Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Vermont Native Plants & Their Visitors including pollinators.


Vermont Native Plants & Their Visitors    
                               By Bernie Paquette
                                                        May 2020

Our pollinators (birds, native bees, butterflies…) are in decline; what can individuals do to help them? 
Habitat and biodiversity loss is often noted as one of the greatest causes of pollinator decline. 

You could slow the rate of extinction of our native wildlife and birds by including native plants in your yard.


  1. Introduction text to the Vermont Native Plants and the pollinators and other insects they attract file.
  2. A spreadsheet listing all (~98%) of Vermont Native Plants and (some of ) the pollinators and other insects they each attract. 
See this website for information about Plants for pollinators: https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2019/01/creating-pollinator-gardens-lets-go.html places to buy native plants plus more information.

View this project https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teens-saving-city-bees_n_5f3e8068c5b609f4f675af89 started by two youths in VA. This duo is rebuilding bee habitats with a 13-mile stretch of pollinator gardens through Newport News, Virginia.

I think we can help pollinators by growing more perennials, shrubs, and trees that co-evolved with and support our local pollinators: plant species that have interacted with the community (plants, animals, and pathogens) that historically helped shape them. Often these plants require less care (than aliens) when planted in the right location.  
The Nature Conservancy (spring 2020 edition) reports "One of the biggest contributors [threats to pollinators] is the disappearance and fragmentation of native plant habitat. The good news is that even small actions by individuals can help. A key to making native pollinators more abundant is increasing native plant abundance.” Will you join us by creating a diverse native plant habitat for our local pollinators, insects, birds, amphibians, and mammal friends?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED VIDEO: Doug Tallamy - Nature's Best Hope.

You might ask, how do we know which plants are native to what region, state, or local geography? And what insects* pollinate and/or visit them? What list of plants is known to have a historical connection to the plants, animals, and pathogens of our area? What plants help to create a balance by attracting predatory (biocontrol) insects (that prey on other insects) that keep in check plant-eating insects that otherwise might decimate a given vegetable or flower specimen? How do we grow our ecological literacy?

* Not all animals that visit flowers are pollinators (i.e., they do not all transfer pollen to female structures resulting in pollination and fertilization of ovules). I would encourage you to think about the relationships among plants and pollinators as more of a reciprocal exploitation than a mutualism. In many cases, the bee/butterfly/bird/etc. is better thought of as a parasite of the plant at which it forages! Sometimes, the plant is exploiting the insect. And yes, pollination mutualism[s] are common in these interactions!         ~Dr Leif Richardson (UVM)

The Vermont Native Plants & Their Visitors (later referred to as The plant/insect index) highlights Vermont native plants, in the context of their ecological function in supporting birds and pollinators, ecological function being more key than the geographic origin of the plant when considering the plant’s relationship with pollinators. In general, indigenous plants support local food webs and thus local biodiversity, though not all do so equally. Ferns for example (ancient natives) support few if any insects. Ferns do of course provide other ecological benefits. By contrast, native cherries (Prunus) support 456 species of caterpillars which in turn feed birds and other life forms.


Consider this from Doug Tallamy. 
WHAT ARE THE MOST ECOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE PLANTS THAT SUPPORT LIFE AROUND US IN OUR LANDSCAPE? ONE SPECIES CONTRIBUTES THE MOST TO THE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION. IN TERMS OF THE FOOD WEB, CATERPILLARS ARE ESSENTIAL. CATERPILLARS TRANSFER MORE ENERGY FROM PLANTS TO OTHER ANIMALS THAN ANY OTHER PLANT-EATERS. A FEW NATIVE PLANTS ARE MUCH BETTER AT SUPPORTING THE FOOD WEB THAN OTHERS. 

