Phlox phlyer Feb 2015

Volume 20, Number 4 February 2015

the

Phlox Phlyer

Columbia Basin Chapter, Washington Native Plant Society

•

P.O. Box 221, Richland, WA 99352

•

http://www.wnps.org/cbasin/

SHRUB STEPPE ID CARDS – Volunteers Needed We are putting together identification cards for local shrub-steppe plants. The ID cards will contain pictures of different parts of the plant and provide information about where the plant grows. The cards will be available electronically for free on our website.

Gretchen Graber is heading up this effort.

To complete the cards we need photos of the plant each season, and of the different parts of the plant. You can participate in this project by adopting a plant to photograph through the year; we are also interested in photos of plants that show close up of the leaf structure, the flower, and seeds in addition to the growth habit of the plant. Now is the time to take those winter photographs.

Ten plants have been selected for the first set:     

big sagebrush - Artemisia tridentata grey rabbitbrush - Ericameria nauseosa golden currant - Ribes aureum snow buckwheat - Eriogonum niveum Indian ricegrass- Achnatherum hymenoides 1

    

bluebunch wheatgrass- Pseudoroegneria spicata balsamroot- Balsamorhiza careyana long-leaf phlox- Phlox longifolia Munro's globemallow- Sphaeralcea munroana Turpentine wavewing Cymopterus terebinthinus

The Phlox Phlyer is the newsletter of the Columbia Basin Chapter, Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, Washington Native Plant Society.

Send photos of these plants to shrubsteppephots@gmail.com. Contact Gretchen Graber for additional information.

President— Marita Lih, mplih@charter.net

Requirements for sending in a picture:    

Chapter Officers

Positively identify the plant Use the Genus.species to name the photo Use the proper extension in the filename (e.g. .jpg) Permission for the picture to be used either as the Chapter decides or only for the ID guide. You will be given credit on the card.

Vice-President— Rik Smith,

rsmith@columbiabasin.edu Secretary— Marilyn Lemar, dwlemar@hotmail.com Treasurer—Cheryl Smith

cyankee@charter.net

THINK SPRING! This photo of a “salt and pepper” lomatium (Lomatium gormanii) was taken last December on the north side of McBee by Marilyn Lemar.

Chapter Committees Program Chair— Janelle Downs,

sagejld@aol.com Field Trips—Ernie Crediford, ernest_crediford@live.com Restoration/Salvage—Bill Mast, bmast1@live.com

Other potential early bloomers (February and March) include:         

Heritage Garden Program—Donna Lucas, Donna_Lucas@hotmail.com

Astragalus purshii (wooly-pod milkvetch) - purple blossom on a cushion-like plant.

Crocidium multicaule (gold star) - Flower head single on long stem, - 8 ray flowers Draba verna (Whitlow grass) - a tiny, tiny plant of sagebrush country, flowers an inch or two above ground in early spring.

Erodium cicutarium (storksbill) - a weed!

Fritillaria pudica (yellow bells) Lithophragma parviflorum (smallflower fringecup) Lithophragma tenella (woodland or prairie star) Lomatium piperi (Piper's desert parsley) tiny and white Phox longifolia (longleaf phlox) - growing on dry hillsides among sagebrush

These may be seen in the Wallula Gap area: Telephone House Hill, Two Sisters, and Hat Rock State Park (see the website: http://www.wnps.org/cbasin/hikes_lists.html for directions).

Education—Gretchen Graber,

gretchen.graber@gmail.com Newsletter Editor—Mary Ann Simmons, msimmons_1@charter.net Publicity— Mickie Chamness, mickiec@charter.net Books— Carmen Wooten, canoecarmen@yahoo.com Web Site Editor—Mary Ann Simmons msimmons_1@charter.net

Walla Walla Subchapter Darcy Dauble, Walla Walla, dadauble@gmail.com

Tri-Cities – Marita Lih At our Winter Workshop on January 7, Janelle Downs and Rik Smith provided literature and presented information on conifer trees that are native to Washington, and the habitats where they grow. Washington’s native conifer species belong to one of three families: the Yew family (Taxaceae), the Pine family (Pinaceae), or the Cedar family (Cupressaceae). Our state’s only representative of Taxaceae is the Pacific (Western) yew, Taxus brevifolia, which can be found along the coast and in the northern Cascades.

