Home
New and Noteworthy

Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range—2002 and 2003

 

Eric E. Lamont1

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

 Stephen M. Young2

New York Natural Heritage Program, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233

 

 Lamont, E. E. (Local Flora Committee, Torrey Botanical Society, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458) and S. M. Young (New York Natural Heritage Program, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233).  Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range—2002 and 2003. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 131: 394-402. 2004.—Twenty noteworthy vascular plant species are reported from the Torrey Range, encompassing southeastern New York, northern New Jersey, and southwestern Connecticut: Amaranthus pumilus, Arethusa bulbosa, Aristolochia serpentaria, Bolboschoenus maritimus ssp. paludosus, Bouteloua curtipendula, Campanula glomerata, Cardamine impatiens, Chimaphila umbellata ssp. cisatlantica, Cyperus retrorsus, Diospyros virginiana, Gaylussacia dumosa, Glaux maritima, Heracleum mantegazzianum, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Hypericum hypericoides ssp. multicaule, Polygala lutea, Pycnanthemum torrei, Sedum sexangulare, Tropaeolum majus, and Uvularia puberula.  Fourteen species are listed as rare in either New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, and one species is federally threatened.  Three species are new records for the Torrey Range.  Two species found on Staten Island had not been reported from there since the 1860s, and three species from Long Island are relocated populations from the 1920s and 1930s.  Two species have become or have the potential to become invasive weeds.

Key words: floristics, rare plants, invasive plants, biodiversity, distribution, Torrey Range

_________________

 

1 Address for corresponding author: 717 Sound Shore Road, Riverhead, NY 11901; E-mail: elamont@optonline.net

2 E-mail: smyoung@gw.dec.state.ny.us

 

This report is the third in a continuing series of floristic studies produced by the Local Flora Committee of the Torrey Botanical Society.  For historical and background information contained in earlier reports, see Lamont and Fitzgerald (2001), and Lamont and Young (2002).  The Torrey Range includes southeastern New York (Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties), northern New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties), and southwestern Connecticut (Fairfield County).  Nomenclature follows Mitchell and Tucker (1997) and ranges of distribution follow Gleason and Cronquist (1991), unless otherwise stated.

Of the 20 vascular plant species included in this report, 18 were observed from the Torrey Range in 2002 and 2003, and two are late reports from 2001.  Fifteen of the 20 species are considered to be native to the Torrey Range and five are considered non-native.  Cardamine impatiens and Heracleum mantegazzianum have become or have the potential to become serious invasive weeds, whereas Campanula glomerata, Sedum sexangulare, and Tropaeolum majus are newly established non-natives.

Fourteen species listed as rare in either New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut are discussed in this report.  Populations of Amaranthus pumilus, a federally threatened species, continue to increase on Atlantic coastal beaches in the Torrey Range, especially at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, south into Monmouth County.  New populations of Bolboschoenus maritimus ssp. paludosus, Bouteloua curtipendula, Cyperus retrorsus, Diospyros virginiana, and Gaylussacia dumosa have been found on Long Island, New York, while populations of Arethusa bulbosa and Polygala lutea have significantly declined on the island.  On Staten Island, New York, new populations of Hypericum hypericoides ssp. multicaule and Pycnanthemum torrei have been found, while new populations of Aristolochia serpentaria have been found in Orange County, New York.  Glaux maritima should be excluded from the flora of New York, and a systematic study of the status of Hydrocotyle verticillata in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts needs to be conducted.  Populations of Chimaphila umbellata ssp. cisatlantica have drastically declined throughout the entire Torrey Range, and only one population of Uvularia puberula has been recently relocated in New York.

Throughout this report we have endeavored to give credit to individuals who reported their findings to us.  We are especially grateful to Jim Ash (South Fork Natural History Society), Spider Barbour (New York State Museum), Orland “Skip” Blanchard (Long Island University & Long Island Botanical Society), Barbara Conolly (Long Island Botanical Society), Edwin Horning (H. L. Ferguson Museum), Tim Howard (New York Natural Heritage Program), Rich Kelly (Long Island Botanical Society), Allan Lindberg (Nassau County Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Museums at Muttontown Preserve), Richard Lynch (Sweetbay Magnolia Conservancy), Philip Marshall (Yale University), Laura Schwanof (EEA Inc., Environmental Consultants), Angela Steward (New York Botanical Garden), Thomas Allen Stock (Long Island Botanical Society), Gordon Tucker (Eastern Illinois University), Jenny Ulsheimer (Clark Botanic Garden & Long Island Botanical Society), Troy Weldy (New York Natural Heritage Program), and David Werier (New York Natural Heritage Program).  We also thank Eileen Schofield for reviewing an earlier draft of this report.

