The Tarflower Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society July 2014 July 1 PROGRAM “Wildflowers, Wetlands and Wildlife of the Orlando Wetlands Park” presented by Mark D. Sees The Orlando Wetlands is the world’s first large scale constructed wetlands, built to help purify Central Florida’s water. Once a cattle pasture, this now thriving wetland marsh has been colonized by an incredible diversity of plants and animals. Come and learn about one of Central Florida’s biodiversity hot spots. Several of the park’s most unique plants and animals will be highlighted, along with a live guest! Mark D. Sees is a native Floridian, born in Titusville. He enjoys spending time with his wife (Evelyn) and two children (Jacob and Jenna). Mark also enjoys fishing, woodworking, camping and spending time outdoors. Mark received a Bachelor of Science in biology from Freed-Hardeman University and has worked as a biological consultant for Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan, Inc. and as a Land Management Specialist with the St. Johns River Water Manager District. For the last 16 years, he has worked for the City of Orlando as Wetlands Manager of the Orlando Wetlands Park, where his day-to-day activities include monitoring water levels and water quality within wetland areas, documenting water quality trends, overseeing various research projects and subcontractors, performing controlled burns, implementing vegetation management plans, providing technical tours and conducting public presentations. July 12 Field TRiP Econ River Wilderness Area Jim Duby will lead us on a hike in search of snakes and other herps. We will also see and discuss a recently burned area. Meet at 8a.m. at 3795 Old Lockwood Road in Oviedo. If you would like to carpool, meet at the Wendy’s at University Blvd. and Rouse Rd. at 7:30a.m. For more information, contact Catherine Bowman at 407-637-5883, 407-761-7109 or [email protected]. UPCOMING PROGRAMS & FIELD TRIPS (All programs begin at 7p.m. Field trip start times vary; future trips are subject to change.) AuG 5 Program — Todd Angel, “Flora, Fauna and Fire ecology in Florida” AuG 9 Field trip — Withlacoochee State Forest, lead by Todd Angel SeP 2 Program — Jay Barnhart, “What’s That Fungus Among us?” SeP 13 Field trip — Mushroom hike with Jay Barnhart at Titusville’s enchanted Forest OCT 7 Program — Jim Thomas, “Healthy lakeshores — An update on lake Apopka” OCT 11 Field trip — Oakland Nature Preserve, lead by Jackie Rolly Join the fun! Backyard Biodiversity Day is coming! Volunteers are needed now to prepare for the 2nd Annual Backyard Biodiversity Day at Mead Botanical Garden on October 18, 2014. The first planning meeting for this year’s BBD was held on Tuesday, June 17 at Catherine Bowman’s home. Ten people attended the meeting, most having participated in last year’s planning. We are off to a very good start, and we have from last year some established protocols and advertising material to build on. We know from last year that we need our enthusiastic, knowledgeable FNPS members to volunteer for specific, dedicated tasks. The following are some specific volunteer needs that we have identified so far: • One person to assist Catherine Bowman in corresponding/ coordinating/following up with speakers, exhibitors, and vendors • Four people to help put up early banners at Mead and deliver flyers to local businesses (starting in September) • One person who can assist in beginning in about September, to pick up materials from the printer in Maitland and distribute them to those who will be posting or delivering them • Five or six people who can help put up street signs the weekend before the event (October 11) • Five or six people who can help put out directional signs leading to the event • Five or six people who can help on the evening of October 17 to put out all the parking, exhibitors/vendors/hike start/speakers/ workshop signs within Mead Garden • Three groups of at least two people each on October 18 to act as greeters and data collectors at each of the three entrances to Mead Garden • One dedicated greeter/facilitator on October 18 for speakers— maybe a speaker check-in at the main information booth, then help them get to the speaking location • One or two dedicated greeter/facilitators on October 18 for the exhibitors and vendors to help them find their spots and see what else they need to get set up • One or two people who can sell books at the Tarflower book sales table, as Phyllis Gray is otherwise committed • One person to coordinate with the music duo, including making sure they get set up and attend to their needs (sound volume, water, shade, electrical connection) during the event • Two (or more, taking turns) people to man the information/ registration booth • Numerous people to assist with setting up the plant sale beginning mid-day on Friday, October 17 • Numerous people to help talk to guests and sell plants at the Tarflower plant sale area We had an enormously fun and successful event last year and are looking forward to talking to even more people about the importance of native plants and plant communities. The next planning meeting will be 6p.m. on Monday, July 19 at Catherine Bowman’s house at 2601 Eastbrook Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792. Contact Catherine Bowman any time at 407-637-5883, 407-761-7109 or [email protected] if you would like to work on this exciting event at any level, for any amount of time.
