Scientific Name:           Phoradandram leucarpum

Common Name(s):        Oak mistletoe, American mistletoe, Eastern mistletoe, and hairy mistletoe
By: Karla Sayre

©Loadmaster ©Cressler, Alan

Identification:

Oak mistletoe is a common parasite that prefers the high branches of hardwood trees where it forms into a shrub-like clumping ball of vegetation that can grow up to 3.5 feet in length.  It lives on the branches of living trees and is an evergreen, which makes it most visible in the winter when trees are bare of leaves.   They form smooth, green, jointed stems with thick leathery leaves which are oriented opposite from one another.  Oak mistletoe is a vascular plant which produces flowers and berries.  The flowers bloom between September and October and are small and yellow.  Their berries form in November and can remain until late winter.  The berries are white and around 3 to 6 mm in diameter with a thick wax coating and sticky pulp.  The pulp is toxic to humans, but the berries are enjoyed by birds such as waxwings, grouse, mourning doves, evening grosbeaks, robins, and bluebirds.

Range:

Oak mistletoe is found in the southern, southeastern, and east coasts of the United States as well as Mexico.

Ecology:

Oak mistletoe is a type of obligate hemiparasitic plant.  Obligate means it needs its host to complete its life cycle.  Hemiparasitic, meaning it is a parasite but produces its own chlorophyll.  It does rely on the host plant for water, carbon, and some minerals, which means it remains photosynthetic but also relies on its host plant for water and some carbon or minerals. Mistletoe berries are eaten by birds.  Some seeds survive digestion and can form new plants when they are excreted onto living branches.  Similarly, birds can wipe seeds on branches when they are cleaning their beaks.  Mistletoe can live on up to 60 species of tree but prefer high branches of hardwood trees such as oaks, maples, willows, poplars, elms, walnut, and plane trees. Oak mistletoe can form thick clumps sometimes referred to as “witches’ brooms.”  These are used as nesting spaces for many types of owls (spotted, great gray, large-eared) and hawks (goshawk and sharp-shinned).  They are also used as homes for many common migratory birds, including gray jays, house wrens, mourning dove, chickadee, cassin’s finch, and pine siskin.

Special Notes:

In Bella Vista, mistletoe is visible on tall oaks and other common hardwood trees.  Being an evergreen shrub, it is especially noticeable during the winter months when trees are bare of leaves. Our local species is a surrogate for the European species and the tradition of “kissing under the mistletoe” around the winter holidays.  Mistletoe is still harvested and sold for that purpose.

 

Scientific Name:               Dryocopus pileatus
Common Name(s):         Pileated Woodpecker

©Joshlaymon ©Robert J Banach

Identification:

Pileated Woodpeckers are in the woodpecker family, Picidae. Members of this family are found throughout the world except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and Madagascar. Being around the size of a crow, Pileated woodpeckers are the largest extant species of woodpecker in North America, and the third largest in the world. They are black with a white stripe down their neck and males are larger than females, with a red line between the bill and throat. Their most prominent feature is the red crest or mohawk, for which they get their name “pileated” meaning “capped.” It can be distinguished from other woodpeckers in the area by its prominent red crest and large size.

Range:

Pileated woodpeckers are found in deciduous forests of Eastern North America, the Great Lakes, and Boreal forests of Canada.

Ecology:

Pileated Woodpeckers are insectivores and commonly make almost rectangular holes in trees to retrieve their prey. Their diet is mainly composed of carpenter ants and beetle larvae, but they will also eat fruit, nuts, and berries, including poison ivy berries. They will forage in both standing and fallen trees for food. Some research has concluded that pileated woodpeckers do better in habitats that have been cleared of invasive bush honeysuckle and buckthorn, which help them to forage more easily on the ground and lower levels of the forest.

Pileated woodpecker males excavate nests in dead trees in April to attract females and raise young. Once offspring have fledged, these nests are abandoned; they are not used for subsequent years of breeding. Pileated woodpeckers stay in their habitat year-round and are not migratory. They defend their territories from other woodpeckers by chasing away, jabbing with bill, striking with wings, and calling.

