Lady's-slipper Orchids

No native wildflowers elicit as many inquiries as the lady’s-slipper orchids. Nova Scotia has four species and all but one are on the conservation lists as species-at-risk.

The common moccasin flower or Pink Lady’s-slipper is found throughout the province in the coniferous forests. It tolerates more acidic soils than the others. Its colour ranges from pure white to deep maroon or magenta colours. The anthocyanins are unstable pigments, giving this array of colour. Sometimes it is found in small clumps, but each plant produces only one flower. Prince Edward Island has designated this wildflower as there provincial emblem.

The Ram’s-head Lady’s-slipper is found in Hants County and Cumberland Co. Preferring alkaline soils, it is limited to shady locations within the gypsum regions. The smallest of these native orchids, it is the most limited in range here. Its white slippers are mottled or veined with purple. Viewed side on, its little profile resembles the shape of a ram’s head. This little plant tends to be colonial where found. The population in NS may be threatened due to low numbers and habitat pressures.

The Yellow Lady’s-slipper is found in Kings and Hants Counties and also northward to Cape Breton. A more robust and leafy plant than the previous two species, its multiple bright yellow flowers in July are highly visible. We have two subspecies of this wild orchid, with one ranging from Digby Co. to Antigonish and Victoria Co. It is considered to be under threat largely due to small numbers and habitat destruction.

Showy Lady’s-slippers are probably our most beautiful wildflower, their flowers appearing atop leafy stems in July. Preferring alkaline swamps this species ranges from Hants and Colchester counties to northern Cape Breton. It may also be at-risk.

One of the most common questions I receive about these wildflowers, is ‘can I pick them’? The answer is no, on several levels. Some people have reported that a contact dermatitis can occur by handling any of them. From a conservation perspective, it is unethical to destroy any plant that has an -at-risk or potentially at-risk status. Especially this is true amongst the orchids. Their seeds contain no endosperm and are like dust. Successful germination requires soil mycorrhizae to assist with nutrition of the seedling. Moccasin Flower plants produce only 1 flower. By picking it, you are removing its success at setting seed for subsequent years. From germination to flowering and producing seed can take years. We closely monitor the populations of our three lady’s-lipper species with legal status.

The second most frequently asked question about lady’s-slippers is "where can I go and see them"? "I just want to photograph them". We do not give out precise locality information on species-at-risk, based on a sustainable approach to protection. For more information on species at-risk in Nova Scotia, please visit http://novascotia.ca/natr/wildlife/biodiversity/

Moccasin Flower, Cypripedium acaule, photo by Martin Thomas

Ram's-head Lady's-slipper, Cypripedium arietinum

Yellow Lady's-slipper, Cypripedium calceolus, photo by Martin Thomas

Showy Lady's-slipper, C. reginae, photo by Martin Thomas

Lawn and Garden weeds, Part 1

My colleagues asked me to write something on lawn and garden weeds. The term weed is subjective rather than botanical, and generally means a plant growing where somebody objects. I will discuss only a few of the worst that I have seen.  I judge these ones to be “bad weeds” as they are not native to the province AND they are difficult to eradicate. Generally, ‘weeds’ are plants introduced intentionally or otherwise. Intentional introductions are garden materials brought over by settlers or purchased in a garden centres. Anything labelled as fast-growing, should raise warnings that the plant may become invasive at some point in the future.

This is true of the following three: balsam, goutweed and Japanese Knotweed. All are herbs. Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) is a ground-cover, selected because of its attractive green or variegated foliage. It is related to carrot and celery. Once established it is nearly impossible to remove, as is true of many colonial species. However its persistence at present, is limited to cultivated land. It does not seem to spread, yet, into habitats of native flora. Because of this tenacity, it has fallen out of favour with contemporary gardeners who left with legacy plants!

Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica), is another herb brought over by settlers to use as a hedging planting. Its tall hollow stems can grow 25cm a week. Sometimes called ‘bamboo’, it is not. It is related to buckwheat. In part its persistence is due to the 10m rootball that supports the above-ground established plant. This plant has gained notoriety as an Invasive Species because of its spread to beaches and woodlands, displacing the native plant communities in Nova Scotia. I have been asked if it is more common now than previously. Like all invasive species, there is a period of establishment after their introduction. This may take 3 generations, 30 generations or 300 generations. Who knows? What is obvious from the media in western provinces, is that it now actively spreading. This is the second phase of invasion by exotic plants. Nova Scotia has hosted Japanese Knotweed since at least 1944. It was a desirable plant to provide windbreak, hide the outhouse, hedgerows, etc., and probably deliberately introduced for that. I remember it growing at my grandparents’ farm, and my grandmother making a gruel out of the boiled shoots. It was a ‘gruelling’ experience to eat…much like a mouthful of glue! Others use the steamed shoots when very young as a vegetable.

