Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A rare wild dill grows in the aftermath of Asian bush honeysuckle removal


In 2010 the United States Coast Guard got to volunteer in a special little portion of Cherokee Park under the guidance of Joe Manning, columnist with the LEO and then Zone Steward for Olmsted Parks Conservancy of the Glen Lily management area, known for being the most biodiverse portion of Frederick Law Olmsted's Cherokee Park (Manning, Haragan). Though the bridge immediately downstream of the Bernheim Bridge was part of Olmsted's original 1897 "as built" park, this is an area purchased later, which saw Olmsted's sons' hand in its design. It was in this same area that the rare wild dill (Perideridia americana) would reemerge from these efforts. 

In 1941 Mabel Slack lists a slew of plants now deemed rare or unusual in the Outer Bluegrass Region of Kentucky in this exact area: Eastern yampeh, or wild dill, wild parsley (Perideridia americana syn. Eulophus americanus) is among the rarest of them all. (Purple cliff brake (Pellaea atropurpurea), blunt lobed cliff fern (Woodsia obtusa), sleepy catchfly (Silene antirrhina), and Alum root (Heuchera americana) have all been rediscovered in the same areas described by Slack: "limestone cliffs near Ward's Mill and Alta Rd.")

The Kentucky Mountain Bike Association knows the wild dill area of Glen Lily as "Montana", a technical rocky trail which leads into another biodiversity gem of Glen Lily downstream of the Bernheim Bridge: "No-Net Trail" which traverses a rare native cane (Arundinaria gigantea) population. The cane was absent from Slack's flora, suggesting that somehow it had been eaten away by the time of Slack by sheep, goats and horses, in the days of bridle paths, and before lawn mowers, and zero-turn gas-powered lawnmowers and diesel tractors. 

The wild dill site (Glen Lily- B North) grows hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), "invasive" Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), chinquapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergii), redbud (Cercis canadensis), Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), Standish honeysuckle (Lonicera standishii) and Asian bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). The latter two, both considered "invasive species" were not even present at the time of Slack in 1941, and have mostly come in to Cherokee Park since the 1974 tornado's disturbance, and by intentional planting by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for erosion control.

Otherwise a flowering plant easily mistaken for onions: crow poison (Nothoscordum bivalve) and false Solomon Seal (Maianthemum racemosum) also grow. A small amount of bottlebrush rye (Elymus hystrix) also grows out of heavy clay, and highly eroded soil, with dolomitic gravel from the cliffs above. Otherwise a weedy mish-mosh of common chickweed (Stellaria pubera) and hairy bitter cress (Cardamine hirsuta) plague the calcareous seeps that water this slope. 

Eastern yampeh, or wild dill was rare even in 1941 according to Slack. It is also known as "thicket parsley." It is a perennial plant with stems hairless and rounded. Its bloom is white in April-May and was first observed in flower in 2011 on April 21st, on a botanical walk of herbalist Myron Hardesty and Josh Wysor the year following the Coast Guard honeysuckle removal. It had been previously misidentified as a waif wild fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare). Its leaves are longer and thicker than Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota). 

Wild dill was never mentioned in McMurtrie's 1819 "Florula Louisvillensis." A close relative to wild dill known as squaw's potato is listed as edible by Plants for a Future database: Perideridia gairdneri. It is not known if the plant is toxic or not, but it is suspected to be non-toxic. 

The period of bloom runs from April 21, 2011 first bloom and April 23, 2013 almost blooming as a first bloom to May 27 as an end bloom in 2013. 

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