 

 

Annotated List of Noteworthy Plants

Reported from the Torrey Range—2002 & 2003

 

Amaranthus pumilus Raf.
Seabeach Amaranth
Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth Family

            Seabeach amaranth is a federally threatened plant of the Atlantic coastal barrier beaches that until the late 1990s was only growing in New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  Beginning in 1998 and again in 1999 a few plants were discovered growing on the northern tip of Assateague Island in Maryland.  In the summer of 2000, more plants were discovered in adjacent Delaware and in New Jersey.  Plants were also found in Virginia in 2002.  Each summer numbers continued to climb in New Jersey with a total of 10,908 plants by 2002.  The majority of plants were found in the Sandy Hook area and Monmouth County to the south but some plants were found along the entire coast south to Cape May.  Seabeach amaranth seems to be establishing itself again within its historical range with the exception of Rhode Island and Massachusetts where small numbers were found in the mid-1800s.

 

Arethusa bulbosa L.        
Dragon’s Mouth
Orchidaceae, the Orchid Family

During the past 150 years, 26 populations of Arethusa bulbosa have been known to occur on Long Island, New York (Lamont 1996).  In 1940, Roy Latham reported that A. bulbosa was still “locally abundant westward on the island” and “common at Montauk” (Latham 1940).  By the early 1970s, A. bulbosa was considered extirpated from western Long Island and only six extant populations were known from eastern Suffolk County (Lamont et al. 1988).  In the late 1990s, only a few small colonies remained extant in the vicinity of Montauk, and in 2003 no individuals could be located at historical sites near Montauk or elsewhere on Long Island.

The decline of A. bulbosa on the South Fork of Long Island has been well documented.  In 1877, Elihu Miller wrote, “I find Arethusa bulbosa growing in great abundance in the swamp adjoining Hook Pond, in the village of East Hampton.  I gathered several hundred specimens in a very small part of the swamp.  No one need have any fear of destroying that locality by collecting specimens” (Miller 1877).  By 1940, the Hook Pond population of A. bulbosa had been extirpated (Latham 1940).

In 1923, Norman Taylor reported, “about the end of May this part of the [Montauk] peninsula is aflame with Arethusa bulbosa, in fact it is more common here than elsewhere within the observation of the writer” (Taylor 1923).  Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Jim Ash and Eric Lamont observed scattered colonies of A. bulbosa extending from Montauk Point to Ditch Plains; some of these colonies consisted of 40 to 100 individuals while others consisted of less than 10 individuals.  The orchids occurred in wet marshy swales and in open margins of wet shrubby thickets and ponds.  During the 1990s, the open wetlands had become dominated by dense shrublands, and only a very few scattered individuals of A. bulbosa could be found.  A small pond immediately northwest of Montauk Point had become dominated by Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin., and the colony of A. bulbosa had been extirpated.

In 2002 and 2003, Troy Weldy and Jim Ash inventoried all of the historical A. bulbosa sites in the vicinity of Montauk, and found no flowering individuals.  Although many of the open wetlands had succeeded into dense shrublands, it is probable that at least a few individuals of A. bulbosa still occur at Montauk.  Populations of A. bulbosa fluctuate considerably.  Luer (1975) reported the following observation: “Fred Case describes a bog which may contain thousands of [Arethusa] plants one year and but a scant dozen another year.  He suspects that the plant, often injured by late frosts, is short lived, and relies on seed production for propagation.”

