1. Minnesota Plant Press
The Minnesota Native Plant Society Newsletter
Volume 28 Number 3 Summer 2009
Monthly meetings
Thompson Park Center/Dakota Emerald ash borer
is found in St. Paul
Lodge
Thompson County Park
360 Butler Ave. E.,
West St. Paul, MN 55118 by Gerry Drewry
651-552-7559 (kitchen)
The deadly emerald ash borer has arrived, as anticipated, in Minnesota.
Programs The infestation was discovered in the South St. Anthony Park section of St.
The Minnesota Native Plant Paul on May 13. The borer could kill all varieties of ash trees in Minnesota.
Society meets the first Thursday It has already killed 30 million ash trees since it was discovered in Detroit
in October, November, December, in the early 1990s.
February, March, April, May, and The borer probably came to this country from China in the wood of
June. Check at www.mnnps.org crates. It has now been found in 13 states and two Canadian provinces. The
for more program information. tiny eggs are laid in bark cracks. The creamy white larvae live under the
6 p.m. — Social period bark for one or two years; the adult emerald-green beetles emerge in mid-
7 – 9 p.m. — Program, Society June. Symptoms may take several years to show. They include die-back of
business the canopy, split bark that reveals serpentine tunnels made by the larvae,
Oct. 1: “Forest Warming — an and epicormic shoots growing from the trunk of the tree. Eventually, the
Ecotone in Danger” by Rebecca infected trees die.
Montgomery, University of At this time there is no way to stop the borers, but their spread can be
Minnesota Department of Forestry contained. To do this, ash wood and trimmings from both Hennepin and
Resources. Plant-of-the-Month: Ramsey counties are quarantined and cannot be taken out of those counties.
Quercus macrocarpa, bur oak. Ash wood is also quarantined in a portion of Houston County, which is 15
Nov. 5: “Decorative Tree miles from an infestation in Victory, Wis.
Harvesting from Minnesota’s
Spruce Bogs,” by Norm Individual trees may be given a chemical treatment in mid-autumn or
Aaseng, Minnesota in spring, before the adults emerge. However, the annual cost is typically
County
$50 to $200 per tree. Experts recommend removing small infected trees
Biological Survey plant ecologist.
Seed exchange. and replanting with another species. The Department of Agriculture is
using purple sticky traps to monitor the beetles. Their natural predators
Dec. 3: “Salvage Logging in
in Asia are three forms of parasitic wasps, which are being studied by the
St. Croix State Park: Restoring
In this issue
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
a Rare Community,” by Gretchen Agricultural Research Service
Heaser, St. Croix State Park resource
specialist. Information is available on President’s column ...................2
the Internet. Go to the Minnesota Board of directors ....................2
Additional program information Department of Agriculture website
will be on the Society’s website. Book review.............................3
at www.mda.state.mn.us or call its Sioux Community floral atlas ..3
Arrest the Pest Hotline at 651-201-
MNNPS website
Beltrami Island Area history ...4
6684 or 888-545-6684. For detailed Roseau wildlife drive ......5
For current information about information on treatment options, Botany of Charles Geyer ......6
Society field trips, meetings and go to the University of Minnesota Plant Lore: fringed gentian.......7
other events, check the website: Extension website at extension. New members .......................7
www.mnnps.org umn.edu/issues/eab/

2. President’s column MNNPS Board
by Scott Milburn
The Society wrapped up another great year of presentations in June
of Directors
with Nancy Sather’s talk on the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid. This was President: Scott Milburn,
followed by several field trips in Northern Minnesota, where members had scott.milburn@mnnps.org
the opportunity to explore a cedar swamp near Hill City and trek to the Vice President: Shirley Mah
Aspen Parklands. Kooyman, shirley.mah.kooyman@
mnnps.org
Planning has already begun as we approach the upcoming year with our
first set of talks scheduled. The basic themes for the year will be similar DerekAnderson, board member,
derek.anderson@mnnps.org
to recent years, with the emphasis being on ecology, conservation, and
restoration. One topic I hope we can explore in our second half is the Ken Arndt, board member, field
emergence of the emerald ash borer in Minnesota. Questions we need to trip chair, ken.arndt@mnnps.org
ponder regarding the subject include what will be the true impacts and what Michael Bourdaghs, board
will happen to forest communities whose major components are black and member, michael.bourdaghs@
green ash. mnnps.org
Regarding the board, we will have our summer board meeting in early Angela Hanson, board member,
angela.hanson@mnnps.org
August, when we will elect officers and discuss our path for the next year.
