May
2009 Vol.
VI No. 9
Ruth Loper, Director Lynn Sherrod, Director 903-967-3998 Ron Loper, VP-Field Trips Marjorie Sherrod, VP-Membership Liz Soutendijk, VP-Programs Elizabeth Parks, Sec/Treasurer 903-986-2332
Directors &
Officers
Clyde
Herb Jarrell, Newsletter
Editor
FROM
THE PRESIDENT
We’ll meet at
Posados Mexican Café at 5:30 for our pre-meeting meal. It is located at
We will elect new officers at our May meeting. The nominees are:
President: Ruth Loper
Vice
President (programs)
Secretary (membership) Kathryn Greene
Treasurer Elizabeth Parks
Newsletter Editor Bart Southendijk
Field Trip
Coordinators Sonnia Hill
&
Immediate Past President Clyde McKinney
Director Lynn Sherrod
Additional nominations may be made from the floor prior to the vote.
I have enjoyed
being your President the last two years.
I thank the officers who served with me for making my job easy.
I would like a couple of volunteers to serve with me as a bylaws creation committee. I have drafted some bylaws and sent them to the membership for review and have not received much feedback. With a couple of more people reviewing them, I think we can bring a good document to the meeting in the fall for adoption. Please volunteer at the meeting.
If each of you could find five or so small native plants to dig up and pot, and nurture until Naturefest 09 at the Mineola Preserve on May 23rd where we could offer them for something like a $5.00 donation, we could add a few hundred dollars to our treasury. We will have a table there and it should be a nice event that you will enjoy attending. If you can’t attend we can arrange to have someone who is attending take your plants from you prior to the event. I could take some at the May meeting.
Clyde
McKinney
NEW
MEMBERS
No new members this month.
Marjorie Sherrod
MARCH
PROGRAM
Jason will not
be able to do our program for this month. However, there are still lots
of things we can do. We will check out the plants on the grounds
around the building where we meet. Jim said he spread wildflower seeds
out there this winter and some are coming up. Ruth will help us identify
what we can't. Bring your Peterson guide for Southwestern and Texas
Wildflowers. Now, if it rains or the ground is really muddy, then we will
have some plants for identification already inside. Also, this is a great
meeting to bring your mystery plants that you or your friends haven't been able
to identify.
Looking forward
to seeing you there,
Liz
Soutendijk
FIELD
TRIPS
If anyone has ideas for a field trip in May, please come to the meeting next Monday to make your interests known.
Ron Loper
PONDERINGS
What’s In a Name?—Part V
by Dr. Herb Jarrell
Several of you have encouraged me to put this series on plant names together and re-release it in a booklet form. Well, please let me birth this last part of the series before our newsletters take a snooze over the summer, and I will endeavor to make embellishments where you would recommend them. Please pass along your suggestions to guide me in this attempt to help us all make better use of our formal plant names.
Our goal in this last part of the series is to provide some guidance in pronouncing formal names. Since Latin has been a “dead” language for generations, that is, for a long time it has only existed in written, rather than spoken forms, most pronunciation of botanical names simply reflects traditional conventions used among gardeners and botanists within each specific spoken language group. Further complications in English-speaking countries are the existence of an additional dialect for academia—Reformed Academic Latin, which intentionally conforms more to languages on the European Continent than with Traditional English Latin, and of Church Latin which conforms to modern Italian pronunciation.
However, some general rules apply to all languages, even though they may vary in their details for each language. Note: the details given here represent the traditional English botanical conventions. Rule #1: pronounce all vowels individually except the six pairs of vowels pronounced as one sound (diphthongs): ae, ei, eu and oe use the long sounds (as in eat, Ike, soap and Ute) of the second vowel, ai uses the long sound (as in ate) of the first vowel and au sounds like auger. The suffix –oideae, used to create a subfamily name from a type genus, such as Papilionoideae from Papilion, for example, consists of four syllables: -o-id-e-ae, a double vowel ending with a consonant, a single vowel and a diphthong without ending with a consonant.
