January 2005  SEC newsletter

---

Please  put the following dates on your calendar and join us for our winter and spring indoor programs.  Bring a friend!

February 6, Sunday, 1:30 pm.  Our annual Gourmet Dinner.  Bring a special dish to share and your own table service.  Join us for “Detroit Parks: a glimpse into the City's botanical past.”  Plant surveys were recently completed for a number of Detroit parks, including Belle Isle, Rouge Park and Palmer Park. While downtown Detroit may not be the first place people think of to study interesting plant communities, the surveys yielded some interesting results.  Suzan Campbell, former naturalist at the Belle Isle Nature Center, will provide an overview of the parks, survey results and a comparison of these results with historic plant records. This meeting will be held at the Birmingham Unitarian Church, 38651 Woodward, Bloomfield Hills.  The church is located on the west side of Woodward, just north of Lone Pine.  The parking lot is accessible from both southbound Woodward and Lone Pine.  We will be meeting in the Commons Room.  As you approach the main entrance door from the parking lot, take the sidewalk on the left and watch for signs on the small door.

March 6, Sunday, 2:00 pm    “Highlights of a Visit to China” by Nancy Duffy.  Nancy, a long time local oriental gardener, will present pictures of the people, landscapes and a few outstanding Chinese gardens.  Join us at the Royal Oak Senior and Community Center, 3500 Marais, Royal Oak.  The Center is located on Marais, 2 blocks north of 13 Mile.  Marais is located between Crooks Rd. and Main St.  There is a light at Marais and 13 Mile.

April 3, Sunday, 2:00 pm.  Herbarium Tour.  Have you ever toured a herbarium?  Do you know what makes a good herbarium specimen?  How do botanists make use of an herbarium?  Barbara Madsen, HVC member and interim Collections Manager at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, will give us a tour of  the herbarium there.  Did you know members of the Southeastern Chapter originally organized that herbarium?  We will meet at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, 39221 Woodward, Bloomfield Hills.  Enter the Cranbrook Community from the Woodward entrance (north of Lone Pine) and follow the signs to the Institute of Science.  We will meet in the basement (there is an elevator) in Learning Lab G.  No museum entrance fee for MBC program attendees.

---

MEMBERSHIP  RENEWAL

Our 2005 membership year began on January 1, 2005.  Please use the enclosed form to renew your membership.  Those of you who have e-mail may wish to include your e-mail address.  It will not be published  in our directory, or distributed to anyone.  Our president will use it only to send meeting reminders. Even though the state dues for all chapter members increased by $2.00 for 2005, your Board voted not to increase chapter dues this year.

FALL  FIELD  TRIP  REPORT

Our fall field trip was held on October 23 at the Douglas-Evans Nature Preserve in Beverly Hills. Situated on the main branch of the Rouge River, the preserve contains a reconstructed open meadows/grass prairie and a remnant of a beech-maple hardwood forest, both of which are rare in an urban area. The trip was interesting and informative, and the fall colors were spectacular.  Eleven people participated in the field trip in spite of thundershowers being predicted for that morning. The tour leader was Lillian Dean, coordinator of Healthy Lawns and Gardens, S. E. Oakland County Water Authority (SOCWA), and the Rouge Green Corridor Project. Also with the group were Sal Hansen, forest specialist from the Oakland Conservation Department; Doris Applebaum, butterfly specialist; Carol Alexander and Barbara Bini, specialists in prairie ecology; and Howard Knorr and Joe Allen, specialists in invasive removal. Members of the Audubon Society were present, in addition to members of the SOCWA and members of the SE Chapter of the Michigan Botanical Club.

Catherine Douglas, long time resident of Beverly Hills, originally donated the 18.6 acre site of the preserve to the village in 1973, with the stipulation that it be maintained as a nature preserve. The present prairie habitat was reconstructed over a storm water retention basin, installed in 1995. Paul W. Thompson, active for many years in the SE chapter of the MBC, had a major role in the establishment and development of the prairie habitat in this preserve. There is a stone marker in the preserve commemorating his contribution.

The preserve is notable for its biodiversity, which includes 19 species of butterflies and 130 species of birds, in addition to the many prairie and woodland species of plants. The plants seen by the group in the prairie habitat included switch grass, Indian grass, big and little bluestem grasses, wild bergamot, heal-all, and goldenrod. In the hardwood forest remnant, the group found beech, ironwood, butternut hickory, shagbark hickory, red oak, white oak, swamp oak, and sugar maple. 

