Monday, July 22, 2013

Louisville, Kentucky has a rich botanical history. As a city founded in 1777, there's a long written record of the floral discoveries Europeans made in this unique intersection of the Knobs region, the Outer Bluegrass Region and the Ohio River Valley floodplains. Famed botanists such as Andre Michaux, his son Andre Michaux, Constantine S. Rafinesque and Charles Wilkins Short, Robert Peter, Henry Griswold, P. A. Davies, Max Medley, Patricia Haragan and Julian Campbell have all made great contributions to our botanical knowledge of this region.

Two centuries ago, in 1819, Dr. Henry McMurtrie published Sketches of Louisville and its Environs, Including Among a Great Variety of Miscellaneous Matters: a Florula Louisvillensis or a Catalog of Nearly 400 Genera and 600 Species of Plants That Grow in the Vicinity of the Town, Exhibiting Their Generic, Specific, and English vulgar names. 

The title, incredibly long as was often the case with many 19th century gentleman's publications, sums up the contents of the list rather completely.

There are flaws and misidentifications, including plants not yet discovered which are absent from the list, but Florula Louisvillensis provides great insight into the state of the flora as it was early into the settlement of the town. There are many vegetables, herbs, crops, and early European weeds listed in addition to a plush list of native herbs, grasses, and aquatic plants.

The earliest crops being grown in Louisville included corn, soybeans, buckwheat, wheat, hemp, hops, tobacco, and jute, while vegetable gardens contained a combination of native and European vegetables such as North American natives: potatoes, squash, pumpkins, peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, and tomatoes. Louisville's earliest introduced vegetables included asparagus, parsnip, okra, kidney and lima beans, sweet potato, garlic, shallots, horseradish, cabbage, mustard, eggplants, beets, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, garden strawberries, watermelons, and spinach.

Now completely absent from the city, were the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginica) that graced lawns, which have since been completely supplanted by false Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica) which would not have been in Louisville until much later. Where we now grow leeks, wild ramps would have once grown in many of our rich woods (Allium tricoccum) -[not listed in Florula]

We now fill out our farmer's markets with novel exotic vegetables such as arugula, kohlrabi, Siberian kale, canteloupes, peanuts, broccoli, zucchini, leeks, figs.

European herbs such as basil, fennel, rosemary, oregano, marjorum, thyme, carrots, celery, parsley, yarrow, Roman chamomile, mayweed, lavender, catnip, sheep sorrel, and mugwort were mentioned in Florula Louisvillensis.

The orchards of the early 1800s contained introduced apple, peach, and pear trees, red raspberries, and native blackberries, dewberries, currants and black raspberries. Early 19th century Louisville also contained native wild fruit and nut trees such as pawpaws, persimmon, black huckleberries (Gaylussacia baccata syn. Vaccinium resinosum), hickories (Carya spp. syn. Juglans spp.), butternuts, hazelnuts, and black walnuts.

Medicinal European plants included Castor beans (Ricinus communis), common burdock (Arctium minus) and common mullein (Verbascum thapsus). When C.S. Rafinesque published Medical Flora: Or, Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States, fully 77% of the plants listed were native to North America, according to Ronald Stuckey a famous Charles W. Short researcher. Dr. C. W. Short was known for his time teaching early American medical botany at Transylvania University, later moving to Louisville and playing a key role in the founding of the medical academy that would become the University of Louisville.

The earliest Kentucky forage grasses were barley, spring rye, oats, Timothy, perennial rye, and the native grasses, Virginia rye, woodland bluegrass (Poa), switchgrass, and Kentucky's native bamboo, giant river cane (listed in duplicate as both Miegia arundinaria, Arundo gigantea) now known as Arundinaria gigantea.

Prairie grass enthusiasts find Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans syn. Andropogon nutans, L.), feather grass (Stipa virginiana), Bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), Broom sedge (Andropogon virginicus), eastern gama grass (Tripsacum dactyloides), Canary grass, Phalaris Grass (Phalaris arundinacea), but notably absent were Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis), and river oats (Chasmanthium latifolium). Early perennial year round grazing patterns may have put a lot of pressure on certain grassland species in the days soon after the disappearance of the migratory buffalo.

I speculate that many plants poisonous to grazing cattle, sheep, and goats might have disappeared quickly due to agricultural eradication attempts including false indigo (Baptisia spp.) -[not listed], and Wild Lupines (Lupinus perennis) which did make the list.

Wetland plants of this list have been largely devastated by the 20th century draining of the Wet Woods to install the drainage canals throughout Fairdale and Auburndale to the southwest of Louisville. Certain ponds, lakes, and marshes contain disjunct populations of some of these species which are all but gone otherwise: sweet flag (Acorus calamus), Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata), Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa), the now extinct Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), swamp lousewort (Pedicularis lanceolata), swamp speedwell (Veronica scutellaria), bog violet (Viola lanceolata), Bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza), Willow herb (Decodon verticillatus), Illinois pondweed (Potamogeton illinoensis)- [being herbicided in FINS properties to make fishable], Twisting screwstem (Bartonia paniculata syn. Centaurella paniculata), and Swamp tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), Arrow arum (Arum virginicum), and Marsh St. John's wort (Triadenum virginicum), Virginia willow (Itea virginica).

Some notably missing forbs from this list, now rare, endangered, or extinct include Big leaved scurf pea (Orbexilum macrophyllum), Short's Goldenrod (Solidago shortii), Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum), Kentucky glade cress (Leavenworthia exigua var. laciniata), the rare saprophytic Crested Coral Root Orchid (Hexalectris spicata), Indian turnip (Medeola virginiana), Green dragon (Arisaema dracontium). Even the common wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) was absent the list.

