Know Your Natives – Ninebark

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Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)* of the Rose (Rosaceae) family is a large shrub which bears tight clusters of small white flowers. The genus name, from Greek words for “bladder” and “fruit,” refers to the inflated carpels of the fruit. The specific epithet, from Latin, compares the leaves to those of Viburnum opulus. Ninebark is widespread in the eastern U.S., occurring principally from Minnesota to Maine, south to Arkansas, Alabama, and the Carolinas. (A disjunct population occurs in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.) The only species of the genus in Arkansas, it grows in our Interior Highlands. Habitat preference is dry to moist, rocky to clayey soils of stream banks, bases of bluffs, and bog margins, in full to partial sunlight. Other common names include Atlantic ninebark and Eastern ninebark.

Ninebarks are rounded to upright, deciduous shrubs, reaching heights of 8+ feet and often equally as broad. The shrubs have a multitude of closely spaced, long, slender stems from their base which arch and recurve over the top of the shrub, typically bearing short, fertile branches from the leaf axils. Shrubs are typically glabrous, except for minute pubescence in the inflorescence. Stems begin to exhibit exfoliation in their second growth year, and older stems have several layers of thin, light brown bark loosened from underlying darker brown to reddish brown bark, especially nearer the base of the shrub.

Photo 1: In mid-August, this very large, long-lived ninebark is at the fruiting stage. Note the arching to recurved stems and short fertile fruit-bearing branches.
Photo 2: In mid-April, exfoliated bark of closely spaced, rather slender stems is more easily seen. (Photo shows same shrub as shown in Photo 1.)
Photo 3: Leaves in upper row are from elongate stems while those in lower row are from short, lateral branches. Upper surface of leaves is shown, except for the three leaves of far right. Photo – May 7.

The inflorescence, in May, consists of hemispherical corymbs (closely spaced flowers on a short axis). Small white flowers terminate newly developed, short (3-6 inches long), fertile branches, growing from axillary buds of the previous year. Corymbs are aligned along the upper side of the stems, often, in sunny sites, in an impressively long, continuous series. Corymbs measure 1½ inches wide and 1 inch tall, with 20-40 flowers on straight pedicels that decrease in length toward the top of the corymb. Individual flowers, about 3/8 inch across, bloom from the outside in, i.e., from the corymb’s perimeter to its center.  Clusters bloom for up to two weeks.

Photo 4: Each fertile branch grows from a separate leaf axil. Photo – May 5.

Flowers are white overall, however, buds may be highlighted with pink and petals may be faintly pink. Flower parts arise, like those of a rose, from a basal, bowl-like structure called a hypanthium. Five sepals, five rounded petals, and 22 to 30+ stamens are attached at the hypanthium rim; 3-5 tightly appressed, erect ovaries somewhat fused at the base are attached at the bottom of the bowl. When first appearing, anthers are burgundy, but become dark brown as they split to disperse light yellow pollen. At anthesis, anthers are positioned well above the corolla and stigmas tend to be slightly higher. Sepals are persistent through fruiting.

Photo 5: Cup-shaped, golden hypanthia have sepals, petals, and stamens attached to the rim. Pubescent ovaries (each of one carpel) of several flowers can be seen, as well as the white staminal filaments and light yellow disk-like stigmas. Anthers change from burgundy to dark brown. Photo – May 5.
Photo 6: Minute pubescence of pedicels and sepals can be seen. Subtending bracts of pedicels have already dried. Reticulated tertiary venation of the larger leaf can be seen.

With fertilization, the 3-5 tightly appressed ovaries of the flower quickly enlarge and inflate to form pale-green to reddish follicles. Follicles have a papery, minutely pubescent outer surface. Dry follicles become dark brown and split along the inner seam. They produce one to several smooth, light tan, pear-shaped seeds, each with a hilum (umbilical scar) toward the smaller end. Follicles are to ½ inch long and ⅛ inch wide. Seeds are slightly less than ⅛ inch long. With fruiting in August to October, the previously ascending corymbs become dangling. As well as dispersal of seeds by small mammals and birds, seeds remaining in follicles that fall into water may be dispersed by water flow.

Photo 7: Flowers produce three to five inflated follicles which split to release pear-shaped seeds. Photo – October 4.

For a larger garden or natural area, ninebark is a leafy, dense shrub which may produce cascades of flowers in sunnier sites. It may also be a nice shrub for a more shaded site, but may not bear flowers. Ninebark breaks dormancy in early spring, with flower clusters quickly developing. It does not produce suckers and self-seeding does not seem to be a problem. “Extra” young plants can be easily pulled or transplanted. New plants can be established from soft cuttings or by layering. Along with the spring flower clusters, the compound follicles provide visual interest in late summer into fall. Fall color is not showy.

* Some authorities recognize as either a variety of Physocarpus opulifolius or as a separate species the entity Physocarpus intermedius. It has a more western distribution, occupying the central U.S., and is reportedly the primary, if not only, ninebark in Arkansas. It differs in having carpels/follicles densely stellate-hairy, sometimes only on the sutures. Variety opulifolius has mostly glabrous or glabrescent carpels/follicles and is more eastern and northern in distribution.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Yellow Pimpernel

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Yellow pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima) of the Parsley or Carrot (Apiaceae) family is an elegant and attractive herbaceous perennial with twice-compound leaves and compound umbels of tiny yellow flowers. The genus name comes from the Greek taenidion, “a small band,” referring to the scarcely prominent ribs of the fruit. The specific epithet, from Latin for “most entire,” refers to the smooth margins of the leaflets (unusual in the family). In the U.S., pimpernel occurs principally from Iowa and southeast Minnesota, south to eastern Oklahoma, and then east to New York and the Carolinas, excluding the Mississippi Embayment and most of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. In Arkansas, it occurs within the Interior Highlands across the northwestern half of the state, along with two southeastern counties. Preferred habitat includes partially sunny to sunny, dry to moist, rocky to clayey soils of open woodlands and prairies. Taenidia is a small genus comprising only two North American species, of which only T. integerrima occurs in Arkansas. 

