Tara Littlefield, Author at Kentucky Native Plant Society

Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2020 Results

This was the second year KNPS hosted an iNaturalist Botanists Big Year for Kentucky. The Botanists Big Year is a friendly competition to observe as many different wild/naturalized plant species as possible in the state; it’s a great way to explore new natural areas, get to know your favorite nature preserves better, learn how to recognize hundreds of native species, and discover which ones are your favorites!

In 2020, 2,251 people made 17,919 research-grade observations of 1,298 species – way to go, Kentucky botanists! This year, John Abrams (@jabrams_foc) swept the #1 spot for both Most Species (374) and Most Observations (1,642).

^{A few of John Abrams’ observations from 2020 (top row): Field milkwort, Polygala sanguinea; Buxbaum’s sedge, Carex buxbaumii; Dwarf sundew, Drosera brevifolia; (bottom row) Indian grass, Sorghastrum nutans; Soapwort gentian, Gentiana saponaria; and Ragged fringed orchid, Platanthera lacera.}

Prizes and certificates will be given to the top five participants in three categories:

Most Observed Species:

@jabrams_foc – 374
@nyssa_ogeche – 283
@kentuckybotanist – 241
@biomania – 207
@emwachter – 200

Most Observations:

@jabrams_foc – 1,642
@nyssa_ogeche – 414
@emwachter – 343
@robert1971 – 342
@kentuckybotanist – 338

MVP Identifiers – many thanks to the folks that helped us get so many observations to Research Grade!

@thomashulsey – 2,272
@jabrams_foc – 1,827
@davidenrique – 842
@melanielinkperez – 670
@polemoniaceae – 518

Since the inception of iNaturalist, 1,888 Research Grade plant species have been observed in Kentucky, but this does not represent the full extent of all plants known to occur in the state. In fact, there are several hundred of Kentucky’s plant species that have not yet been observed on iNat! Here are a few members of the state’s flora that made their “iNat debut” in 2020:

Buckley’s goldenrod, *Solidago buckleyi*, observed by @jeff85

Notably, 2020 was a banner year for rare twining vines of the Pea Family (Fabaceae). Two of the most botanically exciting finds from Kentucky iNatters were the discovery of new populations of Price’s potato-bean (Apios priceana) by @kentuckycourtenay in Warren County, and Cream ticktrefoil (Desmodium ochroleucum) by @frank-lyne in Logan County. Price’s potato-bean is a globally threatened species that is similar to the common and widespread American groundnut (Apios americana), but Price’s potato-bean has larger, pinkish to pale purple flowers, whereas American groundnut flowers are smaller and deep maroon:

Cream ticktrefoil is a globally rare species, which is most similar to Round-leaved ticktrefoil (Desmodium rotundifolium). Both plants have a trailing habit, but Cream ticktrefoil has cream-colored flowers and oval-shaped leaflets, while Round-leaved ticktrefoil has pink flowers with nearly orbicular leaflets.

What native species did Kentucky observe most frequently across the months of 2020? Mid to late winter was prime time for orchid spotting: the most photographed native in January was Downy rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera pubescens (photo by @emwachter) and in February, the Cranefly orchid, Tipularia discolor (photo by @natebutcher). Longer days and warmer soils brings everybody’s favorite: spring ephemerals! In March, the most observed species was the dainty Cutleaf toothwort, Cardamine concatenata (photo by @bereahome):

In both April and (appropriately enough) May, the umbrella-like foliage and discreetly hidden flowers of Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum was the most observed native (photo by @sillydog). In June Sassafras, Sassafras albidum (photo by @dalton28) was the dominant observation. This is a common native tree and a great species to introduce to young kids, as the crushed leaves of Sassafras smell just like Froot Loops cereal! In the heat of July, many of us were admiring the charms of the ubiquitous Common selfheal, Prunella vulgaris (photo by @frank_lyne):

Late summer belonged to the eye-catching orange blossoms of Spotted jewelweed, Impatiens capensis (photo by @hwisniewski), the most observed plant for both August and September. In October, the dense berry clusters of Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana (photo by @ellemaac) took center stage. And in the final two months of the year, the friendly evergreen foliage of Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides (photo by @asherhiggins91) was still there to greet us on woodland walks:

For the entire year, the plant species that Kentuckians observed most in 2020 were:

1. Common jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) – 236 observations

2. Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) – 225

3. Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) – 223

4. Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) – 219

5. Red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) – 214

Interested in participating in 2021? You can join us any time by heading over to the current Kentucky Botanists Big Year Project page and clicking “Join” at the top of the page!

