Rewild Alabama : Native Plant Conservation

11/24/2025

Invasive Plant PSA:
Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense) is fruiting now

Another one of Alabama's Top 10 Worst Invasives!

Forests cover 23 million acres in Alabama; this invasive plant covers 1 million of those!

Loved by some for it's strong floral scent, and hated by others due to the seasonal allergies that it causes, Chinese privet, was intentionally brought to the United States from China in 1852 for ornamental purposes. It was initially planted as a hedgerow shrub and its cuttings were used in floral arrangements.

Unfortunately, Chinese privet proved to be highly invasive. Once it escaped from cultivation, it began forming dense thickets in various habitats, including fields, fencerows, roadsides, forest understories, and riparian sites.

The greatest threat posed by Chinese privet lies in its ability to modify ecosystems on a large scale. It competes successfully with native vegetation, displacing native plants. The shrub matures rapidly, produces abundant seeds, and also reproduces vegetatively through root suckers. Once established, it becomes challenging to eradicate due to its reproductive capacity.

Removal and Management information from the Alabama Extension here: https://www.aces.edu/.../control-options-for-chinese-privet/

11/24/2025

Tennessee is proving that strategic investments in nature deliver measurable gains in both human health and economic resilience.

11/20/2025

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https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BMwWCtHUY/?mibextid=ZbWKwL

How anyone can see a plant like this growing amongst grass and ask "how can I get rid of it?" is beyond me. Its akin to asking how one can make their neighborhood a less beautiful place. In a world full of sterile lawns, plants like lawn aster can provide adaptable beauty and much needed resources for life that a lawn made entirely of turf grass cannot.

It is a way to show your community that supporting biodiversity isn't an all or nothing game. Though I prefer a garden full of native plants, I also realize most people aren't at that level (yet) and we need to encourage small steps to get them there. Not seeking to destroy anything that isn't turf grass is a tiny but much needed first step.

There is some taxonomic debate about this species. Some call it Symphyotrichum divaricatum whereas others call it Symphyotrichum subulatum var. ligulatum. Regardless, it is a wonderful annual aster native to southern North America that can be very plastic in its morphology depending on growing conditions.

In the wild, it tends to grow in disturbed riparian areas, but has adapted nicely to human development. When left unmowed, it can grow to a decent height, but if kept short, its decumbent stems scramble outward at ground level, putting out flowers just below the height of the mower blades and adding sprays of lavender to a green background during fall.

Also, this species will continue to flower after a couple good frosts, providing resources to the handful of hardy insects still looking for their final meals before overwintering. Plants like this can be part of the solution to the biodiversity crisis caused by our obsession with manicured lawns and they deserve to be better understood and encouraged where they are native.

11/19/2025

It was a long morning, but the Bessemer City Council heard from many concerned citizens about the plans for a MASSIVE data center bordering Bessemer and McCalla. Ultimately, the Council voted 5-2 in favor of the zoning change to allow for the development of data center.

We want to thank Councilmembers Cleo King and Donna Thigpen for listening to each and every community member and voting NO on this monster of a project.

By greenlighting this project while ignoring serious questions and public records requests, the Bessemer City Council has turned its back on the very communities it is supposed to serve. We remain confident that this project will not come to fruition in its current form, and ARA will support neighbors in their continuing fight to ensure that their questions are answered, and their homes, livelihoods, and communities are protected. Stay tuned!

11/19/2025

11/18/2025

Native Wildflower Spotlight:
Aconitum uncinatum (Blue Monkshood, Southern Blue Monkshood)

Blue Monkshood (Aconitum uncinatum) is one of Alabama’s rare native wildflowers, known only from a few counties in the state, primarily in the northeastern portion where cool, moist, shaded slopes provide refuge for this mountain species. Its elegant, hooded blue to violet flowers appear in late summer, evoking the cowl of a monk’s robe, hence its name.

