Princeton Nature Notes

Gingko biloba

2009-11-01T10:49:00.004-05:00

This is a good time of year to spot Gingko trees (Gingko biloba), a commonly planted tree in Princeton. It is a "living fossil", meaning that the western world knew it only from fossil evidence before it was discovered growing in China. Its bright yellow foliage stands out now, with leaves clustered along lanky branches. The leaves grow off of "short shoots" that project from the branch (see second photo). Female gingkos are a mixed blessing, as they litter the ground with malodorous fruits.

One owner of a large female tree told me he used the odor to advantage, by dumping the fruits back in the woods where some teenagers had occasionally been getting together to drink.

The gingko in these photos is at Little Brook Elementary. It will be interesting to see how quickly it sheds its leaves. Some drop them all in a day.

Leaf Composting On a Balcony

2009-10-30T23:37:00.007-04:00

Ten feet up in the air is not the recommended location for composting leaves,

but nature obviously doesn't read books on how to garden.

Ten years worth of leaves have accumulated here, on this balcony of the county-owned Veblen House, and all the organisms that make a living by turning leaves into rich fertilizer took notice and set up shop.

For compost connoisseurs, it doesn't get any better than this. The "black gold" was produced with 100% leaves and zero human effort.

Notice the earthworm, whose capacity to reach the balcony was the subject of some speculation. They are not known for their leaping ability, and have never been seen wiggling up the sides of houses. One theory offered is that an earthworm laid eggs on a leaf, which then blew up to the balcony. Maybe the daredevils among them hitchhike on the legs of birds.

Virginia creeper knows how to climb a house, and quickly turned some of this rich leaf mold into root-filled sod.

Fortunately, the decomposers took more interest in the leaves than the balcony, so that it's still possible to enjoy a fine view of the garden, newly sprinkled with compost from ten feet up.

Dam Restoration at Mountain Lakes

2009-10-04T11:33:00.007-04:00

For many years, Princeton township has been making plans to restore the historic dams at Mountain Lakes, which were originally built to collect ice for Princeton's ice boxes in the days before refrigerators.

Over the past century, the two dams have weakened, and the lakes have filled in with sediment. The upper lake, for instance, was originally 7 feet deep, but now has only a foot of water.

Only in the past year, when an anonymous donor offered to fund the $2 million project, has the restoration moved beyond the planning stage.In the photo, township engineers and historians meet on the lower spillway to discuss details of the restoration plan. The large boulders piled against the dam are temporary reinforcement for the buckling spillway.

Interpretive signs tell the history of the ice business that once included two 3-story barns to store blocks of ice just below the dam. Hay from nearby fields was used to insulate the barns, which could keep ice for up to two years.

The restoration will include a dredging of the two lakes, and is scheduled to begin in May, 2010.

The Battle With Photinia

2009-09-29T13:14:00.008-04:00

It looks benign, green like all the other plants in the forest, with ornamental white flowers in the spring and golden foliage and red berries in the fall. But Asian Photinia (Photinia villosa) has started quietly taking over Mountain Lakes. In some areas of the park, it has formed a monoculture in the understory, shading out all other plant species.

No diversity means very limited food choices for wildlife. So that other species will have a chance to grow, the Friends of Princeton Open Space began this year a campaign to dramatically reduce the Photinia population at Mountain Lakes.

This is what the woods looks like after a dense stand of Photinia has been removed by our extraordinary volunteer, Andrew Thornton. Other than a few stray ferns, there is nothing native growing here beneath the trees. The cut Photinia has been piled for wildlife habitat. The next step will be to replant the area with natives, or encourage whatever natives sprout.

One of the native species that will benefit from Photinia removal is the spicebush (Lindera benzoin), which forms energy-rich berries in the fall.

40th Anniversary Celebration Open To All, Oct. 4

2009-09-25T10:53:00.003-04:00

Wine, hors d’oeuvres, music

and a silent auction featuring the beautiful paintings created that day.

FRIENDS OF PRINCETON OPEN SPACE invite you to
Preserve with Paint

A Celebration of our 40th Anniversary

Oct 4th, 5:00-7:00 p.m., at the beautiful setting of Mountain Lakes House

There is no charge to attend Preserve with Paint, but please r.s.v.p. to Friends of Princeton Open Space 609 497-1331

On Sunday, October 4th, Friends of Princeton Open Space will celebrate its 40th birthday and many successful land preservation projects in Princeton. As part of this community-building event, plein air painters will come to Mountain Lakes Preserve to capture the beauty of our lakes, woods and fields on canvas.