Doug Tallamy reports these common name/families/Genus/Species supported: White Oak: Fagaceae, quercus 534, Willow: Salicaceae, salix 456, Cherry, Plum: Rosaceae, prunus 456, Birch: Betulaceae, betula 413, Cottonwood: Salicaceae,  populus 368, Crabapple: Rosaceae, malus 311, Blueberry/Cranberry: Ericaceae, vaccinium 288, Maple, Box Elder: Aceraceae, acer 285, Elm: Ulmaceae, ulmus 213, Pine: Pinaceae, pinus 203, Hickory: Juglandaceae, carya 200, Hawthorn: Rosaceae, crataegus 159, Spruce: Pinaceae, Picea 156, Ash: Oleaceae, fraxinus 150, Basswood, Linden: Tiliaceae, tilia 150, Filbert, hazlenut: Betulaceae, corylus 131, Walnut, butternut: Juglandaceae juglans ___, Beech: Fagaceae fagus 126, Chestnut: Fagaceae castanea 125. 

Yellow-banded bumblebee (Bombus terricola)
 A threatened species.
Photographed by Bernie
in South Burlington, Vt in 2016
on an Evans Bali Cherry Tree.
Disclaimer: I have much more work to do to complete the index. For example, grasses and sedges are important pollen sources for bees (insect pollinators collect pollen from wind-pollinated plants.) I need to list the link between specific grasses and bees. I am surely missing many pollinators that utilize Vermont native plants. 
Native: a plant or animal that has evolved in a given place or period of time sufficient to develop complex and essential relationships with the given environment and [with] other organisms in a given ecological community.  (Definition from Doug Tallamy & Rick Darke in “The Living Landscape” page 93). 
The plant/insect index highlights VT native plants in the context of their ecological function in supporting birds and specific pollinating and other insects. 

I created the plant/insect index to make available in a single document, the names of plants that I understand are native to Vermont. This is not to say that only native plants support our pollinators; some non-natives do also. However, native plants are typically better adjusted to the local growing conditions, and less likely to become invasive. Native plants are more valuable to our native bees, and some are essential to some of our moths and butterflies. 


Psychomorpha epidermis,
the grapevine epidermis.
Photo by Bernie, SB VT 2016

 The document helps to identify some of the pollinators and beneficial predators and parasitic insects that a given Vermont native plant supports. I note the bloom period of individual species because pollinators need food throughout the season; therefore we should plan and plant accordingly. 
*VT Fish & Wildlife Dept. discourages the use of state threatened, endangered, rare (S1 or S2), or SH (historic, i.e. not observed in 20 yrs) species in plantings away from cultivation.  See the footnotes for more details.

Format:
The Vermont Native Plants & Their Visitors listing is loaded on a spreadsheet to allow for data mining, filtering, and sorting for the key elements you are interested in viewing. Hotlinks offer a connection to the source of the data (when available).
The data set includes, 
  • Each plant listed with its family name, its binomial name: genus & epithet (species), and common or vernacular name(s). 
  • Indication if native to 05465 zip code.
  • Individual groups of insects* indicating which plant species they are attracted to / utilize (*work in progress). The column headings include dragonflies, birds, predatory insects (biocontrols), hummingbirds, bees (broken out by Native bees, honeybees, and bumblebees), food source for butterflies and moths, host to butterfly and moth larva, wasps, flies, beetles, ladybugs, and a category for other beneficial insects including spiders and more. 
  • The number of insect species that use (individual) plant species as host - listed if known. 
  • Individual species on the VT threatened or endangered list - highlighted. 
  • In some cases, Hybrids, varieties, and subspecies are noted.
  • You can - View plant characteristics and planting conditions by opening the hotlinks on each species. Hotlinks connect to the Native Plant Trust site – Go Botany, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and Missouri Botanical Garden.  
  • For each wildflower listed, I note the page number that the plant is found in Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. 
Also view another of my post: Creating Pollinator Gardens @ https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2019/01/creating-pollinator-gardens-lets-go.html

An accompanying spreadsheet (available upon request - free document) lists the 1,458 plants native to Vermont and helps to identify some of the pollinators, beneficial predators, and parasitic insects supported by a given Vermont native plant. 

This text document gives additional information and the background for the plant/insect index (spreadsheet). 

