Plant portraits – Page 5 – Botanically Inclined

Wildlife Wednesday – Ode to the bumblebee

Finally some warm weather (then cold again…warm). However, spring is here and in the past couple of weeks Corydalis and Dicentra cucullaria, some of the first here, have not only flowered but started to set seeds! Watching the Corydalis solida and Dicentra cucullaria flowering and the bumblebee hungrily foraging them, I realized that I was awaiting its apparition as much as that of the first spring flowers.

I won’t get into details on the bumblebees since I am sure they are well known; this is for sure the mother queen which is busy building the future colony. Of course, Corydalis grown from seeds will always come in various colours :)

Note: The wiki stub on Bumblebees is excellent if someone needs an extra read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee.

And a few more images, since last month I had a very short post on Robbie, which seems to get into a territorial dispute with the cardinals lately.

A lady bug sleeping(?) on Narcissus flower

Few other images taken in the wild recently: a solitary bee on Cardamine, woodland hawks (maybe Cooper’s Hawks) and an unknown insect (for now) on the spring beauty flower (Claytonia caroliniana).

Cardamine

Claytonia caroliniana

Woodland hawks

Yes, spring beauties are all around!

I hope everyone enjoys them, their garden and the outdoors, and will join in the wildlife celebrations hosted by Tina at My gardener says.

May 4, 2016

Notes on Hepatica acutiloba

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Anemone acutiloba (DC.) Laws (Flora of N. America)

IN REVISION WORK ….April 6, 2018

April begins here with a joke, weather wise – we are expecting snow (2016)! Thus, it is a good moment to gather and publish my notes on Hepatica acutiloba (Sharp-lobed hepatica) before it gets busy.The seeds are also starting to germinate, so it cannot be too long till flowering begins.
Funny, today on April 6, 2018 when I’m working revising this, it snowed :)

Hepatica acutiloba is easily distinguished from the only other N American species, H. americana, by having the leaf lobes acute or acuminate, with the middle lobe 70-90% of total blade length; involucral bracts +/- acute (FNA). Sometimes when the lobes are acute it’s a bit more difficult to distinguish it; when in doubt, see the footnote about how to measure the leaves (1).

It is usually found in deciduous beech-maple forests (oaks & other species possible), on rich soils; rarely in mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. In comparison to H. americana, it is usually found in locations that tend to be slightly wet, at least temporarily. Therefore for cultivation it is a better choice if someone really wants to grow a Hepatica in a moist location.
This may be the reason why in the wild it is not often to find the 2 species growing together.

The new foliage can be reddish- bronze when emerging, but not always; villous in various degrees (with long, soft hairs). I would grow this species even if just for the foliage, which besides the flowers, constitutes its most notable ornamental quality.

About fragrance

I read about this for the first time in the excellent article published in AGS Journal (vol. 83 No.3) by Michael Meyers; he writes “some plants have a strong fragrance”. After sniffing every H. acutiloba I encountered in the last years, I can say is true that some forms of H. acutiloba are fragrant; some more than others, some not at all.

A while ago there were 5 recognized forms for H. acutiloba (2). From a taxonomic point of view they are obsolete nowadays, but I think from an ornamental point of view they are important and could be used in breeding since the progeny resulted from seed propagation is uniform. Therefore, the seeds will be offered marked as such.

Flora of NA states that the regular form of Hepatica acutiloba is blue flowered (H. acutiloba fo. acutiloba).

Hepatica acutiloba blue flowers

However, it seems though that at least in Southwestern Ontario, the white flowered form is predominant for H. acutiloba.

Hepatica acutiloba fo. albiflora Ralph Hoffm. – the leaves can be variable and the flowers white; it is usually quite vigorous in habit. Notice in the gallery second image how large the involucral bracts are – they seem to be green ‘flowers’.
The picture with fruits belongs to the form offered as: H. acutiloba – white/ fragrant, being the most fragrant form from all; the flowers actually have a sheer pink overlay when newly opened.

Hepatica acutiloba – white/fragrant

Hepatica acutiloba fo. albiflora

Hepatica acutiloba fo. albiflora with seeds forming

Hepatica acutiloba fo. rosea Ralph Hoffm. – has pink flowers in various shades, and the leaves can exhibit very nice veined markings.

