january-february 2010 sego lily newsletter, utah native plant society

8/9/2019 January-February 2010 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

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Sego Lily January 2010 33 (1)

January 2010 Vol. 33, No. 1

In this issue:

Smooth as a Daisy, Pretty as an Aster, and Still Here: Erigeronglabellus in Salt Lake and DavisCounties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Bulletin Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Every Species Counts: The Deer

Creek Bio-blitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6The Real Sages: Salvia . . . . . . . . . . 11

Copyright 2009 Utah Native Plant Society. All Rights Reserved.

When authors of printed floras , with their highly limited space, dangle tantalizing tidbits relating tothe rarity or lack of current information about a given native plant species, the antenna of interested readers begin totwitch.

In the Flora of the Central Wasatch Front (an account of specimens housed at the Garrett Herbarium on the Uni- versity of Utah campus and further restricted to collections in mainly Salt Lake and Davis counties) by Lois Arnow,Beverly Albee, and Ann Wyckoff, such a comment was made about Smooth fleabane (or daisy), Erigeron glabellus Nuttall. That offering was: Not reported from higher elevations in our area and not collected since 1946.

Such highly appreciated comments have been known to cause madness in certain native plant obsessed individu-als.

On Saturday, June 6, 2009, such an individual decided that instead of working in front of a [continued on page 4]

Smooth as a Daisy, Pretty as an Aster, and Still Here:Erigeron glabellus in Salt Lake and Davis Counties

By Tony Frates

Left: Smooth fleabane ( Erigeronglabellus) by Tony Frates


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Utah Native Plant Society

Officers

President: Walter Fertig (Kane Co) Vice President: Kipp Lee (Salt Lake Co)Treasurer: Charlene Homan (Salt Lake

Co)Secretary: Mindy Wheeler (Summit

Co)Board Co-Chairs: Bill King (Salt Lake

Co) and Dave Wallace (Cache Co)

UNPS Board: Loreen Allphin (UtahCo), Robert Fitts (Utah Co), Susan Fitts(Utah Co), Ty Harrison (Salt Lake Co),Celeste Kennard (Utah Co), MargaretMalm (Washington Co), Larry Meyer(Salt Lake Co), Therese Meyer (Salt

Lake Co), Leila Shultz (Cache Co),Maggie Wolf (Salt Lake Co).

CommitteesCommunications: Larry MeyerConservation: Bill King and Tony

Frates

Education: Ty HarrisonHorticulture: Maggie Wolf Invasive Weeds: Susan FittsRare Plants: Walter FertigScholarship: Bill Gray

Chapters and Chapter PresidentsCache: Amy Croft and Michael PiepCedar City: Marguerite SmithEscalante: Harriet PriskaFremont: Maria UlloaManzanita: Walter FertigMountain: Mindy WheelerPrice: Mike HubbardSalt Lake: Marni AmbroseSouthwestern/Bearclaw poppy: Mar-

garet MalmUtah Valley: Celeste Kennard

Website: For late-breaking news, theUNPS store, the Sego Lily archives,Chapter events, links to other websites(including sources of native plants andthe digital Utah Rare Plant FieldGuide), and more, go to unps.org.Many thanks to Xmission forsponsoring our website.

For more information on UNPS:Contact Bill King (582-0432) or SusanFitts (801-756-6177), or write toUNPS, PO Box 520041, Salt Lake City,UT, 84152-0041 or [email protected]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sego Lily Editor: Walter Fertig([email protected]). The deadline forthe March 2010 Sego Lily is 15 Febru-ary 2010.

Copyright 2009 Utah Native PlantSociety. All Rights Reserved

The Sego Lily is a publication of theUtah Native Plant Society, a 501(c)(3)not-for-profit organization dedicatedto conserving and promoting steward-ship of our native plants. Use of con-tent material is encouraged but re-quires permission (except where ex-empted by statute) and must be cor-rectly credited and cited. Articles,photographs and illustrations submit-ted to us remain the property of thesubmitting individuals or organiza-tions. Submit permission requests [email protected]. We encourage read-ers to submit articles for potentialpublication. By submitting an article,an implicit license is granted to printthe article in the newsletter or otherUNPS publications for reprint withoutpermission (in print and electronicmedia). When submitting an article,please indicate whether it has beenpreviously published or submitted forconsideration to other publications .

Chapter News

Escalante: On December 8, thechapter held its annual Christmasparty at the Priskas new home.Members braved 8 inches of freshsnow to attend and donated over 65food items for the Care and Shareprogram.