KNPS Announces 2021 Research Grants for Students and Citizen Scientists!

Did you know that the Kentucky Native Plant Society offers small grants to help defer the costs of botanical research, inventory and native plant restoration? Since 2012, KNPS has awarded $8,100 to students working in these areas. Another $750 was awarded in prior years. The total number of grants awarded in any given year is based on the number of proposals received, the quality of proposals and available funding. The graph below shows the kinds of projects that have been funded.

The second type of grant is new and is open to anyone. It will fund

1. native plant inventory, or

2. rare and native plant restoration.

Native plant inventory grants are limited to Kentucky locations and successful applicants will receive a maximum of $250. Rare and native plant restoration grants are awarded to applicants working with native Kentucky plants, preferentially those which are globally rare (G1, G2). Successful applicants will be awarded a maximum of $500. All rare and native plant restoration grants require coordination with the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) and the Kentucky Native Plant Conservation Alliance coordinators prior to application.

A grant proposal must include:

A current curriculum vitae;
A proposal (not to exceed two single-spaced typed pages) describing the proposed research and the role the grant would play in the research;
An itemized budget;
A letter of recommendation from the applicant’s major professor or project director; and
Indicate whether the grant request is for a student research grant, a native plant inventory grant or a rare and native plant restoration grant.
If the grant is for rare and native plant restoration, include a letter of support from OKNP.

Budget items typically funded include travel to research sites and supplies such as herbarium paper and lab consumables. No personnel time will be funded.

All Grant Proposals are due by March 15, 2021.

If you are interested in applying for any of the KNPS grants, visit the Grants page at the KNPS website. If, after reading the grants page, you have any questions, please email them to: grants@knps.org.

President’s Message

Signs of spring first come in the darkest days of winter

Hello fellow plant enthusiasts! I hope everyone is doing OK in this New Year. While I have no profound words to offer to anyone about the state of our state, our country, our world, I can offer a mechanism of coping. I have often used the natural world as my escape and every time it pulls me out of whatever anxiety has taken hold. I’m sure many of you do this as well. I am beyond lucky and grateful to live and work in the natural areas of Kentucky through my profession of plant conservation and also my private life as a landowner. I enjoy daily walks to observe the passing of time as told by nature. Even in the darkest days of winter, there are signs of spring that show us a future of flowers.

2020 Recap

Despite the challenges of this past year and having to cancel many of our annual planned events/field trips/workshops/meetings, KNPS still accomplished the publication of our monthly online newsletter-the Lady Slipper. Let’s all give a big thanks to Susan Harkins and Nick Koenig for organizing this effort and all the authors of the great articles submitted from our friends, partners and colleagues about all things native plants. Many of us still had a big year of plant observations as seen through our Kentucky Botanist’s big Year 2020 on iNaturalist. In next month’s newsletter, the winners of most observed plants will be announced!

We joined Zoom and organized our first online fall meeting and Kentucky’s Botanical Symposium which was attended by over 120 engaged native plant enthusiasts. What a success! In case you missed it, recorded versions of the symposium talks will be available on our website, www.knps.org by the end of the month. Many of the talks highlighted current projects led by the plant conservation section at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP), Projects included the monitoring of rare plants and communities on Kentucky’s state nature preserves, the statewide grassland and pollinator habitat monitoring program, rare plant propagation projects, and recent interesting botanical discoveries. If anyone would like to get more involved in any of these efforts please reach out and join our emerging plant conservation alliance which focuses on conserving rare plants by increasing efforts through partnership.

The Kentucky Botanical Symposium, virtually.

A new year and planning

January has always been the month of planning for me. A time of resolutions, of planning projects and dreaming of which natural areas I will explore or what target plants I’ll be searching for in the coming field season. For KNPS, our board will be continuing with our strategic planning process this winter/spring through zoom meetings. We have decided to continue with postponing in person meetings at least through the first half of 2021 due to Covid restrictions but are planning some virtual events for our members and friends, more to come soon. But there are still many ways to contribute to our efforts and find opportunities to learn about native plants and get out in nature.