Mature plants have multiple stems to 3 feet tall which grow from a “crown” atop a carrot-like white taproot. The glabrous (hairless) and glaucous (whitish from a thin layer of wax) main stems typically have several lateral stems, often somewhat swollen at the nodes. In spring, plants are reddish, becoming greenish by the time of flowering, with the stems retaining a reddish hue. The root and other parts of the plant, when cut or crushed, have a pleasant celery scent.

Photo 1: Carrot-like taproots can become large. Stems grow from a “crown” atop the root.
Photo 2: First leaves appear in mid-winter. A stem will emerge from “within” the clasping petiole of the leaf at left. Photo – February 20.

Stems have several to a half-dozen widely spaced leaves that grow from rounded nodes. Along with the leaf, nodes bear lateral stems from leaf axils as well as floral stems directly from the node but opposite to the leaf base. Leaves are large, to 6-9 inches long and 6 inches broad, and 2 or 3 times compound. They are petiolate with clasping bases. 

Photo 3: Winter leaves remain close to the ground. Most leaflets have a simple ovate shape. As shown, venation is made prominent by reddish coloration. Photo – February 20.
Photo 4: New leaves grow from within clasping petioles of previous leaves. The striped segments shown in this photo are clasping bases of new leaves which contain hidden rudimentary additional leaves, stems and inflorescences. The yellow mass is a compound umbel just beginning to expand. Photo-March 15.

Ultimate leaflets, to 1¾ inches long and 1 inch wide, are oval to elliptic and often lobed. Leaflet margins are smooth; tips are narrowed to a blunt or sharp point. Leaves are glabrous.

Photo 5: Display of lower, middle and upper twice-compound leaves. Upper surfaces shown on left and lower surfaces shown on right. 
Photo 6: Plants are erect, with terminal inflorescences. This elegant plant is 26 inches tall. Photo – April 27.

Glabrous inflorescences comprise open, loose, compound umbels (3 to 6 inches wide) terminating the floral stems. Floral stems bear 8 to 18 rays (to 3 inches long) which, in turn, bear the secondary umbels or umbellets. All flowers of a compound umbel bloom at the same time. With several umbels at the upper portion of stems, a plant is in flower for a month or more. 

Photo 7: This compound umbel, 2¼ inches across, has 17 umbellets that are about ¼ inch across. Stalks of the umbellets are typically called rays.

The bright yellow flowers, less than 1/16 inch across, have five broadly oval inturned petals and five stamens. Sepals are absent. Flowers at the perimeter of umbellets are perfect (with stamens and pistils) while interior flowers are staminate (stamens only). Stamens, with knobby anthers, extend between and well above petals. Ovaries are inferior, each topped with a tiny pair of styles. Pedicels of fertilized perfect flowers continue to grow as fruits mature and staminate flowers fade away. A fertilized flower produces a 3/16 inch long fruit that separates into two halves, each with five longitudinal ribs.

Photo 8: Flowers at perimeter of umbellets are perfect while interior flowers are staminate. Note developing fruits.

In a garden setting, the leafy yellow pimpernel would be an attractive plant with reddish foliage and bright yellow compound umbels. However, it readily self-seeds and can re-grow from decapitated taproots. Also, fruiting umbels are not positioned for quick removal. The plant would be suitable for a partially shady, fertile natural area. It provides pollen and nectar to a wide variety of small insects and is host plant for the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes ssp. asterius) and Ozark Swallowtail (Papilio joanae).

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Wild Quinine

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Wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) of the Aster, Sunflower or Composite (Asteraceae) family is an herbaceous perennial with frosty composite flowerheads. The genus name is from the Greek word parthenos, for virgin––only the pistillate ray florets are fertile. The specific epithet, from Latin, means “entire-leaved,” meaning undivided, although the leaf margins are crenate to serrate-dentate. The common name is based on use of the plant as a substitute for quinine (derived from Cinchona trees of South America) to treat malaria during World War I. It is also called American feverfew. In the U.S., wild quinine occurs from northeast Texas to southern Minnesota, east to  the Atlantic Coast. In Arkansas, plants occur primarily throughout in the Interior Highlands and Arkansas River Valley, with localized occurrences in areas of the West Gulf Coastal Plain and Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Habitat is widely varied, with a preference for mesic to dry, sunny sites with well drained soils, found in prairies, glades and woodland edges.

Plants are taprooted with fibrous rootlets, along with rhizomes, that produce off-set plants. The root crown of mature plants has several growth points which produce single stems surrounded by basal leaves. Mature stems are erect and stout, typically unbranched below the inflorescence. Plants continue to grow to the time of fruiting with a final height of 2 to 3 feet. Leaves disintegrate over winter, but dead stems may still remain in spring.

Photo 1: In favorable sites, colonies may form.

Wild quinine is a leafy plant, both with numerous basal leaves and with widely spaced cauline leaves (to 10+ inches apart). Leaves are steeply ascending, dark green above and lighter beneath. Leaf margins are boldly toothed (crenate-dentate to serrate) and crinkly. The blades are covered above and below by very short hispid pubescence and feel slightly fuzzy to the touch.

Photo 2: This plant has a taproot with several growth points at its crown. Each growth point produced a single stem surrounded by basal leaves. Photo – March 31.
Photo 3: The dark green leaves have crenate-dentate margins and lesser veins form a reticulated pattern. Upper cauline leaves are sessile. Note small leaves within the inflorescence. Photo – April 16.

The inflorescence, visible after stems emerge in late winter and blooming from mid-spring to mid-summer, consists of flat-topped corymbose groups of heads (to 8 inches across) which terminate the stems. Flowerheads are ¼ to 1/3 inch broad.

Photo 4: Buds of flowerheads are round and densely pubescent. Photo – April 21.

Photo 5: Stems terminate with a branched inflorescence. Peduncles and pedicels are subtended by small lanceolate floral leaves. Smallest floral leaves have entire margins. Photo – May 6.

