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Botany Blogs

These blogs are written about and by our Section of Botany researchers. The herbarium at the museum which contains approximately 3,000 type specimens--specimens that define an entire plants' species. These type specimens only represent about 0.6 % of the collection.

Mason Heberling, head of the section, regularly shares herbarium specimens that have been "Collected on this day" in history.

May 22, 2024 by Erin Southerland

Botanists Gone Wild! Perspectives from the Record-Breaking Finish for City Nature Challenge 2024

by Jessica Romano

Every spring people all over the world join in the City Nature Challenge, a global effort to safely document and identify nature through the free and easy-to-use iNaturalist app. For the seventh consecutive year, Carnegie Museum of Natural History staff were among the participants taking on the challenge in and around the Pittsburgh region – and in 2024, the results were record-breaking! Totals for regional participants, identifiers, observations, and number of species hit their highest in the history of the challenge, thanks to a combination of warm, dry spring weather and dedication from participants. Observations and identifications made during the challenge are shared with scientists around the world, helping to both document and better understand the diversity of species around us.

Here are the totals from the Pittsburgh Region City Nature Challenge 2024 (CNC) – which are all records for this region’s participation! 

Total participants who made observations: 643

Total participants who made identifications: 562

Total observations made: 10,050

Total species identified: 1,753

Total identifications: 16,875

Plants topped the list for observed species, with about 46% of the total, followed by insects with about 27% of the total. Other species identified but in smaller totals include fungi, birds, arachnids, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and mollusks. 

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) took the top spot overall. This native plant species sprouts early in spring with long stems and umbrella-like leaves. The rest of the top 10 species are all plants, with the exception of the Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta), a beautiful butterfly with red bands on the wings. The most observed bird, the American Robin (Turdus migratorius),took spot 17, and at spot 26, the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was the most observed mammal. 

The lovely Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia) came in third place on the list of observed species.

With plants claiming nine of the top ten spots, it’s fitting to get perspective from the museum’s Section of Botany, who not only participate, but whose dedication puts them at the top of the list. Although they are literally professionals at looking for plants, the common message from the Botany staff is that anyone can do this challenge! The objective is to document nature all around us, from parks to neighborhood streets to city blocks and beyond. 

Reflections from the Section of Botany Scientists

Curatorial Assistant Alyssa Landa made a point to visit similar spots that she visited last year, as well as around her yard and street to look at things she walks past every day. “CNC is a great reminder to check out places near me,” Alyssa said. “The big thing for me this year is just the number of new-to-me species I was able to log, just by taking that little bit of extra time to pay attention to what’s around that I might not otherwise be drawn to or notice! This time of year is always really exciting to me, and CNC is a fun reminder that there’s still so much to learn. It’s also a reminder to revisit my old, well-known (plant) friends too.” And her efforts made a difference! Alyssa logged the second highest total identifications, putting her expertise to excellent use.

A steadfast champion for the City Nature Challenge, Associate Curator of Botany Mason Heberling uses the challenge to check out the woods nearby where he lives. “I get caught up in other things and forget to appreciate the hyper-local diversity, within walking distance,” Mason said. “I make it a point to visit the same woods by my house every CNC.” Despite travelling out of the area for much of the challenge, Mason logged nearly 100 local observations!

And then there’s Bonnie Isaac, the section’s Collection Manager. Although City Nature Challenge is not a competition, it’s worth noting and applauding Bonnie’s efforts – she logged the highest number of both observations and identifications in the Pittsburgh region this year! She made 607 observations, which totaled 343 different species, and identified a whopping 1,697 entries! Bonnie shared her reflections about the challenge and described why it’s so important to her.

“When I was young, I could not spend enough time outdoors. I was outside from sunup till sundown or until my folks came looking for me. My curiosity led me to want to know what everything I encountered was. One year one of my sisters gave me a Peterson field guide for Christmas. This led me to discover that there was a whole series of Peterson field guides. Thus began my collecting career. I had to have every Peterson Field Guide that came out. (I now have a complete set of Peterson Field Guides, leather bound editions.)  With these guides I could go out and try to identify everything I saw. I was in heaven. I am also a very competitive person. The City Nature Challenge takes what I love to do and makes it into a bit of a competition. I don’t live in the Pittsburgh City Nature Challenge region. I live in Lawrence County. During the pandemic the best I could do was help with identifying observations. Now that I can travel to the Pittsburgh region during the City Nature Challenge. Game on!” – Bonnie Isaac

Of Bonnie’s impressive collection of field guides, the first one she received was not plants, but animal tracks! It was written by Olaus J. Murie, a former employee of Carnegie Museum of Natural History who became a world famous biologist. Image credit: Bonnie Isaac.

