What are Natives?
Published in APLD Magazine — Design Online — Aug. 2020
Natives vs Nativar was an original ask when the APLD team discussed this theme of sustainability conscious pieces. For many obvious and maybe less obvious reasons, which we will unpack later, I think this remains a very powerful dialogue within our planting design community. However, understanding what a native is continues to be the stumbling block in this conversation. This, and to much a degree your design needs, will drive your requirement threshold for definition. But, why is the definition not final and why does that matter? And how are the botanical science and historical communities not getting us to a clearer understanding?
It was around the turn of this century that I was working with some in the native design community when I first asked what makes a plant a native? One on my team, a native fundamentalist, gave a short and quick answer that was widely supported by the local association at the time; natives are plants indigenous to the US that date before European settlers stepped foot on this continent. Seems pretty straight forward and, I think still widely considered a useful understanding. This gives the community a time stamp that helps end the argument and get to designing. Another common definition reverses the time frame, defining a native as a plant that is naturally found in a region that has lived within that ecosystem for thousands of years and that has evolved in that system with other flora and fauna providing the diversity for a balanced system. But, how do you define region? Is it the US, is it Virginia, is it Warrenton, VA or is it the Rappahannock River edge within that town? I worked with the University of Hawaii on a design project at one of their outposts on the ‘Big Island’ in the town of Hilo. The purpose was to plan an Ethnobotanical Garden, designating space to help share the heritage of the Hawaiian culture through the lens of the plant world with the local community. I was not the plant expert on the team by any stretch and was running to catch up within this new world. I quickly learned they took regionality of plants very serious. Koa from ‘on island’ was different than a Koa from another. And, a Koa from other Polynesian islands was different than one from the Hawaiian chain. In many cases a plant may not have originally existed on your island and was brought over from another. Because of very similar ecosystems, maybe only 60 miles apart the plant did very well and was useful. However not a native, it was a ‘canoe plant’, meaning those delivered by canoe through neighboring human communities. Which is different than if it floated on a log 60 miles and naturally developed in a space over time, then it may be a true native.
This becomes one of those sources of contention. Are humans not part of our ecosystem? Why can a bird poop a seed on a rock, see it grow into a tree living and developing with other plants for a thousand years and we call it a native but not if a human did likewise? Additionally, why can native Americans move foods up and down the continent in trade, pre-European settlers, and not affect the definition? Here’s a question that may blow minds. If this really is a matter of time, in a few hundred years will non-native non-invasive plants then be native? Japanese Maples will be native? We could additionally get ourselves off track when discussing time, human migration and the age of the earth, whether evolution is accepted and many other beliefs that could also create difficulties for us to find a common understanding. Not to mention, when did Europeans step foot on this continent?
The botanical world isn’t much help here. Botanical nomenclature (or systematics) defines plants through a line of species based on botanical means not time and place necessarily. Yes, they give credit to the finder of the species or developer of the variety but not to the extent that they identify a native or nativar. As a mater-a-fact a nativar is not even a botanical term. That’s is a trade term that we use to help us understand plant development within our own industry.
Systematics looks like this:
Species – Picea pungens
Variety – Picea pungens var glauca
Cultivar - Picea pungens ‘Glauca Globosa’
Blue Colorado Spruce
A variety is a natural variation of a species that is found in nature. For example, there is a white flowering redbud Cercis canadensis var alba found naturally. Varieties have simple variations on the species that make them a desirable selection. Like the Blue version of the Colorado spruce you also get variations in the offspring. Many Blue Spruce will vary in their depth of color. A Cultivar is a cultivated variety of a species or variety. Meaning man has taken them, crossed them or selected them. Then through propagation, most often asexual propagation, they produce these true to type offspring for the trade. ‘Glauca Globosa’ is an example of a cultivated blue variety of Colorado Spruce. It’s also an example of a cultivar that is rarely found in nature but likely cultivated from nature. Same with Birds Nest Spruce, these are genetic mutants that people climb up and take cuttings from, then reproduce for the trade.
This is a long way of getting to how we name plants and how we look at varieties vs cultivars. And, a longer way of saying this is also how we identify and name native plants. There is no difference. The term nativar is a trade term that helps us understand that we are looking at a plant that is a variety or cultivar from a native species to ‘somewhere’. Is it native to an ecosystem or is it not been introduced by Europeans….I can’t say. This will also differ depending on the source. Purist native movement folk may differ from nurserymen who get excited about plants and make money off of selling shiny new bobbles to plant geeks.
Nativars have a very useful place in many projects. These are cultivated or selected plants that may be hardier, may have desirable attributes (color, shape etc.) or may even be more apt at thwarting pests or difficult site conditions. This gives us valuable options when planning a native landscape where we may need to dip into a broader selection of plants due to site conditions or client needs. However, I would argue that this is not a native landscape. I’m not a purist by any stretch, but I see the value in a plant that has developed a long life defending itself against local conditions and working within a diverse ecosystem playing a part with others around them. They both contribute to, use from, but don’t overtake a local environment. As a native plant they feed native fauna and thrive in native soils. A cultivar that we select from a native species will carry traits that we find desirable, but we can’t see the future. It hasn’t had a thousand years, or even a hundred, for us to understand how it plays with others. Time trial is without a question one of the benefits we have from native species no matter your definition. Bradford Pear were the perfect street tree, narrow, hardy, flowering but non-fruiting. Then we planted a few million, time passed and we find they split in storms when older and they start to fruit once at a mature stage all while having the grossest smelling flower (or is that just me?).
Yet, not all nativars will be that far off from the species. Some may be simple selections that are naturally found in nature fairly often and have some of that time testing behind them. Some nativars will serve as a very good option to fulfil a need that is closer to a true native than Barberry. Nativars can help the non-purist build out a plant list that excites an uncaring client and keeps us closer to a happy native scape where we wish to create diversity and balance. I like that, but I also said I’m not a purist. My guess is, and I’ve not taken a census from other designers, that down and true native designers aren’t using nativars, because simply by any definition they don’t measure up to a native. You can be the judge of where you draw the line; you can take into consideration your site, client and philosophical considerations. And, you can choose if today I’m pure and tomorrow I step into the gray. I for one, don’t believe in absolutes nor adhere to fundamentalism. This stems from my metaphysical beliefs which you will only get me to spill after a long day of garden tours at our next face-to-face conference. In the meantime, at least use one native in every design, and sneak a food into every yard while continuing to play with plants.