Garden List 2014 Update: June 22

I've reached an exciting milestone this morning! While I was out collecting more plants for my Garden List Herbarium collection, I found my 100th species! In fact, I found my 102nd species :) Every time I go outside looking for new things I'm amazed at what I find. I haven't even started collecting lichens yet, but I don't actually anticipate having many of those. Maybe 10 species? I might be surprised about those, too...

Here's an update on what I've identified so far! The legend:
- Plants in bold text are new to this iteration of the Garden List (numbered from the bottom up so new plants will always be at the top)
- Plants in green text are species native to northeastern North America (specifically, southwestern Ontario)
- Plants with an asterisk (*) beside their name are invasive in this area (again, specifically southwestern Ontario)
- Any plants that I've already blogged about have links included

Jen's Garden List 2014: 
77. Red sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum); not collected for the same reason as tomatoes.
76. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum); not collected because I like eating tomatoes, not squishing tomatoes between newspaper sheets!
75. At least four different cultivar of garden roses (Rosa sp.; many are unknown cultivars): you can read all about roses HERE and HERE.
74. Yellow daylily (Hemerocallis flava)
73. Meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense)
72. Woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus, also known as Thymus praecox subsp. brittanicus)
71. Dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum)*
70. White clover (Trifolium repens)*
69. Red pine (Pinus resinosa dwarf variety): read all about red pines HERE.
68. Glossy buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)*
67. Flowering dogwood, Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa): read all about the flowering dogwood HERE.
66. Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris): read all about the climbing hydrangea HERE.
65. Yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus)*: read all about the yellow flag iris HERE.
64. Japanese iris, blood iris (Iris sanguinea): read all about the blood iris HERE.
63. Siberian iris (Iris sibirica)
62. Common garden peony, Chinese peony (Paeonia lactiflora hybrid of unknown parentage): read all about peonies HERE.
61. Weak arctic sedge (Carex supina)
60. Least hop clover (Trifolium dubium)*
59. Garden weigela, wine and roses weigela, old fashioned weigela, or any number of other common name used for this species (Weigela florida 'Alexandra'): read all about the "catnip shrub" HERE.
58. Little gem cotoneaster (Cotoneaster adpressus)
57. Purple creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata var. atropurpurea)*
56. Littleleaf lilac (Syringa pubescens subsp. microphylla, formerly Syringa microphylla)*: read all about the littleleaf lilac HERE.
55. Common or Philadelphia fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus)*
54. Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea): read all about the red osier dogwood HERE.
53. Blue dogbane (Amsonia tabernaemontana): read all about dogbane HERE.
52. Hemlock waxcap (Hygrocybe/Hygrophorus sp.; a fungus without a published name [yet] that I discovered in my back yard growing under, you guessed it, hemlock trees)
51. Spring psathyrella (Psathyrella pseudovernalis; a fungus)
50. A fungus without a common name... (Hygrophorus camarophyllus; a fungus)
49. Rough bluegrass (Poa trivialis)
48. Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa)
47. Alpine pogonatum moss (Pogonatum alpinum)
46. Contorted hairy cap moss (Pogonatum contortum)
45. Cluster crumblecap (Psathyrella hydrophila; a fungus)
44. Annual blue grass (Poa annua)*
43. Mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum)*
42. Thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia)
41. Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis)*: read all about lily-of-the-valley HERE and HERE.
40. Great Solomon's-seal (Polygonatum biflorum or sometimes called Polygonatum commutatum or even Polygonatum giganteum): read all about great Solomon's-seal HERE.
39. Bugle (Ajuga reptans)*
38. Red oak (Quercus rubra): read all about the red oak HERE.
37. Common or umbrella liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha)*: read all about the umbrella liverwort HERE.
36. Sweet woodruff or sweetscented bedstraw (Galium odoratum)*: read all about sweet woodruff, aka master of the woods, HERE.
35. Woodland Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema atrorubens or sometimes called Arisaema triphyllum): read all about Jack-in-the-pulpits HERE.
34. Freckled violet (Viola sororia 'Freckles')*
33. Purple plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Thundercloud')
32. Fivestamen chickweed (Cerastium semidecandrum)*
31. Terrestrial water-starwort (Callitriche terrestris)
30. Yellow alyssum (Aurinia saxatilis or its other name Alyssum saxatilae)
29. Yellow rocket or winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris)*
28. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)*: read all about garlic mustard HERE.
27. Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis): read all about lungworts HERE.
26. Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)*: read all about dandelions HERE and HERE.
25. Fortune's spindle (Euonymus fortunei)*
24. Violet lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor 'La Grave')*
23. Northern blue violet (Viola septentrionalis)
22. Creeping wood-sorrel (Oxalis corniculata)*
21. Bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis): read all about bleeding hearts HERE.
20. Field pansy (Viola kitaibeliana)
19. Moss phlox (Phlox subulata): read all about moss phlox HERE and HERE.
18. Mountain rock cress (Arabis alpina subsp. caucasica)*
17. Norway spruce (Picea abies)*: read all about the Norway spruce HERE and HERE.
16. Tulips, at least 2 different unknown varieties (Tulipa sp.): read all about tulips HERE.
15. Hyacinths, at least 3 different unknown varieties (Hyacinthus orientalis): read all about hyacinths HERE.
14. Daffodils, 2 different unknown varieties (Narcissus sp.): read all about daffodils HERE in my blog post about plants of the Chinese New Year.
13. Judas ear (Auricula americana; a fungus)
12. Common violet (Viola papiliomacea or Viola sororia)*
11. English violet (Viola odorata)*
10. Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)*
9. Eastern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis): read all about the Eastern white-cedar HERE.
8. Corn speedwell (Veronica arvensis)*
7. Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
6. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis): read all about the Eastern hemlock HERE.
5. Siberian or wood squill (Scilla siberica)*
4. Variegated lesser or dwarf periwinkle (Vinca minor 'Agenteovariegata')*
3. Purple lesser or dwarf periwinkle (Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea')*
2. Bigleaf periwinkle, greater periwinkle (Vinca major)*
1. Hoary/hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)*

