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Shelby County |
CHAPTER IV -- FAUNA AND FLORAY (Cont'd)THE FLORA OF SHELBY COUNTY.By T. J. Fitzpatrick. The flora of Shelby county has been modified greatly by farming orations during the past fifty years. The native flora is greatly restricted in area and even, in the case of some species, brought almost to the verge of extinction. The breaking up of the prairie and the cutting of the few timber tracts give different soil conditions to a flora illy adapted to such sudden changes. With the settlers came a host of immigrant species which were well constituted to take advantage of the changing conditions. Thus the spectacle was presented of one flora disappearing and another taking possession. The total number probably remains about the same, but unfortunately the newcomers arc mainly tramps or weeds and by no means are an equivalent, economically or esthetically, for those disappearing. Owing to the fact that Shelby county has but little diversity of soil, the flora may be said to be not extensive. In the world there are nearly one hundred and fifty thousand known species of flowering plants. All told, Shelby county has about six to eight hundred different trees, shrubs, vines and herbs. The following floras, more or less well defined, occur in Shelby county: 1. --The sylvan flora. This exists only as small groves, either as second growth or remnants of the few timber tracts antedating the settlements. In many cases these groves are merely thickets, the remnants of a better grove or else the prototype of the coming forest. This flora carries its characteristic undergrowth of shrubs, vines and herbs. 2. --The prairie flora. Once a beautiful and abundant flora, but exists now only as a remnant. Originally the greater portion of Shelby county was a prairie with a characteristic flora. Within the past fifty years the prairie has almost if not quite disappeared. Its flora finds a scant survival along the borders of thickets, in out-of-the way places, along railways, open places in woods, and even a remnant may be found in pastures. 3. --The flora of low or moist grounds. The occurrence of this flora is quite restricted, but any alluvial or low-lying soil contains species belonging here. 4. --The aquatic flora occurs in ponds, streams or wet sloughs. 5. --The fields possess a flora that is distinctive and interesting, especially from an agricultural point of view. 6. --The waste places harbor most of our weeds. These are mainly the immigrants that give the farmer much trouble in resisting or eradicating them. These six floras often extend their borders into each other. For instance, the prairie flora borders the fields and the thickets, passes into the open places of the woods and even occupies to some extent thin woods. On the other hand, the sylvan flora may extend into the prairie or invade the lowlands, and the lowlands may pass by degrees into the aquatic flora. The characteristic trees of the sylvan flora are not of many species. The most common are the bur oak (qucrcus macroearpa), white oak (quercus alba), green ash (fraxinus viridis), hickory (carya alba), the pig-nut hickory (carva amara), the basswood or linn tree (tilia americana), soft maple (acer dasycarpum), box-elder (negundo aceroides), cottonwood (populus monilitera), quaking aspen (populus tremuloides), white elm (ulmus americana), honey locust (gleditschia triacanthos), cherry (prunus serotina), choke cherry (prunus virginiana), plum (prunus americana), crab apple (pyrus ioensis) and willows (salix longifolia and discolor). Of these, the soft maple, box elder, cottonwood and quaking aspen are mostly if not entirely introductions. Other introductions are the black locust (robinia pseudacacia), catalpa (catalpa speciosa) and the hedge (maclura aurantiaca). The shrubs are: Buckthorn (rhamnus lanceolata), prickly ash (xanthoxylum americanum), poison oak (rhus toxicodendron), red haws (crataegus coccinea and tomentosa), the cornels (cornus paniculata and sericea), elderberry (sambucus canadensis), black haw (virburnum lentago), hazel nut (corylus americana), grape (vitis riparia), the Virginia creeper (ampelopsis quinquefolia), and the gooseberry (ribes gracile). This sylvan flora has an undergrowth, mostly of herbs with a few vines or small shrub-like plants, that is sparse or abundant as the shade and soil conditions are suitable. Here the following plants are the ones most frequently found: Virgin's bower (clematis pitcheri), meadow rue (thalictrum purpurascens), wild columbine (aquilegia canadensis), two larkspurs (delphinium tricome and azureum), baneberry (actaea rubra), moonseed (menispermum canadensc), blue cohosh (caulophyllum thalictroides), bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis), dutchman's breeches (dicentra cucullaria), pepper-root (dentaria laciniata), common blue violet (viola cucullata), yellow wood violet (viola pubescens), callirrhoe involucrata, common in one locality in an open space, raspberry (rubus occidentalis), blackberry (rubus villosus), willowherb or fireweed (epilobium angustifolium), cow-parsnip (heracleum lanatum), honewort (cryptotaenia canadensis), sweet cicely (osmorrhiza longistylis and brevistylis), black snakeroot or sanicle (sanicula marylandica), horse-gentian (triosteum perfoliatum), coral-berry or buck