General taxonomy information
Plant scientific classifications are Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, and subspecies. 
At the simplest of scientific classification, each plant has a name made up of two parts, a generic (or genus) name and a specific name or epithet (species name). Together, they are referred to as a binomial. The scientific names of a species are italicized. The genus name is always capitalized and is written first; the specific epithet follows the genus name and is not capitalized.
For example, the red maple is in the “maple” genus, which is called Acer, and its specific epithet is rubrum. Therefore, the binomial name for this species is Acer rubrum. Genus – Acer, Species – rubrum.
Cultivars (cultivated variety) is a variety that is created by breeding or cloning. They are given special names by their breeders or cloners. Cultivars are generally in single quotations after the species name such as Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’, Magnus being a cultivar of the native purple coneflower.  Cultivars may satisfy the pollinators, but it is safer to go with the true native plant. 
Variety. In botanical nomenclature, variety (abbreviated var.) is a taxonomic rank below that of species and consists of a recognizable entity within a species that are not geographically isolated from each other.  
Subspecies is a category above variety and are a group within a species used to describe geographically isolated variants. Subspecies are indicated by subsp or ssp. 
Hybrids are a cross between two species. They are indicated by an “x” in the scientific name. Hybrids can be created by man or nature.  An example of a hybrid of two shrubs is fragrant sage (Salvia clevelandii) and purple sage (Salvia leucophylla). The hybrid name is gray musk sage (Salvia x clevandii ‘Pozo Blue’). 
Selective breeding for ornamental benefits often affects the qualities that made the plant beneficial for wildlife. Cloning can result in loss of the genetic diversity that occurs in the natural world. Sticking to the original native plant species when you can is the best plan if you are working to restore a functioning bit of the ecosystem. 


Definitions
Bloom and Fruit Color on listing:  Blk = black, Blu = blue,  Br = brown, G = green, O = orange, Pi = pink, Pur = purple, R = red, V = violet, W = white, Y = yellow. F = Fruit followed by color of the fruit.

Growth Habits, Codes, and Definitions. U.S. Dept. of Ag. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
- Provides definitions for plant descriptions: Forb/herb, Graminoid, Lichenous, Nonvascular, Shrub, Subshrub, Tree, Vine.  The height described may include the height of the stem. Note: Forbs are herbs except for grasses. Forbs are herbaceous (not woody) broadleaf plants that are not grass-like.

Height: Where there are three heights listed (for example 40-70-100 Ft), the first two are the usual height spread, and the third is the ‘can reach’ height.

Native: a plant or animal that has evolved in a given place or period of time sufficient to develop complex and essential relationships with the given environment and [with] other organisms in a given ecological community.  (Definition from Doug Tallamy & Rick Darke in “The Living Landscape” page 93).

“Weeds are simply plants that are growing where they are not wanted.”
Some can cause little economic or ecological consequence, whereas the presence of others (particularly outside their native range – absent of natural enemies) causes detrimental effects in natural ecosystems.” The Insects – An Outline of Entomology

Spp. The abbreviation "sp." is used when the actual specific name cannot or need not be specified. The abbreviation "spp." (plural) indicates "several species".


Summary of a few points of interest 
Top Ten most beneficial insects include braconid wasps, tachinid flies, and hover or syrphid flies (Diptera), ground beetles, predatory bugs, spiders, lacewings, soldier beetles, Trichogramma mini-wasps, and ladybug beetles. Others include damsel bugs, ladybugs, minute pirate bugs, aphid midges, soldier beetles, and praying mantis, assassin bugs, big-eyed bugs, predatory stinkbugs, robber flies, flower flies, fireflies (a beetle), rove beetles, leatherwings, tiger beetles, chalcid wasps, lchneumon wasps, lacewings, predatory mites, dragonflies and damselflies. 