 

Aristolochia serpentaria L.     
Virginia Snakeroot
Aristolochiaceae, the Birthwort Family

       Aristolochia serpentaria is at its northeastern range limit in the Torrey Range.  Taylor (1915) listed it as rare and local on Long Island and Staten Island, uncommon northward to Putnam County.  In 1990, A. serpentaria was considered to be extirpated from Long Island and Staten Island, and no extant populations were known to occur in New York.  In 1994, a population of A. serpentaria was located in Orange County and a second population in Rockland County.  In 1998, another population was found in Black Rock Forest in Orange Co.  In 2002, Spider Barbour and David Werier found five new areas with A. serpentaria in southeastern Orange Co., four on south and east slopes of Schunnemunk Mountain in the town of Woodbury (which are now regarded as one metapopulation), and another on the upper southeast slope of Round Hill, just west of Schunnemunk Mountain in the town of Blooming Grove.  The number of plants in the 1994 occurrences was updated in 2003 for a total of approximately 530 plants in five occurrences in New York.

 

Bolboschoenus maritimus (L.) Palla ssp. paludosus (A. Nels.) T. Koyama
Seaside Bulrush
Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

        This sedge is at its southeastern range limit in the Torrey Range.  It is historical in New Jersey and rare in both Connecticut and New York.  This taxon was previously listed as Scirpus maritimus L. in New York and New Jersey, and Scirpus paludosus A. Nels. var. atlanticus Fern. in Connecticut.  In New York it grows around coastal brackish ponds and interdunal swales on Long Island and around inland salt ponds in the Finger Lakes region.  William C. Ferguson collected a specimen from Queens in July of 1925 that was one of the few specimens ever collected from around the New York City area.  In September 2003, Stephen Young located a small group of plants growing near Bayswater State Park in the Rockaways section of Queens.  These were the first plants seen since the 1925 collection.  Unfortunately this occurrence is being threatened by a large grove of Phragmites australis.

                        

Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr.
Side-oats Grama
Poaceae, the Grass Family

        In the summer of 2001, Troy Weldy was surveying for rare plants along the shore of Jamaica Bay in the Edgemere section of the Rockaways in Queens County, New York.  In a flat sandy area grading down towards the water of Norton Basin he unexpectedly discovered about 100 plants of this state rare grass.  It was the first time B. curtipendula had been seen on western Long Island and the first time it had been observed on Long Island since Roy Latham collected it on 12 July 1920 along Sound Avenue north of Riverhead.  Even though this grass is very common in the Midwestern and Western states it begins to become more rare in the mid Atlantic states and New England where it is found in grassland openings produced by human disturbance or by geological formations such as serpentine and other dry, usually calcareous, rocky outcrops.  In Connecticut it is a rare plant with occurrences in eastern Connecticut within the Torrey Range.  It is not considered rare in New Jersey but most of the occurrences are in the Delaware River watershed.  The Rockaways occurrence is also significant since it is the first New York record in a beach habitat.  The plants were associated with Ammophila breviligulata Fern., Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hook., Prunus maritima Marsh., Solidago sempervirens L., and other exotic grasses and forbs common in a city habitat.

 

Campanula glomerata L.
Clustered Bellflower
Campanulaceae, the Bellflower Family

       Clustered bellflower, also called Dane’s Blood, has been reported from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, but not apparently from the Torrey Range or from Connecticut or New Jersey.  On 24 June 2002, a naturalized population of about 2 dozen plants was found growing in crevices in an old concrete parking area off Whisler Ave., Fishers Island, Suffolk Co., New York (Tucker & Horning 12929, BKL, EIU, NYS). Associated plants included Ruta graveolens L., Viola sororia Willd., Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC., and Eragrostis minor Host.

                                 

Cardamine impatiens L.
Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress
Brassicaceae, the Mustard Family

       Cardamine impatiens is a relatively recent addition to the flora of the Torrey Range.  Ten years ago, this non-native mustard was rarely observed in the region, but by 2003 it had reached “invasive species” status.  Barbara Conolly first observed C. impatiens in her garden at Mill Neck, Long Island, around 1995.  At that time, the population consisted of a small, dense patch of approximately 20 to 30 individuals that were immediately (and easily) removed by their roots.  Each following year more and more individuals appeared throughout her property and by 2000, C. impatiens filled her garden beds and could not be weeded out fast enough.  By 2003, C. impatiens had spread into adjacent woodlands and also could be found in nearby Shu Swamp Nature Preserve.  Barbara speculates that the Cardamine was probably introduced to her garden in 1994 with plantings brought in from a local nursery.

