The Glencarlyn Library Community Garden coordinators have recently created a new series of short videos highlighting the beauty of native plants. We will be sharing these videos as well as additional resources on our website every month as well as glossary words that go along with each month’s topic.
While most of the Glencarlyn videos have a science-based, instructional focus, the series on “Beautiful Native Plants” was created to simply celebrate the ornamental characteristics of many species that are either native to the Mid-Atlantic region or are environmentally friendly and grow well here. Based on a personal library of still photos and a few video clips, each presentation introduces viewers to around a dozen plants, providing scientific and common names and illustrating their full forms as well as details of buds, flowers, and foliage through the seasons. The videos are designed to be viewed with audio on to provide a background of music and the sounds of nature. You are invited to fall in love with beautiful native plants.
Beautiful Native Plants: The Stars of Winter
Featured Plants
Trees
- Betula nigra (River Birch) *
- Carpinus caroliniana (Musclewood, American Hornbeam, Ironwood) *
- Crataegus crus-galli (Cockspur Hawthorn) *
- Fagus grandifolia (American Beech)
- Ilex opaca (American Holly) *
- Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Redcedar) *
- Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum) *
- Platanus occidentalis (American Sycamore)
- Thuja occidentalis (Arborvitae) *
Shrubs
- Aronia arbutifolia (Red Chokeberry)
- Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush) *
- Cornus sericea (Red Twig Dogwood)
- Hamamelis virginiana (Witch Hazel) *
- Ilex glabra (Inkberry) *
- Ilex verticillata (Winterberry) *
Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’ (Winterberry) - Leucothoe axillaris (Coastal Doghobble)
- Rhododendron maximum (Rosebay Rhododendron)
- Yucca filamentosa (Common Yucca)
Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’ (Common Yucca)
Vines
- Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina Jessamine) *
- Lonicera sempervirens (Coral Honeysuckle) *
Lonicera sempervirens ‘John Clayton’ (Coral Honeysuckle)
Herbaceous Plants
- Carex plantaginea (Plantain-leaved Sedge) *
- Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) *
- Eutrochium dubium (Coastal Plain Joe-pye-weed) *
- Hibiscus moscheutos (Rose Mallow) *
- Matteuccia struthiopteris (Ostrich Fern) *
- Onoclea sensibilis (Sensitive Fern) *
- Panicum virgatum (Switchgrass) *
- Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas Fern) *
- Schizachyrium scoparium (Litte Bluestem) *
- Sorghastrum nutans (Indian Grass) *
- Vernonia noveboracensis (New York Ironweed) *
*Tried & True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Master Gardener Virtual Classroom
Related Illustrated Glossary Terms
berry – [ BER-ee ] noun, plural berries: a fleshy, simple fruit without a stone
bract – [ brakt ] noun: a modified leaf or scale
crosier, crozier – [ KROH-zher ] noun: the curled top of a young fern frond, also commonly referred to as a fiddlehead
culm – [ kuhlm ] noun: the stem of grasses, sedges, rushes, and cattails
cypsela – [ SIP-suh-luh ] noun, plural cypselae [ SIP-suh-lee]: a one-seeded, indehiscent, dry fruit formed from an inferior ovary and with a fused calyx
deciduous – [ DEE-si-joo-us ] adjective: not evergreen, used in botany to describe trees, shrubs, and vines)that shed all their leaves in one season
dioecious – [ dahy-EE-shuhs ] adjective: plant species having male and female reproductive organs on different individual plants
drupe – [ droop ] noun: a fleshy, simple fruit with a central stone containing the seed
filament – [ FIL–uh-muhnt ] noun: the stalk that supports the pollen bearing anther in the male reproductive organ (stamen) of a flower; a long strand of similar cells joined end to end, as found in certain bacteria, algae, and fungi
flute – [ floot ] noun: a vertical fold or groove in the stem of a tree
frond – [ frond ] noun: the leaf of a fern
glabrous – [ GLEY-bruhs ] adjective Botany: smooth, having a surface lacking hairs, bristles, and glands
inflorescence – [ in-flaw-RES-uhns ] noun: 1. the flowering structure consisting of more than one flower, usually comprising distinct individual flowers 2. the way flowers are arranged or develop on an axis 3. the budding and flowering of a plant
lanceolate – [ LAN(t)-see-uh-late ] adjective: lance-shaped; specifically in the case of leaves, longer than wide, tapering to a point at the apex and possibly to the base, wider below the middle; sometimes widest at the base
lenticel – [ LEN-tuh-sel ] noun: a pore or aggregation of cells penetrating the surface and through which gases are exchanged between the atmosphere and the underlying tissues
marcescent – [ mahr-SES-uhnt ] adjective: remaining attached although withered (leaves, petals, sepals)
monecious – [ muh–NEE-shuhs ] adjective: plant species having male and female reproductive organs on the same plant
palmate – [ PAL-meyt, -mit, PAHL-, PAA-mayt ] adjective: of a leaf, lobed, veined, or divided from a common point with the veins forming a branching pattern that radiates from the place where the petiole joins the leaf blade, like fingers from a hand
pappus – [ PAP–uhs ] noun, plural pappi [ PAP–ahy ]: an appendage of the cypsela (fruit) of the Asteraceae consisting of one to many bristles, awns, scales, setae, or coronas that assists in seed dispersal
petiole – [ PET-ee-ohl ] noun: a leafstalk. adjective: petioled or petiolate
perennial – [ puh–REN-ee-uhl ] noun: a plant that lives for more than two years or growing seasons
persistent – persistent [ per-SIS-tuhnt ] adjective: remaining attached beyond maturation after similar parts of the plant, such as flowers, seeds, or leaves, have normally dropped off or their function is completed
phyllotaxis – (also, phyllotaxy) [ fil-uh–TAK-sis ] noun: the manner in which leaves are arranged with regard to the axis and in relation to one another; the study of the factors that determine the growth patterns and arrangements of plant leaves
pome – [ pohm ] noun: an accessory fruit with fleshy receptacle tissue (hypanthium) surrounding a tough core (inferior ovary) containing the seeds
pubescent – [ pyoo-BES–uhnt ] adjective: covered with hairs (noun: pubescence)
raceme – [ rey-SEEM, ruh–SEEM] noun: a flower cluster with separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem (flowers at base develop first). Racemes can be simple or compound.
rhizome – [ RAHY-zohm ] noun: a modified plant stem growing horizontally at or just below the surface that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes
sedge – [sej] noun: a wetland plant of the Cyperaceae family that resembles grass, but differs in having achenes, solid, often triangular stems, linear leaves and monocotyledonous spikelet inflorescences
spike – [ spahyk ] noun: an unbranched, elongated inflorescence on the main axis, similar to a raceme but having sessile or subsessile flowers or spikelets maturing from the bottom up (indeterminate or racemose); an ear of grain such as barley or wheat
strobilus – [ stroh-BAHY-luhs ] noun, plural strobili: cone-shaped mass of ovule- or spore-bearing scales or bracts; reproductive structure of conifers
sucker – [ SUK-er ] noun: a shoot originating underground from the root or stem of a plant. verb: to form shoots or sprouts from the root or stem of a plant; to remove suckers from a plant
twine – [ twahyn ] verb: to ascend by clockwise or counterclockwise spiraling or coiling around a support
whorl – [ hwawrl, hwurl ] noun: a circle of plant parts; a circular arrangement of three or more similar anatomical parts such as leaves, petals or other plant parts arising from a common point or node at the same level on a stem or other axis; a verticil