brush (symphoricarpos vulgaris) found more along borders of thickets and along streams, wolfberry (symphoricarpos occidentalis), bed-straw (galium aparine), fleabane (erigeron philadelphicus), phlox (phlox divaricata), waterleaf (hydrophyllum virginicum), puccoon (lithospermum latifolium, morning glory (convolvulus sepium), heart-leaved umbrella-wort (oxybaphus nyctagineus), pellitory (parietaria pennsylvanica), carrion-flower (smilax herbacea), greenbrier (smilax hispida), great Solomon's seal (polygonatum giganteum), false spikenard (smilacina racemosa), white dog-toothed violet (erythronium albidum), wake robin (trillium erectum), Indian turnip (arisaema triphyllum), green dragon (arisaema dracontium) and a sedge (carex rosea). In the moist woodlands may frequently lie found the following ferns: Maidenhair (adiantum pedatum), lady-fern (asplenium filix-foemina), bladder fern (cystopteris fragilis), ostrich fern (onoclea struthiopteris) and grape-fern (botrychium virginiamum). These five not a large representation of the nearly four thousand known ferns of the world. In open places in the woodlands and in larger spaces, which are in fact miniature prairies, there is a flora that belongs more to the prairie flora and plants found here are mentioned in the list given for the prairie flora. Among the conspicuous flowers of the prairie flora arc the pasqueflower or Easter lily, not a lily at all. but a sort of an anemone and was called Anemone patens, variety nuttalliana, in Gray's old Manual. This is a very pretty species, once common on the highest prairies in the northern portion of Iowa. Being the first of the vernal flora to unfold its flowers above the dead grass, as is its usual habit, it presents a striking and welcome object in the early spring, turning the brown and seer hills to beautiful roseate tints. I have found this plant in full bloom the day after a melting snow storm. The plow has played havoc with the prairies, so this species lingers by the waysides or in open upland thickets and out-of-the-way places which have been untouched by the tillers of the soil. The flowers open in March or early in April immediately after the melting of the snow and are mostly fallen before May, though in upland thickets where the frost stays late in the ground, a few individuals may be found even so late as the last of June. The lengthening of the peduncle after flowering and the globular head of achenes with their long plumose styles give a striking aspect to the plant as it sways to and fro before the wind, a veritable little plumed knight of the prairies. Other prairie plants are rock-rose (helianthemum canadense), bird-foot violet (viola pedata), New Jersey tea (ceanothus americanus and ovatus), indigo (baptisia leucantha and leucopbaea), the pomme de prairie (psoralea esculenta) with its large turnip-shaped root much used by the Indians and explorers for food, silver-leaf psoralea (psoralea argophylla), white prairie clover (petalostemon candidus), violet prairie clover (petalostemon violaceus), ground plum (astragalus caryocarpus), lead-plant (amorpha canescens), vetch (vicia americana), cinque-foil (potentilla arguta), rose (rosa arkansana), prairie primrose (oenothera serrulata), button snake-root (eryngium yuccaefolium), prairie bluets (Houstonia augustifolia), golden-rods (solidago speciosa and nemoralis), asters (aster sericeus, multiflorus and azureus), blazing-stars (liatris scariosa, pyenostachya and squarrosa), everlasting (antennaria plautaginifolia), compass-plant (silphiuni laciniatum), cup plant (silpbium perfoliatum), rosin-weed (silphium integrifolium), ox-eye (heliopsis scabra), purple cone-flower or Black Sampson (echinacea angustifolia), sunflowers (helianthus rigidus and occidentalis), tickseed (coreopsis palmata), yarrow (achillea millefolium), Indian plantain (cacalia tuberosa), false calais (troximon cuspidatum), butterfly-weed (asclepias tuberosa), gentian (gentiana puberula), prairie phlox (phlox pilosa), puccoon (lithospermum canescens and angustifolium), false gromwell (onosmodium molle), ground cherry (physalis lanceolata), painted-cup (castilleia sessiliflora), lousewort (pedicularis canadensis), prairie sage (salvia lanceolata), skullcap (scutellaria parvula), umbrella-wort (oxybaphus hirsutus and angustifolius), prairie willow (salix humilis), blue-eyed grass (sisyrinchium angustifolium), star-grass (hypoxis erecta), lily (lilium philadelphicum), sedge (carex pennsylvanica), porcupine grass (stipa spartea), blue-stem (andropogon furcatus) the common prairie grass, koeleria (koeleria cristata) and manna grass (glyceria nervata). In the low grounds where there is a moist soil the following species may be found: Small-flowered crowfoot (ranunculus abortivus), buttercup (ranunculus septentrionalis), cress (cardamine rhomboidea), water-cress (nasturtium palustrc), horseradish (nasturtium armoracia), yellow-rocket (barbarea vulgaris), false indigo (amorpha fruticosa), wild cucumber (echinocystis lobata), meadow-parsnip (zizia aurea), sunflower (helianthus grosse-serratus), milkweed (asclepias sullivantii), nyctelea (ellisia nyctelea), black nightshade (solanum nigrum), purslane speedwell (veronica peregrina), hedge-nettle (stachys palustris), creeping spike-rush (eleocharis palustris), bulrush (scirpus atrovirens), sedge (carex hystricina), and