Other recent sightings of C. impatiens from Long Island, reported by Skip Blanchard, Rich Kelly and Eric Lamont, include, from Nassau County: Planting Fields Arboretum in Upper Brookville, Coffin Woods in Matinecock, Stillwell Woods Park and Athletic Facility in Woodbury, and near the intersection of route 25A and White Oak Tree Road in Oyster Bay Cove; from Suffolk County: Caumsett State Park in Lloyd Neck, Sweetbrier Nature Preserve in Smithtown, and Caleb Smith State Park in Smithtown.

Botanists from Brooklyn Botanic Garden are preparing a comprehensive summary of the introduction and spread of C. impatiens throughout the Torrey Range.

 

Chimaphila umbellata (L.) Bart. ssp. cisatlantica (Blake) Hulten
Pipsissewa, Prince’s-pine
Pyrolaceae, the Shinleaf Family [sometimes included in the Ericaceae]

While working on the New York Metropolitan Flora (NYMF) project at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (see Moore et al. 2002), Angela Steward documented the apparent decline of C. umbellata throughout the Torrey Range.  This decline has occurred while populations of the closely related Chimaphila maculata L. (Pursh) have appeared to remain stable. Both species occupy the same habitat and are commonly found growing side by side (Wherry 1920). 

In early floristic accounts, both species were reported as frequent throughout the Torrey Range and adjacent regions (Graves et al. 1910, Stone 1912, Taylor 1915).  Plant records compiled in the NYMF database support these claims, documenting more than 50 pre-1900 records for each species. However, since 1990, NYMF botanists have documented only 19 field occurrences of C. umbellata from the Torrey Range, while 492 occurrences of C. maculata have been reported from the same region (for distribution maps displaying the decline see Moore et al. 2002). The decline of C. umbellata in the region warrants concern and further study.  While no studies have been conducted on reasons for its demise, research corroborates its decline in other regions within its natural range (see Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, 2004).

 

Cyperus retrorsus Chapm.
Retrorse Flatsedge
Cyperaceae, the Sedge Family

This flatsedge reaches its northeastern limit on the beaches of Long Island where only three extant populations are known.  The species becomes much more common to the south in New Jersey where it is not considered rare. Two of the New York occurrences were found in the 1990s, and in 2003 the third was found by Stephen Young on the beach at Jones Beach State Park.  This was a rediscovery of the historical record from Jones Beach that was collected in July 1935 by G. T. Hastings and deposited at the New York Botanical Garden.  There are only seven additional historical records in New York, from Staten Island east to Fire Island.

 

Diospyros virginiana L.
Persimmon
Ebenaceae, the Ebony Family

Diospyros virginiana is at its northeastern range limit in the Torrey Range, where populations have drastically decreased during the past century (Clemants 1999).  In 2001, Thomas Allen Stock and Philip Marshall located a previously unreported population of D. virginiana in Manorville, Suffolk County, Long Island.  The population consists of 24 mature individuals (up to 15 inches diameter) and about 30 saplings, along both sides of a powerline cutting through second growth woods dominated by Acer rubrum L., Viburnum dentatum L. var. lucidum Ait., Lonicera morrowi A. Gray, and Berberis thunbergii DC.  Historically, native populations of D. virginiana were concentrated on western Long Island, just barely crossing the Nassau Co. line into Suffolk Co. (Peters 1973).  The newly discovered population in Manorville significantly extends the known range of this southern tree eastward into Suffolk Co.

 

Gaylussacia dumosa (Andr.) T. & G.
Dwarf Huckleberry
Ericaceae, the Heath Family

            This huckleberry is sometimes known as a variety bigeloviana Fern. in the Northeast but is now considered by the USDA PLANTS database to be synonymous with variety dumosa from the southeast.  Within the Torrey Range it is considered threatened in Connecticut, endangered in New York and common in New Jersey, especially the southern half of the state. There are five extant populations in New York, four on Long Island and one in the Great Swamp in Putnam County.  In the summer of 2003, Laura Schwanof and Eric Lamont were surveying plants in a wetland opening under a powerline near Riverhead, Long Island, when they found a sixth population.  The plants were in a 100-meter square area associated with Eupatorium pilosum Walter, Vaccinium corymbosum L., Chamaedaphne calyculata (L.) Moench., Kalmia angustifolia L., Ilex glabra (L.) A. Gray, Clethra alnifolia L., Myrica gale L., Gaylussacia frondosa (L.) T. & G., and Gaylussacia baccata (Wangenh.) K. Koch.  Also during 2003, Stephen Young found an additional 50 plants in a wet area along the trail in pitch pine-oak forest at Connetquot State Park, Islip, Long Island.

