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A Ghost Plant for Halloween

There are exceptions to almost every rule in nature. Plants need chlorophyll for photosynthesis, which allows them to obtain energy from light. Yet, there is a whole group of vascular, flowering plants that don’t need chlorophyll at all, and at least one is blooming in Arkansas right now. Click here to learn more about this “ghost plant”.

Squirrels and Oaks: A Case of Mutualism

Only in the past couple of decades have biologists begun to explore the relationship that exists between squirrels and oak trees. What they are revealing is a marvelous mutualism. Click here to find out more about what scientists have learned about this association.

L to R: Michael Dosmann, Tony Aiello, Tim Boland, and Ian Jochems collecting seed of Ozark witch hazel along the North Fork of the Saline River. Photo by Brent Baker.

ANHC Botanists Guide Seed Collection Expedition

In early October, ANHC botanists Theo Witsell and Brent Baker participated in a seed collecting expedition to sites throughout the Arkansas portion of the Interior Highlands (the Ozark Plateau, Ouachita Mountains, and Arkansas Valley). Read more about this expedition here.

FY2014 Annual Report Now Available Online

The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission FY2014 Annual Report to the Governor and Arkansas General Assembly is now available for download on our website. The report chronicles the state fiscal year 2014 and documents the status of each area in the System of Natural Areas. It also contains a list, by county, of the rare plants and animals currently tracked by the ANHC.

Visit our website to download and view the entire report or the section that you need. Copies, printed in black-and-white, unbound are available from our office, upon request.

Great Plains ladies-tresses at White Cliffs NA, photo by Eric Hunt

Arkansas Native Plant Society Makes New Finds

The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) has a long-standing partnership with the Arkansas Native Plant Society (ANPS). Participants in field trips at the fall meeting of the ANPS encountered a number of rare plant species, including several that were not previously known from the areas, including the Great Plains ladies-tresses pictured above. Click here to learn more about these discoveries.

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