urbpan | 365 Urban Species. #283: Goat's Beard. (Reply)

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urbpan. Location: Olmsted Park, Boston.

Urban species #283: Goat's beard Aruncus dioicus

This summer, while walking in the wooded part of Olmsted Park in Boston, my wife and I encountered a tall plant with long plumes of whitish flowers. It was not in our National Audubon guide to New England, and it was not in our Peterson's guide to wildflowers. I saw what I thought was a cultivated variety in a garden outside of Boston and asked its name, but I was given a Latin name that didn't stick to my memory. It was only after I met, and started working with a forester studying the park (Hi, Ben!), that the mystery plant was named.

Goat's beard (or sometimes, "bride's feathers") is a hardy perennial plant, apparently too tall and woody for the wildflower guides, and something short of a shrub. It is not common in the city, though it would be a good choice for deliberate plantings. It is hardy in a variety of soil types, and in partially shaded areas, and forms dense stands that resist invasives (how's that for a change?) It seems likely to me that the goat's beard growing in Olmsted Park was planted by park managers, sometime between Olmsted's time and our own. Although it is possible that it grew there naturally, and was left alone by man and beast alike. It is native to the northernmost temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, in North America and Eurasia. It resists foraging by herbivorous mammals, and can spread vegetatively.

Male and female flowers occur on separate individual plants. Insects pollinate the fragrant flowers, which are much showier on the males. Only the female plants produce seeds, which are visible in the photo above.