The Stem and Leaves

This sunflower is 3 to 5 feet tall, branching occasionally and becoming bushy. The stems are light green to reddish green and have downy, short hairs or variably hairs. Pairs of opposite leaves are distributed evenly along these stems. These leaves are 2½ to 5 inches long and 1 to 3½ inches across; they are lanceolate in shape, while their margins are coarsely serrated. The upper leaf surface is medium to dark green and with minute stiff hairs (sandpapery texture), while the lower leaf surface is light green. The leaves taper into slender petioles. There is branching on the upper half of the plant where flowers occur.

The preference is full to partial sun, moist to mesic conditions. Powdery mildew may affect the leaves.

There is little branching, except for flowering stems that occur along the upper half of the plant of the Sawtooth Sunflower (*Helianthus grosseserratus*).

Sawtooth Sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus)

The upper stems terminate into either individual or small clusters of flowers. Each sunflower is 2½ to 4 inches across, consisting of 10 to 20 ray florets that surround numerous disk florets. The tiny corollas of the disk florets are tubular-shaped and yellow, while the petaloid rays along the circumference are bright yellow and oblong in shape.

Around the base of each sunflower, there are floral bracts or phyllaries that are arranged in several overlapping series. These bracts are light green and linear-lanceolate in shape, becoming slightly recurved when the flower blooms. There are fine hairs around the edges especially near the base of a bract.

On a large plant, it is common for several flowers to be bloom at the same time. The blooming period occurs from late summer to fall, lasting about two months. The disk florets are replaced by achenes about 3 to 4 mm (3/8-1/2 inch) in length. They are oval and somewhat flattened, but with two somewhat bristly scales at the top.

The stems of the Sawtooth Sunflower are reddish or reddish-purple in color.

This perennial plant is 3 to 12 feet tall. The stout central stem is smooth, glaucous (covered with a bluish waxy or powdery bloom as a plum is) and reddish or reddish-purple in color. There is very little branching, except for some flowering stems that occur along the upper half of the plant. The leaves are up to 8 inches long and 2½ inches across, lanceolate-oblong and either entirely smooth or strongly serrate along their margins. The upper leaf surface is medium to dark green with minute stiff hairs (sandpapery texture); the lower surface is pale green. The leaves are slightly recurved. The leaves are opposite below, but they become either alternate or opposite along the upper half of the plant. The leaves taper gradually into slender petioles that are about ½ inch in length.

The preference is full to partial sun, moist conditions. Powdery mildew may affect the leaves, but this typically occurs during the fall after the blooming period.

Wildlife

The nectar and pollen of the flowers attract a wide variety of insects. (cellaneous flies, Syrphid flies, bee flies, thick-headed flies, etc), butterflies and skippers, and Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus (Goldenrod Soldier Beetle). Other insects feed on the foliage, bore through the stems, suck plant juices, etc. from sunflowers.

Other moths also feed on these wildflowers and some Some vertebrate animals use sunflowers as a food source. Small mammals occasionally eat the seeds and the gopher also feeds on the rhizomes of sunflowers in relatively dry sandy areas.

The Cottontail Rabbit browses on the foliage of seedlings and lower leaves of mature plants, while the White-Tailed Deer occasionally chomps off the stems and upper leaves of mature plants. Because the Woodland Sunflower and other sunflowers are relatively tall and often form dense colonies, they provide good ground cover for many kinds of wildlife.

For reference, I used the Illinois Wildflower and Minnesota Wildflower.

Definitions of Botanical Terminology