Summer 2003 Minnesota Plant Press ~ Minnesota Native Plant Society Newsletter

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Minnesota Plant PressThe Minnesota Native Plant Society Newsletter

Volume 22 Number 4 Summer 2003

Monthly meetingsMinnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Visitor Center, 3815 East 80th St.

Bloomington, MN 55425-1600

952-854-5900

6:30 p.m. Building east door opens6:30 p.m. Refreshments,

information, Room A7 9 p.m Program, society business

7:30 p.m. Building door is locked9:30 p.m. Building closes

ProgramsThe MNPS meets the first Thursday in

October, November, December, February,March, April, May and June. The nextmeeting will be Thursday, Oct. 2. Checkthe Web site for more information on

programs.

MNPS Web sitehttp://www.stolaf.edu/depts/biology/mnps

e-mail: [email protected]

MNPS ListserveSend a message that includes the wordsubscribe or unsubscribe and your name

in the body of the message to:

[email protected]

Member finds dwarf irisnew to Minnesotaby Ron Huber, MNPS member and museum associate, Science Museum

of Minnesota.

[Figures 1 and 2 are included as an insert in the mailed copies of thi

newsletter and as PDF files with the e-mail edition.]On May 30, 2002, while my wife, Cathy, and I were exploring variou

portions of Minnesota Hill in northern Roseau County, we discovereda small patch of a beautiful little dwarf iris that we could not identifyBetsy Betros, our traveling companion from Kansas, took severaphotographs of the overall patch, plus some individual plants, includinga few nice close-ups of the sepals. Most of the plants appeared to b10 12 inches tall, just barely above the grasstops.

Robert Dana of the Minnesota DNR Heritage Program examinedthe 35 mm slides and identified the iris as the Eurasian Iris pumila

Figure 1 is a group shot, while Figure 2 is a close-up of a single flowerNote the small patch of erect white beard in the center of each sepain Figure 2, a distinguishing feature of this species. Robert said thathe iris has been previously reported in Maine, Michigan, WisconsinIllinois and Missouri. In Michigan, Voss (1972:431) records it fromtwo lower peninsula counties, noting, apparently escapes fromcultivation or perhaps only persisting where dumped. The RoseauCounty record appears to be the first known for Minnesota.

Minnesota Hill is a deep sandy ridge that runs northeast-southwesand is located roughly 10 miles north and four miles west of the cityof Roseau. It is also about four miles east of the little community o

Pinecreek. Minnesota Hill is apparently a three-mile-long remnant oone of the beach lines from glacial Lake Agassiz. It is a very interestingarea, with an amazing floral and faunal diversity. We seem to findsomething different on every visit. TheIris pumilawas in the southeasquarter, Section 30, Township 164 North, Range 40 West, less thanhalf a mile south of the International Boundary obelisk.

The area immediately south of this boundary marker is being slowlyexcavated for sand, and what was once a level, sandy, conifer-studdedbarren in the 1970s is now, unfortunately, a very large pit some 15

Dues for individual

members are changedAt their June 22 meeting, MNPS board

members voted to raise individual duesfrom $12 to $15. No other categories werechanged. Family memberships (two ormore related persons at the same address)remain $15. Dues for full-time studentsand seniors (62 or over or retired) are $8;institutions, $20; donors, $25.

The membership year starts Oct. 1. Amember registration form is on page 7 of

this issue.

Continued on page 3


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20 feet deep and several hundredyards across. We are attempting tofind out who is doing this excavationbut it is probably for roadmaintenance in the county. On the

county map, the site appears to bepart of the Lost River State Forestand we will make an inquiry there awell.

We thank Betsy Betros fopermission to scan the slides, RoberDana for the identification, forchecking the literature and Web sitesand for doing the scans, and DebSchoenholz, science publicationspecialist, Science Museum o

Minnesota, for printing the two-sidedcolor inserts.