Elizabeth Heck, board member,
I would like to announce that we need to bring a proposed bylaw change webmaster, elizabeth.heck@mnnps.
to the members’ attention. We had mistakenly added another membership org
category of Lifetime membership. This actually requires approval by the Dylan Lueth, board member,
general membership, and not through action of the board alone. The board dylan.lueth@mnnps.org
is hereby proposing to add the category of Lifetime membership to our
list of membership categories. The cost for a Lifetime membership will Elizabeth Nixon, board member,
conservation committee chair, beth.
be set at twenty times the cost of an individual membership, or $300 at
nixon@mnnps.org
our current membership price. This will be brought to the members this
upcoming year. The date will depend on attendance and whether we have Erika Rowe, board member,
a quorum at that point. erika.rowe@mnnps.org
Russ Schaffenberg, board
I hope and encourage folks to enjoy the summer months, and I look member, russ.schaffenberg@
forward to seeing you in October. mnnps.org
Treasurer: Ron and Cathy
Minnesota Native Plant Society’s purpose Huber, ron.huber@mnnps.org
(Abbreviated from the bylaws) Linda Huhn, program
coordinator, 612-374-1435
This organization is exclusively organized and operated for
educational and scientific purposes, including the following. Secretary: Andrés Morantes,
andres.morantes@mnnps.org
1. Conservation of all native plants.
2. Continuing education of all members in the plant sciences. Field Trips: fieldtrips.mnnps@
3. Education of the public regarding environmental protection of plant mnnps.org
life. Memberships: memberships.
4. Encouragement of research and publications on plants native to mnnps@mnnps.org
Minnesota. Historian-Archives: Roy
5. Study of legislation on Minnesota flora, vegetation, ecosytems. Robison, historian-archives.
6. Preservation of native plants, plant communities, and scientific and mnnps@mnnps.org
natural areas. Technical or membership
7. Cooperation in programs concerned with the ecology of natural inquiries: contact.mnnps@mnnps.
resources and scenic features. org
8. Fellowship with all persons interested in native plants through Minnesota Plant Press Editor:
meetings, lectures, workshops, and field trips. Gerry Drewry, 651-463-8006;
plantpress.mnnps@mnnps.org
2

3. Book review
Sioux Community is
‘Wildflowers of
the Boundary
making a floral atlas by Victoria Ranua, environmental and potentially others on non-SMSC
Waters’
assessment specialist, Shakopee lands. Its origin here is unknown.
Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Tall wheatgrass is an Eurasian
Book by Betty Vos Hemstad, This is a summary of her talk at the pasture grass that has spread across
published by the Minnesota May 7, 2009, MNNPS meeting. the Great Plains. It presumably
Historical Society Press, St. Paul, The Shakopee Mdewakanton came here in a seed mix used on a
2009; 272 pages, 7- by 10-inch Sioux Community (SMSC) is construction project.
format, softcover, $22.95. located at an agriculture/urban In the absence of a floristic quality
Review by Ron Huber interface in Scott County. In 2007, index for all of Minnesota’s plants,
Here is another welcome and the SMSC began a floral atlas of its the atlas data can serve as a proxy for
very useful regional guide, arranged 3,000 acres of land to complement habitat quality. A farm field might
by season and then by color. The its faunal atlas. have 15 species, but 90 percent are
author is a summer resident of the An atlas project documents non-native. One grassland might
have 55 species, but 60 percent are
Gunflint Trail and a longtime nature particular species occurring at a
specific period in time. For plants, non-native, while another grassland
photographer. might have 40 species, but only 15
they are strictly presence or absence,
She offers 620 color photographs and do not record species abundance percent are non-native. This can
of some 120 regional flowers, or health. The data can be used to help land use planners or natural
showing each in its general habitat compare with historical records and resource managers determine which
and then in close-up throughout its as a baseline for future atlas projects areas are priorities.
lifecycle, from bud to flower to seed at the same location. The SMSC complements its
pod. She has chosen to show some The SMSC Land and Natural atlas work with the Minnesota Land
of the common species that might be Resource staff used the quarter- Cover Classification System, pre-
encountered while hiking through quarter section (40 acres) of the European settlement vegetation data,
the woods, so a few non-native taxa Public Land Survey as a sampling and wetland and forest inventories.
