Plant of the Week

Yellow star-grass

Hypoxis hirsuta (L.) Colville
other common names: star-grass
Hypoxis: an ancient Greek name for some plant with sour leaves, later transferred to this genus by Linnaeus. The Latin meaning of hypoxis is “somewhat acid.”
Hirsuta: from Latin, meaning generally “covered with stiff hairs”
Daffodil family: Amaryllidaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

An Interview with Chris Helzer: Part 1

How long have you been working to protect and reconstruct natural areas?
I got some experience in college through the Wildlife Club at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—we actually put together our own program through which we tried to help landowners write management plans and manage their sites. It was ambitious but naïve. Just what you’d expect from college students … 

Professionally speaking, I’ve been managing prairies for about 13 years, but I’ve been studying and working in prairies for almost two decades. My first real job out of graduate school was a land steward position with The Nature Conservancy, and I hit the ground running.

What was the catalyst that brought you to appreciate grasslands in the first place?
My college friend Steve Winter first introduced me to the idea that grasslands were kind of an underdog ecosystem, particularly in Nebraska where people tended to equate wildlife habitat and natural areas with trees. Steve pointed out that very few people knew much about prairies and even fewer were doing anything about their conservation. That got me interested, and it didn’t take much for me to be hooked once I started learning about them. I love to stand in a grassland where I can see from horizon to horizon without seeing a tree, and where I can feel like I’m completely enveloped by prairie. At the same time, I can also get tremendous satisfaction from being on my hands and knees in a tiny little prairie and exploring the complex worlds that exist down in the vegetation.

Hoary vetchling on a ridge top at Griffith Prairie in Nebraska. This is one of my favorite photos and also one of the simplest. It’s just a straight-on photograph of a flower, but the flower is perfect, the unopened buds are perfect, and the light was divine. This species grows in big sprawling masses of plants along the steep ridge tops of Griffith and other prairies on the edge between tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie in Nebraska.  

Bison at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve. Bison are both really easy and really difficult to photograph. Often, you can drive right up to the herd, but it’s still frustratingly hard to find them, get near them when the light is good, and have them arrange themselves into a pleasing composition for a photograph. On the other hand, just being in the middle of sandhills prairie with a herd of bison is a pretty neat thing, so it’s hard to complain.
 

Chris Helzer, author, The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States

This Week in Iowa Nature

Bumblebee queens emerge from their winter hibernation.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar

Plant of the Week

Snow-on-the-mountain
Euphorbia marginata Pursh
other common names: mountain snow, variegated spurge, white-margined spurge, wolf’s milk, milkweed (incorrect)
Euphorbia: named in honor of Euphorbus, who was a physician to King Juba of Numidia
Marginata: alluding to the broad white margins of the leaves, especially the upper leaves of the plant
Spurge family: Euphorbiaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

An Interview with Donald Huffman: Part 3

What advice would you give to beginning biologists? What are the particular challenges of being a biologist in the Midwest?
My advice to beginning biologists is to avoid being too narrow in basic science studies. Considering the importance of cellular and molecular-level biology in the past 50 years, don’t limit yourself to studying organismal or population-level biology. There is a tendency to specialize, but I feel this should be postponed until at least the graduate level, because you cannot predict how useful molecular and cellular techniques and knowledge may be in understanding any group of organisms. It goes without saying that anyone wishing to become a biologist should take advanced courses in chemistry and physics as well as math.

The challenges to a Midwest biologist are about the same as those encountered elsewhere. A broadly trained biologist should be able to function readily in any part of the world. Each region has its own peculiar challenges, and one of the greatest challenges in the Midwest is to understand the problems and solutions arising due to overuse of land for agricultural purposes. Ultimately biologists must join in the effort to correct the pollution and habitat damages that have reduced fertile topsoil and species distribution about 50% in the past 100 years. This means better cooperation among biologists and landowners as well as governmental agencies to help solve such problems as soil erosion, toxic pesticide residues, habitat destruction, etc.

