The WV- Native Plant Society has exchanged newsletters with 40-50 other state botanical societies and other WV "conservation" organizations. There is a wealth of information in some of these newsletters. To date, these newsletters have been brought to Board meetings and the Annual Membership Meeting for participants to read and review. Newsletters have also been checked for articles that might be used in our Native Notes.

Below are samples of information from a batch of newsletters from late 2000.

Are any of you interested in seeing these newsletters? Perhaps, we need to find a way to circulate these to interested members. We would need to find a way to handle postage. Any thoughts or interest?

From the past: "The Bois d’arc, called Osage orange, or maclura, is at present indigenous only east of the Colorado River. It was discovered in a village of Osage Indians. Its foliage is like that of an orange tree but smoother and glossier. It grows very rapidly to a height of 30 to 40 feet and has a broad overhanging crown. The flower is small and inconspicuous, and is pale green in hue. In size and shape the fruit is like an orange- yellow-brown when ripe- and remains on the tree until December. It is inedible, but it is attractive. Its glossy leaves, which appear to be varnished, give the tree a luxuriant and picturesque appearance. The thorned wood contains a milky juice that protects it form worms. The sturdy vigorous and long-lived tree endures pruning very well. It grows in almost any soil and soon forms an impenetrable hedge.

Propagation is by seeds, sprouts, shoots and cuttings. A quart of seeds, which costs a dollar, will produce about 5,000 plants. When a hedge is planted, 2 0r 3 parallel rows about 6 inches apart should be sown. The seeds should be spaced a foot apart in the rows not opposite each other, by alternatingly. The rows should be straight. Such hedges of Bois d’arc are inexpensive and useful fences, and add beauty to the landscape of treeless regions as well as enhance the value of the land. The Cherokee roses growing on Galveston Island will make equally beautiful, perhaps even denser hedges." (Viktor Bracht’s Texas und die Jahre 1848)

Note: WV would have been better off with living fences of Osage Orange rather than multiflora rose.

Cranberry Glades is located in Pocahontas County, about 22 miles east of Richwood and 6 miles west of Mill Point. It is easiest viewed from a 0.5-mile long circular boardwalk that starts at a parking lot (with toilets) that is accessed by a 2-lane paved road on the northside of WV Route 39. A stop at the US Forest Service Cranberry Mountain Visitors Center is a must for first-time visitors to get information, maps and to view a video. The Center is at the junction of WV Route 39 and the Highland Scenic Highway (WV Rt. 150).

Cranberry Glades is an 800-acre swamp/bog ecosystem surrounded by mountains over 4000 feet in elevation. The flatter swamp and bog average about feet with a lower elevation of 3350 feet and an upper elevation of 3400 feet. The Glades appear to be flat but actually drop nearly 50 feet over a 3-mile distance.

Immediately below the parking lot at the start of the boardwalk is an example of a swamp forest that literally encircles the open bog. This swamp forest contains about 390 acres of hemlock, yellow birch, beech, red spruce, sugar maple, red maple and black ash. Rhododendron, mountain maple and mountain-ash are shrubs of the understory.

Inside the ring of swamp forest is belt of shrub swamp that covers about 305 acres. The dominant shrub is speckled alder that is mixed with wild raisin, mountain holly, winterberry, black chokeberry, glade St. John’s-wort, and smooth arrowwood. The swamp floor is thick with cinnamon fern, royal fern, skunk cabbage, marsh marigold, northern swamp buttercup, Steward’s jack-in-the-pulpit, hellebore, mountain wood sorrel, golden ragwort, turtlehead, purple-stem aster, and blue monkshood. Occasionally you may catch a blue splash of Jacob’s ladder or purple fringed orchid. Really sharp eyes may spot the early coralroot that is a rare treasure of the Glades.

The center of Cranberry Glades is a group of 4 open glades: Big Glade- 60 acres; Flag Glade –28 acres; Long Glade –20 acres; and Round Glade - 8 acres. Botanists of the 1800s claimed there were 5 open glades. The showy treasures of the Glades are snakemouth orchid and grass pink, which bloom by the hundreds within a week or so of July 4^th.

rare plants of Cranberry Glades are:

snakemouth orchid or beardflower grass-pink

purple fringed orchid early coralroot

kidney-leaved twayblade heart-leaved twayblade

chain fern oak fern

Pennsylvania swamp saxifrage round-leaved sundew

buckbean pitcher plant

small cranberry large cranberry

Jacob’s ladder long-stalked holly

Bartram’s or oblong-fruited serviceberry black ash

beaked dodder water parsnip

snowberry goldthread

dwarf cornel or bunchberry bog rosemary

muskflower bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta)

Pod grass (Scheuchzeria palustris) was found by A.B. Brooks in 1909 but has never been relocated.

