Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range – 2000

Eric E. Lamont¹ and Judith M. Fitzgerald²

Local Flora Committee, Torrey Botanical Society,
New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York 10458

     Lamont, E. E. and J. M. Fitzgerald (Local Flora Committee, Torrey Botanical Society, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458).  Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range – 2000. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 128: 409-414. – The Torrey Range comprises southeastern New York, northern New Jersey and southwestern Connecticut.  Twenty-five noteworthy vascular plant species are reported from the following genera: Agalinis, Amaranthus, Amelanchier, Aralia, Aster, Calamagrostis, Chasmanthium, Corallorhiza, Cuscuta, Gentiana, Glossostigma, Ligusticum, Lycopodiella, Mimulus, Platanthera, Polygonum, Pycnanthemum, Rhynchospora, Sabatia, Smilax, Suaeda, Symplocos, Tipularia and Trapa.  Three of the species are listed as Federally endangered or threatened, 19 species are listed as rare in either New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, 11 species are at or near the northern limit of their distribution in the Torrey Range, three species are at the southern limit of their range, 20 species are native to northeastern United States and five species are non-native.

Key words:  floristics, rare plants, distribution, biodiversity, Torrey Range, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut.

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¹Corresponding address: 717 Sound Shore Road, Riverhead, NY  11901   email:  elamont@optonline.net

²Corresponding address:  560 West 218^th Street #6A, New York, NY 10034   email:  jmf9@yahoo.com

     Field botany within the Torrey Range has experienced a revival during the past decade.  Numerous plant species that had not been reported from the region for 60 to 100 years have been relocated and their populations are currently being monitored on a regular basis.  Northward range extensions of some southern species have been observed.  The extirpation of numerous native species has been noted and the colonization of non-native species into the region has occurred at an unprecedented rate.  Many of these noteworthy botanical observations have not made their way into the published literature.

     The purpose of this report is to stimulate communication among botanists within the Torrey Range by providing a forum for publishing short notes on significant vascular plant observations.  Significant notes may include but are not limited to the current status of Federally endangered species, State rare species, locally uncommon species, range extensions, population fluctuations, temporal and spatial changes in distribution patterns, introduction of non-native species and extirpation of native species.

     Historically, the Torrey Range comprised the region within a 100-mile radius of New York City, including “all of the state of Connecticut; Long Island; in New York the counties bordering the Hudson River up to and including Columbia and Greene, also Sullivan and Delaware counties; all of New Jersey; and Pike, Wayne, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, Bucks, Berks, Schuylkill, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Delaware and Chester counties in Pennsylvania” (Poggenburg et al. 1888, Taylor 1915).  During the past decade the Torrey Range has been reduced to the region within a 50-mile radius of Central Park, New York City, but still includes all of Long Island, New York.  Thus, the Torrey Range now includes Fairfield Co., Connecticut; the five boroughs of New York City, Long Island, and Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties, New York; northern New Jersey south to Monmouth and Mercer counties.

     This report of the Local Flora Committee includes notes on 25 vascular plant species observed from the Torrey Range during 2000.  Nomenclature follows Mitchell and Tucker (1997) and ranges of distribution follow Gleason and Cronquist (1991).  Species are arranged alphabetically by genus.  Throughout this report we have endeavored to give credit to individuals who reported their findings to us; we are especially grateful to Karl Anderson, Orland and Jane Blanchard, Steven Clemants, Barbara Conolly, Michael Corey, Greg Edinger, Steve Glenn, Ted Gordon, Carol Gracie, Andrew Greller, David Hunt, Marilyn Jordan, Linda Kelly, Carol Levine, Grace Lotowycz, Ray Matarazzo, Les Mehrhoff, Ken Metzler, Gerry Moore, Nancy Murray, Carole Neidich-Ryder, Tom Philbrick, David Snyder, Sara Stein, Angela Steward, Troy Weldy, Bill Williams and Stephen Young.  We also thank Scott Mori and Andrew Greller for reviewing an earlier draft of this report.