For this year’s challenge, Bonnie visited Raccoon Creek State Park, Moraine State Park, Bradys Run Park, and Brush Creek Park. “The City Nature Challenge gives me a chance to get outside and see how many different things I can find,” Bonnie said. “Every year I challenge myself to find more species than I did the previous year. I also find identifying observations made by others somewhat satisfying. I get a chance to hone my identification skills and I get to see what others have found.”

Even for a botanist with decades of experience like Bonnie, each year brings surprises. “Every year there are surprises that I didn’t expect. I’ll discover that something is blooming that I didn’t think would be blooming yet, or I might find that someone found a plant growing in an area where I wouldn’t have expected it.”

Bonnie has never seen an all-white Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna). She was excited to see that iNaturalist user “bquail” found some during the challenge. Image credit: © bquail via iNaturalist, CC BY-NC

Bonnie continued, “The top observations tend to be some of the same things, many plants that are not native to the area. It’s the things with only a couple observations that I find the most interesting. It’s these unusual observations that keep me eager to see what nifty things are being found basically in our own backyards. It also keeps me energized to get out and find more and to look closer for the minute details that might separate one species from another.” 

The iNaturalist app also allows for recordings of bird song, frog calls, and other sounds. Bonnie connected with a user who identified a unique feature on one of her uploaded recordings. “One of the surprises for me was someone contacting me to let me know that one of my bird recordings had gray tree frogs singing in the background.”

Bonnie’s favorite observation of 2024 was this Goldenseal, just coming into bloom. Image credit: Bonnie Isaac.

A Global Effort with Big Results

City Nature Challenge 2024 was not just a success in Pittsburgh – globally the number of cities participating increased to 690 this year, a big jump from 482 cities in 2023! Here are a few of the worldwide stats:

Total participants: 83,528 in 690 cities in 51 countries

Total observations made: 2.4 million

Total species identified: 65,682

The big winner across the board, with most observations, species, and participants is La Paz, Bolivia!

The City Nature Challenge returns next spring. Let’s see if we can build on the truly remarkable success of 2024!

Jessica Romano is Museum Education Writer at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Related Content

Snags, Logs, and the Importance of a Fallen Tree

City Nature Challenge: A 2022 Reflection

The City Nature Challenge Family Experience

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Romano, Jessica
Publication date: May 22, 2024

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alyssa Landa, Bonnie Isaac, Botany, City Nature Challenge, Education, Jessica Romano, Mason Heberling

May 8, 2024 by Erin Southerland

Pressed Flowers Come Alive by Telling Their Pollination Story

by Nathália Susin Streher

Do you ever wonder what made you pursue your dreams in life? When I ask myself this question, it inevitably takes me back to my childhood and the indelible memories that growing up in the most biodiverse country in the world left on me. From the diversity of fruit trees and the tiny animals that crawled them in my backyard to the varied ecosystems in the surrounding areas, living in Brazil has shaped my perception of nature and sparked a singular curiosity about the variety of forms and interactions I could observe. As the little scientist in me grew up, fueled by the fascination with the beautiful mysteries of flowers, it naturally guided me toward the path of studying plants and their interactions. 

As I stepped into the world of science, my first paid opportunity as an undergrad in biology was in a small herbarium. There I learned about preserving plant specimens collected from nature and their importance for identification and classification of plant species. What I did not realize back then was that herbaria store more than just names and relations among species; they also provide a means to investigate ecological interactions like the ones that captivated me as a child. I kept that flame of curiosity from my childhood alive and came to the US as a postdoc researcher. My research group at the University of Pittsburgh and I have been incorporating some unconventional uses of herbarium material into our research. In a recent scientific publication, we used herbarium specimens (many sourced from the CMNH herbarium) to explore a crucial ecological mutualism between animals that visit flowers for food and plants that require go-betweens to transport their pollen—a process called pollination.