Once the floral atlas is complete,
(usually, but not always, noted as unit. There are approximately 90 the SMSC will likely create an
such) are also included. sampling units. Staff members
record all plants identifiable to the electronic publication of all species
Each species is accompanied by species level within each 40-acre encountered.
a paragraph or two describing such unit. Some units, like farm fields,
things as fragrance, uniqueness of have few species and do not take Symposium was
habitat, uses by Native Americans, long to survey. Other units with
translation of Latin names, woodland, grassland, and wetland
successful
The Society’s 2009 symposium
superstitions regarding the plant, and take longer to survey. Each unit is
sampled twice, at different times on the Aspen Parklands earned a
assorted other interesting factoids.
during the growing season. Survey net profit of $1,241, treasurers Ron
Some “fussier” guides are careful work will be complete in 2009. and Cathy Huber reported. About
not to include flower photos that 135 people attended.
So far, the survey has resulted
have distractions such as beetles or
in 60 potential new Scott County Income included admissions,
butterflies, but not so this book. It records and two new Minnesota
vendor fees, and the silent auction,
is delightful to see the occasional records. The two new state records
in that order. Expenses included the
nectar-seeking insects on these are the buttercup pennywort
catered lunch, speakers’ honoraria
flowers, imparting therein a more (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) (meals, lodging and mileage —
natural, rather than sterile, image. and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum
some came from Canada), and the
ponticum). The nearest state with
The book was printed in China. printing/mailing of the brochures,
the buttercup pennywort is Illinois,
The price is reasonably low, given which lists it as endangered. It is in that order. The Bell Museum of
the number and quality of the not native to Minnesota. It is found Natural History graciously did not
photographs. in three wetlands on SMSC lands, charge for the use of its spaces.
3

4. A natural history of the
Wisconsin Glacier, whose surface
water inundated the depressed
Beltrami Island Area
peak of Beltrami Island. Waters
of Glacial Lake Agassiz subsided
when ice dams broke and flooded
by Scott C. Zager, plant ecologist, enormous volumes of freshwater
Beltrami Island is named after into the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
Wildlands Ecological Services. the Italian explorer Giacomo
This is a summary of his talk at the Constantino Beltrami, who searched As Beltrami Island emerged
March 5, 2009 MNNPS, meeting. for the source of the Mississippi above the surface, waves sorted
The greater Beltrami Island River in 1823. In 1897, Warren the glacial till, depositing sand and
Area in northwest Minnesota Upham described Beltrami Island gravel in a series of beach ridges
includes LUP lands that were the in his massive tome on Glacial Lake or strandlines, while silts and clays
subject of an ecological assessment Agassiz: were deposited within basins of inter-
documented in part by a natural beach swales. Today, these beach
“These [elevation] data show ridges are covered by a mixed forest
history report. These parcels are that Lake Agassiz in its highest of coniferous and deciduous trees,
federal lands administered by the stage had a large island northwest and the swales support a portion of
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. of Red Lake, comprising the the largest peatland complex in the
They were purchased by the federal headwaters of numerous streams contiguous United States.
government from a few remaining flowing outward from it to the Lake
settlers, scattered throughout of the Woods, Rainy River, Red The Beltrami Island Area is
the area, who were isolated and Lake, the Red Lake River, and the characterized by broad areas of
distressed by the extreme financial Red River of the North. This island conifer forests, mixed hardwood-
crisis of the 1930s. had probably a diameter of 40 miles conifer upland forests, and swamps
The acronym ALUP comes from or more, with an area exceeding with extensive peatlands and lakes.
A Land Utilization Project, which 1,000 square miles. ... [Beltrami BIA is part of the Agassiz Lowlands
authorized the federal government Island] had before been supposed to Ecological Subsection, which
to purchase submarginal lands be comparatively low and perhaps consists of a flat, poorly drained,
and relocate their owners to wholly beneath the highest level of glacial lake plain with beach ridges
more accessible and productive Lake Agassiz. … ” and peatlands. The peatlands are a
lands. LUP lands are leased to the mixture of acidic fens, bogs, black
Minnesota Department of Natural Beltrami Island is a knob of spruce forests; and circumneutral-
Resources and managed by the Red hard rock that arises above the to-alkaline (mineral-rich) fens and
Lake Wildlife Management Area, surrounding peneplain — a level swamps dominated by tamarack,
whose headquarters at Norris Camp plain worn down from ancient white cedar and sometimes, black
was built in the 1930s to aid the mountains by countless years of spruce.
