March-April 2009 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

8/9/2019 March-April 2009 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

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Sego Lily March 2009 32 (2)

March 2009

Vol. 32, No. 2

In this issue:

Chapter News . . . . . . . . . . . . 2New UNPS Chapter

Sprouting in Cedar City . . 4Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . 4Gardening for Humming-

Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Whats in a Name? Edwin

James andJamesia . . . . . . 8Jamesia americanavar.

rosea in Utah? . . . . . . . . 9

Noteworthy DiscoveriesSuaeda linifolia in Utah. 10Nitrophila occidentalis in

Box Elder County . . . . . . 11Uinta Basin Rare Plants:

Can they be Sustained? . 11

Copyright 2009 Utah Native Plant Society. All Rights Reserved.

Gardening for Hummingbirds

Left: The red-flowered Fire-cracker or Beardlip penstemon(Penstemon barbatus) is nativeto canyons and mountains of

southern Utah. Like many spe-cies with tubular, red flowers,Firecracker penstemon is polli-nated by hummingbirds, suchas this Rufous hummingbird,(Selasphorus rufus). Fivehummingbird species regularlyoccur in Utah. Illustration by

Walter Fertig.


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Utah Native Plant Society

PO Box 520041, Salt Lake City, UT,

84152-0041. Email: [email protected]

OfficersPresident: Bill King (Salt Lake Co)Vice President: Walter Fertig (KaneCo)Treasurer: Charlene Homan (SaltLake

Co)Secretary: Mindy Wheeler (Summit

Co)Board Chair: Dave Wallace (Cache Co)

UNPS Board: Robert Fitts (Utah Co),Susan Fitts (Utah Co), Bill Gray (Salt

Lake Co), Marie Griffiths (Salt LakeCo), Ty Harrison (Salt Lake Co),Celeste Kennard (Utah Co), Kipp Lee(Salt Lake Co), Margaret Malm(Washington Co), Larry Meyer (SaltLake Co), Therese Meyer (Salt LakeCo), Jeff Mitchell (Utah Co), LeilaShultz (Cache Co), Maggie Wolf (SaltLake Co), Loreen Woolstenhulme(Utah Co).

CommitteesCommunications: Larry MeyerConservation: Bill King and Tony

FratesEducation: Ty HarrisonHorticulture: Maggie WolfInvasive Weeds: Susan FittsRare Plants: Walter FertigScholarship: Bill Gray

Chapters and Chapter PresidentsCache: Steve RippleCedar City: Winnie WashburnEscalante (Garfield Co): Harriet

PriskaFremont (Richfield area): Maria UlloaManzanita (Kane Co): Walter FertigMountain (Summit Co): Mindy

WheelerPrice (Carbon Co): Mike HubbardSalt Lake: Kipp LeeSouthern (Washington Co): Margaret

MalmUtah Valley (Utah Co): Celeste Ken-

nard

Website: For late-breaking news, theUNPS store, the Sego Lily archives,Chapter events, links to other websites(including sources of native plants andthe digital Utah Rare Plant FieldGuide), and more, go to unps.org.Many thanks to Xmission forsponsoring our website.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

pectinata (prairie cordgrass),Er-

agrostis trichodes (sand love-grassNEW), Calamovilfa longi-

folia (prairie sandreedNEW),Setaria leucopila (streambed bris-tlegrassNEW), andAndropogonhallii (sand bluestem). Also newthis year will be hardy cacti andsucculent seedlings. Several vege-tatively propagated species will beavailable too, as well as instruc-tions on how to do it yourself

Steve Ripple

Escalante (Garfield Co.): TheEscalante Chapter met in Januaryand elected Harriet Priska as theirnew president, succeeding Allysia

Angus. Several new projects werediscussed at the meeting, includingpublishing a large poster showingthe native plants best suited forthe area to post in a window down-town for local folks to see. A plantmarking project was initiated toidentify the native plants growing

For more information on UNPS contactBill King (582-0432) or Susan Fitts(356-5108).

Sego Lily Editor: Walter Fertig([email protected]). The deadline for theMay 2009Sego Lily is 15 April 2009.

Copyright 2009 Utah Native Plant Soci-ety. All Rights Reserved

TheSego Lily is a publication of theUtah Native Plant Society, a 501(c)(3)not-for-profit organization dedicated toconserving and promoting stewardshipof our native plants. Use of content ma-terial is encouraged but requires permis-sion (except where exempted by statute)and must be correctly credited and cited.Articles, photographs and illustrationssubmitted to us remain the property ofthe submitting individuals or organiza-tions. Submit permission requests [email protected]. We encourage readersto submit articles for potential publica-

tion. By submitting an article, an im-plicit license is granted to print the arti-cle in the newsletter or other UNPS pub-lications for reprint without permission(in print and electronic media). Whensubmitting an article, please indicatewhether it has been previously pub-lished or submitted for consideration toother publications.

Chapter NewsCache: The next chapter meeting

will be on Tuesday,March 3rd at7PM in the Cache Valley LearningCenter, 75 South 400 West, Logan.

We will have a business meeting todiscuss chapter goals and new offi-cers, followed by Bill Varga talkingabout Native American Uses ofPlants.

Our Native and WaterwisePropagation Workshop will be heldon two days this year: March 20

(two sessions 9AM and 1PM) andMarch 25 (one session 7 PM). Someof the plants this year (depending onthe success of pre-treatments) are:Geranium viscosissimum (stickygeranium),Penstemon tubiflorus(white wand penstemonNEW),

Penstemon palmeri (Palmer pen-stemon), Cleome serrulata (RockyMountain beeplant),Pistacia vera(PistachioNEW),Acer grandiden-tatum (bigtooth maple),Spartina

in the plantings along Main Street,

as well as in city parks, schools, andprivate gardens. A walking tour ofthe native plant gardens will beprinted for the Escalante HeritageFestival on May 23rd.