We have a full slate of meetingsplanned for early 2010. On Tues-day, January 12th, DeborahMcLaughlin, USU extension secre-tary, will discuss extending thegrowing season using greenhouses,

cold frames, and raised beds. OnTuesday, February 9th, Alan Titus,paleontologist with the Grand Stair-case-Escalante National Monument will talk about Plants the Dinosaurs Ate. Both meetings will be held atthe BLM-Interagency Visitor Centerat the west end of town at 7 PM. Harriet Priska

Manzanita (Kane County):Monday, January 11: Dr. Mark Miller of the US Geological Survey

Biological Resources Division, willspeak about a number of researchprojects the USGS is doing insouthern Utah. These includemonitoring of the endangeredShivwits milkvetch, tracking inva-sive weeds in Washington County,studying impacts of fire on soils inthe Milford Flats area, and analyz-

ing effects of range managementactivities on soil properties. The

meeting will be held at 7 PM at thenew Southwest Applied Technology College at 733 South Cowboy Way (across from the Kanab MiddleSchool and behind the high school).Please note this is a different loca-tion than usual.

Wade Parsons from the GrandStaircase Escalante Partners groupspoke to our group in November ona project involving the Grand Stair-case and Kanab High School stu-dents in growing native plants forrestoration in the high school green-house. This was followed by a shortpresentation that I gave on the DeerCreek bio-blitz project (discussed ineven more detail in the article start-ing on page 6 of this issue). W. Fertig

Southwestern: Monday, January 4, 2010, Rick Heflebower, USU Ex-tension Horticulture and NaturalResources specialist, is presenting aprogram designed to answer those


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Bulletin Board

Fremont Chapter Publishes 2010 Wildflower Calendar

The Fremont Chapter 2010 calen-dar is ready to order just in time forholiday giving. Celebrate the Wild calendar is a unique gift that the wa-

ter wise gardener and native plantenthusiast will enjoy all year long.(See the sample page below toarouse your curiosity and nudge youto purchase a calendar and see justhow marvelous the other 11 monthsare!) The price is the same as last year- $10.00 each or $8.00 for 10 or more; plus shipping $1.75 for eachcalendar.

We would like to thank all of the gardeners who contributed photos of their gardens and their special native plants. The goal of producing thecalendar is to promote and support native plants and water wise garden-ing throughout the Intermountain West.

To order your calendar, please send a check or money order to:Fremont Chapter UNPS, c/o Janet Nielson, PO Box 104, Elsinore, UT84724. Or email [email protected], phone: 435-527-4866, or email [email protected], phone: 435-527-1234 or 801-599-9055- Fremont Chapter Calendar Committee

mid-winter questions about water-ing, pruning, mulching, and more.He also will inspire us with ways toget a start on those early springchores: seed planting, preparinggardens, and insect control.

Monday, February 1, 2010: Dr.Larry Higgins, Dixie State Professorof Botany, will share his extensiveknowledge of Utahs native plants,focusing on our southern area.Both programs will be at 7 PM at theSpringdale Canyon Community Cen-ter. Barbara Farnsworth

Utah Valley: Our next membermeeting will be on Friday, January 22 at 7 PM at Celeste Kennardshouse located at 160 N 400 E, inProvo. We have lots of ideas fornext year. Do you like to go on planthikes? Or like to garden with na-

tives? Or have a canyon you haveadopted or a plant you are especially concerned about? Maybe you wantto learn more about Utahs nativeplants or our Heritage Garden pro-gram? Come to this evening pro-gram and enjoy a look at what wehave done in the past year and helpus plan this years activities. CallCeleste for more information (377-5918) or email [email protected].

If you have not seen it yet, we willhave a copy of the new book Land-scaping on the New Frontier Waterwise Design for the Inter-mountain West at the meeting.

Robert Fitts and Susan GarvinFitts have been working in the UintaBasin for the last 3 years and will besharing some of their research withus. Robert will present a talk enti-tled Two rare Penstemons on oilshale land on Friday, February 5that the Monte L Bean Life ScienceMuseum on the BYU campus (645East 1430 North in Provo). We willmeet for a potluck dinner at 6 PM at

the museum and the presentation will begin at 6:45 PM. We will also be starting up our

Plants and Preschoolers hikes againthis spring, once the flower-produc-ing weather returns. April Jensenhas compiled a great list of hikes forthe Utah County area complete withdirections and what plants you arelikely to encounter. Make sure toemail me if you want to be includedin our weekly hike bulletin. Celeste Kennard