resettlement program. Norris Camp erosion. The peneplain is underlain At the time of the original public
is a little north of center for the by Precambrian bedrock comprised land survey, the upland beach ridges
Beltrami Island Area and is located of igneous, metamorphic and were dominated by jack pine with
270 miles north-northwest of St. sedimentary rock of volcanic lesser amounts red pine, paper birch
Paul. The camp is 100 miles east- origin. The prominence of Beltrami and very rarely white pine. Aspen
northeast of Grand Forks, N.D., Island is attributed to the bedrock’s probably occupied lower slopes
and about 28 miles due south of the superior resistance to erosion. bordering swamps and other moist
Canadian border. During the ice age, the bedrock areas, which were scattered about
The greater Beltrami Island Area was repeatedly covered by in small basins. Because fire was a
(BIA) is a geopolitical boundary thousands of feet of glacial ice, commonly recorded occurrence, and
artificially created for analytical which deposited up to a hundred because jack pine requires periodic
purposes for the report. It is feet or more of unsorted sediments fire for regeneration, pine trees
858,811 acres (1,342 square miles) of glacial till. The enormous formed open-canopied woodlands
in area. It comprises mostly public weight of the glaciers compressed or pine savannas with an open
land that largely encompasses the the Earth’s crust hundreds of feet, understory (i.e., brush thickets were
geomorphic land formations known and it is still rebounding to this day. scarce). The pine openings were
as the Red Lake Peatlands and Glacial meltwater created Glacial small meadows scattered throughout
Beltrami Island, although no defined Lake Agassiz, a vast meltwater- the barrens.
boundary exists. lake surrounding the margin of the By the late 1800s and early
4

5. 1900s, logging and farming caused
a precipitous drop in pine forests.
The margins of bogs are sensitive
to the adjustment in height of the
Birds, butterflies
Several miles of drainage ditches water table. These changes are best need native plants
were dug in the peatland area between evident in areas altered by drainage Summarized by Thor Kommedahl
1900 and 1918 in preparation for ditches. Blocking the drainage Managed home landscapes in
agriculture. However, despite the ditches within BIA will impede which non-native ornamental plants
failure of this homestead project, waters from leaving the peatland are favored over native plants
these ditches remain today. and promote high water tables, dominate home properties in the
Historic climate patterns reveal thereby lowering the likelihood of United States. The question arises as
important considerations for the peat fires. to how this affects bird and butterfly
management of peatlands in the populations on home grounds. This
question was investigated by Karin
Roseau ‘Wildlife
Beltrami Island Area. Peat did not
develop in northwestern Minnesota Burghardt and associates at the
Drive’ is open on
until about 5,000 years after University of Delaware.
Glacial Lake Agassiz receded from They reported that properties
Minnesota. weekends with native plants supported many
Deglaciation was immediately The 29-mile “Wildlife Drive” more caterpillars and caterpillar
followed by a gradual change from that provides vehicle access to the species and greater abundance of
a cold-dry climate to a warm-dry birds with greater diversity and
Roseau River Wildlife Management more species, and more breeding
climate maximum during the Late- Area (WMA) opened July 20-26 and
Middle Holocene period (about pairs, than properties landscaped
will be open on weekends through with more conventional plants and
7,000 to 5,000 years ago). This
Aug. 23. shrubs. Moreover, when bird species
warming period is known as the
Hypsithermal. During this time, The drive traverses wetland, that were of special conservation
the moisture balance between concern were considered, they were
woodland, brushland, and farmland
precipitation and the moisture eight times more abundant and
habitats, allowing visitors ample more diverse on the native-plant
loss due to evapotranspiration was opportunity for wildlife viewing.
negative, causing water tables and properties.
