April 2006 Vol. III No. 9

Directors & Officers

Ruth Loper, Director

Lynn Sherrod, Director

Jim Showen, President

3312 Gail Tyler, TX 75701

jimshowen@aol.com

Roberta Gustafson, VP Programs

Sonnia Hill, Secretary/Treasurer

Elizabeth Parks, VP Field Trips

Jane Washburn, VP Membership

Kay Fleming, Newsletter Editor

APRIL PROGRAM

On the same day, from 4-6 PM Mark Klym will be signing his book, “Hummingbirds of Texas” at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on South Broadway in Tyler.

Ever wonder why some locations have lots of hummingbirds while a yard right across the street might have very few?  Both yards have feeders, but the difference is HABITAT.  Mark Klym will present a program titled “Attracting Hummingbirds To Your Yard with Wildflowers and Other Native Plants.” The program will offer simple tips on how to attract hummingbirds to your garden using NATIVE vegetation.  In the Tyler area, it is possible to have hummingbirds almost year around if the habitat is there. Come and learn more about Hummingbirds and Wildflowers.

Mark is coordinator of Texas Wildscapes and Texas Hummingbird Roundup programs at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He received baccalaureate degrees in Biological Science and in Fisheries &Wildlife Management from Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. Mark followed the hummingbirds to Texas in 1999 to work with Texas Parks and Wildlife. He is coauthor of the recently published book “Hummingbirds of Texas”, printed by Texas A&M Press.

Mark will speak at 7:00 PM at our April 11^th joint meeting of the Tyler Audubon Society and Tyler Chapter NPSOT. The meeting will take place at the Pollard Methodist Church, 3030 New Copeland Road in Tyler. (Note that the day & meeting place is different than normal.) The program will be in the church auditorium, which faces on Hudnell Street and is behind the Education Building on New Copeland. Any interested groups or individuals are invited to attend this very informative program.

From 4-6 PM Mark Klym will be signing his book, “Hummingbirds of Texas” at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on South Broadway in Tyler. Roberta Gustafson

FIELD TRIPS

Our next field trip will be April 1st.  No, that is not an April Fool's joke!  We will be going to Recklaw near Rusk to one of NAPA'S properties called Walker Creek.  It is, according to NAPA's website, " 32 acres of undisturbed hillside and bottomland forest, increasingly rare in East Texas."  We will carpool from the Brookshire's in Whitehouse located on highway 110.  We will be leaving at 9am with an arrival time of approximately 10am.  Those who want to bring a lunch, if the weather is mild may do so.  Others may want to drive to Rusk for barbeque, Sonic, or Subway.

On April 8^th and 9^th the Natural Area Preservation Association (NAPA) will once again conduct their tours at Ivy Payne’s Preserve near Elkhart. This is an annual event that our chapter has previously attended. Heinz Gaylord normally leads a walking tour of the 400-acre preserve identifying plants and mushrooms on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Participants can camp out and have a potluck supper Saturday night or just arrive for a tour. (You can hike and camp the weekend or just attend a walk.) If interested, contact Elizabeth at ppi@flash.net for more details.

Our May 6th field trip will be an "over-nighter" to DeRidder, Louisiana with Dr. Charles Allen.  I will have more information in our May newsletter on where to stay and how to get there.  Elizabeth Parks

NEW MEMBERS

We want to welcome new members to the Tyler Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Its great to have you with us! If you haven’t come to one of our meetings or our field trips you are missing out. Also, if you have recently joined our chapter and are not listed below, let our Chapter President Jim Showen know. There’s always a possibility that our State office has failed to get the information to us on your membership.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

3^RD LONE STAR REGIONAL NATIVE PLANT CONFERENCE

The 3^rd Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference will be hosted by Stephen F. Austin State University’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center (PNPC) in Nacogdoches on May 24-28, 2006. This conference is in association with the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference at Western Carolina University. Speakers will address topics such as East Texas ecosystems, landscape use of plants, invasive and exotic plants, and conservation efforts. Field trips will allow you to enjoy the local flora and the hands-on workshops will include topics on subjects such as edible native plants, plant propagation, digital photography, and botany of archaeology. For more information visit the PNPC website at: http://pnpc.sfasu.edu/

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HAS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS CHANGED?

Just a reminder – If you have changed your Email address please let our newsletter editor know as soon as possible. Email Kay at kfleming@mycvc.net and let him know of the change. We don’t want anyone to miss out on any information or changes in an event. It also saves our chapter money if we can Email you instead of sending your newsletter by postal service.

