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Hidden Ginger Lilies and Other Intriguing Monocots
by Ginny Stibolt
The previous owner of our house had planted the whole
southern side of the house with Cannas (Canna
X generalis)
and another plant I couldn't identify. Last spring I found
these unusual pink flowers in one spot near where some lily-type
leaves with a garnet-colored stripe down the middle had grown
to six or seven feet tall the year before. At first I didn't
realize that these flowers were connected to the tall leaves.
My husband and I cleared out that whole bed last year
and dispersed the Cannas to various places around our lot.
We placed the tall-leaved plants on top of a mound we made on top
of a stump left over from the hurricanes. We topped the stump
with five or six wheelbarrow loads of pond muck and covered that
with our regular sandy soil to create a mound about two feet high
and seven feet across. We enjoyed watching the tropical-looking
foliage on top of the mound throughout last year. An assortment
of other plants filled in around the sides including, Toadflax (Linaria
canadensis), Bushy Seedboxes (Ludwigia spp.), Floridata
Betony (Stachys
floridana), St. Peter's-Wort (Hypericum tetrapetalum),
plus various grasses and rushes. This year I've planted a
good bit of Monarda (Monarda
didyma) on the slopping sides—it had taken over the herb
garden. I've removed some of the grasses and other volunteers
to tame the weediness, but it still looks like a wild tropical island
in our back yard.
The mystery plant is identified!
<< This
spring, the flowers for the plant with the big tropical leaves have been
fabulous. At this point the leaves are just barely getting started
and in the middle of the clump is a stray Canna. I
decided it was time to figure out what the devil we were dealing
with.
I asked some of the gardeners in the neighborhood and
looked in people's gardens to see if I could see any others—no
luck. I looked in some nurseries—still no luck. I sent
a photo to my old botany professor—she's not into "tropicals." Finally, I talked to Jack
Scheper at Floridata.com and he said that it sounded like a Curcuma. He was
right.
I researched the Internet and have decided that this is
probably a Hidden Ginger Lily (Curcuma zedoaria).
Turmeric (C. longa) is a related species. They're related to ginger. Most of these plants are native
to Asia and have been used as medicinal herbs for various ailments for
centuries. One herbal related that, "the effectiveness has
yet to be determined."
My husband and I are sure enjoying the amazing Hidden Ginger Lily flowers this spring and look forward to its tall tropical
leaves later in the season.
Three Other Interesting Monocots
Flowering plants (Angiosperms) are divided in to two
groups: monocots and dicots. In my
previous column on weeds, I mentioned that most of the seeds
we plant for our garden are dicots with two seed leaves or cotyledons
that are the first leaves to sprout. The flowers of dicots
have four or five petals mostly and the leaves have many different
shapes.
Monocots
have one seed leaf and include grasses, rushes, sedges, lilies, bananas,
cannas, onions, orchids, palms, catbriar, and more. Most of the
monocots have longish leaves with mostly parallel veins and the flowers
have three or six petals. For more details:
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss8/monocotdicot.html
White-Topped Sedge
The native White-topped Sedge (Rhynchospora colorata)
grows in almost every roadside ditch around my neighborhood. I
liberated a few of these odd-looking sedges and planted them with the
ferns next to my pond. Sedges look like a grass, but have triangular
stems. (I'll cover grasses, sedges, and rushes in a future column.)
Unlike most grass-like plants, this sedge is insect-pollinated
and has developed showy white colorization on the bracts that surround its
cluster of flowers in each head. The edges of the white bleed into
the green color so it looks like Mother Nature spray-painted the white as
an afterthought.
The previous owner of our house had sodded this sloping area right
to the waterline. It was difficult to mow, so one of the first
gardening projects I did when we moved in was to remove the grass
and replace it with ferns, Rain Lilies (Zephyranthes
atamasco) and this White-Topped Sedge for a more natural
shoreline. Other water-loving volunteers such as Bushy Seed
Boxes (Ludwigia spp), rushes, and other sedges have joined
my transplants.
After two years, this end of the pond looks great, especially during
the several months when the white-topped sedge is blooming. This
natural bank is also easy to maintain and it provides good habitat for our
frogs and other critters.
Meadow Garlic
I found some native Meadow Garlic (Allium canadense) in the same
roadside ditch as the Rain Lilies and Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrichium
angustifolium) last year. I created a patch in my herb garden
and they've done quite well. I've been clipping their flat, basal
leaves to garnish soups or salads—the mild taste is a cross between garlic
and onion. This is not surprising since all the onions and garlics
are in this genus. Some wild onions have been introduced from Europe
and have become invasive. If the leaves are flat and not round and
hollow, it's probably this interesting native.
This spring I've enjoyed their foolproof, wild-haired inflorescence.
It includes small six-pedaled white flowers, on long stalks, which
will produce seeds if properly fertilized. In addition, this
plant produces clones of itself in the form of bulblets. While
still attached to the parent plant, the bulblet produces its first
wiry leaf. As soon as the leaf emerges, it turns green and starts photosynthesizing.
The sugars it produces are stored and the bulblet grows larger and
heavier. When a bulblet drops, it falls, bulb-side down like
a child's toy top. This way the root area is next to the soil
and the leaf points upward and can continue to function using the
moisture from the bulb until roots develop enough to bring in moisture
from the soil.
Ladies' Tresses
In the front meadow and on the edges of the wooded areas Ladies'
Tresses (Spiranthes praecox), a multi-flower orchid, is
blooming. The delicate orchid flowers grow in a spiral around the stem.
While I'm pretty observant, these beauties surprise me every time,
because their basal leaves look just like a grass.
The meadows are such a pleasure to observe, because of delights like
this surprising orchid. For more on our meadows, click
here.
So while we may plant more dicots in our garden, there are many
intriguing monocots to add a dash of interest, a splash of color, and a
change of texture.
I've been working hard this spring on removing more lawn and populating
our meadows with Sunflowers (Helianthus
spp), Lupines (Lupinus diffusus) and other wildflowers.
Now it's time to relax during the hotter months and enjoy the succession
of flowers, bees, butterflies, frogs, and other critters doing what
comes naturally.
Enjoy your late spring gardens and wild spaces. See if you
can spot your monocots.
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