Michigan has a Native Cactus?

Posted on July 5, 2021 by admin

It surprises many people to learn that cacti are native to Michigan. We have two native cactus species. On is the endangered Fragile Prickly-pear (Opuntia fragilis) which is known from two sites. Prickly-pear (Opuntia cespitosa) occurs in southwestern Michigan and Monroe County in the extreme southeast corner. Our plants were called Opuntia humifusa, but that name is now used for an east coast species.

Prickly-pear grows in sandy, well drained soil. It requires a sunny site to thrive. Although it is mostly spineless, Prickly-pear has fine sharp barbed hairs that are rather irritating to touch. Its showy yellow flowers last only a day.

I found a colony on a sunny hillside in Roscommon County. This station is farther inland than other reported locations. It might be a planted colony or simply an extension of its known native range. We will never know. The colony is expanding by seed into the dry ditch at the base of the hill. Seedlings and a few flowering plants grow among the grass and Bracken Fern.

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Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Posted on August 28, 2020 by admin

During a walk along the East Branch of the AuSable River, I found a yellow composite. At a glance, I thought it was Cynthia (Krigia biflora) because of the simple branches of the plant. However, the flowers were pure yellow and not the orange or yellow-orange of Cynthia. I dissected a flower head, finding only fertile ray flowers and no disk flowers. Each flower had a feather-like pappus. The leaves were mainly basal, and coarsely toothed, with stiff hairs on the upper surface.

I consulted the Field Manual of Michigan Flora by Voss and Reznicek and discovered my plant was Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata). Imported from Europe, this lawn weed now grows throughout the state. The phyllaries (scales surrounding the heads) had spine-like projections on the midveins. This helps distinguish this species from similar plants.

I enjoy seeing new plant species, or at least ones I have not identified before. Composites are a fascinating group of diverse appearance. I need to make a careful study of them.

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Hunting Flowering-rush (Butomus umbellatus)

Posted on November 11, 2019 by admin

I spent most of my field time in southern Michigan this year searching for invasive plants to photograph for a new talk. Part of the fun of putting together any talk is the hunt for material. This invasive plant talk is no exception. It is fun to get into areas that I normally don’t visit and see different plants and animals.

My invasive plant odyssey continued with a trip to Lake Erie Metropark to look for Flowering-rush (Butomus umbellatus). Lake Erie Metropark is a 1600-acre park with three miles of Lake Erie shoreline. My brother sent me photos of Flowering-rush from one of the picnic areas along the shore so I knew the plant was there. I first checked a drying pond hoping to find Flowering-rush. I found Flowering-rush plants that had finished flowering. However, the pond area was interesting.

One of the first plants I saw in the mud was Water Star-grass (Heteranthera dubia). It normally grows submerged in water but here in a dried-up section of the pond the terrestrial form was flowering. Its flowers have 6 yellow tepals and last a single day. Plants have narrow grass-like leaves and are limp against the soil. It is not a grass but a member of the Pickerel-weed family (Pontederiaceae).

In the same drying pond I found False Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia). It is an annual that appears to have long-lived seeds in the seedbank. It put on a nice display with its pretty blue flowers resembling snapdragons.

Also in the pond area was Water-purslane (Ludwigia palustris). Water-purslane has tiny petaless flowers and looks the same whether flowering or not flowering. The combination of red stems, long stalked leaves, prostrate growth, and growing in a habitat with receding water identifies this plant.

A Spotted Sandpiper flew into the center of the drying pond. I enjoyed watching its bobbing dance, never staying still. Probing the mud with its long bill and eating food unseen by me.

I finally found my quarry, an acre of blooming Flowering-rush. It had choked other species out to form a solid mass. It was first found in Michigan in 1930 not too far from here. Its range has expanded during the last 30 years and it is now found in the Lower Peninsula north to the Straits of Mackinac. It is mistaken for a wild onion by many people because it has a six-parted flower and narrow onion-like leaves. The pink flowers are 10mm [3/8 of an inch] across and rather showy. It is native to Africa and Eurasia.

Hunting invasive plants is an interesting excuse to run around southern Michigan. Tracking down invasive species is harder than I thought it would be. On more than one occasion the plant was removed before I could get its photo. Hopefully I will have a talk on identifying invasive plants ready to present before this year is over.