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computer screen that instead a wild-flower hunt of some/any kind would be highly preferable. After checkingon several locations for the status of Opuntia fragilis blossoms and of, well, anything in bloom, I decided tocheck on the status of known O. fragilis occurrences a t CrestwoodPark in the Cottonwood Heightsarea which I had not visited for sev-eral years, and which I had only seen previously in the fall. Crest- wood is a multi-use park which bor-ders a short remnant section of Lit-tle Cottonwood Creek in the SaltLake valley and is enclosed by hu-manity. Thankfully at least some

natural space has been preservedhere.I had no particular thoughts of

daisies as I ventured into the park but almost immediately I noticed aplant that looked Aster -ish. Yet, it was early June which here is not Aster -time. A closer looked indi-cated that it was an Erigeron . At theinitial location, the scattered plants were growing in fairly dry soil asevidenced by the fact that Spreading

Smooth as a Daisy, Pretty as an Aster, and Still Here:Erigeron glabellus in Salt Lake and Davis Counties

[continued from page 1]

fleabane ( E. divergens ), anothernative that occasionally turns upalong ignored Salt Lake County sidewalk strips and abandonedlots, was growing with it. Alsogrowing nearby was the noxiousLeafy spurge ( Euphorbia esula , aUtah state designated noxious weed which needs managementattention by SL County Parks &Recreation) and Melilotus offici-nalis (Yellow sweet-clover, whichshould be designated a noxious weed, and which also had a banner year).

While Smooth fleabane mostoften occurs near streams (one of

its common names being Stream-side fleabane) or in meadows, itoccurs in a number of differenttypes of habitats and elevations.In Utah, its distribution seems to be concentrated along the WasatchFront from Utah Co. to Cache Co. with some outlying occurrences inthe Uinta Basin and eastern Bea- ver Co. (the Digital Atlas also re-ports an occurrence in San Juan

Above: Smooth fleabane ( Erigeronglabellus ). Photo by Tony Frates.

Co.). The global distribution of thespecies is also curious. The speciesdoes not occur west of Utah or east-ern-central Idaho. Instead it occursfrom New Mexico to Montana, Ne- braska, the Dakotas, Michigan, Wis-consin, and in mainly western-central Canada to Alaska. Two va-rieties are recognized, var. pubes-cens (does not occur in Utah) and var. glabellus (ours).

So, this species is not globally rare nor is it Utah rare. It is, how-ever, among the vanishing nativeflora that once occurred in the val-leys and foothills of the increasingly populated Wasatch Front in north-ern Utah. If our Salt Lake chapter were to maintain a list of Salt LakeCounty Rare Plants (which itshould), this species would be on thelist.

While it does occur at high eleva-tions elsewhere (in Utah as least ashigh as 8,050 feet based on a 1995


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Sherel Goodrich collection fromUintah Co.), it has not been found athigher elevations in the central Wa-satch Front.

As I continued on my Saturday semi-nature walk, I encountered E.glabellus plants with several inac-tive bees appearing to be sleepingoff a late-night nectar party. Retired bee expert Dr. Vincent Tepedinoreviewed some pictures of these beesand initially indicated that crab spi-ders are common on fleabanes andthat they commonly catch and kill . .. . bees. So perhaps these bees werenot as happy as I might havethought (although I did not observeany spiders, so I would like to think that these bees arose from theirslumber and happily continued on with their tragically short lives). Dr.Tepedino further advised that these

are anthophorid bees and are probably Anthophora or, perhaps Diadasia (which he explained arenormally globemallow specialistsand not usually found on fleabanes).

As I continued to look for the ex-tent of these daisies at this unusualremnant occurrence, ultimately Icame across more ideal habitat with-out as many noxious weeds whereSmooth fleabane was growing with verdant grasses under river birch, apicture perfect spot suitable forframing. The plants under the birchcanopy grow even taller, up to aheight of roughly 20 inches.

Collections of Erigeron glabellus from Salt Lake and Davis Co. atGarrett Herbarium are shown inTable 1.

So, the 1946 collection date men-tioned by Lois Arnow in her classic work refers to the Albert O. Garrettcollection above from Davis Co. Thelast Salt Lake Co. collection, based

on Garrett Herbarium specimens,appears to be the 1925 City Creek Canyon specimen (which also re-fers to Pleasant Valley no doubtreferring to the area in the vicinity of the Pleasant Valley Reservoir which was closed in the 1950's). Inaddition to Garrett Herbarium'snamesake and one of our true pio-neer collectors, this list includesmoss expert and botanical illustra-tor without peer, Dr. Seville Flow-ers, and one of our earliest botani-cal educators who made numerousimportant local collections in theearly 1880's (yet he seems to bealmost lost to obscurity and whoneeds to be remembered as muchmore than just the first University of Utah Alumni Association presi-dent), Dr. Orson Howard.

