Volume 22, Number 5 February 2017
the
Phlox Phlyer
Columbia Basin Chapter, Washington Native Plant Society •
c/o Mickie Chamness, 4255 Tami St., Richland, WA 99352
•
www.cbwnps.org
REMBERANCE – Bob Fortman We recently lost a long-time member and native plant enthusiast. Bob Fortman moved to the Tri-Cities after retiring from his career in chemical engineering. He fell in love with the native plants in our area, especially bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegneria spicata). To learn more about the grasses and plants native to the Columbia Basin he joined the Native Plant Society, attended talks and workshops throughout the region, and read voraciously books related to the natural history of our state. Bob was involved in the chapter as president, program chair, and field trip chair from 2006 through 2011 and continued to lead field trips for a few years after that. For many years Bob was also the lead gardener of the Native Plant garden as part of the Master Gardener’s Demonstration Garden near the Kennewick library. As President of our chapter Bob wrote some wonderful columns for this newsletter. Sometimes they were reflections about the plants of the area, other times a synopsis of things he had read. In his first year as president he wrote of his love for the native grasses: “I have always appreciated the various grasses and it was when I moved to the Tri Cities five years ago that I began to really understand grasses in a way I had never before approached. To illustrate my obsession, right now, in the middle of these hot dry days, I like nothing better than walking in the Horse Heaven Hills through the dried, brown bunch grass clumps with the bare ground in between. It is fine with me if there is not a sagebrush or rabbitbrush in sight. A hillside dotted with bunch grass clumps is pure poetry. My grass obsession is further evident in the Master Gardener’s native plant demonstration garden that is basically all grasses. I am attempting to broaden my horizons and learn more about forbs to add diversity and color to the landscape (not that it needs it).” We will miss Bob, his smile and grace and generosity.
SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY – January 31, 2017 Gretchen Graber is s bringing this documentary to the Tri-Cities on January 31, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Kennewick 12, 1331 N Center Pkwy. SEED: The Untold Story is a documentary featuring Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbell, and Winona LaDuke, following passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000-year old food legacy. Trailer can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/169932441. Go to the following site to reserve your ticket ($11) http://gathr.us/screening/19041#.WFCg8noMEv8.facebook
Please give the Society your input on the state website, Douglasia, and other means of communication and information sharing by January 31. The state board is working hard to improve communications and reduce costs. You can help shape the future of our state and local chapter’s services to our membership by taking a few minutes to fill out an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9MYSMF7. They would really like to get responses from a broad cross section of the membership. Those of us on the east side of the state may have different interests or ideas, so please participate and share your opinions in the survey. 1
Deadline to sign-up for Rare Plant Monitoring training is February 15 Learn how to be a citizen scientist and collect data on a rare plant species by participating in the Rare Care program. This year Rare Care will conduct an all-day rare plant monitoring training in Tri-Cities Saturday, March 4 (in addition to a training in Seattle Saturday, Feb. 25). New applicants for either training are invited to apply by February 15. See https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/scienceconservation/rarecare/volunteer/monitor/. Current monitoring volunteers are welcome to attend as a refresher, but it’s not required unless you haven’t completed an assignment in the past two years; just email us at rarecare@uw.edu.
The Phlox Phlyer is the newsletter of the Columbia Basin Chapter, Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, Washington Native Plant Society. Chapter Officers Co-Presidents — Mickie Chamness,
mickiec@charter.net & Janelle Downs, sagejld@aol.com
Washington Botanical Symposium, March 15, Seattle Washington’s first botanical symposium will bring together professional, academic and amateur botanists to exchange ideas within and across disciplines. Speakers will discuss climate change impacts on Pacific Northwest plant communities, invasive and aquatic plants, biotic soil crusts, Washington peatlands, taxonomy and more at the UW Botanic Gardens in Seattle 9:00 AM-4:00 PM Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Cost for the day is $75, and registration is underway. Read more at https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/education/adults/conferences-symposia/wa-botanicalsymposium/
Vice-President — Rik Smith,
rsmith@columbiabasin.edu Secretary — Marilyn Lemar,
dwlemar@hotmail.com Treasurer — Cheryl Smith
cyankee@charter.net Chapter Committees
STUDY WEEKEND – May 19-21, 2017
Programs — Kim Hamblin-Hart,
From Sagebrush to Subalpine: Exploring the Diversity of the Eastern Washington Landforms & Flora. Registration opens in February. Check the State website for updates: http://www.wnps.org/
kimhamblinhart@gmail.com Field Trips — Ernie Crediford,
ernest_crediford@live.com / Steve Link stevenlink@me.com
BOTANY WASHINGTON – June 9-11, 2017 Location: Tierra Retreat Center located 15 minutes from Leavenworth in the Wenatchee Mountains. Check the State website for updates: http://www.wnps.org/
Northwest Lichenologists Study Group
Restoration/Salvage — Joe Roop
jmroop@frontier.com/ Bill Mast, bmast1@live.com Heritage Garden Program — Donna
The Northwest Lichenologists is hosting a monthly study group. Starting on Monday, February 13 and continuing on the second Monday of March, April, May, and June, the lab in room S243 at Columbia Basin College in Pasco WA will be open from 6PM to 9PM for lichenologists, mycologists and CBC students. If you live in the area, bring in your collections and make use of some of our microscopes to examine your specimens! Reference books and a computer will be available. The lab also hosts a small lichen herbarium. For more information, contact Jenny Von Reis: jvonreis@columbiabasin.edu
