America Treasures

Tragic events of September 11, 2001 have consolidated our national pride and have made us more aware of the need to preserve our American heritage. The United States is blessed with a fabulous diversity of native wildlife, from grizzly bears and giant Redwood trees to our delicate winged jewels, the butterflies and moths, and our myriad of wildflowers. Each of these treasures, no matter how large or how small, deserves a place in our country if for any reason, to enrich our lives and to confirm a healthy environment for future generations of Americans.

In 1984, the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) in St. Louis formed a network of botanical gardens throughout the United States and territories to serve as a seed bank for those native American plants under threat of extinction. In Texas, this responsibility is shared by Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens, San Antonio Botanical Garden and The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin.

The rare Pondberry, Lindera melissifolia, a floodplain shrub, is one of over 15 species maintained for the CPC at Mercer and only exists in the wild in a few midwest and southeast states. Mercer’s Pondberry is sponsored by Alice C. Fick of Auburn, Alabama in memory of Kenneth C. Beighley and by the Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation of St. Louis.

We often forget that America’s native plants are the foundation of the food chains for our native animals (and for humans, too!). Caterpillars are the immature stage of the life cycle of butterflies and both often require very specific plants as their food source. Pondberry and Spicebush shrubs (Lindera species), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) and a few additional members of the Laurel and Magnolia families are native host plants for the caterpillars of the beautiful native Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio troilus. Spicebush Swallowtails follow the ranges of the caterpillars’ native host plants from southern Canada to Florida and west to Oklahoma and central Texas.

The rare White Bladderpod, Lesquerella pallida (Parkscape, Winter 2001) and Large-fruited Sand Verbena, Abronia macrocarpa (Parkscape, Summer 2001) of East Texas are fully sponsored by CPC endowments by The Quaker Hill Foundation of Wayzata, Minnesota and the Houston families of Sellers J. Thomas, Frank A. Liddell, Jr., and Charles F. Squire for Mercer.

Texas Trailing Phlox, Phlox nivalis ssp texensis (Parkscape Spring 2001), is currently in reintroduction into its historical range, The Big Thicket National Preserve of the National Park Service (NPS) in Hardin County, Texas. The Garden Club of Houston, River Oaks Garden Club of Houston, Magnolia Garden Club of Beaumont, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, The Texas Nature Conservancy, Sam Houston State, Lamar, and Stephen F. Austin State universities are working together with the NPS to support these reintroductions. Recently, a CPC endowment for Texas Trailing Phlox has been initiated by a sponsorship from longtime Mercer volunteer, Carol Kobb of Conroe, in memory of her friend, Millie Gaudino of Houston.

By 2003 over 500 species in the CPC’s National Collection of Endangered Plants, including those maintained by Mercer, may be viewed and studied at www.mobot.org/CPC. Vanishing Wildlife of Texas, by John and Gloria Tveten and published by the Endangered Species Media Project, www.vanishingwildlife.com provides a wealth of information about our endangered plant and animal treasures. Mercer’s Endangered Species Garden, founded in 1994 with support from Star Enterprises, is under renovation with displays of America’s native endangered plants on a seasonal basis.

Anita Anna Tiller, Botanist, Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens, Spring 2002 

Photos: 1st: Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly gathers nectar from non-native African and Arabian Pentas at Mercer. 2nd: The Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar is an ambassador for plants native to the United States. Photos by Carlos Hernandez. 3rd: White Bladderpod, Lesquerella pallida. Photo by Greg Wieland at Mercer's Endangered Species Garden.