References:Voss, E.G., 1972, Michigan Flora

Part 1, Gymnosperms andmonocots. Cranbrook Institute ofScience, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

USGS Plants Database: http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cg[IL, ME, MI, MO, WI]

Wisconsin: www.botany.wisc.edu

wisflora/hand/IRIPUM.gif

Fall prairie field trip to be Sept. 6by Dan Mielke

I will lead a field trip to Peiks and Mielkes prairies in McLeod Countyon Sept. 6. The first site is a dry prairie; the second site is a wet prairie. Thefield trip will start at 9 a.m. The first site tour should last about two hours,while the second site tour can last into the afternoon. Feel free to bringwater, snacks, or even a packed lunch.

From the Twin Cities, go west on Hwy. 212. Approximately 4.5 mileswest of Glencoe the four-lane road becomes two lanes. Continue westwardon Hwy. 212 for approximately four more miles. Ahead and to the west, along, low, big hill with three clumps of trees on top will be visible. This hillis immediately south of Peiks prairie. As you see this hill, Hwy. 212 willbend towards the south and then come back to the west. At the bottom ofthis curve is a gravel road named Nature Ave. Turn right (north), cross therailroad tracks and the country road intersection. The prairie is on the left.Park on the right side of Nature Ave. This site is about 45 miles from Chaska.Directions to the second prairie site will be given out at that location.

Please feel free to bring a walking stick, as at this time of year there may

be a few spiders in the grassland. Wood ticks will be non-existent. If we arelucky, we may be in the middle of the monarch butterfly migration. Oneyear I saw as many as 250 butterflies clinging to an old willow tree on awindy day. Lets all hope!

I will try to limit this tour to 20 participants. If you have any questions,please contact Dan at [email protected]. I am looking forward tothis tour.

Iris discoveryContinued from page 1

Friends of Springbrook rally to

save the Fridley Nature CenterSupporters of Springbrook Nature

Center in Fridley are in the midst ofa campaign to save the 127-acrenature center. On June 23, CityManager William Burnsrecommended closing facilities at thecenter and cutting its staff of threefull-time employees and one part-time maintenance worker. Thiswould save the city about $300,000.A second threat is coming fromcouncil members who have proposedturning the park into a golf course ora housing development.

Burns said that if the budget cutsare made, the center would remain apassive recreational area. Therewould be no programs in thebuildings, but trails would bemaintained.

Springbrook has hosted natureprograms since 1982. It has an

interpretive center with live animaldisplays, hiking trails, wetlands,native prairie and oak forests. Itattracts about 150,000 people eachyear, according to Siah St. Clair,director of the center.

In 2002 the center began a wetlandrestoration process with theassistance of grants from theMinnesota Pollution Control Agency,the Metro Council, the McKnight

Foundation and neighboring cities.Springbrook Creek enters theMississippi just above the locationwhere Minneapolis and many of itssuburbs take their water. As a result,Springbrook Nature Centersdrainage and water quality problemsaffect residents of thesemunicipalities. That restorationproject is on hold until the fate of thecenter has been determined.

The campaign to save the center isbeing conducted by Friends ofSpringbrook. This organization wasformed after Burns proposed thebudget cuts. About 300 peopleattended a one-hour rally in front ofFridley City Hall July 10 to voicetheir support for saving the centerOn July 14, about 250 peopleattended a city council meeting. The

golf course proposal was on theagenda that night, but no decisionswere made.

Friends of Springbrook is selling T-shirts, accepting donations anddistributing lawn signs and bumperstickers. Their mailing address isP.O. Box 32722, Fridley, MN 55432Information on the campaign is onthe nature centers Web sitewww.springbrooknaturecenter.org


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Orchid infatuation:Teenagers tiny hobbycreates a big impressionby Lynn Underwood, Star TribuneStaff Writer

[This article was printed in the June18, 2003 issue of the Star Tribune.Otto Gockman is a member of theMNPS.]