 Doug Tallamy in his talk "Nature's Best Hope" tells us that caterpillars are essential in sustaining food-webs. Caterpillars transfer more energy from plants to other animals than any other plant-eaters. Most birds rear their young on insects and most of those insects are caterpillars. 
A significant fraction of our native bees are pollen specialists and use a restricted range of host plants. Species like bumblebees are generalists and visit many plant species for nectar and pollen.
Harmful insect outbreaks attract beneficial insects that eat them. However, be patient as it may take a few days or weeks for the beneficial insects to arrive or for them to reproduce at a more rapid rate.
Applying insecticides can facilitate a secondary pest outbreak because the insecticide kills off beneficial insects as well as pests. In addition, even if the beneficial insects survive, if they have no pests to eat, they leave, thus creating an opening for more pests’ insects.
A diverse habitat supports a healthy landscape. Research indicates that landscapes with more structured complexity (diverse flower structure, shape, bloom time, and overall habitat) have more insects. Habitats with more prey insects help prevent pest outbreaks. 
Pollinator Watching
“Pollinator watching, like bird-watching, provides a unique opportunity to connect with nature…”
-Attracting Native Pollinators – Xerces Society
Feeding Butterflies
For a non-floral recipe – Freeze a peeled banana, and then allow it to thaw for a gray, mealy texture.
Place in a container. Cover with 2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses and ¼ teaspoon dry yeast.
Hang the banana and container to discourage animals like raccoons from raiding it.  
Alternatively, place a shallow tray like a cookie sheet in your garden or yard. Cover with beach-like sand, dampen the sand, add some sea salt and a few tablespoons of compost, both of which give butterflies minerals they need. ID Tip: A butterfly’s antenna (top) is a single filament with a club at the tip. A moth antenna (bottom) can be broad and feathery or tapered to a point. 
Lawns
Set lawnmower blade to 3 to 4 inches high. Grow clover, self-heal, bird’s-foot trefoil, wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), and dwarf varieties of hyacinth (Muscari ssp.) with grass to make it a richer habitat for pollinators and for your visual interest. Consider allowing dandelions to grow as bees will benefit from them, and many folks, perhaps especially children find them attractive.
Consider reducing the size of your monoculture lawn in favor of native perennials, native grasses, shrubs, and trees. This can reduce the labor and expense of mowing, irrigation, fertilization, and reduce harmful chemical applications.

Bumble Bee forage guide for Eastern Temperate Forests (From Bumble Bees of North America by Paul Williams, Robbin Thorp, Leif Richardson & Sheila Colla)
(*indicates non-native to Vermont) (spp. Indicates several species)
Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Lowbush Blueberry (Vacinium angustifolium), Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), Turtlehead (Chelone glabra), Joe-pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum), Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana), Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)* some native, some non-native invasive, Clovers (Trifolium spp*), Blazing Stars (Liatris spp.*), Prairie Clovers (Dalea spp.*), Goldenrods (Solidago spp.), Rosinweeds (Siphium spp.*), Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), Plume Thistles (Cirsium spp.* Some VT native species), Cassias (Cassia spp.*), Salix (Salix spp.), Impatiens (Impatiens spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.*), Dicentra (Dicentra spp.), Kalmia (Kalmia spp.), Solanum (Solanum spp.). 


Where to buy VT Native Plants

How you can help keep this document alive and accurate
There may be some errors in the listing and occasionally some dead links. I apologize for any inadvertent errors from incorrectly relaying information from the sources I utilized.

You can help by sending me error notifications along with corrected data and the source of the correction whereby I will update the file.

Disclaimer: Some of the fields in the file lack data. I will update the file as I find or receive data to supplement the missing attributes.

Peer reviews of the overall objectives or individual data segments are always welcome.
I encourage you to let me know if and how you find this tool useful to your purpose and welcome
any critique, comments, and suggestions regarding such. I also welcome recommended resources that identify the relationship between specific plant species and specific insect groups. 

A few final thoughts
I hope this listing informs you and assists in your desire to plant with knowledge – in support of pollinators. Habitat restoration is an action we all can take on to help the soil, plants, insects, and other life restore itself.  Let's improve our yard habitat and see what life comes to visit us!

Acknowledgments
Thank You to the following folks for providing information and for guiding me to resources used in this listing: Kent McFarland (Vermont Center for Ecostudies), Elizabeth Spinney (Invasive Plant Coordinator – Outreach & Education – Dept. of Forests, Parks & Recreation, VT. Agency of Natural Resources), Jane Sorensen (River Berry Farm), Don Miller PH.D.(consulting field biologist and naturalist), Bob Popp (Dept. Botanist VT. F&W), Mike and Tawnya Kiernan of Bee The Change, Sabina Ernst (Vermont Native Plant advocate and activist), Dr. Leif Richardson (Ecologist, and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Dr. Taylor Ricketts at the University of Vermont), Christie Silkotch (Science and data librarian, UVM), Lisa Buckton (Library Director, Jericho Town Library) and Maeve Kim (Editing of this document). 
Thank You to the authors of the books, articles, and research papers I utilized (see resource listing). 
Thank You to the owners and managers of the databases I accessed for information related to plants and pollinators.

