Volume 20, Number 7 May 2015
the
Phlox Phlyer
Columbia Basin Chapter, Washington Native Plant Society
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P.O. Box 221, Richland, WA 99352
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www.wnps.org/col_basin/index.html
Election of Officers In June we will be electing new officers. None of these offices requires knowledge of Latin plant names or a background in botany, so if you would like to get more involved with the chapter, please contact: Carol Coker (carolpascoc@outlook.com ), Janelle Downs (Sagejld@aol.com ) or Mickie Chamness (mickiec@charter.net ). • President - presides over the monthly meetings and board meetings (September through June); attends 2 State meetings, one in Seattle and one in Ellensburg (this is not mandatory); communicates with the State office. • Vice-President – assists the President in their duties, as needed • Secretary – keeps the minutes of the monthly meetings and board meetings; writes up the minutes for the newsletter • Treasurer – has custody of the CBNPS funds; deposits all monies, writes checks, provides a monthly financial status to the board, and prepares an annual report to the State. The mailbox and bank are located in Richland. There are also a number of non-elected committees – see side-bar (next page); if you would like to help out with one of these please contact Carol, Janelle or Mickie.
Chapter Photo contest The focus for our chapter’s annual photo contest is plants growing in lithosols (rocky soils). Whether you’re hiking in the Blue Mountains, the scablands, or the Horse Heaven hills, keep an eye out for plants that prefer those rocky soils. The winner will receive a copy of the 2016 Washington Native Plant Society calendar and your photo entries may be used in future chapter educational displays. Send photos to Mickie Chamness
Weed vs. Native – Mickie Chamness I used to have a hard time telling hoary aster from knapweeds when weeding native gardens. They are all multi-stemmed with pale to bright lavender flowers and die back to the ground in winter. Here are a couple pointers to help tell them apart. In our area, hoary aster (Machaeranthera canescens [now Dieteria canescens]) starts as a small upright seedling with small pointy teeth on the lower leaves and smooth-edged leaves higher up. The plant has very fine hairs, so it feels smooth and is relatively green. Both Russian (Actroptilon repens [now Rhap) and diffuse (Centaurea diffusa) knapweed form basal rosettes as seedlings before growing up into multiple stems. The leaves of Russian knapweed also have small pointy teeth on the lower leaves but are distinctly hairy, giving them a grayish white color and slightly fuzzy feel. The basal diffuse knapweed leaves are also distinctly hairy and are pinnatifid, meaning the teeth or lobes go almost to the center of the leaf. There’s a great new resource for seedling ID at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/wapmcpu11331.pdf.
diffuse knapweed hoary aster
Russian knapweed 1