Author: Badger Johnson

Senna marilandica

~ Badger Johnson

 

Senna marilandica, “Senna”
Fabaceae

Glabrous leaves, upright habit, leaflets are on the largish side. Useful as a laxative due to the antraquinone content. Popular species for pollinator gardens, forms colonies and bares spectacular yellow flowers. I think that first pic was actually taken at Hot Springs National Park, the second is just below the East Wind glade on the path in.

Erect perennial to 1-2 m, glabrous or sparsely villous.

Leaves glabrous, pinnately compound; leaflets are large (2-5 cm long, 10-25 mm wide), oblong to elliptic. No terminal
leaflet. Stipules lance-linear, deciduous.

Rocky woodlands, alluvial thickets.

Compare with Astragalus canadensis (undersurface of leaf hasstiff straight appressed hairs) and Lathyrus venosus (tendrils).

(Hybrid MOFEP/National Park Fire Ecology Manual)

Carya illinoiensis

~ Badger Johnson ~ 1 Comment

 

Carya illinoinensis, “hardy pecan”
Juglandaceae

Gregory Ormsby-Mori of the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry posing with a wild pecan tree at HARC in New Franklin, MO. Right picture is of seedlings coming up on loess-capped River Hills pasture, on top of a ridge, near the Missouri River. Dr. William Reid wrote a good piece for UMCA a few years ago on growing pecans in Missouri, you can check it out here. Mid-MO is sometimes called “Little Dixie” because of the influx of Kentuckians who initially moved into the area during colonization, and these Southerners brought their fondness for nuts (pronounced “pee cans”) with them. Boone County is near the northern edge of this plant’s productive range.

Best grown in humusy, rich, moist, well-drained soils in full sun. Difficult to transplant because of its deep taproot. It is for this reason that (according to Aaron Templemire, president of the Missouri Nut Growers Association) pecans that come up on their own in Nevada and Brunswick, MO grow faster and more reliably than planting potted seedlings. People typically top work (graft) scion wood of particular cultivars onto these wild seedlings.

There’s a great piece on Kansas pecan orchards in “Braiding Sweetgrass“.

If grown for nut production, plant at least two different varieties for best cross-pollination. Nut production can be sparse in the northern part of its growing range, particularly when spring is late and summer is cool. May be grown from seed, but it normally takes 8-10 years for a young tree to bear a nut crop.

A large deciduous lowland tree that is the largest of the hickories. It typically grows 75-100’ (infrequently to 150’) tall with a large rounded spreading crown. Trunks mature to 2-4’ in diameter. It is native from Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio south to Alabama and Mexico, being primarily found in the Mississippi River valley and the valleys of its principal tributaries. Pecan features medium green, odd-pinnate, compound leaves, with each leaf having 9-17 pointed leaflets. Leaflets range from 2-7” long. Leaves mature to yellow green in summer, eventually turning yellow brown in fall. Non-showy, monoecious greenish yellow flowers appear in April-May, the male flowers in pendulous catkins (to 4” long) and the female flowers in short spikes. Female flowers give way to sweet, edible nuts. Each nut is encased in a thin husk which splits open in four sections when ripe in fall. Pecans are an important commercial nut crop in the U.S. Most pecan commercial plantings are located in the southern U.S., from North Carolina to Florida west to Arizona and California. Many cultivars are available.

Genus name comes from the Greek word karya used for walnut trees.

Specific epithet means of Illinois, which is part of its native range.

(Missouri Botanical Garden)

Tripsacum dactyloides

~ Badger Johnson

 

Tripsacum dactyloides, “Eastern Gamma Grass”
Poaceae

A premier native forage species for domesticated ruminants, this warm season grass also has maize-like edible seeds. Until the government told them they couldn’t slaughter their own animals onsite (and it is pretty onerous to have to load bison in a truck and take them anywhere, they’re huge and wild), there was an exemplary silvopasture in northern Missouri using bison, Tripsicum and hardy pecan (Carya illinoiensis).