In pollination biology, it is common to investigate floral characteristics because they play a crucial role in mediating plant interactions with their pollinators. For example, plants with long floral tubes are typically pollinated by morphologically matching long-tongued pollinators. While certain floral traits, such as visible color and scent, may be altered or completely lost during the drying process of plant specimens, many of the other characteristics remain accessible even after years of preservation. Thus, as long as the herbarium sheet contains at least one flower, valuable biological information can be extracted to understand plant-pollinator interactions.  

In this study, we used herbarium specimens to reveal the network of past plant-pollinator relationships. Specifically, we sampled a small piece of the flower, the stigma, which is the structure that receives pollen grains delivered by pollinators. As pollinators may visit several plant species flowering together, inspecting stigmas can unveil a plant’s pollination story. By assessing the diversity of pollen grains morphologically distinct from the target species, we gain insights into whether the target species interacted with many or only a few other plant species through pollinator sharing.

images of a pressed flower with close-ups of the stigma, anther, and pollen grains

Leveraging herbarium specimens for ecological questions offers a unique advantage, as they provide historical, spatial, and long-term perspectives to scientific studies—dimensions that may otherwise be challenging to attain. In studies of plant-pollinator interactions, researchers often rely on direct pollinator observation data, which, while ideal, has limitations such as being time-consuming, costly, and dependent on various conditions. Pollen deposited on stigmas of herbarium specimens arises as a valuable alternative when direct pollinator observation is unfeasible. Herbaria offer scientists a convenient way to compare numerous plant species from around the world. Actively incorporating these specimens into research not only keeps the collections dynamic but also magnifies their overall significance. Much like the plant-pollinator interaction—it’s a win-win scenario. I hope our work inspires others to perceive herbarium collections as guardians of biodiversity and encourages scientists to unlock the hidden potential of their precious specimens.

Beyond the scientific excitement of unraveling the pollination story within herbarium specimens, I once again seemed to have missed yet another potential interaction they could reveal. While going through the cabinets housing the specimens at CMNH, I unexpectedly encountered plants collected from the same region where I was born and raised in Brazil. I never thought that an old, dried plant could make me feel closer to my homeland. Living abroad to pursue the scientific dream is no easy feat—different language, different culture. But that moment was a reminder of my childhood connection with nature that brought me here. Now, I see herbaria not only as guardians of biodiversity but also as promoters of a sense of belonging in us.

Collage of images, clockwise from top left: the author inspecting flower traits and age seven; the author and her friend during their early yeas as undergrads, learning how to press plant specimens in Brazil; an herbarium specimen with the following note from the author "On of the plant specimens that I found in the CMNH herbarium fostered a sense of connection between me and my homeland. The specimen was collected just around 80 miles from where I was born and originally deposited in the herbarium of my hometown"; the author sampling stigmas in the herbarium

Nathália Susin Streher is a postdoctoral research associate in the Ashman Lab of University of Pittsburgh.

Related Content

Collected On This Day in 1950: Dutchman’s Breeches

What Do Botanists Do On Saturday?

Collected On This Day in 1944: Squarrose Goldenrod

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Streher, Nathália Susin
Publication date: May 8, 2024

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Botany, Natalia Susin Streher

April 19, 2024 by Erin Southerland

City Nature Challenge: Noticing Invasive Plants 

by Rachel Reeb and Jessica Romano

This spring, thousands of people will join the City Nature Challenge, a global effort to document biodiversity safely and easily on the free iNaturalist app. Participating in the challenge is fun and rewarding – simply make observations of nature, take photos, and upload them to the app. The data collected during the challenge is shared with scientists around the world and helps them both document and better understand the diversity of species around us. This year’s challenge takes place April 25 through 28 for the observations, with a follow-up identification period from April 29 through May 1 when scientists and naturalists help observers properly identify the species they found. Participants will observe plants, insects, mammals, birds, mollusks, reptiles, amphibians, and more, right in their own neighborhoods. 

Alliaria petiolate, common name Garlic Mustard, is very commonly spotted during the City Nature Challenge and is easy to identify by its broad leaves and small white flowers. Credit: Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

To help get us ready for this year’s challenge, Rachel Reeb, postdoctoral fellow in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, created this guide to finding and understanding invasive species of plants, including species like garlic mustard that is repeatedly one of the most often observed plants during the challenge. To get started, Rachel provided helpful definitions: 

Native or Indigenous species: Species that exist within an area due to natural evolution.