Several tree species of the Cupressaceae family are native to Washington including 2

This issue reproduced by

THE DIGITAL IMAGE Richland Washington 509-375-6001

Western redcedar (Thuja plicata), Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), and Common juniper (Juniperus communis). Pinaceae includes many pine (Pinus) species, as well as spruce (Picea), fir (Abies), larch (Larix ), hemlock (Tsuga), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga).

Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conifers in the Pinaceae family were presented in an outline or key-like format to demonstrate how the characteristics of needles, cones, and bark are used in identification of the tree species. For instance, if the needles are single, rounded (will roll between your fingers) and sharp tipped then the specimen is a spruce (Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis or Engelmann spruce, Picea engelmannii); their cones hang down and are often clustered near the end of a branch. Washington conifers with single needles that are flat and have a rounded tip are either one of our native firs, Grand fir (Abies grandis), Noble fir (Abies procera), Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis), or Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) if the cones are upright and high in the tree, or, if the cones are small and hang down and the needles are short (<1 inch), a Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) or a Mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana).

Single flat needles that are pointed but not sharp are present on Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, which also has hanging cones with distinctive bracts. The needles of pines are bundled in groups of 2 (Lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta), 3 (Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa), or 5 (Western white pine, Pinus monticola and whitebark pine, Pinus albica.

Many conifer specimens were available and were eagerly examined by participants, with frequent referrals to notes, reference books, and one another. It was an informative and fun evening for all.

Pseudotsuga menziesii cone. Copyright 2006 James Ellingboe.

Meetings: Wednesday, February 4, 2015, 7:00 p.m. Monthly Meeting at Columbia Basin College, Room TD 439 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bitterbrush: The Nitrogen-Fixing Rose. Rik Smith, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Columbia Basin College will talk about the importance of bitterbrush to our shrub-steppe plant community; research results from a study in Colorado will be presented. Maps and directions are available at: http://www.wnps.org/cbasin/pdf/maps/CBC_mtg_room_maps.pdf Volunteer Opportunity: There will be an opportunity to help plant the Wine Science Center Native pollinator and plant ecology garden at WSU Tri-Cities in Richland. The garden will contain a native plant area as well as a buckwheat section. An email will be sent when a date is set for the planting. Contact Gretchen Graber if you would like to be put on the distribution list.

Walla Walla Meetings: Thursday, February 12, 2015, 7:00 - 8:30pm in Room 151 Science Building, Whitman College Campus - Monthly Program.

Whitman Professor of Geology, Bob Carson, will address grasslands, prairies and meadows - their purpose, environmental issues and restoration programs with a few coyotes and prairie dogs included for good effect. A landscape focus is the Arid Land Ecology (ALE) Reserve, located in southcentral Washington (Benton County). The Reserve contains the only remaining sizeable acreage of Washington steppe landscape that is still in a nearly pristine state of vegetation. Among his many publications, Carson has written or collaborated on : East of Yellowstone, Where the Great River Bends and Hiking Guide to Washington Geology.

Volunteer Opportunity: Downtown Native Plant Pots. After a decade, Joe and Laura Maier are ready to turn over the job of watering the native plant pots in downtown Walla Walla. The task takes approximately 15 minutes once a week, and a watering can is included. Please contact Laura for details at 525.1079. This is the perfect job for those who have downsized but still want to do their part in returning a bit of the original landscaping to Main Street.

3

Blue Mountain Humane Society Demonstration Garden. Volunteers can join Sue, Betsy and Nancy on Fridays from 10 - 12noon at 7 E. George, Walla Walla.

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST – Heritage Garden Spring Workshop – The Spring workshop will be a tour of local Heritage Gardens. Date and time have not been finalized but will be sometime in mid-April. Check the Benton Conservation District webpage for updates - http://www.bentoncd.org/ Spring Wildflowers of the Columbia Basin – Rik Smith will be once again offering a class at CBC this spring (BIOL 148). The class will focus on techniques in identification, collection, preservation, mounting of preserved specimens, and ecological principles.

During the latter part of the quarter, attendance at all-day Saturday field trips is required. See the Spring 2015 class schedule for date and times.

REMINDERS Membership Expiration – Don’t remember when your membership expires? It’s above your name on your Douglasia . Not receiving your Douglasia – then your membership has expired. You can renew online: http://www.wnps.org/join.html FACEBOOK – Like us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaBasinWNPS ) and get late breaking news.

Columbia Basin Chapter Washington Native Plant Society P.O. Box 221 Richland, Washington 99352

To receive the newsletter electronically – email msimmons_1@charter.net 4