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July 18-25 2010:
Field Botany: Northwoods Plant Identification
course at Kemp Station.
New field botany class offered by Dr. Emmet
Judziewicz. At
Kemp Natural Resources Station, near Minocqua, Wisconsin (approximately 100
miles north of Stevens Point and 200 miles north of Madison):
Instructor: Dr. Emmet Judziewicz, Director, Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium,
UW-Stevens Point, and co-author of "Wildflowers of Wisconsin
and the Great Lakes Region" (2nd edition)
This intensive field course will emphasize recognition of 150-175 species of
plants (ferns, conifers, and flowering plants) in a variety of natural
communities including conifer and hardwood, bogs, and marshes within an hour's
drive of beautiful Kemp Field Station. Details and costs to be finalized; you
will need to pay for two credits tuition through Continuing Education,
UW-Stevens Point, plus lodging (about $100 for the full week), food to be cooked
communally at the station's kitchen (about $75), and gas for vehicles pooled to
visit the field sites. Participants will receive a copy of the "Wildflowers of
Wisconsin" (2nd ed.) book. For more information, please contact
Dr. Emmet Judziewicz.. Maximum 15 students.
October 2009: The invasive aquatic plant brittle
water-nymph (Najas minor), new to
Wisconsin
Another invasive aquatic plant has become established in Wisconsin.
Brittle water-nymph (Najas minor) was first collected in Wisconsin in 2007 in
Storrs Lake in Rock County by Alison Mikulyuk; in 2009 Paul Skawinski collected
it in Mason Lake in Adams County. The species has also been found in Illinois,
Indiana, and Michigan. The tiny teeth on the margins of the slender leaves
distinguish it at once from the common native species
Najas flexilis; the invasive
Najas marina, also with toothed
leaf margins, has much larger leaves.
September 2009: Paul Skawinski's outstanding aquatic
macrophyte images now online
Paul Skawinski, Regional Aquatic Invasive Species Education Specialist for
Wood, Portage, and Waushara Counties, for Golden Sands RC&D Council, Inc., has
recently shared his outstanding collection of aquatic macrophyte photos with us.
You will now find many of his pictures of plants such the pondweeds (Potamogeton
and Stuckenia), water-milfoils (Myriophyllum), bladderworts (Utricularia) and
many other aquatics on the website. Aquatic plants are difficult to photograph;
Paul took many of these images with a polarizing filter, and others underwater.
For many species of pondweed, we think his are the best images available
anywhere on the internet. Enjoy!
August 2009: Two new species added to Wisconsin flora.
Purple rocket (Iodanthus
pinnatifidus), a new native mustard in Wisconsin's flora.
Purple rocket is an eastern U.S. species of rich deciduous river floodplains.
Long known from both Minnesota and Illinois, the only Wisconsin collection
(Waukesha County, 1942) was of doubtful nativity. In 2009, botanist of Ryan P.
O'Connor of the Wisconsin DNR found native populations of purple rocket in
Grant, Crawford, and Richland Counties, "on slight rises in mature forested
floodplains growing with Quercus bicolor, Acer saccharinum, Laportea canadensis,
and Phlox divaricata" (O'Connor). Matt Zine of the DNR discovered the first
native Wisconsin population of purple rocket in 2006 near Millville, Grant
County.
Badger botanists challenged to find more "skip-over" species. Iodanthus pinnatifidus is one of only a few Minnesota-Illinois "skip-over" species - species that do not occur in Wisconsin but are found in bordering counties in both Minnesota and Illinois. The others are wild sweetwilliam (Phlox maculata) and slimflower scurfpea (Psoralidium tenuiflorum). Who will be the observant botanist that discovers these species in the Badger State?
Baldwin's ironweed (Vernonia
baldwinii), new to Wisconsin.
Emeritus professor Robert W. Freckmann (UW-Stevens Point) and Alvin Bogdansky
discovered Wisconsin's first naturalized population of Baldwin's ironweed (Vernonia
baldwinii) in an apparent "prairie restoration" near a railroad in Calumet
County in 2005. In August 2009 they returned and found that the species had
spread extensively (200-400 plants) along the railroad and a nearby highway.
This Great Plains native should now be considered as naturalized in Wisconsin.
May 2009: A new species of
fleabane has just been identified from Wisconsin. A member of the
composite family (Asteraceae), bitter fleabane
(Erigeron acris L. var.
kamtschaticus (DC.) Herder) was collected on Rocky Island in the Apostle
Islands in 1992 by Emmet Judziewicz, and recently identified by Theodore S.
Cochrane. It is a boreal species found throughout Canada and in several northern
states, often in rocky or sandy areas; it is rare in extreme northern Minnesota
and Michigan. This late summer flowering species weas found on Rocky Island on
steep clay bluffs facing Lake Superior and should be sought in similar habitats
in northern Wisconsin. The variety is named for the Kamchatka Peninsula of
northeastern Russian
2008: Harry and Laura Nohr Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Blue River Habitat Improvement Project. A report on this extensive streambank restoration project (PDF 500K) containing text and many photographs. A good example of the types of conservation efforts underway in Wisconsin by various non-profit groups. More photos and descriptions: pg1, pg2, pg3, pg4, pg5, pg6, pg7, pg8, pg9, pg10, pg11, pg12, pg13; entire document (2.7M).
August 2008: Hairy Lettuce (Lactuca hirsuta var. sanguinea) a New Species for Wisconsin. Updated Nov. 2008.