The final herb I will list here is Himalayan Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera. This annual at the moment is spreading from yards where it was planted to roadsides and wasteland. It deserves watching on whether or not it threatens our native plants. Elsewhere it invades floodplains and other sensitive habitats.

As gardeners we need to inform ourselves of the material we are planting. Just because it is available does not mean it is safe from becoming an invader. For information on responsible gardening, there are several helpful downloads available from our colleagues in Ontario.

http://www.invadingspecies.com/invaders/plants-terrestrial/

You will read more here in the coming weeks on weeds that make a difference to our province.

Goutweed, photo by Martin Thomas

Goutweed, photo by Martin Thomas

Japanese Knotweed, photo by Martin Thomas

Japanese Knotweed, photo by Martin Thomas

Himalayan Balsam, photo by Andy Dean

What galls you?

Cecidology is the study of plant galls, a new word for me but difficult to fit into a Scrabble game. It is not strictly a sub-discipline of botany nor zoology, as galls are created by viruses, bacteria, insects and mites but also fungi. Their appearance can reach the strange and bizarre, in the form of lumps, bumps and other growths. Usually galls form when the invader attacks living tissue of the host plant.

Generally the plants and their galls are considered to have a parasitic relationship, as the host receives no benefit and may be harmed. The invader may receive any combination of food, shelter and even protection. Any living tissue may be susceptible: roots, stems, leaves, flowers. Galls take on a recognisable form, which may even aid the identification of the all-former. They tend to be broadly or narrowly host-specific.

Galls may be open or closed. An open gall may result if the plant is attacked by invertebrates with piercing mouthpart. Aphids can cause the leaves they attack to curl in a gall around the insects. Closed galls develop when the attack is by the larval form of insects such as wasps or beetles, where the insect matures within before emerging.

Some of the commonly seen plants which are invaded by gall-formers in Nova Scotia are oak, willow, roses and goldenrods.

Willows see several small gall flies who produce the willow apple galls on the leaves. Sawflies (Order Hymenoptera) also inflict symmetrical galls on willow leaves. Tips of the twigs may host a variety of gall midges (dipterans).

Greatest diversity in insect galls is found in the oaks. For example gall-forming wasps, called cynipids (Family Cynipidae) attack many species, forming fancifully named gouty oak gall, oak apples and oak potato galls.

Gall-wasps also form the Mossy Rose gall and Spiny Rose Galls. Both are commonly seen in Nova Scotia.

Goldenrods are attacked by a variety of midges, on their leaves and stems.

What galls you? Have you seen any galls on plants in your yard? Why not snap a picture and send it. We will try to identify the plant and its attacker, with the help of a zoologist or two.

Gall on oak leaf, photo by Mary Macaulay

Nectar-guides

Pollination can be a reward-based behavior exhibited by insects, birds and bats. The reward is often buried beneath the anthers and pistils. Those are the pollen producing and pollen receiving surfaces within the floral envelope. Rewards may be nectar or pollen, or both. Many flowers produce a roadmap of markings, colours, or scents to draw in particular suites of pollinators. These collectively may be called nectar guides or floral guides.

Colours seen by bees will differ from those seen by us. For one thing bees cannot see red. Sometimes the guides are spots, stripes, either translucent  or solid. See some of the variety of nectar guides may be seen in these images. Nectar-guides are visual clues. Plants use olefactory clues as well. Scent draws pollinators.

The flowers of mountain-ash exude a disagreeable odour when they are expanded. The smell has been described as resembling meat that has rotted. The tree or shrub is sending out an olfactory message to carrion flies that visit rotting meat. 

Even humans who lean over to smell the roses, are pollinators. How many times have you received pollen on your nose. When you sniff the next flower, chances are you pollinated it!

Wood-sorrel, Oxalis montana, photo by David Mazerolle

Milkweed, Asclepias , photo by Martin Thomas

Canada Lily, Lilium canadense, photo by Martin Thomas

Dark Corner Gardening

Published by Marian Munro · June 9, 2015 at 7:22am

There are others who are better attuned to gardening and plant choices for different growing conditions. I do want to offer an alternative to flowers or vegetables for those of us with shady corners. If you live in a rocky area, these plants will suit your conditions. They are miniature masterpieces in form and function, and you may need a magnifying glass to see their true beauty. I am talking about mosses, and even lichens.

