HEBERLING LAB

  • Welcome
  • People
  • Publications
  • Photos
  • Collected on this day!
  • Welcome
  • People
  • Publications
  • Photos
  • Collected on this day!

Collected on this day...

a weekly blog featuring specimens in the Carnegie Museum herbarium.
Each specimen has an important scientific and cultural story to tell.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation grant no. DBI 1612079 (2017-2019) and DBI 1801022 (2019-2022). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

July 1925: 96 years ago

7/28/2021

Comments

 
Picture
A flower with no leaves?
 
This leafless specimen was collected in July 1925 in Rock Run, Forbes State Forest in Rector, Pennsylvania.  This site is not far from what would only a few decades later became Powdermill Nature Reserve, the field station of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 
 
This specimen was collected by Otto Jennings, an influential botanist and curator at Carnegie Museum.  Jennings had many roles during his 60 years at the museum (1904 until his death in 1964), including Director of Education and even Director of the museum.  He was also a university professor at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the Head of the Department of Botany and later, the Head of the newly formed Department of Biological Sciences in 1935.  On top of that, Jennings somehow was a prolific plant collector, among the top contributors to the Carnegie Museum Herbarium with nearly 35,000 specimens and more distributed in collections across the world.
 
So, where’d the leaves go on this specimen? No, it isn’t parasitic. Wild leeks (also called ramps), Allium tricoccum, has a unique phenology, or timing, of leaf out and flowering. The species emerges very early in the spring, among the earliest in our woods. In this way, the species is a typical “spring ephemeral.” The long leaves soak up the sun before being shaded out by tree canopies a month or two later.  At that point, the leaves dies back.  However, unlike other spring ephemerals, wild leek does not flower in the spring.  Instead, months later, in July, the leafless plants send up a solitary flowering stalk.  This is quite unusual – a flower coming out of the ground in the middle of the woods, with no signs of leaves.
 
Wild leeks or ramps are in the onion family (Amaryllidaceae, formerly Alliaceae), forming bulbs with a distinctive onion flavor and ball shaped flower heads typical in the onion family. Ramps are edible, with a long history of human use by native people and European settlers. Ramp festivals are common throughout Appalachia to this day. However, the species is prone to exploitation and overharvesting, so do not harvest without permission and following sustainable practices to not affect the population.
 
The species is often treated as having two varieties: var. tricoccum (wild leek) and var. burdickii (narrow leaved wild leek). It depends who you ask, but more studies are now more clearly showing that this species may in fact be multiple species based on very distinct phenology (timing of flowers) and leaf traits (color, width).  This case highlights the importance of herbarium specimens in documenting our flora and understanding the complexities of biological diversity.
 
Also note the small label added to this particular specimen recording this specimen was used in the taxonomic treatment of the species in the Flora of North America, identified by T.D. Jacobsen who co-authored the treatment. Dr. Jacobsen is the current director of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at nearby Carnegie Mellon University.
 
Keep an eye out for those leafless flower stalks in the woods!
 
Find this ramps specimen and 174 more in the Carnegie Museum Herbarium here: https://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=328&taxa=Allium+tricoccum&usethes=1&taxontype=2
Picture
Picture
Left: The leaves of wild leeks carpeting the forest floor in early spring.
Right: The solitary flower stalks poking through other vegetation in mid-summer.
Comments

    RSS Feed

      Suggest a specimen!

      Your birthday, favorite species, collected by your house, a particular collector, etc...?
      [object Object]
    Submit

    Archives

    January 2025
    October 2024
    January 2024
    September 2023
    May 2023
    October 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All
    Amaryllidaceae
    Anacardiaceae
    Apiaceae
    Apocynaceae
    Aquifoliaceae
    Araceae
    Araliaceae
    Asparagaceae
    Asteraceae
    Balsaminaceae
    Betulaceae
    Boraginaceae
    Brassicaceae
    Cactaceae
    Caprifoliaceae
    Caricaceae
    Caryophyllaceae
    Celastraceae
    Climate Change
    Convolvulaceae
    Cornaceae
    Cucurbitaceae
    Cultivated
    Cupressaceae
    Dioscoreaceae
    Dryopteridaceae
    Ericaceae
    Euphorbiaceae
    Fabaceae
    Fagaceae
    Geraniaceae
    Hamamelidaceae
    Holiday Posts
    Introduced Species
    Lamiaceae
    Lauraceae
    Life History Series
    Liliaceae
    Limnanthaceae
    Lycopodiaceae
    Magnoliaceae
    Malvaceae
    Melanthiaceae
    Melastomataceae
    Montiaceae
    Myristicaceae
    Oleaceae
    Onagraceae
    Orobanchaceae
    Oxalidaceae
    Papaveraceae
    Paulowniaceae
    Pinaceae
    Plantaginaceae
    Plants Of The Anthropocene
    Poaceae
    Poisonous
    Polemoniaceae
    Polygonaceae
    Primulaceae
    Pteridaceae
    Ranunculaceae
    Recollected
    Recollection
    Rhamnaceae
    Rosaceae
    Rubiaceae
    Salicaceae
    Santalaceae
    Sapindaceae
    Scrophulariaceae
    Simaroubaceae
    Solanaceae
    Staphyleaceae
    Type Specimens
    Ulmaceae
    Undetermined
    Urban Plants
    Violaceae
    Vitaceae