Our 10 February meeting fea-tured Escalante native Elray Nixon,a retired botanist, who showed ushis 2001 publication on keying outconifers in Garfield County and a

book of photos of the Escalante Can-yon area. Larry Glickman, parkranger with the Grand Staircase-

Escalante NM, gave an excellent talkabout the importance of pollinatorsand why they are disappearing. OurMarch 10th meeting will be pre-sented by Terry Tolbert, biologist

with GSENM who will speak onPotato Valley Grasses. For our

April 14th meeting, Allysia Anguswill talk about what to do to effec-tively landscape a yard and how and

when to plant. - Harriet Priska


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Fremont (Richfield Area):Fremont Chapter will host Allysia

Angus, Landscape Architect forGrand Staircase Escalante Na-tional Monument, on March 19, at7:00 p.m. in the USU ExtensionOffice in Richfield. Ms. Angus willgive a hands-on presentation onthe basics of planting design.

Those in attendance will prepare asimple planting plan using theconcepts shared.

In addition Fremont Chapterwill host Lisa Ogden White onApril 16 at 6:30 in the USU Exten-sion Office in Richfield. Ms.Ogden works with the Zion Can-

yon Field Institute as LandscapeArchitect for the National ParkService and is Chairman of theGreen Team Her presentation isentitled "Bloomin' Natives" and

will focus on native plant use inlandscaping design.We recently completed our

Celebrate the Wild 2009 calen-dar (see sample at right). Saleshave been brisk, but we have a fewleft, so if anyone still wants a copy,e-mail me at [email protected] I'll take care of the shippingand billing. We are particularlyappreciative of those sponsors

who so generously underwrote theproject: BLM, Fremont IndianState Park, Great Basin Natives,

Intermountain Native Plant Grow-ers Association, Maria Ulloa andGeorge Cruz, Rugged Plant Nurs-ery, Sun Mountain Growers, USUExtention Services, WildflowersUnltd, Wildland Nursery, andXeriscape Design.

We are planning another calen-dar for 2010, hoping to have itready the first of November. Ifany person or business wishes tosponsor a page, please e-mailJanett Warner (www.wildland

nursery.com).We'll be starting our annual

yard clean-ups soon. Our chaptermembers meet at a home andrake, prune, trim, etc. for a coupleof hours to raise funds for our

yearly project. We'll soon be re-turning to Sam Stowe Camp-ground at Fremont Indian StatePark to continue work on our na-tive plant garden. We're hopingthat our carefully tended flowering

Wayne Whaley, Professor of Zool-ogy at Utah Valley University anda member of the Utah Lepidopter-ists Society. Dr. Whaley's researchconcerns the Indra SwallowtailButterfly(Papilio indra), a beauti-ful species which occurs in Utahand other parts of the western US.Butterflies tend to be very picky

about where they lay eggs becauseplants produce many chemicaldeterrents. As a consequence, seri-ous lepidopterists necessarily be-come very familiar with our nativeplants.

April Meeting: WednesdayApril 1st, 7:00pm REI - UNPSmember Ellen Hartz will give apresentation on urban beekeeping.She will discuss life history, main-taining a hive, and ways to attractthem to our urban gardens. She

will also bring a demonstrationhive with live bees! - Kipp Lee

Southern (Washington Co.):Our March 2 monthly meeting willfeature Eric Lassance who willdiscuss Zion National Park's weedcontrolpast, present, and fu-ture. The meeting will be at 7 p.m.in the Canyon Community Center,Springdale (435-772-0525 forinfo.).

Zion Canyon Field Institute(ZCFI) would like to invite you to

attend their extensive selection of2009 botany classes. As an addedinducement, they are offeringUNPS members a 10% discount onall ZCFI botany classes for 2009.These include: April 3 - 4: LytlePreserve (Mohave Desert flora,geology, and great birding), April10: Zions Low Desert Wildflow-ers, April 18: Native Plants &Xeriscaping, April 25 Mojave

Wildflowers, May 9 - 10 Zion 101(natural history and geology of the

park), May 15: Kolob Wildflowers,June 13: Hanging Gardens ofZion, July 11: Cedar Mountain

Wildflowers, Oct17 - 18: Zion 101.Please note that if you are alreadya member of Zion Natural History

Association you will NOT receivethis 10% discount in addition to

your 20% ZNHA discount. Regis-ter at the ZCFI website(www.zionpark.org) or call 435-772-3264 Barbara Farnsworth.

plants, shrubs, trees and grasseswill begin to show off for the pub-lic. We also will continue to nur-ture the natives we planted aroundthe Sevier County AdministrationBuilding last spring. All in all, it'sgoing to be a busy season for Fre-mont Chapter. --Janet Nielson

Manzanita (Kane Co.): On Sat-urday, 28 February, we will holdour yearly plant propagation work-

shop at the Best Friends green-house. Becca Leiberg, horticul-tural specialist from Zion NP will

be on hand to answer questionsand help participants plant seedfrom 17 different native shrub,grass, and wildflower species. Formore information, contact me at435-644-8129 or [email protected], March 3, Larry Baer willpresent a talk on gardening inKanab. Larry is head of the MasterGardener program in Kane Countyand purveyor of prize-winning

produce at the summer farmersmarket. Please note that thismeeting will be in the basementmeeting room of the old UnitedChurch (530 S Hwy 89) ratherthan our usual meeting siteW.

Fertig.

Salt Lake: March Meeting:Wednesday, March 4th, 7:00pm atREI (33rd East and 33rd South,SLC). Our speaker will be Dr.


