Noticing Nature #14: Honeysuckles, Elder, Umbellifers, Mallows and Spurge
Wednesday 10 December
Now for this week’s plant families … at the end of which are a couple of tips to make plant ID start to make sense.
Family Caprifoliaceae - Honeysuckles
Several species - mostly shrubs and vines and some with a delightful scent. Many are foreign imports intended to grace our gardens but out in the wild we have the native Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) in wooded areas. It blooms from April to June. With bright red berries appearing in very late June into early July.
Look also for Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus). This is a honeysuckle win all but common name and is to be found growing along wooded, dry, slopes and outcrops as well as along banks and woodlands. Under optimum growing conditions, it can spread and form a dense thicket or colonies through its suckering. It is named for the white berries which are an interesting sight in winter against leafless branches.
Common Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is a non-native that grows quite widely here. Plants can be up to five feet tall with lightly scented pink or white clusters of small flowers. Most examples may once have escaped from gardens.
Family Viburnaceae - Elder & Viburnum
A very important family of plant species with a wide northern hemisphere territory. They are attractive in their own right with a dense, moderate growth and intriguingly different flowers.
There are two genus of the family to be found around here where they seem to thrive in the wild and in corners of parks and gardens. Firstly, the various species of Elder (Sambucus spp.) which bear large clusters of small white or cream-coloured flowers in late spring giving way later to clusters of small black or red berries. The two species you will find here are Red-berried Elder (Sambucus racemosa) and the Common Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). Elder are fast growing and nitrogen-dependent and often grow in hedgerows. They will be found anywhere sufficient sunlight is available.
The other genus of note are the species of Viburnum including the European Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus), Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) and the Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana). Look for these in edge habitat and in deeper woodland. There are some excellent examples in the Arboretum.
The importance of these species, quite apart from their visual appeal, is the support they offer to so many birds and insects. The Elderberries are eaten by many birds in early summer while the usually red berries of Viburnums frequently hang on the bushes into the winter months when they are especially helpful to the animals that eat them. Native species’ berries tend to be eaten in late summer while European varities are left into winter while the cold weather concenrates the sugars.
Family Apiaceae - formerly Umbelliferae
These species are hard to miss when walking in the area. They are the carrots, parsley, coriander and parsnips and easily identified by their large, flat umbelliferous flower heads. Some species are native and others arrived in recent centuries. Several species have a sap that initiates dermal phytotoxicity so unless you know the species it is best to look but not touch, or at least do not break the stems and get sap on your skin.
The flowers are very attractive to insects and especially so to some butterflies such as Swallowtails. There is a tendency for people to want to actively remove them but to do so would have such an effect on insects that it would be rash and pointless. Just be careful. Look for Lovage (Levisticum officinale), Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) and Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). The latter species is perhaps the one to avoid most, though at up to eight feet in height it is hard to miss if present.
Family Malvaceae - Mallows
Confusingly, this family contains anatomically diverse flowing plants like the Mallows and Hibiscus up to trees such as Poplars and Basswood/Linden. The principle distinguishing feature is a common structure to the anatomy of the flowers if you want to get that deep into things.
Here, you might find examples of trees like Basswood (Tilia americana) and Little-leaf Linden (Tilia cordata) while at the other extreme are the frequently escaped but non-native Dwarf Mallow (Malva neglecta) and the Eurasian Sweet Violet () with which we are all acquainted.
Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moschentos) is native while Common Mallow is not.
Family Euphorbiaceae - Spurge
Generally low, ground cover plants that are not infrequently present in corners of open land that is recently tilled … which means they will invade you carefully tended flower beds.
Common Copperleaf (Acalypharhomboidea) has tiny flowers with large lobed bracts in summer to fall and freely self-seeds. It prefers sun to light shade and will grow in moist to dry clay, loam or rocky soils. It grows in town gardens, roadsides and the Arboretum.
Wormseed Sandmat (Euphorbia vermiculata) is a prostate plant that you may see but which is not very common here. Spotted Spurge (Euphorbia maculata) is superficially similar to the Wormseed Sandmat and quite widespread in the area. It is another fast-growing creeping plant which grows in sunny locations and a variety of soils, and functions as a pioneer species in ecological succession.
Next week: Borage, Sorrels, Cabbages and Currants …
… after which there will be just one more week of flowering plan ts before we start on birds
Here are some basic ways to narrow the options when identifying plants. This part is brief. It’s really just a few boxes to mentally tick while you are on your knees in the mud (botanist’s pose) thinking “what the heck am I looking at?” fairly obvious features that will help to narrow the field a bit.
Four steps to aid basic plant ID
Narrow the options - don’t guess, ask yourself some basic questions and you can narrow the options markedly.
1 - General shape and form
Is it woody or herbaceous?
What is its form? Tree, shrub, groundcover, climbing vine or an upright flower?
Approximate height and width.
2 - The Flower (if present)
What colour(s)?
How many petals does it have? Separate or fused together
Overall shape of the flower? Is it star-shaped, cup-shaped, tubular, or flat like a daisy?
Single flower on a stem, or grouped in a cluster ?
3 - Leaves
Arrangement on the Stem. Leaves opposite, alternate or whorled (in a circle around the stem)?
Leaf Shape: Is the leaf shape simple and smooth or compound and made up of many smaller leaflets. Edges - smooth, toothed, or lobed.
Texture and Color: Glossy, fuzzy, waxy, or smooth?
4 - Location/Habitat
Is it growing in the sun or deep shade? Wet or dry conditions?
Soil - sandy, clay, or rich loam?
Season - What month is it? What do you expect about now?
Location on the map - north, south, east, west, mountain or valley, shoreline or forest etc, bog or meadow.
5 - Use an app such as iNaturalist on your phone. They are not infallible, but they are getting better by the day and usually get you at least into the right ball park.
Love thisbreakdown of the plant families. The reminder about not touching Apiaceae species is gold, especially since they're everywhere right now and people dunno which ones are safe. That four-step ID framework at the end makes things way more approachable than trying to memorize every species.