Introduced species: Species that have been introduced, by humans, to an area outside of its indigenous range. Roughly 25% of plant species in our environment are introduced.

Invasive species: A subset of introduced species which cause significant harm to the environment or human well-being. 

Naturalized species: A subset of introduced species which do not have demonstrated impacts on the environment or human well-being.

Lonicera maackii, known as the Amur Honeysuckle, originated in temperate areas of eastern Asia. Credit: Jay Sturner from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Observing Invasive Plants

When is the best time to spot invasive plants? In the early stages of spring! Since introduced invasive plants evolved in a different part of the world, they often have unique life cycles that start and end at a different time than the rest of the plant community. Invasive species like garlic mustard, lesser celandine, periwinkle, multiflora rose, and Amur honeysuckle are some of the first to start their life cycles in the spring, providing a surprising pop of greenery to an otherwise dormant forest understory. This ‘head start’ in the growing season gives invasive plants an advantage because they gain priority access to soil nutrients and sunlight, while other plants are still dormant. 

Ficaria verna, or Lesser Celandine, blankets the ground in Frick Park. Credit: Rachel Reeb.

Unfortunately, what serves as an advantage for invasive plants is often a disadvantage to their neighbors, which now have a delayed start in the race to capture limited seasonal resources. Environmental experts in Pittsburgh are especially worried about the survival of rare native wildflowers, such as large white trillium, mayapple, and yellow trout lily. These plants, which have very specific habitat conditions and cannot easily relocate to new areas, are highly sensitive to changes in the environment and often cannot survive in areas where invasive plants are present.

During this year’s City Nature Challenge, we encourage you to take note of everything in nature, including the weeds. What do you notice about invasive plants in your area, like the timing of their life cycle, or how they interact with their neighbors? Have you ever wondered how these organisms came to be here? Many unwanted invasive plants were first introduced as popular garden center products. While some invasive species are now banned from sale, many can still be found in stores, like English ivy and Periwinkle vines.

Podophyllum peltatum, common name Mayapple, is a native species in Pennsylvania and sprouts early in spring, resembling little umbrellas on the landscape. Credit: Jessica Romano.

Here are helpful lists of species you may encounter in our area:

Invasive Species

  • Garlic Mustard 
  • Lesser Celandine
  • Knotweed 
  • Multiflora Rose
  • Amur Honeysuckle
  • Periwinkle / Vinca 
  • English Ivy 
  • Japanese Barberry 
  • Tree of heaven

Naturalized Species

  • Common Dandelion
  • White Clover

Native Spring Wildflowers 

  • Mayapple
  • Large White Trillium
  • Dutchman’s Breeches
  • Virginia Bluebells
  • Common Blue Violet
  • Yellow Trout Lily

How many of these species can you spot? Get your camera/phone/device and join the City Nature Challenge, April 25 through 28!

Rachel Reeb is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Jessica Romano is Museum Education Writer at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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What’s in a Name? Japanese Knotweed or Itadori

Snags, Logs, and the Importance of a Fallen Tree

Using iNaturalist in the City Nature Challenge and Beyond

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Botany, City Nature Challenge, Education, Jessica Romano, Rachel Reeb, Uprooted

February 29, 2024 by Erin Southerland

Scientific Names Matter in March Mammal Madness 

by Erin Southerland

March Mammal Madness (MMM) bracket advice: look up the scientific names of species on the MMM website before you make your predictions. While MMM can be silly and ridiculous, it is an educational tool and the details matter. Let’s explore why by looking at the Pitcher Plant (7) vs. Northern Short-tailed Shrew (10) match.  

Pitcher plant isn’t a specific species of plant, rather it describes plants with a modified leaf that resembles and acts like a pitfall trap. 

Nepenthes rajah, a species of pitcher plant. © Thibaud Aronson, (CC BY-SA)

Bonnie Isaac, Collection Manager of Botany, says:

Generally, when we use the term pitcher plant, we are referring to a member of either Sarraceniaceae or Nepenthaceae. Both pitcher plant families evolved in areas where essential nutrients for plants are lacking. They needed to find a way to get their nutrients by other means. Enter carnivory.

Pitcher plants in both families primarily eat insects, but they are generalists that will catch and digest anything that comes along. However, one of these families is more likely than the other to be able to digest the Northern Short-tailed Shrew. 