Transcript
The Tarflower Chapter of the Florida Native Plant SocietyJuly 2014
July 1 PROGRAM “Wildflowers, Wetlands and Wildlife of the Orlando
Wetlands Park” presented by Mark D. Sees
The Orlando Wetlands is the world’s first large scale constructed wetlands, built to help purify Central Florida’s water. Once a cattle pasture, this now thriving wetland marsh has been colonized by an incredible diversity of plants and animals. Come and learn about one of Central Florida’s biodiversity hot spots. Several of the park’s most unique plants and animals will be highlighted, along with a live guest!
Mark D. Sees is a native Floridian, born in Titusville. He enjoys spending time with his wife (Evelyn) and two children (Jacob and Jenna). Mark also enjoys fishing, woodworking, camping and spending time outdoors. Mark received a Bachelor of Science in biology from Freed-Hardeman University and has worked as a biological consultant for Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan, Inc. and as a Land Management Specialist with the St. Johns River Water Manager District. For the last 16 years, he has worked for the City of Orlando as Wetlands Manager of the Orlando Wetlands Park, where his day-to-day activities include monitoring water levels and water quality within wetland areas, documenting water quality trends, overseeing various research projects and subcontractors, performing controlled burns, implementing vegetation management plans, providing technical tours and conducting public presentations.
July 12 Field TRiP Econ River Wilderness Area
Jim Duby will lead us on a hike in search of snakes and other herps. We will also see and discuss a recently burned area. Meet at 8a.m. at 3795 Old Lockwood Road in Oviedo. If you would like to carpool, meet at the Wendy’s at University Blvd. and Rouse Rd. at 7:30a.m. For more information, contact Catherine Bowman at 407-637-5883, 407-761-7109 or [email protected].
UPCOMING PROGRAMS & FIELD TRIPS
(All programs begin at 7p.m. Field trip start times vary; future trips are subject to change.)
AuG 5 Program — Todd Angel, “Flora, Fauna and Fire ecology in Florida”
AuG 9 Field trip — Withlacoochee State Forest, lead by Todd Angel
SeP 2 Program — Jay Barnhart, “What’s That Fungus Among us?”
SeP 13 Field trip — Mushroom hike with Jay Barnhart at Titusville’s enchanted Forest
OCT 7 Program — Jim Thomas, “Healthy lakeshores — An update on lake Apopka”
OCT 11 Field trip — Oakland Nature Preserve, lead by Jackie Rolly
Join the fun! Backyard Biodiversity Day is coming!
Volunteers are needed now to prepare for the 2nd Annual Backyard Biodiversity Day at Mead Botanical Garden on October 18, 2014.