Annotated list of noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range--2000

Agalinis acuta Pennell Sandplain Gerardia
Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)
Agalinis acuta is the only Federally listed endangered species on Long Island, New York. Marilyn Jordan reported that A. acuta currently occurs in coastal grasslands at only 12 localities in the world, six of them on Long Island; historically, it occurred at over a dozen sites on Long Island in the early 1900s, based on herbarium specimens. Total numbers of A. acuta individuals on Long Island averaged approximately 500 from 1990 to 1992. Habitat restoration and an aggressive seed reintroduction program during the mid-1990s at several Long Island grassland sites saved some populations from near extirpation. Total numbers of A. acuta individuals on Long Island have been gradually increasing: in 1998, 4200 plants were counted, in 1999 numbers increased to 4650 and in 2000 numbers increased to 8669. It may take at least five to ten more years of work before A. acuta can be considered secure on Long Island, but the current results are very encouraging.

Amaranthus pumilus Raf. Seabeach Amaranth
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth Family)
A total of over 150,000 plants of the Federally threatened A. pumilus were counted on Long Island beaches in 2000. Stephen Young has been directing and coordinating annual counts on Long Island since 1990 when the species was rediscovered and the 2000 count was the highest ever, far surpassing the 8,600 plants in 1998 and the 19,500 plants in 1999. Most of the plants are concentrated at three sites in central Suffolk, western Nassau and eastern Queens counties but plants are found east to Westhampton Island. Amaranthus pumilus was also found in 2000 on the New Jersey coast and on Assateague Island, Maryland.

Amelanchier nantucketensis Bickn. Nantucket Juneberry
Rosaceae (Rose Family)
The Torrey Range is at the southern range limit of A. nantucketensis. During a survey on the South Fork of eastern Long Island, Stephen Young and Troy Weldy located more than twice as many individual plants of A. nantucketensis than was previously known in New York. More than 100 plants are now known from Shinnecock Hills to the Montauk area. Amelanchier nantucketensis is a globally rare plant that occurs in open sandplain grasslands, morainal heathlands and pitch pine-scrub oak barrens from Nova Scotia and Maine south to Nantucket and Martha's Vineland to Long Island's South Fork. There is also one location on Staten Island and an unverified report from Great Falls, Maryland.

Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem. Japanese Angelica
Araliaceae (Ginseng Family)
Historically, Aralia elata has not been reported from the Torrey Range (Taylor 1915, House 1924, Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Clemants 1999); the southern A. spinosa L. has been considered to be at its northern range limit in the region. Preliminary investigations by Grace Lotowycz indicate that taxonomic confusion may exist between A. elata and A. spinosa resulting in misidentification of specimens. Apparantly, inflorescence characters best distinguish these two species, but most herbarium collections lack an inflorescence. Possibly, some or most of the plants in the Torrey Range previously identified as A. spinosa should be reassigned to A. elata. More data on this problem are needed.

Aster concolor L. Silvery Aster
Asteraceae (Aster Family)
The Torrey Range is near the northern range limit of A. concolor. Taylor (1915) reported A. concolor as "common on the south side of Long Island, rare on the west side of Staten Island, unknown elsewhere [in New York]". Currently, only one population of A. concolor is known to occur in New York. Eric Lamont reported in 2000 that the A. concolor population at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, was reduced from about 24 to 12 individuals as a result of disturbance by powerline maintenance. David Snyder reported A. concolor as extant in Monmouth Co., but extirpated from Passaic, Morris, Union and Hunterdon counties; it also occurs in several southern counties of New Jersey.

Calamagrostis pickeringii A. Gray Pickering's Reedgrass
Poaceae (Grass Family)
This northern grass of bogs and wet shores is at its southern range limit in the Torrey Range. Gleason and Cronquist (1991) list C. pickeringii as ranging from "Newfoundland to the mountains of Massachusetts and New York; disjunct on Long Island and New Jersey". In 2000 Ted Gordon located a previously unreported population of C. pickeringii at the Earle Air Base in Monmouth Co.

