Kevin Howe. Photo by Kyle Langford

The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society will be holding their November meeting at the Visitor’s Center of Belle Isle State Park on November 21st beginning at noon. Everyone is welcome to this free program and meeting. Bring a lunch or snack for an eat, meet and greet while a short review of the year is presented along with plans for next year. The Plant of the Month will be followed by a program beginning at 12:30. Drinks and light refreshments will be available.

A PowerPoint presentation entitled “Fungi and their Floral Partners” will be presented by Kevin Howe, a retired biologist. Following the talk, Kevin will lead a “Fungal Field Foray” on one of the park’s trails. “Over 90% of plants depend on fungal partnerships to grow and thrive in a mutually beneficial relationship where the fungus supplies water and nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to the plants in exchange for sugars the plant produces through photosynthesis”, said Chapter President, Betsy Washington. “This remarkable and complex “mycorrhizal” relationship is an absolute necessity to our land plants including nearly all forest and agricultural plants. Further, fungi are responsible for most of the recycling of the vast majority dead plants and animals on the planet.” The walk will follow the presentation.

Kevin is Vice President of the Chapter and First Vice President of the state Society. As a teacher and researcher, he has had a strong affinity for fungi and lichens since his youth in California. Now retired, he devotes his free time to a number of outdoor and environmental groups including Virginia Master Naturalists, Friends of Dragon Run, Northern Neck Land Conservancy and others. He and his botanist wife, Betsy Washington, Chapter President both actively teach for many chapters of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program.