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Twinleaf: A Local Spring Wildflower

Posted on May 13, 2019 by admin

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) grows in rich deciduous woods and floodplains. Its distribution is local, meaning it does not grow in every suitable habitat but where it grows it can occur in large numbers. In Michigan it ranges northward to a line passing through Saginaw.

William Bartram named the genus in honor of Thomas Jefferson. One other species occurs in the genus, Asian Twinleaf (J. dubia), growing in eastern Asia. Several other genera occur in Eastern North America and then skip to eastern Asia including: Ginseng (Panax), Lopseed (Phryma), Mayapple (Podophyllum), Lizard’s-tail (Saururus), and Skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus).

Twinleaf is an appropriate common name because the two leaf lobes form practically identical segments. Flowering in southern Michigan happens in April. The multi-parted, white flowers resemble Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) but the two species are not closely related.

Jeffersonia — Native Twinleaf L Asian Twinleaf R

The seeds are myrmecochorous which means distributed by ants. A sweet, fatty blob, called an elaiosome, adheres to the seeds attracting the ants. Ants gather the seeds, take them into their nests, and later eat the elaiosome. Conventional “wisdom” states that the ants gain food and plant’s seeds are moved to a protected and nutritionally richer site for growth. Charles Kwit at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is studying this. One of his students, Mariah Patton, has provided a summary citing research that questions both the benefits to ants and the advantages to the plant. Further research is called for.

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A Color Variant in Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

Posted on May 2, 2019 by admin

Yellow Trout Lily with reddish-brown at base of tepals

Recently I was shown a small patch of Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) with the base of the tepals reddish-brown on the inner surface. The two-toned plants are striking. Trout Lilies can reproduce vegetatively through stolons. See my blog from 2017. This patch might be a single clone spreading via stolons.

I checked the Michigan Flora Website and it said, “Rarely the perianth is reddish brown basally. Flora of North America says “Flowers: tepals yellow, sometimes tinged light to dark purple-red abaxially, sometimes with reddish dots adaxially,” So this variation is known. I just never saw it before.

Lyman Smith named this color form as forma castaneum. The condition of the colony he found agrees with my colony except his had smaller flowers. He writes, “I found a large patch of Erythronium americanum much of which was the typical plant. However, many of the plants had flowers rather smaller than the average and with the inner part of the perianth a deep chestnut-brown” (Rhodora, Vol.31, page 36, February 1929). Forma castaneum is used in the Flora of North America to designate the reddish anther form with no mention of flower color. Perhaps this form as named also had reddish anthers and the name was used instead of creating another name for a minor form.

I addressed the anther color variations in another blog post.

All of our two-toned Yellow Trout Lilies had reddish anthers. Emily Austen, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at the University of Ottawa is studying the color variations and her blog provides additional information.

My patch was found in Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. It will be interesting to hear of other colonies and their anther color. My thanks to Mushroom Mary for pointing this patch out.

Glossary
Abaxially means on the front side.
Adaxially means on the back side.
Tepels are colored sepals. Sepals are the bud coverings with the petals found inside. Trout Lilies lack petals; the yellow flowers parts are tepals.
Perianth is the outer part of a flower, made up of the calyx (sepals) and corolla (petals).

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How to Identify Wildflowers

Posted on July 11, 2018 by admin

Goat’s-Rue

On the Fourth of July I visited Indian Springs Metro Park. I found a plant in flower that I didn’t know. It was obviously in the pea family so I looked at the Michigan flora website and the dichotomous key to the pea family (Fabaceae). A dichotomous key is simply a series of paired statements: you read both statements and follow the statement that matches your plant.

Pea type flowers -L Once-pinnately compound with odd number of leaflets – R

Starting with couplet #1 I follow the lead for a plant with compound leaves, that takes me to couplet 3. My unknown plant has twenty-one leaflets, that leads to couplet 27. My plant is an herb not a woody plant, that leads to couplet 33. Its leaves are once-pinnately compound so we follow couplet 36. Our unknown has an odd number of leaflets so we follow couplet 44. Our leaflets are wider than 3mm that takes us to couplet 45. Inflorescence a simple spike or raceme leads to couplet 48. Its stem is not vine-like couplet 49. The flowers are bicolor so the key leads us to the genus Tephrosia. This genus, in Michigan, has only a single species Goat’s Rue or Rabbit-pea (Tephrosia virginiana). I check the images on the site and they match my plant.