More common plants of Cranberry Glades are:

green adder’s tongue orchid small green wood orchid

yellow fringed orchid pink ladies slipper

Virginia cottongrass yellow Clintonia or beadlily

skunk cabbage blue monkshood

lettuce saxifrage marsh St. John’s-wort

swamp candles cowbane

Oswego tea turtlehead

American or Canada yew mountain-ash

black chokeberry red chokeberry

Allegheny menziesia maleberry

Dutchman’s pipe vine

Other areas around Cranberry Glades that are botanically rich include:

Falls of Hills Creek, Cranberry Wilderness, Highland Scenic Highway, Cow Pasture Trail, and Dogway Road. Look for these plants as you explore the above sites.

showy orchis round-leaved orchid

nodding ladies tresses rattlesnake plantain orchid

ramps twisted stalk

cinnamon fern sensitive fern

spinulose shield fern intermediate wood fern

mountain wood fern painted trillium

wake robin or ill-scented trillium large-flowered trillium

dwarf ginseng white baneberry

Fraser’s sedge mountain bugbane

white monkshood shining clubmoss

stiff clubmoss common clubmoss

groundpine barren strawberry

yellow fawn lily squirrel corn

cutleaf toothwort two-leaved toothwort

Virginia spring beauty wild ginger

Fraser’s or Mountain magnolia hobblerod

skunk currant southern mountain cranberry

red elderberry Fraser fir (planted)

Maurice Brooks, noted WVU naturalist, loved to demonstrate the bog in Big Glade to his classes. He would get them all to one side of the small grove of white pines in the center of Big Glade. In unison, they would slowly jump up and down, while one by one each student walked to a point about a hundred feet away from the pines and perpendicular for the line formed by the students and the pines. To our amazement the pines were swaying back and forth in rhythm with the jumping class.

Cranberry Glades is also a birding and animal hotspot. It is home to snowshoe hare, black bear, deer, and the southern vole. Northern flying squirrels live in the red spruce and northern hardwood forest. The Glades is listed as the southernmost breeding habitat for hermit thrush, olive-backed thrush, alder flycatcher, Nashville warbler, mourning warbler, and northern waterthrush. Other birds that have been seen include barred owl, great horned owl, saw whet owl, pileated woodpecker, and raven.

It is absolutely necessary to have a written permit form the US Forest Service to explore Cranberry Glades, other than the Boardwalk and the encircling Cow Pasture Trail.

Cotton Hill floodplain is along New River (along WV Rt. 16) about 6 miles east of Gauley Bridge, 7 miles west of Ansted, and 7 miles northwest of Fayetteville. This botanical treasure in the historical New River Gorge of Fayette County is a small public fishing area managed by the WV DNR – Division of Wildlife Resources.

Cotton Hill is easily accessed by WV Rt. 16, which intersects US Rt. 60 and Chimney Corner and US Rt. 19 at Fayetteville. WV Rt. 16 skirts along the northwest portion of the floodplain (parking pull-offs are frequent), then crosses New River. A large parking lot at the bridge leads to an access road to Hawks Nest Dam at the southeast boundary of the floodplain.

Most of the water of New River is diverted through a tunnel at Hawks Nest Dam to produce hydroelectricity at Gauley Junction down river. During low flow periods you can literally "walk on the bottom" of New River through this section known as the "New River drys".

Rare plants of Cotton Hill floodplain and flat rock communities are:

purple three-awn grass beargrass (Gymnopogon ambiguus)

Eleocharis compressa hairgrass (Muhlengergia capillaris)

Cyperus refractus Cyperus lancastriensis

eastern gama grass Nutrush (Scleria triglomerata)

dropseed (Sporobolus clandestinus) Two-flowered melic grass

yellow-eyed grass Smilax pulverulenta

Rhyncospora globularis (beaked rush) tall burreed

day-flower (Commelina diffusa) kidney-leaf mud-plantain

dwarf crested iris (albino form) mountain rosebay or rose azalea

running buffalo clover – federally endangered species

Virginia spiraea –federally threatened species (not seen here in last 20 years)

bittercress (Cardamine flagellifera silverbell

halberd-leaved rose mallow coppery St. John’s-wort

Maryland meadow beauty purple foxglove or Gerardia

raccoon grape (not seen recently) crossvine - near northern limit

larger buttonweed loose-flowered Phacelia -near northern limit

McDowell’s sunflower cup-plant

showy goldenrod Solidago pinetorum

hairy tickseed (Coreopsis pubescens)