Opportunities

As always, reach out it you would like to get more involved in any of our committees, contribute to the newsletter, apply for one of our grants, would like to volunteer or partner with us on any of our ongoing projects or have any questions in general. And a special request to our partners who are organizing events involving native plants in 2021, please submit them to us so we can add them to our online native plant events/activities calendar.

For the Love of Kentucky’s Plants,

Tara Littlefield

Kentucky Botanical Symposium 2020 (Virtual)

Kentucky Botanical Symposium and Membership Meeting

KNPS is having a virtual botanical symposium on Thursday, December 10^th from 10am-2pm EST. For several years, KNPS has organized a botanical symposium in the fall with a goal of bringing together professionals, citizen scientists, academics, gardeners and students in order to learn about what’s going on in the world of Kentucky Botany. Despite the pandemic year, we thought it was important to continue this event, so please navigate this virtual world and join us to learn about all things botanical in Kentucky.

Topics that will be covered will include, but will not be limited to, KNPS updates, an overview of plant conservation in Kentucky, Kentucky’s roadside grassland and pollinator habitat program, conservation horticulture and native plant propagation, monitoring and managing rare plants and communities on State Nature Preserves, and exciting new Kentucky botanical discoveries.

Agenda

10:00-10:10 Welcome & Introduction
10:10-10:40 State of KY Plant Conservation and KNPS updates
Jen Koslow, Tara Littlefield, Jeff Nelson, Susan Harkins and David Taylor
10:40-11:05 Inventory, Monitoring and Management of rare plants and communities in State Nature preserves and Natural areas
Devin Rodgers (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves)
11:05-11:10 Break
11:10-11:35 Roadside Native Plants Project
Tony Romano (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves) and panel
11:35-12:00 Native Plant Propagation Projects
Emily Ellingson (UK Arboretum), Heidi Braunreiter (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves)
12:00-12:30 Lunch Break
12:30-1:30 Keynote Speaker, Dr. Alan Weakley
1:30-1:55 Exciting Kentucky Botanical Discoveries
Mason Brock (Southeastern Grasslands Initiative/Austin Peay State University), Tara Littlefield (Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves)
1:55-2:00 Wrap-up

Keynote Speaker

We could not be more excited about our Keynote speaker Dr. Alan Weakley! Alan is a plant taxonomist and ecologist whose work in taxonomy and plant conservation has sparked a renaissance of botany in the southeast. Just after lunch, Alan will address Kentucky’s Botanical Community on interesting topics ranging from plant evolution and biogeography, to conservation, taxonomy and citizen science.

Alan Weakley, plant taxonomist, community ecologist and conservationist.

Alan Weakley is a plant taxonomist, community ecologist, and conservationist specializing in the Southeastern United States. He holds a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. from Duke University. He has worked as botanist and ecologist for the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, and as regional and chief ecologist for The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe. He is currently Director of the UNC Herbarium, a department of the N.C. Botanical Garden, and teaches as adjunct faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill and at the Highlands Biological Station.

Alan is author of the Flora of the Southeastern United States, and co-author (with Chris Ludwig and Johnny Townsend) of the Flora of Virginia, which has received five awards, including the Thomas Jefferson Award for Conservation. He is also co-author (along with Laura Cotterman and Damon Waitt) of Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast.

The Flora of the Southeastern United States is an open access, downloadable flora with over 10,000 species. See the article about this important research here: Flora of the Southeastern United States – 2020 Edition

He has also released an app, FloraQuest, co-developed with Michael Lee and Rudy Nash, covering the Southeastern United States flora. He has authored over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and is in high demand as a speaker on plant taxonomy, community classification and mapping, biogeography, and biodiversity conservation. He is active with the Flora of North America project and the United States National Vegetation Classification, serves as an advisor to the N.C. Natural Heritage Program and N.C. Plant Conservation Program, and is a co-founder of the Carolina Vegetation Survey. As a trustee and board member of public and private conservation granting agencies and foundations, he has helped oversee $400,000,000 of land conservation grants in the Southeastern United States.