Footnotes
In their book Farming on the Wild Side, Nancy and John Hayden write “It’s important to plant natives when trying to increase wildlife biodiversity. Native plants are hosts to native insects including hundreds of moth and butterfly caterpillars, beetles, and bugs. Leaf-eating insects that have been demonized by human society perform an important ecological role. They turn leaves and plants into more meaty insects, which are in turn food for birds and other wildlife.”
In his book Bringing Nature Home, Doug Tallamy writes “A plant that has fed nothing has not done its job. Insects are the most important animals to turn plant material into animal protein, which is used throughout the food web. Many of the ornamental landscaping plant species are not helpful when trying to enhance animal biodiversity, because native insects are not adapted to live on them.” Also consider, caterpillars are a critical food source for over 96 percent of our songbirds. 
Vermont native asters are a very high value for bumblebees in late summer but not in early spring. Vermont native blueberries are a high value for bumblebees in late spring-early summer. It takes a variety of species blooming at different times of the season to support the life cycle of pollinators. 
Some insects are specialists feeding on one plant taxon, some feed on a few, and others feed on many plant groups.  From The Insects – An Outline of Entomology.  Over 400 species of butterflies and moths use Vermont native Quercus (Oak trees) as a caterpillar host in the 05465 zip code area. Some native species support only a few; however, some insects are specialists like the Monarch butterfly in its caterpillar form which is wholly reliant on one plant species –  milkweed.  
Dragonflies and damselflies rely on plants for habitat and a source of prey.  
Vt Fish & Wildlife Plant Inventory website indicates that Vermont is home to over 2,800 plant species. Most of these are flowering plants, but this also includes conifers, ferns, grapeferns, clubmosses, horsetails, quillworts, spikemosses, and bryophytes-mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. 
1,585 species of native vascular plants – including about 137 that are adventives (i.e. introduced to Vermont from elsewhere in North America but uncertain whether they will persist here.)
600+ rare and uncommon native plant species including 163 threatened and endangered native plant species. 
624 bryophytes, including 426 mosses, 168 liverworts, and hornworts. 
There are 69 state-endangered and 94 state-threatened plants in Vermont. 
State Status – Legal protection under Vermont Endangered Species Law (10 V.S.A. Chap. 123)
E = Endangered: in immediate danger of becoming extirpated in the state
T = Threatened: with the high possibility of becoming endangered in the near future
See also the list of Rare Spp Found in VT that will take you to another page where you can access a list of rare & uncommon plants of VT. You’ll note that there is no R category per se, but we consider everything with a rank of S1, S2, or S2S3 to be rare in the state. ~Bobb Popp, Vt Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.
*Bob Popp, Biologist in the  Vt Dept. of Fish & Wildlife offers caution regarding  Threatened (T), Rare (R), Endangered (E), or historic, I.e. not observed in 20 years (SH) plant species. 
Our program discourages the use of state threatened, endangered, rare (S1 or S2), or SH (historic, i.e. not observed in 20 yrs) species in plantings away from cultivation.  
So while it may be ok to use them in a garden situation, we discourage their use in a more natural setting, screening for solar arrays or restoration projects.  
This is for a few reasons, primarily that we have no way of knowing the provenance of these plants; even if from local nurseries, they likely originated from out of state, frequently the Midwest or to our south. We do not want these to escape into the wild or potentially cross-pollinate with wild plants of the species.  
Also if they were to escape into the wild, we might not know whether they were natural or not and would be forced to protect them.  It would also confuse our assessment of what is truly rare in the state. 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED VIDEO: Doug Tallamy - Nature's Best Hope. 


References / Sources




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Location: Jericho, VT 05465, USA

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