MEETINGS/WORKSHOPS Wednesday, February 1, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Monthly Meeting at Columbia Basin College, Room S229 (http://www.cbwnps.org/calendar/ ) – “First Foods of the Columbia Plateau”, talk by Curtis Bearchum. Join us to hear about how the Native Americans of the Central Plateau survived and thrived using native plants. Curtis Bearchum, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, has spent years learning about and practicing the cultural traditions of his ancestors. He learned about native plants from his parents and other Elders of the tribe. At 6:30 pm, we will continue with our “Plant Talk” feature, bring in unknown plants (not ornamental) and we will attempt to identify them. This is also an opportunity to socialize before our meeting. Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 6:30 pm at the Richland Community Center. Board Meeting. The board of Columbia Basin Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society welcomes you to participate in our board meetings. 2
Lucas, donna_lucas@hotmail.com Education — Kim Hamblin-Hart
khamblinhart@gmail.com / Pauline Schafer pauschafer@hotmail.com Communications — Mary Ann
Simmons, msimmons_1@charter.net (newsletter)/ Donna Lucas, donna_lucas@hotmail.com (webpage and Facebook) Publicity — Mickie Chamness, mickiec@charter.net Books — vacant
Walla Walla Subchapter Darcy Dauble, Walla Walla, dadauble@gmail.com This issue reproduced by
THE DIGITAL IMAGE Richland Washington 509-375-6001
Saturday, March 4, 2017 (all day), Rare Plant Monitoring Training, Tri-Cities. Applications will be accepted starting Dec. 1, 2016. Deadline for applications is Feb. 15. If you have questions, feel free to call the Rare Care office at (206) 6160780 or email them. Applications are available at: http://depts.washington.edu/uwbg/support/volunteer.php, Select Rare Care Rare Plant Monitor
Interpretive Guide Training Workshop Despite the snowy weather, an enthusiastic group got together this January for the interpretive guide training workshop at The REACH Museum. For four days we studied the philosophy behind interpretation, practiced framing our topics around effective themes, discovered ways to connect to our audiences, and practiced what we learned by giving a talk to the class. Participants came from as far as Bellevue and Spokane for this training, taught by an instructor from the National Association for Interpretation, and included a variety of ages and occupations. All were excited to take what they learned and apply it to their interactions with the public. Our chapter gave Kim Hamblin-Hart and Pauline Schafer partial scholarships to attend the training. Both are active in the chapter's education committee, and will apply what they learned to provide more public programs on native plants.
Genus LOMATIUM One of the first plants to bloom in spring is the salt and pepper lomatium (Lomatium gormanii); it has even been seen blooming in early winter. Lomatium is a genus of about 75 species native to North America. Thirty of those species are native to Washington, and about a dozen of those are found in the Columbia Basin. Lomatiums belong to the Apiaceae family and are related to many edible species including carrots and celery. Lomatiums are also edible and species have common names such as biscuitroot and Indian parsley. Most lomatiums are desert species or grow on bluffs where water is limited for most of the year. They are green and grow the most during the spring when water is available, then set seed and dry out completely above ground before the hottest part of the year, while storing the energy they gained from photosynthesizing in their deep roots. Roots range from woody taproots to more fleshy underground tuberous-thickened roots. For most of the year, the plant is not visible; the brown tops often are blown off or easily crushed. L. canby by R.L. Carr
The flowers of lomatiums are arranged in compound umbels, without involucral bracts (or with inconspicuous bracts). The flowers are white or yellow, more rarely a purple or maroon color. As with most Apiaceae, the fruit sets the genus apart from other yellow- or white-flowered look-alikes such as Cymopterus and Oreogenia. Uniquely, they are dorsally flattened and winged, which can be papery or corky, but help the seed to disperse further on the wind. The dorsal ribs may or may not be on the fruit, but are narrowly winged if at all. Leaves are mainly basal and dissected (ternately, pinnately, or ternate-pinnately dissected or compound), many look like ferns or can be mistaken them. Several species, including L. cous, L. geyeri, and L. macrocarpum, are sometimes L. triternatum known as biscuit roots for their starchy edible roots. These are or have been traditional Native American foods, by R.L. Carr eaten cooked or dried and ground into flour. Some Native Americans ground Lomatium into mush and shaped it into cakes and stored them for later use. Their flavor has been compared to celery, parsnip, or stale biscuits. Lomatium gormanii favors open slopes and scablands. Because this niche has very little soil to store moisture, L. gormanii has adapted by completing its life cycle during the wet part of the year. It is remarkably cold tolerant and will often bloom during a warm spell in January and occasionally even in December. It also grows on sites with enough soil to support xeric grasses and sagebrush, where it flowers somewhat later. L. gormanii has brilliant white flowers with purple anthers that give it the common name “salt and pepper.�
L. gormanii by Don Knoke
Sources: http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/55343-Lomatium http://dev.palouseprairie.org/plants/plantdb/PPFplants.php?USDA=LOGO Photos from Burke Museum http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php
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ERRATA – A photo in last month’s newsletter was mislabeled. Correct label is Jane Abel – male monarch on showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
Columbia Basin Chapter Washington Native Plant Society c/o Mickie Chamness 4255 Tami Street Richland, Washington 99352
To receive the newsletter electronically – email msimmons_1@charter.net 4