In the latest Sempervirens
News & Updates
The latest Sempervirens is here! 8 May 2026
Save the dates: the 2026 annual meeting will take place 2-4 October 2026, in Wakefield, Virginia. 3 April 2026
Winners of the fifth annual Wildflower of the Year T-shirt Design Contest have been announced. 27 March 2026
Video recordings of both sessions of the 2026 Annual Workshop are available in a Vimeo showcase. 27 March 2026
Thank you for supporting our 2025 fundraiser benefiting the Flora of Virginia. The campaign has ended. If you would like to support the Flora, please donate directly. 3 March 2026
Introducing the 2026 Wildflower of the Year, Ghost Pipes (Monotropa uniflora). Read all about it. 25 January 2026
Now with its own menu pick: Botanizing with Marion. Â 20 June 2025
• 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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Walk With A Botanical Bunch
Many are the pleasures of a stroll into shady woods or floriferous meadows on a fair summer’s day. Exuberant spring is spent and plants still verdant and youthful now assume attitudes more calm and serene. But when you go out to walk with a Botanical Bunch, you can forget serenity. What you get is a…
Iris and Iridaceae Taxonomy Overview in Flora of Virginia
Worldwide, Iridaceae, the Iris Family comprises 65 genera and approximately 6700-7170 species. The growth forms of this family range from herbs to shrubs with all of our species being herbaceous. The Iris Family or Iridaceae was named by A.L. de Jussieu in 1789. This family was first recognized by John Ray in 1703 as a separate…
The Lycophytes
While I was writing about ferns and mosses, I became aware of other plants that could not be ignored, since some are very common here, such as Ground-pine and Running-cedar. These plants are Lycophytes, which happen to be the first entry of Taxonomic Treatments in the Flora of Virginia, on page 137. Lycophytes are followed by…
Evergreen and Creepy: It’s Winter Creeper!
Winter Creeper, (Euonymus fortunei), with its glossy evergreen leaves, is easy to spot in the woods right now. This member of the Bittersweet family, (Celastraceae), is native to China, Japan and Korea. Introduced here as an ornamental plant, Winter Creeper, also known as Creeping Euonymus, has escaped cultivation, according to the National Park Service, and…
Old-Age Forest at Chapman State Park
The old-age forest section of Chapman State Park is a fascinating and regionally unique meeting ground for plants with a primary range in the inner Piedmont and mountains and those of the Coastal Plain. This section extends from the low river terrace and extensive Water-willow Shrublands along the Potomac River to the marl cliffs and…
Morella on the Barrier Islands
The barrier islands are one of Virginia’s last great wilderness areas, virtually uninhabited by humans. They have one of the longest stretches of undeveloped coastline on the eastern seaboard, and the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier islands in the global temperate zone. The roughly 23 islands that make up this group are owned by The Nature…
The Preservation of Remnant Native Oaks in Urban and Suburban Areas
I and others have recently received inquiries regarding cases of oak decline and death throughout Arlington County and the City of Alexandria, Virginia – oak species (Quercus spp.) being the dominant and characteristic trees of the upland landscape in both jurisdictions. In all cases over the years, I have not seen any evidence of disease…
Lovin’ the Lichens!
The 2016 VNPS Annual Meeting was a lot of fun; full of laughter and mingling with old friends as well as making many new ones. The highlight of the weekend for me was a Lichen Walk at Wildwood Park. To our delight only four of us joined Gary Cote for the walk, and we were…
Pollinator Week: Something to Celebrate!
The fascinating process of pollination, and the beautiful creatures who perform it, these are indeed wonderful things to celebrate. Pollinator Week 2016, June 20 – 26, comes at a good time for us to focus on something we can all appreciate, understand, and support. Certainly there is more to know, but what fun would it…
The Bug Guy Talks Zika
The hot topic of mosquitoes and the potential for spread of the dreaded Zika virus created quite a buzz at the May 12 chapter meeting of Potowmack chapter. Michael Raupp, Ph.D., Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland, was scheduled to speak on the topic “Bugs Make the World Go Round,” but the recent news…
Best Management Practices for Lawn Care
Important decisions about how to maintain a lawn area have received a lot of press as ideas  change about the ways we use, and treat, this part of the landscape. Rod Simmons spoke on the subject recently, and has kindly agreed to share answers to some of the follow-up questions from his presentation at the…
A Suburban Mushroom
Just a few weeks after learning about mushrooms at the VNPS Workshop, Plants and Their Friends: Exploring Partnerships Above and Below Ground, I got out of my car, wandered across to see what was blooming in the front yard. There, in bloom, was a wood poppy that a friend had given us a few years…