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New UNPS ChapterSprouting in Cedar City

By Neal Smith and WinnieWashburn

On Wednesday, February 18th,the first meeting of the Cedar City

Native Plant Chapter brought to-gether an overflow of eager CedarCity and Valley gardeners, all with acommon interest in water conserva-tion and a desire to learn how topropagate drought-resistant nativeplants, shrubs, and trees. Over 55attendees were present, requiring usto move to a larger room in South-ern Utah Universitys Science build-ing. Dr. Ron Martin, chairman ofthe Biology Department of SUUkindly acted as our mentor and ar-ranged for the meeting place. Otherdistinguished guests included Dr. AlTait, retired botany professor; Dr.Earl Mulderink, History Professor;Dr. Douglas Reynolds, who has or-ganized the Cedar Breaks Wild-flower Festival for the past three

years, Christine Fletcher, of BLM,Candace Schaible, County Agent for

Water-wise Horticulture; Tim andDenise McAlmond, of the ShadowFarm Nursery, and Cassie of the BigTree Nursery. Our Pro-Tem Officersfor the present (until a new slate is

elected) are: Marguerite Smith,Treasurer; Alice Maas, Secretary;Joleen Wise, Hospitality Chairman;Neal Smith, P.R. Chairman; Dr. RonMartin and Dr. Terri Hildebrand,University Mentors; and Winnie

Washburn, Coordinator.We currently have 45 paid UNPS

members in the Cedar City area andexpect to reach at least 60 mem-

bers. Our Pro-tem officers haveworked hard to let the communityknow of our goals to promote water

conservation through the propaga-tion of native plants and to use na-tives that attract pollinators forhealthy, long-lasting gardens.

A great deal of knowledge andexperience was shared at our firstmeeting. A seasoned nurserymanshared a tip for removing an un-

wanted lawn (the first step in pre-paring a wildflower garden) by cov-ering it with cardboard and paper(so no grass gets light), then cover-ing with soil, and lastly with

mulch. The evening concludedwith a short talk about pollinatorsand how these insects and birdsare partners with plants. Welearned how urgent it is to choosenative plants that attract birds,

bees, butterflies, and other insectsso that we, the stewards of theEarth, can know how to partner

plants with pollinators.We have several programs

planned this year. In March, Dr.Martin will help us learn to recog-nize a wide variety of native plantsthat not only grow well in the val-ley but are also attractive to polli-nators. In April, Candace Schaible

will help us to prepare our gardensand learn how to plant and wa-ter. In May our nursery friends,Tim and Denise, will help us tolearn about drip systems and land-

scaping. Later in May we will havea plant sale with Janett Warner ofWildland Nursery and severalother nurseries in the area, to beheld at the University parkinglot...only Native Plants will be forsale. In June we will have a hands-on study on recognizing weeds andhow to get rid of them, done byChad Reed, our County agent incharge of weed eradication. And

we plan to visit local native plantgardens later in the month. InJuly we hope to meet with the four

other southern chapters of UNPSup on Cedar Breaks as Walt Fertigguides us around the wildflowerhollows during the WildflowerFestival.

Much more is planned, and weintend to have programs suggested

by the members, based on a surveygiven during the meeting. Wethank so many who have helped tosupport and share their enthusi-asm for this important and urgentcause - to be knowledgeable stew-

ards of this beautiful land.

Bulletin Board

5th Southwest Rare Plant Con-ferenceMarch 16-20, 2009.There is still time to register for theconference, being held during spring

break at the University of Utah. Seethe conference website (via the linkon the UNPS homepage at

www.unps.org) for the final agendaand details on housing, food, andother activities being sponsored byUNPS.

Uinta Basin Rare Plant Forumsponsors volunteer plant sur-

vey: On May 9-10, the Uinta BasinRare Plant Forum (see more aboutthis group on page 11) will lead a

volunteer team to survey for the rareHorseshoe milkvetch (Astragalusequisolensis) (discussed in detail in

the September 2008 issue of theSego Lily). Currently, this plant hasno official protection and oiland gas development is proposed inits habitat. It is important to

better map the plant's habitat toprotect it from being impacted by oiland gas development. The UintaBasin Rare Plant Forum is also

working to protect eight other rareplants in the Uinta Basin. Volun-teers will be joined by experts fromthe Bureau of Land Management,Fish and Wildlife Service and oth-

ers. After a full day of surveying wewill camp and enjoy dinner together-Joan DeGiorgio.

Penstemon festival: MerrillJohnson, proprietor of Great BasinNatives nursery in Holden, Utah,has scheduled a Penstemon Festivalat the nursery. It will start in theevening of June 5 with a dinner andprogram about the penstemons thatare growing in Eastern MillardCounty. On Saturday, June 6, there

will be one or more field trips tosee the penstemons and other nativeplants. There will be a charge tocover the cost of the dinner and afew other incidental things. Formore information go to:penstemonfestival.blogspot.com.Merrill Johnson

New Life Members: Don Feenerand Sylvia Torti of Salt Lake Cityand Renee Van Buren of Wood-land Hills are our latest UNPS lifemembers. Thank you !


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Gardening for HummingbirdsBy Walter Fertig

It is hard to find anyone whodoesnt like hummingbirds. Whatisnt there to like about a tiny, iri-descent green, orange, red, or purple

bird that can hover in mid-air or

even fly backwards? Or that lays thesmallest eggs of any bird and has,proportionally, the largest heart? Orthat pollinates some of our prettiest

wildflowers and consumes largequantities of pesky mosquitoes andgnats all for free? Best of all,hummingbirds are not especially shyof people and will readily visit oursuburban landscapes, so long as weprovide for their basic needs.

Like all wildlife, hummingbirdsneed three basic things to survive:

food, water, and a secure place torest and nest. In nature, humming-birds derive much of their suste-nance from nectar. Produced byflowers as a bribe to attract pollina-tors to pick up and unload pollen,nectar is like a high-energy sportsdrink loaded with carbohydrates.These carbs help power a humming-

birds rapid daytime metabolismand bursts of speed (in flight, ahummingbird strokes its wings up to90 times per second and can attaintop speeds of 66 miles per hour).

A well-balanced hummingbirddiet also includes protein, whichcomes in the form of small insectsand spiders. Hummingbirds perchon branches in wait of flying insects,much like a flycatcher, then take offto snatch their prey in mid-air. Slowmotion photography shows thathummingbirds can spread theirslender beaks open at a broad angleto create a larger-than-expectedgape, perfect for sucking in bugs(not unlike their distant relatives,

the swifts).Hummingbirds have almost no

sense of smell, relying instead ontheir exceptional vision to locateflowers for feeding. They are espe-cially fond of red or orange flowers,

but will also visit blue, pink, or whiteblooms (though they tend to avoidyellow). Flowers adapted to hum-mingbird pollination typically haveelongate, cylindrical floral tubes andsecrete precious nectar at its base or

in a terminal spur or sac. Hum-mingbirds use their long beaks andtongues to lap up the nectar re-

ward, and in the process get theirheads liberally dowsed with pollenfrom anthers borne near the rim ofthe flower tube. This pollen thengets deposited on receptive stig-mas of another flower when thehummingbird repeats the process.Hummingbirds may visit 1500flowers in a day, so a lot of pollenis getting moved around.