Common plants of Cotton Hill floodplain and flat rock communities are:

slender ladies’ tresses nodding ladies’ tresses

sedge (Cyperus inflexus) yellow stargrass

Ohio spiderwort dwarf crested iris

puttyroot broad beech fern

plaintain-lily (Hosta ventricosa) green dragon

Japanese stilt grass pinnatifid spleenwort

wild oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) lizard’s tail

slender toothwort cut-leaf toothwort

common ginger beefsteak plant

tasselrue bluebells

butterfly pea blue false indigo

wild sensitive plant Sericea lespedeza

barren strawberry milkpea (Galactia volubilis)

wood spurge purple loosestrife

water-willow slender-leaved mountain-mint

great yellow wood sorrel Greek valerian

blue bugle (Ajuga reptans) periwinkle

gay feathers or blazing star cowbane

woodland meadow-parsnip showy skullcap

tall coreopsis great Indian plantain

yellow-flowered leafcup smooth aster

whorled rosinweed late purple aster

Common vines at Cotton Hill floodplain and flat rock communities are:

Dutchman’s pipe vine moonseed

Japanese honeysuckle yellow passion flower

Japanese or Oriental virgin’s bower sand grape

Common shrubs at Cotton Hill floodplain and flat rock communities are:

Ward’s or Carolina willow sandbar willow

crack willow pawpaw

bladdernut fringetree

ninebark hoptree – rare

wahoo strawberry bush or hearts-a-bursting

leatherwood silky cornel or kinnikinnik

mistletoe buffalonut

shrubby yellowroot roughish arrowwood

black haw

Common trees at Cotton Hill floodplain and flat rock communities are:

black poplar sweetgum or redgum

common hackberry honeylocust

Fraser’s or mountain magnolia yellow or chinquapin oak

umbrella tree or magnolia silverbell

Paulownia or Imperial tree river birch

beech sugar maple

tree-of-heaven sycamore

persimmon

Other attractions:

Gauley Junction – Cathedral or Cane Branch Falls, flat rock carvings and rare plants

Kanawha Falls

Hawks Nest State Park overlook, lodge/tram and museum

New River Gorge bridge

Contentment pioneer museum in Ansted

White’s Draft shale barren is located in Greenbrier County about 1 mile north of Alvon on the eastern side of WV Rt. 92. The shale barren extends eastward from WV 92 about 1.5 miles along County Route 15/3 on the south and west facing hillsides above the road.

Shale barrens are steep, slippery and difficult to explore. A strong walking stick and sturdy field boots with heels and good tread are highly recommended. Shale barrens are also frequent habitats for rattlesnakes. High temperatures, little or no soil, and sparse tree, shrub and herbaceous growth help characterize shale barrens.

During very dry years, the barrens expand outward like bath tub rings as trees, shrubs and other plants die. I have seen these bands of brown leaves encircling the White’s Draft shale barren twice in my lifetime. During wetter years the trees, shrubs, and herbs will re-colonize and move inward only to loose out to the severe droughts that coincide with a 10.6-year sunspot cycle. True shale barren plants have adapted to withstand the droughts and actually expand during these harsh conditions.

Robert B. Platt, Carl S. Keener, and Edgar Wherry were early botanists who explored and studies WVs shale barrens. Earl L. Core used their studies and his own to list 14 endemic plants that are found only on shale barrens. More recent revisions show that 10 endemics are found on White’s Draft, as follows:

shale onion shale barren rockcress

white-haired leatherflower yellow buckwheat

Kate’s mountain clover shale barren evening-primrose

Allegheny sloe shale bindweed

shale barren pussytoes shale ragwort

Other rare plants found on the White’s Draft shale barren are:

cliff stonecrop downy heuchera

downy arrowwood dwarf chestnut oak (Quercus prinoides)

Green’s hawkweed

More common and widespread plants are:

hairy lip fern rock spikemoss

blunt-lobed woodsia bottlebrush grass

Pennsylvania sedge low panic grass

Allegheny onion wild pink

wild columbine (var. coccinea) slender knotweed

hairy forked-chickweed thimbleweed

barren strawberry hairy jointed meadow-parsnip

birdsfoot violet butterfly weed

false pennyroyal narrow-leaved blue curls

wild bergamot downy woodmint

hairy beardtongue long-leaved summer bluets

cardinal flower downy lobelia

southern bellflower or harebell elm-leaf goldenrod

smooth aster wavy-leaf aster

woodland sunflower

scrub oak dwarf hackberry

dwarf hawthorn choke cherry

fringetree fragrant sumac

panicled or gray dogwood maple-leaved arrowwood

black haw

scrub pine hop hornbeam

pignut hickory mockernut hickory

yellow oak white oak

chestnut oak scarlet oak

The following officers and Board of Trustees were elected on Sept. 21, 2002 .

