HEBERLING LAB

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Spring wildflowers in August? It turns out that quite a few of the spring wildflower species that carpet out forest understories in the spring actually remain through the summer, and some even into early fall! This specimen of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) was collected near Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada on August 30, 1913 by Otto and Grace Jennings.  Otto was a longtime curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum and Grace was a botanist and curatorial assistant at the museum.  They had several expeditions from early 1900s through the 1930s.  There are 4,362 specimens currently in the collection collected by them.

Photo below: Spectacular display of bloodroot at Trillium Trail, Fox Chapel, PA on April 23, 2015.

Bloodroot is one of my favorite spring wildflowers, among the earliest to bloom in our region.  It is aptly named after the color of its belowground perennial storage organ, called rhizome.  Many perennial wildflowers have these belowground structures for storage of carbohydrates, which accumulates through photosynthesis for reproduction (flowering/fruiting) and early growth the following year.  Bloodroot produced toxic alkaloids (sanguinarine) and has many medicinal and traditional uses by Native Americans.  In fact, it is FDA approved as an antibacterial agent in toothpaste, but has since been regulated due to suggested links to oral cancer. It was also an important plant dye.

Photo below:  "Bloody" belowground storage organs of bloodroot. 
​Credit: Slayerwulfe [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

This species can be seen in the Pittsburgh region and throughout western PA and, most noticeably in the spring, before trees leaf out, when it has a magnificent display of flowers.  However, its fruit and leaves can remain well into summer.
 
In our study of wildflowers at Trillium Trail (Fox Chapel, PA), we found bloodroot acquires about 1/3 of its annual carbon  in the summer (energy source for plants through photosynthesis) , and about 2/3 in the spring (before tree leaf out).  This study was recently published in the journal New Phytologist. Read the full paper here: https://rdcu.be/5zo7

Drawing by Allison Heberling (my awesome spouse!)

Expect more "recollected on this day" posts.  Last year, we botanists initiated a long term "recollection" project at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History where we are revisiting sites across western Pennsylvania on the same calendar day as former plant collectors to compare current plants to those of our historic specimens.  We are focusing on sites where collections are particularly strong -- southwestern Pennsylvania.  Many of these sites are now state parks, roadsides, or have been developed as residential areas and/or have been transformed by human activities altogether.

Some results from the first year of this project can be found in the new We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene exhibition at the museum.  These specimen recollections will grow the plant collection at the museum in a way to maximize future research.  For instance, we can compare phenology (for example, flowering times) and how they might be affected from a century of climate change.  We are also documenting introduced and invasive species which were absent from these sites 20, 50, or 100+ years ago, as well as native species which may no longer be locally present or abundant.  More results to come! 

And, who knows how scientists 20, 50, or 100+ years will use these specimens.

Collected on May 6, 1950, this specimen was found in Bedford county, PA by Werner E. Buker.   Buker was a math teacher at Perry High School, Pittsburgh and a long-time affiliate with the museum and the Botanical Society of Western PA.
 
This spring ephemeral has a great name: Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria).  The white flowers look like little pants hung out on a line to dry.  Bumblebees get nectar from this plant with the help of a long proboscis (tongue-like appendage).