Otto Gockman uses typical teenexpressions to describe his atypicalhobby growing orchids. But the17-year-old isnt cultivating the big-bloomed phalaenopsis and cattleyas

that sit on many coffee tables. Hesenamored with pleurothallids, whichare miniature almost microscopic orchids that he grows on cork orin tiny pots inside his basementorchidarium.

This one has hairs that dangle andblow in the wind, Gockman said,gently touching the minute brownpetals of a Pleurothallis ornate. An

orange and yellow Lapan thespecunialis resembles a little jewel,he said. The long Latin names of thetiny orchids flow easily off histongue, like the lyrics to a favoritepop song.

Every species of orchid is sodifferent in some way, Gockmansaid. Its hard not to be intriguedby them.

Like larger, more common orchids,the pleurothallids boast long-lasting,vibrant colored blossoms in other-worldly shapes. But you may needa magnifying glass to see them; mostare smaller than a thumb nail.

Gockman credits a photo in anAmerican Orchid Society magazinefor igniting his passion forpleurothallids.

A white one that was so small anddifferent caught my eye, he said. Heordered the tiny Ornithocephalusinflexus and it launched his exoticorchid collection.

Miniature orchids thrive in themountain forests of South andCentral America, and many grow onmoss-covered trees. Theorchidarium built by his dad, Terry,

re-creates the environment in hisbasement with a mister, grow lightsand a humidifier.

But Gockmans orchid obsessionstarted much closer to home. Whenhe was 13, he discovered nativeorchids growing in Minnesotaswoodlands and bogs. Hiking tripsto photograph birds turned intohiking trips to photograph wildorchids. Today, yellow ladys

slipper, showy orchis and greenadders-mouth are among the nativeorchids he grows in his back yard.Gockman also rescues wild orchidsby moving them from areas wherenew housing developments are beingbuilt.

A mother knows

His mother, Jeanne Schacht, knewearly on he was a budding naturalist.

He was bird-watching by the time hewas in kindergarten. And there wereearly symptoms of orchid feverduring a 1999 trip to Canada.

We were looking for elk in a bog,she said. All of a sudden Otto sawa tiny pink orchid and startedcrawling around on his hands andknees looking for more. We werethere for three hours.

Its no surprise that Gockman plansto study botany in college. Mydream job would be to discover neworchids in the rain forests around theworld, he said.

For now, the Como Park HighSchool junior is working part timeat Orchids Limited in Plymouth

watering, repotting and helping in thelab. I like being surrounded byorchids and Im continuouslylearning more about them, he said

Otto has a great enthusiasm forplants, said owner Jerry FischerSometimes he gets side-tracked andstops to admire their beauty anddiversity. Then its wheres Otto?

Gockman said its easy for him to

get carried away with orchidsespecially the under-appreciated andless-cultivatedpleurothallids. Imdoing my part in keeping theunderdog plant around, he said.

Copyright 2003 Star Tribune

Republished with permission of Star

Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul. No

further republi cation or

redistribution is permitted withou

the written consent of Star Tribune.

Dakota County projectreceives award

The successful Dakota CountyFarmland and Natural Areas Projectreceived the 2003 Merit Award fromthe Minnesota Chapter of the Soiland Water Conservation Society forpartnerships formed to accomplishperpetual conservation easements on

farmland and natural areas in DakotaCounty.

As a result of this project, votersin November 2002 approved a $20million bond issue to preserve someof the most significant areas in thecounty. Applications to preservefarmland are now being acceptedApplications to preserve naturalareas will be received this fall.

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Wildflower Weekend and Louisville Swamp Walkby Doug Mensing

Whitewater State Park

The weekend of May 9 through 11, the MNPS sponsored a springwildflower weekend at Whitewater State Park in beautiful southeasternMinnesota. Jason Husveth did much of his graduate school research in

this part of the state, and he has explored some of the areas less travelednooks and crannies in search of rare native plants. His knowledge of thepark and the adjacent wildlife management area ensured that all whoattended were rewarded with a fun and informative (albeit damp) weekend

A small clan of native plant enthusiasts gathered at the group campgroundFriday evening. Immediately we were identifying orchids and other nativewildflowers. Some of us even stalked a secretive woodcock.