The abandoned nests of Pileated woodpeckers are used by many other songbirds and small mammals as homes, screech owls and wood ducks among them. Therefore, many species rely on Pileated woodpeckers as ecosystem engineers who create housing throughout forests they inhabit. For this reason, they are an important species to consider when understanding the health of a forest.

Special Notes:

Here in Bella Vista Pileated Woodpeckers are quite common in the forested areas. Keeping dead trees can help to attract them and other birds and mammals that are closely associated with them.

Scientific Name: Verbascum thapsus

Common Name(s): Mullein, Common Mullein, Wooly Mullein

©Jane Shelby Richardson ©AnRo0002

Identification:

Mullein is in the family Scrophulariaceae commonly known as the figwort family. Their defining characteristic is having flowers which are zygomorphic, or having bilateral symmetry, which means that when cut in half vertically the petals are mirror images. It is in the Genus Verbascum, which is composed of over 450 mullein species. Species in this genus, form as a rosette of leaves on the ground, which later send up a tall flowering

stem.

Common mullein is a biennial plant and completes its lifecycle in two growing seasons. In its first year, the plant is a low-growing, vegetative rosette. Leaves of the most common species appear hairy, are felt like to the touch. The leaves are oblong-to-lanceolate in shape and mature at 4 to 12 inches in length and 1 to 4 inches in width. In the second year, a stalk grows from the base and reaches heights between 5 and 10 feet. The leaves alternate and switch sides of the steam as they grow and decrease in size as they ascend upward. The leaves are cauline and grow directly from the steam without a petiole.  At the top of the stalk there are yellow flowers with 5 petals, which are grouped densely on leafy spikes.  The plant’s flowers open 3 to 5 at a time and open in the morning and close mid-day. The stalk length on this plant is indeterminate and based on nutrient conditions.

 

All species in this Genus originated from Europe and Asia, with two being very common and widespread throughout the United States: moth mullein (V. blattaria) and common mullein (V. thapsus). Moth mullein is not easily confused with common mullein since it is much shorter and does not have hair like structures on stems or leaves.

Range:

Mullein is native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. It was first introduced into North America in the 1700’s. It had become so well established by 1818, that it was listed as a native species in books written about East coast flora in North America. By 1839, it had reached the Midwest and by 1876, it had expanded to the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada.

 

Ecology:

Common mullein blooms throughout the summer from bottom to top. Mullein is most effectively pollinated by bees, as their flower morphology does not accommodate other insects as well. Alternatively, they are autogamous, which means they self-pollinate just prior to closing, if not accomplished by insects. The flowers produce a fruit shaped like a round capsule, which splits in two when matured. Each plant creates 100,000 to 200,000 seeds and mature seeds fall a few feet from the parent plant when the stalk is moved by the wind or a large animal. Common mullein does not have a method to disperse seeds over long distances, so populations tend to grow in dense stands.

 

Common mullein can be found in a variety of soil types but are very shade intolerant. Its deep taproot allows them to live in low water environments. Mullein does best in disturbed soil, as disturbed soil brings seeds from the under layers to the top. The seeds need plenty of light to germinate, so they need to be near the surface. If they are buried, they can remain viable for decades. Populations of common mullein often reappear in soil that has been recently upturned, or the top layer eroded away. Localized populations can be short-lived in undisturbed areas where they disappear into the seedbank until the next disturbance. Common mullein is common in neglected meadows, pasture lands, along fence rows, roadsides, vacant lots, wood edges, forest openings, industrial areas, powerline right of ways, and along open riparian corridors. Interestingly, common mullein can increase soil quality over time, since they have a deep root that can help break through and aerate compacted soil. Additionally, after their second year of growth, they die and compost into the soil adding nutrients to the top layers.

 

Mullein is an interesting plant historically, as it was brought to North America in the 1700’s for its pharmacological uses. It has been used to treat respiratory ailments, skin issues, digestion problems, hemorrhoids, sore throat, coughing, muscle and joint pain, insomnia, allergies, ear infections, asthma, migraines, inflammation, gout, and constipation.  The leaves have been used for at least 2,000 years and go back as early as first century Rome. The leaves are steeped into tea as well as used to create extracts and syrups. The seeds contain rotenone, which is widely used as a pesticide as a fish toxicant.