Hepatica acutiloba fo. rosea

Hepatica acutiloba fo. rosea – foliage

I don’t know if specimens with pink blushed flowers should be included in fo. rosea but I like them very much. Some are light-pink, others have white flowers with just a dab of pink mixed in. Probably an acquired taste…

Hepatica acutiloba pink blushed

Hepatica acutiloba fo. diversiloba Raymond – leaves with 5-7 lobes instead of the usual 3, hence the name. The character is not always consistent and often on the same plant both 3-lobed and 5-7-lobed leaves are present. Young seedlings may not display the character for 1-2 years.

For few years I only saw this form with white flowers. The leaves can also develop beautiful veined markings. In the first image of a cultivated plant, the foliage is interestingly marbled instead of having marked veins.

Hepatica acutiloba fo. diversiloba

Then, one nice clump was found with blue flowers. The leaves are in that borderline area between acutiloba/americana (read more about intermediate forms). Also, some of the flowers seem to be sterile, so it may belong one of those intermediate forms.

The last form is Hepatica acutiloba fo. plena Fernald; I know it is somewhere out there in the woods, quietly waiting to be found…

About the intermediate forms between H. americana and H. acutiloba

It is not very often that they are found growing together, but when they are, things became complicated; better said wonderfully complicated.
Quote from Flora of Michigan: “When the two hepaticas do grow together, intermediate leaf shapes are only rarely found, although what they mean has not been fully investigated”.

I only agree with the last part; it hasn’t been investigated and hybrids are not recognized at the moment. As for the statement “intermediate leaf shapes are only rarely found” – well, anyone spending more time in the woods would disagree with it.

I will include here the form offered last year as Hepatica acutiloba – lavender. The leaves are borderline between acutiloba/americana; however, they tend more towards the first one so it is offered as such.

Hepatica acutiloba- lavender

(1) For the ID of H. acutiloba using measurements of the leaves follow this guideline: “Proportions given in the key for the middle lobe of the leaf are calculated by measuring the lobe (from the apex to a line connecting the bases of the sinuses on each side) and the total length of the blade (apex to the summit of the unexpanded petiole). In the case of ambiguous measurements, check more than one leaf on a plant” – Flora of Michigan.

(2) Tropicos – see references for the publications of the H. acutiloba forms.

Typical leaves of Hepatica acutiloba

Named varieties

The time has come to name few of the selected forms I have, even if just for the easiness of keeping records.
I may also decide to share few divisions at some point, so they need to have a name of their own.

H. acutiloba ‘Rabbit’s foot’

I have this Hepatica for a very long time, don’t even remember the provenience. I grew it in a pot many years; now in the ground it seems to grow better of course. Last year it struck me that the new growth resemble a rabbit’s foot, so “Rabbit’s foot’ it is.
A typical H. acutiloba with sharped lobed leaves, which emerges very early in the spring with super fuzzy, specific shoots. The new growth is reddish/bronze and the flowers white and somewhat insignificant. The foliage becomes colourful towards the fall and remains like that over the winter in a very specific way. Click to open the gallery.

April 1, 2016

Belle of the ball – Calycanthus

Plant portraits, Propagation, Wildflowers of North America

I am known to be on the lookout for promising ballerinas (see Arisaema and Primula –rina)… This year my eyes were drawn by the Carolina allspice seedlings. Surely there is great promise; I just don’t know if in the ballet because after the first stage the twirled cotyledons have rapidly put on some weight ;) but there are other genres to try out…

The belle of the ball in the germinatrix: Calycanthus floridus seedlings with convoluted cotyledons (which are rarely seen in other species):

Calycanthus floridus convoluted cotyledons

Calycanthus floridus with first true leaves

Calycanthus floridus seedlings with the first true leaves

This is an excerpt from the shop about Carolina allspice and I have nothing else to add:
“Calycanthus floridus is a deciduous shrub with glossy, aromatic foliage that can grow to about 3-4 m high, and the same or more in width. Remarkable when in flower; it has fragrant, red-wine coloured, and many petaled flowers that look a bit like Magnolia flowers; very attractive for pollinators too.
It is a very adaptable shrub that can grow from sun to shade, in almost any type of soil, and is very resistant to pests. A really trouble-free shrub for any garden; on my list of ‘to do it for myself”…

Done!