Lillian Dean emphasized the need for more public involvement in maintaining the preserve’s biodiversity.  She said that one of the biggest problems in the preserve is that of invasive plants. These include crown vetch and spotted knapweed in the prairie habitat and garlic mustard, buckthorn, and honeysuckle in the woodland areas. As a result, a reduction in biodiversity is gradually taking place. Also, poplars are encroaching on the prairie, gradually reducing prairie habitat.  Active management is needed to prevent the prairie from following natural succession to woodland.

 By Dorothy Holden

---

FINANCIAL   SUMMARY

Receipts toward dues supported programs:

Dues for 2004 membership year                 1,030.00

Interest                                                            54.70

TOTAL                                                      1,084.70

Accrued expenses for dues supported programs:

MBC state organization dues                         294.00

The Michigan Botanist                                   318.00

Newsletter and publications                           394.39

Programs                                                       311.00

Administrative expenses                                   10.00

TOTAL                                                      1,327.39

The club treasury fund balances at the close of the fiscal year ending July 31, 2004 are as follows:

General fund                                             13,818.43

Tribute fund                                                1,961.13

Book sale fund                                           1,063.41

Submitted by Richard Fowler

---

JOB  OPPORTUNITIES

Margaret Converse is retiring from her position as refreshment coordinator for our monthly meetings.  If you would like to volunteer, call Emily Nietering at 313-278-9269.

Dan Skean is resigning as Business and Circulation Manager of The Michigan Botanist.  The State Board is currently searching for his replacement.

---

DETROIT PARKS:a glimpse into the City's botanical past

Plant surveys were recently completed for a number of Detroit parks, including Belle Isle, Rouge Park and Palmer Park.  The surveys yielded some interesting results. A particularly notable occurrence was the first Michigan record ever for nodding rattlesnake root (Prenanthes crepidinea),  predicted by Ed Voss, but never collected here, prior to its discovery in Rouge Park.

Natural areas in the parks include some excellent examples of southern floodplain forest, southern mesic forest on old beach ridges and hardwood bottomland forest with pumpkin ash (Fraxinus profunda) and Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii). As natural areas are being developed rapidly throughout the glacial lakeplain, these relicts provide insight in the forest types that were once common in the area but are now disappearing.

Funding for the surveys was provided by USFWS's Coastal Program, and USEPA, Region 5, with staff support from the Detroit Recreation Department. If anyone is interested in obtaining digital copies of the surveys, please email Suzan Campbell in advance at: slcampbe@umich.edu

Other rare plants recorded in the course of the surveys included:

Cupplant -Silphium perfoliatum (State Threatened)

Virginia Water-horehound Lycopus virginicus (State Threatened)

Woodland Lettuce Lactuca floridana (State Threatened)

James Sedge Carex jamesii

Wahoo Euonymus atropurpurea

Shellbark Hickory Carya laciniosa

Clear-scale Sedge Carex hyalinolepis

Pawpaw Asimina triloba

Spring Avens Geum vernum

Harbringer of Spring Erigenia bulbosa

Green Dragon Arisaema dracontium

Muskingum Sedge Carex muskingumensis

 Bittersweet Celastrus scandens

Blackgum Nyssa sylvatica

---

MICHIGAN  BOTANICAL  CLUB - SEC  MEMBERSHIP  FORM

Membership year runs from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005

On the lines below, please make any corrections needed from the mailing label.

NAME: ______________________________________________ PHONE: (         ) _______________

ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________________________

CITY, STATE, ZIP (+4 please): ________________________________________________________

E-Mail address_________________________________________(will not be printed or distributed)

_______$20-Individual Adult                                          _____ Check here if you do not want your

_______$20-Family Membership                                              phone number listed on the roster

_______$30-Benefactor

Dues include subscription to the journal Michigan Botanist, the state newsletter Arisaema,

and the Southeastern Chapter Newsletter.

 

Please make your check payable to:   MICHIGAN  BOTANICAL  CLUB - SEC  

 

           and mail to:                                                      Mr. Richard Fowler

                                                                                    2045 McIntosh Drive

                                                                                    Troy, MI 48098-2238

                                                                                    Phone: (248) 828-2952