We are fortunate to still have afew remnant patches of native

Above: Bee pollinating the disk flowersof Erigeron glabellus. Photo by Tony Frates.

plants that remind us of a heritage which has been largely lost. We areindebted to those who have pains-takingly documented at least someof this heritage, much of which willnever be seen again, and for those who continue to work to store, pro-

tect and preserve the knowledge of this heritage in special libraries of highly organized and processedspecimens of pressed, dried plants(i.e. herbaria). Our generation mustcontinue to work to save these few remaining open natural spaces withtheir valuable storehouse of ecologi-cal information that will very likely be highly desirable, if not essential,assets of the next generation.

Table 1. Collections of Erigeron glabellus from the Garrett Herbarium

Collector # Date Ecology/elev if any County A.O. Garrett 9373 May 13, 1946 Swampy meadow Davis A.O. Garrett 6284 June 23, 1933 Meadow, 4300 ft. DavisS. Flowers 200 June 15, 1929 Moist meadows, 4400 ft DavisUnknown ------ June 12, 1925 City Creek Canyon Salt Lake A.O. Garrett 2683 June 8, 1912 West SLC, 4300 ft. Salt LakeIrvin Fisher ------ June 7, 1888 Meadow west of SLC Salt LakeO. Howard ------ July 15, 1880 In flower Salt Lake


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By Walter Fertig

It was nearing mid-day as my team of intrepid botanical explorersclimbed out of Nazer Draw towardsthe pencil-thin shadow of a slot canyon in the Navajo Sandstone cliffsahead. We were already flushed with some success that early May morning, having documented sev-eral new plant species for the DeerCreek watershed checklist. Mo-ments before, we had checked off Hoods phlox ( Phlox hoodii ) andSmallhead sunflower ( Helianthellamicrocephala ) on a slickrock ledge.Neither species had been previously

reported during our weekend of botanizing in this picturesque canyon, located just 2 air miles north-east of Boulder, Utah. Our immedi-ate goal was the grove of Ponderosapine and Gambel oak at the mouthof the little slot canyon where we would find some welcome shade forlunch.

As we approached the canyon ourpath bisected a parallel row of neatly stacked black volcanic rocks mark-ing the route of the Long Neck pack trail. This path might be more obvi-ous farther up the south flanks of Boulder Mountain, but here, it waslargely invisible among the bare white slickrock. Just beyond thetrail were less orderly jumbles of black boulders amid deep pockets of white sand and scattered Pondero-sas, Utah serviceberry, and Green-leaf manzanita. A chocolate-coloredleopard-lily ( Fritillaria atropur- purea ) caught our attention, and Ichecked our plant list to see if it hadalready been documented (it had

not). We paused briefly to inspectthe flower and its odd, square fruits when something even more interest-ing caught my eye: a dwarf pepperwort mustard no more than sixinches tall with a ball-like head of white flowers.

I knew of Neeses pepperwort( Lepidium montanum var. neeseae )from doing some background re-search on the flora of the Boulderarea. It is a narrow endemic of

Every Species Counts:The Deer Creek Bio-Blitz

Above: Neeses pepperwort (Lepidiummontanum var. neeseae ) . Illustrationby Kaye Thorne.

Navajo sandstone outcrops withPonderosa pine or spruce-fir at7000- 9000 feet. Neeses pepper-

wort is known from less than adozen sites, all in Garfield County,and mostly along the flanks of Boulder Mountain. It is one of several locally endemic varieties of this polymorphic species, distin-guished from all others by its shortstature, perennial habit, entire or3-5 lobed leaves, glabrous foliage,and purplish sepals. I had neverseen it before, yet here it was, rightin front of us. I began taking notesand photos, as well as a sample to voucher the new location. Lunch would have to wait a little longer.

My colleagues, Linda Whithamof The Nature Conservancys(TNC) Utah Field Office, DeerCreek property owner Tom Hoyt,and Boulder organic farmer (andclassically-trained paleobotanist)Eric Feiler, and I were exploringthe slickrock country that fine day in early May 2008 as part of thesecond Deer Creek Bio-blitz. The

task of our botany team that week-end was to identify as many vascularplant species as possible in the mid-dle reach of the watershed. Simulta-neously, other teams of entomolo-gists, wildlife biologists, ornitholo-gists, bryologists, and ecologists were cataloging other componentsof biodiversity.