Calycanthus floridus seeds - nicked and soaked before to sowing

Calycanthus floridus seeds – nicked and soaked prior to sowing

March 7, 2016

What’s for sowing today?

Plant portraits, Propagation

The lights were ‘fired up’ for a few impatient germinators and I started to sow more of the warm germinators. When it’s cold and drab outside there is really no other better thing than sowing and placing the little pots under the lights! I wasn’t thinking of sowing more Arisaema this year (I swear!), but as it happens I got a fairly large seed stock from someone :), and since I have plans for a little colony of this lovely Arisaema flavum, why wait?

A. flavum is not as impressive as other Arisaema spp. but it has a certain charm when the little yellow flowers are peeking from between the nice shoe-shaped leaves. Variable as height and spathe colour, it has female and male flowers on the same plant, and thus the red fruit will extend the garden décor into the fall. A. flavum ssp. abbreviatum is not recognized anymore as a subspecies, but there is a new one – ssp. tibeticum J. Murata. Most often the spathe colour is pure yellow or yellow with brown streakings.

Arisaema flavum

No less important is the fact that it is one of the few ‘foreign’ Arisaema reliable for our climate. Its large native distribution, from W. Himalaya, S. Tibet and W. China to Afghanistan and Yemen, shows how adaptable is. It is certainly an alpine Arisaema, found growing wild in sunny, open places from 1700m to 3000 m altitude.

It germinates fairly quickly, and like most Arisaema sp. I tried, if started early, it puts up a nice growth under the lights, and you will obtain bigger/flowering tubers in a shorter period of time. Mature tubers also offset well, so it is easy to keep it going and even share it with friends.

Arisaema flavum seeds

The more we grow from seeds, the more interesting forms for the garden!

Note: I also sowed some of our native A. triphyllum to keep it company :)

January 29, 2016

The purple bloom maple – Acer pseudosieboldianum

Plant portraits, Propagation

A short interruption from the thistles to draw a bit of attention to the purple bloom maple (more often called Korean maple). This small tree is native to Manchuria, Korea and around Vladivostok/Russia, where it grows on rocky forested slopes. In the gardens it is best grown in full sun to light shaded locations.

Acer pseudosieboldianum is one of the very few safe options for colder climates (to zone 4) to enjoy the look-alike of a graceful Japanese maple and the brilliant fall foliage (usually red, but also orange-yellow).

Acer pseudosieboldianum fall coloration

It is very similar to the Japanese A. sieboldianum (another rarely seen maple), both having a nice layered habit; however, the purple bloom maple has hairy new growth and purple flowers. If you live in a colder area or know someone who does, give a try to this wonderful, hardy species. Also suitable for bonsai forming, which means that with skillful pruning, one could ‘create’ nice forms for the rockery and small gardens.

A few cold/moist stored seeds (nutlets actually) are available in the shop; some will be ready to germinate with the spring arrival, some may take their time, be patient…

Click on this LINK to see a spectacular specimen of Acer pseudosieboldianum, and as well A. sieboldianum and quite few others Japanese maples (from Wespelaar Arboretum, Antwerp – Belgium).

January 20, 2016

Centaurea

Alpine plants, Plant portraits, Propagation

Centaurs – Greek mythological figures with a man’s upper body and a horse’s lower half. Supposedly, they were using the (Centaurea) flowers for healing (Centaurea scabiosa as header image)

Continuing the year of the thistle with Centaurea spp., which are not true thistles of course, but included in the big family. Actually, there are a few species with a true thistle-like look! Again, leaving the weedy ones apart, there are many worth cultivating besides the common C. nigra, C. montana and variants. ALL Centaurea species are most valuable to bees and attract countless species of butterfly, moths and other insects AND they are easy to grow from seeds!

In many cases, the involucral bracts (phyllaries) are very ornamental, a detail sometimes overlooked but which serves in species identification. Below, a few Centaurea sp. from the Carpathian Mts. (some endemic, some with a wider distribution). Bright pictures for a cloudy day!

