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December 2013
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I Volume 19, Issue 4, ISSN 1523-5165
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Journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists
Elaine Searle
Rheum rhabarbarum 'Glaskins Perpetual'
Garden Rhubarb
Masking Techniques:
John Pastoriza-Pinol
Paints a Maple Leaf
Pittsburgh 2013:
Annual Meeting and
Conference Coverage
Wildflower Watch:
Adventures in the
Everglades Wilderness
WILDFLOWER WATCH:
Educational Awareness of Native Plants Through Individual Initiatives
Adventures in the Everglades Wilderness
Botanical Illustration in one of North America's Last Frontiers
BY KATHLEEN KONICEK-MORAN
Several years ago, Kathleen Konicek-Moran , a retired professor ofwriting,
did something th{/t changed her life: she took a watercolor botanical art
riass. Since then, she has drawn and painted over 200 plants, illustrated
trail guides, trail signs, textbooks, and participated in soio and group
shows in Florida and Massachusetts. She is active with Tropical Botanic
Artists, {/ group currently doing its second show at the Everglades National Park gallery, depicting plants discovered by or named for the botanical explorers in the Euerglades; the show
will trauel {/round Florida during 2013 and 2014. Kathleen loves portraying pl{/nts {/nd
especi{/lly loues to get out into the jz'eld to find rare and endangered plants and plant-dependent animals (Like butterfiieo). See her in action in the SIt/amp she calls "Cypress CathedraL"
at h rtp:l/www.nps.gov/ever/photosmu ltimedia/cy presscathedral.htm.
AVE encountered in the Everglades National Park of Florida: alligators
~ cours Y chiggers, de~ pythons, sandflies, poisonwood, and hordes of mosquitoes
/
that h ve been bitten me right through my bug jacket. I've trod on a water moccasin
W 0 fortunately did not bite me), fallen into sinkholes and found myself entangled in
--.....500'15ull-and-hold-back vines. I've helped push the botany airboat out of the weeds that had
gotten it stuck while in water up to my armpits, had the bottom of my kayak walloped by a
crocodile, and had a run-in with feral hogs. Sadly, I have only seen the fabled, endangered
Florida panther from the air.
So, you might ask, why have I been a volunteer in the Everglades for the past 14 years?
Because of the close interactions with nature that occur here - what Dick, my husband, and I
call our "miracles of the day" - that by far surpass any aggravation that we experience. (Well,
maybe not the chiggers . .. )
When we retired from our jobs as college professors, Dick and I had a plan of traveling the
country to volunteer in all of our national parks. Instead, our hearts were captured by the
Everglades and we never went further. Although its vast grassy wetland (more than a million
and a half acres) presents a landscape that has to grow on you to be appreciated, the miracles to
be found in the Everglades come at the trailheads, which are filled with mammals, birds and
28
DECEM BER 2013
ABOVE, LEFT. Dick and Kathleen KonicekMoran in the Cypress Cathedral (photo by
Jennifer Brown, Everglades National Park).
TOP. Prosthechea cochleata, Clamshell
Orchid, watercolor on paper, 18"x21", ©2011,
Kathleen Konicek-Moran. BOTTOM. Vanilla
di/loneana, (detail) Leafless Vanilla on
Mangroves, watercolor and ink on paper,
18"x7", ©2013, Kathleen Konicek-Moran.
asba -art.org
ABOVE, LEFT. Cyrtopodium punctatum & Metopium toxiferum, Cowhorn
Orchid & Poisonwood, watercolor on paper, 24"x26", ©2013 Kathleen
Konicek-Moran. RIGHT. Digitaria pauciflora, Everglades Crabgrass,
watercolor on paper, 13''x11'', ©2013, Kathleen Konicek-Moran
reptiles that gather there each winter to take
advantage of the waterholes. At practically
every step, you get to witness a multitude of
different animals, each in its own environmental niche, doing what comes naturally
- nesting, fishing, sunning.
Our favorite thing to do is to take friends
out on a swamp walk in a cypress dome
(we call it our "Cypress Cathedral"), a
magical afternoon in the cool of the trees
when anything can happen as you slowly
slog through knee-deep water, alight with
reflections. Along the way, there's always
some sort of marvel to find - like the little
floating bladderwort (Utricularia radiata),
a carnivorous plant that creates a little raft
on its stem to get its flower up out of the
water; an endangered orchid with cigar-like
pseudobulbs (Cyrtopodium punctatum); or
a group of snowy egrets sitting among the
branches looking down at you.
I began as a volunteer nature interpreter,
leading tours, but soon found my way to botany. My first job was to look for either rare
or invasive plants. This meant I had to trek
through the marsh to get to a hammock (a
form of tree island) and sutvey it - dividing it
into quadrants and walking back and forth,
identifying plants. Since I was doing this
alone, I developed a lot of woods-walking
skills - figuring out how to avoid aggressive
alligators or how not to startle poisonous
snakes. Getting into these tree islands was
often difficult because their outer edges were
covered with thick shrubbery, poisonous
T he Botani ca l Arti st
plants, and thorny vines. Once, I followed a
deer in - although I had to bend down since
the trail was only deer-high. When I walked
in the sawgrass, I would have the eerie feeling
that it was possible no other human had
ever stepped foot in that very place where I
was standing. It is, after all, one of the last
areas in North America to be explored or
inhabited (except by native peoples who
lived mostly in the hammocks) - no scientist
hazarded the Everglades until the turn of the
20th century.
I began my artistic life when I ventured
into the big city to take a course in botanical
watercolor at Fairchild Tropical Botanic
Garden in 2007, and began drawing and
painting Park plants. I work with a wonderful botanist, Jimi SadIe, who focuses on
endangered and threatened plants, which
are, unfortunately, not uncommon in the
Everglades because of the Park's long history
of water problems due to development and
agricultural issues outside its boundaries.
Jimi inspired me to embark on my goal of
painting every endangered plant in the Park
before they were lost to the world. We organized an exhibit of botanical art depicting
some of these plants in 2011, collaborating
the Tropical Botanic Artists. When Jimi
and I went out to sketch and photograph the
Everglades crabgrass (Digitaria pauciflora), a
beautiful little endangered grass, we found
some pinelands croton (Croton linearis)
inundated with various sizes (instars) of the
Florida leafwing caterpillar, an endangered
Florida butterfly. Jimi had been conducting a
survey of the numbers of croton in the Park
to determine the cause of this beautiful butterfly's failure, so we were heartened to see so
many caterpillars.
Dick and I were kayaking among the
mangrove islands, when we first found the
wormvine vanilla orchid (Vanilla barbeLLata)
that drapes itself among the mangroves. That
was the basis for my depiction of its close relative, the leafless vanilla (VaniLLa diftoneana),
which is a plant that is presumed extirpated
(lost) from the Park. Unfortunately, extirpation is not unusual in the Everglades. It
was on this trip that I saw my second python
in the wild. The Everglades have become
notorious for this huge and beautiful alien.
The first one I had seen was so big and silent
as it moved away, that I began to be leery
about being in the Park by myself. Now I
bring a friend.
The Everglades have been the source of
inspiration and adventure for me for many
years now, and I hope that they will be for
you. They are yet a wilderness, which is
amazing in these days of rampant development. Although they have their share of
discomforts and danger, the Everglades of
Florida are also rife with miracles.
m
Ifyou have a tale to tell we'd love to hear it. Please email
your story idea to Gillian Rice at [email protected]. Please be sure to put "Wildflower Watch "
in the subject line. Write your own story or have Gillian
interview you and she'll write the story.
DECEMBER 2013
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