Bio-blitzes started in the early 1990s as a fun way to bring expertson plant and animal identificationtogether with interested members of the public to learn as much as possible about the biodiversity of a spe-cific area in a 24-48 hour period.The idea grew out of the Rapid As-

sessment Program (or RAP) devel-oped by several international con-servation groups in the 1980s toquickly identify and quantify speciesrichness in vulnerable areas of thetropics. Bio-blitzes are less formaland have a stronger public educa-tion component than traditionalRAPs, but can be just as useful a toolfor identifying lands that may be of conservation significance and forcreating local enthusiasm about na-tive biological diversity.

Deer Creek originates at nearly 10,400 feet on the south flank of Boulder Mountain in Dixie NationalForest. It meanders through steepNavajo Sandstone cliffs (somenearly 1000 feet thick) for about 17miles before joining Boulder Creek at 5,400 feet in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.Deer Creek and its major tributary,Nazer Draw, are bordered by ripar-ian bottomland forests of Lanceleaf,Narrowleaf, and Fremont cotton- woods, Water birch, and Silver buf-

faloberry. These woods are inter-spersed by wet meadows of Ne- braska sedge, Baltic rush, and Yel-low and Coyote willows. Surround-ing uplands are dominated by Na- vajo slickrock, scattered patches of Ponderosa pine, and more extensive woodlands of Utah juniper and Two-needle pinyon. Areas of deep sandsupport Basin big sagebrush andFourwing saltbush.


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Over the two full days of the event, we climbed sandstone slickrock cliffs, explored Utah juniper/two-needle pinyon woodlands, sloggedthrough riparian meadows anddense streamside forests, and in- vestigated roadside sagebrush anddisturbed meadow communitiesen route to tallying 256 differentspecies and varieties of vascularplants.

The insect team performed val-iantly, attracting hundreds of bugsto white sheets hung near buglights and catching insects with butterfly nets and pitfall traps. Alas, they came in a distant second with just 42 species identified(mostly to family or morpho-species). Birds were third with 40species, followed by mammals with 18 and reptiles/amphibians

with 10. All told, 366 animal andplant species were identified overthe weekend.

Among the botanical highlightsof the July bio-blitz was the dis-

The middle reach of the creek flows through private property bordered on two or three sides by public lands. As a perennial streamin a desert landscape, Deer Creek isa magnet for resident and migratory wildlife and is under increasing de- velopment pressure as people aredrawn to the Boulder area. Property owner Tom Hoyt and his wife Caro-line were interested in seeing theprivate lands in the Deer Creek wa-tershed protected, and first ap-proached TNC to create a conserva-tion easement in 2004.

Preliminary studies in the DeerCreek drainage and vicinity amply demonstrated the great potential of the site as a hotspot of native bio-logical diversity. Tom Hoyt, a Colo-rado businessman and consultant, wanted to convince his neighbors

that they should also help conservethe watershed. Linda Whitham sug-gested that a bio-blitz might be agood way to bring interested members of the Boulder community to-gether and gather a lot of useful in-formation on the proposed ease-ment. I was brought on board tocoordinate the botanical part of theeffort and to help persuade somezoologists and ecologists to lendtheir expertise.

It did not take a lot of persua-sion. With the Hoyts and TNCsponsoring the event, more than adozen professional and amateur bi-ologists descended on the Boulderarea on the weekend of July 20-222007 for the first Deer Creek Bio- blitz. Participants included ChrisPague of TNC; Keith Schulz, ecolo-gist with NatureServe; Kevin Wheeler, biologist from the UtahDivision of Wildlife Resources; Eve-lyn Cheng, entomologist with the USGeological Survey in Moab; Jim Cat-lin of the Wild Utah Project; Mary

OBrien and David Smuin of theGrand Canyon Trust; and numerousother neighbors and friends of theHoyts. The botany team, consistingof myself, Linda Whitham, TomHoyt, Mary OBrien, and Sedonalandscape architect and wildflowerphotographer Max Licher set out toexplore representative examples of the major vegetation types found inthe middle-reach of the Deer Creek drainage (an area of 4000 acres).

covery of Utah knotweed ( Poly-gonum douglasii var. utahense ) on asandy spit bordering the marly wet-lands of Nazer Wash. Utah knotweed occurs only in southern Utahand was first described by Brenkleand Cottam from a collection nearEscalante in the mid 1930s. Thisslender annual in the buckwheatfamily can be recognized by its tiny white flowers (related knotweedstend to be pink) that are widely flared at the tips and its slender,almost grass-like leaves. Utah knotweed is usually found in dry, uplandsites with deep sand and scatteredpinyon or juniper, so the smallpopulation at Deer Creek is unusual.The species is probably more abun-dant on the surrounding mesa topsand the Nazer Wash patch may beephemeral.