Chasmanthium laxum (L.) Yates Slender Spikegrass
Poaceae (Grass Family)
This southern grass of moist woods and freshwater wetlands is at its northern range limit in the Torrey Range. Although common in southern New Jersey, C. laxum has been collected only six times in New York. Mitchell and Tucker (1997) considered C. laxum to be extirpated in New York because it had not been observed in the state for more than 60 years. While conducting natural community inventories at Barcelona Neck on eastern Long Island, Greg Edinger and David Hunt located a small population of C. laxum in a narrow band of red maple-black gum swamp bordered by a Phragmites dominated high salt marsh and a maritime oak forest.

Corallorhiza odontorhiza (Willd.) Nutt. Autumn Coral-root
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)
This inconspicuous orchid is uncommon in the Torrey Range. Populations of this genus commonly exhibit wide fluctuations in their aboveground numbers; during most years they lie undetected underground as perennial rhizomes nourished by a fungus and only bloom in mass numbers during especially favorable years (Luer 1975). 2000 was such a year. Orland and Jane Blanchard reported several hundred individuals of C. odontorhiza from Flanders, Long Island; it had not been reported from Long Island since 1932 (Lamont 1996). Karl Anderson had never seen C. odontorhiza in New Jersey until 2000, when he found it at White Lake in Warren Co. Carol Gracie reported C. odontorhiza from Fairfield Co.

Cuscuta obtusiflora Kunth var. glandulosa Engelm. Dodder
Cuscutaceae (Dodder Family)
This southern species has only recently been documented from the Torrey Range. Gleason and Cronquist (1991) listed Indiana as the only known location of this species in their Manual Range. Stephen Young and Ray Matarazzo reported C. obtusiflora var. glandulosa growing on Decodon verticillatus at Magnolia Swamp on Staten Island. Troy Weldy first reported this species from the Torrey Range in 1997; it was collected at Piermont Marsh in Rockland Co.

Gentiana saponaria L. Soapwort Gentian
Gentianaceae (Gentian Family)
This southern species is at its northern range limit in the Torrey Range. Taylor (1915) listed G. saponaria as "common on the south side of Long Island . . . common on Staten Island . . rare and local in Bergen, Essex, Morris and Hunterdon counties [New Jersey], thence increasing and becoming common southward." Today, G. saponaria is considered to be extirpated from Long Island and northern New Jersey. Ray Matarazzo reported one extant population from Staten Island in 2000 but noted that encroaching trees and shrubs are shading out the gentians, which are declining in number. Karl Anderson and Linda Kelly reported that populations of G. saponaria are also declining in southern New Jersey.

Glossostigma diandrum (L.) Kuntze Mud Mat
Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)
This diminutive aquatic plant is a recent addition to the flora of North America (Kartesz 1994). Linda Kelly and Karl Anderson have been monitoring the spread of G. diandrum in New Jersey; in 2000 it had been documented from Mercer, Ocean, Middlesex and Monmouth counties. It has also been reported from Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. The native range of G. diandrum is Australia, New Zealand, India and East Africa. In the Torrey Range it often forms mats in shallow water of manmade and natural lakes. Linda Kelly has suggested that G. diandrum is an escaped aquarium plant that is now spreading on the feet and legs of waterfowl.

Ligusticum scothicum L. Scotch Lovage
Apiaceae (Carrot Family)
This northern species is at its southern range limit in the Torrey Range, where it occurs along rocky and sandy seashores on eastern Long Island. In the early 1990s, Eric Lamont reported more than 100 individuals of L. scothicum at Orient Beach State Park (OBSP), making this population the largest of only five in New York. In 2000 not a single plant could be found at OBSP after hours of searching. It is suggested that the OBSP population of L. scothicum has been extirpated by selective browsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus); in recent years the population of deer at OBSP has significantly increased in number.