The first planning meeting for this year’s BBD was held on Tuesday, June 17 at Catherine Bowman’s home. Ten people attended the meeting, most having participated in last year’s planning. We are off to a very good start, and we have from last year some established protocols and advertising material to build on. We know from last year that we need our enthusiastic, knowledgeable FNPS members to volunteer for specific, dedicated tasks. The following are some specific volunteer needs that we have identified so far:• One person to assist Catherine Bowman in corresponding/
coordinating/following up with speakers, exhibitors, and vendors• Four people to help put up early banners at Mead and deliver
flyers to local businesses (starting in September)• One person who can assist in beginning in about September, to
pick up materials from the printer in Maitland and distribute them to those who will be posting or delivering them
• Five or six people who can help put up street signs the weekend before the event (October 11)
• Five or six people who can help put out directional signs leading to the event
• Five or six people who can help on the evening of October 17 to put out all the parking, exhibitors/vendors/hike start/speakers/workshop signs within Mead Garden
• Three groups of at least two people each on October 18 to act as greeters and data collectors at each of the three entrances to Mead Garden
• One dedicated greeter/facilitator on October 18 for speakers—maybe a speaker check-in at the main information booth, then help them get to the speaking location
• One or two dedicated greeter/facilitators on October 18 for the exhibitors and vendors to help them find their spots and see what else they need to get set up
• One or two people who can sell books at the Tarflower book sales table, as Phyllis Gray is otherwise committed
• One person to coordinate with the music duo, including making sure they get set up and attend to their needs (sound volume, water, shade, electrical connection) during the event
• Two (or more, taking turns) people to man the information/registration booth
• Numerous people to assist with setting up the plant sale beginning mid-day on Friday, October 17
• Numerous people to help talk to guests and sell plants at the Tarflower plant sale area
We had an enormously fun and successful event last year and are looking forward to talking to even more people about the importance of native plants and plant communities.
The next planning meeting will be 6p.m. on Monday, July 19 at Catherine Bowman’s house at 2601 Eastbrook Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792. Contact Catherine Bowman any time at 407-637-5883, 407-761-7109 or [email protected] if you would like to work on this exciting event at any level, for any amount of time.
July Tarpaper Page 2
I realized I was running a little late when Walter Taylor whizzed by my house a little after 8a.m. on his way out to UCF, shouting his usual cheerful greeting from his car. Fortunately, a nice crowd from Pawpaw, Cuplet Fern, and Tarflower Chapters and UCF was gathered at the arboretum picnic shelter when I arrived, just in time to greet friends and set off on the trail that goes through a little marsh and along the edge of the dry and mesic flatwoods. Surrounded by a palmetto fringe, the depressional marsh was our first stop. A group of bright green, leafy young swamp tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora), now with ripening green fruit, stood in the center of the marsh, surrounded by a wide band of sandweed (Hypericum fasciculatum). The Hypericum were mixed with dense graminoids (bluestem grasses, maidencane and lots of beaksedges) and wildflowers. Long-flowering, endemic yellow milkwort (Polygala rugellii) and pale meadow beauties (Rhexia mariana) were immediately noticeable. Mixed in around the edges and between the sandweed were pipeworts and bogbuttons (Eriocaulon sp. and Syngonanthus sp.), sundews, and bog white violets (Viola lanceolata). Right off the bat, we were treated to a collecting demonstration by the herbarium’s Dr. Catherine Harris, who was bagging specimens for the later workshop. Dr. Taylor and Jennifer Elliott (our guide for this part of the field trip) discussed the advance of the sandweed from only the outer edges of the marsh in years past to their present covering of most of the marsh down to the central trees. It seemed that this might be due to a reduction in the amount of water, groundwater levels and/or reduced surface sheet-flow, which now reaches the marsh as more of the surrounding area is developed. This drying trend in the marsh appeared to have allowed the plants that had previously occupied only the drier outer fringes to colonizing throughout.
