Sunday, October 30, 2016

Mysteries Solved: Three "New" Plants in the Garden

Just for the record, I HATE botanical keys.  You know the sort - those dichotomous keys where you spend more time in the glossary than you do looking at the specimen.  "Is this acute or attenuate?  What the hell does 'glandular' actually LOOK like?  Are these considered lobes or is this simply a wavy leaf edge?  Phyllaries?  What in the world is a phyllary?"  Heaven forbid your specimen isn't in the growth stage that the key is looking for!  The very first step in the most recent key I was using called for an examination of ribs on the seeds - but I've been waiting all summer for my plants to simply bloom, let alone for seed to set.  They are still weeks away from having ripe seeds!

Thankfully, there's the internet and friends and sheer doggedness.

I've actually been able to solve three identification mysteries recently, two of them at least partially through the use of dichotomous keys.  The first mystery I solved was what the slightly blurry, tall plant was on the right hand side in the foreground of the photo below....

This was a volunteer in the backyard which I noticed early last spring, although this photo was taken in early June.  I was hoping it was a goldenrod (Solidago sp.), rather than horseweed (Conyza canadensis).  The mystery plant kept growing taller and taller and taller, not heading out until sometime in September. When it finally bloomed, I was vindicated.  Definitely goldenrod. 

Definitely goldenrod.  It was much tougher to figure out WHICH goldenrod, though.  Using keys and photos, I was finally able to work it out:  I now have a locally sourced, pine barren goldenrod (Solidago fistulosa).  Because not all goldenrods are created equal and because pine barren goldenrod is notorious for its "vigorous spreading" via rhizomes, it's good to know the actual identity of this plant.  I'd been planning on moving it anyway, since it's too tall for its location - now I know I HAVE to relocate it to someplace where its expansive tendencies won't be a big problem.  Sounds like a lower terrace plant to me!

Just to the left of that first mystery plant was another mystery plant....

By early June this second plant was shorter than the first mystery plant, but still fairly tall.  It looked vaguely like an althea (Hibiscus syriacus), which does naturalize in this area, but that didn't seem quite right.  So I waited and waited and waited for this plant to bloom, too.  Meanwhile, the stems got woodier and woodier and the height got taller and taller.  Finally it, too, bloomed - just shortly after the pine barren goldenrod.

It's rather hard to see the plant in this photo from 10 days ago, but it's the upright plant in the middle of the goldenrod.  It's even harder to see the small, white blooms from this far away, but here they are, up close and with a syrphid fly on one of them....

With few close relatives to distinguish between, it was fairly easy to peg this plant as saltbush/eastern baccharis/groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia) once the blooms appeared.  Indeed, had I ever grown this plant before, I would probably have recognized it much sooner.  While I would have preferred a female plant, since the female blooms are much showier, I am still excited about having this pollinator magnet show up naturally.  The male blooms, above, are about 1/4" in diameter, to give you a sense of scale.  They are not showy, but the insects sure love them!

As the plant grew taller over the summer, I started planning to relocate it to the lower terrace along with the goldenrod.  However, several sources mentioned that saltbush makes a very pretty small tree, so I've changed my mind and decided to limb it up and use it to anchor the southern end of the bed that has grown up around these two mystery plants.

The third mystery plant has been nagging at me for identification almost since the day we moved into the house.  I noticed a rather pretty looking plant out near the lakeside deck a year ago in June and marked it so that it wouldn't get mown.

Last fall it bloomed with golden "daisy" flowers, after significant browning out on its lower stems.  Despite the brownout, the blooms were vibrant and showy.

Because of the blooms, last fall I was able to figure out that this was a goldenaster (Chrysopsis sp.), but I've been stymied about WHICH goldenaster.  There are several goldenaster species that only occur in this general area of the Florida panhandle, so there aren't many descriptions or photographs of those species available on the web.  Generally, the wildflower guides only showed one or two species out of the 6 or 7 that were possibilities.

We've had irrigation on the yard this summer and it has made a big difference with this plant.  While it browned out badly last summer without irrigation, this summer it has hardly browned out at all.  This plant has also probably tripled in size from last year to this, at least in reference to the number of stems and flower heads it has; it stays a wonderful 18" tall in height.

Drum roll, please!  I now know which species this is:  Godfrey's goldenaster (Chrysopsis godfreyi).  According to the USDA Plant Profiles database and the Atlas of Florida Plants, it is found in
5 or 6 counties in the panhandle of Florida and a little bit, somewhere in Alabama.  In other words, this is a fairly localized plant - which really excites me!  I am so glad that I protected it from mowing, particularly since it's turned out to be so attractive.

While this plant is nice from a distance, up close it's truly glowing....

Now that I know what a winner this plant is, I'm going to try to start some seeds...when at last I finally get some.  At least I don't have to worry about working through a dichotomous key on this one again - those ribbed or ribless seeds/reflexed phyllaries had me stymied for quite a while!

 

11 comments:

Cody Z. said...

Very cool figuring out which plants these are, thanks for sharing the info.

Gaia Gardener: said...

Thanks, Cody. Hope all's well in your garden. Cynthia

Casa Mariposa said...

Botanical Keys will drive you nuts but it's always nice to be able to identify a plant. :o) I'd love to have you join us at the Garden Bloggers Fling! Check out my blog for more details. :o)

Gaia Gardener: said...

Thank you. I'd love to join in the Fling - I've wanted to go for years. It looks like so much fun. Cynthia

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

You did good figuring those out. They are all nice plants. It is fun getting the puzzle pieces of a new garden put together. I pretty much know what's in my garden now, but every once in a while, a volunteer comes in and I'm hunting too. I had great fun figuring out the poppy that came to my garden this year.

Gaia Gardener: said...

GonSS, Did you blog about your poppy? If so, I need to go back and read all about it! I've been able to take the time to read blogs so rarely since we moved. It's ALL about Connor, our grandson, these days - and now it will be about his brother, too. Connor's brother Grayson was born 2 days ago and will be coming home today. Very exciting -and a bit frightening, too. I'm not 25 anymore! LOL.

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

Hello! Here's my poppy post: http://gardenonsherlockstreet.blogspot.com/2016/06/mystery-solved-on-memorial-day.html

I saved seed and scattered seed. Hoping for more next year.

Gaia Gardener: said...

Thank you for the link - the poppy was beautiful and hopefully you'll have some of its progeny "pop" up in future years!

Jason said...

Good work on those IDs. Goldenrods can be especially tricky because the differences among species can be pretty subtle.

Gaia Gardener: said...

Thanks, Jason. It was frustrating as I was working through the identifications, but satisfying once I came to my conclusions. Cynthia

Rose said...

Congrats on being able to identify all of these! The Goldenaster is lovely and quite a find. I've nurtured many a mystery plant before, including horseweed and bush honeysuckle, which is quite invasive in our zone 5. I usually can't identify them until they bloom and feel pretty stupid when the plant turns out to be a weed:) Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment on my blog--let's hope the next four years turn out to be better than we fear. And congratulations on your new grandson!