Lycopodiella caroliniana (L.) Pichi Sermolli Carolina Clubmoss
Lycopodiaceae (Clubmoss Family)
Historically, New Jersey had been regarded as the northern range limit of L. caroliniana (Taylor 1915). In the early 1920s the range had been extended north to Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island (House 1924), but by the late 1970s the Ronkonkoma population had become extirpated. In 1994 Orland Blanchard located a second Long Island population of L. caroliniana in a wet sandy swale among low dunes at the John F. Kennedy Sanctuary on Jones Island, Nassau Co. In 1997, during a joint field trip of the Long Island Botanical Society and the New York Flora Association, another population of L. caroliniana was located in a wet sandy swale at Napeague State Park on the South Fork of eastern Long Island. In 2000 both Long Island populations were surveyed and numbers of individuals had increased above previous years. Also noteworthy is Michael Corey's 1996 report of L. caroliniana from Warren Co., New York.

Mimulus alatus Ait. Winged Monkeyflower
Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)
Taylor (1915) listed M. alatus as "very rare" in Connecticut, "nowhere common" in New Jersey and "known definitely only on Staten Island, in the Bronx, and near New Baltimore, Green Co." in New York. In 2000 Carol Levine located a population of M. alatus in a marsh along the Mianus River in Stanford, Fairfield Co. Nancy Murray and Ken Metzler reported increasing numbers of M. alatus populations along the Connecticut River in Middlesex, New London and Hartford counties, as well as in Litchfield Co. In 2000 Stephen Young reported more than 20 extant populations of M. alatus in New York, mostly concentrated along the Hudson River, but also in three counties in western New York.

Platanthera ciliaris (L.) Lindl. Yellow fringed Orchid
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)
At the beginning of the 20^th century this species was considered "common on Long Island and Staten Island" (Taylor 1915). It was listed as "widespread" throughout the Hempstead Plains in central Nassau Co. (Ferguson 1925) and had been reported from 13 counties from upstate New York (Young 2001). Today, P. ciliaris is known in New York from only three localities on the South Fork of eastern Long Island (Lamont 1996). One roadside population north of Amagansett consistently produced 100 to 200 flowering stems each season throughout the 1980s. During the early 1990s the Town of East Hampton highway department began to systematically mow the roadside while P. ciliaris was in peak flower. Intense efforts by environmental groups to stop the mowing during the flowering time failed and in 2000 only one individual produced a flowering stem.

Polygonum perfoliatum L. Mile-a-Minute Weed
Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family)
This invasive weed from Japan has been methodically invading the Torrey Range during the past decade. The advance of P. perfoliatum into Connecticut occurred in 2000; Les Mehrhoff and Bill Williams reported it from Greenwich in Fairfield Co. The first New York report of P. perfoliatum was from Westchester Co., by Sara Stein in 1994. Eric Lamont first reported it from western Long Island in 1998 and Steve Glenn reported it from eastern Long Island at Orient in 2000. Karl Anderson reported observing P. perfoliatum in Bergen and Mercer counties in the early 1990s.

Pycnanthemum clinopodioides T. & G. Mountain-mint
Lamiaceae (Mint Family)
This globally rare plant was considered extirpated in New York by Mitchell and Tucker (1997). In 2000 Troy Weldy located a population of P. clinopodioides consisting of 100 to 150 stems at a rocky summit grassland along the Palisades Escarpment overlooking the Hudson River in Rockland Co. Growing with the P. clinopodioides was the equally rare Pycnanthemum torrei Benth. Further searches revealed two more populations of these rare plants along the Palisades Escarpment.

Rhynchospora knieskernii Carey Kneiskern's Beaked-rush
Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)
This globally rare plant is a coastal plain endemic (Sorrie and Weakley 2001) occurring in pineland bogs over iron deposits in New Jersey and Delaware (Fernald 1950). Only about five populations of this Federally threatened species are currently known worldwide, making R. knieskernii one of the most rare plants in the Torrey Range. In 2000 Ted Gordon located a population of R. knieskernii at the Earle Air Base in Monmouth Co.

