goosefoot violet seeds ~ 05/02/14 ~ Chews Ridge

goosefoot violet seeds and seed capsule

Viola purpurea ssp. quercetorum seeds and seed capsule

Chris Tenney has kindly been my local butterfly mentor as I seriously pursue butterflies again.  This week he wanted to introduce me to a couple of butterfly researchers out of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.  He's been helping them study the unsilvered fritillary (Speyeria adiaste). Sure!  I'm just following the path laid out at my feet here, and don't think I haven't considered graduate school.  However, I have my own questions I'd like to pursue, not someone else's.  If a professor out there wants to sponsor me while I do my thing, then all the better.  Eh-hem...

Dr. Ryan Hill and his soon-to-defend Master's student Khuram Zaman met us in the middle of nowhere.  They pulled up in Khuram's flashy black BMW sedan with vanity plates.  Haha!  I had to laugh, because only in CA would serious field researchers drive a fancy-schmancy car.  The reason for their 3-hour drive down was to collect goosefoot violet plants and seeds, and census the violet population.  You see, before you can raise butterflies, you first have to raise and propagate their natural host plant.  It sounds easier than it really is.

Before my mentor Sonja died, she was figuring out how to reintroduce the extirpated regal fritillary (Speyeria idalia) to Ohio.  She used a grant to purchase a large incubator with timers, lights, and heat.  It looked like a fridge, but was the exact opposite.  She had me practice rearing leps in the incubator, first with cabbage butterflies.  It ended horribly when we ran out of cabbage from her garden, bought some from Whole Foods, washed it twice in huge tubs knowing there'd be Btk residue, and it still killed all my stock.  I cried, because all my babies died and it was a month's worth of work down the drain.  Remember, organic does not mean pesticide free.  In any case, she didn't get very far with the regals, because she couldn't find a violet she could successfully grow and that they'd eat.  So, I totally feel for Dr. Hill's predicament.  

If anyone has a source for native Viola purpurea ssp. quercetorum, please contact Dr. Hill!

goosefoot violet

Viola purpurea ssp. quercetorum

Violaceae

locally known as Johnny jump up

Viola pedunculata (most likely)
Violaceae

When studying butterflies, it's helpful to know your plants, because they can be incredibly picky about which foods they eat.  Ryan and Chris have been working on verifying that V. pedunculata also grew on the hill. Growing on a dry southwest facing slope was a group of plants that seemed to intermingle with V. purpurea.  Chris suggested they were V. pedunculata.  Ryan couldn't confirm this from specimens collected last year and wanted to study them more.  Two weeks ago, Chris asked what I thought about the different violets, and we discussed it.  Ryan was finally convinced on this trip by the golden yellow petals of V. pedunculata (vs. lemon yellow), the more heavily marked nectar guides in V. pedunculata, the large root mass complex with many rhizomes in V. pedunculata (vs. simple in V. purpurea) and the relatively large and glabrous capsule of V. pedunculata (vs. smaller and pubescent in V. purpurea).  Funny enough, none of Ryan's plant keys mention the nectar guides that I use to distinguish V. pedunculata from other native violets.  To me, they're very distinctive with the bold, forks/splits/frayed on each side of the center guide, regardless of what the leaves look like.  I actually don't know if that's a reliable diagnostic, but that is what I use to distinguish what's found locally.  Of course, this doesn't help if the flower is not in bloom.  Ha!

tea-bagged violet seed capsules

tea-bagged Viola purpurea ssp. quercetorum seed capsules

This was Ryan's method to bag the seed capsules for collection after they've ripened and popped.  I think he said violet seeds can fling themselves out of the capsules by 6 ft. or so.  I like the high-tech use of emptied tea bags and a stapler.  He'll return later to collect the dried seeds.  Very cool stuff.

view from Chews Ridge

I always like taking a step-back look, because over time with all the close-up shots, I tend to forget what it really looked like.  This day will forever remain in my memory as a good day.

ps -  Please note, I allowed Dr. Hill to edit this blog post for factual accuracy, and I found some of his edits rather humorous.  It wasn't his car!  Hehe.  Plus, he added additional usage of the scientific names, more than what I would typically use for Nature ID.  That's fine, he writes for a different audience in peer-reviewed papers.  I try to be casual, accurate, and first-hand so that anyone can understand.  Have I ever mentioned it's because of my hearing impairment that I prefer common names?