More info at www.fopos.org

Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar

2009-09-14T11:43:00.004-04:00

It's enough to make one think that all of one's actions, no matter how seemingly scattered, are somehow connected. If I hadn't taken up the cause of saving the Veblen House in Herrontown Woods, I would never have noticed a giant caterpillar crawling on a walnut branch in front of the house.

Not knowing what it was, I googled "giant horned caterpillar", and immediately found the name.

Mark Johnson, Princeton's animal control officer, was on the scene, primarily to tell us how to get rid of a raccoon, two squirrels and a flying squirrel that have found the boarded up house to their liking. He said the lighter colored caterpillar is probably a female. The big, thick glove is for handling animals with teeth. The caterpillars, scary as they look, proved to be harmless.

I'm borrowing this quote from an Ohio State University fact sheet:

"They are enormous in size, being five to six inches long and nearly 3/4-inch in diameter. They feed for a period of 37 to 42 days on the leaves of hickory, walnut, butternut, pecan, ash, lilac, persimmon, sycamore, sumac and sweet gum. Larvae mature in late summer, wandering around searching for a place to burrow underground to pupate. Overwintering occurs in the pupal stage.

The moth (Royal Walnut Moth) has a wingspan of five to six inches and is seen in midsummer. It has a long body covered with orange yellow hair. The forewings are gray with orange veins and yellow spots. The hindwings are primarily orange with scattered yellow patches."

Struggle For Survival--Scene 1

2009-09-13T16:37:00.003-04:00

Our camera crew spent the whole summer patiently waiting for a chance to catch this rare shot of a Cicada Killer wasp poised to seize its prey. (Figure added for scale)

A 3-Winged Monarch Learns To Fly

2009-09-10T10:14:00.003-04:00

Monarchs usually have four wings--two on each side--but I found one on a bush at Littlebrook Elementary a couple days ago that had only three. That explained why it didn't fly away when I approached. When I presented it with my finger, it crawled on, and I noticed it had only four legs, instead of the usual six.

It looked freshly born out of its chrysalis, undamaged other than by a quirk of genetic fate. I showed it to some kids on the playground, and then called my daughter and her friend over to have a look. They adopted it instantly, and took it home, naming it "Buggie". That afternoon, during a playdate, they reportedly taught Buggie to fly by dropping it from a treehouse, and also discovered that it would follow orders. Clearly, a highly intelligent little butterfly!

Overnight, it stayed outside in a terrarium, with a squished tomato for food. The next day, it traveled back to school for show and tell in a 4th grade classroom. My daughter, though, arrived home with a sad face. After school, while they were on the playground, Buggie flew up and kept right on going, despite having only three of its four wings. Monarchs, which fly all the way to Mexico for the winter, are notoriously strong flyers, but no one had expected three-winged Buggie to soar off into the wild blue yonder.

I tried to console my daughter, who in her grief wanted to go to Petco to buy another pet. We finally headed out in search of a monarch egg or larva in various patches of milkweed I know about, but found nothing. I told her that she and her friend had done well, had fed Buggie and taught it to fly, and that now it was where it is supposed to be, with others of its kind, flying strong and far.

She wasn't quite ready to feel good about this.

Beware of Bamboo--An Update

2009-08-31T17:47:00.015-04:00

"Beware of Bamboo"--wouldn't that make a good sign to post at the front gate? Most posts here lately have detailed the native abundance in my backyard. But just across the fence is a more typical Princeton scene. Bamboo, English ivy and Wineberry--all exotic invaders--thrive along a neglected fenceline, advancing imperiously into my yard when my back is turned.

Bamboo is thought to be nearly impossible to weed out, but no beast can remain beastly forever without a source of energy.

As described in a post in June, 2008, the hard part of the counter attack was done a couple years back, when my neighbor permitted me to cut the whole, dense, 20 foot high bamboo clone to the ground--on both sides of the fence. It then sent up a new batch of long stems, which I cut just as they were starting to leaf out. The whole idea was to prevent the Thing from collecting any new solar energy, forcing it to spend its reserves on new shoots that would get cut before they could send any energy down to the roots. Time, and the imperatives of metabolism, were on my side in this "drain the energy bank" approach to superweed combat.

Last year, I again cut the new shoots down to the ground just as the stems were starting to send out leaves.

