South Hill Swamp and Woods Walk

When

Saturday, May 21, 2016 - 12:30pm

What

Walk

Where

South Hill, Ithaca

Who

Arieh Tal

Description

South Hill, Ithaca, has long been considered a botanical “hotspot”. Fortunately, large portions of its extensive acreage have been preserved as natural areas by Ithaca College and Cornell University. South Hill contains a wide range of ecological communities, from drier, hilltop niches to lower elevation swamps. Timed to coincide with the flowering of its abundant ericaceous species, particularly the blueberries and huckleberries, this 3-hour field trip will survey one or more sites of higher diversity.

Hiking conditions will be moderately strenuous.  Given that this conservation land is ecologically sensitive, the number of participants is limited to 10. Attendees must register for the walk  in advance.

Report

We had a cool walk through lovely woods with many Amelanchier (too late for blooms!), hickories and oaks. Once past the inevitable invasive fringe, the forest floor had many interesting forbs to view, and many blueberry shrubs. Arieh provided a working-copy of a matrix to help identify the local Vaccinium species. The marsh was not very muddy, although clearly it can be wet at times, as there were definite hummucks and Sphagnum moss. Many Vaccinium were in the marsh, too, along with lots of other interesting plants to puzzle over. The rain held off just until we made it back to the cars!

 

Particularly interesting or visible species are listed to the right. The list below covers all the plants "well identified" on the walk and in what portion of the site they were found. Listings with just a genus, no specific epithet (e.g. Genus sp.) should be taken as indicative of the environment only. We did not take the time to key these plants completely, important features were not visible, etc. but there was general agreement on the Genus.


PLANTS SEEN ON THE SOUTH HILL WALK 21 May 2016

Trees & Shrubs

 

 

 

Acer rubrum

red maple

in fruit

marsh and woods

Amelanchier sp. (1)

shadbush

 

woods

Aronia melanocarpa

black chokeberry

 

marsh

Berberis thunbergii

Japanese barberry

flowering

woods

Betula populifolia

gray birch

 

marsh

Carya glabra

pignut hickory

 

woods

Carya ovata

shagbark hickory

 

woods

Cornus racemosa

gray dogwood

 

marsh

Elaeagnus umbellata

autumn-olive

in bud

marsh

Hamamelis virginiana

witchhazel

 

woods

Lonicera morrowii

Morrow's honeysuckle

flowering

marsh and woods

Pinus rigida

pitch pine

 

marsh and woods

Pinus strobus

white pine

 

marsh and woods

Prunus serotina

wild black cherry

flowering

marsh and woods

Prunus susquehanae

Susquehana cherry

flowering

marsh

Quercus alba

white oak

 

woods

Quercus montana

chestnut oak

 

woods

Quercus rubra

northern red oak

 

woods

Rhamnus cathartica

European buckthorn

 

woods

Rosa carolina

Carolina rose

 

marsh

Rosa multiflora

multiflora rose

 

marsh

Vaccinium angustifolium

low bush blueberry

flowering

marsh

Vaccinium corymbosum

highbush blueberry

flowering

marsh

Vaccinium myrtilloides

velvet-leaved blueberry

flowering

marsh

Viburnum dentatum

arrowwood

 

marsh and woods

 

 

 

 

Ferns

 

 

 

Onoclea sensibilis

sensitive fern, bead fern

 

marsh and woods

Osmunda claytoniana

interrupted fern

 

woods

Dryopteris intermedia

intermediate wood fern

 

woods

 

 

 

 

Herbs

 

 

 

Achillea millefolium

yarrow

 

marsh

Alliaria petiolata

garlic mustard

flowering

woods

Anemone americana

round-lobed hepatica

flowering

woods

Antennaria neglecta

pussy-toes

flowering

marsh

Antennaria plantaginifolia

plantain-leaved pussy-toes

flowering

woods

Anthoxanthum odoratum

sweet vernal grass

flowering

woods

Apios americana

ground nut

 

woods

Apocynum androsaemifolium

spreading dogbane

 

marsh

Arctium lappa

greater burdock

 

marsh

Arisaema triphyllum

jack-in-the-pulpit

flowering

woods

Asclepias incarnata

swamp milkweed

 

marsh

Barbarea vulgaris

yellow rocket

flowering

woods

Bidens frondosa

sticktights

 

marsh

Cerastium fontanum

mouse-ear chickweed

 

marsh

Cirsium pumilum

pasture thistle

 

marsh

Daucus carota

wild carrot, Queen Ann's lace

 

marsh

Euthamia graminifolia

flat-topped goldenrod

 

marsh

Fragaria virginiana

wild strawberry

flowering

marsh and woods

Geranum maculatum

wild geranium

 

woods

Geranium robertianum

herb robert

 

woods

Geum canadense

white avens

 

woods

Geum fragarioides

barren-strawberry

flowering

woods

Geum laciniatum

rough avens

 

woods

Holcus lanatus

velvet grass

 

marsh

Houstonia caerulea

azure bluets, Quaker ladies

flowering

woods

Hylotelephium telephium

live-forever

 

marsh

Juncus effusus

soft rush

 

marsh

Luzula multiflora

common wood rush

flowering

woods

Lysimachia nummularia

moneywort

 

marsh

Lysimachia quadrifolia

whorled-loosestrife

 

marsh

Lythrum salicaria

purple loosestrife

 

marsh

Maianthemum canadense

Canada mayflower

 

woods

Maianthemum racemosum

false Solomon's-seal

 

woods

Panicum virgatum

switch grass

 

marsh

Penstemon digitalis

smooth beardtongue

 

marsh

Penthorum sedoides

ditch stonecrop

 

marsh

Poa annua

annual blue grass

 

woods

Podophyllum peltatum

may-apple

 

woods

Polygaloides paucifolia

gay-wings

flowering

woods

Polygonatum biflorum

smooth solomon's seal

 

woods

Potentilla simplex

old-field cinquefoil

flowering

marsh and woods

Prunella vulgaris

self-heal, heal-all

 

marsh

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium

narrow-leaved mountain-mint

 

marsh

Ranunculus abortivus

kidney-leaf buttercup

flowering

woods

Ranunculus acris

tall butter-cup

flowering

marsh

Rubus hispidus

swamp dewberry

 

marsh

Rubus pubescens

dwarf raspberry

flowering

woods

Scirpus cyperinus

common wool-grass

 

marsh

Solidago altissima

tall goldenrod

 

marsh

Solidago caesia

wreath goldenrod

 

woods

Solidago gigantea

smooth goldenrod

 

marsh

Solidago juncea

early goldenrod

 

marsh

Solidago rugosa

wrinkle-leaved goldenrod

 

marsh and woods

Symphyotrichum pilosum

frost aster

 

marsh

Taraxacum officinale

common dandelion

 

marsh and woods

Thalictrum thalictroides

rue anemone

flowering

woods

Typha latifolia

wide-leaved cat-tail

 

marsh

Uvularia sessilifolia

sessile bellwort

flowering

woods

Veronica officinalis

common speedwell

 

woods

Veronica serpyllifolia

thyme-leaved speedwell

 

marsh

Viola sagittata var. ovata

arrowleaf or ovate-leaved violet

 

marsh

Viola sororia

common blue violet

 

woods

Viola subsinuata

palmate-leaved violet

flowering

woods

1. Several Amelanchier species have been listed here; we did not attempt to fully identify any. In a 1997/1999 study conducted by Ostman and Wesley, four species are mentioned:  A. arborea, A. intermedia, A. laevis and A. stolonifera.