Photo by John Nelson
Dr. John Nelson
Each week
The Columbia Star
features an explanation and picture of a mystery plant given by Dr. John Nelson, the curator of the USC Herbarium. To learn more about the Herbarium, call him at 777-8196. His department also offers free plant identification. www.herbarium.org
Common names that are applied to plant species are often misleading or inaccurate, which is a big factor in making scientific names much more useful. Unfortunately, most people shy away from using scientific names because they are hard to understand and in Latin.
In my experience, I’ve found that people are often afraid of using scientific names because it’s too hard to figure out how they should be pronounced. There are no absolute rules with pronunciation, so don’t worry about mispronouncing genus and species names. Scientific names were not invented to confuse people but to make it easier to talk about plants.
Daikon radish, raphanus sativus longipinnatus
This week’s mystery plant has one common name as Possum haw, which, in this situation, is indeed very misleading. “Haw” is a common name for the hawthorn species. Hawthorns, of course, are species in the genus crataegus, members of the rose family, which are often spiny, and whose red fruits are similar in structure to an apple.
Our plant, though, is not a hawthorn at all. Its fruits are bright red and attractive, something like a hawthorn, but their anatomy is quite different. These plants don’t have any thorns, either. The name “Possum haw” almost certainly arose as a colloquialism for a plant similar to hawthorn, but not quite the same.
This species is a shrub or small tree, common from Maryland to Florida, and over to east– central Texas. It may be found within the Mississippi River drainage as far north as western Illinois. In the Southeast, it is primarily a coastal plain species. It seems to prefer wet grounds and is a standard feature in swampy woods.
Being deciduous, it makes quite a show when in full fruit on a sunny winter day. It makes a great addition as a landscape species, and birds like to eat the fruits. If you want to grow it, you’ll want a female plant, as only they make the fruits.
The photo was taken along the margin of Wee Tee Lake, within the new Wee Tee State Forest, located not far from Gourdin, SC. This is a marvelous setting for wildlife observation and nature–study, and it is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays. For more information, visit http://www.state.sc.us/forest/weetee.htm or call (843) 387-6148
Answer to last week’s mystery plant
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