This year, it sent up only a few strange stems, each crowded with unusually dense leaves. Grasping one stem, I felt like I was shaking hands with a woolly green bear out of Monsters Inc. And like in the movie, the monster has been acting mighty gentle of late.

Fifteen minutes of lopping and it was time to declare victory, though I don't dare turn my back for long.

Insect Diversity Central

2009-08-31T17:07:00.023-04:00

The boneset--those broad disks of white flowers held six feet aloft next to a backyard mini-pond--had for weeks been drawing a wildly diverse crowd of insects. The varied pollinators variously hovered and fed on the nectar, and I in turn hovered over them, documenting as best I could the local biodiversity with a well-aged Canon Powershot.

The past several days, it seemed the flowers and their magic had faded. I had started to look elsewhere for action, as the air filled with the peeping of goldfinches feasting on the seeds of cutleaf coneflower.

But then what looked like a stick fallen on one of the bonesets caught my eye, and I was back in the elevated sea of white, being stared down by a giant praying mantis. It had shown up a little late for the main course, with only a few scraps of insect life still visiting now. Still, once I started looking I was able to get photos of what might prove to be a dozen more species in a collection that could reach three figures. They were, of course, keeping their distance from the praying mantis.

A fly with wings straight back.

Another fly, larger, with a striped back and wings spread somewhat.

A tiny fly dwarfed by a tiny flower.

True bugs, who are remaining true to each other, at least for the moment. These creatures have been a fixture on the flowers for weeks.

A weevily looking little character.

A tiny yellow inchworm.

A tiny bee, which looks like all the other tiny black bees that have been the most numerous insect on the flowers over the past several weeks.

You might, like me, not at first see much more here than a lifeless tiny bee hanging just below the flowers.

Whenever some insect isn't moving, it pays to take a closer look. More predators have been showing up lately, including this white spider with a distinctive pattern on its back. Nice camouflage.

A daddy long legs.

Other new insects were as often perched on the leaves as on the flowers, including this crickety looking fellow.

Another cricket with a different color scheme.

A tiny beetle-like thing with a tail.

A fly, perhaps, with mottled wings, that hovered for long periods inbetween brief landings.

Cool Beans!

2009-08-29T10:31:00.004-04:00

Why does that expression haunt me so? I've heard it used maybe twice in my life, in situations where "That's great!" might suffice. I resist using it, but it keeps coming to mind. It's nonsensical, but something in its sound and double exclamation fits the feeling. One entry in the Urban Dictionary, describing the phrase's origins, suggests I'm not alone in my quandary:

"The phrase then spread like a virus, infecting the vernacular of people of older and younger generations regardless of gender..."

Finally, however, a situation has come along where it fits perfectly. We found these cool, wild beans along the canal during a recent nature walk. They are (affectionately?) known as hog peanuts. Scientists endearingly refer to them as Amphicarpa bracteata. Cool beans expresses it better. They are fairly common in nature preserves, but rarely do they get enough sunlight to flower and bear fruit.

There's another cool wild bean in Princeton, called ground nut, which not only produces beans but also an edible tuber. At the FOPOS mini-greenhouse, we've started growing them from seed, in an effort to make them more common in the Princeton landscape.

Hurricane Bill Pays a Visit

2009-08-25T02:44:00.006-04:00

Hurricane Bill paid a visit to Princeton this past Saturday afternoon in the form of a dense heavy rain. When rain falls on a town where the soil has already become saturated with water from previous rains, the whole town behaves as if it were paved with asphalt. With storm sewers overwhelmed by the runoff, the streets turned into rivers.

This particular river, flowing briskly along Ewing Street, decided to take a left turn into an apartment parking lot.

It then flowed under a wooden fence

and through some surprised homeowners' properties

before heading down Harrison Street to its intersection with Hamilton, where it served as a good traffic calming device.

Parking Lot Habitat

2009-08-23T14:13:00.008-04:00

Just because a garden is surrounded by asphalt doesn't mean it's not getting used by the local wildlife. This garden was planted with help from Henry Loevner (Princeton PEI intern for FOPOS this summer). Though it's on high ground, it's planted with floodplain species--Rose Mallow Hibiscus, Swamp Milkweed, Tall Meadowrue, Purple-Headed Sneezeweed, Cutleaf Coneflower--in part because the spot receives a lot of runoff from the pavement. It's also close to a hose, if coming years prove to be dry.

Though all the plants are just getting established, the Swamp Milkweed in the photo has already been used by three species of wildlife. The chewed off tip suggests a deer came by. The brown shell is from a cicada that used the plant as a substrate for its transformation from pupa to adult. And a monarch caterpillar can be seen chewing on a leaf.

Another unlikely island of habitat is located in the parking lot close to the Community Park Pool. There, we found the holes where "cicada killer" wasps live. They are big wasps that tackle cicadas, paralyze them with their stinger, then take them back to their holes. An egg is layed in the body of the motionless cicada, which presumeably remains fresh while the hatched wasp larva eats out its insides. The immature but well-fed wasp then remains underground, its emergence next year timed to coincide with cicadas 2010.

As far as I know, the wasps leave people alone, and are peacefully filling their niche amidst a sea of cars. They can be seen hovering over the grass, as if they've forgotten where their den is.

Boneset Days

2009-08-15T12:10:00.007-04:00

Boneset is in bloom, and as some may remember from posts on this blog last August, boneset puts on its very own, unparalleled pollinator festival each year. Every pollinator in the Princeton area--large or minute, scary or comical, linear or round, irridescent green or conservative beige--shows up to drink what must be the insect world's version of manna.

No other wildflower draws such a diverse and numerous crowd. I thought that last year's photo gallery of 50 species visiting the flowers was fairly encyclopedic, but this year I'm finding many additional species, all of which means more posts are in the making.

For every photo posted, ten more are taken, sorted through, cropped and otherwise adjusted. Documenting the biodiversity on this singular flower could be a life's work. Pleasant enough, though, with the feint aroma of honey all around, and always something new to discover.

Wetland Wildflower Walks and Wednesday Workdays

2009-08-06T14:01:00.003-04:00

The following activities, free and open to all, are sponsored by Friends of Princeton Open Space

WETLAND WILDFLOWER WALKS IN PRINCETON

Saturday, August 8, 10am : We'll meet at the Princeton High School Ecolab--a retention basin converted to a wetland that is now in full bloom--then walk to other rain or wetland gardens nearby. Meet at the ecolab wetland on Walnut Street, next to the HS performing arts center. All walking will be on pavement or lawn.

Sunday, August 16, 10 am: A walk along the canal towpath and nature trail loop to see a diverse floodplain plant community with an open canopy of oaks and rich understory that is reminiscent of fire-maintained savannas that would have been common in pre-colonial America. Meet at the towpath, just west of Harrison Street.

WEDNESDAY WORKDAYS AT MOUNTAIN LAKES, 10-12

Some folks have expressed interest in helping out at Mountain Lakes Preserve during the week. This month, I'll be leading volunteer sessions from 10-12 on Wednesday mornings. Rain date is Thursdays, same time. We'll only work when foliage is dry.

Our focus this summer is going after an exotic shrub called Asian Photinia, which has been invading Princeton's natural areas and Mountain Lakes in particular. We're cutting as much as we can now before the seeds ripen. These sessions are also a good opportunity for teenagers to get out and about.

Loppers, clippers, pruning saws, sturdy work shoes and gloves--all are useful. An r.s.v.p. is helpful for an estimate of numbers. Meet at Mountain Lakes House, up the driveway at 57 Mountain Ave.

White Wildflowers--2 If By Boat, One If By Land

2009-07-30T10:20:00.012-04:00

Some native wildflowers are easiest to see by boat in mid-July.

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) leans out over the water with its golfball-sized blooms.

LizardsTail, with the comically unpronounceable scientific name of Saururus cernuus, lines portions of Carnegie Lake's shoreline.

Here's a closeup.

Meanwhile, similar spires, of Black Cohosh, rise up on the boulder-strewn slopes of Princeton's ridge, in Woodfield Reservation.

Sustainable Jazz Performance July 30, 7:30pm

2009-07-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

While growing native plants, I've also been growing some jazz compositions, which was my habit back when I was a professional jazz musician. I'll be performing them on saxophone at the Princeton Public Library this coming Thursday evening, with help from pianist Phil Orr and bassist Jerry d'Anna.

Titles include The Case of the Kidnapped Kalypso, Fresh Paint (composed while breathing latex fumes in a freshly painted room), Lejos de Aqui (Far from Here), Lunar Eclipse (composed while forgetting to check out the lunar eclipse that was going on outside), and For the Prez (inspired by last fall's election, and also the great saxophonist from the Count Basie band, Lester "Prez" Young).

I call it sustainable because the music is all locally grown, with notes that have been used before, albeit in a different, even fresh, order and rhythm. No virgin tambres were harvested in the making of this music.

The performance is free and lasts about an hour. We'll either be out on the plaza or in the library's community room.

A Whole Lotta Buddin' Goin' On

2009-07-15T18:40:00.009-04:00

There's been an air of anticipation the past couple weeks as some of the biggest and brightest wetland wildflowers have been getting ready to bloom. These are some of the buds quickly developing in the July sun.

The first photo shows the buds of Joe Pye Weed.

Buds of Hibiscus moscheutos (Princeton's one native Hibiscus species)

Cutleaf Coneflower, just starting to open.

The beginnings of Boneset flowers, with pickerelweed in the background.

Photos were taken at the Princeton High School ecolab wetland, tucked inbetween the two new wings of the school on Walnut Street. If you're out for a walk, the wetland makes for a nice visit. There's a sidewalk all the way around it. The canal towpath, between Harrison St. and Washington Rd. is another great spot to see many of these flowers.

Stream Stomp At D&R Canal State Park

2009-07-11T14:55:00.008-04:00

We went to the river, and what did we see? We saw little mayflies, at least two or three. We saw dozens and dozens of little green caddisflies that live in the water before they can fly.

We saw crayfish, small and larger, scuds that skid about on their sides like shrimp. We saw tiny leeches-a-plenty, and even a free-wheeling freshwater eel.

And how did that make us feel?

Well, fascinated, mostly, with all the slippery sublime that can be found beneath rocks and riffles in the Millstone River, a pebble's throw from Route 27 in Kingston.

For two hours, it made kids of us all, catching the river's mysteries in a net, spilling the contents into shallow dishes of water, and then peering at all the minutiae of river life.

There was some science involved, since each kind of creature can tolerate a different degree of stream pollution. The presence of mayflies, for instance, which have a low tolerance for pollution, speaks well for the river. Since the intake for Princeton's drinking water is twenty miles downstream, I like the idea that mayflies find the water clean enough to live in.

In the last photo, D&R Canal State Park naturalist Stephanie Fox shows us a stick that was half submerged next to the river bank. Hundreds of caddis fly larvae had climbed up the stick to get out of the water, then used the stick as a platform on which to grow their wings and launch into adult life. (This strategy is similar to that of the 17 year cicadas, who crawl out of the ground, climb the nearest tree or shrub, emerge from their old skins, grow wings and fly off.)

For more info on canal state park events, go to:
http://www.dandrcanal.com/pdf/milepost_summer09.pdf

Princeton Battlefield--Big History, Big Lawn, Big Trees

2009-07-11T09:34:00.008-04:00

One of the finer ways to spend a July 4 afternoon is on the grounds of the Princeton Battlefield. Chances are, you'll see historian John Mills, who in stature, bearing and voice seems the very embodiment of 1776, offer a detailed account of the Battle of Princeton, and then don spectacles to read the Declaration of Independence.

It's also a good place for a native plant lover to feel ambivalent about the extraordinary expanse of mowed grass. It makes for a great feeling of openness and freedom of movement. On the other hand, it has nothing to do with the history of the place, and is surely a budget drain to mow.

Other historic sites around the country have started to manage for more authentic vegetation. One approach would be to keep a portion of the grounds mowed, while planting the rest to the sorts of native grasses and wildflowers that have more to do with the land's history. Some of the grounds are already managed this way.

Most everyone knows about the Mercer Oak, whose offspring now grows in the middle of the field near where the original white oak once stood.

There are some other interesting trees there as well. I'd heard that the grounds include two Hicans--a cross between a hickory and a pecan. The bark on the tree in the photo looks like a hickory for the first eight feet, then switches to pecan-like bark further up. Strange.

Closer to Clark House are a couple chestnut trees. These are Chinese chestnuts, not the great American Chestnut that once filled our forests and provided abundant food until the imported chestnut blight took its toll. The Battlefield would be a great place to reintroduce the American Chestnut, survivors of which have been bred to resist the blight.

Some other interesting trees, just behind the Clark House, are some very tall, statuesque black locust trees.

Kids Discover "Secret" Pettoranello Gardens

2009-07-10T07:32:00.006-04:00

Hidden in full view in the middle of Princeton Township is Pettoranello Gardens, where there's a pond, walking trails and a stage for summer concerts.

Last week, Robert Olszewski, youth director for nearby Westerly Road Church, brought his summer camp kids over for a little introduction to the park and its resident plants and animals. I served as tour guide.

