Stay on the path

In years past one occasionally found such plants as argemone and corydalis in Wichita’s Sedgwick County Park. However, careful management has eliminated most of the pesky wildflowers, so that nothing distracts visitors from the splendid displays of Toxicodendron radicans throughout the park.

The same drive toward tidiness has also simplified the flora of the fields east of the park. Formerly, one would sometimes stumble across Mentzelia nuda, for instance, or Delphinium carolinianum, but gradually such conspicuous species disappeared. A few still remain, such as Oenothera rhombipetala and Dalea villosa, but if current trends continue, eventually the area will be just neat and tidy grass.

2 thoughts on “Stay on the path”

  1. yup, it’s super common here as well. It’s gotten to the point where it’s hard for me to find places to take students to teach them forest sampling that isn’t full of it – I always have that one student who is sensitive enough they might have to go to the doctor, and I’m pretty sensitive to it now, too.

    it’s also invaded my backyard. I don’t like using poison but that is one thing I will use poison on because I can’t pull it and I can’t burn it and I can’t just leave it there.

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