 

Glaux maritima L.
Sea Milkwort
Primulaceae, the Primrose Family 

The distribution of Glaux maritima along the Atlantic coast south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts has been a source of conflicting reports during the past 100 years.  Fernald (1950) listed G. maritima var. maritima as ranging from Gaspe Peninusula south to Virginia, and variety obtusifolia Fern. from Newfoundland south to New Jersey.  Gleason and Cronquist (1991) questioned the taxonomic significance of variety obtusifolia, and listed the range of G. maritima as “circumboreal, in America south to Virginia”.  However, Harvill et al. (1992) did not include G. maritima in the flora of Virginia, and Towsend (2004) did not list it as a rare plant in Virginia.  Likewise, Tatnall (1946) did not include Glaux in the flora of Delaware, and McAvoy (2003) did not list it as rare in Delaware.  Gleason (1952) suggested that G. maritima probably had been introduced to Maryland.

The status of G. maritima in New York also has been questionable.  Torrey (1843) did not include Glaux in the flora of New York, nor did Jelliffe (1899) include it in the flora of Long Island, New York.

On 24 June 1905, Carlton C. Curtis collected a specimen of what he called Glaux maritima from Montauk, Long Island, and deposited a voucher in the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) herbarium.  From 1909 to 1911, Norman Taylor worked at NYBG on his Flora of the Vicinity of New York in which he reported G. maritima from Montauk, Long Island (Taylor 1915).  However, House (1924) did not include G. maritima in his annotated list of the flowering plants of New York.  Mitchell and Tucker (1997) included G. maritima in their Revised Checklist of New York State Plants based upon “report only”, no voucher specimen had been seen. 

       In 2003, Troy Weldy examined the Curtis specimen of “Glaux maritima” deposited at NYBG, and reassigned it to Honckenya peploides (L.) Ehrh., in the Caryophylaceae.  Stephen Young and Eric Lamont later examined the Curtis specimen and concurred with Weldy’s conclusion.  It is possible that the Taylor (1915) report of G. maritima from New York was based upon a misidentification; if so, G. maritima should be excluded from the flora of New York.

 

Heracleum mantegazzianum Sommier & Levier
Giant Hogweed
Apiaceae, the Carrot Family

          Giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus Mountains and southwestern Asia, and was initially introduced to central and western New York as a garden curiosity around 1917.  Because of its invasive nature, it often becomes a pest within an ornamental garden and readily escapes.  The plant exudes a clear watery sap that sensitizes the skin to solar radiation and can cause severe blistering and painful dermatitis in susceptible people.  Because H. mantegazzianum represents a “potential menace as a public health hazard”, it is included on the federal noxious weed list (USDA 2002).

In 2003, Allan Lindberg initiated a giant hogweed eradication program at Muttontown Preserve in Nassau County, Long Island.  The small population of two individuals that first appeared on the preserve in 1998 had increased to 15 individuals by 2002.  On 16 July 2003, 12-foot tall plants were dug out by hand with shovels, in an effort to remove entire underground root systems.  The first year of the eradication program was extremely labor intensive.  Unfortunately, in the spring of 2004, the population had increased to 43 individuals.  Apparently, small sections of original root systems had remained in the ground and sprouted into new plants.  In late June of 2004, the population was treated with herbicide resulting in 100% mortality.

In 2003, Jenny Ulsheimer and crew also mechanically removed three mature and several young individuals of H. mantegazzianum from Clark Botanic Garden in Albertson, Nassau Co.  In 2004, more plants re-emerged and they also were effectively treated with herbicide.

Allan Lindberg also reported a large population of approximately 80 to 100 individuals of H. mantegazzianum in a field at Calumet Farms Equestrian Center, located just west of Martin Viette Nursery, in East Norwich, Nassau Co.  There are no current plans to eradicate this population. 

