January 2012. Ditch Daisies and Other Winter Flora.

Louisiana Wildflower Guide is a newly published work that covers many common—and some uncommon, and rare—wildflower species in our area. The text results from the lifetime botanical quests of Dr. Charles Allen, an accomplished authority on the native plants of Louisiana, who pursues them from his very rural Allen Acres Bed and Breakfast located near Pitkin, Louisiana.

This being January, we asked Dr. Allen if there were wildflowers to be guided to this time of year.

“In the Baton Rouge area they call them ‘Ditch Daisies’,” he offered as one of several colorful wildflowers to be found dotting roadsides this time of year—mostly south of Interstate 10. Elsewhere they’re commonly called yellow-top or butterweed.

“Blue violets will start to pick up in the woods,” he adds, for those inclined to a winter walk in the forest.

And if you can be just a little patient he has something else interesting in mind.

“We go out and look at pitcher plant bogs in March,” he explains of an upcoming expedition to several locations deep in the Kitsatchie National Forest that are home to three species of insectivorous plants.

As much as the eight-year old in each of us revels in the notion of bug-eating plants, “They didn’t grow up mad at insects,” explains Allen. “They live in an acid PH so nitrogen is not available.” And alas for unsuspecting insects, they turn out to be an excellent source of nitrogen.

Find out more about upcoming expeditions and order Allen’s book at nativeventures.net.

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