To supplement their nectar diet,hummingbirds will also feed onsugar-water in specially designedhummingbird feeders. Some oldergardening books recommend usinga honey-water mix, but honey fer-ments quickly and can grow a fun-gus that is harmful to hummers. Afour parts water to one part tablesugar mixture that is either boiledor stirred until the sugar is com-pletely dissolved works best. Inhot weather, hummingbird juicecan also go bad, so it is best to

wash the feeder and refresh the

Above: Red columbine (Aquilegia formosa) is a typical hummingbird-pollinatedflower with protruding anthers to deliver pollen to the birds head as it probes fornectar deep in the five reddish-orange spurs. Photo by Bill Gray.

fluid frequently to prevent spreadingdisease.

Water and secure nesting and

foraging habitat can also be pro-provided by the careful humming-

bird gardener. Hummers will enjoya birdbath, especially if there issomewhere they can perch withtheir ridiculously undersized feet.

Alternatively, a mister or waterfallwill allow them to drink while on thewing. Hummingbirds prefer rela-tively open areas for feeding, butalso like a few scattered trees andshrubs for perching and nest-

building (too much brushy cover,however, encourages their preda-tors). Willows, thistles, dandelions,milkweeds, and other plants thatproduce fluffy or fuzzy down provideraw materials for hummingbirdnests.

Even a modest yard can become abeacon for neighborhood humming-birds, if the three basics of goodhabitat are provided. A number ofnative western wildflowers are espe-cially well-suited for attracting hum-mers. These include (in no


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Desert Willow (Chilopsis lin-earis). Desert willow is a shrub

with willow-like leaves and clus-ters of large, pinkish-purple trum-pet-shaped flowers. In Utah, it isnative only in the Mohave regionsof Washington County. Chilopsis

will thrive in direct sun and isdrought tolerant (often shedding

its leaves in late summer), but isnot especially cold-hardy.

Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggre-gata or Gilia aggregata). This bi-ennial or short-lived perennial haslong-flaring tubular flowers thatare red, pink, salmon, or white andcan grow in a variety of habitats.It can be purchased from a nativeplant nursery or grown from seedin sunny, well-drained sites. Onceestablished, it readily re-seeds.The related Carmine Gilia (Gilia

sunbuda orAliciella subnuda) oc-curs commonly across the Colo-rado Plateau and blooms in mid

Paintbrushes are hemi-parasitic,meaning that they derive some(though not all) of their nutrition

by parasitizing the roots of otherplants. This can make them diffi-cult to transplant from the wild(which we shouldnt do under nor-mal circumstances anyway),though they can be grown fromseed provided they are plantednext to a potential host plant, suchas sagebrush or rabbitbrush.Seeds require at least 30 days ofcold stratification, and are bestplanted in the fall on the soil sur-face to facilitate light exposure.

Wyoming paintbrush (C. linariifo-lia, the state plant of Wyoming) isan orange-flowered, leggy speciesthat is hardy in a variety of settingsand blooms from April to August.Narrowleaf paintbrush (C. angus-tifolia or C. chromosa) is consid-ered a more attractive species andflowers from April-July.

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardi-nalis). In Utah, Cardinal Flower isrestricted to hanging gardens andmoist seeps in the souther tier ofcounties. The brilliant scarletflowers have an unusual asymmet-ric shape, with spreading corollalobes and an erect tubular anthercolumn. This species can be culti-

vated over much of the state, butrequires damp, humus-rich soiland full sun. It is available fromnurseries or can be grown fromstem cuttings or cold-stratifiedseed. Flowers are present frommid-summer to fall.

particular order):Columbine (Aquilegia spp.).

Columbine flowers are specially

built for hummingbirds, with their 5nectar-packing spurs. Several red-flowered species occur in Utah, of

whichA. formosa is the most wide-spread. Some forms are available asnursery stock, or columbines can begrown from seed sown in shallow,

well-drained soil in the fall (allowingfor at least 60 days of cold stratifica-tion). Wild plants transplant poorly,so should be left alone. Most colum-

bines flower from late spring to latesummer.

Arizona Thistle (Cirsium arizoni-cum). It might sound crazy for anative plant society to advocateplanting thistles, but bear in mindthat the vast majority of thistle spe-cies are actually native and not inva-sive. Thistles have large flowerheads consisting of small, pinkish,tubular disk flowers that can be co-pious nectar producers. Humming-

birds also like thistles for the cot-tony pappus on each seed that can

be used for lining nests. The car-mine-flowered Arizona thistle oc-curs primarily in canyon country ofsouthern Utah, though it is hardy inlow elevation gardens over much ofthe state. It can be grown from seedin sunny, well-drained soils.

Indian Paintbrush (Castillejaspp.). The corolla of an Indianpaintbrush is typically green, but isenclosed by brightly colored sepalsor leafy bracts that have assumedthe role of attracting pollinators.

Above: Arizona thistle (Cirsium arizonicum), a showy, native thistle with carmine-colored disk flowers. Besides nectar, thistles provide nesting material for hum-mingbirds from their cottony pappus. Photo by Bill Gray.

Below: Cardinal flower(Lobelia cardi-nalis) belongs to a sub-family of theCampanulaceae that is more widelydistributed in the tropics. Photo by BillGray


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spring (May-June) and often againin the fall. In its native habitat, thisspecies prefers rocky, well-drainedsites.

