Long Island Botanical Society newsletter

12 Pages·2001·2.6 MB·English

by  Long Island Botanical Society

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LONG
Y ISLAND
BOTANICAL
SOCIETY
Vol. 11, No.4 The Quarterly Newsletter Oct.-Dec. 2001
Lopped Trees of Long Island young oak trees to produce the curved “compass
timber” needed forwooden shipbuilding (Albion
Philip Marshall, 1965), but this was not likely produced on Long
Yale University Island, despite the historical prominence ofthat
industry here. The salient feature ofloppedtrees
One ofthe curious features ofthe landscape of would appear to be their linear association with
Long Island is what is termed “lopped trees”, old the edges of old farm fields and the borders of
oaks (Quercus spp., usually Q. alba) strangely property andwhere there is one there are usually
deformedwithright-anglebendsintheirbolesnear others to be found in a straight line on either side
the base, found along property boundaries (often ofit.
on roadsides) and the borders of farmland, and It is frequently assertedthat lopped trees, under
sometimes in the middle ofthe woods. Despite the name of “bound trees” or “line trees”, were
their strange and striking form, lopped trees are intended as markers ofpropertyboundaries, bent
seldom found alone, and can usually be found in over horizontally at sapling size by farmers
lineararrangementswithothersimilarlycontorted asserting their ownership of land (e.g. Murphy,
trees. Thebestknownexamples arearowoftrees [1964] 1991). However, lopped trees and bound
on the north side ofthe Northern State Parkway trees are not the same. Bound trees, also known
just east ofRoute 110 in Melville, but most are by surveyors as “witness trees”, are indeed
farthereastinBrookhavenandonthe SouthFork. mentioned in many land deeds from the colonial
Often familiar landmarks, lopped trees are not eraasmarkersofboundaries,buttheseweresingle
natural but are rather the products of human (continued on page 40)
manipulation, a part of the cultural landscape.
This much is accepted, but what was their
purpose?
Lopped trees bear a striking and uncanny
resemblance to “trail marker trees” found across
theMidwest,oaksbentoverwhenyoungbyNative
Americans to indicate the routes of footpaths
(Jannsen, 1940), but no one has ever seriously
suggested that lopped trees are part of Long
Island’snativeheritage, eventhoughsomepeople
call them “Indiantrees”. Althoughpast attempts
at coring lopped trees to determine their precise
age have been unsuccessful, owing to heart rot
(RichardStavdal,pers. comm.), ithasalwaysbeen
assumedthatthe trees are relics ofthe earlyyears
of European settlement on Long Island. There Illustration:AudreyWatson-Wigley
are records ofBritish landowners pinning down A lopped Tupelo tree(/Vyssasylvaticd) in Wading River
Page 37
Long Island Botanical Society
News
Society
Founded: 1986 Incorporated: 1989
Orient Beach Ordeal: Orient Beach State Park contains a
The Long Island Botanical Society recreationalareaforactivityandanareathatisprotectedasapreserve.
is dedicated to the promotion of Theprotectedareais apristineareathatis environmentally sensitive.
field botany and a greater under- For that reason the New York State Department of Parks has
standing of the plants that grow
designatedit aprotectedareaandrestrictions havebeenplacedupon
wild on Long Island, New York.
ittopreserve the integrity ofthe habitat. Limitedaccess forviewing
is provided, however, by foot. Rare plants and breeding shorebirds,
Executive Board which have been disturbed and eliminated from other beachfront
President areas are now limitedtothisuniquerefuge. Rare maritimeplants do
EricLamont [phone] not necessarily grow in one spot. They often require and grow in
VicePresident
migrating areas along the beach. Shore birds need a place with
SkipBlanchard [phone]
Treasurer adequate areas to nest, feed andprotecttheiryoung. They rely upon
Carol Johnston [phone] large areas ofopen sand along the beach to evade predators such as
Recording Secretary crows, foxes andraccoons. Recently, a small group arguedthatthey
BarbaraConolly [phone] would like toutilize this area ofOrient State Park, as well, topullup
CorrespondingSecretary
and anchor their boats. The idea ofhaving the luxury to pull aboat
JohnPotente [phone]
up on this beach may seem harmless, but it will degrade andburden
Committee Chairpersons the environment there. This will result in cornering the rare plants
LocalFlora andbirds into even smaller areas within the protected areas andwill
Steven Clemants [phone] further jeapordize their welfare. Most individuals and boaters
FieldTrips understand this and respectfully abide by the rules. Deregulating
JennyUlsheimer [phone] the park habitat guide rules will add to the disruption of the rare
Programs
plant habitat and the interference ofthe breeding for the shorebirds.