Motorists are urged to use caution Note: This summary is based
lake levels to drop across the Upper
Midwest. This dry climate hindered because of narrow roads, soft on an abstract in Conservation
the development of the Red Lake shoulders, deep ditches, and two- Biology 2009 of research by Karin
Peatlands until about 3,500 years way traffic. The speed limit on all T. Burghardt, Douglas W. Tallamy,
ago. WMA roads is 20 mph. and W. Gregory Shriver, Department
of Entomologyand Wildlife Ecology,
It is predicted that in the next The Minnesota Department of
University of Delaware, Newark,
100 years the climate will increase Natural Resources may close the Del. An extensive discussion of
in temperature in a magnitude drive if road conditions deteriorate their research is found in Tallamy’s
equal to or possibly greater than due to poor weather. Only motor book, Bringing Nature Home.
historical levels. The peatlands vehicles licensed for use on public
within northwest Minnesota are on
the edge of a favorable moisture highways are legal to operate Tallamy’s nature book
balance for peat development, where on the WMA wildlife drive. The
is updated, expanded
evapotranspiration losses just equal recommended entry point is the Douglas Tallamy’s book,
precipitation. main dike road, one and three- Bringing Nature Home, is now
This is evident by the prevalence quarter miles south of the WMA available in an expanded, paperback
of fire-scarred peat, which is headquarters on Roseau County version. The publisher is Timber
common along the edge of the Road 3. Press, www.timberpress.com
prairie-forest boundary. Peatlands
at this boundary are extremely
The Roseau River WMA is Plant sale results
located 20 miles northwest of Cathy Huber reports that in spite
vulnerable to atmospheric changes
Roseau. For more information, of bad weather, the Society received
that would tip the balance to a
warmer-dryer climate. Historically, contact or stop by the Roseau River $416 at the June plant sale. Thanks
this has been shown to lower local WMA office: phone 218-463-1130; to all those who brought plants and
water tables and thereby increase 27952 400th St., Roseau, MN to those who helped arrange the
the propensity of peat fires. 56751. plants.
5

6. Between the Mississippi and
the Missouri, 1838-1839
A new look at the botany of Charles Geyer
by Charles Umbanhowar, Jr. This is seminal work about the Nicollet posted eventually at the St. Olaf
a summary of his talk at the April 2 expeditions of 1838-1839 by Martha Nicollet website. These specimens
meeting. and Edmund Bray. Mike Heinz did provide an invaluable way to check
highlight Geyer’s work in the Spring Geyer’s identifications.
“He will triumph who understands 1989 Minnesota Plant Press.
how to conciliate and combine with Geyer summarized his work
the greatest skill the benefits of the Geyer’s botanical notebook in a never published “Report of
past with the demands of the future.” of 1838 contains a wealth of an agricultural botanical survey
– J.N. Nicollet information on the vegetation of as an addition to a general report
the region as well as the identity of a geographical survey…” This
The 1836-1839 Nicollet and distribution of many individual report is housed at the Smithsonian
expeditions in Minnesota and plants. For example, for Tuesday, Archives. The report summarizes the
the Dakotas represent the earliest Oct. 2, 1838, he records the banks 1838-1839 expeditions and provides
detailed description of the landscape, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, as being “well long lists of plants, both common
plants, and people of the “Northwest timbered but only interrupted” and and rare, associated with different
Territories” located between the then proceeds to fill a page with a geographic regions and soils and
Mississippi and Missouri rivers. list of the plants found on the shores should provide a real answer to
The field notes and observations of of the lake. Only one-third of this the question of what plants should/
Nicollet were the basis for his 1843 journal entry makes it into the Brays’ could be present in different types
map and report on the region, and book, but it and other such listings of remnants and restorations. Work
for the time they were unrivalled could form the basis for a more to transcribe and eventually publish
in their detail and accuracy. Often detailed look at the 1830s flora of or post this report on the Internet is
overlooked are the contributions of region. Sadly, if it existed, any 1839 on-going.
Charles A. Geyer, who accompanied botanical journal that Geyer kept is
Nicollet in 1838-1839 as the missing.
expedition botanist.
Geyer collected and pressed
Over the past two years, our team many botanical specimens. Most
of three faculty and 12 students at of these were collected in 1839,
St. Olaf College has been working because hundreds of the specimens
to illustrate the expeditions of he collected in 1838 were sadly
Nicollet. We have been supported lost in transit from Fort Snelling to
in these efforts by a generous St. Louis. John Torrey catalogued
grant from NCUR/Lancy. We the Geyer collection in the 1843
are working to better understand Report to illustrate Nicollet’s map
changes in the landscape since the and lists 430 plant specimens. We
time of Nicollet, combining modern have now located over 300 of these
landscape photography with lake specimens. The majority we have
water data, sediment cores from five found were either at the National
lakes, and images of the original Herbarium or the Missouri Botanical
journal. The current product of our Garden Herbarium, but others were
work can be found at www.stolaf. found at the Philadelphia Academy
edu/academics/nicollet/index.html of Sciences, New York Botanical
As part of this project, we have Garden, Harvard Herbarium, and
been “rediscovering” the botanical even one at the University of John Almendinger, DNR forest
work of Charles A. Geyer. His Minnesota. The herbaria have all ecologist, talks to participants
work has often been overlooked, graciously either arranged to image on a June 27 field trip to a cedar
perhaps because his journal notes these specimens or have allowed swamp in the Hill City area.
are interwoven so seamlessly in the us to image them, and they will be Photo by Scott Milburn.
