Tyler Chapter
Newsletter February 2005
Ruth Loper, Director Lynn Sherrod, Director Jim Showen, President 3312 Gail Tyler, TX 75701 jimshowen@aol.com Anne Brown, VP Membership Sonnia Hill, Secretary/Treasurer
Directors &
Officers
Elizabeth Parks, VP Field Trips
Kay Fleming, Newsletter Editor
CHAPTER PRESIDENT’S REPORT
NPSOT January 2005 Board of Directors
Meeting
It was announced that the NPSOT bookstore closed and the $800 inventory of
books will be sold at ˝ price. A listing of the inventory will be published on
the NPSOT Website.
The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center has been given a large collection of
color flower slides. They originally thought they had about 1200 slides,
but now know the number is about 1700. An intern is going through the
collection to remove duplicate slides or party shots. The intention is to
eventually put the entire collection into a format that will permit down
loading directly into power point displays. The project is expecting to be
completed probably before summer and will be available to any NPSOT member to
use for programs.
Plans for the annual meeting in the Trans-Pecos are progressing. The initial
meetings will be held in the Administration building of the Miter Peak Girl
Scout Camp. Since this facility is remote from restaurants, some meals,
especially breakfasts will be provided in the registration. Large and
varied choices of field trips are promised with exit sites to the North and
East of the Davis Mountains specially designed for members as they travel home.
A short officer-training program is being planned for new club officers.
Everyone is encouraged to find reservations at once because hotel space is
limited and many statewide members are expected. There are some cabin
sites at the camp available at $5 per person. Only one bathroom per cabin
is available (individual rooms would not have a private bathroom.) The
Saturday banquet meal is being planned for the Gage Hotel.
NPSOT has become an affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. One
of the advantages will be to permit NPSOT members to receive the Wildflower
center magazine. Either at a reduced cost or free to our members, depending on
the option chosen by our state organization.
Schobel’s nursery in Columbus has offered to give the NPSOT $10,000 worth of
trees to be used as the organization sees fit. We agreed that the first call on
the trees would be to give trees to chapters for chapter demonstration gardens,
public plantings, or fund raising events. A list of the kind and size
availability will follow in the spring. The thinking was that the trees would
most likely be used next fall. Chapters would have to either pick up the
trees or pay a delivery/shipping charge.
Jim Showen
FEBRUARY
PROGRAMS
The Tyler Chapter of NPSOT and the
Tyler Chapter of Master Naturalists will have a joint meeting on February 3rd
at 7:00 PM. This meeting will occur on a Thursday
instead of our usual 1st Monday.
Mr. Dick Pierce is scheduled to educate us with a presentation on
“Permaculture.”
It
is becoming more and more apparent to the American populace that we need to
continue to find better ways to grow healthier food while reducing or
eliminating the use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. Caring for our land, air, and water is an
essential component in our quest for more wholesome and nutritious foods as
well as our entire lifestyle. But what
if there were a way that we could not only grow vibrantly healthy foods, but
also do so while serving many other benefits at the same time? This is
what permaculture is all about. It is the art and science of ecologically
designing our place in the environment. It is about the care of people and
the planet, and the commitment to produce no pollution by turning all
byproducts or our excesses into something that can be used by either plants or
animals. It marries indigenous wisdom with scientific understanding.
On February 7th we will have our
regular 1st Monday program
for the Tyler Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Mr. Ron Loper will
present a program on East Texas Spring wildflowers - both common and maybe not
so common.
FIELD
TRIPS
We will not have a field trip in February. There are some warm, sunny days, but not much
to see once we get out there. The nice winter days don't always come on
Saturday either. We do have a trip planned in March.
MARCH 12th BREAKFAST & FIELD TRIP!
Ron
and Ruth Loper have invited us to their place again for breakfast and to see
Trilliums and Southern Twayblade Orchids. The last time we did this, the
Pink May Apples were also blooming. The breakfast is covered dish, which
usually works out well. Not much duplication and plenty to eat. We
will eat at 9am, and then hike down to see what's blooming.
This
invitation is extended to our friends in the Longview chapter of NPSOT and
other guests including children if they want to come.
Ruth
also has a winter twig key that we can try out on our hike. Maybe that
will help us to identify trees when there are no leaves. If we get good
at it, we can start having a field trip in
February! Elizabeth Parks
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
Our March 1st
speaker will be Mr. David Bezanson of the Natural Area Preservation Association (NAPA). NAPA is a private, non-governmental land trust
dedicated to conserving land in Texas to benefit wildlife and to preserve
examples of our natural heritage. NAPA protects more than 60 properties in
Texas, with more acquisitions in progress. Sonnia Hill
SYMPOSIUMS AND LECTURES
February 26th, 8:00 am to 5 pm: Native Plant Spring Symposium, Those Other Native Texas
Plants - Grasses, Ferns, Cacti, and Their Allies. The Lady
Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin. Early
registration: $55 per person, received by Jan. 25, 2005; $65 per person after
Jan. 25. Concurrent afternoon sessions & box lunch included with
registration fee.
