Understory, Sperryville, VA (2026)

07/24/2024

SPOTTED JEWELWEED 'Impatiens capensis' - Some say spotted jewelweed is so called because the colorful orange flowers dangle from the plant like earrings or pendants. Others maintain it’s because the edges of the leaves, when wet with dew or rain, hold the tiny drops of water that look like “scintillating gems, dancing, sparkling in the sunshine,” as one naturalist put it over a century ago. But it is also called Touch-Me-Not and no wonder: The seeds are housed in an ingenious case that, when mature and disturbed, suddenly “pops” like an uncoiling spring. The action sends the seeds flying as far as four or five feet, which is why spotted jewelweed can easily become widespread. Spotted Jewelweed is famous as a balm to relieve the itching caused by poison ivy. It is also supposed to prevent the rash from breaking out if you’ve touched the plant, apparently by attacking and dissolving the irritating poison ivy oil before it can adhere long enough to cause blistering. Various American Indian groups put the plant to extensive use as a skin salve, treating such things as athlete’s foot and other fungi, wounds, and all sorts of itches in general. Colonial Americans used the juice to dye wool yellow, and ate the leaves as a potherb. In nature, its biggest admirer is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which thrives on its flowers in late spring and summer. Read more at http://www.baileylabovitz.com/jewelweed

Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory

07/17/2024

TURK'S-CAP LILY 'Lilium superbum - You may have a hard time finding a Turk wearing a hat that looks like the Turk’s-cap Lily, but if you happen by a produce stand in the early autumn, look for Turk’s Cap squash - it bears a remarkeable resemblance to this late-spring wildflower. The common name is colorful, but the botanical name is more apt and easily understood: 'Lilium superbum'. It means a lily that’s “noble,” “excellent,” “proud,” or even “lofty.” All descriptions apply to this giant among native lilies - it can reach 10 feet in height and bear as many as 40 large, dangling flowers that may range from yellow through orange to red. Though somewhat different in design to the related Canada Lily, the Turk’s-cap attracts many of the same pollinators: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, large butterflies, and moths - especially the hawk moths known as Hummingbird Moths. And like other large lilies, its starchy bulbs have been used in making soup. Turk’s-cap Lily seems most common in the Mid-Atlantic states, though it can be found out to and just beyond the middle Mississippi River region and into Florida. And as winters get warmer, it may spread into northern New England - if it can survive the deer, which love not the beauty but the flavor of this flower. Often confused with the common Tiger Lily, an imported garden escape, it is sometimes called the American Tiger Lily. http://www.baileylabovitz.com/turks-cap-lily
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory.
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07/15/2024

CANADA LILY 'Lilium canadense' - Many flowers contain subtle design techniques to help insure their survival. However, little is subtle about the Canada Lily, both in the ways it attracts pollinators and the method it uses to protect what those visitors want. The bell-shaped flowers, up to 16 of them blooming on a single plant, are bright yellow, orange or red. Both color and a sweet scent attract a variety of insects, but especially butterflies like the Great Spangled Fritillary, which love its nectar and transfer its sticky pollen during visits. The shape and color - especially redder versions like the one here - also attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. To keep the nectar and pollen safe, the Canada Lily also evolved its downward-facing flower, with a tightly sealed and shiny surface at the top of the “bell.” Rain rolls off the blossom like an umbrella. A native of eastern North America - not just Canada, where it was probably first identified - 'Lilium canadense' blooms in mid-summer, favoring partial sunlight of wetlands, including meadows and fields. Once common, it is becoming harder to find in many parts of its range because of overpopulating deer, which often eat the young shoots after they emerge from the ground. In Canada, it is on an endangered species list. American Indians employed the plant both as a medicine and food, using the root for a tea that treated stomach ailments, rheumatism and other problems, and grinding the bulbs to create flour that would thicken soups.
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases: https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory.
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07/10/2024