Hummingbird flower or Califor-nia fuchsia (Zauschneria latifolia or

Epilobium canum). With its inch-long, tubular, scarlet flowers andpreference for dry, rocky cliffs and

talus, most people will be excusedfor missing the similarity between

Zauschneria and the common wil-low-herbs or fireweeds of the genus

Epilobium, but the two genera sharefruit traits and have recently beenlumped together. This aptly namedspecies is available from nurseries orgrown from seed in the fall. It is

well-suited for rock gardens and cangrow in full sun, though does best

with partial shade.Penstemon or Beardtongue

(Penstemon spp.). Though usuallyblue or purple flowered, four penste-mons from Utah are red to scarlet-colored and very attractive to hum-mingbirds. Eatons penstemon (P.eatonii) occurs widely across Utahand displays its red-orange flowersin late May through July. It cangrow in full sun to light shade andon a variety of droughty or alkalinesoils. Because of its size (growing to3 feet tall) it makes a good back-ground planting. Utah penstemon(P. utahensis) is a low-growing

Colorado Plateau species that flow-ers in early to late spring (April-June). Bridges penstemon (P.rostriflorus orP. bridgesii) occurs

Above: The aptly named Hummingbird flower(Zauschneria latifolia orEpilobiumcanum) has the red color, long, tubular shape, and ample nectar rewards that areirresistible to hummingbirds. Photo by Bill Gray.

quickly learn where good habitat islocated and return to the same spots

year after year. Some gardenersworry that setting out sugar waterand attractive plants may entice the

birds to stay too long in the fall, put-ting them at risk from unseasonablycool weather. But not to worryhummingbird brains are hard-wiredto day-length clues, prompting themto begin winter migration well in

advance of the first signs of badweather. Brains and beauty: justtwo more admirable qualities ofthese tiny little birds. It really isimpossible not to like humming-

birds!

References:Dorn, R.D. and J.L. Dorn. 2007.

Growing Native Plants of the RockyMountain Area. Self-published. 252 pp.

Kress, S.W. 1995. The Bird Garden.DK Publishing, NY. 176 pp.

Kress, S.W. 2000. Hummingbird

Gardens, Turning your Yard into Hum-mingbird Heaven. Brooklyn BotanicGarden, NY. 112 pp.

Tufts, C. and P. Loewer. 1995. TheNational Wildlife Federations Guide toGardening for Wildlife. Rodale Press,Emmaus PA, 192 pp.

in basin and foothills habitatsacross the southern half of thestate. It closely resembles Fire-cracker penstemon (P. barbatus)in having drooping, tubular flow-ers with the lower lip curved back-

wards instead of protruding as inmost penstemons (this shape de-nies a ready landing platform for

other pollinators). Firecracker isnative to mountains and canyonsof southern Utah, but is widelygrown in cultivation.

One non-native of note is theTrumpet-creeper (Campsis radi-cans), a vine native to the south-eastern US from the same familyas the Desert willow (Bignon-iaceae). Trumpet-creeper prefersdeep, rich soil and requires astructure for support. It bloomsover most of the summer and into

fall. In Utah, Trumpet-creeper isfound mostly in gardens at lowelevations (below 5200 feet).Other non-native and cultivatedspecies commonly grown in Utahthat are attractive to humming-

birds includeRed-hot poker(Kniphofia uvaria) from South

Africa, several red-flowered sages(Salvia), and Balsam (Impatiensbalsamina).

Ideally, a hummingbird gardenshould include a mix of speciesthat flower over the course of

spring and summer to provide anuninterrupted food supply.

For their size, hummingbirdsare remarkably intelligent and can

Above: Bridges penstemon (Penstemonrostriflorus) is one of four red-floweredbeardtongues native to Utah. Its tubu-lar, drooping flowers are speciallyadapted for hummingbird pollination.

Photo by Bill Gray.

Wish you could see theSego Lily in color?Want to read more on native plant societynews and chapter events? Need to buy aUNPS wildflower poster or cd-rom forthat special someone? Go towww.unps.org. right away!


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Whats in a Name? Edwin James andJamesiaBy Walter Fertig

Native Vermonter Edwin James(1797-1861) trained to be a physician

when in college, and like most doc-tors of his era received extensivetraining in natural history and bot-

any. His botany instructors in-cluded Amos Eaton and John Tor-rey, two of the leading taxonomistsof the day. James training servedhim well in 1820, when he was se-lected to replace the late WilliamBaldwin as botanist for the second

year of the Stephen H. Long expedi-tion, beating out the more experi-enced Thomas Nuttall largely onaccount of his medical background.

Originally, the Long expeditionwas to ascend the Missouri River

and explore the Yellowstone coun-try, but a series of setbacks and fi-nancial problems caused the mis-sion to refocus on finding the head-

waters of the Platte, Arkansas, andRed rivers in the southern RockyMountains. During 1820 the partyexplored much of the ColoradoFront Range, but ultimately failed infinding the head of any of the rivers.James, however, enjoyed much per-sonal success. Along with two com-panions, he was the first white ex-plorer to reach the summit of PikesPeak (previously considered uncli-mable by Zebulon Pike and his Na-tive American guides) and the first

botanist to explore the alpine tundrain western North America. Over thesummer of 1820 James discoverednearly 100 species of plants previ-ously unknown to science, such asBlue columbine (Aquilegia coerulea,eventually the state flower of Colo-rado), Limber pine (Pinus flexilis),Rocky Mountain maple (Acer gla-brum), Narrow-leaved cottonwood

(Populus angustifolia), Small-leafgeranium (Geranium caespitosum),Lance-leaved stonecrop (Sedumlanceolatum), and Streamside blue-

bell (Mertensia ciliata). Several ofhis new taxa would ultimately benamed in James honor by JohnTorrey or George Bentham, includ-ing a Chionophila (a genus in theScrophulariaceae resemblingPen-stemon), Cryptantha (C. cinerea

var.jamesii), Eriogonum, Hilaria

(Pleuraphis),Solanum,Stellaria(Pseudostellaria), and Telesonix(Boykinia).