President – Lynn Wagner Vice President – Mary Sansom

Treasurer – Steve Mace Recording Secretary – Helen Gibbins

Bd, of Trustees – Lois Kuhl Newsletter Editor – Bill Grafton

Carryover Trustees are: Lawrence Beckerle (elected 2000) and Donna Ford-Werntz (elected 2001). Romie Hughart is Past President. Chapter representatives are Sally Anderson (Eastern Panhandle), Chris Gatens (Kanawha) and Richard Thompson (Tri-State).

President Lynn Wagner and others of us would like to initiate an Education Committee to plan outreach events; information for letters asking for information, and resources for chapters and others in the state. She also voiced the desire for materials and activities to bring children into the NPS events. If you are interested, contact Lynn Wagner 304/876-7027 or lwagner@ intrepid.net

The Eastern Panhandle Chapter has developed an invasive removal and education program called SNIP (Save Our Natives From Invasive Plants). SNIP was launched in March 2002, with a combined educational and removal workshop led by area invasive expert Marc Imlay at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. The focus of the workshop was on techniques for removing Japanese Honeysuckle, though the group of 17 attendees also cleared some wineberry and multiflora rose.

Early last year, WVNPS donated $300 to SNIP, to help with the purchase of removal equipment and gloves for volunteers.

In April, SNIP led a second removal effort in the same area of the park to tackle Garlic Mustard. Laurie Potteiger, one of the two leaders for this outing, reported that as the Garlic Mustard was removed, various wildflowers--including Dutchman’s Breeches, Cutleaf Toothwort, Virginia Bluebells, and several others—appeared.

In June, SNIP led a group of girl scounts and their adult troop leaders in removing English Ivy from a large area of HFNHP. Using the removal techniques described by the No Ivy League, the group ended up with a mound of ivy several feet high. Most of the six girl scouts who attended came from a special high school global ecology program in Montgomery County, Md. Four of them have since applied to attend a large invasive species conference in New York this year.

"I guess something more than dirt sunk in last summer," wrote the father of one of the scouts. This is the absolute best we can hope for from these initiatives. It demonstrates that when it comes to invasives, we can do more—much more—than despair. Here are four young warriers, who were introduced to and now engaged in this effort. Who knows how many more they will influence.

In September, SNIP coordinated an invasive removal project at Yankauer Nature Preserve, which is owned by TNC and managed by the Potomac Valley Audubon Society, as part of United Way’s Day of Caring Activities. With a team of 14 volunteers, they cleared designated areas of Honeysuckle shrubs and vines, Russian Olive, and a few Mulberry. Stumps were carefully treated with Round Up Brushkiller. They also cut and treated Ailanthus, and pulled a variety of invasive weeds.

SNIP has also developed an educational display, featuring a series of laminated cards, each of which pictures and describes a different invasive species. The display includes live samples of each plant, as well as others for which there are no cards. This display was set up at four large public events last year, and was enthusiastically received.

WV –NPS has a new mailing address that is being manned by Steve Mace:

WV Native Plant Society

P. O. Box 122

New Haven, WV 25265

April 5 – 10 am; Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area; meet at Park & Ride, Milton

April 10- 5:30pm; Petroglyphs near Salt Rock, meet at Subway before crossing the

Guyandotte River

July 26- 9:30 am; Yatesville Lake, KY, Arrington Rd.

August 16- 9 am; Dept. of Highways Mitigation Area near Ft. Gay; meet at the Pit Stop, Rt. 52 before you get to Ft. Gay. Mike Marks will get directions to site.

More info; Romie Hughart, 523-1049 or rch25704@yahoo.com

WV-NPS website: www.wvnps.org

______Regular membership $12 (includes all members of a household)

______Student membership $ 8 (any student college age or below)

______Life membership $ 200

_____$ 10 Eastern Panhandle _____ $ 6 Kanawha Valley (Charleston)

_____$ 6 Tri-State (Huntington)

** You must be a member of the state WV –NPS organization in order to join chapters.

This is a gift membership. Please include a card with my name as donor:

Donor Name______________________________________________