ZuProly [phone]
Membership The small group is pulling local publicity stunts by bringing their
Lois Lindberg [phone] boatsto shoredeliberately, illegallyandactivelypressuringtheparks
Conservation department to forfeit the scope ofthe habitat protection. You may
John Turner [phone] lettheparksdepartmentknowthatyousupporttheirongoingvigilance
KarenBlumer [phone]
to enforce the restrictions maintaining the status quo
Education
MaryLauraLamont [phone] bywritingto:
Thomas Stock [phone] Margaret Reilly, Director
Hospitality NewYork State Office ofParks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
BettyLotowycz [phone] Long IslandRegion
Jane Blanchard [phone]
Belmont Lake State Park
Editor
Babylon, NewYork 702-0247
JohnPotente [phone] 11
Felling Stony Brook Forest: While members ofthe Coalition to
Membership Save Stony Brook Forest were helping relieve the NYC tragedy, a
AnnualDuesof$15payableto: court decision allowed the leveling ofthe remaining portion ofthe
LongIslandBotanical Society StonyBrookForest. WardMelville Heritage Organizationpromptly
Mailto:
initiatedabulldozingoperationtoknockdownthetreesofthisvestige
LoisLindberg,MembershipChairperson
45 SandyHillRoad ofAmerica the Beautiful. For further information you may contact:
OysterBay,NewYork 11771-3111 Coalition to Save Stony BrookForest: [phone].
Article & News Submissions
LongIslandBotanical Society
Editor’s Note: The final portion of“Classification for Mature
P.O. Box 5001
Hauppauge, New York 11788 Forests and Related Woody Vegetaion on Long Island, New
[email protected] York” by Andrew Greller has been postponed
and will appear in the next issue of the LIBS newsletter.
PrintedbyNativeAmerica
Page 38
Highlights of Recent Field Trips The Hauppauge Springs September 15, 2001
Eighteen ofus met on a gorgeous sunny day at
a bank parking lot along the Veterans Memorial
Barbara Conolly
highway in Smithtown. First, John Potente
described the Springs area and showed us the
Wicks/Froelich Farm August 18, 2001 layout with some excellent aerial photos he had
LIBS conducted a summer inventory of the taken in the past year.
plants here during its walk. As expected, there We then walked along the busy highway for a
were a lot ofGoldenrods in the overgrown farm bit, onlyto be stopped in ourtracks by a loud call
area (species rugosa, speciosa, canadensis var. from Ray Welch: “Eve found the springs!” And
scobra, nemoralis and odora) along with tangles indeed he had - cast offby the road edge from an
ofMutliflora Rose and great stands ofMugwort old rusty truck.
and Giant Ragweed. But there was also a small The woods containing Red Maple, White Ash,
group of Velvet-leaf (Abutilon theophrasti) and Tulip Tree, Tupelo and an occasional Oak also
large standsofMarylandTick-trefoil{Desmodium containedafine specimenofAtlanticWhiteCedar
marilandicum with Wild Sensitive Plants {Chamaecyparis thyoides and a couple of
) )
(Chamaecrista nictitans). There were a few Umbrella Trees {Magnolia tripetala).