Saturday morning additional folks brought the group to about a dozenpeople. Our first outing was into the Beaver Creek ravine. Starting in itsheadwaters, lush green spring vegetation blanketed most of the ravine slopesand bottomlands. Wood anemone, false rue anemone, spring beauty, Jacobs

ladder, Dutchmans breeches, trout lilies, squirrel corn, toothwort, bishopscap, bellwort, ferns, and sedges created carpets of color and texture,interspersed with gray limestone outcrops and bluffs. After returning toour campsite and following a mild hailstorm, we braved a goat prairieLayers of clouds were blowing three different directions as we hiked up asteep slope to find birds-foot violet, puccoon, and other bluff prairie species

On Sunday we ventured into the lower reaches of Beaver Creek wherewe saw many of the same species we saw on Saturday, but were also treatedto marsh marigold, sweet cicely, wild ginger, and large patches of wildleek. Some of the rare plants observed in this ravine included twinleaffalse mermaid, squirrel corn, and a rare sedge (Carex careyana).

Louisville SwampOn May 31, the MNPS sponsored a spring wildflower walk at Louisville

Swamp, one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services units in the MinnesotaRiver Valley. Jason Husveth and Doug Mensing led about 22 people on aninformative walk through restored prairie and savanna, floodplain forestand native oak woodland-brushland.

Blooming species on the restored prairie and savanna included prairieviolet, prairie plum, blue-eyed grass, and false Solomons seal. Oneparticipant identified a patch of kittentails, a state threatened plant. Commonbuckthorn had recently been removed from the woodlands understory aspart of the savanna restoration work. Buckthorn resprouts, Virginia

waterleaf, and poison ivy were seen in much of the restoration area.The floodplain forest contained silver maple and cottonwood trees, with

a dense groundcover of wood nettle. Canada anemone and several sedgespecies were near the edges of this forest. The native savanna and oakforest contained Pennsylvania sedge, black raspberries, wild geranium, andwoodland phlox. Several patches of kittentails (previously unknown tothe Minnesota DNR and the Refuge) were also found in this area. A smaldepression in this area contained yellow star grass and several sedge species

Louisville Swamp is a fantastic place for the nature enthusiast, and if youwere unable to attend the spring wildflower walk, we would highlyrecommend you visit during the late summer and fall months.

Spring Prairie tourby Dan Mielke

On June 29 I led a field trip to twoprairie sites in central Minnesota. Oneis a dry prairie owned by my uncle,Walter Peik. It consists of a three-

acre sandy hilltop and 25-acre dryprairie restoration. The second site isa 20-acre wet prairie with ponds andsedge and cattail marshes, with semi-mesic wet areas next to a shallow mudbottom lake. I own this prairie.

At Peiks prairie we saw meadowgarlic, ox-eyes and wild turnip inbloom. In the restoration area I havebeen hand-broadcasting seed fromsurrounding prairie remnants. Some,

like the wild garlic, blue bottlegentian, and fragrant giant hyssop,have taken hold readily. Others, suchas the blazing star, side oats grama,and wild onion, will be noticeablelater in summer. There is a brokentile area in which I have managed toput a few wetland plants. Great bluelobelia thrives here. I added plugs ofcord grass, which are now spreadingout. But the overwhelming featuresof this restoration are the stands of big

bluestem and Indian grass, which hadcome into this area naturally. Thesegrasses will be just grandiose in thefall tour. There are also woody typeplants. Wild prairie rose, false wildblue indigo, and lead plant are takinghold.