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

And how about the yellow-flowered Centaurea? Here is the rare yellow form of C. kotschyana:

Centaurea kotschyana yellow form

Two species in the Newly arrived Seeds category: C. salonitana and C. orientalis also have yellow flowers, but there are many other species. And I think the dwarf Centaurea drabifolia (endemic of Turkey!), seen here in the Rock garden at the Montreal Botanic Garden, can very well conclude this short post on Centaurea.

Centaurea drabifolia

I hope I convinced at least a few to pay more attention to Centaureas. I look forward to combine in our garden, the yellow Centaurea salonitana together with Salvia pratensis in a flower bed, while the smaller Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta will be attracting butterflies in the rockery area ;)

You can also see the Carpathian Mts. endemic Centaurea pinnatifida here.

January 14, 2016

The warrior Corydalis lutea

Plant portraits, Propagation

Only a short note for this month’s end because I think Corydalis lutea (syn. Pseudofumaria lutea) deserves a special mention.
Transplanted during the summer in a crowded container where it lived for quite a while, made the trip to a new place, was dug & planted in the ground, not only it flowered continuously and provided food for pollinators and quite a few seeds, but it is still in flower today (featured image), after the last weekend’s temperature low of -9˚C (with snow cover).

It has shown up from seeds by itself in the spring, like it often happens, but I think it is a bit special. More of its seeds have been spread around today, so the ‘blood’ of this warrior’ will perpetuate in the new garden :)

Corydalis lutea in container, July

In the garden last week…

November 28, 2015

The magic trick – Paris quadrifolia

Plant portraits, Propagation

Herb Paris, True lover’s Knot, Devil-in-a-bush

Renown of being hard to germinate because it requires several warm/cold cycles to break dormancy, Paris is often avoided by many people when it comes to growing it from seeds. A couple of days ago, during a check-up of the moist stored seeds, I had a big surprise. Almost all the garden collected seeds (in late summer) were already germinated! These seeds were cleaned and placed in moist vermiculite right away – an advantage of the garden collecting. Seeds that I collected in the wild and couldn’t place right away in moist storage look good but still haven’t decided to germinate.

Unless a magic trick is involved (not unusual at this time of year), cleaning the seeds after the berries are ripen and putting them right away in a bag with slightly moist vermiculite, which is the same as sowing them fresh, works very well for Paris quadrifolia.

Paris quadrifolia germinated seeds

Paris quadrifolia is a Trillium relative from moist deciduous forests of Europe and W. Asia, with a symmetric ‘constitution’ (Paris from Latin pars – equal). The four whorled leaves are topped up in early spring by a solitary, interesting flower with thread-like petals and a crown of golden stamens, followed by a deep blue berry (poisonous).

Paris quadrifolia

In medieval times this particular symmetry had Paris quadrifolia considered the ‘herb of equality’ and it was used in marriage rituals and as a guard against witches. It was also associated with medicine in medieval English tradition, being mentioned in Gerard’s Herbal as an antidote to toxic substances like arsenic and mercury.

According to other herbalists of the time, the black berries were also effective as a remedy for those who had lost their minds through bewitchment, or as an antidote for mental confusion due to supernatural causes :) (today it remains employed only in homeopathy).

In conclusion, for now we are safe from witches but if in the future we are to get confused, we shall use a few Paris berries…(which need “ to be administered in unequal numbers” :)))

October 31, 2015

Gone with the wind – Indian paintbrush

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Still flowering at this time of year, the flamboyant Indian paintbrush, Castilleja coccinea (also seeds can be collected) has one of the best common names given to a wildflower – someone must have watched the colourful leafy bracts reflecting red-orange paint strokes over the blue sky!

Castilleja coccinea – Indian paintbrush

Many species with seeds adapted for wind dispersal have various helping ‘devices’ (wings, hairs…). In the case of Castilleja, the seeds have a honeycomb outerlayer – nature’s design for helping with the process. The honeycomb pattern is produced by dead, air-filled cells of the single-layered seed coat.