Rhynchospora scirpoides (Torr.) A. Gray Long-beaked Bald-rush
Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)
Historically, the only New York occurrences of R. scirpoides have been from Suffolk Co., Long Island. In 2000 Gerry Moore and Angela Steward located a population of R. scirpoides consisting of 1000s of individuals at a quaking bog near Cranberry Lake in Westchester Co. This is the first New York report of this rare coastal plain species off of Long Island. Other noteworthy species occurring at the bog include Cladium mariscoides (Muhl.) Torr., Rhynchospora alba (L.) Vahl, R. fusca (L.) Ait. f., R. macrostachya Torr., Xyris difformis Chapm. and X. smalliana Nash. After an extensive literature search by Gerry Moore it appears that botanists in the Torrey Range had previously overlooked this botanically rich locality.

Sabatia angularis (L.) Pursh Rose-pink
Gentianaceae (Gentian Family)
This southern and mid-western species is at its northeastern range limit in the Torrey Range. Historically, S. angularis had been reported from four counties in southeastern New York, but only one extant population remains; in 2000 Ray Matarazzo reported approximately 150 individuals in a roadside meadow on Staten Island. Karl Anderson reported S. angularis from Mercer, Morris and Sussex counties. Sabatia angularis does not occur naturally in Connecticut.

Smilax pseudochina L. False China-root
Smilacaceae (Catbrier Family)
This species is at the northern limit of its distribution in the Torrey Range. Historically, S. pseudochina had been reported from two localities on Staten Island and from seven localities on western Long Island. Today, only one population of S. pseudochina is known from New York. In 2000 Carole Neidich-Ryder reported a population of S. pseudochina consisting of approximately ten stems from damp open pine barrens in southern Nassau Co.; other noteworthy species at the site include Carex barrattii, C. bullata, Hypericum hypericoides ssp. multicaule, Lechea pulchella var. moniliformis, L. racemulosa and Polygonum hydropiperoides var. opelousanum.

Suaeda rolandii Bassett & Crompton Roland's Sea-blight
Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot Family)
This globally rare plant was only recently recognized as a distinct species (Bassett and Crompton 1978). In 1992 only historical occurrences of S. rolandii were known from New York, based upon herbarium voucher collections. Steven Clemants and Stephen Young have been coordinating efforts to document the current status of S. rolandii in New York. In 2000 four recently located Long Island populations were surveyed in Kings, Queens and Suffolk counties. This species has been proposed as a Federally Endangered species.

Symplocos paniculata Wall. Asiatic Sweetleaf
Symplocaceae (Sweet-leaf Family)
The first reports of this Asiatic shrub colonizing the Torrey Range are beginning to trickle in. Steve Glenn reported an extensive population from the shady margins of a swamp in Fairfield Co.; Les Mehrhoff and Tom Philbrick reported it from New Milford, just north of Fairfield Co. Barbara Conolly and Andrew Greller reported two populations of S. paniculata from rich woodlands in northern Nassau Co., Long Island. Les Mehrhoff has suggested that this species has the potential to become invasive.

Tipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt. Cranefly Orchid
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)
This orchid is near its northern range limit in the Torrey Range. Historically, T. discolor has been reported from four counties in New York, but only one extant population remains. During the past 20 years Eric Lamont has been monitoring the T. discolor population at Moores Woods on the North Fork of eastern Long Island. Most years in late July and early August between 100 to 200 individuals produce flowering stems; some years only about 40 to 60 individuals bloom and rarely only a dozen or so bloom. In 2000 not one T. discolor plant produced flowering stems at Moores Woods. No obvious explanation can be given. It is interesting to note that conversely, Corallorhiza odontorhiza populations appeared in record numbers throughout the Torrey Range during 2000 (see discussion above).

Trapa natans L. Water-chestnut
Trapaceae (Water-chestnut Family)
In 2000 Linda Kelly reported T. natans from Imlaystown Lake in western Monmouth Co. and also from nearby Lake Etna. At both sites this invasive aquatic has aggressively colonized the lakes. During the past 40 years Trapa natans has been aggressively colonizing the Torrey Range from the north; it is currently established along the Hudson River from Saratoga Co. south to Putnam and Orange counties. Taylor (1915) did not report T. natans from the Torrey Range and House (1924) reported it as "naturalized in Sander's Lake, near Schenectady [New York]."

Literature Cited

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