One of James new species fromthe Colorado Front Range was ahandsome shrub with reddish,shredding bark and white, slightly

fragrant, rose-like flowers. Thisplant defied ready classificationand remained unnamed for 20

years after its discovery. In 1840,Torrey and collaborator Asa Grayfinally named the speciesJamesiaamericana to commemorate itsdiscoverer. Jamesia is one of 17genera recognized in the Hydran-gea family (Hydrangeaceae), agroup closely related to the roses(Rosaceae) and saxifrages (Saxi-fragaceae)*. Commonly called

cliffbush or cliff jamesia, membersof this genus can be distinguishedfrom other members of the Hy-drangea family in having 8-10 sta-mens with uniformly flat, unta-pered filaments lacking a forkedtip below the anther.

Unfortunately in 1897 AmosHeller discovered that the notori-ous Rafinesque** had already pub-lished the nameJamesia in errorfor a species in the pea family.Under taxonomic rules, a new ge-nus name was needed. The cleverHeller transferredJamesia toEd-winia, a new genus that would stillmaintain the connection to EdwinJames. In 1930 the genus name

Jamesiawas restored in a rulingby the International BotanicalCongress, the Supreme Court of

botanical taxonomy.Fossils considered to represent

an extinctJamesia-like plant areknown from the Oligocene ageCreede fossil beds in southwesternColorado. Today, only two species

ofJamesia survive: the wide-

*Welsh et al. follow tradition and placethe Hydrangeaceae within an ex-panded Saxifragaceae inA Utah Flora,fourth edition. The two families differin technical features of the carpel andin their growth habit, with the hydran-geas typically being shrubby and thesaxifrages herbaceous forbs.

**See Rafinesque andRafinesquia inthe July 2008Sego Lily for more onthis character.

rangingJ. americana with five pet-als andJ. tetrapetala, a four-petaledtaxon restricted to the Highland,Grant, and Snake ranges in easternNevada and the House Range inMillard County, Utah. Althoughfirst collected by Carl Albert Purpus,

J. tetrapetalawas not formally rec-ognized as a separate species fornearly 90 years, until named byNoel and Patricia Holmgren of theNew York Botanical Garden in 1989.

The Holmgrens recognized fourvarieties ofJamesia americana intheir 1989 monograph of the genus.The typical form (the one first dis-covered by Edwin James) occursfrom the Medicine Bow Range insoutheastern Wyoming through theRocky Mountains of Colorado and

New Mexico to the mountains ofsoutheastern Arizona and northernNuevo Leon, Mexico. Var. ameri-cana can be recognized by itsshreddy bark, finely toothed leaves,and inflorescence of 15-35 whiteflowers. The other three varietieshave much more restricted ranges,

bark that splits into plate-like seg-ments, and inflorescences withfewer flowers that may be white orrosy-pink. Varietymacrocalyxwith

white flowers and small leaves isendemic to the canyons of the Wa-satch and Deep Creek mountains ofnorthern Utah. This form is re-placed by var.zionis in Zion Na-tional Park and canyons west ofKanab in southwestern Utah. Var.

zionis differs in having relativelylarge leaves (3-5.5 cm long x 2-4 cm

wide) and grows in rocky hanginggardens. The third form, var. roseacombines the small leaves ofmacro-calyxwith rosy-pink flowers andgrows in granitic or limestone cliffsin the Sierra Nevada and desert

mountain ranges of southeasternCalifornia and southern Nevada (butsee sidebar on page 9).

Cliff jamesia is an attractiveshrub that can be cultivated in mostareas of the Southern Rocky Moun-tains, Great Basin, and ColoradoPlateau. Plants can be grown fromgreenwood cuttings or seed that has

been cold stratified for 1-2 months.Jamesia does best in partial shadeand moist, well-drained soils and


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especially among rocks or bouldersthat simulate its natural habitat.

Following his return from theLong expedition, Edwin James pub-lished several of his new species, butleft the bulk of the taxonomic workto his mentor, John Torrey. James

wrote a popular account of his west-ern travels in 1823 and a catalogue

of his botanical collections two yearslater. He attempted one more expe-dition with Long in the 1820s, butmissed his meeting date with theparty and was left behind. He re-mained a surgeon with the US Armyuntil the mid 1830s before settlingon a farm in Iowa. In his last yearsJames became involved in the aboli-tion and temperance movements,and advocated for Native Americansand religious causes.

Aside from his botanical contri-

butions and first ascent of PikesPeak*, James may be best remem-bered for the name he and StephenLong gave to the western GreatPlains on the east side of the RockyMountain Front: the Great Ameri-can Desert. This assessment was

based on their own first hand obser-vations of the areas limited timberand water, which they felt made thearea poorly suited for agriculture orpermanent settlement. Naturally,this did not sit well with boostersadvocating western expansion.

James words slowed but did notprevent the ultimate settling of theregion and its large scale conversionto irrigated farmland (thanks largelyto the Ogallala Aquifer). The long-term accuracy of his assessment will

be learned by future generations.

ReferencesHolmgren, N.H. and P.K. Holmgren.

1989. A taxonomic study ofJamesia(Hydrangeaceae).Brittonia 41(4):335-350.

Williams, R.L. 2003. A Region of

Astonishing Beauty, the Botanical Ex-ploration of the Rocky Mountains. Rob-erts Rinehart Publishers, Lanham, MD.209 pp.

* Long attempted to rename Pikes Peakfor James, but the name never took.There is a James Peak today in Coloradoin the same mountain range with severalother notable 19th Century botanists:Gray, Torrey, Engelmann, and Parry.

Jamesia americana var. rosea: New to Utah?

On July 30, 2008, Doug Rey-nolds and I were exploring theslopes above Tri-Story Canyon ina remote corner of Cedar BreaksNational Monument, searchingfor a population ofJamesia

americanavar.zionis reportedpreviously by Cathie Jean duringher graduate research on the

vegetation of the monument in1989. We had failed to locate thisspecies in two previous trips intothe canyon in 2007, but this time

we were exploring some differentplant communities. While drop-ping off a steep ledge of hard,light lavender Claron limestoneDoug and I simultaneously no-ticed a small shrub growing out of a shady crack and immediately knew wehad found our elusive quarry. Or had we?