We moved to the wet prairie site,where we lost one person tobobolinks. Swamp milkweed, wildfield mint (native), and many types

of sedges were in bloom. In somewhatdrier areas were white camas, hedgenettle, and false Solomons seal.White camas is a member of the lilyfamily, with the stalk rising one to twofeet above the ground, covered with10 to 30 white blossoms. Hedgenettle has lavender colored flowersblooming at the top of the main stalk.We continued down to the edge of thelake. I am looking forward to fall, andI hope you can join the Sept. 6 tour.

Field trips feature wide variety of flowers


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Plant Loreby Thor Kommedahl

What is wild bergamot?

Wild bergamot is Monarda fistulosa.It is also called bee balm andhorsemint because of its similarity to

closely related species. It is a memberof the mint family.

How did it get its names?

Monarda is named after NicholasMonardes, a 16th century Spanishphysician and botanist. Fistulosa,meaning hollow, refers to the tubularcalyx. It is called wild bergamotbecause the scent is like that of oil ofbergamot extracted from the

bergamot orange. Oil of bergamotis used to flavor foods (Earl Grey tea,for example). Bumblebees,butterflies, and humming birds areattracted to the flowers.

What is the plant like?

It is an aromatic, rhizomatose, nativeperennial that grows in dry woodedges, thickets, and prairiesthroughout the state. The flowers are

in dense heads and bloom from Mayto September. The calyx is tubularand bright (yet pale) lavendar. Leavesare opposite on the square stems, andplants are 2 to 4 feet tall.

Is it poisonous or medicinal?

Not poisonous but it has a variety ofmedicinal uses. American Indiansmade tea for treatment of colds,fevers, and heart trouble, and

physicians used tea from leaves toexpel worms and gas. (The oil is highin carvacrol which expels worms.)But it is not officially recommendedtoday. Another species,M. didyma(Oswego tea), was used by theShakers as a tea after the famousBoston Tea Party. Oswego tea has acitrus odor, while wild bergamot hasa spicy, minty odor. Oswego tea, alsonative, grows in western Minnesota.

Why shouldwe battlebuckthorn?by Dianne Plunkett Latham

Many of you may have participated

in your communitys buckthornabatement program last fall. If so, yourealize that buckthorn has beendeclared a noxious weed by the Stateof Minnesota. Many of your neighbors,however, may yet need to clear theirproperty of this pest. If they maintainthis noxious weed on their property, itwill reinfest nearby property. Birdscarry buckthorn berries up to 1/3 mile.Several of you have asked me whatinformation they should give their

neighbors to encourage them toremove their buckthorn. The followingis what I tell my neighbors. Pleasespread the word!

Buckthorn berries, bark and rootsare toxic. The berries cause severecramping and diarrhea in humans.Keep small children out of areas wherebuckthorn berries fall, as the blue/blackberries may be mistaken for blueberriesand accidentally eaten.

Buckthorn is a starvation food forbirds. It causes diarrhea and weakensthem. The blue stains on your houseand sidewalk are the result ofdroppings from birds eating the berries.Bird numbers decline in areas infestedby buckthorn, because food sourcesand nesting sites are greatly reduced.

Buckthorn has an allelopathicchemical in its roots that suppresses thegrowth of surrounding plants, much

like black walnuts do. Wildflowers andtree seedlings are greatly reduced.

Buckthorn stays green 58 dayslonger than our native species, whichgives buckthorn a competitive edge.

Buckthorn, which has little fallcolor, is replacing our forests.Anything that is still green in Octoberand November is buckthorn.

Buckthorn eventually forms densethorny thickets. It shades out other

plants and provides cover for crimeperpetrators in parks. Homeownerswho say they want buckthorn forprivacy should consider coniferswhich offer much better privacy.

Buckthorn infestations reduceproperty values. Savvy buyers ask thatbuckthorn be removed before sale, or

ask to lower the sale price by the costof buckthorn removal.