This month Craig Fenters of Kenosha County discovered an unusual wild lettuce on his property with maroon or coppery-colored flowers. He relayed pictures to Dr. Robert Kowal of UW-Madison who, based on the flower color and inflorescence structure, confirmed that the plants were hairy lettuce, Lactuca hirsuta var. sanguinea, the only Midwestern lettuce that can have flowers of that color. The nearest locations for this southern species are in northwestern Indiana and central Illinois.
UPDATE: Dr. Robert Kowal, Professor of Botany, Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison examined a specimen and issued this determination. "The measurements on the heads of your plant fall squarely within the range of Lactuca canadensis and are smaller than those of L. hirsuta. Your specimens have involucre lengths of 9-10 mm, achene lengths of 4.5-5 mm (with their bodies 3.5 mm long), and with a pappus length of around 6 mm. Lactuca hirsuta would have involucre lengths of 15-22 mm, achene lengths of 7-10 mm (with their bodies 4.5-6 mm long), and with a pappus length of around 9-12 mm. So despite the predominance of unlobed cauline leaves, their clustering below the inflorescence, the corymbiform inflorescence, and the maroon or coppery red corollas, it must be Lactuca canadensis. Except for the reddish corollas, these other characters do occur in some individuals of L. canadensis. So your plants may be one of the first examples of reddish corollas in L. canadensis, an observation of some interest."
July 2008: The Discovery of Pale Moonwort (Botrychium pallidum) in Wisconsin, Mark Jaunzems, USDA National Forest Service
Doing botanical surveys on a large scale project areas for the US Forest Service has been my seasonal job for several years in the upper Great Lakes region of the Midwest. After several years of survey work in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I moved back to Wisconsin where I started doing biological work way back in the 1970's. While in Michigan I had the chance to repeatedly visit a very interesting site on the Hiawatha National Forest with several very interesting species of moonwort and grapeferns (both of which are in the fern genus Botrychium). This site near the town of Trout Lake has a large population of pale moonwort so I got to see them at least once a year for most of the last 10 years.
This summer I have had the pleasure of doing a large amount of my field work together with another botanist from the Washburn District office, Matt Bushman. We were working together in late June in Bayfield County and actually looking for a plant that the U.S. Forest Service is tracking (which is not listed by the state), northern wild comfrey (Cynoglossum boreale). We noted a small pothole lake which was also in the area. Specialized habitat features like that are always of interest to botanists so we were just getting started with our species list when we ran across a nice specimen of daisy-leaved moonwort (Botrychium matricariifolium). Now, ferns in this genus tend to occur in an area together with several other species of the same genus. These groupings are called "genus communities". So when you find one that's the time to really start looking for others, which is exactly what we did. Very quickly we found another species, leathery grapefern (Botrychium multifidum) and after a bit we suspected we also found a very closely related species St. Lawrence grapefern (Botrychium rugulosum) which is rather hard to tell apart from the former one. At this point we are taking notes and pictures and really looking hard at the ground. We were also seeing a moonwort fern that we were not sure about but thought could be Mingan moonwort (Botrychium minganense) or maybe something else. My experience with pale moonwort in Michigan had me thinking but the problem was we were only seeing a few plants and each one looks a little different when you look at them hard enough. And the botanical keys for this group are, to put it mildly I think, rather hard to understand and get to work. With these plants it really is a 'gestalt' thing that works the best but is rather hard to put into words. So after staring at them for almost an hour I was up to about 80% sure that we were looking at pale moonwort. And during this time we also found a very nice population of another related fern in the same family known as northern adder's-tongue fern (Ophioglossum pusillum), after just about sitting on top of the plants.
So after searching the area rather well we decided to collect a few of the more interesting individuals. By the way all the experts in this group of plants that we have talked with say that these ferns do not suffer from the collection of their above ground parts. With the wonders of digital pictures and e-mail we received a reply in a few days from the real expert in this group of plant, Dr. Donald Farrar of Iowa State University, that we did indeed have a new population of pale moonwort and the first confirmed one in the state of Wisconsin to our knowledge.
But after a few more visits to the site, it is clear that this genus community is worthy of a lot more looking at as it has a very interesting ecological history with numerous boulders at the soil surface and a water table that seems to fluctuate dramatically. In older air photos the site was mostly underwater but after some dry years most of the area is now above water. This fluctuation has served to open up this habitat and cut down on competition from other more aggressive plants.
Pale moonwort has already started to die back for this year but with the relatively good rains that have fallen this spring and summer there is a good chance that next spring will produce a larger number of plants. So we will be back and who knows next year may even some other species that will show up in the area. And who knows next year maybe even some other species will show up in the area. We're especially interested in the prairie moonwort (Botrychium campestre), as it has been found in similar habitats in other areas...
EVENTS: (links open new window)
2010 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station Natural History Workshops.
These workshops offer an opportunity to study focused topics at college-level instruction under the guidance of noted authorities. We offer two-day and week-long workshops, and housing and meals are available at the Station. Enrollment is limited to 20, the atmosphere is informal and instruction is individualized. Workshops may be taken for graduate or undergraduate credit by enrolling in UWM, Topics in Field Biology. Fees vary. Please contact the Field Station for more information and a registration form, or visit our website for full descriptions of each course, fee information, and a downloadable Registration Form. Registration is now open for the 2010 Winter Workshop at the UWM Field Station
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Ecology and Physiology of Plants in Winter: Surviving
the Big Chill
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2009 Wisconsin Wildflowers & Weeds Class (PDF)- UW-Whitewater Continuing Education Services
| Wisconsin Wetland Assoc. |
| Prairie Enthusiasts |
| Blue Mounds Area Project |
| The Nature Conservancy |
| Driftless Land Stewardship LLC |