Flowerheads first appear fuzzy and greenish white from an expanding, pale green, cup-shaped involucre. Involucres comprise five to six densely pubescent, broadly triangular, clasping, stubby phyllaries (bracts). Heads have 20 to 35 closely spaced, staminate disk florets and five (occasionally six) well-spaced, pistillate ray florets, separated by several disk florets. Whitish, tubular, finely pubescent disk florets, in bud, have a flattened, frosty-looking apex. As disk corollas open, five very short triangular lobes flare widely and a column of black connate anthers emerges. The whitish, pistillate (no stamens) ray florets have a stubby, two-lobed ligule with a short tubular base, attached to an inferior ovary. Ray florets reach anthesis before the staminate disk florets disperse their white pollen. Involucres remain clasping through fruiting.

Photo 6: Flowerheads typically have five ray florets, however, head at center has six. Ray florets have 2-lobed white ligules. Disk florets release pollen from connate black anthers. Photo – May 3.
Photo 7: With white pollen being dispersed from the disk florets, the stigmatic surfaces of the ray florets have shriveled although their ligules remain persistent. Photo – May 26.

In mid to late summer, flowerheads become brown and slowly disintegrate. Each ray floret produces a single black, shield-shaped, one-seeded achene topped with two or three slender awns.

Photo 8: Flowerheads are drying at the end of the growing season. Flowerheads are persistent. Photo – July 27.
Photo 9: Display of three flowerheads with phyllaries removed on two heads to expose fruits (achenes) produced by the pistillate ray florets. Black flattened achenes have a shield shape with a tufted apex. (Squares are ¼ inch.)

For a garden area, wild quinine would add strong structure and seasonal interest from spring into late summer. It has attractive leaves and a long blooming period. Due to its potential to form colonies in some habitats, it may be better suited for a sunny natural area. Degree of spread by seed is not known, but seed heads can be easily removed. It provides nectar and pollen to various bees, flies and wasps.

Wild quinine in Arkansas is sometimes recognized as consisting of two varieties, or even two species by some authorities. Variety hispidum is strongly rhizomatous and has a denser stem and leaf pubescence of short, stiff (hispid) hairs than variety integrifolium. The only other species of the genus in Arkansas is the non-native Santa Maria feverfew (Parthenium hysterophorus) which has been documented in a few scattered counties. This species is annual, has smaller flowerheads, and has large leaves that are highly dissected.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Round-leaf Ragwort

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Round-leaf ragwort (Packera obovata, formerly Senecio obovata), of the Aster, Sunflower, or Composite (Asteraceae) family, is an herbaceous clonal species that bears bright yellow daisy-type flowerheads in early spring. The genus name honors John G. Packer, author of Flora of Alberta. The specific epithet, from Latin, means obovate (egg-shaped, but broader distally), in reference to the basal leaves. Other common names include round-leaf groundsel and spoon-leaf ragwort or spoon-leaf groundsel. In the U.S., the species occurs in a broad region from southeast Texas and southeast Kansas east to the Florida panhandle and New England states, excluding portions of the Mississippi Embayment. In Arkansas, round-leaf ragwort occurs primarily across the northwestern highlands half of the state, plus Crowley’s Ridge, in a wide variety of shaded to partially sunny habitats: mesic, wooded slopes and bottomlands, stream banks and terraces, bluffs, and ledges.

Round-leaf ragwort, from 1 to 2 feet tall, has white roots and slender shallow rhizomes. Each new rhizome produces a terminal clone. The density of a clonal colony varies from dense to scattered depending on habitat. In drier shaded woods, plants remain shorter and more scattered, while in sunny wetter sites, denser colonies form. Early in the growing season, leaf undersides, stems and flower buds are partly or totally purple, but become mostly light green by flowering time.

Photo 1: This plant grew from the end of the cut-off rhizome. It, in turn, has produced four rhizomes which terminate in new plants.

Non-reproductive plants have basal rosettes of ground-hugging (winter) to ascending (spring) leaves, while flowering plants have a single stem growing from the center of the rosette. Basal and cauline leaves have very different shapes, with the simple basal leaves quickly transitioning to the complex and variously shaped pinnate leaves of the stem. Cauline leaves, depending on stem height, are few in number (several to six) and spaced to 4 inches apart.

Photo 2: With warming temperatures, new growth becomes lush as stems elongate. Basal leaves are simple and cauline leaves are complex.

Glabrous basal leaves (to 4 inches long, including 2-inch petioles) have rounded, obovate blades (1 to 1¼ inches wide) with a truncate to tapering base and serrate-dentate margins. The leaf blade extends onto the petiole as a pair of narrow wings. Basal leaves remain through the winter months when new leaves and stems bearing the buds of flower heads first appear.

Photo 3: This clonal colony has a number of stems and new off-set clones. Height of tallest plant is 19 inches. Cauline leaves are few and are widely spaced. (Photo – March 21)

Cauline or stem leaves are sessile or nearly so, elongate, and pinnately shallowly to deeply, often irregularly divided. They are gradually reduced in length upward, the largest to 3 inches long and 7/8 inch wide. They tend to have long, cobwebby, appressed white pubescence on their upper surface near the base.

Photo 4: Leaves are arranged from basal (left) to upper cauline (right). Abaxial and adaxial surfaces are shown side-by-side.

Flowerheads are loosely clustered in a flat-topped, typically compound corymb. Flowering begins with the terminal flowerhead and moves quickly outward, continuing for over a month or so. The full inflorescence of a stem may have 40+ flowerheads. 

Buds of the flowerheads are round and knob-like, with prominent cup-shaped involucres (to ¼ inch long and ⅜ inch wide) with a single series of 12 to 20 linear, appressed phyllaries (bracts). While phyllaries are initially completely purple, with anthesis approaching, they become green from base to apex with the very tips still purple at anthesis.

Photo 5: Cup-shaped involucres are composed of a single series of linear phyllaries. As anthesis approaches, the dark purple color of the buds becomes green.
Photo 6: Abaxial side of uppermost portion of a compound corymb. Ridges on pedicels extend down from phyllaries with lower ridges extending from the floral leaves (bracts). Note tomentose pubescence.