Doug took a series of photos and recorded the position of the plant withour hand-held GPS unit, while I took copious notes on the habitat and con-dition of the population and prepared a sample in my field press (we had acollecting permit from the National Park Service as part of our work ondocumenting rare species in the monument). TheJamesia plants were re-stricted to a distinct band of Claron that was much harder and less erodedthan the typical white or orangish-red layers above and below (these readilyerode into fine clay). Although the original patch was found in a partiallyopen Douglas-fir/Limber pine forest, subsequent populations were foundon cliff ledges in Bristlecone pine/cushion plant communities. The habitatcontrasted with the mesic hanging gardens typically associated with var.

zionis in Zion National Park.It was not until a few days later when I opened my press that I began to

question whether our plants really were var.zionis. Typicalzionis has rela-tively large leaves and white flowers. The material we collected from CedarBreaks National Monument and the adjacent Ashdown Gorge Wilderness

Area on Dixie National Forest had much smaller and narrower leaves andsmall, rosy-pink flowers. I ran the specimens through theJamesia key in

volume Three, Part A of the Intermountain Flora and immediately went tovar. rosea, a taxon previously known only from southeastern California andsouthern Nevada. I emailed Dougs photo to Noel and Pat Holmgren at theNew York Botanical Garden for their opinion and they promptly wrote backsaying that it indeed did appear to be var. rosea.

In early September, I hiked back to the bottom of Tri-Story Canyon fromthe Rattlesnake Trail on the north side of Cedar Breaks National Monumentto collect additional specimens of the unusualJamesia. In a more thoroughsearch, I found several dozen plants growing along steep, south-facing cliffs

of the same light lavender bed of Claron limestone, but alas, the plants wereall in fruit. I plan to return again this summer to collect flowering materialfor positive confirmation.

If the Cedar Breaks population is var. rosea, it would represent a newvariety for Utah (clearly making Utah the Jamesia capitol of the world, with4 of the 5 named species and varieties present in the Beehive State). Thepopulation in Iron County is nearly 125 miles northeast of the nearestknown occurrence in the Sheep Mountains of Clark County, Nevada. Walter Fertig

Photo ofJamesia americana var. roseafrom Tri-Story Canyon, CedarBreaks NM, Iron County, Utah, by Douglas N. Reynolds, 30 July 2008.


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Noteworthy Discoveries

Suaeda linifolia(Chenopodiaceae) in Utah

By Noel and Patricia Holmgren

In September 1999 in SweetwaterCounty, Wyoming, Walt Fertig andJim Glennon collected aSuaeda(Chenopodiaceae) unknown to themalong the banks of the Blacks Forkof the Green River (Fertig & Glen-non 19011, at NY!). Walt had ahunch that it might be exotic, per-haps from Russia. He contactedNoel, asking him to look at thespecimen and suggesting that itmight key toS. glauca, S. linifolia,orS. paradoxa in Flora USSR. Walt

also told Noel that their collectionwas a good match for the one takenin 1985 in Elko County, Nevada, by

Arnold Tiehm (10013, Tecoma Val-ley, about 7.5 air miles NE of Mon-tello, seepages on SW side of DakeReservoir, 27 Jul 1985, at Y!). Noelcompared their specimen with Asianspecimens ofSuaeda in the New

York Botanical Garden Herbariumand confirmed Walt's suspicion thatthey had collected the non-nativeS.linifolia Pall. (native to Kazakhstanand adjacent parts of western Sibe-

ria and NW China). Tiehm's collec-tion and one by Bev Albee (5786,about 6.5 mi NE of Montello in Te-coma Valley, Elko Co., Nev., 18 Sep1984, at UT!) were probably the firstcollections of this species in North

America.It seemed logical thatS. linifolia

should also grow in alkaline areas ofnorthern Utah, so this became oneof our goals this past summer. Suc-cess! We found a population in BoxElder County (Holmgren & Holm-

gren 15881, Bear River Valley, StateRoute 83, 0.16 km w. of the junctionwith State Route 102, 22 km air dis-tance WNW of Corinne, 17 Aug2008, at BRY!, NY!, RENO!,UTC!). Images of the Tiehm, Fertig& Glennon, and Holmgren speci-mens are viewable athttp://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/hcol/intf/index.asp.

The habit of the non-nativeSuaeda linifolia (pin-leaf seepweedor flax-leaved sea-blite) resembles

Above: Inflorescence ofSuaeda linifo-lia. Flowers in this species are oftenfused to the floral bracts, makingthem appear as if borne on the bractsurface, rather than its axil. Illustra-tion by W. Fertig.

that of the nativeS. calceoliformis(Hook.) Moq. (broom seepweed orhorned sea-blite), and the twogrow together, so it is easy to see

why the specimens collected byAlbee and Tiehm were originallymisidentified as a native spe-cies. BothS. linifolia andS. cal-ceoliformis are annuals with as-cending branches, but they areeasily distinguished with a handlens. The small flowers ofS.linifolia are borne on the apex ofthe bract petioles, and the calyxlobes are equal and rounded onthe back. The flowers ofS.calceoliformis are borne in the

axils of the bracts, and the calyxlobes, in addition to having horn-like projections on the back, havethe upper lobe larger than the oth-ers.

Other Chenopodiaceae foundgrowing withS. linifolia include

Allenrolfea occidentalis ,Atriplexdioica,Bassia hyssopifolia,Kochiascoparia,Salicornia rubra, and

Suaeda calceoliformis . Species inother families includeHelianthus

petiolaris (Asteraceae),Spergul-

aria salina (Caryophyllaceae), andCordylanthus maritimus var. canes-cens (Scrophulariaceae).

How didSuaeda linifolia gethere?

All known populations ofS. lini-

folia are relatively close to the trans-continental railroad, which suggeststhat the species may have been dis-persed by trains (Schenk, personalcommunication). If so, additionalpopulations ofS. linifolia are ex-pected in moist alkaline areas nearthe tracks and the old railroad gradeacross northern Nevada and north-ern Utah. The population found inBox Elder County is along the oldabandoned railroad grade not farfrom the Golden Spike National His-toric Site. This route has been aban-doned since the 1940s, when therailroad trestle across the northernend of the Great Salt Lake was com-pleted.

