November 2005 Vol. III
No. 4
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
FROM
THE PRESIDENT
The Tyler chapter was well represented at the Annual
Meeting in the West Texas Mountains. Attending were Cliff and Nora Daugherty,
Ruth and Ron Loper, Kay Fleming, Bonnie Pride, Sonnia and Bob Hill, and Jim and
Laquita Showen. The field trips were very interesting, although the organizers
started off being unnecessarily strict about limiting participation to those
who had signed up in advance. For example, one of the interesting walks was on
a trail beginning at the Miter Peak assembly building. The trail leads up a
creek and canyon featuring a variety of ferns and other plants that need
a moist environment. The Trail was about a mile long and had a few rough
spots, but could be covered in an hour ½ or 2 hours. I had chosen to go on a
hike at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute at 3:30, which is about ½ hour
away from Miter Peak, so I had plenty of time for both trips. They let me on the
first field trip only as a replacement for someone who decided not to go at the
last minute.
The presentations at the sessions on Friday and
Saturday were interesting and made by speakers who had good credentials as
researchers in the area. One thing that I picked up was that the same plants
have been in the region since prehistoric time. The weather has become drier
over thousands of years and that we can't blame all of the vegetative changes
on over grazing by the Anglo settlers.
The last event on the annual meeting agenda was the
presentation of awards. I was proud of the Native Plant Society for being an
important patron of books about native plants and habitats. I am also pleased
of the encouragement offered to young people by way of scholarships. But I was
flabbergasted when it was announced at the awards banquet that the Tyler
Chapter was awarded a Certificate of Merit for furthering the state mission by
Education. On reflection, I can see the elements of this educational mission
come together. Starting with Kay Fleming's tireless efforts at producing a
Newsletter that always strives to teach something worthwhile; Elizabeth Parks
efforts to show us something interesting at the field trips; all of those in
the club who enjoy answering the questions of our newer members and the effort
made to always have an interesting and informative program by our program
chairman Roberta Gustafson.
But of course we can do more to further a mission of
education. One of our former members, Ann Brown, had suggested that we
sponsor a short course on the use of native plants in the landscape. That idea
didn't get much support during the meeting. It was brought up partly, I
suspect, because we were looking forward to helping Longview with the Annual
meeting at the time. But it still sounds like a good idea to me. Or perhaps we
could find a good speaker on Native plants to add to the program of one of the
Master Gardener events. And would anybody be interested in putting together a
program on native plant recognition for the boy scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire
Girls, and etc? Perhaps we can not only put together a program, but also
establish a speaker’s bureau to deliver it. Any thoughts you have on these
topics or any other ways to be educators in native plant topics, please let
me know. Jim Showen
NOVEMBER
PROGRAM
Our speaker for the
November 7th Chapter Meeting will be Jason Singhurst, Plant Community Ecologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department. His subject is titled “Regional and Edaphic Patterns of Plant Composition
and Diversity in Herbaceous Seepage Slopes and Bogs of the West Gulf Coastal
Plain”. Or for the rest of us,
“BOGS.” Herbaceous-dominated seepage slopes and bogs are
specialized natural communities, which are relatively rare. In the West Gulf
Coastal Plain, most of these sites are found in only two natural regions – the
Longleaf Pine Region of southeast Texas, adjacent Louisiana, and the Post Oak
Savanna region of east-central Texas. Jason has studied the flora in these
regions at over 250 sites. Many of
these sites support 100 to 170 vascular plant species in these relatively small
natural communities. There are numerous floristic differences between seepage
slopes between regions, with the strongest distinction being between southeast
Texas and Post Oak Savanna. Jason will talk about the plants in these
communities and their need for long-term preservation of the full diversity of
their communities and their unique flora.
Jason spent his youth observing the local flora on tall grass prairies in Collin County, Texas. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin University with a B.S. and M.S. in Agriculture, spending two years collecting the local flora of various parts of the East Texas Pineywoods. He is an author of more than 30 publications in botanical journals on the flora of Texas and has spent most of his 10 years with the State working on the flora of the eastern 70 counties of Texas. He has concentrated his research efforts on isolated wetlands in such plant communities as bogs, bay galls, and forested seeps. He is a co-author of the upcoming book “Rare Plants of Texas” that will be published through Texas A&M Press (making Kay, his good Texas A&M buddy, proud!!!) The book should come out some time in the fall of 2006.
We will treat our speaker to dinner at La Posada Mexican
Restaurant on November 7th at 5:15 PM. All members and guests are
invited to attend. (Dutch treat!) If you plan to join us, give Jim Showen a
call or email him so he can reserve a large enough table. (903-566-0733 or
jimshowen@aol.com)
Roberta
Gustafson
FIELD
TRIPS
If the weather co-operates, on November 19th, we will
travel to Jasper County to NAPA's Catahoula Preserve. This is a 100 acre
scenic preserve containing a long leaf pine forest, small hanging
bog, bay gall vegetation, with a mile of Falls Creek flowing through it.
David Bezanson from NAPA will give us
a tour. We will need to take a lunch, water, mosquito repellant, and the
usual trekking equipment. The Catahoula Preserve is sort of hard to find
if you haven't been there. David thinks the best way would be for us to meet at
a point, which everybody can find. He said “If you take Highway 69 to
Zavalla, Texas (southeast of Lufkin) and then keep going south on 69 for about
8.5 miles, you will get to the junction of Forest Road 314 which turns off to
the left (east). There is a sign, which says "Upland Island
Wilderness." It's also right at the Angelina/Jasper County
line. The Neches River is only about a mile further, so if you get to the
river, you've gone too far. He thinks there is a good enough shoulder for
cars to wait there, then we could caravan to the preserve which is a few miles
east on Forest Road 314.” Or we could just meet in Zavalla. I will have more
details at the November meeting.