Last I heard, the Land Institute is trying to cross T. dactyloides with other species to make a new perennial crop. Thanks Neal Humke for the tip. In the words of the inimitable Eric Toensmeier, “Corn (Zea mays) has perennial relatives and can also be crossed with hardy perennials including Eastern gammagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides). Work at the Land Institute has made substantial progress towards developing perennial corn. Land Institute breeders report that with sufficient funding a perennial corn could be ready for field tests in as little as ten years. One challenge is that the perennial rhizomes that overwinter the plants are not cold hardy, so breeding is focused on deeper rhizomes that survive below the frost line. Of course this consideration is not important in the tropics where millions of people rely on corn as a staple.”

Eastern gamma smells like cucumber if you break the base and has beard coming of sides of joints.

Perennial, with short stout rhizomes, forming clumps.

Stems 70-250 cm, base of culms flattened.

Leaf sheaths rounded to keeled on back, glabrous, ligule is a short membrane with a fringed margin. Leaf  blades 10-70 cm long x 7-20 cm wide, glabrous or somewhat hairy at base, midvein white and noticeably thickened, margins saw-toothed.

Inflorescences consisted of 1-4 dense, spike-like racemes. Staminate and pistillate spikelets in the same inflorescence, staminate ones toward tip and pistillate ones toward base. Glumes hardened and bony, somewhat resembling corn kernels. Blooms early-mid summer.

In Missouri, found in upland prairies, glades, savannas, less commonly in woodlands, roadsides, fields.

(Hybrid MOFEP/National Park Fire Ecology Manual)

Ceanothus americanus

~ Badger Johnson ~ 1 Comment

 

Ceanothus americanus, “New Jersey Tea”, “red root”
Rhamnaceae

First pic from roadside at MOFEP (outside of Winona, MO), second pic from my the buffalo clover patch in Mount Airy Forest (Cincinnati, OH).

In my experience, this plant likes some sun.

Shrub to 3 feet. Leaves broadly egg-shaped, with 3 prominent veins arising  from base. All veins deeply impressed (distinctive pattern even in the tiniest of seedlings). Base heart-shaped to rounded. Upper surface hairy, lower surface densely and velvety hairy and grayer. Twigs flexible, densely hairy, dark gray-green. White flowers in May-June, showy and fragrant. Upland woodlands or prairies, glades, thickets.

(Hybrid MOFEP/National Park Fire Ecology Manual)

The leaves are safe and nutritious and tastey to drink as a tea.

It has been used as an expectorant (help you cough up mucous and phlegm), and as a mouthwash and gargle for sore throats, as well as being useful as a douche for leucorrhea. The tea is also used to lower blood pressure. Contains tannins, ceanothin, and the flavonoids afzelin, quercitrin and rutin.

(“Medicinal Plants of the Heartland”, Kaye and Billington)

Hydrastis canadensis

~ Badger Johnson
Hydrastis canadensis, “Goldenseal”
RannunculaceaeTook the first picture on a toe slope near the Little Piney River (South of Rolla, MO). It shows how extensive a clonal colony can get. The second picture is from one of my masters research plots at HARC in New Franklin, MO- you can see this is a very shade tolerant species, the biggest specimens were the ones that had been overtopped by hickory seedlings, as in this second picture.

This valuable non-timber forest product has been overharvested in some places for commercial sale.

This plant has strong, proven anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, which are attributed to the berberine, beta-hydrastine, canadine and canadaline alkaloids. In one experiment, the handily killed extract killed Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sanguis, Escheria coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Scazzocchio et al. 2001)

The best sinusitis medicine I’ve ever had was a nasal spray made with this, peppermint essential oil and red root (Ceanothus americanus). That’s a Caty Crabb formula. It’s top notch.

Can form big clonal colonies if managed properly on the right site types. Harvest the fruit and start new colonies yourself if you want to spread it!

“Perennial. Knotty yellow rhizomes. Stem 20-50 cm, hairy.

Usually one basal leaf and 2 stem leaves near top.

Leaves broadly cordate-rotund, 5-lobed, palmately veined, small when they emerge in spring (3-10 cm wide) and veins appearing very prominent, later expanding greatly (to 25 cm) and veins less prominent. Lobes incised, doubly serrate.

Single terminal white flower, no petals. Cluster of red berries in late summer, fall.

Found in rich woods, slopes, ravines, wooded valley floors.”

(Hybrid MOFEP/Park Service Fire Ecology Manual)