The inflorescence of the climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) growing up the side of our deck stairs. The white fuzzy flowers are the male flowers (those are all anthers sticking out which make pollen), the round blobby flowers are the female flowers (which make the ovules that will become seeds), and the white four-"petaled" things are female flowers with ornamenal bracts (not actually true petals) to attract pollinators.

One of our varieties of rose, with some lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) growing around it, and growing in a bed of woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus)

Another variety of rose, this one surrounded by black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) that have yet to bloom, and some rough bluegrass (Poa trivialis). A butterfly bush (Buddleja sp.) is slightly out of frame to the left (looks rather pathetic this year after our harsh winter...I'll be surprised if it flowers).

The flower of Chinese Warriors

Species name: Paeonia lactiflora

Common name: Chinese peony, common garden peony

Location: Ontario

Based on the common name of this species, you can probably guess where the plant is native! Surprisingly enough, there are somewhere between 25 and 40 species of peonies (even DNA sequencing can't seem to pin down species limits, with different genes sequenced giving different pictures of how species are related and which ones are actually distinct species). There has been such an intense effort in cultivating "prettier" versions of this plant (mainly by the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans) that there are more cultivars of peony than almost every other ornamental plant; the only exception would be roses. Every year in China, Japan and Korea there are peony festivals in the spring when the plants bloom, and competitions for gardeners who can grow the prettiest flowers in various categories. There are also prizes given out for best new cultivars, so if you want a new and exciting peony for your garden that your neighbours don't have, those would be the places to go find them! When I was in Japan in May of 2006, the flower festival had just started and the peonies were in full bloom--and protected from the sun by umbrellas! It was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.

Most wild peonies, like most wild roses, look nothing like their cultivated relatives even within the same species. Humans have selected for detrimental mutants where the stamens (the part of the flower that usually produces pollen) have been modified into extra petals (and thus the plant can no longer reproduce). This is called "doubling" the flower, and you end up with the final result of having what appears to be thousands of petals inside the flower when there should actually only be about twelve. A aesthetically pleasing result, but not one that the plant would prefer! In fact, modern cultivars of peonies are completely dependent on humans for survival and propagation since they can no longer do it themselves. Some gardeners refer to that as the way that plants have domesticated us! We gladly help these plants out in any way we can: weeding around them to remove competitors, spraying them when they get a disease to make them healthy again, and trimming them back in the fall since only the new growth produces flowers. Humans are pretty easily manipulated by ornamental and agricultural plants!

Peonies are unusual in that they require grazing by ants in order for their flowers to open. Yes, those hundreds of pesky ants all over your flower buds actually serve a purpose! Don't go sweeping all of them off! The unopened flower buds produce a sweet nectar all along the outside of the outermost petals, and the ants walk along the petals and eat the nectar. By consuming the "glue" that holds the flower buds together, it allows the buds to spring open once enough of the nectar is gone. Why would a plant bother with this elaborate process for flower opening? Well, if there are ants around there are probably other insects around, too, which means the peony flower will be pollinated once open. A neat insect-plant mutualism.

Peonies have been valued, especially by the Chinese, for centuries not only as ornamental plants but also medicinally. Chinese art is often filled with peony flowers and the peony actually became one of the many preferred tattoos of Chinese warriors. Medicinally, historically it was used as an anti-convulsant and now is being researched for its antioxidant, anticancer and antipathogenic qualities. It has been suggested that one of the extracts from the peony, paeonol, can be used to modulate immune system function to help speed the body's healing after cancer treatment. This research is still in the very early stages, so don't get exited and start to eat your peony plants! Another reason not to do that is that many cultivars contain high levels of phenols in the leaves that can cause skin and digestive tract irritation.