Download Northeast Texas Chapter - Native Plant Society of Texas

Northeast Texas Chapter
Native Plant Society of Texas
Vol. 11, No. 6
September 2005
The purpose of the Native Plant Society of Texas is to promote the conservation, research
and utilization of the native plants and plant habitats of Texas, through education, outreach
and example.
Monthly Meeting: Regular meetings are the third Thursday of the month 7:00 PM at St.
Mary's Catholic Church Parish Hall, 2108 Ridgewood, Longview (just off Hollybrook Drive). No
meeting in December.
SEPTEMBER 15TH
Presentation by Ricky Maxey from Parks &
Wildlife on the “Bats of East Texas”. Also we
will vote on the acceptance of our by-laws.
Please bring the copy of the by-laws that came
with your August Newsletter last month, or you
may print them directly off of our newsletter
page on our website at:
http://www.npsot.org/NortheastTexas/index.php
Future Programs:
October 20th
November 17th
December
January 19th
2006
Presentation by Dr. Cheryl Boyette, coordinator of children’s
workshops at SFA, who will inform us on educating young
children in the appreciation of native plants.
Tentative: Slide presentation by Betsy Farris on the Lady
Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
NO DECEMBER MEETING
Flo Oxley from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in
Austin.
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President’s Corner by Floyd Anderson
These are the best of times: cooler temps, fall blooms, colored leaves, and some rain. East Texas is and
has been a wonderful place to live. We have enough and to spare. Remember those who are suffering
now and take advantage of our time to share the bounty of nature in East Texas.
Floyd Anderson
Contributions to the newsletter are welcome and greatly appreciated.
Articles of interest and items for the Calendar of Events are needed.
Deadline for the October newsletter is October 5th. You can contact
Rosanna by email as listed below or mail to: 492 Leisure Lane,
Waskom, Texas, 75692
For information call or email:
President:
Secretary/Treasurer:
Program Chairman:
Publicity Chairman:
Newsletter:
Floyd Anderson
Betty Lee
Ellen Anderson
Margie McCoy
Rosanna Salmon
903-938-7077
903-984-5636
903-938-7077
903-645-3735
903-935-0660
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Tyler NPSOT: Monthly meetings first Monday of the month 7:00
PM, at Walter Fair Memorial Methodist Church, 1712 Old Omen Road,
Tyler, TX. Contact Jim Showen, President 903-566-0733, web page
www.npsot.org/Tyler
Northeast Texas Field Ornithologists: General membership meeting
first Tuesday of the month 6:30 PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish
Hall. Website address: http://members.tripod.com/netfo_tx/
Gregg County Master Gardener: Monthly meeting on second
Wednesday, 12:00 noon, in the Gregg County Extension Office, 405 E.
Marshall Street, Longview, TX
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Gregg Co. Fall Garden and Landscape Seminar:
Saturday,
September 17 , from 8:30am to 1:00pm at First United Methodist Church
Faith Center. For more information contact the Gregg Co Extension Office
903 236 8429, or mailto:[email protected]
th
SFA Fabulous Fall Festival: Saturday, October 1st, 9:00am – 3:00pm.
Sale located on the SFASU Intramural Fields next to the SFASU Mast
Arboretum on Wilson Drive. Come early and bring your wagon!
NPSOT Fall State Symposium:
Annual symposium will be held in
the Trans Pecos region October 20-23rd. For more information on places to
stay, contact the Chambers of Commerce in Alpine: 432-837-2326, Fort
Davis: 432-426-3015, Marathon: 432-386-4516, and Marfa: 432-729-4942
To view other upcoming events, workshops and seminars of
the native plant world log onto the following:
http://www.wildflower.org/?nd=calendars
Baptisia
Over a year ago, my mother (Frances Beavers) told my husband, Floyd, about a very
pretty and unusual plant she had seen growing just over the fence on the property next to hers.
It was a little bush with yellow flowers. By the time we actually took time to look at it, it was no
longer blooming, but still was an attractive plant with sage-colored leaves. There were several
plants in the area, so we brought home a whole plant, hoping we might be alble root it.
However, it just changed to a charcoal color in the vase and did nothing else.
Through conversations with Logan Damewood, Floyd did know what the plant was and
called it Baptista and Indigo. We looked it up in our wildflower books and found several
interesting descriptions.
Peterson Field Guides: Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers provides the following
descriptions and easy-to-identify line drawings:
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Little-Tree Wild Indigo, Baptisia nuttalliania ,is an erect, treelike plant with a bare lower stem.
The flowers are pale yellow and solitary. The flowers seem to rise from the central base of the
leaves. They are common in woodlands. We think that this plant is the one my mother found
on the clear-cut property next to her home. In riding around the back roads of our East Texas
area, we have learned to spot this plant frequently. We recognize them easily by the little green
mounds. Sometimes there will be only one or two little bushes, but occasionally there were be
many bushes in an area. This time of the year, they are a charcoal color, which seems to be
their fall and winter look.
Upright Wild Indigo, Baptisia sphaerocarpa, is an erect, oblong, mounded plant with bright
yellow flowers on erect, elongated racemes. It grows in open places in loamy soil. (This plant is
pictured in color as described below. We do not think we have seen one ourselves.)
Languid Wild Indigo, Baptisia leucophaea, is a low, mound-like plant with long, graceful sprays
of pale yellow flowers that curve downward around the periphery. Mature flower pedicels are
three or more cm long. It grows in woods and dunes in the eastern third of Texas. This plant is
Floyd’s favorite. We found it on the highway between Gilmer and Tyler and have been back
several times to try to harvest some seeds. They seeds seemed to be defective, but we will
probably try again.
According to the Loughmiller’s Texas Wildflowers, the b. sphaerocarpa is also called Bush Pea
(Yellow Wisteria). They provide a color picture, which makes identification easier, and relate
that they have seen a 15-acre pasture almost covered with it. This perennial plan blooms April
to May.
The Loughmillers also describe the wild indigo or nodding indigo, b. leucophaea, as growing in
rounded clumps 12 to 18 inches tall. It has rather large yellow flowers that grow in clusters on
the upper 10 to 18 inches of the stem, bending slightly toward the ground, thus the name
nodding indigo. They say it grows in the eastern third of the state in open woodlands and
pastures and along roadsides. This perennial plant blooms March to April.
The Loughmillers provide a little more information about the Baptisia. Several species grow in
East Texas, all with the same leaf structure, but the flowers may be yellow, cream-colored,
white, or blue. The indigo blue dye is not made from this plant, but rather from the genus
Indigofera.
Floyd and I have enjoyed discovering these plants this spring and summer as we traveled from
town to town in our part of beautiful East Texas. We do not have a picture of the plant in my
mother’s neighbor’s woods, but we do have a photo of Floyd’s favorite, the one we searched for
seeds. Since they are perennials, hopefully, next year there will be wetter weather and a better
crop. The more erect plant we think may be the same as the one near my mother’s, since the
flowering habit is similar. We think we have not yet found the b. sphaerocarpa.
Ellen Anderson
** This is just a note to let everyone know that we have a new website. Our website
is a sub-site of the main NPSOT website which can be found at http://www.npsot.org
Our chapter’s new website can be accessed thru the main state site by “clicking” on
the chapters link, and then “clicking” on Northeast Texas, OR you can go directly to
our new home page at http://www.npsot.org/NortheastTexas/index.php