6

7. Plant Lore
by Thor Kommedahl
about the fringed gentian by William
Cullen Bryant, Emily Dickinson,
Edgar Allan Poe, Helen Hunt
What is fringed gentian? Jackson, and Sarah Whitman.
It is Gentianopsis crinita, Is it a garden plant?
formerly known as Gentiana crinita, It needs sunny locations in moist
in the gentian family, native to moist habitats and to be seeded annually.
prairies in Minnesota. The lesser
fringed gentian is G. procera.
How did it get its names? To the Fringed
Gentian
Gentianopsis means “like a
gentian,” and gentian was named
after Gentius, King of Illyria (second by William Cullen Bryant (1794-
century B.C.) who, according 1878)
to Pliny, was supposed to have Thou blossom bright with
discovered medicinal uses for the autumn dew,
yellow gentian (G. lutea). Crinita And coloured with the heaven’s
means “with long hairs,” referring own blue,
to the long fringe on petals. Procera That openest when the quiet
means tall. which is contradictory light Fringed gentian, Gentianopsis
because G. procera is the shorter of Succeeds the keen and frosty crinita, photo by Scott Milburn.
the two species. night.
Where does it grow?
It grows in moist meadows in the Thou comest not when violets MNNPS welcomes
state from southeast to northwest, lean new members
but less so in northeast and southwest O’er wandering brooks and The Society gives a warm
Minnesota. It often heralds the end springs unseen, welcome to 17 new members (listed
of the wildflower season. It is either Or columbines, in purple
alphabetically) who joined during
threatened or endangered in many dressed,
Nod o’er the ground-bird’s the second quarter of 2009.
states.
hidden nest. Dale Blount, Minneapolis
What does it look like?
Thou waitest late and com’st Susan Damon, St. Paul
It is a biennial and flowers in
the second season; sometimes it alone, Jim Drake, Arden Hills
behaves as an annual. The plant When woods are bare and birds Katherine Grumstrup,
forms a small, basal rosette the first are flown, Minneapolis
year. Plants are 12-32 inches tall. And frosts and shortening days Cary Hamel, Winnipeg,
Flowers open and close daily, and portend Manitoba
are open when it’s sunny and closed The aged year is near his end. Bobby Henderson, Ada
when it’s cloudy. It has four petals, Ross Hier, Crookston
Then doth thy sweet and quiet
four sepals, and the blue petals Kristina Hughes, Minneapolis
eye
flare out with fringed lobes from a David Klett, Eden Prairie
Look through its fringes to the
corolla tube. The fruit is a capsule Rachel Marty, Burnsville
sky,
containing many tiny seeds that Brian O’Brien, St. Peter
Blue — blue — as if that sky let
are wind-blown. It flowers in late Donovan Pietruszewski,
fall
summer. The opposite leaves are
A flower from its cerulean wall. Karlstad
egg- to willow leaf-shaped.
I would that thus, when I shall Laura Reeves, Gardenton,
Is it edible, poisonous, or Manitoba
medicinal? see
The hour of death draw near to Russ Reisz, Karlstad
None of the above. Some
gentians have medicinal properties me, Cheryl Ryland, Plymouth
(tonic) but not this species. Hope, blossoming within my Dan and Vicki Svadarsky,
heart, Crookston
Is there folklore for fringed
Susan Weaver and Paul Mote,
gentian? May look to heaven as I depart.
Yes, poems have been written St. Cloud
7

8. Minnesota Native Plant Society
P.O. Box 20401
Bloomington, MN 55420
Summer 2009
Directions:
Take MN Hwy. 52 to the Butler Ave. E. exit in West St. Paul.
Go west on Butler 0.2 mile to Stassen Lane.
Go south on Stassen Lane to Thompson County Park.