 

Special Notes:

Here in Bella Vista, mullein is very common along roadsides or newly disturbed lots where seeds have been brought to the surface layer of soil. It can sometimes be found along streams and on dams of our lakes.

 

 

Scientific Name: Toxicodendron radicans

Common Name(s): Poison Ivy
©Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova ©Bob Peterson©R. A. Nonenmacher  ©Nicholas A. Tonelli

Identification:

Poison Ivy are in the Anacardiaceae family which are commonly referred to as the cashew or sumac family of plants. Specifically, they are in the Genus Toxicodendron which also contains Poison Oak and Poison Sumac.

Poison Ivy can grow as a climbing vine, a low trailing plant, and a shrub depending on the conditions. They have compound leaves, which are grouped into threes. The edges of the leaves can either be smooth, serrated, or lobed resembling a mitten. The compound leaves are grouped in an alternating pattern around the main steam of the vine or bush. Poison Ivy changes color with the season. Summer leaf color is green, changing to yellow and orange in the fall. It loses leaves in the winter. Rootlets extend from the vine to help it grasp surfaces and grow towards the light. Poison Ivy have small flowers with orange centers, and small, white, and oval fruits. They can be found in heavy to moderately shaded areas.

Similar Species

Box Elder, in the maple family of trees, resembles poison ivy when immature. Box Elders have compound leaves that are in groups of 3 to 5. Unlike Poison Ivy, Box Elders have an opposite arrangement of their leaves along the main steam. This means that the compound leaf set arises from the same point instead of alternating points like poison ivy. Virginia creeper resembles poison ivy except it has leaflets in sets of 5.

Poison Oak, Toxicodendron pubescens– Low growing upright shrub with thick, shiny, oak-like (lobed) leaves grouped by threes. It grows to about 3 feet high and prefers high light and low water conditions.

Range:

Eastern Poison Ivy is found in East Canada, the Eastern United States, and Arizona. The Eastern (T. radicans) and Western (T. rydbergii) Species of Poison Ivy ranges overlaps in Texas, Arizona, the Northeastern United States, the midwestern United States and Eastern Canada.

Ecology:

Poison Ivy are in the Anacardiaceae family which are commonly referred to as the cashew or sumac family of plants. Specifically, they are in the Genus Toxicodendron which also contains Poison Oak and Poison Sumac. The plants in this genus produce an oil called urushiol. This oil helps protect the plan from herbivores since it is toxic when ingested. Urushiol oil is lipophilic which allows it to be readily absorbed into our skin.

The oil does not commonly affect other animals’ skin like they do humans. Up to 90% of the population is allergic to poison ivy and will experience a rash when they rub against any part of the plant or touch an object or animal that has contacted the plant.  An allergic reaction can even occur in winter when the plant is dormant. We can also be exposed to urushiol oil by breathing in smoke from burning poison ivy.  When the skin is exposed to poison ivy for the first time, the urushiol oil will readily absorb into the skin and bind to proteins forming protein complexes. The first time this occurs, usually the immune system will slowly remove the foreign entity but will keep a memory of the chemicals with future “attacks.”  Once exposed more than once, the immune system has registered the oil and employs more robust and rapid immune responses to clear the foreign material. It is this act of clearing the oil from the inner layers of skin that causes the rash and burning associated with Poison Ivy exposure. Furthermore, the more exposure a person has to poison ivy, the more robust the immune response and the more severe the rash.

It can grow in a variety of light and soil conditions, but are most commonly abundant along forest edges, open forest, and in moderate sunlight. They produce toxic pale green-whitish berries ripening in late summer to early fall.

Special Notes:

Here in Bella Vista, Poison Ivy is very common. Immature box elder, and Virginia creeper can be easily misidentified as poison ivy. The main feature that distinguishes the two, is the pattern of the compound leaves around the main stem of the plant. Many people believe that they are not allergic to poison ivy because of previous misidentified contact with look-a-likes, only to find out differently the hard way.