Castilleja coccinea seeds (This is as close I could get with my camera and please ignore the debris)

Castilleja and few other Orobanchaceae present the most impressive variation of honeycomb-patterned seed coat, where both the outer and inner tangential walls are dissolved and all that remains is a loose honeycomb ‘cage’.

About the germination:
I intend to include Castilleja in a small flower meadow, so I gather info and I shall experiment. The difficulty is to start a small population because like other hemiparasitic plants it needs its host plants to help it grow. Mostly behaves as a biennial, and in most cases if successful, it will reseed around.

Various studies had shown that C. coccinea will establish connections with the roots of a wide range of host species. It will germinate by itself but it won’t establish and grow well without a host. The best method is to sow it outdoors in the fall or spring in an area where few preferred plant host are growing (most common: little bluestem, prairie smoke, grama grass…) or in pots in combination with seeds/young seedlings of the host plants (use peat or coco-fiber pots as it dislikes transplanting).
Also, other essentials factors for good germination and survival are good moisture and surface sowing (light sensitive).

I showed at some point another beautiful Castilleja, C. applegatei var. viscida in a mountain meadow from the Wasatch Mountains.

Update after quite a few years: I once managed to have seeds germinated in a container outdoors, but the seedlings perished, in part to the squirrels digging them up.
Second attempt: a bunch of seedlings showed up after I spread a large amount of seeds into the ground (2022). I will watch with interest what happens in 2023!

Castilleja coccinea seedlings, direct sowing on the ground in late fall

And success in 2023!!!

Other Castilleja species I managed to germinate is Castilleja applegatei, sowed in late fall and provided cold/moist stratification outdoors. The seedlings vanished at some point; it may have been too much or not enough watering, hard to say. So, unfortunately I cannot add more about seedlings development.
There are also seedlings of Castilleja miniata, also germinated after cold/moist stratification.

I am sure this story will have other developments in the next years!

September 26, 2015

Wildflowers Tuesday – American Spikenard

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Maybe the title should read from now on – Wildfruits instead of flowers, although there are quite a few species still flowering. But September is announced in the woods by a multitude of coloured fruits and suddenly previously ‘invisible’ plants are suddenly highlighted, revealing their most ornamental feature. Our fall gardens would also be so poor without these colourful displays!

Aralia racemosa in wild habitat, in early September

Aralia racemosa – American spikenard is a shrubby-looking perennial which grows in moist rich woods. Cultivated, but not too often, in the past it has had various other uses (the roots): for flavoring teas, as an ingredient in root beer and medicinal. Native Americans considered the root to be a blood purifying spring tonic, and called the plant Life-of- Man; it makes sense as it belongs to the ginseng family.

Aralia racemosa in late August, cultivated

September 15, 2015

Wildflowers Wednesday – Medeola virginiana

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

I don’t really know why but I got really excited when stumbling for the first time upon Medeola virginiana. As a result, the pictures don’t show its whole splendour revealed under the dappled shade in a moist woodsy area. Named after the sorceress Medea, there are few theories as to why Linnaeus kept this name (given to it by Gronovius) but there is no doubt that there must be sorcery involved in the way a fruiting Medeola looks.

Medeola virginiana

The contrast made by the dark purple fruits with the red petioles and red tinged leaves (at the base) is striking and considered its most ornamental feature. Young plants resemble a bit with a Trientalis for me, or a Large leaved pogonia (Isotria verticillata) to others (I have never seen this one). Mature flowering individuals are very particular though, showing the two-tiered whorls of leaves. I think the flowers are pretty cool too, as seen in the featured image (not my picture in fact, but coming spring I know where to go now).

And the trivial: the common name, Indian cucumber-root, alludes to the fact that rhizomes have a cucumber taste/odor and were used by the Natives Americans; the plant was also supposedly used medicinally. In Canada apparently we don’t have problems with it but in the U.S.A., according to NatureServe, Medeola is listed as critically imperilled in Florida, Louisiana, and Illinois.

Either way, I think there are enough cucumbers on the market today, there is no need to dig up Medeola, which is vulnerable to harvesting and slow to propagate.