What are your favorite natural areas in Iowa and the Midwest? What areas do you return to constantly, and what’s your favorite newly visited area?
I have several favorite natural areas in Iowa; one of them is a very disrupted habitat of abandoned strip mines where coal was removed. I enjoyed these areas in Kansas where I grew up, and I was glad to see similar habitats in Iowa. I found excellent fossil plants dating back to the Pennsylvanian era, about 350 million years ago. I saw many of the same fossils I had seen earlier and am glad that many of these are now in museum collections around the Midwest and beyond.

Another favorite natural area for me includes a number of the Iowa state parks in which we can find remnants of forested areas. These tend to have excellent mushroom habitats, and if I had to choose a favorite, it would be one from northeast Iowa such as Palisades State Park or Backbone State Park. I enjoy each type of state park but must admit a preference for the more mature forested areas.

My favorite newly visited area is the Loess Hills of northwest Iowa. I have not done serious collecting of mushrooms there, but I am attracted to the unique properties of this area.

You’ve been working on a very interesting blog-related project called BINGO ENGLISH. Tell us more.
BINGO ENGLISH is part of an online program to teach the English language in China. My first year of teaching in China was in mycology, but there was a greater need for English teachers than for biology teachers. I joined my wife in teaching writing and conversation at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. We taught 8 semesters in China, then were invited to join a writing team preparing a series of English-language textbooks for Chinese university-level students. This resulted in the publication of New College English (NCE), for which both my wife and I wrote and edited. We served as English editors through two editions of this comprehensive series—one book for each of 6 semesters of English—and to date NCE has sold more than 2 million copies and has been adopted by more than 550 universities and colleges in China.

BINGO ENGLISH is an online version of English-language instruction using the NCE books but targeted at noncollege individuals who wish to learn at their own pace with their choice of instructional packages.

My wife and I wrote many blogs about U.S. culture for inclusion in BINGO ENGLISH. Our colleague Ying Huilan showed some of these blogs to the editor of the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing. That resulted in about 80 of the blogs being included in the book Inside U.S. Culture and Life, recently published by that press as a supplemental book for English-language instruction in China.

 

Marasmius oreades (Bolt.: Fr.) Fr. (plate 87); edible

Fairy Ring Mushroom
    Cap 1–5 cm broad, rounded, maturing to bell-shaped to flat, often with prominent blunt knob; cream to reddish tan, fading when dry; dry, smooth; margin sometimes striate at maturity. Flesh thin; white or tan.
    Gills adnexed to nearly free, well separated; paler than cap, creamy white to buff.
    Stalk 2–7 cm long, 2–4.5 mm thick, equal; buff at top, darker brown at bottom, with dense white hairs at base; tough.
    Spores 7–10 x 3.5–6 µm, elliptical, tapered at one end, smooth; spore print white.
    Common, in groups or in fairy rings on lawns, pastures, and grasslands; spring, summer, fall.
    This is one of three species that commonly grow in fairy rings in grasslands such as lawns, golf greens, and pastures. The other two, Chlorophyllum molybdites and Agaricus campestris, are quite different and not likely to be confused with M. oreades. While A. campestris and M. oreades are highly recommended edible species, however, C. molybdites is poisonous. The pesticide history of the area should be known and considered, because M. oreades may take up some lawn pesticides. Clitocybe dealbata, a poisonous species, may be found in the same area with M. oreades. Thus M. oreades should be collected and identified carefully.

Photograph & caption from Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States: Second Edition

An Interview with Donald Huffman: Part 2

Tell us about the history of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States and about your coauthors.
 
I became interested in preparing a book about Iowa mushrooms about 1980 after several years of attending forays held by the North American Mycological Association, an organization with perhaps 25 professional mycologists who encouraged and worked with serious amateurs. 
     

My initial intent was to publish a small guide to some of the common mushrooms in Iowa. I had accumulated a fair-size collection of photos and thought I could prepare a book similar to those which NAMA members had published in other states. As I began to organize the book, I realized that if I attempted it alone, it would take me several years to complete.
    

