Noticing Wildlife #12 : Bellflowers, Poison Ivy, Willowherbs and Mints
Wednesday 26 November
Some more groups of flowering plants you might happen upon near your homes - not all nature is far from our doorsteps.
Campanulaceae
This family comprises the Bellflowers of which there are four species near me for certain. The family also includes a couple of wild-form Lobelia that you might want to seek out. You might be able to locate Indian Tobacco (Lobelia inflata), also known by the delightful name of Pukeweed - it has small blue flowers spaced along a tall hairy stem.
A particular gem is the uncommon Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). This bright red flower favours damp areas and the margins of wetlands and streams or ponds. If you have a wet area in your own garden and these become established expect them to be visited regularly by Hummingbirds.
There is one species, the Creeping Bellflower that I counsel against allowing to exist unless you live in its natural range … which is not Canada. It pops up everywhere in gardens and along roadsides, and it is attractive, but it is highly invasive and a nasty pest. The plant seeds abundantly (each plant can produce 15,000 seeds), and while some roots come out when it is pulled, the horizontal rhizomes grow vertical storage tubers, which may not be anywhere near the surface portions of the plant. These storage tubers can regrow rhizomes, which in turn send up shoots at some distance from the storage tubers. You have been warned.
Family Anacardiaceae - Poison Ivy
A group of plants that are distinguished by having resin ducts. The sap or resin on some species may cause irritant or allergenic responses. In this area there are two species that you will already know. These are Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) and Eastern Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), both of which are common. The Staghorn Sumac tree is not poisonous and spreads by suckers to form dense colonies. Flowers appear in the spring and summer, followed by red berries which are carried into the winter and provide important food for many birds and mammals.
Eastern Poison Ivy is quite different, being a low growing and spreading green plant found all over the area. Very hard to control it is best to learn to recognize and avoid it. The sap contains urushiol which often causes contact dermatitis, an itchy, irritating, and sometimes painful rash, in most, but not all (me for example - so far), people who touch it. For all that, it is eaten by several mammals, and its seeds are consumed by birds - hence it is supportive of wildlife and something we need to learn to live with. The flowers are rarely seen - learn to identify it by its distinctive leaves and generally stay clear.
Family Onagraceae - Willowherbs
Some of the plants of this family are commonly grown in gardens, from which they escape but most are definitely in the ‘weed’ class and quite invasive on rough land, probably due to their many very tiny seeds. The family also includes the Fuchsias, popular with gardeners all over the world.
Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) is well known and hard to miss with its tall, red/pink flowers. The name comes from its ability to rapidly colonize areas burned by fire or otherwise disturbed.
Here we have a couple of Willlowherb species - Fringed (Epilobium ciliatum) and Great Willowherbs (Epilobium hirsutum) which like Fireweed also have the ability to speedily invade and colonies disturbed land ... Known in Europe as the Rose Bay Willowherb it was infamous during and following World War 2 for taking root on derelict bomb sites and carpeting them with pink flowers. Growing up in the fifties, I remember those sites and their flowers to this day.
Other local members of the family are Broadleaf Enchanter’s Nightshade (Circaea canadensis), Common Evening-Primrose (Oenothera biennis) and Hairy Evening Primrose (Oenothera villosa).
Family Scrophulariaceae
Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is the only wild member of this family. Looks rather like a giant hollyhock rising from a wide spread of leaves at ground level, with a pale yellow inflorescence and can easily be as tall as you are. Its furry leaves have also been called cowboy’s toilet paper. It is not a competitive species, being intolerant of shade from other plants and unable to survive tilling. It also supports many insects. I have seen it crop up in sunny gardens and along roadsides but the best specimens are in the Arboretum along the main trail where it passes open fields.
Family Lamiaceae - Mints & Nettles
We enjoy quite a number of members of this family in the area. A good number of species pop up in our gardens if we cut back on the mowing while others are easily found in the Arboretum and nature parks as well as along roadsides and corners of parks. Perhaps the most commonly observed, simply because it is grown as a planted garden flower, is the bright red Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma) . I would invite everyone to have a corner reserved for this plant because of its striking colour and the lengthy flowering season, but also because it is like a magnet to draw in Hummingbirds which cannot resist it.
Several culinary herbs are members of the Lamiaceae too, plants such as mints, oregano, marjoram and thyme. Do you have a cat? Then maybe you will be familiar with the species of Catmints such as Nepeta cataria. Other commonly encountered species include the following. All are interesting and all are good for wildlife if you let them into your gardens.
Ground-Ivy/Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris), Variegated Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon ssp. argentatum) - a ghastly European invasive, Spotted Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), Common Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana), American Germander (Teucrium canadense) and the spreading Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans)