Medeola non-flowering plant

Medeola virginiana fruits and seeds

September 9, 2015

C-section – Roscoea tibetica

Plant portraits, Propagation

Update: I have serious doubts now that this is R. tibetica (or bhutanica) and although I had intentions I won’t add to the general confusion by offering seeds. I am waiting for other opinions regarding its identity (maybe R. australis?)…..probably it will be a looong wait.

Yesterday morning I had the wonderful surprise to find Roscoea (tibetica) in ‘labour’. The capsule was just starting to split open showing the seeds. The smallest of the genus, R. tibetica has a particular way of developing the capsule at soil level (easy to miss it), inside the stem actually, and I thought it would be interesting to show it, especially because this is also the final confirmation of its identity.

Roscoea (tibetica) showing split capsule

Roscoea species have arilate seeds, so if ants are around (or earwigs) it’s wise not to miss the ‘delivery’. A bit of help is needed to extract the seeds without the stem being destroyed – a clean, small cut, followed by a bandage application (cheesecloth works perfectly) to secure the leftover seeds (the flowers open in succession so not all the seeds mature at the same time).

Size, shape and arils are good characters for Roscoea ID, especially considering that there is quite a bit of confusion going around – R. tibetica has seeds with deeply lacerate arils.

Roscoea tibetica split capsule with exposed seeds

Roscoea tibetica - more seeds remain inside

I presented Roscoea tibetica in the Little plants series; this year grew better in part-shade, sharing a container with A. fargesii seedlings. This is a great little Roscoea for the rock garden. Easy to grow from seeds, it can be quite variable; the form shown in the featured image has small purple flowers barely showing from among the stems, so one cannot really call it a showy plant. More than this, it starts growing sometimes in June, it flowers in late June, and by mid-August the seeds are ripen – ‘living in the fast lane’!

Roscoea tibetica foliage

Roscoea tibetica seeds with lacerate arils

Roscoea tibetica seedlings

One for collectors and people in love with ‘little plants’ :)

Good read on Roscoea: The Genus Roscoea – Jill Cowley, RBG Kew, 2007. Speaking of which, reading again about R. tibetica and R. bhutanica, it seems that my plant fits more likely with the later: “Leaf blades usually 2-6 at flowering time, slightly auriculate… Inflorescence enclosed in leaf sheats. Flowers opening just above leaves, one open at a time…..Seed aril shallowly lacerate.”

Happy to hear other opinion…

August 19, 2015

Eating our way into the ‘future’ – Allium tricoccum

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Allium tricoccum (wild garlic, ramps)

Allium tricoccum is one of the first species to appear in early spring in the woodlands of North America. After a long winter, the onion-garlic scented, fleshy leaves look very delicious; actually they contain lots of vitamins and minerals. Leaves will completely disappear being replaced in the summer by flowering stems bearing a single inflorescence with white flowers, followed by capsules with black seeds (3 in each fruit – tricoccum). The bulbs and leaves of A. tricoccum have been traditionally used by the Native Americans, then by the European settlers and all the following generations.

Allium tricoccum foliage in early spring – easy to spot and smell!

Last year I didn’t collect seeds because I thought this is such a common plant around here. But I had forgotten to check the facts – it turns out that we are continuing to eat our way into the ‘future’, and what was once a very common spring sight in most North American woodlands is now rapidly fading away! Since they become more popular, with ramps festivals held annually and served in fancy restaurants as ‘local and organic’ food, they have become over-harvested everywhere.

In Quebec, wild harvesting of Allium tricoccum is currently prohibited, and in a few of the U.S.A. states it has become a ‘special concern’ species!

Allium tricoccum (ramps) colony – a common spring sight (for how long?)

As it happened with other species, the regeneration doesn’t occur fast enough to keep up with the unsustainable harvesting and entire populations may disappear from one year to another.

Allium tricoccum flowering stems

Another notorious example of woodland species that we have managed to erase almost entirely from our woodlands through overharvesting is Hydrastis canadensis (goldenseal), and there are signs in some areas that mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) may follow it in the near future.

