Extirpated

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Extirpate

Latin - exstirpatus
from ex- + stirp-, stirps (trunk, root)
to pull up from the root

Extirpated-
A name assigned to particular plants that are extinct in a particular area, but not necessarily in another area.  I don't know.....but this word sounds even more ominous to me than extinct.  It's like, you know something is wrong and it just might be coming to an area near you.

The USDA has a really nice website...google USDA plant database....that is searchable for about any plant you want to look up.  It has a host of information.  What I have found most useful though is the by state list of the plants that are special concern, threatened, endangered or extirpated.  Tennessee has 563 plants listed! 563.  And of those, 35 are extirpated.  Gone from the wild as far as is known.  Gone.  Wonder what it will take to get our attention.

I did find a website that is trying to consolidate a list of some of the nurseries that sell native plants.....plantnative.org.  It has a easy, click on your state and there you'll find a list of nurseries.  More valuable info too.  It's nice to see nurseries catering not just to natives but to the endangered plants.  We all need to give them our support and help get some of these plants off these lists.

Natives can not only be more beautiful than cultivated plants, but they are usually more pest free, drought tolerant, more well behaved and good for the beneficial insects and bees.  Up here on the hill, I have plants that come up at the edge of the woods and in the woods that I admit I don't have a clue as to what they are.  I leave them be. There's a Snakeroot growing smack dab in my front yard.  It looked like sage when it first appeared, so I left it.  The insects love it and it smells like honey.  Of course if I had cattle it might not be a good plant to tempt them with as it affects their milk, but I don't have cattle, so out front it grows.  A wild Penstemon that I am wild about.  It has the prettiest little bell flowers.  Wild columbine. It makes me smile. All these plants are not on the endangered list, but I can't imagine Spring with out them.  And besides, they were here way before I was, so they have first dibs!