Chances are you have a wet shady corner of lawn where moss fills in the patches between grass plants? Moss prefers shade and moisture. It also readily grows where fertility is low. If solid green lawns are your goal, then add lime to favour grass and not moss, which needs acidic soil. Mosses do well on compacted clays and not sandy loam soils.

While mosses are plants, they are not vascular plants; they are bryophytes. They have no true leaves, roots and do not produce seeds. They spread by spores. Bryophytes are colonial. This means you find lovely carpets of all the same species growing together. Moss gardening then, can be a textural garden of several shades of green, adding interest to lawns and perennial gardens. Their lack of movement in wind and year-round appearance lends a soothing quietness.

Yes, I love mosses. In particular, the following mosses can be found at nurseries specialising in moss plants for sale. They are also native to Nova Scotia. If you wild gather, it is important to note exactly where the mosses are growing. On trees, rocks, soil? On the base of trees? Rotting logs? Success comes with providing conditions the moss plants require and by selecting plants that suit your environment.
Also mosses should be transplanted in the spring or fall, when there is ample rain.

We have Hypnum species, aka Sheet moss. This low-growing moss forms smooth carpets at the base of trees and on the ground. It can tolerate dappled sunlight. Ideal for planting between patio stones or stepping stones, it is easy to get started.

Haircap Moss, (Polytrichum sp.) has soil stabilizing qualities making it desirable for slopes. It also will tolerate partial sun and a wider range of soils, including sandy soils.

Rock Cap Moss, or Broom Moss (Dicranum sp.) likes deep shade. Naturally they cover rocks and boulders. This can be used in landscaping as well. Prone to sunburning, this plant will not tolerate sun.

Cushion Moss, (Leucobryum) is another moss, that forms rounded clumps, although on soil. Tolerates partial sun and can be used for texture and colour; it is usually silvery-green in colour.

Reindeer Moss, actually a Reindeer Lichen tolerates sun and sandy soils. Its soft rubbery branching habitat forms soft pillowy forms which become dry and crunchy when dormant. Colour is silvery white.

For a little highlighted interest, one can add a fern or two. Some nurseries sell Christmas Ferns, (Polystichum acrostichoides). This evergreen fern forms attractive crowns in shady spots.

Moss gardening is gaining popularity, so there are websites promoting their use in landscaping. If wild collecting be ethical and take only a few and only with landowner permission.


Cinnamon fern fiddleheads, photo by Marian Munro

Hyloconium splendens, on rock, photo by Marian Munro
Hypnum sp. on tree, photo by Marian Munro

The perfect rose of June

As with other months, June has two flowers associated with it, the rose and the honeysuckle. Both are associated with love. Honeysuckle relates to the bonds of everlasting love. Roses have many meanings associated with the different colours. Red for love, pink for perfect happiness, white for purity and also innocence. Yellow rose indicates jealousy or a decrease in love. Single flowers given amplify the meaning.

Of about 100 species of roses worldwide, many thousands of hybrids and cultivars have arisen or been created. Hybrids can occur naturally although most have been created by plant breeders. Cultivars or cultivated varieties, only occur as nursery stock. Roses have been bred for their beautiful five petalled flowers for a millenium. Breeders have created blooms with multiple colours, multi-lobed petals, scented foliage, ornamental prickles and fragrance. The fruit of some is also candied or cooked into jams and jellies.

Attar of rose or rose oil is highly prized in cosmetics and perfume industires. Rose water may be used in cooking.

Roses are symbolic in many cultures. One would be hard-pressed to find someone who does not know the general appearance of ‘rose’.

In Nova Scotia, we have several naturally occurring species and a couple of introduced and invasive species. The Common Wild Rose (Rosa virginiana) and Marsh Rose (Rosa palustris) are widespread shrubs. The ornamental Multiflora Rose is becoming invasive, spreading from cultivated material and displacing native vegetation. Rough Rose or Rosa rugosa, a colonial and clonal species, was once used as rootstock in the nursery trade. This native of Europe has now spread along our coasts creating dense patches of bristly shrubs. Neither should be planted unless their spread can be controlled. This is difficult as birds favour the fruit.

Wild Honeysuckle, photo by Martin Thomas

100 year old language of flowers postcard on the rose.

Common Wild Rose, by Martin Thomas
Multiflora Rose, by Martin Thomas
White Rough Rose, Rosa rugosa, by Martin Thomas