After we headed upslope out of the marsh, we meandered along the field road that allows access through the flatwoods. We were able to see and compare three areas (burn units) which had received different treatments and thus were noticeably different in shrub height and density, as well as overall diversity. While the land managers have done a good job of keeping fire going through these fire-dependent communities, burns are somewhat more difficult to conduct in this area immediately adjacent to the east side of the campus. In addition to burning two of the units at different times within the last five years, a third adjacent burn unit was mechanically cut to reduce the fuel load and the coverage of palmetto. The result was that, when the shorter palmettos re-sprouted, there was more area of open herbaceous cover between them, such that greater herbaceous diversity was apparent. Throughout the flatwoods, blueberries (both dwarf and highbush), as well as blue huckleberry provided tasty ripe
fruits to the attentive. Along the road and in open patches in the scrubby flatwoods, we were also able to examine flowering (and endemic) Florida Indian plantain (Arnoglossum floridanum), with its large, leathery dark green leaves that have crenate margins. This plant in full bloom made a good herbarium specimen and Dr. Harris pulled an attractive one for the collection. June is a great time to see flatwoods wildflowers in bloom and the photographers in the group kept very busy. Near the edge of the road, we came upon several clusters of false dragonhead with their tall stalks full of flowers. Several in the group were keying one out and discussing the identifying characteristics with Dr. Taylor. I didn’t hear the final determination of its being Physostegia purpurea (native eastern false dragonhead) or Physostegia virginiana (obedient plant, which is non-native according to Wunderlin), but leaf margin morphology was the key character. (Tip: Look at several different plants any time you are trying to use the dichotomous keys to arrive at a determination). In either case, the light violet blue flowers were a lovely sight.
It was a hot morning and after much hardy botanizing and talking, we took a rest under a live oak hammock. It was only a quick respite, however, because we quickly learned about and rushed over to see some of the endangered Titusville mint (Dicerandra thinicola) that had been relocated from its small area of native habitat off Barna Rd. in Titusville by Dr. Al Miller. With help from his plant taxonomy students, Dr. Miller collected numerous plants during his mid-1990s period of research in order to describe this as a new species. The plants will flower in November, and are in the open scrub over by the bat house, if you want to see and smell them in the fall.
After a leisurely morning of hiking (as if FNPS field trippers could do otherwise) and with fresh specimens in the bag, we re-grouped back under the picnic pavilion for a mini workshop on collecting and drying plants in order for them to become proper herbarium specimens. Dr. Harris began the workshop by showing the group some actual pressed and mounted specimens from the FTU herbarium’s collection (although the herbarium is at UCF, it retains its original registered FTU name). She demonstrated different arranging and folding techniques based on the size, shape and flexibility of the specimen, including. for example, creating specimens “1 of 2” and “2 of 2” for large, branchy plants that could be separated into more than one final specimen. This was the case for the Physostegia. Dr. Harris emphasized the critical nature of thorough, accurate documentation of the collecting information. The newspapers in which the specimens are pressed must be marked with, or contain a label with, the precise collection location, date, collector name,
(Continued on page 3)
June Field Trip to UCF Arboretum Conservation Lands and Herbarium Workshop by Catherine Bowman
Physostegia sp.
sunrise over the arboretum
Dr. Harris displays herbaria specimen
Dr. Harris displays herbaria specimen
Tarflower (Bejaria racemosa)
July Tarpaper Page 3
Jul 5 Weed & Feed AT MeAd GARdeNSee details to left. Where: Mead Botanical Garden, Winter ParkWhen: Saturday, July 5, 9a.m.–12p.m.
AuG 3 MeAd GARdeN WORkdAyWhere: Mead Botanical Garden, Winter ParkWhen: Sunday, August 3, 9–11a.m.
SeP 19–20 WildFlOWeR SyMPOSiuMJoin the Florida Wildflower Foundation for their
annual symposium featuring renowned speakers, workshops, field trips and more, all at the beautiful Bok Tower Gardens. Watch this spot for more details or visit www.FlaWildflowers.org.
SeP 20 MASTeR GARdeNeR PlANT SAle — PlANTS Needed!
Last year’s Master Gardener Plant Sale at the Orange County Extension was very successful. We would like to have a booth again this year, so start thinking about potting up your extra plants. If you need pots, contact Amanda Martin ([email protected]) or Jackie Rolly ([email protected]).
OCT 5 MeAd GARdeN WORkdAy Where: Mead Botanical Garden, Winter ParkWhen: Saturday, October 5, 9–11a.m.
OCT 18 2Nd ANNuAl BACkyARd BiOdiveRSiTy dAyPlanning for this event is just beginning. Contact
Catherine Bowman ([email protected]) if you would like to get involved.