TALKING ABOUT PLANTS

SOUTHERN LADY’S SLIPPER ORCHIDS

By Kay Fleming

April of last year, several members of the Tyler Chapter of the NPSOT joined with botanist Peter Loos and members of the Pineywoods Chapter to trek through the Sabine National Forest in search of the spectacular Southern Lady’s Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium kentuckiense). These unique orchids were once more common in East Texas but were never very abundant. They have been considered as “Species of Concern” by the Federal Government and considered “imperiled” by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department because of their rarity and by being very vulnerable to extirpation.

Logging practices have destroyed much of the Lady’s Slipper Orchid’s unique ecosystem. The harvest of virgin timber at the turn of the century severely damaged the mature forests that once dominated the landscape. The final blow came with clear-cutting, herbicide use, and the practice of pine monoculture by foresters. These pine monocultures have been the botanical bane that has severely limited the diversity of plant life and has surely caused the same loss of diversity to animal and insect populations. Now, many unique plants, like the Lady’s Slipper Orchid, are restricted to undisturbed National Forest lands and isolated preserves. Only a few botanists and plant enthusiasts know the location of these unique plant colonies. So - whenever I have the opportunity to explore one of these protected areas with a knowledgeable botanist, I jump at the chance.

For those of you who have been in the woods with Peter Loos, you surely understand what I meant when I said, “trek through the Sabine National Forest.” We spent most of the day rummaging through thickets, over wooded glades, and along damp hillsides. I must say however that it was worth it. Just about the time I thought it was hopeless, the magnificent orchids began to appear. They are the most spectacular wild orchids that I have seen in Texas. Each plant had one or two blossoms with large, yellow lips. Two dark, leaf-like, maroon petals dangled from the top of each of these colorful, slipper shaped lips. With their large, green, lance shaped leaves, the 2-foot high plants were breath taking.

Southern Lady’s Slipper Orchids currently can be found in only isolated regions of North America, primarily in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and East Texas. As far as I know, they can be found in only 9 East Texas counties. The plant thrives on damp pine-hardwood forest slopes and terraces along drainages. The orchids we observed were text book in their wooded locations. We followed deer trails along the edge of woodland streams observing beech, magnolia, dogwood, black gum, pine, and oak.

The Southern Lady’s Slipper Orchid’s scientific name, Cypripedium, combines a slightly altered Latin Kypris (a name for Venus) and pedium (Latin for slipper or little foot). In Italy the Lady’s Slipper Orchids are commonly called Scarpa della Madonna (Shoe of the Virgin) and in France Soulier de Norte Dame (Slipper of Our Lady).

Reading about the orchid in Joe and Ann Liggio’s book “Wild Orchids of Texas,” it is clear that there has been much controversy concerning the classification of this Orchid. In the 1950s, the Southern Lady’s Slipper Orchid, Cypripedium kentuckiense, was thought to have been a southeastern extension of another species of Lady’s Slipper Orchid that is now thought extirpated in Texas. In 1929, renowned botanist C. R. Tharp collected a Lady’s Slipper Orchid in a wet depression near some sand dunes in the Texas Panhandle. It is speculated that this plant may have been a remnant of an orchid population existing in the more widespread coniferous forest of the Panhandle that flourished during the late Pleistocene period, over 10,000 years ago. This was a period when the Panhandle’s climate was much colder and wetter than today. Tharp’s single collection was the only specimen of this species ever located in Texas and was possibly the last descendant of an orchid that previously flourished in our State. This particular orchid is now classified as Cypripedium parviflorum and can sometimes be found in damp seeps in New Mexico on north facing slopes at elevations over 6,000 feet. This is definitely not an elevation found in East Texas. After much study, our Southern Lady’s Slipper Orchid is now classified as a species common with those found in ecosystems similar to those in East Texas.

Due to the rarity of the plant and the fact it is illegal to collect plants in the National Forest, I reluctantly refrained from my natural instinct to collect. (Discretion got the best of me and there were way too many witnesses.) I also didn’t want to be known as the person who collected the last of its kind, like famed botanist C. R. Tharp. However, we still read of Tharp’s scholarly accomplishments in botany. I guess a lot depends on who you are and the circumstances of the moment.

Contributions to Newsletter

The newsletter is normally printed monthly, September through May. Members are encouraged to submit articles for publication in the 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 and announcements to the editor at kfleming@mycvc.net or mail to Kay Fleming, 809 E. Clinton, Athens TX 75751. If you are able to receive your newsletter by Email, please send Kay your Email address. This will save the Chapter mailing expenses.

If you have never attended one of our meetings, and you are interested in learning more about native plants and their habitats, we invite you to give us a visit. We have a good time! Our meetings are normally held at the Walter Fair United Methodist Church in Tyler on the first Monday of each month, September through May. Walter Fair United Methodist Church is located just off 5^th Street (Highway 64) at 1712 Old Omen Road, east of Loop 323.

NPSOT, Tyler Chapter

c/o: Kay Fleming

809 E. Clinton

Athens, TX 75751