Another important find was therecognition of a new vegetation typethat may be restricted to the Boul-der/Escalante area. The uppermostslopes of Navajo Sandstone mesas

Left: Utah knotweed ( Polygonum douglasii var.utahense ), a Utah endemicoriginally described fromthe Escalante area and dis-covered at Deer Creek in 2007. Illustration by W. Fertig


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Left: volcanic boulders overly-ing Navajo Sandstone slick-rock cliffs provide habitat for the Bigelow sagebrush-Bluegrama vegetation type, whichmay be restricted to the vicin-ity of Boulder and Escalante insouth-central Utah. Photo byW. Fertig

bordering Deer Creek are covered by black volcanic boulders, similar tothe ones we encountered at theNeeses pepperwort site. These ig-neous rocks are vivid reminders thatBoulder Mountain has a volcanicpast. The rocks were emplaced intheir present location by ancientrivers and streams draining the

Aquarius Plateau. Today, these boulders and smaller volcanic rockstrap wind-borne sand to create ashallow layer of soil directly over theslickrock. Such sites support an un-usual plant community dominatedlocally by Bigelow sagebrush ( Art-emisia bigelovii ) and Blue grama( Bouteloua gracilis ) or, less often,Black grama ( B. eriopoda ). From adistance, the Bigelow sagebrush-grassland can be easily recognized by the grayish-brown color of therock and vegetation, which contrasts with the stark whiteness of the Na- vajo sandstone slickrock. KeithShulz notes that the only other Bige-low sagebrush-Blue grama vegeta-tion reported in the literature occurson gray shales in New Mexico andotherwise differs significantly in as-sociated plant species. Volcanicrocks are also associated with Na- vajo sandstone in the Kolob area of Zion National Park, but this unusual

community type has not beendocumented there.

Building on the success of the2007 effort, TNC and the Hoytsdecided to conduct a second bio- blitz for the following year. In or-der to find a wider array of species, we decided to hold the 2008 eventin early May and to invite some

additional species experts. Joiningthe team in 2008 would be Dr.John Spence of Glen Canyon Na-tional Recreation Area, a notedauthority on bryophytes, but alsoskilled with lichens and birds; Dr.Larry Stevens and Jeri Ledbetterto focus on aquatic biology andinsects; Dr. Tim Graham of theUSGS for reptiles, amphibians,and invertebrates; Neil Perry andRhett Boswell of the Utah Divisionof Wildlife Resources to study birds and small mammals; Dr. JimCatlin and Allison Jones of the Wild Utah Project to assess ripar-ian systems; and an assortment of local Boulder property owners andinterested parties.

In 2oo8 the botany team fo-cused on new areas that were not visited the previous year, which is why we were exploring the slick-rock of the southern Dixie Na-tional Forest on the fateful day

when Neeses pepperwort was dis-covered. We explored more sandy areas in the vicinity and located asecond small colony of this rareplant. All told, we documentedabout 150 individuals and mappedout the population so that other re-searchers might relocate the plantsin the future.

By the end of the weekend the botany group had observed 21 vas-cular plant taxa not previously re-ported for the middle reach of theDeer Creek watershed. Combined with the results from 2007 and previous surveys done on the GrandStaircase-Escalante National Monu-ment, the known vascular flora of the study area now stood at 356 spe-cies. Of these, at least 10 were rareplants considered species of concern by the Utah Conservation Data Cen-ter. Alas, one of the rarest of thesespecies, the federally ThreatenedUte ladies -tresses orchid, continuedto elude us on the private lands inDeer Creek, though several areas of suitable habitat were present (thespecies is known from monumentlands just downstream).

John Spences moss, liverwort,and lichen team (consisting essen-tially of Spence himself, with somespecimens provided by the aquatic


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higher. As mentioned earlier, in-sect, bryophyte, and lichen diversity are probably higher than currently recognized, but even vertebrates and vascular plants may be under-counted based on additional speciesknown from the vicinity (as many as200 additional plant and animalsare known from the adjacent GrandStaircase-Escalante National Monu-ment). Several important taxo-nomic groups have also not beenstudied yet in the Deer Creek water-shed, including fungi and invertebrates other than insects.

