HEBERLING LAB

Signs of spring...in January?! You might be surprised that skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is among the earliest blooming wildflowers in western Pennsylvania.  Collected on January 25, 1950, this specimen was found by “Mr. Harrison” near Allison Park, PA.  Unlike most herbarium specimens, which are pressed and mounted to paper, this specimen is a dried three-dimensional flower.  Like other members of the Arum family (Araceae; which includes the common houseplants called “peace lilies”), their flowering structures consist of a sheath (“spathe”) with a spike of small flowers inside (the “spadix”).
 
Skunk cabbage grows in wet forested areas across the Eastern US.  Their flowers poke through the ground in February and March (or as early as December/January).  Their large “cabbage-like” leaves don’t emerge until later in the spring. Amazingly, its flowers produce heat that capable of melting the snow around it.  The flowers smell like rotting meat, which attract the flies that pollinate it, and as the name suggests, the leaves smell like skunk when crushed. 
 
Keep a look out for these flowers along wet woods in our area!
 
More pictures of this uniquely awesome plant at Trillium Trail (Fox Chapel, PA) can be found here: https://www.masonheberling.com/skunk-cabbage.html

​How do you fit the tallest plant in the world on an herbarium sheet?  On January 21, 1904, this California redwood specimen was collected by E. Dudley in Santa Cruz Mountains, California.  California redwood or coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is an evergreen tree, which can possibly live for up to 2,000 years and reach well over 300 feet in height! Discovered in 2006, the tallest individual ever recorded was 379.7 feet tall. The species is native to the United States, found in the iconic redwood forests along the coast of California and into Oregon.  

​Collected on January 12, 1935, this specimen of American hazelnut was found by John Franklin Lewis on Limestone Hill, near Connellsville, PA.  The herbarium at the California University of Pennsylvania is named after John Franklin Lewis.  American hazelnut (Corylus Americana) is a native shrub, found in woods across the Eastern US.  It is monecious, meaning it has separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  The structures at the end of many of the branches in this specimen are immature male flowers (called “catkins”), which remain present through the winter.  In spring, these male catkins hanging from their branches will flower to spread pollen in the wind.  The hazelnuts are produced from the female flowers.  This plant can be an important food for wildlife.  The nuts are said to taste similar to cultivated European hazelnuts, but are smaller.

​Some species are well adapted for life in the Anthropocene, commonly found in novel, human-made habitats such as roadsides, sidewalk cracks, farm fields, dumps and industrial sites.  One such plant species that particularly well suited to city life is “quickweed” (Galinsoga quadriradiata). It has many common names, including “Peruvian daisy,” “shaggy soldier,” and “fringed quickweed.” In fact, the species was once known locally as “Pittsburgh weed.” To our knowledge, this is the only example of a non-native species that was first recorded in North America in Pittsburgh (or at least among the earliest). It was introduced here from South America sometime in the mid-1800s.  Pittsburgh weed was first discovered by the courthouse in Pittsburgh by Judge John D. Shafer (1848-1926), a prominent lawyer and dean of Law School of the Western University of Pennsylvania (now University of Pittsburgh). An avid botanist, Shafer was also a founding member of the Western Pennsylvania Botanical Society. The specimen pictured here is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) specimen collected in North America, well outside its native range. It was collected 1869 in along the “Ridge St” railroad tracks in Allegheny City, which has since been annexed by Pittsburgh (now the North Side).  Keep a look out for this interesting species throughout the city, especially along sidewalk cracks and at the base of street signs and electric line poles.  It is now a common weed, and can be found in nearly every major city all over the world.

Below: Close up of original specimen label from the earliest collection (that still exists) of the species in Pittsburgh, collected in 1869.

Below: "Pittsburgh weed" (aka "quickweed") taken on October 13, 2017 in the lawn near the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Even though it was collected in Japan, this specimen might look familiar in Pennsylvania. This specimen of wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) was collected by M. Togashi in Japan in 1985. Native to East Asia, wintercreeper (also called Fortune’s spindle or climbing euonymus) was introduced to North America in 1907 for use as a ground cover.  In fact, it can be found just outside the Carnegie Museum, around the parking garage.  It can escape cultivation, to establish and become naturalized (sometimes invasive) in the Eastern United States.  Wintercreeper is a fast-growing woody vine which has evergreen leaves.  Wintercreeper is recognized as invasive by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR), with potential to cause ecological harm in natural areas (link).
 
Herbarium specimens are valuable resources to study invasive species -- not only to monitor changes through time (since introduction) and to track its spread across the US, but also to compare to populations growing in the native range.  Much untapped potential in herbaria worldwide for understanding species invasions.

Stumbled upon this neat little book from 100 years ago in the Botany library, which promotes the use of this plant as an ornamental.  The book was published in 1917, ten years after wintercreeper was introduced to the US.  Many states (including PA) now recognize this species as problematic or having the potential to become invasive.  [note: Evonymus radicans is a synonym for Euonymus fortunei var. radicans]

Below: Euonymus this morning outside the museum.  Probably not much photosynthesis happening this winter morning, given it is 0 °F (feels like -18°F​)!