BLUE-EYED GRASS 'Sisyrinchium angustifolium' - Blue-eyed Grass is a pleasant name for a pretty flower that, because of its small size, is often overlooked in the spring landscape. Many species of the genus Sisyrinchium live in North America. Among them, Sisyrinchium angustifolium, called Slender, Narrow-leaf or Stout Blue-eyed Grass, shown here, may be the most common and widespread, found in every state east of the Mississippi River and some to the west. Although commonly found in meadows and fields, S. angusifolium also does well in damp woods, where its six blue-violet petals tend to be deeper in color than the hue found in sunnier sites. (Some members of the Blue-eyed Grass genus aren’t blue at all, but yellow or white, leading to names like Golden-eyed Grass or the strange moniker, White Blue-eyed Grass, a flower that has no blue at all!) Plants are sometimes found in small clusters, but often in colonies bearing hundreds of blossoms, making up in numbers what they lack in size. The long, slender leaves look like grass, but are actually tiny versions of the leaves typically found on fellow members of the Iris family. Among the American Indians, this plant treated stomach and digestive problems, including diarrhea and worms. According to 17th Century herbalist John Gerard, Europeans used masses of the tiny bulbs of a close cousin, S. majus, now often called Moraea sisyrinchium, for a less practical purpose: An aphrodisiac “to procure lust and lecherie.”
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at http://ow.ly/tjKj50AgJsH.
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07/08/2024

WHORLED LOOSESTRIFE 'Lysimachia quadrifolia' - Some wildflowers are known for their color, their size, shape, or scent. Whorled Loosestrife, however, might be best known for its display: It’s both elegant and symmetrical. The five-petaled blossoms are star-shaped and yellow, streaked with red especially near the centers — guides for approaching insects. Each flower projects from the stalk on a long, thin but strong stem, from above each of four leaves, with each leaf usually growing exactly 90 degrees from two others. These layers of whorled leaves and flowers appear all along the two- to three-foot tall stalk, gaining the plant its other common name of Crosswort, and contributing to the botanic name, 'Lysimachia quadrifolia.' Lysimachia is Greek for “loose-strife.” Some authorities believe the plant was named for King Lysimachus of Sicily because he used it for healing wounds gained in fighting — or strife. Another theory says the king employed the herb to calm unruly animals, especially bulls. Seventeenth Century English herbalist John Parkinson wrote, “it is believed to take away strife or debate between ye beasts, not only those that are yoked together, but even those that are wild also, by making them tame and quiet.” Read more: http://www.baileylabovitz.com/whorled-yellow-loosestrife
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory.
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07/05/2024

YELLOW STARGRASS 'Hypoxis hirsuta' - In mid-spring, as the leaves begin appearing on the deciduous forest trees, the Yellow Stargrass brings bursts of yellow to the forest floor. A small but brilliant perennial, Yellow Stargrass bears grass-like leaves that are similar to those of the Blue-Eyed Grass. However, though it has also been placed in the Lily family as well as the Amaryllis clan, the genus Hypoxis is sometimes classified in a family of its own. Hypoxis hirsuta seems to have found little use among man or beast; it is not known to have been employed as a herbal medicine and wildlife seem to shun its leaves, perhaps in part because of their hairs — hence “hirsuta” or “hairy” — or maybe because of their flavor. Visible clearly in this picture, the hairs on the stems and on the flowers’ six yellow tepals (sepals that look like petals) may also have evolved for another purpose: To entangle the feet of crawling insects like ants, thus dissuading them from pilfering pollen. The nectarless blossom uses pollen to attract its only fans — flying insects such as small bees, flies and beetles that can provide the pollination services that crawlers can’t. Yellow Stargrass is found in most states east of the Rockies. http://www.baileylabovitz.com/yellow-stargrass
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory
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07/01/2024

