The dead zone is real’: why US farmers are embracing wildflowers

Strips of native plants on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95%

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/26/us-farmers-embracing-wildflowers-prairie-strips-erosion-pollinators

#Botany

Roundleaf sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). It typically grows in nutrient-poor peatlands such as bogs and fens, directly rooted in sphagnum moss. It is carnivorous, catching small inverts in its sticky sap and digesting them for nutrients #nativeplants #carnivorousplants #ecology #bogs #fens

The queen of the fen, Showy Lady Slipper (Cypripedium reginae). This North American orchid grows in fens and other alkaline wetlands. The hairs secrete an irritant that causes a dermatitis similar to poison ivy (I found out the hard way). In northwest Pennsylvania. #botany #nativeplants #orchids

Kalm's lobelia (Lobelia kalmii), also called brook lobelia, is a small herbaceous wildflower that grows in wet, calcareous habitats. Alkaline river bluff seeps like this one in Erie County, PA are the ideal habitat for a small plant like this. #botany #nativeplants #wildflowers #erie #pennsylvania

Not today b/c it's dark out out already, but from a recent hike I took. Liverwort naval (Loreleia marchantiae), a rare mushroom that grows out of liverworts (Marchantia spp). Found for the first time in eastern North America last year in western PA by a coworker of mine. #fungi #mycology

Color variation in a population of rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) at a kettlehole bog, northwest Pennsylvania #orchids #botany #nativeplants #Pennsylvania #bogs

Your daily dose of botanical drawings by Mary Vaux Walcott.

Golden Sedge (Carex aurea)

#woman #artist #plants #walcott #botany

Thanks to the few who have already followed me early on. Here is one of my favorites, photos taken last year: Greater Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita). This species loves calcareous seepage and open sunny habitats. Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. #botany #wildflowers #nativeplants #Pennsylvania

My profile picture: Beautiful Barbara's Buttons (Marshallia pulchra). This species is a globally-vulnerable (G3) Appalachian-endemic species that's specialized to grow on river scours. Laurel Highlands, southwestern Pennsylvania. #botany #rareplant #Appalachia #Pennsylvania

Turks-cap Lily (Lilium superbum), upper Allegheny River, Forest County, Pennsylvania. One of the showiest species in the floodplain. #botany #nativeplants #pennsylvania #allegheny #ecology