NOv 8 MeAd GARdeN’S FAll PlANT SAleVolunteers are needed to help set up, tear down and
sell plants! Contact Catherine Bowman ([email protected]) if you would like to help.
upcoming events & voLunteeR oppoRtunitiesJoin us for a WEED & FEED at Mead Garden on July 5!
On Saturday, July 5, we will meet at 9 a.m. in the parking lot by the restroom and then move to the longleaf pine picnic area and work on removing WEEDS (specifically, Mexican clover (Richardia brasiliensis) and camphor seedlings) in and around our plantings. If we have enough volunteers, we may work in other areas, as well. At 11a.m., we will STOP WEEDING AND PREPARE FOR PICNIC! Catherine Bowman and Ron Blair will bring hamburgers, hotdogs and veggie burgers to grill. Bring a side dish and your picnic blanket. Ron will bring croquet; does someone have badminton or frisbee? (Pete says no lawn darts.)
Let us know ASAP if you can come so we know how much food to bring! Contact Catherine at 407-627-5883 or [email protected] for details or to RSVP.
Weeding is FUNdamental!
Weeding gives you time to contemplate. It’s exercise and you pick up some vitamin D. It’s creative and there’s a sense of accomplishment when you’ve finished.You also get on a first name basis with the weeds and learn what to pull out and what not to pull. Besides that, weeding is easy in Florida—there’s just a lot of it!
Lopsided Indiangrass clumps are doing well.
Greeneyes are flowering.
Plum trees are fruiting!
(Field trip, continued from page 2)collector’s specimen number, and a description of the habitat with associated species if possible. Without this information, even the best looking specimen cannot be used in an herbarium. Other helpful information includes characteristics such as flower color or scent, which may not be apparent on the final dried specimen. It was interesting to find out that the FTU herbarium—and likely other herbaria, as well—no longer keep insects away from the collection by putting dangerous chemicals such as mothballs in the cabinets. Instead, dried mounted specimens are kept in the freezer for about a week to kill any insects before they are stored in the cabinets. Any specimens, such as those Dr. Harris brought out for demonstration, are again placed in the freezer before being returned to the storage cabinets.
Thank you to Jennifer Elliot and Dr. Harris for a fine morning of learning about UCF’s conservation areas and herbarium. We got some great advice for collecting and caring for plant specimens that will help us with identification in the field and allow us to contribute complete samples to herbaria.
New study shows economic benefits of wildflowersA recent Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) study conservatively
estimated that roadside vegetation along the state highway system performs nearly a half-billion dollars worth of ecosystem services (including carbon sequestration, runoff prevention, and support of crop pollinators and other insects, as well as contributions to air quality, invasive species resistance and roadside aesthetics). The study found that value would increase to $1 billion if sustainable vegetation management practices such as reduced mowing were adopted, and it would triple if wildflower areas were incorporated into roadside landscapes.
The Florida Wildflower Foundation (FWF) requested the study on behalf of the Florida Native Plant Partnership, which includes FWF, Florida Association of Native Nurseries, Florida Native Plant Society, and Florida Wildflower Plant and Seed Growers Association. To read the full release online or to view the full FDOT report, visit http://flawildflowers.org/resources/pdfs/2014/FDOT_study_news_release-final.pdf.
Tarflower Chapter meetings Chapter meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 7p.m. at HARRY P. LEU GARDENS (1920 N. Forest Ave., Orlando. For directions, call 407-246-2620, option 1).
Tarflower website http://tarflower.fnpschapters.org/ The Tarpaper online Current and past issues of The Tarpaper can be viewed online by
accessing the Newsletters tab of the chapter website at http://tarflower.fnpschapters.org/.Contribute to The Tarpaper Send your articles, event listings, photos and suggestions
to Stacey Matrazzo, Editor, at [email protected]. (Please do not reduce or compress photos before sending; a size of 3x4 at 300dpi is preferred.) The submission deadline for the August 2014 issue is July 15.
Tarflower Chapter Executive Committee meetings The next board meeting will be Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 6p.m. For more information, contact Amanda Martin. Members are welcome.