 

Hydrocotyle verticillata Thunb.
 Water-pennywort
Apiaceae, the Carrot Family

            This aquatic plant is widespread across the southern United States from the West Coast to its northeastern limit along the coast of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts where it is considered rare in all three states.  On Long Island there were five populations along the shores of coastal ponds where plants were first discovered in 1968 and 1975.  A specimen from interior western New York from 1926 was described as variety featherstoniana (Jennings) Mathias, but it is an anomalous plant that needs more study.  Stephen Young visited two of the pond sites on Long Island in 2002 and 2004.  Some of the plants at each site had two whorls of flowers but others had only one.  Each whorl had more than 10 flowers (H. verticillata usually has seven or less) on pedicels that were much longer than the typical 2 mm pedicel of H. verticillata.  The fruits were cordate at the base instead of truncated as is typical of H. verticillata.  All of the flower characters except the production of more than one whorl matched those of Hydrocotyle umbellata L.  It appears that these populations are in fact plants of H. umbellata that sometimes produce another small whorl of flowers at the top of the stem.  In Gleason and Cronquist's manual of the northeastern flora, the description of H. umbellata says the umbels are “usually” simple.  After a search of the Internet no other reference or photographs could be found that describes this phenomenon.  A study of all populations and specimens in New York and nearby states should be conducted to confirm the presence of this extra whorl of flowers in other H. umbellata plants.

                                         

Hypericum hypericoides (L.) Crantz ssp. multicaule (Michx. ex Willd.) Robson
St. Andrews Cross 
Clusiaceae, the Mangosteen Family

            This low-growing perennial is found in five scattered sites in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, New York.  On Staten Island it was recorded by Hollick and Britton in the 1870s and 1880s from the Kreischerville area, and in 1864 from the New Dorp area by T. F. Allen.  In 2002, Richard Lynch located a population at Clay Pit Ponds State Park in the Kreischerville area of Staten Island.  Could this be a remnant of the plants reported from the 1800s?  Possibly, but the original description was not specific enough to be sure.  The newly discovered plants were in wet sandy openings at the border of a maple-sweetgum swamp and upland pine areas.  Coastal New York and Massachusetts are at the northeastern edge of this plant's range but it becomes common in New Jersey and south.

 

Polygala lutea L.
Orange Milkwort
Polygalaceae, the Milkwort Family

            Three populations in the moist openings of pitch pine-oak forest of Islip, Long Island mark the northeastern range limit of this species.  It becomes much more common in southern New Jersey and south along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.  In the mid-1980s the Long Island populations consisted of approximately 500 plants in three locations within 4 1/2 miles of each other.  The plants occurred in artificial grassland openings created by clearing the woods for unpaved park roads and an antenna farm.  During surveys in 2003, only two plants at one location could be found.  The plants at the antenna farm had been bulldozed to make way for more antennas and one of the park road populations may have been extirpated by succession of the pine forest and flooding.  The reasons for the decline of the third population are not known since the area seems to have changed little from the 1980s.  These locations and nearby areas will continue to be monitored to track the future success of the species in New York.

 

Pycnanthemum torrei Benth.
Torrey's Mountain Mint
Lamiaceae, the Mint Family

          Richard Lynch located a new occurrence of this globally rare plant on Staten Island in 2003. While surveying a natural area in the Charleston section of the island he discovered about 200 plants growing along a natural roadside of a busy highway.  The narrow roadside is next to an embankment that leads up to the natural area that is slated for future development.  A few plants were also located on the undeveloped shoulder of the other side of the highway.  The plants are occasionally mowed but the frequency of mowing in the past is not known.  These plants are very close to if not the same occurrence as two historical collections by William H. Leggett from nearby Richmond Valley on 22 July 1864 and 22 July 1869 and deposited at the Staten Island Museum (accession numbers 2447 and 3866).  Even though it may seem the specimens could be from the same year, the numbers four and nine are very clear on the specimens.  Both were originally labeled Koellia verticillata and later annotated to Pycnanthemum torrei.  The present-day plants do not readily key to Pycnanthemum torrei but seem intermediate between this species and Pycnanthemum verticillatum.  Within their variation they seem to fit best with Pycnanthemum torrei however. Additional occurrences of this rare plant occur nearby in more natural areas of Rockland County, New York, and Bergen and Passaic counties of New Jersey.

