A good plant out of place?
The term "plant out of place" is often use to refer to weeds or other invasives. How about a plant you know is "good" but seems out of place?
Sweet Indian plantain (Hasteola suaveolens), sometimes listed as a Special Concern plant, is supposed to be in sedge meadows or prairies (per Curtis and the UW Arboretum). In fact, we have quite a bit of this species growing with its "feet" near water in our wetlands.
Imagine our surprise today, when checking some of last year's transplants of other species, to find quite a lot of Hasteola growing in rather dry conditions in our Unit 10 savanna! Not just a single plant, but 8 separate patches, scattered over an area of about 10 foot square.
I doubt whether we planted them, not up here at the top of the hill. Yet they seemed to be healthy and vigorous.
I have seen this species forming a small patch in another of our savannas (Unit 11B), but figured it was a mistake. But now that I have found a second patch, I begin to wonder if this plant isn't more versatile than had been suspected.
It seems unlikely that there is a hidden "seep" nearby, since the site in question is exactly at the top of the hill, and there is no possibility of a water source nearby.
It will be interesting to see if these plants thrive, flower, and set seed.
Sweet Indian plantain (Hasteola suaveolens), sometimes listed as a Special Concern plant, is supposed to be in sedge meadows or prairies (per Curtis and the UW Arboretum). In fact, we have quite a bit of this species growing with its "feet" near water in our wetlands.
Imagine our surprise today, when checking some of last year's transplants of other species, to find quite a lot of Hasteola growing in rather dry conditions in our Unit 10 savanna! Not just a single plant, but 8 separate patches, scattered over an area of about 10 foot square.
I doubt whether we planted them, not up here at the top of the hill. Yet they seemed to be healthy and vigorous.
I have seen this species forming a small patch in another of our savannas (Unit 11B), but figured it was a mistake. But now that I have found a second patch, I begin to wonder if this plant isn't more versatile than had been suspected.
It seems unlikely that there is a hidden "seep" nearby, since the site in question is exactly at the top of the hill, and there is no possibility of a water source nearby.
It will be interesting to see if these plants thrive, flower, and set seed.
2 Comments:
How do you tell the difference between this species and P. alba?
When I saw the picture, P. alba came to my mind also. In any case, I've seen some interesting, and odd mixtures show-up in other restorations. Let's keep in mind that Curtis couldn't know everything.
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