Presidents message

Cumberland Pitch Pine Barrens of Pine Mountain, a rare community in Kentucky

Hello fellow native plant enthusiasts. It’s been roughly 6 months since the pandemic took hold of our daily lives. Plans were put on hold. Refocused efforts on health and safety of our families and friends immediately became priority. KNPS had started out the year with a lot of momentum with our strategic planning meeting, and I would like to personally thank our board member Jeff Nelson for leading this effort. Our committee members were planning hikes, symposiums, seed exchanges, forming an official plant conservation alliance, and bringing back our native plant stewardship program. But these plans quickly had to be canceled or postponed out of caution for our members and friends. So much uncertainty affected everyone and it does not seem to be getting any better at this time. Life is precious and we only have one chance to live it. It’s okay to switch gears in order to remain focused on what is fundamentally most important. Despite all the unexpected events of this year, our online newsletter continued with some really great articles. I want to personally thank Susan Harkins, our editor in chief, for all her work organizing and publishing The Lady Slipper along with coeditor and EKU student Nick Koenig.

We are now beginning to regroup and plan for a virtual meeting this fall. In the meantime, I know many of you all have been getting outside and continuing to find solace and comfort in the constant yet ever changing natural world, where spring fades to summer, fall, and the inevitable winter, always changing, yet always there for us to witness all of the amazing diversity we have outside our back doors. Seek out diversity of the plants in our natural areas, as well as the company you keep. It’s important. We will all come together again eventually, but until then let’s navigate this virtual world.

Join our Facebook and Instagram groups. Join the discussions. Don’t forget to document your observations on our naturalist projects for documenting native plants on roadsides and our Botanists Big Year 2020, https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-roadside-native-plants and https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-botanists-big-year-2020. If you are interested in helping with any of our ongoing plant conservation projects, please contact us to find ways to plug you into some of our ongoing projects that we coordinate through the Office of Kentucky Nature preserves.

Tara R. Littlefield, KNPS president and Kentucky Plant Conservation Coordinator

Above are a few of the interesting plants and communities I have worked on this year, from remnant grasslands in our natural areas, powerline and roadsides, to seeps/bogs and orchid restoration, and forest biodiversity surveys. Kentucky is such a beautiful state with so much diversity! T.R. Littlefield

KNPS President’s Message-Looking Forward to a Green 2020

We hope everyone is having a peaceful winter. I have been enjoying the mild weather, spending time analyzing plant data from last year’s projects, studying winter tree ID, and lots of planning for the year ahead. Out in the forest we are seeing incredible moss displays and the greening up of many overwintering basal rosettes of spring wildflowers. The term rosettology comes to mind, coined by a notorious southeastern botanist, meaning the study of plant rosettes. It is true I am a rosettophile, or one who loves rosettes, including dutchman’s breeches, harbinger of spring, spring beauty, and winter annuals such as glade cress that are visible now.

Select mosses and rosettes seen in Kentucky over the past month (from L to R): 1. Spoon moss (Bryoandersonia illesebra), common moss in Kentucky Forests; 2. Dutchman’s Breeches ( Dicentra cucullaria), Anderson County, Kentucky. 2020-01-12; 3. Kentucky Glade Cress rosette-Federally threatened winter annual (Leavenworthia exigua var. laciniata), Jefferson County Dolomite Glade, 2020-01-11. T.R. Littlefield

The KNPS board and officers have been busy planning for some fantastic events this year. We will announce our field trip and workshop schedule soon, so check back by mid-February to view our 2020 calendar. Several workshops and classes will be offered either individually or as part of our Native Plant Stewardship Certification Program. Classes offered include Botany in a Day, Natural Communities of Kentucky, Remnant Natural Community Management, Native Plant Gardening, and more. Hikes by legendary botanists are currently in the works.

We will be meeting in late February for a strategic board meeting at Bernheim Forest. The board will be revising our strategic plan with emphasis on prioritizing our efforts in native plant education, conservation, and restoration. A reminder that this year we have the 34^th Annual Wildflower Weekend at Natural Bridge, April 3-4. It is earlier than usual this year, but with warmer temperatures we might expect the wildflowers to be early as well.

Don’t forget our website can be a resource to find out about other botanical events not directly organized by KNPS occurring throughout the state, so please contact us if you have an event that you would like to promote on our website. We are stronger together!

For the love of native plants and natural communities,

Tara Littlefield- KNPS President