 

Sedum sexangulare L.
Tasteless Stonecrop
Crassulaceae, the Stonecrop Family

          On 24 September 2003, Tim Howard was conducting ecological inventories throughout Mills-Norrie State Park along the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York. He noted a creeping Sedum growing among a wire-cage rock wall at the base of the lawn below Mills Mansion. This wall holds back the Hudson River during high tides and at other times abuts a thin sandy to silty beach. The plant turned out to be Sedum sexangulare L., a non-native species from Central Europe not listed in Mitchell and Tucker (1997).  Gleason and Cronquist (1991) list it as an escape in Vermont and New Hampshire.  It has apparently also been found along the shores of nearby Hudson River islands (Troy Weldy, personal communication). Other species growing with it at this location include Pilea fontana (Lunell) Rydb., Bidens discoidea (T. & G.) Britt., and Toxicodendron radicans (L.) Kuntze. A specimen was collected and will be deposited at the New York State Museum (T.G.Howard 390).

 

Tropaeolum majus L.
Garden Nasturtium
Tropaeolaceae, the Nasturtium Family

          The common garden nasturtium has not yet been reported for the Flora of New York State (Mitchell & Tucker 1997), or for the Torrey Range.  A population of about 100 plants was noted by Gordon Tucker and Edwin Horning on 25 June 2002, near the Hay Harbor Golf Course on Fishers Island, Suffolk Co., New York (Tucker & Horning 12958, NYS).  The plants were growing on disturbed soil near a construction area, but not in the immediate vicinity of a house or garden.

 

Uvularia puberula Michx. [incl. U. nitida (Britt.) Mackenz.]
Mountain Bellwort, Pine Barren Bellwort
Liliaceae, the Lily Family [incl. Uvulariaceae]

The northeastern range limit of Uvularia puberula was long thought to be New Jersey (Torrey 1843, Stone 1912, Taylor 1915, House 1924).  In 1925, William Ferguson collected U. puberula from “oak woods near swamp and Swan Pond” in the pine barrens of Manorville, Long Island, New York (Ferguson 3715, NYS).  In 1928, Roy Latham also collected U. puberula from “moist sandy soil” in Manorville (Latham 5968, NYS), and in 1962, Stanley Smith, Norton Miller, and Irwin Brodo collected it from “low woods bordering Jones Pond, 2.5 miles west northwest of Manorville” (Smith 34186 et al., NYS).

In 1987, Bob Zaremba relocated three small colonies of U. puberula in moist woods bordering Swan Pond, Jones Pond, and Linus Pond, all just north of Manorville.  The sites went unvisited until 2000, when botanists from the Long Island Botanical Society unsuccessfully tried to relocate the three populations.  In 2001, Stephen Young relocated the Linus Pond population, but not the Jones Pond and Swan Pond populations.  On 25 May 2002, Eric Lamont counted 33 individuals of U. puberula at the Linus Pond site; three individuals were in flower, four in fruit, and the rest had not produced reproductive structures.  The plants occurred in the wet to mesic interface between a pitch pine-oak forest (see Edinger et al. 2002) and the west side of Linus Pond (see Zaremba and Lamont 1993).  The relatively narrow interface is dominated by Nyssa sylvatica Marsh., Acer rubrum L., Pinus rigida Mill., Vaccinium corymbosum L., Clethra alnifolia L., Rhododendron viscosum (L.) Torr., and Gaylussacia frondosa (L.) Torr. & A. Gray.  Scattered individuals of U. puberula tended to occur in partially open patches with Maianthemum canadense Desf. and Trientalis borealis Raf.  A small population of Platanthera clavellata (Michx.) Luer also occurred nearby.  Additional attempts in 2003 to relocate the Jones Pond and Swan Pond populations of U. puberula were unsuccessful.

  

Literature Cited

Clemants, S. (ed.). 1999. New York metropolitan flora woody plant workbook. Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 350 p.

Edinger, G. J., D. J. Evans, S. Gebauer, T. G. Howard, D. M. Hunt and A. M. Olivero (editors). 2002. Ecological Communities of New York State. 2nd ed. A revised and expanded edition of Carol Reschke's Ecological Communities of New York State. (Draft for review). New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY.

Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray’s manual of botany, 8th ed. American Book Co., New York, NY. 1632 p.

Gleason, H. A. 1952. The new Britton and Brown illustrated flora of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Vol. 3: The sympetalous dicotyledoneae. New York Botanical Garden. Hafner Press, New York, NY. 595 p.

Gleason, H. A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, 2nd ed. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY. 910 p.

Graves, C. B., E. H. Eames, C. H. Bissell, L. Andrews, E. B. Harger and C. A. Weatherby. 1910. Catalogue of the flowering plants and ferns of Connecticut growing without cultivation. State Geological and Natural History Survey. Bulletin No. 14: 1-569. Hartford, CT.

Harvill, A. M., Jr., T. R. Bradley, C. E. Stevens, T. F. Wieboldt, D. M. E. Ware, D. W. Ogle, G. W. Ramsey and G. P. Fleming. 1992. Atlas of the Virginia flora III. Virginia Botanical Associates, Burkeville, VA. 144 p.

House, H. D. 1924. Annotated list of the ferns and flowering plants of New York State. New York State Mus. Bull. 254: 1-759.

Jelliffee, S. E. 1899. The flora of Long Island. Lancaster Press (privately printed). 160p.

Lamont, E. E. 1996. Atlas of the orchids of Long Island, New York. Bull. Torrey Bot. Soc. 123: 157-166.

Lamont, E. E., J. M. Beitel and R. E. Zaremba. 1988. Current status of orchids on Long Island, New York. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 115: 113-121.

Lamont, E. E. and J. M. Fitzgerald. 2001. Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range—2000. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 128: 409-414.

Lamont, E. E. and S. M. Young. 2002. Noteworthy plants reported from the Torrey Range—2001. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 129: 363-371.

Latham, R. 1940. Distribution of wild orchids on Long Island. Long Island Forum 3: 103-107.

Luer, C. A. 1975. The native orchids of the United States and Canada excluding Florida. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY. 361 p.

McAvoy, W. A. 2003. Rare vascular plants of Delaware. Delaware Natural Heritage Program. Dept. of Natural Resources & Environmental Control, Division of Fish & Wildlife. Smyrna, DE. 28 p.

Miller, E. S. 1877. Suffolk County notes. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 6: 155-157.

Mitchell, R. S. and G. C. Tucker. 1997. Revised checklist of New York State plants. New York State Mus. Bull. 490: 1-400.

Moore, G., A. Steward, S. Clemants, S. Glenn and J. Ma. 2002. An overview of the New York metropolitan flora project. Urban Habitats 1: 1-10.

Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. 2004. Rare native Ohio plants: 2004-2005 status list. Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Columbus, OH. 27 p.

Peters, G. H. 1973. The trees of Long Island. Long Island Horticultural Society, Planting Fields Arboretum. Oyster Bay, NY. 96 p.

Stone, W. 1912. The plants of southern New Jersey with especial reference to the flora of the Pine Barrens and the geographic distribution of the species. Annual Report of the New Jersey State Museum for 1910 (pt. 2): 21-828.

Tatnall, R. R. 1946. Flora of Delaware and the Eastern Shore. Society of Natural History of Delaware, Wilmington, DE. 313 p.

Taylor, N. 1915. Flora of the vicinity of New York. Memoirs of the N.Y. Bot. Garden 51: 1-683.

Taylor, N. 1923. The vegetation of Montauk: A study of grassland and forest. Brooklyn Bot. Garden Memoirs 2: 1-108.

Torrey, J. 1843. A flora of the state of New-York. 2 vols. Carroll & Cook Printers, Albany, NY.

Townsend, J. F. 2004. Natural Heritage resources of Virginia: rare plants. Natural Heritage Technical Report 04-06. Virginia Dept. of Conservation & Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 56 p.

USDA. 2002. Federal noxious weed list. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Washington, DC. 2 p.

Wherry, E. T. 1920. Soil tests of Ericaceae and other reaction-sensitive families in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Rhodora 22: 33-49.

Zaremba, R. E. and E. E. Lamont. 1993. The status of the coastal plain pondshore community in New York. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 120: 180-187.