Flowerheads bear both ray and disk florets. They are ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. A central disk of 40 to 60+ yellow florets is surrounded by 8 to 14 bright yellow ray florets. Both ray and disk florets are fertile, with a pappus (modified sepals) of capillary bristles that encircles the top of the ovary. The pistillate (no stamens) ray florets are tubular below, with prominent ligules which flatten and become widely spread as the yellow styles divide (bifurcate) to expose two elongate stigmatic surfaces.

The perfect disk florets (with stamens and pistil) are tubular, to ⅛ inch long, with five short triangular corolla lobes, five stamens and a pistil. Stamens, also yellow, form an elongate central anther ring. The style, exserted through the anther ring, presents the floret’s pollen (to be carried away by pollinating insects), after which its apex divides to expose two long, now receptive stigmatic surfaces. The stigmatic surfaces quickly become covered with yellow pollen from other florets, other heads, and other plants, so that the disk appears powdery. 

Photo 7: As shown by flowerhead at lower left, the style of a ray floret has divided while disk florets remain closed, i.e., still in bud. Large flowerhead at center (1 inch in diameter) is the terminal head on the stem and already has a few open disk florets at the perimeter of the disk with pollen presented.
Photo 8: Flower head dissected to show ray and disk florets. Pappus of bristles attaches at top of ovary and functions in dispersal of achenes. Note inferior ovary of disk floret at bottom.

Fertilized ovaries of the ray and disk florets produce elongate ( ⅛ inch long) achenes (called cypselae in the aster family) topped with radiating bristles. When dry, the bristles give the inflorescence a white fluffy appearance. With light breezes, the achenes are wafted aloft for dispersal.

Photo 9: As the achenes mature, pappus fluffs-up for wind dispersal. (Photo – April 26)

In a native plant garden or natural area, round-leaf ragwort gradually extends away from the parent plant as clonal plants appear. Should a plant become too aggressive in a more formal setting, it may require repeated attempts for total removal. With continued moisture, its basal leaves can form a semi-evergreen groundcover. Plants thrive in partially sunny to shady areas. Beginning in late winter, it has lush green leaves and erect stems topped with showy purple flowerhead buds. Heads in bloom as well as fluffy seed heads are also showy. Self-seeding seems to be limited; however, if desired, stems can be removed before seed set. This species is listed in the Pollinator Series of “Grow Native!”.

Six additional species of Packera occur in Arkansas: golden ragwort (P. aurea), cress-leaf groundsel (P. glabella), balsam ragwort (P. paupercula), prairie ragwort ( P. plattensis), Great Plains ragwort (P. tampicana), and woolly ragwort (P. tomentosa)––all with a similar growth habit and yellow flowers. Round-leaf ragwort can be distinguished by a combination of its obovate and short-petiolate basal leaves, rounded tips of the lower cauline leaves, generally glabrous stems, and woolly tomentose pubescence only at leaf bases and on the small leaves (bracts) within the inflorescence. Round-leaf ragwort most closely resembles P. aurea, except P. aurea has indented (cordate) basal leaves on long petioles.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Crow Poison

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Crow poison (Nothoscordum bivalve) of the Onion (Alliaceae) family (formerly of the Lily (Liliaceae) family) resembles a wild onion and is often called “false garlic,” but the species has neither garlic nor onion scent or taste. The genus name is actually derived from Greek words for “false” and “garlic.” The specific epithet means “two sides” or “two valves” in reference to a pair of bracts on flowering stems. Crow poison occurs primarily in a large area from Arizona, through Texas to Kansas, through Illinois, Ohio, to Virginia, and south to the Atlantic and Gulf Coast. The species also occurs in Central and South America. The only native Nothoscordum species in Arkansas, N. bivalve occurs statewide. Habitats are quite variable and include dry to mesic rocky to sandy to silty areas with partial to full sun, such as, prairies, woodlands, glades and barrens, and even in domestic lawns.

Crow poison is an herbaceous perennial growing from a globose bulb about ½ inch long and wide. Along with annual production of new fleshy roots, leaves, and inflorescence, plants also produce small, basal bulblets, which separate from the parent bulb before producing independent roots and leaves. Clonal clumps tend to develop. In a favorable site, due to self-seeding, a large colony of various-sized clumps may develop.

Photo 1: A clonal clump growing in a rocky, partially sunny site. Photo – March 22.

New leaves consist of an above-ground blade and a fleshy tubular base. As additional new leaves grow within the tubular base of the previous leaf, older leaf bases are pushed outward. While leaf blades die at the end of the growing season, thickened leaf bases persist for water and nutrient storage, resulting in bulbs. Outermost leaf bases become thin and brown and form a protective tunic before they disintegrate.

Each year, a mature bulb produces a few to a half-dozen fleshy, rather succulent, rather grass-like, slightly twisted, linear leaves, in-folded along most their length, but flattened toward the tip. Larger blades may be 10 inches long and ⅛+ inch wide. Bulbs also produce one or two pale green flowering stems (scapes) in early spring and often again in the fall. These rise to 10+ inches long and gradually taper to the inflorescence. 

Photo 2: Larger bulb on left has two stems (marked by red asterisks) which grow with the leaf cluster, but not at the cluster’s center. Bulbs at left (3/8 inch diameter) and right are producing bulblets (white bulge at base). Once separated, bulblets produce their own leaves and roots, as seen at lower left. Photo – March 8.

The inflorescence, umbels to 1½ inches wide, consists of three to ten well-spaced flowers on long pedicels. Umbels are initially encased in two translucent (hyaline) membranes that ultimately dry and persist as subtending scarious bracts (the “bivalves” of the specific epithet). Flowers bloom sequentially over several days. Pedicels lengthen until fruit has set, the final length about 2 inches. 

Photo 3: Umbels emerge from protective membranes. Membrane of stem second from left is ½ inch long. Flowers of an umbel tend to develop sequentially. Photo – March 10.
Photo 4: The rather succulent, narrowly linear, basally in-folded blades have the same appearance above (left) and below (right). Umbels are subtended by dried membranous bracts. Photo – March 31.