Elizabeth Parks
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
Our
joint Audubon/NPSOT Christmas Party has been set for December 13th at
6:00 PM. It will once again be at Camp Tyler. The Lodge is already
reserved. More will be reported on this annual event in future newsletters.
PONDERERINGS
ACERACEAE
The Maple Family
By Lynn Sherrod
The maple
family has only two genera. Most of the
200 species of this family belong to Acer,
the maple. This is a group of northern
hemisphere woody plants that crosses the equator only in Malaysia. The other genus, Dipteronia, has only two species.
These are confined to central and southern China. Acer
is very diverse in China.
In the family Dipteronia a wing surrounds the seed. In
Acer, the seed is winged only on the
back. Leaves are opposite, simple or
compound, and usually toothed or lobed.
The small, clustered flowers are mostly unisexual and sometimes lack
petals. In some species such as red
maple, individual trees may have male and female and perfect flowers on the
same plant. On another plant, only one
type flower may be present. Pollination
is by wind and fruits (samaras) form early in the spring sometimes before the
plant is fully leafed out. The fruits
usually have two seeds and are wind dispersed.
Maples are
among the most widely planted ornamentals in yards, parks, and along
streets. They have great variety in
foliage, form, and size and offer spectacular fall color. Some maples are valued for the sap, which
can be condensed into syrup. Others
provide a dense, hard, beautifully grained wood, which is used for furniture
and gunstocks.
In East Texas,
A. rubrum (red maple or scarlet
maple) is the most common species. It
occurs throughout eastern North America.
Red maple grows to a height of 27 feet and has a straight trunk. The crown has upright or spreading branches
that become reddish brown with age. The
young bark is gray and smooth, but becomes ridged, scaly, and dark with age. The tree is spectacular in bloom with the
masses of reddish flowers preceding the leaves. The three- to five-lobed leaves turn bright red in the fall. Red maple is tolerant of poor soils and
pollution, thus making it a good choice for urban landscapes. Several cultivars offer special growth
habits such as pyramidal, globe-shaped, and columnar. The wood can be used for furniture, flooring, and veneer. Even though small amounts of sap are
produced, it can be made into syrup.
Another
popular landscaping maple is Japanese maple (A. palmatum), which has been developed over centuries of breeding
into many varieties of colors and shapes.
Since the variety usually remains small, it is useful for small spaces.
Larger maples
such as big-toothed maple (A.
grandidentatum), and A. saccharum (sugar or hard or rock maple)
are used for landscaping where space is not a consideration. Sugar maple, a native to eastern North
America, may grow to 130 feet tall.
This species produces commercially important quantities of sap and is
used extensively as lumber. Some trees
develop special grain patterns know variously as bird’s eye, curly, and “fiddle
back” which are especially desirable.
It is mostly sugar maples, which draw thousands of tourists to New
England every fall for the color display.
The leaf of the sugar maple is the national emblem of Canada.
Most botanists
agree that Rocky Mountain maple, chalk maple, and black maple are subspecies of
sugar maple (A. saccharum grandidentum,
A. saccharum leucoderme, and A.
saccharum nigrum respectively).
There are many
other species of Acer, most of which
have much to recommend them for landscaping and other uses. However two species deserve special mention
because of their complete unsuitability for this or any other purpose. These are A. negundo (box maple or boxelder) and A. saccharinum (silver-leaf, soft, or white maple).
Boxelder is a
fast-growing species reaching 30 – 50 ft. It has compound leaves, which are
rare in maples. It will grow anywhere
and is especially drought and cold resistant.
For that reason, it was widely planted in the Prairie states where it
thrived in almost any soil or condition.
It is a super tough tree but is very short-lived and has very weak and
brittle wood. It drops twigs and
branches constantly and easily breaks up in wind or ice storms. It attracts box elder bugs, aphids, borers,
and is susceptible to a wild fungus, which may cause entire branches or even
the whole tree to die. It is most
definitely not a desirable landscape tree.
An even worse
choice for a landscape tree is silver-leaf maple. It grows to 60 ft. with a short, stout trunk and wide, irregular
crown. It produces slender drooping
branches, which turn upward at the tips.
The deeply cut five-lobed leaves are light green above and silvery
below. The wood becomes brittle with
age and, as the tree reaches maturity, it begins to drop branches and
split. It can become a hazard to people
and buildings.
The silver
maple is often promoted by discount stores and in magazine ads as the
“beautiful silver maple, which grows as high as a house in one season”. While
fast growth and cheap initial cost may be appealing to the homeowner, one
should plant this tree only if willing to endure a short life span, a yard full
of dropped branches, and a shallow root system, which may crack sidewalks or
foundations. It also saps moisture,
which makes it difficult to grow grass and shrubs nearby.
Generally
speaking, when selecting a tree for landscaping, one should remember all the
bad points of the silver maple and choose a tree opposite in all respects. It is especially unwise to choose a tree
simply because it grows fast. Fast
growth and short life span are almost always connected in trees. Remember – “Live fast and die young.”
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