For several years I had exchanged mushroom information with Lois Tiffany at Iowa State University. I called her to ask whether she would be interested in joining a mushroom book project. As usual, Lois was positive in her response. She asked if we could include George Knaphus, a botany teacher at ISU and a talented photographer who took the majority of mushroom photos which she used in her teaching materials. Beginning in 1981, we met nearly every month to look at photos, discuss the organization of the book, and share mushroom interests. 
    

It became evident that Dr. K’s mushroom photos were much better than most of mine. We realized that our area of collection was actually larger than Iowa alone, so we developed the concept of a regional book that would include the habitats we had collected from most heavily. Iowa State University Press published the book in 1989, and the 3,500 copies were sold out by about 1995.
     

In 2003, Holly Carver of the University of Iowa Press asked whether we would be interested in preparing a laminated guide to common mushrooms of Iowa. Lois and I agreed to prepare this, and it has been in print since 2004. George Knaphus had passed away, and Lois suggested that Rosanne Healy, a graduate student and departmental employee at ISU, join us in our effort. Holly then asked whether we’d consider preparing a 2d edition of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States. Rosanne Healy had by that time become a talented mushroom collector and photographer. Lois and I agreed that if Rosanne would join the project, we would prepare the 2d edition of MOFMUS.
    

After many meetings, the 2d edition of our MOFMUS was published by the University of Iowa Press in March 2008. We included George Knaphus as a collaborative author because of his major contributions of the 1st edition, and we added Rosanne as an author because of her excellent photos, her descriptions of truffles and false truffles, and her major editorial and photographic contributions.

What has changed in the outdoor world since your first days of trying to learn about it and protect it?
My earliest memories regarding environmental problems are related to the Dust Bowl Days in Kansas, where I grew up. On several occasions we were sent home from school as the dusty winds darkened skies and left their mark on the Midwest. I remember placing damp cloths on window sills and at the base of doors to keep dust from blowing into the house. Our parents told us that these storms were the result of unwise agricultural practices in the Midwest along with an elongated drought.

It seems to me that we had greater access to natural areas when I was young. There were fewer fences, and we picnicked or hiked nearly anywhere without feeling like intruders. I think we have greater and better governmental oversight of natural areas than we had in my early years. I am not sure whether this has actually improved the respect and care of natural areas, but it at least reflects society’s concern to avoid unnecessary neglect and misuse of natural resources.

I have been sensitized to a greater extent to the problem of overpopulation; throughout the world, this remains a major problem regarding environmental damage and adequate food for everyone. I see this concern as a moral imperative, and I hope I stressed this sufficiently in my last years of teaching university-level biology.

 

Hypsizygus ulmarius (Bull.) Redhead (plate 81); edible

Elm Pleurotus
    Cap 8–12 cm broad, rounded to flattened to somewhat depressed; white to buff; small scales on surface; margin inrolled at first. Flesh firm; white.
    Gills adnexed, moderately separated, broad; white to cream.
    Stalk 5–10 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm thick, nearly equal but sometimes expanded at base; white to sometimes yellowish at maturity; dry whitish hairs at top to nearly smooth in lower area.
    Spores 5–8 x 4.5–7 µm, nearly round, smooth; spore print white to buff.
    Single to clusters of two or three on hardwoods, particularly from branch scar sites on living or dead elms and box elders; fall.
    This edible species has a very tough stalk. The flavor is somewhat like that of Pleurotus ostreatus, which we consider a good edible mushroom. This late fall mushroom dries well and can be seen on trees into the winter. It was formerly called Pleurotus ulmarius.

Photograph & caption from Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States: Second Edition

Plant of the Week

 

Prairie turnip

Psoralea esculenta Pursh
scientific name, 2008: Pediomelum esculentum (Pursh) Rydb.
other common names: breadroot, pomme blanche, pomme de prairie, prairie potato, tipsin, tipsinna
Psoralea: from Greek, meaning “scurfy” or “scabby,” from the glandular spots on the leaves, stem, and calyx
Esculenta: from Latin esculentus, meaning “fit for food”
Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition