Tag Archive | New York
A Winter Refuge
Although the woodlands look bleak in the winter, one tree provides a bit of greenery and shelter in pine barren woods in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. Pitch pine is an evergreen tree with stiff pine needles bundled in sets of threes and short round pine cones. Its thick corky-like bark protects it from wildfires. […]
The Red Tree
One of the most beautiful things to see in fall wetlands is the orange-red colors of autumn leaves from the red maple tree. This tree’s buds and flowers are red, its two-winged sumara are red tinged and it has red petioles. Red maple is also called swamp maple because it grows in wet woodlands and […]
The Odiferous Plant
Musk mallow is a strong scented wildflower native to Europe that was brought to America as an ornamental plant of America’s gardens. It escaped cultivation and is now a weedy plant of the northeast U.S. It gets its name from its strong musky odor when tis leaves are crushed. You can find this plant growing […]
The Plant That Collects Frost
In the summer woods in the pine barrens on Long Island, New York you might spot this yellow flower growing single on a single stem in fields and along the edges of fore lines. Frostweed gets its name from the formation of ice crystals at the bottom of its stem. It is a pretty flower […]
Endangered in New York, Extirpated from Pennsylvania
Walking through a pine barren habitat where pitch pine, oak trees and heaths dominate the landscape, I came upon a disturbed area where the sandy soils were saturated with water and sedges, rushes and grasses dominated the opening. There were dozens of orange flowers on short stems along with sundews where the vegetation was less […]
The Plant with Many Names
It is called silverweed because when you dip its leaves into water the leaves show a silvery glow. It is called ladies ear drops because its flowers dangle like earrings from a girl’s ears. It is called jewelweed because the rain and early morning dew resemble jewels on its stems. It is called touch-me-not because […]
Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus
When I lived and worked in New York and visited beaches along the north shore of Long Island in the summer, the sheltered areas of the beachfront were dotted with the yellow blossoms of the prickly pear cactus. You normally associate cacti with deserts, but the sandy dry soils beyond the reach of high tides […]