Rule #2: unless you know better, assume all consonants following vowels are part of that syllable (only occasionally are there consonants left over for inclusion in the syllable which uses the next vowel). Rule #3: use the short sounds (as in at, met, it, rot and cut) for the last syllable that ends with a consonant, except for ace for ac and ease for es. Rule #4: use a long sound for vowels which end names, except for ah for a final a. For example, Acacia is a-kàce-i-ah. A final exception is the double vowel oi (masquerading in textbooks as a diphthong!) which uses a long o followed by a short i as in oil!
For consonants, a k (hard c) sound is used for a ch in a Greek word and for a c only in ca, co and cu, as in Acacia. Likewise, a hard g sound is used only in ga, go and gu.
Finally, the rules for accenting Latinized words are so numerous and convoluted, you may want to just learn one which I find covers most cases: accent the next-to-last syllable, unless it contains either a short vowel or two vowels to be pronounced (not a diphthong)—then accent the 3rd syllable from the end of the word. Acàcia again serves as an example of this exception.
As an addendum, let me assuage the consciences of those who know, no matter how hard they try, they will literally crucify most proper names that have been Latinized into botanical names. Salve your consciences with the realization that these people had a choice—they did not have to saddle us with names like Warszewiczella! Also remind yourself that these names, no matter how well they may be pronounced, contain absolutely zero botanical information; that is, not a soul on God’s green Earth is going to miss anything you have said, anyway!
[ Reprinted with revisions with permission of the British Clematis Society]
Smith County – East Texas Home to
Clematis
carrizoensis
By Sonnia
Hill
|
S |
ubgenus Viorna members can be divided into two
general groups based on leaf vestiture.
I would like to illustrate one example from each group—Clematis reticulata, exhibiting
variously pubescent abaxial leaf surfaces and stems and Clematis carrizoensis, possessing glabrous and glaucous abaxial
leaf surfaces and stems. Recognized
and described as a new species in 2006, C. carrizoensis represents the
glaucous group of Viorna known as the C. glaucophylla
complex. Due to the variability of
identifiable characteristics in this complex, C. carrizoensis was for
many years misidentified as C. versicolor, and plants of C.
carrizoensis collected by early plant hunters in the US were allocated to C.
versicolor, despite being gathered at disjunct locations, at least 200
km from the nearest known C. versicolor populations. C. carrizoensis was finally recognized,
described and named as a new species of the C. glaucophylla complex by Dwayne
Estes in 2006.
Clematis reticulata
Climbing,
somewhat herbaceous, but mostly woody vine, to 4 m with slender, ribbed,
reddish stems, usually found in dry, sandy, wooded areas in north- and
southeastern Texas, in the region called the Big Thicket (several heavily
forested counties in southeast Texas—Hardin,
Liberty, Tyler, and Polk); in
northeastern counties such as Red River,
Smith and Van Zandt; and in Hays
and Travis counties of the Texas
Hill country. It is a coastal plain
species occurring in the sand hills of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, extending into Arkansas and eastern Texas.
Stems reddish-brown, six-angled, pubescent especially at the nodes,
branching above; leaves pinnate with 2-4 pairs of leaflets, usually with a
terminal tendril; leathery leaflets entire or sometimes ternate nearest the
stem, slightly downy beneath, and prominently net-veined (reticulate) above and
below; stems are pubescent to glabrous; buds ovoid, ribbed and hairy, flowers urn-shaped
to bell-shaped, nodding, 1-3 in each axil, 15-30 mm × 5-12mm, sepals lavender
to purple sometimes shading to creamy-green at the reflexed tips; somewhat
downy especially at the margins, yellow-grey-white hairs, tips acute and
reflexed, margins slightly widened, tomentose,
purple-rose and glabrous inside; achene suborbicular, flattened, symmetrical, 4
mm broad with a prominent rim, appressed pubescent; achene tails 4-6 cm long,
plumose, pale yellow brown, loosely intertwined.
The
plant was first described by Thomas Walter (1740-1789) in Flora Caroliniana
in 1788. This plant generally blooms
from April to July, but I have seen it in flower as late as August, growing
along roadside areas.