scouring rushes (equisetum arvense, robustum and laevigatum). The aquatic flora is mainly composed of arrow-head (sagittaria variabilis), cat-tail (typha latifolia), duckweed (spirodela polyrrhiza), bulrush (scirpus lacustris), water plantain (alisma plantago), and the various species of algae of which the green one, valisneria spiralis, is common. In the fields the following plants among others are of frequent occurrence: Sheep sorrel (oxalis violacea), red clover (trifolium pratense), white clover (trifolium repens), alsike clover (trifolium hybridum), strawberries (fragaria virginiana and vesca), cinque-foil (potentilla norvegica), daisy deabane (erigeron strigosus), lygodesmia (lygodesmia juncea), dandelion (taraxacum officinalis), Indian hemp (apocynum cannabinum), milkweed (asclepias cornuti), flowering spurge (euphorbia corollata), wild onion (allium canadense), spiderwort (tradescantia virginica), timothy (phleum pratense), eatonia (eatonia pcnnsylvanica), orchard grass (dactylis glomerata), and blue grass (poa trivialis). The common plants in the waste places are hedge mustard (sisymbrium officinale), black mustard (brassica nigra), shepherd's purse (capsella bursapastoris), peppergrass (lepidium intermedium), purslane (portulaca oleracea), mallow (malva rountdifolia and sylvestris), velvet-leaf (abutilon avicennae), partridge pea (cassia chamaccrista), horse-weed (erigeron canadensis), fleabane (erigeron annus), ragweeds (ambrosia artemisiaefolia and trifida), cocklebur (xanthium canadense), sunflower (helianthus annuus), fetid marigold (dysodia chrysanthemoides), may-weed (anthemis cotula), burdock (arctium lappa), prickly lettuce (lactuca scariola), jimson weeds (datura stramonium and tatula), mullein (verbascum thapsus), vervains (verbena hastata, stricta and bracteosa), plantains (plantago major and rugelii), tumble weed (amarantus albus), pigweed (chenopodium album), Russian thistle (salsola kali), docks (rumex obtusifolius. erispus and acetocella), bindweed (polygonum convolvulus), buckwheat (fagopyrum esculentum), cypress spurge (euphorbia cyparissias) , hemp (cannabis sativa), asparagus (asparagus officinalis) and squirrel-tail grass (hordeum jubatum). Practically all the plants of this group are mere weeds. They cause large losses by occupying the soil to the exclusion of food plants and by impoverishing ihe soil. Professor Pammel estimates the yearly loss in Iowa due to weeds to be twenty-five million dollars. This means that Shelby county's proportion is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars as a total economic loss due solely to useless weeds which thrive on neglect. The plants so far enumerated, excepting the ferns, scouring rushes and the one alga, are known as the flowering plants, that is, plants producing real flowers and seeds, and are usually spoken of as the higher plant forms. The lower plant forms or flowerless plants have neither true flowers nor seeds, but reproduce themselves by means of minute bodies called spores. To this group belong the ferns and their allies, as the scouring rushes, also the mosses, liverworts, lichens, fungi, algae and still lower forms. The flowerless plants doubtless outnumber the flowering ones, but they are not so well known and many forms are still undescribed. The mosses usually grow in green mats in a moist situation, usually about a log, the shady side of a tree. about old buildings or along a fence row, some species even preferring the open fields. There arc more than thirteen thousand species of mosses in the world, perhaps more than a thousand in the United States and about seventy in Shelby county. There are four thousand known liverworts, of which there arc two hundred or more in the United States and probably a dozen species in Shelby county. The lichens are often crustose plants, growing on trees, bare rocks, old buildings, various soils, etc. The writer collected more than thirty different species in Shelby county; there probably are twice that many to be found. More than a thousand species are found in America. Fungi are numerous and of varying forms, from the esculent morels, mushrooms, puffballs of the pastures and fields, to toadstools, coral fungi, cup fungi, along with the smuts, mildews and blights which infest our cultivated plants. Perhaps fifty thousand or more species are known in the world, of which more than five thousand occur in North America. There are all sorts and conditions of fungi, adaptable to any habitat, hence are found on various soils, on old logs, living trees, decaying wood, on leaves of all kinds, and on or in any decaying substance. Some species are excellent food, while others are rank poisons. Algae are numerous in the world and form giant plants in the ocean. They are of red, brown, blue-green and green forms. The inland species are what are known as fresh water types and are usually the green algae. They occur as scums in ponds, brooks, watering troughs and in various moist places. In this sketch of the flora of Shelby county the plant names used are mainly those to be found in Grays Manual, sixth edition, the manual com monly used in Iowa. University of Nebraska, Bethany (Lincoln). Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2024 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 83-89. |
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