This plant’s limited distribution in Alabama makes it a botanical treasure, typically found in rich, mesic woodlands, ravines, and along shaded streambanks where moisture is consistent and soils are high in organic matter.

🐝 Wildlife & Ecological Value:

~Pollinators: The complex, hooded flowers are primarily pollinated by bumblebees, which are strong enough to access the nectar concealed within.
~Habitat indicator: Serves as an indicator of undisturbed, high-quality forest habitats, often co-occurring with species like Trillium, Actaea, and Hydrangea arborescens.
~Deer resistance: Highly toxic alkaloids make it unpalatable to deer and other herbivores, allowing it to persist in some areas where browsing pressure is high.

🌳 Landscape Value:

~Form: Twining or sprawling perennial vine with long stems that can climb through shrubs or low branches.
~Flowers: Deep blue to violet, hood-shaped blossoms appearing July–September.
~Foliage: Deeply lobed, glossy green leaves with three to five segments.
~Light: Prefers part shade to full shade.
~Soil: Moist, rich, well-drained soils with consistent humidity and organic matter.
~Landscape use: Best suited for woodland restoration, shade gardens, or naturalized forest edges in cooler, upland regions.

⚠️ Cultural & Conservation Notes:

~Rarity: In Alabama, Aconitum uncinatum is considered rare and locally uncommon, reflecting its limited range and habitat specificity.
~Toxicity: All parts of the plant are highly poisonous if ingested; handling with gloves is recommended for sensitive individuals. Use with caution around young children and pets.
~Conservation importance: Protecting the shaded, moist forest habitats where it grows is essential for preserving this species in Alabama.
~Status: Its rarity in the state highlights the importance of habitat conservation in the Appalachian foothills and adjacent ravine systems.

11/17/2025

"Neonicotinoids are the world’s most common class of insecticides, widely used in agriculture and for flea control in pets. By 2022, four years after the European Union banned neonicotinoid use in fields, researchers observed that France’s population of insect-eating birds had increased by 2%-3%. These included blackbirds, blackcaps and chaffinches, which feed on insects as adults and as chicks."

Analysis shows small hike in populations of insect-eating species after 2018 ruling, but full recovery may take decades

11/15/2025

The Piedmont Upland:

In east-central Alabama, the Piedmont Upland tells one of the oldest geologic stories in the state. These rolling hills and ridges are the deeply eroded roots of mountains that once rivaled the Himalayas.

Geology at a glance:

~Composed mostly of ancient metamorphic rocks (gneiss, schist, quartzite, and marble) more than 300–500 million years old.
~These rocks are the exposed “basement” of the Appalachians, the hardened remains of continental collisions long ago.
~The terrain is rugged in places, but more subdued than the Valley and Ridge, with rounded ridges and broad intermountain valleys.

How geology shapes ecosystems:

~Quartzite ridges: Support dry oak-pine forests and rocky glades with plants adapted to thin, nutrient-poor soils.
~Marble and other calcium-rich rocks: Give rise to fertile pockets where hardwood forests and rare plants thrive.
~Streams on hard metamorphic rock: Are fast-flowing and clean, providing habitat for darters, mussels, and salamanders.
~Old soils on weathered rock: Support longleaf pine in drier uplands and mixed hardwood forests in valleys.

🌿 The Piedmont Upland is a land of endurance, where Alabama’s oldest rocks continue to shape resilient ecosystems. Its forests, glades, and streams carry the memory of Earth’s ancient mountain-building events.

👉 Next and last stop in our series: the East Gulf Coastal Plain, where geology softens and broad lowlands stretch to the Gulf.

11/15/2025

Nemesis Natives Spotlight:
Spodoptera frugiperda (Fall Armyworm)

Few insects strike more fear in farmers than the fall armyworm, a native moth whose caterpillars can devour acres of crops seemingly overnight. But while Spodoptera frugiperda has earned its reputation as a pest, this species is also a natural part of North America’s grassland ecology, a native noctuid that’s been here far longer than our lawns and monocultures.

