Our new website www.nyflora.org links to the Cafe Press site where we have many items for sale with our logo. Shirts, hats, mugs and even buttons. Take a look and proudly wear your NYFA logo. A percentage of the proceeds from each item helps us continue with our projects to study and protect our native flora.
The tropical storm last Friday threatened to cancel the field trip to Napeague last Saturday but the rain ended by Saturday morning and allowed a group of hardy plant enthusiasts to look at plants in the dunes, swales and salt marsh. The search for Schizaea pusilla ended without success and it marks the third year in a row that the plants have not been found. We hope they return soon! A final summary of the trip will be available in the next newsletter. Below are some beautiful photographs taken on the trip by botanist Kim Smith from the New York Natural Heritage Program.
Field trip participants in Napeague Meadows
northern blazing-star, Liatris scariosa ssp. novae-angliae, state threatened
Sea-pink, Sabatia stellaris, state-threatened
From Steve Young: Until the last few years, whenever I saw Virginia creeper-looking leaves I always called it Parthenocissus quinquefolia. Looking through the grape family keys one day I realized that there are actually two common species of Parthenocissus, P. quinquefolia and P. vitacea, also known as woodbine. Woodbine has an inflorescence branching pattern that repeatedly divides equally and the leaves seem larger and more shiny. They also do not have pads on the ends of the tendrils and usually twine up through shrubs. How common is woodbine compared to Virginia creeper and how consistent are these characters? Karin Verschoor from the Division of Lands and Forests in DEC has been studying the differences between the two plants and will write about them in a future issue of the NYFA newsletter. Below are photos of the inflorescence and leaves of woodbine seen climbing through shrubs along the Mohawk bike trail in Niskayuna, NY. See if you can find both species.
See more info at: http://getyourbotanyon.blogspot.com/2009/09/virginia-creeper-woodbine.html
Woodbine inflorescence with divergent branching
Large and shiny woodbine leaf
From Steve Young: While climbing up Dial Mountain in the Adirondacks recently my son Alex found these imprints of leaves on the top of a shelf fungus. It looks like they may have landed on the fungus as it was finishing its growth and the imprints were made. This is the first time we have ever seen anything like this.
From Steve Young: Newcomb’s wildflower guide says that Arctium minus, common burdock, has hollow leaf stalks and A. lappa, great burdock has solid leaf stalks. It would be nice if this was consistent so these species could be identified before they flower since the leaves look alike. I have been cutting off leaf stalks near the base and YES, it seems that they can be distinguished that way. You can’t miss those huge leaves along trails and other disturbed areas.
Common burdock has flower heads up to 1 inch wide on short stalks.
The petioles can have a small hollow center or it can be larger.
Great burdock has heads larger than 1 inch on long stalks.
The petioles are solid.
However, I have not seen any difference in the deepness of the groove on the petiole. Both species have deep grooves. So, check for yourself and see if you find these characters to be consistent. I would be interested to know what you find.
From Steve Young: I searched a powerline in southern Albany County today looking for plants of Blephilia ciliata, downy wood-mint, that were last seen there in 1998. This is only one of three locations in the state for this rare plant. The area was on dry limestone outcrops, good habitat for Blephilia. The photo below from the Missouri State Univ. herbarium shows what it looks like:
Blephilia ciliata in flower
After searching for about 30 minutes I didn’t see any plants but I did see some mint family plants and some other interesting plants. Fortunately I didn’t see any ticks!
From the mint family there was wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare) and majoram (Origanum vulgare).
wild basil flower cluster
marjoram flower cluster, note purple bracts
New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) was mostly in fruit but a few flowering stalks remain.
New Jersey Tea Flowers
New Jersey Tea Fruits
Macoun’s cudweed (Pseudognaphalium macounii) was in flower, a plant that I rarely see in this area. In fact it is not recorded from the NYFA Atlas for Albany County. Its leaf bases are wide and extend down the stem a little ways.
Cudweed flowers
cudweed leaf bases
Two interesting members of the aster family were still in flower, the smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laevis) with its shiny, smooth, leather-like leaves and field-thistle (Cirsium discolor) with some serious pollination going on.
smooth blue aster flowers
smooth blue aster leaf
field-thistle flowers and pollinators
I won’t give up on the downy wood-mint since it may not be there every year. I’ll check again next year a few weeks earlier. We wouldn’t want to lose one of our best populations in the state!
These two woody plants with long compound leaves were seen along the Mohawk bike trail in Schenectady County. Can you guess what they are? Click on photos for a larger image.
The first plant is on the first row:
The second plant is on the second row:
Good luck!
From Steve Young: I was down along the Mohawk Bike Trail in Niskayuna, Sche. Co. this afternoon and saw a many white flowers of the pale impatiens, then I saw them with extra lobes on the petals. I had never noticed them before. Photos below.
The NY Flora Association’s new website has now replaced the old site. More improvements will be coming soon including lists and a library. Go to www.nyflora.org and post any comments you have about the site under this blog entry.
We now offer NYFA gear that you can purchase including hats, mugs and T-shirts!
From Steve Young: My son Alex took this photo of leatherwood in Saratoga County today while on a trip with Jackie Donnelly. She has noticed this disease affecting Dirca for some years and it makes the plant stand out in the woods this time of year. Anyone have any suggestions as to what it is?
Update Sept. 09: Leucanthiza dircella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): A leafminer of leatherwood, Dirca palustris. It seems that this leaf miner and a rust make the leaves of Dirca turn yellow in August.
New York Flora Association Blog 