Flowers of crow poison open on warm sunny days and remain for several days, depending on weather (closing on cloudy days). The ½- to ¾-inch-wide flowers have 6 tepals (3 each nearly identical sepals and petals), six anthers and a pistil. Tepals are white with a yellowish glow on their interior base, ⅜+ inch long and ⅛ inch wide, elliptic to oblong, and apically acute, with an occasional notch at the apex, and a light greenish midvein. Tepals remain ascending (perianth does not become flattened). Stamens have tapered, translucent, light yellow filaments and bright yellow anthers with bright yellow pollen. Anthers are hinged in see-saw fashion at the filament tips. Stamens are adnate (joined) to the base of the tepals. The erect post-like style terminates with a flat, round stigma. The style attaches to the top of an ovoid, superior, 3-chambered ovary.

Photo 5: The six ascending tepals (sepals and petals) have a nearly identical appearance. At anthesis, tepals remain ascending.

The glabrous, green ovaries develop into smooth, 3-lobed, light tan capsules. The upper portion of dry (mature) capsules open along seams, and seeds drop out when stems are shaken or capsules disintegrate. Black, hard, globular seeds are about 1/16 inch wide.

Photo 6: Walls of the drying capsules become translucent before splitting open at the top, releasing the black seeds. Photo – May 1. (Squares = ¼ inch.)

Crow poison may be appropriate for a native plant garden or, more so, for a natural area. While individual clumps stay “tidy,” self-seeding may extend a colony further than desired. The plant is an early spring food source for small butterflies, bees and flies. Its grass-like leaves add textural variety to a garden. One non-native species of Nothoscordum, N. gracile (slender false garlic), has now been documented naturalizing in Arkansas. It has wider leaves (to 1/2 inch wide) and tepals that are connate (united) in their lower third. Like crow poison, slender false garlic does not have an onion or garlic scent.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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COVID-19 – All ANPS Field Trips and Events Cancelled through June 1

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Dear ANPS Members,

Given the current situation with COVID-19 we are cancelling the ANPS Spring Meeting scheduled for May 15-17, 2020 in northwest Arkansas. While we will miss the gathering together of botany minded people across the state, we do not feel it is worth the risk.

Additionally, all field trips through June 1st are cancelled.

That said, Betty Owen is working diligently on Claytonia and hopes to get it out to you all in the next couple weeks.

Everyone stay safe and don’t go out anymore than you need to.

Becky and Susan Hardin
Co Presidents, Arkansas Native Plant Society

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Know Your Natives – Deerberry

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Deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum) of the Heath (Ericaceae) family is a medium-sized deciduous shrub that has small bell-shaped flowers with flared corolla lobes. The species occurs from east Texas and Oklahoma, northeast to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. In Arkansas, it occurs statewide except for some portions of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The genus name is obscure but presumably derives from the Latin vaccinus, of cows. The specific epithet is a reference to the plant’s distinctive, prominent stamens. Preferred habitat is sunny to partly shaded sites that have well-drained, sandy to rocky, acidic soils, such as dry ridges, glade margins, and upland woods.

Deerberry is a leafy deciduous shrub that may be 1 to 6+ feet tall and wide. Plants, especially in response to injury or fire, produce branching runners that bear roots and support new sprouts (ramets). Shrubs may have several trunks and many ramets of varying age, forming clonal thickets. Shrubs in more sunlight tend to be rounded and densely branched, while those in more shade can become upright and loosely branched.

Photo 1: This rounded deerberry on a sunny site is densely branched and leafy. Shrub in background is sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum) Photo – April 17.
Photo 2: On a shady site, deerberry tends to be more upright and loosely branched. Photo – April 24.

In winter, year-old reddish twigs bear small, dormant, terminal and lateral buds that are protected by a few imbricated (overlapping) scales. In late winter, scales are pushed aside as each developing bud yields a single unbranched leaf-bearing or flower-bearing twig. Leaf-bearing twigs occur at or near the exterior of the shrub; early in growth, they are zigzagged, leaf-to-leaf. Flower-bearing twigs are not persistent into the next growing season.

Photo 3: This shrub has several trunks and multiple ramets. The reddish twigs are the leaf-bearing twigs of the previous year. Photo – February 10.

Leaves are simple, cyclically alternate, and smooth-margined. New leaves are yellowish-green, becoming medium green later in the growing season and yellowish to reddish late in the season. Elliptic to oblong-elliptic, leaves are 1 to 3 inches long and ¼ to 1 inch wide, becoming progressively larger toward the twig tip, with rounded to wedge-shaped (cuneate) bases and acuminate to acute apexes. Texture varies from papery (chartaceous) to leathery (coriaceous) in response to available sunlight. Twigs, new leaves, and petioles may be densely pilose early but lose their pubescence with age.

Photo 4: New twigs are leaf-bearing or flower-bearing. Dust on leaves is of an unknown source (pollen?). Photo – April 23.

The inflorescence (on flower-bearing twigs), in mid to late April, is a raceme of up to 10 alternate dangling flowers. Each flower, subtended by a small, leafy bract, is borne on a slender pedicel to ⅜ inch long. The raceme axis tends to be densely pilose; the pedicels are mostly glabrous. Bracts drop off in summer as fruits mature.

Photo 5: Leaf size increases from twig base to twig apex. Flowers, subtended by leafy bracts, are pedicellate. Note vein pattern in this abaxial view.

Flowers, about ¼ inch long and wide, have a yellowish green, bell-shaped (campanulate) calyx with five broadly triangular, recurved lobes and a white, campanulate corolla with five broadly rounded lobes. Ten stamens are strongly exserted from the corolla. Each elaborate stamen comprises a short stubby white filament, two yellow spurs at the filament-anther junction, and an anther whose sacs taper into slender tubes. (Pollen typically accumulates in these tubes and is vibrated out by visiting insects.) The ovary is inferior. The style is exserted well beyond the stamens, the stigma becoming receptive only after pollen from the same flower is dispersed––an adaptation that promotes cross-pollination. 

Photo 6: Styles and anther tubes become exserted while corollas are still greenish. Anther sacs where pollen is produced are not yet visible. Photo – April 5.
Photo 7: In flowers at center and lower right, anther tubes are withering. With pollen dispersed, stigmatic surfaces are presumably receptive. Photo – April 22.

The inferior ovaries have five chambers with axile placentation. With fertilization, corolla and stamens drop off the developing fruit; the calyx persists. Fruits, ovoid “blueberries,” to about ⅜ inch wide, can be greenish, yellowish, blue or purplish at maturity. They ripen by late summer.

Photo 8: The ovoid fruits retain their persistent calyxes. Ripe fruit, when they drop-off in late summer, tend to still be greenish. Photo – June 15.

Deerberry is a compact leafy shrub that has visual appeal year-round and may be an excellent choice in a natural area, as a specimen plant, a grouping, or an informal hedge-row. The species is not noted to be an aggressive self-seeder. Clumps may develop, but should not be detrimental in a natural setting. Deerberry does well in well-drained rocky soils and is drought tolerant, when established. Plants are an important food source for insects, birds, and small mammals. They provide nectar for bees and butterflies and are host plants for red-spotted purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) and other butterflies and moths. They are subject to deer “damage.” Palatability for humans is variable depending on the particular source-shrub and personal taste.  

Photo 9: Flowers and fruit of deerberry are an important food source for insects, birds and small mammals. The chrysalis is a red-spotted purple.

Other species of the genus that occur in Arkansas are sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), Elliott’s blueberry (Vaccinium elliottii), black highbush blueberry (Vaccinium fuscatum), lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), and highbush or common blueberry (Vaccinium virgatum). Distinguishing characteristics that make deerberry comparatively easy to identify include 1) bracteate inflorescences, 2) flowers with flared, bell-shaped corollas and exserted styles and stamens, and 3) mature mostly green fruit that drop off in late summer.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Large-Flower Bellwort

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Large-flower bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) of the Bellwort (Colchicaceae) family, formerly of the Lily (Liliaceae) family, is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial with dangling yellow flowers. It occurs in the U.S. primarily from the Ouachita Mountains to northern Minnesota, east to New York, and thence south and west along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Alabama, Mississippi and northeastern Arkansas. Here in Arkansas, it is found throughout the Interior Highlands as well as on Crowley’s Ridge. The genus name is based on a Latin word meaning “palate,” in apparent reference to its dangling flowers suggesting the uvula. The specific epithet is the Latin for “large-flowered.” Other common names include bellflower and merrybells. Preferred habitats are deciduous woodlands with rich well-drained soils.

The rootstock of a mature plant consists of a compact, slowly expanding, shallow, white clump of short rhizomes supported by numerous descending white fleshy roots. Pointed, white stems develop below the surface over winter and, in early spring, push through to the surface. These early stems are covered by a sheath formed by several elongate bracts. With rapid spring growth, a full-sized terminal flower quickly pushes through the bracts, along with several nearly full-sized leaves. As stems continue to grow with additional flowers and associated leaves, their tips bend and the mature flowers become pendulous.

Photo 1: New sprouts, developing in the soil over winter, are supported by fleshy roots. Photo – November 5.
Photo 2: The first flower and associated leaves appear shortly after a stem extends out of a protective sheath of bracts. The stub-nosed bracts remain at the base of stem. Photo – March 18.

Mature stems have alternate, widely spaced leaves. New leaves are broadly lanceolate with curled margins; mature leaves (to 5 inches long and 2 inches wide) become more elliptic and flattened, with an acuminate apex. Leaf bases are perfoliate: the petiole attaches not to the leaf margin but to the blade itself, creating a rounded or somewhat lobed basal projection around the stem. The width of this projection decreases up the stem and ultimate apical leaves (when a flower is not present) are not perfoliate. The lower leaf surface is covered with very fine, dense pubescence which may cause leaf color to be whitish (canescent). Stems (to 2 feet long) are glabrous (smooth) and slightly glaucous (covered with a bluish haze). After flowering, the main stems become stronger and more erect, though arching still, and a zigzag form becomes apparent.

Photo 3: Single flowers are borne on side-stems as the dominant stem continues to elongate from the node.

In late March into April, flowers reach anthesis, the bloom period of a mature clump extending for a week or more. Slender pedicels are to about 1 inch long.

Photo 4: The weak apical portion of growing stems bends down. Margins of new leaves tend to be revolute. Note perfoliate leaf structure. (Ultimate apical leaves are not perfoliate.) Photo – April 7.

The dangling flowers, 1½ inches long, are elongate and bell-shaped (campanulate), with a perianth of six yellow sepals and petals, six stamens, and a style divided into three stigmatic lobes. The lanceolate, smooth, twisted perianth effectively hides the ½ inch+ stamens and style. Perianth bases are greenish. Stamens comprise stubby white filaments capped with slender, elongate, pale yellow anthers. Filaments, ⅓ the length of the anthers, are flattened and curved about the ovary. The pale green, rounded, three-loculed ovary is superior, attaching directly to the pedicel. Perianth parts are smooth on both inside and outside. Pollen is light yellow.

Photo 5: Paired side and main stems are subtended by perfoliate leaves. Leaves broaden as they mature so that parallel venation becomes arched. Both surfaces of leaves are shown.
Photo 6: Stamens, with stubby white filaments (bent around ovary), bear elongate light yellow anthers that produce light yellow pollen. Tip of pistil divides to expose three stigmatic lobes.

Fertilized flowers produce rounded, three-lobed capsules about ⅓ inch long and wide. In late summer, capsules split along three seams to expose several irregularly rounded seeds in each cell. Seeds are equipped with elaiosomes (food packets) that attract ants to assist in seed dispersal. Dry seeds are dark brown. (A developing fruit is shown at left-center of Photo 4.)