Buckthorn stumps must be sprayedwith Roundup (Glyphosate) at aminimum strength of 20 percent tokeep the stumps from resproutingSpraying must be done ASAP aftercutting, and well before any rain. Thisstump treatment, however, wont workduring bud break (late March to June1). Sap flows in a predominantlyupward direction in the spring, thus

there is little intake of chemicals.Ask your city to purchase Weed

Wrench and Root Talon tools, whichresidents can borrow to uprootbuckthorn trees up to 2-1/2 inches indiameter. These are only effectivewhen the ground is not frozen.

Buckthorn seeds are viable for up tofive years. Woodlands must bemaintained annually for several yearsafter buckthorn removal. This can be

done by a combination of techniquesincluding replanting and mulching, ormowing/brush cutting. For small areashand-pull seedlings. Large areas ofbuckthorn saplings up to three feet inheight can be sprayed with a maximumstrength of 3 percent Roundup in lateOctober or early November. Wait tospray until after at least two hard frosts(below 28 F), when everything else isdormant, but buckthorn is still green.

Professional buckthorn removal isthe least expensive during the winterwhen tree services may give steepdiscounts. The longer you wait, themore buckthorn you will have, and themore expensive removal will become

Dianne Plunkett Latham, a MNPSboard member, is the BuckthornAbatement Steering Committee chairfor the Edina Garden Council and theLeague of Women Voters of Edina.


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Minnesota Native Plant SocietyMember Registration

Name __________________________________________________________________________________

Address ________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

City __________________________________________________ State ________ Zip ______________

Phone (work) _________________________________ (home) __________________________________

E-Mail ________________________________________________________________________________

Membership category (New ______ Renewal _______)

$15 Individual$15 Family (2 or more related persons at same address)$8 Student (full time)$8 Senior (62 or over or retired)

$20 Institution$25 Donor

Please fill in the form above and check the appropriate membership category. Your check should be made

payable to the Minnesota Native Plant Society. Mail the completed form and your check to the Minnesota

Native Plant Society, University of Minnesota, 250 Biological Sciences Center, 1445 Gortner Ave., St. Paul,

MN 55108.

Bell Museum hasexhibit of nature art

More than 80 works of art inspiredby threatened land and water sites inMinnesota and Wisconsin are ondisplay at the Bell Museum ofNatural History at the University of

Minnesota. Entitled Project Art forNature: Close to Home, the exhibitopened June 21 and will continueuntil Aug. 31.

The exhibit features the works of17 Minnesota and Wisconsin artistsand includes prints, book arts,textiles, drawings, paintings andsculpture that depict areas of naturalbeauty and the threats they face.Participants include Vera Ming

Wong, Barbara Harman, MimiHolmes and Wendy Lane. At least20 percent of monies raised from

artwork sales will go to the Scientificand Natural Areas Program of theMinnesota Department of NaturalResources.

Vera Ming Wong, a member of theMNPS, is founder of Project Art forNature. Inspired by a 1999 BellMuseum exhibit, 16 local artists

banded together to formed PAN topromote stewardship of threatenednatural areas in Minnesota andWisconsin

For additional information aboutthe exhibit, call the Bell MuseumInformation Line at 612-624-7803 orvisit www.bellmuseum.org

The museum is located on theMinneapolis campus of the

University of Minnesota at thesouthwest corner of 17th Ave.(Church St.) and University Ave. S.E.

Wildflowers and nativegrasses can still beplanted by highways

Transportation departments maycontinue to plant native grasses andwildflowers along Minnesotahighways. An effort to forbidplanting these seeds was thwartedand that amendment was removedfrom the transportation bill in theclosing hours of the 2003 session ofthe Minnesota Legislature.

Several MNPS members talkedabout the folly of this money-saving measure at hearings at theLegislature and personally contactedlegislators. Roy Robinson monitored

progress of the measure. Speakersat the hearings included Roy, DiannePlunkett Latham and Deb Anderson

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Summer 2003 Issue

Minnesota Native Plant Society

University of Minnesota

250 Biological Sciences Center

1445 Gortner Ave.

St. Paul, MN 55108


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Summer 2003 Minnesota Plant Press ~ Minnesota Native Plant Society Newsletter

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