December 2005 Vol. III
No. 5
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
Directors &
Officers
DECEMBER
PROGRAM
The December program will be our annual Christmas
Party with the Tyler Chapter of the Audubon Society. This joint dinner will
be held on Tuesday, December 13th from 6 PM to 9 PM in the Bradford
Lodge at Camp Tyler. Members should bring their favorite dish to share with
others and prepare to be judged for best food in several categories. Each
person attending should bring $1.00 to pay for the camp usage fee that Camp
Tyler charges to cover insurance for our use of the building.
In the past – Ruth Loper has played the piano for us.
Maybe we could get her to present a repeat performance for us and we could sing
Christmas carols. (Or at least maybe you could. They haven’t as yet invented
the key that I sing in.)
If you have not been to Camp Tyler the following are directions:
·
Take Hwy 110 off Loop
323 in Tyler to Whitehouse. At the Main Street intersection, turn left
(east) on Main St. (FM 346) and go to the first stoplight. Turn left on
FM 848 (also known as Bascom Road). About 3 miles down FM 848, turn right on CR
2127 (McElroy Rd) at the sign for Camp Tyler. Camp Tyler is about a mile up CR
2127 and on the left. Turn in to the left on Camp Tyler Rd. It ends at
the Bradford Lodge building where we will have our dinner and get-together.
·
An alternate route is
to take Spur 248 (also known as University Drive) east off Loop 323 (Spur 248
runs along the south side of UT Tyler). Travel past the university and turn
right at the 4-way stop sign onto FM 848 (also known as Bascom Road). Travel
about 5 or 6 miles and turn left on CR 2127 (McElroy Rd) at the sign for Camp
Tyler. Again, Camp Tyler is about a mile up CR 2127 and on the left. Turn in on
Camp Tyler Rd.
If you are coming from Tyler, the second
set of directions may save a few miles. If you were
coming from the south or west, perhaps you would
want to use the first directions. Kay
Fleming
FIELD
TRIPS
We
will not have any more field trips this year. We will try to have one
close to home in March, if the weather co-operates. Do you know of a
place that you think our group would love to explore? Let me know and we
will try to schedule it. Thanks for the good attendance this year.
I hope you had as much fun as I did! Elizabeth Parks
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
PHOTOGRAPHIC ATLAS OF
BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY BOOKS
The books
we ordered have arrived and I will be bringing them to the joint meeting on
December 13th. I have emailed you the amount due and called those of
you who do not have email. Please bring your payment, if a check,
make it out to NPSOT. If you are uncertain about the amount or have any
questions, please email me at sonnia36@hotmail.com Sonnia Hill
Just
in case you haven't heard, the NPSOT state office is moving to
Fredericksburg. At the October meeting of the NPSOT Board of
Directors the move was approved. We still have to complete the final agreements
and preparations before we move into our permanent location in downtown
Fredericksburg, but we already have a mailing address and phone line and are
now officially open for business. There are a great number of details to
take care of before the move is complete.
The
new mailing address is:
NPSOT
P.O. Box 3017
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
Phone
830-997-9272
The email address for the state office remains the
same: coordinator@npsot.org
PONDERERINGS
ASTERACEAE (COMPOSITAE)
The Sunflower family
By Lynn
Sherrod
This family is known by a variety of common names
such as the daisy family, the aster family, the sunflower family, and the
composite family. These names are based
on widely occurring and familiar genera that are, for the most part, worldwide
in distribution. The latter name
(composite) is based on the fact that the “flowers” of this group are not
single flowers at all but are a multiple inflorescence composed of a large
number of individual flowers (florets).
Therefore, when you look at a sunflower or daisy, you are really looking
at hundreds of individual flowers grouped together in a very tight arrangement
known as a head or composite inflorescence.
This family has an enormous number of genera and
species. Examples may be found in every
habitat on earth from arctic to desert.
Taxonomists have divided it into several subfamilies and those into a
number of tribes. The differences among
these subcategories are not particularly evident and play no major role in
identification of common examples.
Every species does, however, have the composite-type inflorescence and
this makes family identification generally very easy.
Because of the unique structure of the inflorescence,
a special set of terms has been developed to describe the floral
morphology. Individual flowers are
called florets. These may be of two
types. Ray florets are usually found
around the outer circumference of the head and have one large petal extended
into a long lip (ligule). The corolla
is irregular. These florets usually
lack stamens and may lack a functional pistil, although an inferior ovary is
always present and buried in the receptacle.