For a native plant garden or natural area with fertile mesic soil shaded by deciduous trees, large-flowered bellwort is an excellent choice. Flowers appear early in spring and nicely textured leaves remain into late summer. This long-lived perennial forms tight vase-shaped clumps that can be divided in fall. It is not noted for spreading by seed. The yellow pendulous flowers and distinctive foliage mix well with spring ephemerals and ferns. Various bees feed on the nectar and pollen. It is a preferred forage for deer.

In addition to large-flowered bellwort, two other species of Uvularia occur in Arkansas: perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) in the Ouachita Mountains and sessile-leaf bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), mostly in the western two-thirds of the state. Large-flowered bellwort can be easily distinguished from the latter by its perfoliate leaves and from the former (on close inspection) by the smooth texture of its sepals and petals––sepals and petals of perfoliate bellwort are granular pubescent within. 

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Yarrow

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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) of the Sunflower, Aster or Composite (Asteraceae) family has distinctive, highly dissected, frilly leaves. The species, the only Arkansas member of the genus Achillea, is native to North America, Asia, and Europe––one of the widest worldwide ranges among the flowering plants. It occurs across almost the entire U.S., including throughout all of Arkansas. The genus name originates from “Achilles,” the mythological Greek hero of the Trojan Wars, who is said to have discovered the plant’s healing powers. The specific epithet, from Latin, means “thousand-leaved.” Other vernacular names include milfoil (based on the French word for “thousand-leaved”), soldier’s woundwort, woolly yarrow, and thousand-leaf. Preferred habitat is well drained soils in full sun in prairies, grasslands, and roadsides, and occasionally, in partial sun of open woodlands.

This herbaceous perennial may occur as individual clumps, larger communities of intertwined clones, or as thick “weedy” stands. It has shallow, skinny, horizontal rhizomes that give rise to long thread-like roots. New rosettes of basal leaves, growing from rhizome tips, are present in mid-winter. Erect stems, beginning development in late winter, eventually mature at 2-3 feet tall. Stems are unbranched to the inflorescence and typically covered with short woolly pubescence. Flowering occurs from May to June. After seeds mature in August, dead stems recline and persist into winter. Crushed plants have a strong scent that is comparable to chrysanthemums.

Photo 1: Rosettes of basal leaves grow during winter months. Photo – late March.

Compound basal and cauline leaves are bipinnately divided and dissected, with closely spaced, finely cut leaflets throughout. Basal leaves grow to 8 inches long and ½ inch wide, their largest leaflets occurring near mid-leaf. Leaflets terminate in sharp, yet flexible mucronate points. Leaflets and sub-leaflets are lightly twisted in various planes so that a leaf appears frilly and soft. Alternate, well-spaced cauline leaves are sessile to sub-sessile and cyclically arranged. Leaf pubescence varies from hairy to nearly glabrous.

Photo 2: Basal leaves, showing upper side (above) and lower side (below). Complexity of sub-leaflets decreases toward leaf base and apex. Photo – mid-January.

 

Photo 3: Cauline leaves are alternate and cyclic about the stems. Stems are erect, but easily damaged by wind and rain. Photo – late April.
Photo 4: Cauline leaves have the same appearance as basal leaves (see Photo 2). Note pubescence of stems. Photo – late April.

Yarrow produces a terminal inflorescence in April and May. Branches are cyclically arranged below the stem apex, with the longest branches lower on the stem. The ascending sturdy branches divide into peduncles (stalks of multiple flower heads) and, ultimately, into pedicels (stalks of individual flower heads). Each branch produces a corymbose inflorescence which, merging with other branches, forms a compound corymb with a flat to slightly domed top 2 to 4 inches broad. Compound corymbs may consist of 150 to 200+ small flower heads (¼ inch long and across) that are tightly spaced to partially overlapping. Branches, peduncles, and pedicels are a pale green with short pilose pubescence.

Photo 5: This compound corymb is composed of several smaller corymbs, each on a separate branch. Nectar and pollen attract a wide variety of insects. Photo – early June.

Each composite flower head comprises 4-6 pistillate ray florets which surround 8-20 perfect disk florets. Corollas of the ray florets, white to occasionally pink, bear a broadly rounded, shallowly 3-lobed, white ligule atop a slender hidden tube that attaches to the apex of an inferior ovary. The cream-colored tubular disk florets have five recurved, short, triangular corolla lobes. A ring of 5 yellow disk floret anthers emerges from the disk corolla, after which the style, acting as a kind of plunger, is exserted through the anther ring and presents the pollen, making it available to pollinating insects. After pollen is disbursed, the styles (of both ray and disk florets) split and recurve as their stigmas become receptive.

Florets are tightly contained by an elongate involucre composed of imbricated, appressed, oblong-lanceolate, hairy phyllaries (bracts). Phyllaries have yellow apices, a narrow pale-green lanceolate midrib, and wide light-colored scarious (thin and dry) borders. 

Photo 6: Display shows lower and upper side of a portion of a compound corymb. Phyllaries have a green midrib and scarious borders. Yellow elongate anthers of several disk florets that are approaching anthesis can be seen. Photo – mid-May.
Photo 7: The composite flower heads have 4 to 6 pistillate ray florets surrounding 8 to 20 perfect disk florets. As shown, anthers of most disk florets have already dispersed pollen and exserted styles are bifurcated. Photo- mid-May.

With fertilization, ray and disk florets produce light tan, oblong, flattened, 1-seeded achenes. No pappus is present. The flat apical edge of the achenes bears a central raised scar which results from attachment of the corolla tube. The light-weight seeds are dispersed short distances by wind.

In well-drained soil, yarrow is both a widely cultivated ornamental as well as a lovely addition to a native plant garden or natural area, appreciated for its winter foliage, its distinctive finely textured leaves year round, and its (usually) bright white inflorescence. The slender stems are subject to wind and rain damage and decline soon after seeds mature. Plants can spread aggressively by rhizomes and self-seeding. Removal of spent stems after bloom restricts plant-spread by self-seeding and keeps plants tidy in late summer. Nectar and pollen attract a wide variety of insects. Yarrow is drought-resistant and is not preferred by deer or rabbits. It has a rich history of medicinal and herbal use.

