Among Rhode Island Wild Flowers and Native Plants

NEWS
Last Updated:
July 24, 2017

The
Amateur
Botanist

Current Article:
Rare Plants of City Park,
Warwick, RI

For past Amateur Botanist
articles, click HERE.

Big River MA
Rare plants found in the
Big River Management Area

ARIW has partnered with the
New England Carnivorous Plant Society to develop a catalog of the Carnivorous plants growing in RI.

RI Ferns
ARIW has teamed up with
Don Lubin to produce an article
about the ferns found in RI.

RI Equisetopsida,
Lycopodiopsida
and Isoetopsida
Horsetails, Club-mosses,
Fir-mosses, Spike-mosses
and Quillworts
Formerly known as
the Fern Allies

RI Orchids

RI Violets

Oddities

References

Who we are

 

What plant is that?

Click on photo below
to view larger image.

Top three photos:
© Francis R. Underwood 2021
Bottom photo: kbarton

The mystery plant for December 2021
is a perennial with evergreen leaves.
This plant and its inflorescence
is about 5-10" tall.
Two opposite leaves
grow at the base of the plant
while a whorl of three or more
larger leaves are found n
ear the base of the inflorescence.
The leaves are 1-2" long and
more or less leathery and glabrous
in texture.
The margins of the leaves
have dentate teeth and
are dark green striped
with white along the midvein
and the primary lateral veins.
The surface of the lower leaves
is a lighter green in color.

The stem ends in an inflorescence
with an umbel of 2-6 flowers.
Each flower is 1/2 to 3/4 inch across
and has 5 white petals,
5 green sepals and 10 stamens
which are pink in color. 
The flowers are very fragrant
and are bumble bee pollinated.
The foliage is toxic to sheep
and avoided by deer.  
Gil George says the plants
bloom from July 6 to August 1.
Gleason and Cronquist
describe this plant as a
low perennial evergreen half-shrub
growing from a creeping rhizome.
It requires a well-drained
and sandy soil.

Items of Interest

Spring —a poem by Willam Whitman Bailey

Spring Fever —a spring blooming calendar with images

Printable 2 page Spring Blooming calendar with status codes

US Forest Service has
Fern coloring pages (6 ferns native to RI) and a Celebrating Ferns Poster available on its website.

An Manual of Florinthology for Beginners
A spoof of field guides and nature fakers by Robert Williams Wood, a well-known physicist in the field of ultra-violet radiation
. Includes his biography and a description of the "Nature Fakers" controversy.

Animal Analogues
Due to the interest in the Flornithology Manual, I'm adding Robert Williams Wood's second/last field guide. You will now be able to tell an ape from a grape.

Rhode Island Rare Plants 2016

Sixty RI Wild Flower coloring pages.
Available as eiither individu
al plants or the complete collection in a pdf.

Natural history and wild flower books Previously serialized books on natural history and wild flowers

The Mushroom Expert
A poem.

Common Plant Names
A compendium of nomenclature
of common wildflowers that has
been lost over the past 150 years.

Virtual Field Trips
Robert Zottoli
Professor Emeritus, Fitchburg University

Luncheon Special: Lady-slipper Salad
Thomas J. Rawinsk's article on the impact of deer browse in RI.

For more information on the impact of deer browse from the American Institute of Biological Sciences, click here.

The Vacant Lot
by Rose Korawlesky. Rose was a teacher in Warwick from the 1920's to the 1950's. She was well-known in Warwick and East Greenwich for her daily walks whatever the weather.

William Whitman Bailey
2009 Rhode Island
Distinguished Naturalist

Updates on nomenclature

Links to Botanical sites;
both fun and serious.