We started with sassafras, a fragrant native tree once used to make root beer. They then got an introduction to jewelweed, with its spring-loaded seed hurling mechanism and the metallic sheen its leaves acquire when put underwater. Though there was a very enthusiastic, cacophonous response to my offer of ten dollars to anyone who could spell "Pettoranello", the greatest attention was paid to twenty turtles clustered on what looked like a hay bale on the far side of the pond (photo).

Before they headed back, I left them with a "don't forget to smell the spicebush" moment. Hopefully, the kids will serve as tour guides to their parents, and a few more families will get acquainted with this pretty spot in the middle of town.

Photos by Henry Loevner, Princeton University PEI summer intern for the Friends of Princeton Open Space

High School Ecolab Wetland--Early Summer Edition

2009-07-10T06:58:00.006-04:00

Planted two years ago, the Princeton High School wetland is coming along. We've been nurturing the natives, pulling out the weeds or covering them with black plastic. Each year, a few new species get added. Here's what's blooming:

Pickerelweed blooms all summer long, and likes its feet in water.

Black-eyed Susans were bought from Pinelands Nursery and planted in drier areas of the wetland several years ago. It grows naturally in the meadows at Tusculum in Princeton.

Sweet Bergamot, rather than its red-flowered relative Beebalm, is native to the Princeton area.

Daisy Fleabane, a weedy but attractive native that shows up of its own accord.

Red Clover, though not native, is not invasive.

Native Flower Arrangement

2009-07-10T06:40:00.004-04:00

This arrangement showed up on our dining room table a few days back, and is as good a way as any to sum up what's blooming right now. Tall Meadow Rue is the white background. Beebalm in red. The daisy shaped flowers are purple coneflower (though a native, I've never seen it growing wild). And then there's some Queen of the Meadow (Filipendula rubra) washed out by the flash down at the bottom.

Of these, only the Meadow Rue would be encountered growing naturally in Princeton's nature preserves.

Manhattan's High Line a Ribbon of Native Plants

2009-07-03T03:24:00.008-04:00

Native plant lovers have long faced a conundrum. If urban and suburban landscapes are so dominated by exotic flowers, grasses and shrubs, how will Americans ever encounter America's glorious natural heritage on a regular basis?

One spectacular way just became available in New York as of June 8. A section of the old, abandoned rail line on the west side of Manhattan has been refashioned as a pedestrian way planted with a rich variety of native flora.

The irony is pretty rich, too. You'd think that these native plants would need some sort of "natural" habitat to survive, but many of our natural areas aren't really natural anymore. Most of these plants would quickly die if planted in a typical nature preserve, where they'd wither in the dense shade or be eaten to the ground by overabundant deer. Trees and deer are natural, but we've banished the fires and predators that once held their density in check and allowed sunlight to reach the ground here and there.

The low-growing native species in these photos need sun, and they get it here, thirty feet above the streets of New York. In Princeton, the story is very similar. The native species that need sun are thriving in places highly altered by humans--along the canal and at Princeton high school's ecolab wetland.

Plants to Interact With at Community Park North

2009-07-01T05:56:00.006-04:00

Here are some plants to seek out for good smells, food and entertainment in Community Park North. The first one, Spicebush, is Princeton's most common native shrub. It has thick, dark green leaves, and if you pick a leaf and crumple it up, you will be rewarded by a wonderful citrony smell. The shrub's berries, hidden along the stem and still green this time of year, will help with identification.

Spicebush is related to sassafras, a tree whose roots were originally used to make root beer. It also grows in the park, and has fragrant leaves that come in three shapes, one of which looks like a mitten.

Along the nature paths, you'll likely see a brambly plant with a whitish bloom to the stem and clusters of green, pink, red and black berries. This is the native black raspberry. The berries are pretty tasty after they turn black. Watch out for the thorns, and be sure of identification before eating anything, of course.

One of the funnest plants in the woods is the jewelweed. Try picking one of its swollen seed pods (just above the orange flower in the photo) and see what happens. Also, try putting one of the leaves underwater and check out what happens to its color. Jewelweed is a wildflower that grows in low wet areas, which is often where poison ivy grows. Conveniently, the juice of the jewelweed stem can be rubbed on skin to treat poison ivy.

One plant that you may want to avoid interacting with, but which definitely wants to interact with you, is the stickseed. Later in the season, it grows green seed burs that will coat your pants if you happen to brush against a plant. It's clever "schtick" is to use you to spread its seeds.