Some surprising species listed in Florula Louisvillensis include Golden club (Orontium aquaticum), Skunk cabbage (Symplocos foetidus), Trailing arbutus (Epiegaea repens), partridge berry (Mitchella repens), spotted wintergreen (Chimaphilus maculata), Great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum), Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), High bush cranberry (Viburnum macrocarpon syn Vaccinium macrocarpa), American columbo (Frasera verticillata), Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea syn. Bartsia coccinea), Virginia Tephrosia (Tephrosia virginiana syn. Galega virginiana), Fairywand (Chamaelirium luteum syn. Veratrum luteum), Green False Hellebore (Veratrum viride), Eastern featherbells (Stenanthium gramineum syn. Veraterum angustifolium), Leather leaf (Myrica asplenifolia), Meadow beauty (Rhexia virginiana), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis syn. Pinus abies), and the endangered American barberry (Berberis canadensis).

The earliest traces of European and Eurasian weeds in 1819 Louisville, KY included Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale syn, Leontice), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota), Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), Indian heliotrope (Heliotropum indicum), roadside pennycress (Thlaspi alliaceum), common field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris), perennial sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus), hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), speedwells (incl. Veronica agrestis), English plantain (Plantago lanceolata), clovers (Trifoliums), stinkgrass (Eragrostis cilianensis syn. Briza eragrostis) and forget me not (Myosotis scirpioides). To this day, they each can be easily found in dense populations almost anywhere in the city.

The flora of 1819 contained no traces of modern invasive species such as garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidata), Kudzu (Pueraria montana), Porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata), Chicory (Cichorium intybus), Asian bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), Japanese honeysuckle vine (Lonicera japonica), Crown vetch (Segurigera varia), Autumn olive (Eleagnus umbellata), Clematis (Clematis ternifolia), Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris syn. Thapsia trifoliata), or Musk thistle (Carduus nutans).

There had already been the introduction of the hedgerow shrub species Privet (Ligustrum vulgaris) which is quite invasive in modern day Louisville. Some less aggressive ornamental European additions to the landscape of 1819 included European Larch, European St. John's Wort, Quince bush, Lilac, and European hawthorn.

A couple questionable orchids appear on the list: the Three Birds Orchid (Triphora trianthosphora syn. Arethusa pendula), and the Dragon's Mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) which doubtfully ever occurred in Louisville or Kentucky. Additionally some milkworts (Polygala spp.) were listed, which did really occur here but are very rare.

In place of our invasive 21st century honeysuckle one would have found orange trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens syn. Lonicera virginiana), which has been nearly driven locally extinct, now only known to occur wild in Iroquois Park. Where we would now find Oriental bittersweet vine, once Wax work grew (Celastrus scandens), which now only grows well in southern Jefferson and north Bullitt Counties, locally speaking.

The northeastern shrub Pinebarren goldheather (Hudsonia ericoides) was a waif, if it ever really grew in Louisville but found its way onto Frederick Law Olmsted's list of Woody Plants of Kentucky planted in Cherokee Park by virtue of its appearance on McMurtrie's list. The same was the case for American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) which has not been recorded growing native and wild in Kentucky. Several Andromeda also found their way into Olmsted's arboretum style design for Cherokee Park. Many
of the Ericaceous (Heath family) shrubs listed by McMurtrie were also unsuccessfully attempted by Olmsted on Cherokee Park's limestone soils, though probably occurred in Knobs, such as Iroquois Park, Waverly Park and Jefferson Memorial Forest. The exotic buttercup--devil in the bush (Nigella damascena), is not found in Kentucky in modern times, but may have appeared here in the 19th century. http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=NIDA

Some plants now long missing from Louisville, listed by McMurtrie include American chestnut (Castanea americana), American chinquapin (Castanea pumila), Virginia bunchflower (Veratrum virginicum), Wyandotte beauty (Synandra hispidula), White Gentian (Gentiana alba), Atamasco lily (Zepharanthes atamasco), Canada lily (Lilium canadense), Woodland pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica), Canadian Yew (Taxus canadensis), Lupine (Lupinus perennis), and wood lily (Lilium philadelphicus). 

Others from Florula Louisvillensis which have become exceedingly rare include American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), Big toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata) misidentified as quaking Aspen.

Not only did McMurtrie's list include vascular plants, but also a list of fungi and mosses and lichens growing in the vicinity of Louisville. The list was rather limited and crude, but still it mentioned six species of Boletus, Agaricus mushrooms limited to two genera. Mosses included six genera: Brium, Fontanalis, Hypnum, Mnium, Phascum, and Sphagnum. Over the last two centuries, many discoveries have been made in this field including Morels (Morchella), Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus),

The full list can be viewed at http://books.google.com/books/about/Sketches_of_Louisville_and_Its_Environs.html?id=ySAmAAAAMAAJ beginning at page 211.

Then in 1941, a master's thesis was published by a Louisville, KY schoolteacher named Mabel Slack for Cornell University under Dr. Wiegand, which exhibited the flora of Cherokee Park (located in the Highlands neighborhood). The floral inventory showcased the surviving flora of the park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who was heavily informed of the local flora by C.S. Rafinesque's list allegedly plagiarized by McMurtrie for the Florula Louisvillensis according to Mabel Slack.


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