It takes some practice to master a botanical key. You need to learn a vocabulary. Words such as: leaflet, raceme, inflorescence are all descriptive of plant parts. I still look up words in the glossary or a dictionary from time to time. The keys on the Michigan Flora website are excellent and work well. There is also a key to families.

Richard Rabler’s Plants of Michigan has simple keys and can be used as a stepping stone to more technical works. It has few illustrations but covers a large number of species, including grasses, sedges, and woody plants. When I started learning to use a key I would identify plants that I already knew just to get a feel for how the key worked.

Irregular Flowers and simple spike – L Alternate Leaves – R

Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide is a great beginner’s guide. Inside the front cover is the start of a simple key. You look at three aspects of the plant: flower type, plant type, and leaf type. A three digit number is created from this information. I use Newcomb’s if I don’t know which family the unknown belongs to. Our plant has irregular flowers, alternate leaves, and divided leaves. This gives us the group number 134. In the locator key under group 134 is a series of statements. Our plant has more than four leaflets that leads us to page 66. From the description and drawings on page 66 we reach Goat’s Rue. Newcomb’s key is simple, it has drawings of flower and leaf type and a glossary. Most of the species are illustrated with line drawings. It has fewer species than Michigan Flora or Plants of Michigan but includes most of Michigan’s showier species. The scientific names are old but a PDF document updates them.

Field guides arranged by flower color are not the best method to identify plants. Using Goat’s Rue as an example the flower is both yellow and pink. Some plants change flower color as they age. Albino and other color forms also occur.

Plant photos can be posted on the Michigan Botanical Society Facebook page and someone usually identifies them. Post where and when the photo was taken.

I encourage you to try to identify your own unknowns. I find that I remember a species better if I made the effort to identify it.

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Beach-Heath

Posted on June 25, 2018 by admin

Beach-Heath

I found Beach-Heath, also called False Heather (Hudsonia tomentosa) in Crawford County, Michigan. Its typical Michigan habitat is the sand dunes along the Great Lakes. I found it in the middle of the Lower Peninsula. I know of several records from Crawford and Kalkaska Counties but in my almost four-decades of botanizing in these counties I had not found it before. It was growing in raw sand and some of my photos look like a Great Lakes sand dune. Vegetation was moving into the area: reindeer lichen (Cladonia sp.), and grass. This bank was cut down when the road was moved and paved approximately fifty-years ago.

Beach-Heath L Mossy Stonecrop R

From a distance it resembles Mossy Stonecrop (Sedum acre) which also can grow in raw sand. Up close the narrow, tiny, blue-gray leaves covered with white hairs and bright yellow, five-parted flowers left no doubt that it was Beach-heath. The clumps of plants appeared to flower starting from the outside and then moving to the center. While I could detect no fragrance from the flowers numerous mining bees were busily pollinating.

Beach-Heath flowers L Mining Bee R

I wonder how many other unreported inland colonies exist. If you don’t see the plant during its limited flowering time it might go unnoticed.

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Mayapple: A Favorite Fruit

Posted on August 29, 2017 by admin

Mayapple in flower and in fruit

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is common in rich woods in southern Michigan. Flowering in the spring, its fruit ripens in the late summer, and then the plants die back for the season. Emerging in early spring, plants resemble small umbrellas on the forest floor. Early leaves are sometimes frost damaged which causes reddish spots in the center of the leaves. Leaves are peltate with the petiole (leaf stalk) attached in the center of a mostly round leaf blade. Plants with single leaves do not flower. Larger two-leaved plants have flowers hidden under the leaves. Mayapple flowers produce no nectar to attract pollinators. I see bumblebee queens gathering pollen from the flowers. Some studies seem to indicate that pollinators are attracted by other nearby woodland flowers then visit Mayapples. I saw one bumblebee visit a Mayapple flower after feeding on Wild Geranium nectar. Fruiting is not needed because colonies reproduce via rhizomes.

