Here is a collection of illustrations for Shortia I have done over the years. This idea came to me because our Botany Club’s own Dick Smith had done illustrations and written many articles for Shortia but not all of them he considered good enough to republish. That led me to think, if even the wonderful Dick Smith had written articles he later thought were not good enough to publish again, I could write and draw for Shortia, making things that may not be good enough to publish again, but nonetheless, were my best attempts at the time. How ironic that here my illustrations are coming to attention again! Instead of being lost to the years, they are again before your eyes to scrutinize or most likely ignore and forget once again! Even I had forgotten the great number I’d done over the years.
Another thing that has occurred to me is this—We have traveled a long way since the days I first joined the Botany Club and struggled to take good pictures of our plants. Sometimes the identifying features are small and subtle, and my camera couldn’t capture those details, and often I didn’t realize how important the details were and didn’t even try to photograph them. Back then the drawings I did were a way for me to really focus in on identification criteria. Now our cameras can capture those little details in amazing clarity and illustrations aren’t so necessary perhaps. But, I must say, the illustrations are fun to do. I have learned so much from doing them, and if anybody else wants to try their hand at this sort of thing, I heartily recommend you do it—it’s lots of fun!

Links to Lucy’s Shortia articles containing the drawings below can be found at the bottom of this  post. Plants that are non-native to North America are indicated by an asterisk (*) after the species name. Click on any picture to zoom & enter the slide show.

Aphaenogaster rudis – Page 5, & Bluets – Page 8, Spring 2015
Our Native Roses – Page 5, & Violets and Fritillary Butterflies – Page 10,  Summer 2015
A Tribute to Bonnie Arbuckle – Page 3, & Oak Leaves in the Fall – Page 11, Solidago – Page 13, Fall 2015
Cats Studying their Radford – Page 11, Winter 2015
The Green Violet – Page 6, & Wood Anemone or Rue Anemone? – Page 7, Spring 2016
Heuchera – Page 5, Summer 2016
Goldenrods – Page 6, & American Lovage—Ligusticum canadense – Page 7,  Fall 2016
Our Native Grapes – Page 6, & Dewberries – Page 10, Winter 2016
Our Native Toothworts – Page 6, and Uvularia sessilifolia and Uvularia puberula – Page 12, Spring 2017
Pawpaws and the Zebra Swallowtail – Page 7, Summer 2017
Sanicula – Page 7, Fall 2017
Crabapple or Hawthorn – Page 9, Winter 2017
Maples – Page 12, and Hepatica’s New Name – Page 17, Spring 2018
Thalictrum – Page 3, & Smooth Rock Cress and Sicklepod – Page 8, Summer 2018
Phryma leptostachya—Lopseed – Page 9, & Thaspium and Zizia, Page 10, Fall 2018
Our North Carolina Mountain Saxifrages – Page 5, Summer 2019
Our Rare American Barberry – Page 10, Winter 2019
Cardamine flagilifera or Cardamine clematitis? – Page 9, Spring 2020
Our North Carolina Mountain Veratrums – Page 8, Summer 2020
Viburnums of Our North Carolina Mountains – Page 10, Winter 2020
Trillium vaseyi or Trillium rugelii or a Syngameon? – Page 13, Spring 2021
Asters with Heart-Shaped Petioled Leaves – Page 8, Fall 2021
How Did Witch-Hazel Get Its Name? – Page 10, Winter 2021
Anemone quinquefolia and lancifolia – Page 10, Spring 2022
Symphyotrichum – Page 9, Fall 2022
High Elevation Conifers – Page 17, Winter 2022
Eurybia – Page 7, Summer 2023
Symphyotrichum phlogifolium – Page 15, Fall 2023
Deciduous Hollies of the Western Carolina Mountains or the Perils of Confusing Pedicels with Peduncles – Page 7, Winter 2023