August 15, 2015

Wildflowers Monday – the Partridge berry

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Mitchella repens – Partridge berry, twinberry, squaw vine

This is also in praise of little plants because partridge berry is a ‘ground hugger’, forming an excellent, evergreen carpet of small, rounded, shiny leaves with a whitish main vein. I can imagine it flowing over a big shaded boulder, mossy woodland humps or over a stony wall. But, sadly I have never seen it cultivated – little plants have sometimes difficulties to getting noticed…

Mitchella repens – partridge berry

Well-known and used traditionally by the Native Americans as a women’s herb (aid in menstrual complaints and childbirth, hence the name squaw vine); tested and still recommended by the modern herbal medicine. The berries were also used occasionally as food.

: Mitchella repens flowers – pink buds opening to white, tubular, fragrant flowers with fuzzy petals (you have to lay down to notice this); they are followed by large scarlet berries which are consumed by a variety of birds and mammals in late fall.

Note: The name Mitchella was chosen by C. Linnaeus to honor his friend John Mitchell. A physician, keen naturalist and cartographer; he set up practice in America and over the years provided Linnaeus with information about many North American species, partridge berry included.

Thanks to someone’s comment regarding Mitchella cultivation, I realized I should mention that it is often found growing close to Gaultheria procumbens or on top of moss mounds, which indicates its inclination for a slightly acidic substrate. Give it a try! – not necessarily from seeds; the stems are easily rooting at the nodes and a small portion can be used same as a cutting (already rooted ;).

Mitchella and companions (Gaultheria in the left-top corner)

June 29, 2015

Test, test – Eriogonum umbellatum var. porteri

Alpine plants, Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Little plants series – the chameleon

It seems that my subscription form doesn’t always works, so I am testing with a little plant; actually from a category that should be better called ‘flat to the ground’ (or prostrate plants, botanically speaking ;) Eriogonum umbellatum (sulfur buckwheat), is well-known to the rock garden aficionados and mountain enthusiasts, and it has quite a few, hard to ID varieties.

E. umbellatum var. porteri (Porter’s sulphur flower) is the smallest of them all – a real golden nugget I acquired from Wrightman Alpines. In the wild it grows on rocky slopes and ridges at high-elevations in a few locations in Colorado, Nevada and Utah.

: Eriogonum umbellatum var. porteri – Bear in mind that this is a young plant and it needs a few more years to start glowing in its full splendour

Flat to the ground, or better said container, it is an all season interest plant: evergreen foliage with small leaves in tight rosettes, yellow bright flowers which turn red when fading (like in the featured image); the foliage will also acquire red and orange tones. Needless to say – pollinator friendly and a reliable, good companion for other little plants.

To make my point, two more images:

E. umbellatum var. aureum in full bloom in Wasatch Mts. (Utah), which is very similar with var. porteri; the later replacing var. aureum at higher elevations.

Eriogonum umbellatum var. aureum (Wasatch Mts., Utah)

And an incredible old exemplar of E. umbellatum var. porteri which has turned red after pollination – growing at the Montreal Botanical Garden (which is renown, by the way, for its Alpine Garden).

Eriogonum umbellatum var.porteri ( Montreal BG)

Sort of a chameleonic plant I would say…

June 11, 2015

Wildflowers Monday – Hydrophyllum virginianum

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

It’s in the details

Conspicuously silver-marked, pinnate leaves which are among the first to appear early in the spring:

Hydrophyllum virginianum – early spring foliage

Curled flower buds with ciliate calyces which resemble an exquisite lace work; opening to reveal white or purple bell-shaped flowers with exerted stamens:

Hydrophyllum virginianum flowers

…recognized by pollination ecologists as very valuable because they attract large numbers of native bees. They must be delicious – often foraged by the bumblebees long after their prime:

Bumblebee on Hydrophyllum virginianum

Hydrophyllum virginianum grows very well in dry, shade conditions of hardwood forests, bottomlands and edges of the woods. Excellent as a groundcover in difficult shady areas and for naturalization projects. Although considered a bit weedy, I noticed that it is not capable to compete with the non-native invasive species, which are spreading in the remnants woodlots between newly developed residential areas.

Another Hydrophyllum that will save your time (and back) from weeding in the shady, moist areas of the garden, is the Broad-leaf waterleaf – Hydrophyllum canadense.