Clematis
carrizoensis
As
the name itself implies, Clematis carrizoensis appears to be
endemic to the Carrizo Sands Formation, a narrow belt (about 20 km wide)
of deep, coarse to fine sandy deposits that wind southwest to northeast for
approximately 720 km from south-central to northeastern Texas. This is an area of high endemism, meaning
that there are a significant number of plants which are endemic (or overlapping
only marginally) to this particular geological location and formation.
Reports
to-date indicate that within the Carrizo Sands, C. carrizoensis has
been collected from just three contiguous counties: Cherokee, Smith, and Van Zandt, all in
the northeastern section of the formation.
I can now add that C. carrizoensis is also present in the
adjoining counties Wood, Nacogdoches
and Henderson. Henderson is south of Van Zandt and west of
Smith and Cherokee counties. I have
collected C. carrizoensis recently in Athens (Henderson County) on
behalf of Jason Singhurst (Botanist, Plant Community Ecologist, Texas).
Whenever I have found it, it seems abundant, but much localized. Every year I can count on finding it in the
same place as I did the year before.
Clematis
carrizoensis grows in or along the edges of open, well-drained,
prairie-like areas in full sun or partial shade. Within these communities, C. carrizoensis
trails along the ground or over low herbs, shrubs, or fences, apparently rarely
climbing higher into low branches of trees.
Oak-hickory woodlands or thickets border these sites. C. carrizoensis is typically found in
association with Asclepias tuberosa, Rudbeckia hirta, Berlandiera
betonicifolia, in other words, plants found in the barrens and
sand hills of east Texas on the Carrizo Formation. I have seen this plant climbing on low
branches of Juniperus virginiana, intertwined with Vitis spp. and
shrubs. It also grows on the ground
twining around itself and forming a low mound.
Where growing in mixed vegetation alongside public roadways, the plant
is subjected to periodic mechanical trimming-back—around July, nevertheless, it
re-grows, blooms again and still sets seed.
It is quite a resilient plant.
Perennial trailing or scandent vines to 3 m;
stems glabrous and glaucous, reddish brown to pale brown and angled; base of
opposing petioles usually connate, leaves opposite, to 6 cm long, glabrous and
glaucous, pinnate; leaflets paired, entire or 2–3-lobed to trifoliate, ovate or
broadly ovate, adaxial and abaxial surfaces strongly reticulate; usually with a
short simple tendril; flowers solitary on long axillary peduncles or rarely
axillary and terminal, nodding, ovoid or urceolate; peduncles erect, curved or
frequently abruptly recurved at the apex, 7.5–17.0 cm long, stout, glabrous and
glaucous, with 2 foliose bracts; bracts sessile or subsessile, positioned
mostly near the middle of the peduncles. Sepals erect, connivent,
ovate-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, apices reflexed, edges narrowly crispate,
white-tomentulose sepals faintly tinged with lilac proximally, distally cream
or yellowish green; fruit tightly clustered in spherical heads approximately
4–8 cm in diameter, achene light brown, rhomboidal-ovate, compressed,
marginally thickened; style curvate, 30–55 mm long, with a yellowish-brown
plumose coma.
Clematis
carrizoensis generally flowers from early May to early August; the fruits are produced
from late June and persist until November.
Sonnia Hill was born in Colombia, S.A. and was raised in the US and
Colombia. Both Spanish and English are her native tongues, yet her
Masters Degree is in French! She began teaching herself botany only in
May 2002, using the Illustrated Flora of NC Texas (from BRIT). She became
hooked and has become quite accomplished at identifying any wildflower, weed,
etc. she can find, using the dichotomous keys found therein. Sonnia spends much of her time studying the
native plants of Texas.
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OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
Mineola Nature Preserve—ON THE SABINE RIVER. Coming soon! NatureFest 09 at the Preserve. A day of celebrating nature with activities
for all ages. Come out and see who and
"what" are there. Surprises
for all, food and a kite decorating contest for the kids. Mark your calendars for May 23rd.
Contributions to the Newsletter
This newsletter is normally published monthly, September through May. Members are especially encouraged to submit articles for publication in this newsletter. Contributions will be considered on the basis of interest, suitability, and available space. Grammar and spelling corrections will be made at the discretion of the editor. Email your articles, announcements, etc. to the editor at herbjarrell@letu.edu.
Access our website for
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