Its story is one of ecological imbalance: an adaptable native species whose population surges when natural checks and plant diversity disappear.

In natural settings, S. frugiperda larvae feed on a variety of native warm-season grasses such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), bluestems (Andropogon spp.), and indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans). These plants evolved alongside native moth larvae like the fall armyworm and can tolerate moderate feeding.

It’s when these insects encounter vast monocultures of corn or turfgrass (dense, uniform food sources without predators or competitors) that their populations explode into damaging outbreaks. In healthy, diverse ecosystems, fall armyworms play a minor role as one of many herbivores within the grassland web.

🦋 Wildlife & Ecological Role:
Despite their destructive potential in agriculture, fall armyworms contribute to the food web in several ways:

~Prey for native predators – Birds, spiders, ground beetles, and wasps all feed on armyworm larvae.
~Hosts for parasitoids – Several native wasps and tachinid flies rely on Spodoptera species as hosts for their own life cycles.
~Part of nutrient cycling – Their feeding and waste return nutrients to the soil, supporting microbial and detritivore communities.
~Pollinators in disguise – Adult fall armyworm moths visit flowers at night for nectar, contributing modestly to pollination.
~In other words, what we call a “pest” in one context is food, fuel, and balance in another.

🌱 Conservation Notes:

Fall armyworms are native insects responding to altered ecosystems - heavy lawn management, monoculture crops, and loss of predator habitat all contribute to outbreaks.

Encouraging biodiversity, native grasses, and predator habitat helps restore balance and reduces the likelihood of population booms.

For gardeners, hand-picking small infestations or encouraging beneficial insects (like paper wasps, ground beetles, and parasitic flies) can be more sustainable than chemical control.

Remember: the problem isn’t the insect itself, it’s when we remove the ecological balance that keeps it in check.

🔎 Did You Know?

The name “armyworm” comes from their marching behavior ? Larvae move en masse across fields, consuming everything in their path.

Spodoptera frugiperda cannot survive freezing winters, but adults migrate northward each year from the southern U.S. and tropics.

Like many Nemesis Natives, the fall armyworm is a reminder that even our “villains” evolved with a purpose.

📸: UGA

11/13/2025

Not all pollination happens by day or by bee. Some of the most intricate plant relationships unfold quietly at night...like that between the Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) and certain native moths of Alabama.

These moths, including species like the Armyworm Moth (Mythimna unipuncta) and others in the Noctuidae family, are drawn in by the orchid’s faint nighttime fragrance. As they sip nectar, something remarkable happens: the orchid’s pollinia, tiny sacs of sticky pollen, attach right to the moth’s eyeballs.

Yes, their eyeballs!

It’s an ingenious design. The pollinia cling in just the right spot so that when the moth visits the next bloom, the pollen brushes off onto the flower’s stigma, completing the cycle. Neither moth nor orchid could fulfill their role in this dance without the other.

This is what ecologists call a specialist pollination relationship, where one plant relies on a very narrow range of pollinators. These relationships remind us that even the smallest moth fluttering through an Alabama night may be carrying out a mission written in the deep code of evolution.

So next time you walk through a shaded woodland in late summer and spot the delicate Tipularia discolor, remember: the real magic happens after dark, in the secret exchange between orchid and moth.

✨ Native moths that visit and pollinate night-blooming or woodland flowers in Alabama include:

~Armyworm Moth (Mythimna unipuncta) – known pollinator of Tipularia discolor

~Spotted Cutworm Moth (Xestia c-nigrum) – another nocturnal nectar-feeder of forest understories

~Underwing Moths (Catocala spp.) – powerful flyers drawn to tree sap and night blooms

~Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae family) – important pollinators for many native evening flowers

📸: Jim McCormacSpecial / The Columbus Dispatch