VIRGINIA WATERLEAF 'Hydrophyllum virginianum' - Unlike birds, which have an international agency to establish appropriate common names for each species, plants just go with the flow. Such is the case with Virginia Waterleaf ('Hydrophyllum virginianum'), which is also known as Eastern Waterleaf, Shawnee Salad, John’s Cabbage, and a half dozen other folk names. Worse, perhaps, is the fact that no one can seem to settle on the reason for “waterleaf” (which is also the meaning of Hydrophyllum). One explanation is that its large lower leaves are designed to gather in the drip from the trees overhead, keeping the roots well watered. Another is that the type species for this genus has watery leaves. Still another is that the white spots on the leaves look like water stains! Those leaves unfold early in the spring, but it’s not till late spring that the clusters of eight to 20 bell-shaped flowers of white, pink or light purple appear. Various techniques, such as the shape of the flower and positioning of the stamens, are designed to attract and use bees for pollination, while other techniques, such as hairiness of the flowers, discourage smaller nectar-hungry insects. In fact, the waterleaf has an insect virtually all of its own — the Waterleaf Cuckoo Bee. This bee relies on the waterleaf so much that it’s been given the name Nomada hydrophylli. And, no, it’s not cuckoo over waterleaves. Its common name comes from the fact that it practices cleptoparasitism. Read more: http://www.baileylabovitz.com/virginia-waterleaf

Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at http://ow.ly/gPpc50Ag867

06/28/2024

YELLOW LADY'S-SLIPPER 'Cypripedium parviflorum' - The Yellow Lady’s-slipper has a hard time getting started in life and, once established, has a hard time staying alive. While this orchid is found in most of North America, it is particularly fussy about exactly where it lives, favoring woods that tend to be moist and loamy. The flowers are not often fertilized, and when they are, the resulting seed must have the right “friends” in the soil to sprout. A 'Cypripedium' seed is tiny and, unlike most seeds we are familiar with, contains no food. The seed needs to connect with the subterranean threads of a Rhizoctonia fungus. If things balance out just right, the fungus digests the outside of the orchid seed, but leaves inner cells untouched. The orchid seed joins with the fungus and starts absorbing nutrients the fungus obtained from the soil. Not until this happens can the seed germinate and begin growing. The symbiosis doesn’t end there. For the infant corm to obtain minerals and other soil foods, it must continue to use the “go-between” services of the Rhizoctonia fungus. The fungus, in turn, takes from the seedling foods that the young Lady’s-slipper leaves have photosynthetically manufactured. Such sensitive and complex relationships make native orchids of all kinds relatively uncommon, and growing them from seed requires a real expert. Read more: http://www.baileylabovitz.com/yellow-ladys-slipper
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at http://ow.ly/XwUW50AanQ6
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06/24/2024

PINK LADY'S-SLIPPER 'Cypripedium acaule' - Like many other orchids, the Pink Lady’s-slipper or “Moccasin Flower” manipulates insects to pollinate its flowers and produce viable seed. The flower color, vein-like lines and its shape— including the dangling sepals — are all designed to attract bees to enter the labellum or “slipper” through an opening in the top. In the process, past pollen is raked off and new pollen is pasted onto the “captured” bee as it moves through the slipper in one direction — angled hairs discourage its trying to leave the same way it entered. Finally, it reaches and squeezes through a small opening in the rear. For the bee, it’s an exhausting operation and discourages visiting a second lady’s-slipper. In fact, a University of Maryland botanist, who studied about 3,000 Pink Lady’s-slippers in a national forest, found that, over 16 years, about 1,000 of the plants flowered. Of those, a mere 23 were successfully pollinated! How can a species survive with so few seed-producing flowers? Since the average life span of these plants is 20 years, and some may live for a century and a half, lady’s-slippers have a long time to turn out one successful flower. And once pollinated, that flower could generate up to 60,000 seeds!
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory
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05/24/2024

