New York Flora Association Blog

On Saturday October 26, Michael Wojtech, author of Bark, a field guide to trees of the Northeast, presented a workshop to help participants identify native trees in Eastern New York based on bark types.  Michael started out with an indoor class on the characteristics and ecology of bark and, using photos, tested us on how we thought bark on young trees would look on older trees.  By knowing the different types of bark – blocky, ropy, vertical strips, smooth, etc. – it was easier to guess how these bark types change over time.  After our classroom lesson, we were excited to get outdoors and walk the trails of the Albany Pine Bush to see the different types in nature.  We spent over an hour looking at oaks, pines, birches, cherries, maples and others and learning the techniques of bark identification to figure out closely related species like cottonwood, aspen and grey birch.  A great time was had by all and we look forward to trying out our new skills with other trees of the area.

We assembled outside the Pine Bush Discovery Center on a chilly day before heading off to the yellow trail.

Michael showed us how some bark types, like black cherry, form scales that peel off easily.

A cut stump illustrates how the wood transitions to the bark.

Often, the bark on the lower part of the tree is quite different than the bark higher in the tree.

A real treat! The bark of a young American chestnut, smooth with small white lenticels.

Unfortunately it was not longed for this world as it has already been attacked by the chestnut blight.

Amazingly it had produced some fruit that we found along the trail.

For more information about Michael’s bark book and workshops you can visit his website http://www.knowyourtrees.com. We thank him for a very interesting and informative workshop. – Steve Young

Click this link to see the lineup of fantastic field trips and workshops for 2013.

There will be workshops for identifying:

Amelanchier (Shadbush), Sedges, Grasses, and Trees using bark characters as well as a workshop on ethnobotanical topics.

Field Trips will explore:

Nelson Swamp (Madison Co.), Bonaparte Swamp and Fitzgerald Pond (Lewis Co.), Michigan Hollow Swamp (Tompkins Co.), Little Rock City (Cattaraugus Co.), Zoar Valley (Erie/Cattaraugus Cos.), Whiteface Mountain (Essex Co.), Edgewood Preserve (Suffolk Co.), and Joralemon Park (Albany Co.)

Most of these require registration so register soon before they fill up.

Happy students at the goldenrod and aster workshop at the Niagara Gorge in 2011.

Paul Smith’s College Prof. Emeritus Michael Kudish discusses Adirondack first growth forests in this April 2012 lecture on campus. The college’s School of Natural Resource Management and Ecology and the student chapter of the Society of American Foresters sponsored his lecture.  The talk runs 1hr 47 min.

If you have 90 minutes, take the time to watch this fascinating talk on botanical medicine and indigenous cultures that was presented on Long Island May 6, 2010 by Dr. Michael Balick of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden.

From Dr. Warren Wagner – We are pleased to announce the line-up of speakers for the 2012 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium “Transforming 21st Century Comparative Biology using Evolutionary Trees,” which will be held at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, on April 20-21, 2012.

Over the last 20 years great progress has been made toward assembling a phylogeny of life on Earth and our expanding knowledge of evolutionary relationships is transforming 21st century biology. The Symposium will address the question: How do we put the knowledge of evolutionary relationships to work to better describe and understand the diversification of life on Earth? The invited speakers will cover a wide range of organisms and topics to illuminate how molecular phylogenetics can be used to understand evolutionary and ecological processes.

–    Scott V. Edwards, Harvard University, “Resolving the Tree of Life through phylogenomics and the multispecies coalescent model”
–    Charles F. Delwiche, University of Maryland, “Illuminating the origin of land plants with algal genomes”
–    James W. Horn, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, “Diversification and structural innovation in Euphorbia”
–    Karen Osborn, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, “Discoveries in the deep and their usefulness for studies of invertebrate evolution”
–    David D. Ackerly, University of California, Berkeley, “Traits, communities, and history: what do we learn from phylogenies?”
–    Richard Ree, The Field Museum, “Phylogeny and the evolution of floral diversity in Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)”
–    Michael Donoghue, Yale University, “Adventures in plant phylogeny and prospects for the future”

Abstracts, additional details, and online registration are available on the Symposium Web site: http://botany.si.edu/sbs/. The deadline for registration is 13 April 2012.

Saturday, February 18^th 2012, 1-4pm, Greenport Public Conservation Area in Hudson
Winter Botany Workshop, Part 2 (co-sponsored by the Columbia Land Conservancy)
Conrad and Claudia Vispo will help you learn to identify the most common woody plant species that can be observed at Greenport in the winter. The workshop is free, but space is limited, so please register with fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org or (518) 672-7994.

I took this course back in the early 1980s and it is one of the best courses in plant taxonomy that you can find.  It’s an intensive course but it takes place in one of the most beautiful areas in the country, surrounded by tropical and subtropical vegetation. Dr. Judd does a superb job and the field trips go to some of the most interesting natural areas of southern Florida. – Steve Young

The University of Florida, Department of Botany and The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, in collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, will offer an intensive, in-residence course/workshop on the systematics of tropical plants, in Coconut Grove, Florida, from June 25 – July 13, 2012.

Instructor:  Dr. Walter S. Judd (Course Director, Department of Biology, 220 Bartram Hall, PO Box 118525, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525; e-mail: wjudd@botany.ufl.edu; phone: 352-273-1983; fax: 352-392-3704).

The Course: Tropical Botany is an intensive course of study in the biology and systematics of tropical plants.  Subject matter will be largely based on the extensive holdings of tropical vascular plants at Fairchild Tropical Garden, The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, and the Montgomery Botanical Center   These gardens have the largest living collections of tropical plants in the United States.  Additionally, field trips will be made to the Florida Everglades, the Florida Keys, and adjacent natural areas.  The natural vegetation of South Florida, which includes littoral and dry land habitats, mixed tropical hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and mangrove communities, will introduce students to the diversity of tropical vegetation.  The object of the course is to provide advanced students and/or professionals with a detailed coverage of the systematics, phylogeny, diversity of structure, and economic botany of tropical vascular plants.  Questions concerning the course should be addressed to Dr. Judd.

Credit-hours:  Tropical Botany is taught as a workshop sponsored by The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, with the collaboration of Fairchild Tropical Garden.  If academic credit is desired students may enroll in either BOT 6935 (graduate) or BOT 4935 (advanced undergraduates) and receive 2 (or more) semester credit-hours.  These courses are offered by the Department of Biology, University of Florida, and they can be taken by non-U.F. as well as by U.F. students.  Students may also arrange for academic credit from their home institutions.

Enrollment:  Limited to 12 participants, with preference given to upper-level students or professional biologists/teachers.

Application: Individuals should apply by April 16^th, 2012 (to Dr. Judd, see address above).  Applications should include the following: a letter stating reasons for taking the course, a curriculum vita, and a letter of recommendation (sent separately).  Applicants will be notified of acceptance by May 7^th, 2012.

Accommodation:  Students will be housed at The Kampong (Tyson dormitory in the Scarborough House), but, if desired, housing is also available at a hotel near Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.  Facilities at The Kampong include 2 dorm-style rooms with bunk beds, shared kitchenette for self-catering, laundry facility and wifi access. Dorm fees are $25 per day payable directly to The Kampong.

Fees/tuition: A course fee of $1550 is required to cover course/workshop costs.  In addition, if U.F. academic credit is desired, tuition costs are $498.09/ credit (in-state, graduate), $188.55/ credit (in state, undergraduate), $1222.81/ credit (out-of-state, graduate), or $931.12 /credit (out-of-state, undergraduate).

Dr. Walter Judd