Characteristics of yarrow’s leaves are sufficiently distinct so that it is readily distinguished from any other native (or non-native) species occurring in the state.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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Know Your Natives – Buttonbush

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Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) of the Madder or Coffee (Rubiaceae) family is a deciduous wetland shrub with many small radiating flowers packed into tight spherical heads. It occurs across a large area of the eastern U.S. from the Big Bend area of Texas, northeastward into southeastern Minnesota, and east to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. There are also disjunct populations in portions of Arizona and California. In Arkansas, it occurs statewide. The genus name is from Greek words for “head” and “flower.” The specific epithet, from Latin, translates to “of the West.” Other common names include button-willow and honey-bells. Preferred habitat is sunny to shaded wetlands that may be subject to periodic and even extended flooding, such as swamp and pond margins, marshes, swales, floodplains, and drainages.

Buttonbush is an upright to spreading woody shrub––the only woody member of the Coffee family in Arkansas––with a typical height of 3 to 8 feet, but may attain small-tree size especially in heavy shade. New branches are smooth and green with white lenticels. In subsequent years, branches darken to brown or reddish brown and lenticels become corky. Ultimately, trunks and branches become gray and fissured. 

Photo 1: Buttonbush growing in a small wetland site, this old shrub has an open structure and fissured bark.

Simple leaves, developing in late spring, occur as opposite pairs or whorls of three or four, growing from swollen nodes. Blades are ovate to elliptical with entire margins, acuminate tips, and rounded to narrowed bases. Leaves expand to 7 inches long and 4 inches wide, including slender 1½ inch-long petioles. The upper leaf surface is a shiny dark green (less shiny later in growing season), while the lower surface is duller. Ascending petioles are reddish to brownish. Triangular, persistent, reddish stipules, to about ⅛ inch long, occur beside the petioles and leave minute line-scars around the nodes. 

Photo 2: Opposite, simple leaves can be so regular that a short branch appears like a compound leaf. Photo – July 6.
Photo 3: Display of branches (youngest at top). The top branch retains a tiny, bract-like stipule (to left of leaf scar) and an obscure dormant bud (bump directly above leaf scar). Note corky lenticels and splitting bark on older branches. Photo- January 7.

The inflorescence consists of showy, fragrant, spherical flower heads that occur singly at the branch tips and in 2-4 opposite pairs below. Whorls of 3 or 4 may occur and sometimes flower heads and leaves occur in the same whorl. Heads are from ¾ to 1¼ inches in diameter and comprise several hundred small, sessile, tubular, equal-sized flowers. Flowers begin to bloom in early June. All flowers of a head reach anthesis at the same time and, but with up to a dozen heads on a branch blooming successively, the bloom period may extend over a month. After fruits have matured and shed seeds, the peduncles die back to the leaf nodes below.

Photo 4: Secondary leaf veins curve toward the margin and become parallel to the margin. Reddish stipules occur on swollen leaf nodes, beside the petioles. Upper leaf blades have a rugose appearance. Photo – August 2.

The ⅓-inch-long fragrant white flowers are composed of a long slender, tubular corolla and a small shallow pale green four-lobed calyx about ¼ inch long. The corolla has four oval, ascending, flared lobes. Single black dots occur outside the tube, where corolla lobes and tube join. Flowers have four short white filaments with brownish yellow round anthers and a white style topped with a light yellow stigma. While the filaments and anthers are positioned at the mouth of the tube; the long styles protrude well above the corolla so that heads at anthesis have a prickly appearance. Filaments are adnate to the tube in its upper portion. The ovaries are inferior––calyx and corolla are attached at the summit of the ovary, not at the base.

Photo 5: White tubular flowers are set in stubby green calyxes and in tight, spherical heads. (Small leaves below the flower head on this branch are not typical.) Photo – August 2.

After blooming, flowers quickly wilt and drop off to reveal a sphere of empty, sturdy green calyxes. Calyxes gradually shrink to form the squarish indented apex of the fruits. The green heads may become reddish before drying to a light tan and then dark brown. Fruits, ¼ inch long, have straight sides that taper sharply to the base (narrowly conical). The tightly packed head forms a hard, rough sphere with a diameter to about ⅞ inch and may contain more than 250 fruits. With peduncles and immediately adjacent branches dying, dangling fruit heads persist over the winter months. Fruits may contain one or two nutlets, but often ovules do not develop into viable seeds. Fruits are dispersed by birds and water.

Photo 6: Calyxes persist as fruits develop. Fruit head may become reddish before drying to light tan and then dark brown. Photo – September 10.
Photo 7: A head may contain several hundred narrowly conical nutlets that are ¼ inch long. Photo – November 14.

In a native plant garden, butterfly garden, or natural area, buttonbush is well suited for a consistently wet to shallow-water or boggy site. It is adaptable to less wet sites, but will need supplemental watering until well established. With its open growth habit, it has a strong structural appearance in winter months. Flowering is more profuse in sunnier sites. Flower heads are very showy and attract butterflies, bees, and many other insects, as well as hummingbirds. Fruits are eaten by ducks and a variety of other birds. Fruit heads, persisting for six months or more, are attractive and distinctive over winter months. A grouping of shrubs is effective in controlling erosion on pond banks. Plants propagate easily from cuttings. It is not an aggressive self-seeder. Buttonbush is a poisonous plant (contains cephalathin).

Photo 8: Fruit heads persist into winter months. Upper portion of branches, which have borne the flower heads, die after fruits have matured.

Buttonbush is the only species of the genus that occurs in Arkansas. Its preferred habitat  and the appearance if its spherical flower and fruit heads allow it to be readily distinguished from other shrubs and small trees that have simple, opposite, entire leaves. In addition to its wide range in the Lower 48, the species occurs south of the border, in Mexico and Central America, and to the north in southeastern Canada.

Article and photographs by ANPS member Sid Vogelpohl

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