Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2011 Wildflower Symposium, October 15, 2011

My wife and I attended the 2011 Wildflower Symposium at the Wekiwa Springs State Park Youth Camp on October 15, 2011. We listened to two lectures in the morning, and, in the afternoon, attended Vince Lamb's presentation on photographing wildflowers and went in the field with about two dozen other people for some hands-on wildflower photography.

The most abundant and highly visible wildflowers were yellow buttons, summer farewell, blazing star, partridge pea, dog fennel, silk grass, and lopsided Indian grass. Poking about looking for the unusual, I came across Florida paintbrush, alicia, scurf hoarypea, jointweed, Canadian toadflax (way out of season!), queensdelight, scratch daisy, dogtongue wild buckwheat, and buttonsage, as well as three unidentified plants.
________________________________________





People

Upper left: Vince Lamb and Charlie Corbeil; center: Lisa Roberts, Executive Director FWF; lower left: photographing wildflowers near auditorium; lower right: lunch building.


________________________________________




Scenes Around the Youth Camp
________________________________________




Wildflower Photography in the Field
________________________________________








Coastalplain honeycomb head; yellow buttons (Balduina angustifolia, Asteraceae)
Native

The ripened disk becomes hard and has a honeycomb appearance.
________________________________________






Summer farewell (Dalea pinnata var. adenopoda, Fabaceae)
Native

The bottom 3 photos show the ripening seed heads with their feathery "parachutes."
________________________________________




Blazing star (Liatris sp., Asteraceae)
Native

It takes a close study to determine which species of Liatris. Only one species is eliminated: L. pauciflora because the heads are not all on one side. The next step is to determine if the heads are on stalks are not. The flower heads in most of these photos appear to be on stalks, which narrows them down to two species. If the stems (which I failed to photograph) are hairy then it is L. gracillis; if not hairy, then L. tenuifolia. I think in some of them the heads are not on stalks, in which case, the bracts help separate the three species L. chapmanii, L. garberi, and L. spicata.
________________________________________




Florida paintbrush, coastalplain chaffhead (Carphephorus corymbosus, Asteraceae)
Native

This plant is identified as C. corymbosus based on three characteristics: infloresence is a corymb, stem is hairy, and bract tips are blunt and green with white margins.
________________________________________



Dog fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium, Asteraceae)
Native
________________________________________


Lopsided indiangrass (Sorghastrum secundum, Poaceae)
Native
________________________________________



Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata, Fabaceae)
Native
________________________________________


Common persimmon (Diospyuros virginiana, Ebenaceae)
Native
________________________________________



Narrowleaf silkgrass (Pityopsis graminifolia, Asteraceae)
Native
________________________________________


Florida alicia (Chapmannia floridana, Fabaceae)
Native, Florida endemic
________________________________________

Dixie ticktrefoil (Desmodium tortuosum, Fabaceae)
Not native
________________________________________




Scurf hoarypea (Tephrosia chrysophylla, Fabaceae)
Native

This plant running along the bare sandy soil caught the eye of several photographers. Leaves odd-pinnately compound, leaflets 5-7; stem prostrate, reddish, hairy. Note that the pods open with a twist (lower right-hand photo). Compare with photos at the online USF/ISB Plant Atlas.
________________________________________



Fungi
________________________________________

Tall jointweed (Polygonella gracilis, Polygonaceae)
Native
________________________________________



Canadian toadflax (Linaria canadensis, Plantaginaceae)
 Native
I found only one of this species. It normally blooms in early spring.
________________________________________

Oak gall

I believe this type of gall forms on what would normally be an acorn.
________________________________________


 Queensdelight (Stillingia sylvatica, Euphorbiaceae)
Native

Several online sources mention the medicinal properties of this plant. One states that queensdelight was once a popular home medicine with settlers in the southern U.S. They claimed that its root had many virtues: as a laxative, an emetic, an expectorant, a so-called blood purifier, and a treatment for syphilis. I could not determine which queen was referred to nor which cure especially delighted her. The scientific name honors the 18th c. English botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet.
________________________________________




Scratch daisy (Croptilon divaricatum, Asteraceae)


This plant looks similar to silkgrass, but does not have its silky-silvery appearance. This is the only member of this genus to occur in Florida.
________________________________________



 Dogtongue wild buckwheat (Eriogonum tomentosum, Polygonaceae)
Native


A very pretty small wildflower. What appears to be petals are actually sepals (3 outer and 3 inner). Leaves non-shedding, in whorls of 3 or 4. Stem woody, branched, hairy, and tan.
________________________________________




Unidentified

Appears to be a member of the Asteraceae family, but I haven't been able to identify it. Can anyone help with this one?
________________________________________





Garberia (Garberia heterophylla, Asteraceae)
Native, Florida endemic


Originally unidentified, but now identified since I found a similar plant blooming in the Lake Wales Ridge area in June 2011.
________________________________________



Buttonsage (Lantana involucrata, Verbenaceae)
Native

A tentative identification based on the unique leaves.
________________________________________



Andropogon sp.

Interesting grass with a split appearance. Initially I posted this as an "Unidentified grass." Since then, Roger Hammer has informed me that this is an Andropogon, although he is not certain which species it is from the photo.

________________________________________

No comments:

Post a Comment