Would it be fanciful to think thatthe seeds may have been acciden-tally introduced to this country byChinese immigrants, who laboredmightily in building the western linkof the transcontinental railroad fromSacramento to the low saddle in thePromontory Range between 1863and 1869? Ambrose (2000) reports

that the Chinese paid for their ownfood while working on the railroad,

which enabled them to demand andreceive an astonishing variety offoods, including vegetables, fromChinese merchants in San Fran-cisco.

IsSuaeda linifolia likely to be-come invasive?

We recently learned that Dr.Jochen Schenk (http://biology. full-erton.edu/jschenk/), specialist in

the genusSuaeda, identified the non-nativeS. linifolia in North Americaearlier than Walt and Noel, but hisreport of the discovery was not pub-lished until later (Ferren & Schenk2003) than that of Fertig (2000). In1997, Schenk saw a specimen ofS.linifolia while studying the genus inthe herbarium at the Natural His-tory Museum in London. He couldnot believe his eyes when, only

weeks after his European visit, hefound a population ofS. linifolia


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near Wells, Nevada, in an area beingused as an unofficial dump near theUnion Pacific tracks. According tohim,S. linifolia forms dense, mono-specific stands, suggesting that itmight be invasive and could havedisplaced native species. To test thispossibility his student, Nicole Vear-rier (2006) studied the ecology of

the Wells population from 2003 to2005. She noted that although theNevada populations increased insize during the period of her study,they did not appear to be ruderaland did not spread into adjacentdisturbed sites along roads. HelmutFreitag, who knowsS. linifoliafrom his work in central Asia, re-ported to Schenk that this species isan alkaline wetland species with noruderal tendencies in central Asia.

According to Vearrier, plants ofS.

linifolia show high fecundity and awide tolerance of salinity, soil char-acteristics, and temperatures, butthe species appears to lack an effec-tive long-distance dispersal mech-

Uinta Basin Rare Plants Can They Be Sustained?

stakeholders, including The Na-ture Conservancy (TNC), Bureauof Land Management, US Fish and

Wildlife Service, Uinta County,Independent Petroleum Associa-tion of Mountain States, Utah Na-tive Plant Society, Utah Heritageprogram, consultants, researchersand others formed the Uinta BasinRare Plant Forum. The Forumsgoal is to better understand whatecological conditions these plantsneed to survive, and to work withland managers and industrygroups to find solutions to protecthabitat and guide development.

As a way to work towards bothenhancing the plants viability andaddressing threats to the species,the Forum has engaged in a plan-ning process using TNCs conser-

vation action planning tool (CAP).Mining the treasure trove ofknowledge the Forum collectivelypossesses, the Uinta Basin RarePlant CAP captures current anddesired conditions for the key eco-logical attributes needed for plantsurvival. Threats to plant function

are ranked and strategies identifiedfor viability enhancement and threatabatement. The Forum is now at the

stage of prioritizing its almost 70strategies.

The CAP planning process hasbeen open to everyone and its re-sults and process have been 100%transparent. It has also been basedon the best available science. Whilethe Plan captured the known, it alsomade clear how little we know abouthow these plants function and whatthey need. A logical question arises:if we dont know what they need,how can we guide industry? Much ofthe plan is directed to answeringthese sustainability questions. It willtake everyone working together toanswer these critical questions andthen apply the knowledge to bestdirect where and how energy devel-opment proceeds. Hopefully, theForum represents a new version ofan old story where David and Goli-ath sit down together and work outtheir differences using science astheir guide. The Forum and its CAPis a start. [see related story, pg 4].

Nitrophila occidentalis inBox Elder County, Utah

Noel and Pat Holmgren found apopulation ofNitrophila occiden-talis (Moq.) S. Watson (Holmgren& Holmgren 15861, at NY) at theRabbit Springs area in Box Elder

County (about 9 mi. e. of the Ne-vada border along the old CentralPacific Railroad grade) on 15 Aug2008. This represents a county re-cord and northern extension of itsdistribution in Utah. The specieshas previously been known fromJuab and Millard Counties, but

Welsh (A Utah Flora, 4th edition)predicted that "the distribution un-doubtedly extends north into TooeleCounty, and possibly to Box ElderCounty as well." The herbarium

specimen is viewable athttp:// sciweb.nybg.org/science2/ virtualherbarium.asp. -Noel andPatricia Holmgren

anism. She suggests that it couldbecome a local problem, but ap-pears unlikely to become aggres-sively invasive. Vearrier returnedto the Wells population in 2008 tomake additional measurements,and she and Schenk are preparinga manuscript for publication laterthis year.

References:Ambrose, S. 2000. Nothing like it in

the world. The men who built thetrans-continental railroad. 1863-1869. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Ferren, W. R., Jr., and H. J. Schenk.2003.Suaeda. In: Flora of NorthAmerica Editorial Committee. Flora ofNorth America north of Mexico 4:390-398. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

Fertig, W. 2000. Noteworthy collec-tions from Wyoming.Suaeda linifolia.Castilleja 19(3): 7.

Vearrier, N. J. 2006. Ecology andpotential invasiveness ofSuaedalinifolia in the Great Basin desert,USA. M.S. dissertation. CaliforniaState University, Fullerton. 54 pages.

By Joan DeGiorgio, TNC

I was tempted to begin this storywith lines like a modern day David

and Goliath passionate plant lov-ers vs. well-supported energy indus-try, but instead took a hint fromno-drama Obama and will justfocus on the sobering-enough factsand the need for cooperation. Thefacts are these - the Uinta Basin inUtahs NE corner has become a fo-cus of oil and gas production, andpossibly oil shale development. This

vast semi-arid landscape is alsohome to many rare plant species,including the Shrubby reed mustardand the White River penstemon thatare found nowhere else on Earth.There is a real question if these, and7 other at-risk plants, can be sus-tained while also advancing energydevelopment and its associatedproblems: habitat fragmented via anextensive spider-web of roads and

well pads, dust generated from thesevehicles, improved access for poach-ers - to name just a few.

In the face of these uneven odds,three years ago a large group of


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March-April 2009 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society