Uncommon White Flowers

All species show variations, but I think those differences are most noticed when they deal with color.  Every year I find a few plants with flowers displaying white petals instead of their normal hue.  These two diminutive Rose Pink plants were growing side-by-side; one with white petals and the other with standard pink petals.  This species produces a few white petaled individuals each year.

The dry prairies are filled with Hairy Small-leaved Tick Trefoils with their long stalks of lavender blossoms.  I shouldn’t have to point out the obvious face showing in each bloom.

One lone plant is producing stalks of white flowers.  From a distance, the white blossoms are much easier to see.

Sadly, the face is not nearly as evident in the white flowers. 

The Wild Petunia regularly displays petals in varying shades of blue and lavender, but the differences are not enough for the casual observer to notice.

When the Wild Petunia shows itself in white, the blossom stands out from the crowd.  As a manager of wild plant populations, I enjoy seeing these variations.  A wide range of genetic choices is an indicator of a healthy population and makes that population more resilient and able to survive environmental changes.  Flower color may mean little to the future survival of a species, but these visible signs of genetic diversity suggest that there is also much genetic variation present that is not so easily detected. 

Prairie Garden - New Part - Early April

The most recent portion of the Prairie Garden is too new to offer much of interest.  This area was sprayed twice with glyphosate herbicide last October and was seeded in November and December.  I always try to plant seed at the same time of year that it is naturally being dropped by the plant.  I figure that should give the seed the right combination of cold, heat, wet or dry conditions necessary for germination.  It’s more successful and much easier than packaging seed and storing it for periods in the freezer.

The glyphosate spray got rid of many of the late season grasses and forbs, but left plenty of seeds from those early flowering species.  The bulk of the green plants now showing are non-native species typically found in disturbed areas around the house and yard.  This is Corn Speedwell, a low growing plant that has no fear of lawn mowers.

The only plants of any height are the Hairy Bittercress.  These little weeds forcibly propel the ripe seeds from the pod, so you don’t want to make a close examination without some eye protection.

Whitlow Grass, Draba verna, has petals that are split down the middle, so the regular four petals often appear to be eight. The split petal easily distinguishes this non-native species from the native Drabas.

Many years ago I excitedly thought these narrow leaved seedlings to be those of a Blazing Star.  I was really disappointed when they turned out to be English Plantain.

Mouse-ear Chickweed is a rather interesting looking plant, but it’s also one of those weedy non-natives.

Purple Dead Nettle often forms a solid mass in crop fields and other disturbed ground.  Fortunately, I don’t have to deal with that type of infestation.  Many of these non-native plants will persist indefinitely in the Prairie Garden, but their vigor will be reduced by competition with the prairie natives.

Many of the native seedlings won’t become evident until later in the season.  There are a few that show themselves early in the spring and they give me hope that my seeding will be successful.  Gray-headed Coneflower is a rapid grower that can often flower in its first year.

Several Purple Coneflower seedlings are appearing.  Besides being a great attractor of butterflies, the Purple Coneflowers help convince the more confused individuals that this is an actual garden and not a weed patch.

Wild Petunias are one of the few natives that readily volunteer in the yard.  It’s nice to know that the lawn hasn’t been completely taken over by alien species.

Wild Petunia

The abundant rainfall has certainly spawned a crop of robust wildflowers at Blue Jay Barrens. Certain plants, like this Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis, bloom every year regardless of the weather, but they are expressing themselves particularly well this year.

The tubular flowers don’t last very long and are often ready to drop the day after opening. Fortunately, the blooms develop in a long succession, so there is an extended period of time in which you can find blooms on the plant. The fused petals drop as a single unit, which sometimes litter the ground following a heavy rain or wind storm.

The stems are square with a variable amount of hairs. That variability also pertains to other parts of the plant. There can be such a wide variation in characteristics between plants that you sometimes wonder if you are dealing with more than one species.

To complicate things, there are two other Ruellia species that may be found in this same area. Ruellia strepens is also found at Blue Jay Barrens. One characteristic that separates the two is the width of the calyx lobes, which are the long pointy leaf-like parts attached at the base of the flower. Strepens is wider than 2 mm and humilis is less than 1 mm. An easy enough difference to check unless your measurements are consistently 1.5 mm, like the ones I keep getting. There’s also a rarity called Ruellia caroliniensis which is identified by the length of the leaf petiole. Less than 3 mm is humilis and more than 3mm is caroliniensis. What measurement do I always get? Of course it’s 3 mm. The only thing I can do is check all of the characteristics and go with the species that most closely matches.

Ruellia humilis can grow right in the roughest of the barrens. Even with more than twice the normal spring rainfall, the ground has already developed drying cracks. I keep looking for Ruellia caroliniensis, but so far none I’ve found none. It has been reported several times within a mile of Blue Jay Barrens, but it seems that shortly after being discovered, someone else decides that the identification was in error and declares the plant to be just another Ruellia humilis.

Wild Petunia is a perennial plant, so the luxurious growth should result in an expanded root system that will allow for another super growth season next year. It’s always the year after the abundant rainfall that these dry areas are most impressive. This is especially true if the next year is abnormally dry. The dryness will suppress the growth of plants not adapted to the dry harshness of the barrens, but the true barren plants will flourish. I hate to wish for a dry spring, but if it happens next year, the barrens will look spectacular.