VIRGINIA SPIDERWORT 'Tradescantia virginiana' - Fear not, arachnophobes, Virginia Spiderwort does not attract spiders. Well, no more than any other plant might. However, there’s no consensus on just why it’s a spiderwort. Some say it’s because the long slender leaves, especially when flopped over, look like a squatting spider. Others maintain it’s the juice from the leaves – break one and the fluid quickly forms webby threads. Still others believe it’s from the weblike filaments surrounding the anthers on the flowers. Less obscure is its scientific name, Tradescantia virginiana, which recalls one of the great English botanists and students of newly discovered North American plants. John Tradescant (1608-1662) served as gardener to King Charles I of England; he received and propagated many of the samples of plants from the Colonies. In fact, his son, bearing the same name, traveled to America and collected specimens —and succeeded his father as royal gardener. Over the centuries, hybrids of Virginia Spiderwort and other Tradescantia species have been created as garden flowers and even houseplants. Our wild native needs no hybridization to radiate beauty— its three-petaled blossoms may be blue, violet, rose, purple, or rarely even white. This display is a backdrop for six bright yellow stamens, producing a colorful array that attracts a wide variety of bees, many of which provide pollination services. Read more: http://ow.ly/DjpW50A5f3f

Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book by , w/ text by Jack Sanders & foreword by James P. Blair. Purchase book & printed canvases at http://ow.ly/XCmt50A5f3c

05/22/2024

WILD COLUMBINE 'Aquilegia canadensis' - “Our columbine is at all times and in all places one of the most exquisitely beautiful of flowers,” wrote naturalist John Burroughs more than a century ago. A popular native bird would agree. Many spring wildflowers have developed close relationships with insects, be they bees, butterflies, flies, or even ants. However, in its evolution, the Wild Columbine ('Aquilegia canadensis') has mostly shunned insects for survival and, perhaps like no other eastern wildflower, has turned to a bird to pollinate its blossoms. Its color and unusual shape are exquisitely designed to attract and serve the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the only one of 18 North American hummingbird species that nests on the East Coast. Blooming at the same time “hummers” are just arriving from Central and South America, the Wild Columbine displays colors that attract hummingbirds and offers nectar that provides a much-needed energy boost. Red catches the bird’s eye, and the yellow opening and interior guide the bird into the flower and to the sweets. Although some bees, wasps, and other insects cheat the system by nibbling through the nectar end of the top spur, only the largest, strongest, and longest-tongued insects, such as bumblebees, can draw sweets from the tube. And, of course, the hummingbird, whose long beak and ability to fly like an insect allow it to hover beneath the blossom and dip up for a sip. Read more: http://ow.ly/bS7N50A4d2e
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Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book “UNDERSTORY” by , w/ text by Jack Sanders and foreword by James P. Blair. Book & printed canvases for purchase at https://cottagecuratorcom/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory
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05/17/2024

LARGE-FLOWERED TRILLIUM 'Trillium grandiflorum' - The great botanist, Linnaeus, created the name “trillium” to describe the “threeness” of the genus, which has three leaves, flowers with three petals, three sepals, three-chambered ovaries, and berries with three ribs. Trilliums are also commonly called Wake-Robins because many members bloom at about the time of the arrival of migrating robins in spring. Large-flowered Trillium, also called White Trillium, is white when young, but often turns pink with age; as shown here. Trillium species are found in various shapes and hues throughout much of North America, and some wildflower enthusiasts specialize in growing the more showy white and pink varieties. Large-flowered Trillium is particularly popular because of its large flower; it’s the state flower of Ohio and the provincial flower of Ontario. Conservationists report that most of the Large-flowered Trillium plants found in nurseries are probably stolen from the wild. That’s because the nurseries can’t afford the patience it takes to grow them; it can take two years for seeds to germinate and up to 10 years before a plant is large and strong enough to bloom. http://www.baileylabovitz.com/pink-trillium
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is a series of photographic plant portraits by . Plant descriptions are excerpted from the book “UNDERSTORY” by Jackie Bailey Labovitz, w/ text by Jack Sanders and foreword by James P. Blair. Book & printed canvases are available for purchase at https://cottagecurator.myshopify.com/collections/jackie-bailey-labovitz/understory
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Understory

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