Bonnie tells us:  

Sarraceniaceae are normally ground dwelling plants with trumpet-shaped leaves that are used to capture their prey. Many of these pitcher plants have hairs on the inside of the tube that point downward to keep the prey from crawling out. They may also have clear areas near the top of the tube to attract insects.  

Members of Nepenthaceae are tropical plants that frequently have a climbing stem. The modified pitcher leaves on these plants are normally of two types: one grows up in the trees that support the vine, the other grows near the ground. The trap leaves near the ground are normally larger than the aerial trap leaves and can digest larger prey. With two types of traps these plants are opportunists and ready to capture whatever may happen into the traps. 

The pitchers of Sarraceniaceae are normally not large enough to hold a Northern Short-tailed Shrew. Nepenthes on the other hand has pitchers that are large enough to hold shrews. Some Nepenthes species attract rodents by giving them a reward. The rodent in turn gives the plant nutrients either by defecating into the toilet-shaped leaf or by falling into the pitcher and being digested. Species of Nepenthes are known to trap and digest vertebrates, including rats and mice. If by chance a Northern Short-tailed Shrew happened upon a Nepenthes and fell into the trap the shrew wouldn’t stand a chance.  

Since the species of pitcher plant selected for March Mammal Madness is Nepenthes rajah, it has a chance to beat the Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda).  

Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

Sue McLaren, Collection Manager of Mammals, also notes that either competitor has a chance (it is March Mammal Madness, after all):  

When I think of the short-tailed shrew, I think of a fierce temperament when confronted by something dangerous. They are good climbers (I’ve seen them climb a tree trunk to a point at least eight feet off the ground). Even though their claws seem a little puny, they are more fossorial (adapted for digging and burrowing) than any other shrew so they can dig their way through densely compacted leaves and easily move through some types of soil (probably not heavy clay).  Finally, they have salivary glands that produce a toxin that can subdue prey that are larger than themselves – salamanders, frogs, mice, and even birds!  However, their climbing ability is probably their best defensive from inside a pitcher plant. 

Anything could happen in this sure-to-be-exciting match! But if the pitcher plant was from the family Sarraceniaceae it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting.  

Want to play March Mammal Madness?  

Get started with these links: 

Get your bracket  

Look up the Latin binomials  

Learn how to play 

Fill out your bracket by March 10, 2024 to play this year. The competition kicks off March 11 with the Wild Card: Rainbow Grasshopper (Dactylotum bicolor) vs. Sparklemuffin Peacock Spider (Maratus jactatus).

Erin Southerland is Communications and Social Media Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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March Mammal Madness and Middle School Science Class

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Southerland, Erin
Publication date: February 29, 2024

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Botany, Education, mammals, March Mammal Madness

January 16, 2024 by Erin Southerland

Collected On This Day: Witch Hazel, January 1923

by Mason Heberling
witch hazel branch, buds, and leaf on an herbarium sheet

This specimen of common witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) was collected in January 1923 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania “East of Ambridge” by H.W. Graham.  Herbert W. Graham (1905-2009) was an “Assistant” in Botany at the Carnegie Museum from 1925-1929 while he was a student at the University of Pittsburgh who later became an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. During his time at the museum, he collected many specimens, often with his brother, Edward H. Graham, who was also an Assistant in Botany, later curator (1931-1937) and later, a well-known conservationist with the US Department of Agriculture.  The Graham brothers went on expeditions to the Sonoran Desert in the late 1920s, collecting specimens and information that was used to create the desert diorama that remains in the museum’s Hall of Botany today.

This specimen has a “bits and pieces” feel to it, but shows what the plant looks like in winter, with branches, buds, a leaf, and even including a nice cross section cut out of the stem. The leaf is in great shape, which makes me question whether the leaf was truly was collected in January, when the leaves are usually dry and crumbled from the wrath of winter. 

The specimen was simply collected in “January 1923” with no note on the day of year.  I feel that coming off a holiday break (what day is it?).  But more seriously, it reminds us that many specimens of the past were collected for different purposes with many of their uses today unanticipated.  For instance, collectors today would certainly record the calendar date of collection, valued just as much as information on the location it was collected, as scientists routinely use specimens to date information to understand the seasonal timing of leafing, flowering, and fruiting with changing environmental conditions over time.

brown, dry leaves hanging from branches

The leaf is a nice touch, too.  It indicates that at least some leaves were still around in the winter of 1923, and it is quite possible they were even still connected to the stem.  Though this species is deciduous (drops its leaves seasonally), common witch hazel has been known to sometimes hang onto some dead leaves on branches through winter.  This phenomenon is known as “marcescence.”  Why this happens isn’t fully known.  Read more here.

