Winter 2025 Sempervirens

In the Spring 2025 Sempervirens

Anna Finch's vision of inclusion, new Natural Heritage staff, Allodus podophylli.
Sempervirens
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Annual Workshop 2025
Winter 2025 Sempervirens

In the Winter 2025 Sempervirens

Mayapple nomenclature, Smooth Coneflower research, millipedes, trip reports and remembrances.
swamp milkweed
Mayapple illus

Introducing the 2025 Wildflower of the Year, Mayapple. Read all about it, and wear the t-shirt.

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VNPS Statement on Utility-Scale Solar
VNPS Statement on
Utility-Scale Solar

Utility-scale solar facilities in the right place are a necessary and important variable for Virginia to achieve a future with clean energy. Read about the risks and recommendations.

1.3MW Solar Array on Landfill in Rehoboth, MA. Photo by Lucas Faria, US Department of Energy

VNPS Ballcaps Now On Sale
VNPS Logo Ballcaps
Are Now On Sale In
5 Vibrant Colors!
 
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Photo by Brigitte Hartke

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News & Updates

🌻Save the dates! The 2025 Annual Meeting will be 19 through 21 September. 15 June 2025

🌻The Spring 2025 Sempervirens is up! 25 May 2025

🌻Watch video recordings of the 2025 Annual Workshop sessions. 4 April 2025

🌻Introducing the 2025 Wildflower of the Year, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). Read all about it, and wear the t-shirt. 4 April 2025

🌻 Help Us Support the Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora. Donate now to expand its reach and effectiveness. 5 November 2024

• A New Online Dictionary of Virginia Botanical Etymology. This dictionary, compiled and edited by Michael Charters, lists Latin, Greek, and other derivations of botanical and biographic names in Virginia. View the Online Dictionary here. 20 August 2024

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Wildflower of the Year 2023 Hollow Joe-Pye-Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum)

February 1, 2023 |

VNPS offers Joe-Pye-Weed artwork on T-Shirts, Tote Bags, and Coffee Mugs.  Visit our Online Store to order. Hollow Joe-pye-weed is a perennial herb that may grow as tall as 35 dm (about 11.5 feet). Stems are frequently purple and, when young, are covered with a thin, glaucous, layer of wax. Cross sections of stems will…

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Wax Myrtle Sparkles in Winter

December 17, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter Our evergreen Wax Myrtle or Southern Bayberry (Myrica cerifera) is handsome in every season of the year but it particularly sparkles in the winter after the leaves of deciduous trees have fallen leaving a gray and brown landscape. Not only are Wax Myrtles a beautiful native evergreen (large shrub…

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Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod Lights Up Woodlands

October 21, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter At our recent fall native plant sale a number of shoppers requested shade tolerant perennials that bloom in shady woodland gardens in late summer and fall, long after spring bloomers have faded. The October Plant of the Month, Blue-stemmed Goldenrod, Solidago caesia, fits the bill beautifully and like other…

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Enchanting Blue Vervain

August 28, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) enhances any landscape in which it grows. It is one of my favorite mid to late summer native perennials for any number of reasons. The beautiful purplish blue flowers atop tall stems provide a striking vertical accent contrasting with more typical mounded plants and flower…

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Turk’s-Cap Lily Stuns in Summer

July 20, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter Turk’s-cap Lily (Lilium superbum) is one of our most spectacular wildflowers in eastern North America. Its stunning flowers bloom right now in July and August. Native to wet meadows and rich moist cove forests and bogs from New Hampshire south to Georgia and Alabama, it is found in most…

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The Curious Pawpaw

May 29, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter The Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is a handsome small tree that is as fascinating as it is curious. Pawpaw is a member of the Custard-Apple Family, the Annonaceae, a large family of tropical and subtropical species. Ranging from Florida and Texas north to New York and Southern Ontario, Pawpaw is…

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The Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly, Its Host Plants, and the New Threat They Face

April 29, 2022 |

By Mary Lee Epps A new non-native fungus and the beetle that carries it may soon severely impact sassafras, spicebush, and most other members of the Laurel family in the United States. Sadly, since these are the main host plants of the spicebush swallowtail butterfly, which is now common throughout most of the Eastern U.S.,…

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Magical Mexican Dogwoods: What Should We Call Them?

March 29, 2022 |

By W. John Hayden, Botany Chair Who knew? Cornus florida, the 2018 VNPS Wildflower of the Year and State Tree of Virginia, has a cousin living in the mountains of eastern Mexico! Mexican Dogwoods have been found in the states of Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz. They are, manifestly, close relatives of the familiar Flowering…

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Partridge-berry Is Bright All Year

February 17, 2022 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens) is a handsome evergreen vine that creeps along the ground reaching only 2” high. Its long trailing stems can reach 12” long but it develops roots at nodes along the stem wherever it touches the ground, creating large dense colonies. Widespread across eastern North America, it…

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Native and Invasive Plant Legislation in the 2022 General Assembly

January 17, 2022 |

The Virginia General Assembly convened January 12, 2022 and three bills were introduced in the House of Delegates that deal with native and invasive plants. The first step is to assign the bills to committees, then to subcommittees. Bills must pass the committee to be referred to the House for a full vote. View the Virginia…

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Wildflower of the Year 2022 Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

January 1, 2022 |

Buttonbush is a shrub or small tree commonly attaining heights up to about 6 m, occasionally twice that size. Leaves are opposite or whorled, elliptic to ovate, 2-8 cm wide, and 6-15 cm long; margins are entire and apices are acute or cuspidate, i.e., with an abrupt, short, tooth-like point. Triangular stipules, 2-3 mm long,…

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Baldcypress: Towering Virginia Icon

November 21, 2021 |

By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter Baldcypress, Taxodium distichum, our November Plant of the Month, is an unforgettable sight all year. But in late fall when its soft foliage turns vibrant shades of copper-orange, it lights up the entire landscape. These trees are called “bald” because, unlike most other conifers, they are deciduous and lose…

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