Hosted by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
& the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Spring Symposium will include a
plenary session reviewing native Texas grasses, ferns, cacti and their allies,
and the use of organic gardening practices in native plant landscaping,
followed by in-depth, concurrent related afternoon
sessions. Afternoon session themes will address topics on plant
identification, propagation, plant rescue, species availability in the nursery
trade and sustainable methods for gardening with “those other Texas native
plants.” Presenters include:
Baron Rector & John Snowden (grasses) Steve Bridges & Sam Slaughter (organics)
David Mahler & Walt Hesson (ferns) Pat
McNeal & Dr. Charles Allen (sedges)
Dr. Bob Barth, Bob Crabb & Lico
Miller (cacti & allies)
22 February 2005, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the BRIT Library in Fort Worth. To
enrich BRIT’s medicinal plant spring lecture series, Gary Jennings will present
a continuing education course on “Herbals and Medicinal Botanies.” Cost is $15.00
More
information can be obtain at the BRIT website - www.brit.org
3 March 2005, 7:00 p.m. “The Use
of Plants for Medicine in the Dreamtime: Australian Aboriginal Traditional
Medicinal Plant Use” by Glenn
Wightman, Ph.D. Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory,
Australia. The lecture will take place at the Leonhardt Auditorium, Fort Worth
Botanic Garden. BRIT’s Distinguished Lecturer Series presents an on going
series pertaining to “Nature's Pharmacy; Medicinal Plant Use by Pacific and Neotropical Peoples”
offering lectures by experts in the
field on the pharmacopeias of Pacific and New World Tropical Peoples, the
plants these peoples learned to use over the millennia for maintaining health
and treating disease. Lectures are free and are held in the Leonhardt
Auditorium, Fort Worth Botanic Garden. A public reception is held at 6:30 pm
and lectures are at 7 pm. More information can be obtain at the BRIT website
- www.brit.org
EAST TEXAS
VIOLETS
Text and
Photos by Sonnia Hill
Violets have been referred to in history, literature
and Greek mythology. They were the
flower of the Empire under Napoleon until the Battle of Waterloo. Violets are
considered the flower for the month of March while Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode
Island and Wisconsin have chosen it as their State flower. Shakespeare, Keats
and Milton were inspired by violets and referred to them frequently in their
writings. One myth tells that all
violets were white until one day Venus, looking for Adonis, was wounded on her
foot by a thorn. The blood from her
wound, gave the violets their purple color. The origin of the word is said to
be the Classical Latin name for “scented flower.”
These
beautiful, very recognizable flowers are fascinating to study. They are some of the first to bloom, even
before the end of winter. They have
five petals; the lowermost and the two side petals sometimes have a “beard” or
hairs. The lowermost petal is spurred
and contains nectar produced by glands at the base of some of the anthers. The pollinators - flies, bees and
butterflies - are directed to the nectar by the colored streaks on the petals,
known as nectar guides. As the 
insect enters for the nectar reward, it brushes up
against the anthers and is showered with pollen. As the pollinator leaves, the lower edge of the stigma is
protected from receiving the pollen by a flap that closes as the insect leaves,
thus preventing self-pollination. The
pollen will be deposited on the stigma of the next violet it visits.
Later in the season, many violets also produce
non-opening, self-pollinating flowers that produce fruit in summer and
fall. The fruit of the violets is a
capsule with three boat-shaped valves that open either passively dropping the
seeds or forcibly ejecting them for a distance of several meters. The tiny seeds are round and most have an
oily appendage attractive to ants that serve as dispersal agents.
The
majority of the East Texas violets grow in relatively wet, shady, sandy
soils. The field pansy, Viola bicolor,
is a stemmed violet that blooms as early as February and has very distinctive,
deeply lobed stipules growing out of the leaf axils on 
its stem.
Most violets have basal leaves that may be close to the soil or extend
past the flowers, partially obscuring them from sight. During April visits to the Big Thicket Area,
I have seen white violets growing in bogs with pitcher plants. The lance-leaf
violet, Viola lanceolata, can be found in the same wet, boggy
areas, as the primrose-leaved violet, V. primulifolia. The bird-foot violet, V. pedata,
is a large violet, standing 4 to 6 inches tall and is plentiful in the
Pineywoods. The arrow-leaf violet, V.
sagittata has blue to purple petals and grows in dry sandy woods and
forest margins. The Missouri violet, V. missouriensis, can be
found growing in southeast and East Texas to the West Cross Timbers and parts
of the Trans-Pecos. I have yet to see
the yellow violet, V. pubescens.
After our long bloomless winter I anxiously await
the sight of these exquisite flowers.
Contributions to Newsletter
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