PHOTO BY GINNY MAFFITT
Penstemon hesperius.
Scientists discover rare plant at one Metro natural area
Thick with shrubs and grasses, a low-lying swale near Gaston hardly looks like Metro's most majestic natural area. But, nestled among a rural byway, farm fields and the Tualatin River, it has revealed some of the rarest and most spectacular treasures – thanks to a bit of scientific sleuthing.
"We've had some special moments out there," says Elaine Stewart, the Metro scientist who oversees efforts to restore the site's wetlands. Shortly after Metro purchased the longtime farmland in 1999, a tractor was ripping up pasture grasses when a flock of rare, streaked horned larks began following overhead. Later, the science team discovered Nelson's checkermallow, an uncommon plant with bursts of pinkish-purple flowers.
Last summer, Stewart made the winding drive toward Gaston to see how the checkermallow fared through the soggy spring. She inspected one plant and started to move on to the next – but suddenly, something caught her eye. In all her years helping restore Metro's 12,000 acres of voter-protected natural areas, Stewart had never seen this: distinctive, statuesque stems with clusters of blueish-purple flowers. She plucked a sample to investigate.
Back at the office, Stewart navigated her plant key, a sort of decision-tree that helps identify species. Her excitement built when she landed on penstemon, commonly known as beardtongue. Just a week earlier, Portland State University had asked Metro to help hunt for an extremely rare variety once called Penstemon hesperius. It had been collected historically in the Tualatin River basin and along the shore of the Columbia River in Washington, but had not been seen in the wild since 1934. It was later lumped with another penstemon that is widespread east of the Cascade Range.
In 2008, the discovery of Penstemon hesperius at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge launched an effort to find more of this wildflower, trace its history and, maybe, reinstate it as a species. Working together, refuge volunteer Ginny Maffitt and Portland State wetland ecologist John Christy secured grants. They enlisted a molecular specialist to study the genetics of their penstemon samples. Armed with soil maps and aerial photos, they also continued their on-the-ground search for the plant, which seems to grow in areas plagued by invasive reed canary grass.
"If you can establish that it is indeed a good species, it's going to be one of the rarest in the state – one of the rarest in the Northwest," says Christy, who works for the university's Oregon Biodiversity Information Center. "But part of it is just the challenge, finding the needle in the haystack. It's fun."
LAURA OPPENHEIMER ODOM
This sort of rare plant attracts science buffs to Portland State University's Herbarium, where wetland ecologist John Christy serves as volunteer manager and unofficial sleuth.
For science buffs who revel in this sort of mystery, Portland State's Herbarium is a must-see destination. An appointment with Christy, the volunteer manager, gives you access to hulking metal cabinets filled with manila folders. In each folder, hand-labeled, dried plants are carefully affixed to thick paper – each one a record of the Portland metropolitan area's natural habitats.
Contributing to this work is exciting, Stewart says. Her discovery underscores why Metro invests in restoring and monitoring land purchased over the course of two voter-approved bond measures during the last two decades. Metro's portfolio of natural areas includes some of the region's rarest plants and animals, and provides opportunities to improve water quality.
If Stewart hadn't checked the Gaston natural area for one rare plant, she says, she never would have found the other. Now, she plans to help both species grow by removing surrounding shrubs. Using seeds from the penstemons Stewart found, Metro's Native Plant Center is producing more plants for Metro natural areas. And, Stewart says, of course she'll help with the continuing hunt for penstemon when it's in bloom again this summer.
"It's a really important find," Stewart says. "It also reminds us that we've got a lot of sites out there that still have a lot of secrets we don't know about – which is really cool."