As the yearly results of our bio- blitz show, the entire species diver-sity of an area cannot be readily documented during any single week-end. Only 54-57% of all the knownspecies were detected in each of ourtwo bio-blitzes, though cumula-

tively, our teams found over 80% of the known species of plants and ver-tebrates. The number of speciespresent at any site will always vary from year to year and season to

Below: Allison Jones holds a pocket mouse while Neil Perry looks on tomake the identification. The little ro-dent turned out to be a new species for the Deer Creek area. It was later re-leased unharmed. Photo by LindaWhitham.

specialists) found 35 bryophyte spe-cies and 16 lichens. Among themore notable finds was a first recordfor the state of Utah of the moss Anomobryum julaceum var. mexi-canum in a small hanging gardenand an observation of Crumia latifo-lia (a rare moss) on basalt bouldersin Deer Creek. According to Spence,the variety of habitats present atDeer Creek may support as many as25 more bryophyte species and morethan 100 additional lichen taxa.

The vertebrate teams also en- joyed success in the 2008 bio-blitz.The number of bird species for thearea increased from 40 to 58 (withanother 30 reported by local natu-ralists, mostly based on fall and win-ter sightings). Noteworthy amongthe bird species are five consideredpriority species by Utah Partners in

Flight, a conservation group focus-ing on rare birds that migrate toCentral and South America for the winter and other avian taxa at risk.The mammal team set up a series of live traps each night to catch (andlater release, unharmed) rodentsand small mammals that are toosecretive to be readily seen in thedaytime. Among their discoveries were new distribution records forthe Long-tailed pocket mouse andLittle pocket mouse. Perhaps themost celebrated discovery, however, was finding evidence of beaver natu-rally recolonizing Nazer Draw (teams observed a small dam andseveral recently gnawed trees). TheForest Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and private con-servation groups had been discuss-ing releasing beaver into the drain-age, but nature apparently had beaten them to the punch.

Larry Stevens, Tim Graham, andthe invertebrate team collected atleast 88 different species of insects

from 51 families. The 2008 samplesmore than doubled the number of known insect species in the DeerCreek watershed, bringing the totalto 122. Insect species richness ishigher than any other taxonomicgroup in the study area except for vascular plants. In reality, the number of insect species in the area isprobably much greater than cur-rently known. Several studies haveshown that insect diversity typically exceeds vascular plant diversity by a

ratio of 10:1, suggesting that thenumber of insects in the DeerCreek area might exceed 4,000species. More insects probably could have been found had morepitfall traps, nets, or warm bodies been available. Recording insectdiversity is also inhibited by diffi-culties in specimen identification(in some cases collections mightneed to be sent to taxonomic ex-perts for identification). Many insects also remain undescribed.Indeed, Tim Graham reports thathe may have discovered a new andunnamed species of sand treadercricket (genus Ammobaenates ) atDeer Creek.

Collectively, the bio-blitz teamsdocumented 388 species of plantsand animals in May 2008. Thisfigure is only about 5% higher than

the total sum of species found the year before. But of these new spe-cies, 191 (or nearly 50%) were new to the area. Between the two years, bio-blitzers documented 558taxa in the Deer Creek study area.Coupled with additional speciesreported for the area (but not ob-served in the 2007 or 2008 bio- blitzes), the total flora and fauna of Deer Creek stands at 675 species.

The actual number of species inthe watershed is undoubtedly


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Above: Boulder Mountain looms in thedistance above the middle reach of Deer Creek (foreground), surrounded bysteep canyon walls of white and reddish Navajo Sandstone. Photo by W. Fertig.

Below: Statistical summary of the 2007 and 2008 Deer Creek bio-blitzes. Notethat Cumulative Total column is thetotal number of species found over bothyears (about 50% of species were found in only one of the two years).

the identity of those cogs and wheels is critical for identifyingand prioritizing important conservation lands. Bio-blitzes are arelatively low cost and fun way tocatalog the various cogs and wheels that make the natural world go round.

season depending on climatic condi- tions, germination response, or ran-dom events. If we were to conduct athird bio-blitz at Deer Creek, a suit-able time might be a fall weekend to better capture migrating songbirdsand insects attracted to autumn- blooming shrubs.

The data collected during the two bio-blitzes has been extremely use-ful to The Nature Conservancy inquantifying the significance of theDeer Creek watershed as a hotspotof biological diversity. The enthusi-asm generated by the Hoyts hasspread to several of their neighbors, who are now also pursuing conservation easements to preserve theirproperties. Many residents of Boul-der are now much more aware andappreciative of the biological impor-tance of their corner of the world.

The bio-blitz was also a great way for scientists from different disci-plines to meet, collaborate, eat goodfood, and have fun doing what they love to do most tromp around inthe great outdoors identifying birds, bugs, and plants.

Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac that to keep every cog and wheel is the first precautionof intelligent tinkering. Knowing

TaxonomicGroup

# of Taxa found during 2007-2008 Bio-Blitz # of Taxaknown fromDeer Creek Watershed

Potential # of taxa in Deer

Creek Water-shed

2007 2008 CumulativeTotal

Lichens 0 16 16 16 130

Bryophytes 0 35 35 35 60

Vascular Plants 256 159 290 356 400-500

Insects 42 88 122 122 4000-5000

Fish 0 1 1 5 20 Amphibians 3 1 3 4

Reptiles 7 6 9 12 20

Birds 40 58 58 88 150-190

Mammals 18 24 24 37 50

TOTAL 366 388 558 675 4840-5980


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and has distinctive pinnately toothed and lobed leaves. Mostplants have blue or purple flowers, but populations associated withChinle badlands are often white-flowered and have been named as aseparate variety ( argillacea ) that isapparently endemic to Utah.

The most widespread and showy

native Salvia in the state is Dorrssage ( S. dorrii ). This low-growing woody shrub occurs in creosote bush, blackbrush, sagebrush, andpinyon-juniper communities of thesouthern Great Basin, Mohave De-sert, and Colorado Plateau areas of southwestern Utah. Dorrs sage hasa series of ball-like royal blue (orrarely white) flowers surrounded by purple bracts that stand out againstthe gray-green foliage. Like all truesages, it is pleasantly aromatic andattracts many pollinators. This spe-cies can be grown from seed sown inthe fall or from cuttings and is hardy over much of western and southernUtah. It thrives best if grown in well-drained, dry areas with full sun. According to Susan Meyer, Dorrssage also makes a good host plantfor gardeners interested in growingIndian paintbrushes ( Castilleja spp.). Dorrs sage is an outstandingaccent or specimen plant for the wa-ter-wise garden.

By Walter Fertig

Mention sage and most western-ers automatically think of the ubiq-

uitous sagebrush ( Artemisia triden-tata ) and its relatives in the sun-flower family (Asteraceae). Truesages, however, actually belong tothe mint family (Lamiaceae) and arerepresented by just a handful of spe-cies. Purple sage ( Poliomintha in-cana ) is a shrubby mint with aro-matic flowers and foliage, but it too,is not technically a sage. Only members of the genus Salvia can claimthe distinction of being authenticsages.

Botanists recognize nearly 900species of Salvia , making it the larg-est genus in the mint family. The vast majority of these species occurin the New World tropics, Himala- yas, and southwest Asia (especially Turkey). Perhaps the best knownspecies is the edible Garden sage( Salvia officinalis ). Others are culti- vated for their oils used to scentsoap and candles ( S. sclarea ) or asornamentals ( S. azurea, S. greggii, S. splendens, and others). Relatively few are native to the intermountain

west, but at least one has great po-tential as a garden species.Besides their characteristic

aroma, true sages share an unusualfloral feature that enhances theirpollination. Salvia s have just twostamens (nearly all other mints havefour), each consisting of a pair of long-stalked anthers attached to acentral filament like the two ends of a teeter-totter. Often only the upperanther is functional and producespollen. When a bumblebee lands onthe lower lip of the Salvia flower it bumps into the lower arm of the sta-men, causing the upper arm toswing downward and deposit a loadof sticky pollen on the bees back. Atthis stage the flower is functionally male or staminate and the pollen -receptive stigma (tip of the femalepart of the flower) is not mature. Ina day or so the style of the flower will elongate and the now ripestigma will be in a position to accept

Above: Dorrs sage (Salvia dorrii)blooming in Snow Canyon State Park,Washington County, UT. Photo by Steve Dahl.

pollen off the back of the next bee,to arrive (assuming the bee has just encountered the swinging sta-mens of a different Salvia flower).The ingenious pollination strategy of Salvia ensures cross-pollinationand greater genetic variability inthe plants progeny, which in turnmay help account for the unusually high species diversity in the genus.

Utah has just three native Sal-via species. Annual sage ( S. re- flexa ) has tiny blue or whitishflowers and entire to slightly toothed narrow leaves and occursin sagebrush or pinyon-juniperhabitats in widely scattered loca-tions across central and southernUtah. It is more widespread in theGreat Plains of North America andmay actually have spread west- ward into Utah during historicaltimes.

Another annual is Chia ( S.columbariae ), a primarily MohaveDesert species of Washington andKane counties. Chia has a ball-likehead of small flowers subtended by round, sharp-tipped leafy bracts

The Real Sages: Salvia


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january-february 2010 sego lily newsletter, utah native plant society

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