L-flowering plant C-non-flowering plant R-reddish plant damaged by frost

All parts of the plant including the seeds are poisonous except for the flesh of the ripe fruits. Another common name is Wild Mandrake eluding to its poisonous nature. A friend became ill after eating ripe fruit so use caution if you experiment with eating this plant. Whenever I eat a new species of wild food I always keep an uncooked sample and eat only a small amount. You can have an allergic response to a plant other people safely eat. I have found ripe fruits only three times in my life. Twice, I found single ripe fruits and only once did I find enough to make jam. Raccoons followed us through the colony and climbed into the basket as I carried it picking fruit. Fruits have a sweet citrus flavor.

L- typical Mayapple flower C & R-doubled flower showing extra parts

I found a colony along the Red Cedar River on the campus of Michigan State University with multiple carpels (forma polycarpum) and additional flower parts. Beal Botanical Garden’s collection manager gathered a few plants for their garden and gave me a single non-flowering plant. Seventeen years later they form a stand of 80 stems in my woodland garden. They have never set fruit.

Mayapple Rust on upper and lower sides of leaf

A bright orange rust, Mayapple Rust (Allodus podophylli) occurs on Mayapples. This is the only species of rust reported from Mayapple. It disfigures the plants but normally causes no harm. I find the aeciospores attractive when magnified. Mayapple Rust requires no alternate host and completes its lifecycle on the Mayapple. This rust was placed in the artificial genus Puccinia until recent studies placed it in the long disused genus Allodus.

Aeciospores of Mayapple rust

Now is the time to look for ripe Mayapples. Get out in a rich woods in southern Michigan and see what you find. It might not be a Mayapple but it’s always fun just to look.

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Trout Lily Reproduction

Posted on June 12, 2017 by admin

Clump of Yellow Trout Lily (L) and developing stolon (R)

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) is a common spring ephemeral in Michigan. Most colonies consist of some two-leaved flowering plants and numerous single leaved non-flowering plants. Many of the non-flowering plants are not seedlings but are produced via stolons. Stolons, from Latin stolo meaning shoot, twig, or branch, are runners that extend on top of the ground and then the tips burrow into the ground sometimes emerging again. New plants develop and root at these tips. Normally the stolons are covered by the duff, but areas with disturbed duff expose the coils of stolons. Plants in the colonies I examined had 0 to 3 stolons each. In a good year a single stolon produces up to four new plants. Look for the stolons in rich woods. They can be found even after the leaves have died down.

Yellow Trout Lily leaves and stolons (L) and Canada Mayflower leaves with Trout Lily stolons (R)

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Geranium Pollination

Posted on June 6, 2017 by admin

Wild geranium in flower

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) is a common woodland species in southern Michigan. Heather Holm in her book Pollinators of Native Plants explains the plant’s mechanism for insuring cross-pollination. The outer anthers develop first and discharge pollen. Next the inner anthers discharge pollen. This two-step process allows for a longer period of pollen production. Only after the anthers dry up does the stigma become ready to accept pollen. I photographed a selection of flowers in Tenhave Woods in Royal Oak on May 24th. Flowers were in all stages of development from bud through the beginning of seedpod formation. While the plants did not strictly follow Holm’s description, the pollen had developed first in most plants, and plants lacked pollen when the stigma was ready to receive pollen.

Closeups showing development of pollen

Closeups showing anthers withering (L) and receptive stigma with pollen grains (R)

While photographing Geraniums I found a Cuckoo Bee (Nomada sp.) pollinating the flowers. Holm in her book explains that Cuckoo Bees “lay their eggs in the nests of ground-nesting bees.” This one was feeding on nectar, moving rapidly from flower to flower.

Cuckoo Bee (Nomeda sp) on Wild Geranium

In the future, I will pay closer attention to how pollen develops in different plant species. I find it interesting to observe the varied mechanisms by which plants maintain genetic diversity.
Copyright 2017 by Donald Drife

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The Michigan Nature Guy’s Blog

To get people looking at, enjoying, and understanding the natural world around them.

Category Archives: Michigan Wildflowers

Michigan has a Native Cactus?

Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

Hunting Flowering-rush (Butomus umbellatus)

Twinleaf: A Local Spring Wildflower

A Color Variant in Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

How to Identify Wildflowers

Beach-Heath

Mayapple: A Favorite Fruit

Trout Lily Reproduction

Geranium Pollination