The function of these florets is to attract pollinators.
The other type of floret is called a disc
floret. These are radially symmetrical
with a tubular corolla and found in the center of the inflorescence. They typically have five stamens with
anthers fused around the style. The
stigma has two branches. The single
inferior ovary is also embedded in the receptacle. The fruit is an achene, which has a single seed and a fibrous
pericarp attached at only one point (think of a sunflower “seed”). Both types of florets have petals but in
place of sepals, a series of hairs, scales, or bristles exists (pappus). Only removing some florets and examining
them with a hand lens can these structures be observed.
Most composites have both ray and disc florets. However, some species have only ray florets
while others have only disc florets.
The entire inflorescence is surrounded (subtended) by
a group of modified leaves known as phyllaries. These are really bracts.
The morphology of the pappus and phyllaries is used to distinguish
subfamilies, tribes, genera, and sometimes species. Terminology to describe phyllaries follows that used to describe
leaves e.g. tip, margin, base, etc.
Although this is one of the largest families of
flowering plants and is cosmopolitan in distribution, there are relatively few
species with economic importance.
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa),
endive (Cichorium endiva), artichoke
(Cynara scolymus), and Jerusalem
artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) are
examples of vegetables in this family.
Important crops for oilseed production are sunflower (Helianthus annus) and safflower (Carthamus baeticus). The roots of
chicory (Cichorium intybus) are used
as a coffee substitute (for you Cajuns).
The foliage of Artemesia
drancunculus (tarragon) is used as a culinary herb. Another species of Artemesia is sagebrush, which is a dominant plant in the high
altitude deserts of the Great Basin of the western U.S. Still another Artemesia was used to extract an addictive and toxic substance
known as wormwood, which was added to other ingredients to make absinthe.
Many composites are familiar and beautiful
ornamentals. These include Cosmos, Dahlia, Gazania, Helianthus, Zinnia, and Tagetes (marigold). Others
are well known wildflowers. These
include bachelor buttons (Centaurea
cyanus), Coreopsis, and Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan). Still others are considered noxious
weeds. Examples are Cirsium horridulum (bull thistle) and C. texanum (Texas thistle). One of our most common spring weeds in East
Texas is ragwort (Senecio ampullaceus). This genus is widespread around the
world. In the high altitude cloud
forests of Africa, Senecio grows into
a tree up to 50 ft. tall.
No discussion of this family would be complete
without mentioning ragweed (Ambrosia
spp.). In East Texas, we have two
species, the giant and small ragweeds, both of which are described as potent
producers of allergenic pollen. Ragweed
blooms in the early fall at about the same time as goldenrod (Solidago spp.). Goldenrod produces bright yellow masses of
flowers but ragweed blooms are much less conspicuous. Since they bloom at the same time and since goldenrod is the more
obvious, many people have mistakenly concluded that their allergies are caused
by goldenrod.
The genus name, Solidago,
means, “to make whole”. It has a long
history of uses. During the Crusades,
poultices of goldenrod were used to dress cuts and wounds. The Patriots brewed “Liberty tea” after the
Boston Tea party. Native Americans used
it to treat boils, ulcers, kidney diseases, colds, pain, nausea, and etc. Roots were chewed to relieve sore throat and
toothache and perfume oil could be extracted from the leaves. The milky sap can be distilled into
rubber. Henry Ford was reported to have
tires on his personal Model A made from goldenrod rubber.
Other
composites that have historic uses include:
Aster – Native
Americans boiled and ate the young leaves and made a tea from the stems to ease
rheumatism or as a blood tonic.
Erigeron (daisy fleabane) – used to treat fleas on dogs and to keep insects out of houses. Poultices were used to treat swellings and
bruises.
Taraxacum (dandelion) – used as a diuretic and as a treatment for bacterial infections. Also used to treat spleen problems and as a
laxative or spring tonic.
A
disclaimer: The state of flowering
plant taxonomy is in active flux today.
Old, familiar names have been changed to conform to new information
about genetic relationships. After all,
the purpose of classification and naming is to reflect actual
relationships. This means that some of
the scientific names I use in these essays may not be the up to date correct
names according to the most modern evidence.
However, most of the sources that our members use have the older names
and I am more familiar with these names, so I have chosen to use names which
may not be totally correct according to current thinking.
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. Send your articles and announcements to the editor at
kfleming@mycvc.net or mail to Kay Fleming at 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 5th 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