These two sites from Michael Rosenthal include some distribution info (Flora of Vermont) and nice photos (both sites) of our ferns and fern allies. Click on the links below.
Two Good Resources for Ferns and Lycophytes: Flora of Vermont and Ferns of Eastern North America
Posted July 19, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Publications, Apps, and Websites
Scaroon Manor Campgound Flora, From Gardens to Wild
Posted July 11, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Plant Places
Scaroon Manor, on the western shore of Schroon Lake, was one of the largest resorts in the Adirondacks with over 100 buildings and elaborate gardens and recreation facilities. See photos below.
It closed in 1960 and the state took it over in 1967. All the buildings were razed and eventually a day-use area and campground were developed (this is the first year for the campground). Its hard to imagine such a large resort while camping at the site today.
A an old road leads north from the main bathhouse though the woods and along the shoreline where rock outcrops are nice places to enjoy the lake. At the northern edge of the property, along the sandy lakeshore, is a small northern white cedar swamp that has been flooded by a beaver dam built right along the beach where a small outlet stream emerges. I have never seen a dam built along a lakeshore before. Its a beautiful area that deserves more exploration. Here are some of the plants we saw. – Steve Young
Round-leaved dogwood was in fruit.
The meadow-sweet was just about to flower.
Some kind of gall was affecting the fruits of the speckled alder.
And the leaves too.
The narrow sandy beach curves up to the northeast with the cedar swamp at the north end.
Shinleaf flowers were everywhere along the path to the beach.
A view into the flooded swamp from the beach.
Stands of bur-reed were common in the flooded areas.
A flock of mallard kept eating something in the flowers of white water-lily. Was it the insects in the flowers?
The site definitely deserves a lot more exploration and a plant list. Maybe NYFA or the new Adirondack Botanical Society can schedule a trip there in the future.
Two NY Flora Websites from Michael Hough, SUNY Cortland
Posted July 7, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: People, Publications, Apps, and Websites
Michael Hough, botanist and lecturer at SUNY Cortland, has an interesting blog about the flora of Central New York and a website on the flora of the Northeast. To see the blog CLICK HERE and to see the flora website CLICK HERE. The links are also posted on our links list. Michael has a B.S. and M.S. from SUNY ESF and is also compiling a list of the flora of Cortland County. It’s nice to see such great flora work going on in the central part of the state.
A Rare Plant Survey in Ulster County
Posted June 25, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Field Trips, Plant Sightings, Rare Plants
Steve Young and Kim Smith of the New York Natural Heritage Program surveyed a state park in Ulster County this week. Besides Kim finding a new population of Carex davisii, these are some of the other things we saw.
The hophornbeams really stood out with their beautiful fruit clusters in contrast to the dark green leaves.
Sycamore maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, has escaped here. The "atropurpurea" cultivar has purple undersides.
Just outside the park were some impressive walls of Japanese knotweed.
At one point we had an aerial view of the tops of red oak crowns.
The crowns of large sassafras trees were also really neat to see.
We updated the information for a population of Virginia snakeroot, Endodeca serpentaria, a state endangered plant. It grows in the forest herb layer.
We found the small dry fruits under the leaf litter where the flowers of this cousin to wild ginger grow.
The purple-veined basal leaves of rattlesnake hawkweek, Hieracium venosum, were common in the deer-decimated understory.
Our botanizing drew the attention of this young barred owl who didn't seem to mind our presence.
New Dragon’s Mouth Orchid Population Found in the Adirondacks
Posted June 17, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Plant Sightings
A canoe trip to Franklin County by Wayne Jones resulted in the discovery of a new population of dragon’s mouth orchid, Arethusa bulbosa. It’s the tenth population known from the Adirondacks and the second one known from Franklin County. The other population in Franklin County (discovered in the 1990s) is the most northerly one in New York. Congratulations Wayne! Below are a couple of photos of the orchids, some of them were very pale in color.
New Field Guide to the Carex of New England Available
Posted June 14, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Publications, Apps, and Websites
This is another great Carex reference for New York with extensive illustrations, keys, comparison tables, and descriptions for each species. It was written by Dr. Lisa A. Standley, and has been published by the New England Botanical Club. To purchase, send a check for $26.00 payable to the New England Botanical Club to: Lisa Standley, VHB, 101 Walnut Street, Watertown MA 02472.
How Phragmites REALLY Gets Around
Posted June 11, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Invasive Species
This photo from a saltmarsh on Long Island caught Phragmites in the act of spreading from one marsh to another. It probably happens under the cover of darkness but this crew was headed out in broad daylight.
Click for a larger image. Photo Steve Young
Wearable “weeds”
Posted June 8, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: General, Plant Uses
Check out these fashions made entirely from leaves, fruits, and flowers! The artist calls them Weedrobes. 
NY Natural Heritage Conservation Guides Temporarily Down
Posted June 4, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Publications, Apps, and Websites
The website for the NY Natural Heritage Program Conservation Guides on rare species was hacked for use as a spam computer and the guides are temporarily offline as the situation is fixed. They hope to get them back online soon.
Another Test of Leafsnap Tree Identification App
Posted June 3, 2011 by nyfloraCategories: Plant Identification
In a recent post we tested the new tree identification Apple app Leafsnap with 5 trees and it was right on two of them. Today we collected more species and tested it again. Here are the results with the number signifying the position of the guess.
1. American elm – 9. Second tree – 7.
2. Scarlet Oak – 1.
3. Swamp white oak – 1.
4. Red oak – 1. Second tree – 8.
5. White ash – 15.
6. Northern catalpa – 4.
7. White oak – 1.
8. Shadbush – 8.
9. Bigtooth aspen – 1.
10. Red maple – 3
11. Black oak – 5
12. Quaking aspen – 20.
13. Russian elm – 2.
13. Black locust – 4.
14. Black cherry – 8.
15. Box elder maple – 3.
16. White mulberry – 2.
17. Norway maple – 4.
18. Honey locust – 1.
A third of the trees were guessed right but the majority were misidentified, some of them badly. We can see why it might misidentify oaks because of the variety of shapes from tree to tree and on large and small trees. It seemed weird that it would miss easy ones like red, box elder, and Norway maple and quaking aspen, some of our most common trees. As an accurate way to identify trees we don’t think this app is quite ready for prime time.
New York Flora Association Blog 