You can find this specimen and 588 others of the species in the Carnegie Museum herbarium here.

Above: Witch hazel exhibiting marcescence, with last year’s leaves still attached in early spring (photo taken March 23 2021 at Powdermill Nature Reserve)

Below: Witch hazel’s magnificent autumn blooms. Unlike many woody plants in our region that bloom in spring as leaves are emerging, this species blooms in fall, as its leaves are dropping! (Photo taken October 29 2022 in New Kensington, PA.)

witch hazel blooms

Mason Heberling is Associate Curator of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Witch Hazel Collected on Halloween in 1931

Collected On This Day in 1951: Bittersweet

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Heberling, Mason
Publication date: January 16, 2024

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Botany, collected on this day, Hall of Botany, Mason Heberling, Science News

November 30, 2023 by Erin Southerland

What’s in a Name? Japanese Knotweed or Itadori

by Rachel Reeb
hand holding a Japanese knotweed plant

We name what we notice, adopting or creating vocabulary to reflect all that our senses regularly engage.

Where multiple names exist in the same language for the same subject, nuance reigns. In Japan, for example, a historical collection of words referring to Reynoutria japonica (synonym: Fallopia japonica), the plant known commonly as itadori or Japanese knotweed, totaled to 689 terms. Some words referenced the plant’s shape and structure, others its sour taste, medicinal properties, seasonal appearance, or supporting habitat. Several dozen terms even noted audio characteristics, referencing the sound produced by the snapping of the plant’s stem.

Though the plant has deep cultural and ecological ties to its home range of Japan, Taiwan, China, and Korea, most of these connections are lost in its introduced range of western Pennsylvania, where it is considered to be an unwelcome invasive species. Information about how differently itadori is regarded in different parts of the world forces us to appreciate the diversity of human attitudes towards plants. Why are plant species perceived positively by some people, but negatively by others? To explore this question, a research paper documenting the rich cultural and ecological history of itadori in Japan (“Fallopia japonica (Japanese Knotweed) in Japan: Why Is It Not a Pest for Japanese People,” M. Shimoda and N. Yamasaki, 2016) made the journal club reading list for the scientists and educators involved in the collaborative Invasive Plant Species Education and Outreach Campaign funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

Along the Allegheny River near Braeburn, Westmoreland County, spring growth of a knotweed stand that will block the view of the water by late June.

Itadori, or Japanese knotweed, has co-evolved with the humans, plants, and animals living in its home range for thousands of years. It’s no wonder that there are so many names for this plant in Japan, where people have co-existed with itadori and passed down their knowledge of the species over generations. Throughout history, humans found many uses for itadori in food, medicine, floral arrangements, and even as a children’s toy! 

Today, in Japan, itadori commonly grows around lawns and roadsides, but it is not considered to be a pest because it can easily be mowed and managed. In comparison, itadori was introduced to western Pennsylvania in the early 1900s, making our collective experience with the plant relatively recent by botanical standards. 

People widely planted itadori in ornamental gardens across the continent, but did not anticipate that it would escape cultivation and become established in nature. Here, many of the natural ‘checks and balances’ that stabilized itadori populations in the home range have been lost, including its insect pests, fungi, and plant competitors. Humans also lack deep ties to itadori in the introduced range, and consider it to be more detrimental than it is useful. The fast-growing plant often causes structural damage to buildings, is extremely expensive to manage, and displaces many of the native plants and animals we have formed connections with.

Thousands of years from now, itadori is likely to form new ecological and cultural connections in its introduced environment of Pennsylvania. What new names might we use to describe it, as our relationship to this plant evolves over time?

Rachel Reeb is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and content creator and project manager for the Invasive Species Awareness Campaign.

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Celebrating the Weed That Engulfed Western Pennsylvania?

Collected On This Day in 1989: Japanese Knotweed

Collected On This Day in 1930: Common Reed

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Reeb, Rachel
Publication date: November 30, 2023

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