DeptfordPinks (Dianthusarmeria) still inbloom, A swampy area contained a thick margin of
some handsome clumps of Hyssop-leaved Water -willow {Decodon verticillatus) behind
Thoroughwort {Eupatorium hyssopifolium anda which rose a tall growth ofSwamp Beggar-ticks
)
couple ofBush-clovers Lespedeza capitata and {Bidens connata) which Petersonnotes can grow
(
Lespedeza virginica). Asters were not in full to seven feet.
bloomyet,buttherewere afew samples ofWhite Butthethrill ofthe daywasto standbythe clear
Woodland Aster Aster divaricatus) and Heath rushingwaterofthespringwhereDaveThompson
(
Aster {Aster ericoides). There was a big ofTroutUnlimitedhadtakenthepictureofagood-
discussion over a tall purple thistle, but Donald sized Brook Trout to grace the cover ofa recent
House resolved the problem with his trusty issue ofthe Hauppauge SpringNewsletter. Dave
Cronquist: itwas Cirsium vulgare,theBullthistle. was with us and stated that he had previously
But the highlight ofthe trip, quite unexpected, caught an eleven inch Brook Trout on the north
were Slender Lady’s-tresses {Spiranthes lacera side ofthe highway where the culvert empties on
var. gracilis). About40 ofthemwerebloomingin its way to the sea
.
the more open stands of Goldenrod and were Who sayswe don’thaveclearcoldtroutstreams
identifiedbythebrightgreenspotontheirthroats. on Long Island?
Nice to end a field trip on a bright note!
Editorial Comment: After weighing the choices
ofselectivelyremovingtheinvasiveplantsversus
mowing and then turning over the soil for a
grassland restoration, Huntington Audubon
Society (stewards ofWicks Farm) has electedto
Potente
till the soil andplantnonlocal genotype grasses.
(See LIBS Vol.11, no.3 page 32). Thistechnique E.
is a potential hazard for existing native plants John
onthe site. Hopefully,the significantplants such
Photo:
as the Lady’s-tresses will be marked and Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)
protected. present in the Hauppauge Springs
Page 39
;
Lopped Trees (continued from page 37) by the best computation, at least two hundred
large old-growth trees (probably marked on their miles ofgood prim-hedge died in the course of
boles with a knife or timber scribe) from which two orthreeyears, whichwas agreaterlosstothe
property lines could be followed along certain inhabitants than if every house in the township
compass bearings; they were the benchmarks of hadbeenburntdownatthetime” [L’Hommedieu,
the old “metes-and-bounds” system of land 1794]), native oaks were substituted and treated
surveying. Bound trees were used to establish in just the same manner (“Young oaks...have
municipal boundaries as well as those ofprivate answeredwell for ahedge by loping the same on
holdings; for example, until permanent stone a ditch...a good fence against cattle and sheep,”
markers were set in the nineteenth century, the [L”Hommedieu, 1794]). Still, these hedges
Brookhaven-Riverhead town line was legally probably served only as a supplementto wooden
defined by a certain Pepperidge tree (Nyssa post-and -rail fences. The expense oftimberwas
sylvatica) in Wading River, the Brookhaven- probably the motivation for hedging, as Long
Smithtown town line was defined by a tree of Island was largely cleared offorest cover by the
unknown species on the shore of Lake middle ofthe eighteenthcentury(Murphy, [1964]
Ronkonkoma, andthe Brookhaven-Southampton 1991). Intheplace oftreesweremanythousands
town line was defined by “the Bound Tree at of cattle (Murphy, [1964] 1991; Bidwell &
Seatuck”onthe SeatuckRiverinEastport(Bayles, Falconer, 1941). It is known that hedges and
1882). The “metes-and-bounds” method of earthen ditches (a feature also associated with
surveying was later replaced by more systematic lopped trees on Long Island) were used instead
techniques, as in the General Land Survey of ofwoodenfences orstonewallsbysome colonial
Public Lands in the West, initiated in 1785 farmers of treeless Cape Cod and Martha’s
(McIntosh, 1962),whichrequiredseveral“bearing VineyardinMassachusetts (Thoreau[1865] 1988
trees” to be recorded by species at each section Banks, 1911; Russell, 1976; Allport 1990), and
comerwithtwo trees recorded at quartercomers. certainly the great expense ofreplacement with
“Line trees”, properly defined, were the woodenfencingwasthereasongivenbyNathaniel
occasional trees growing directly on the lines Prime in 1845 for the persistence ofthe “fences
between comers, and were recorded as found. of living material” (Prime, 1845) he saw in
Quantitative studies ofrecords of “bearing tree” Southampton at that time. There are accounts of
and “line tree” species from the General Land New-England-style stone walls in suchplaces as
Surveyandothersurveyshave enabledecologists Strong’sNeckin Setauket(Thompson, 1839) and
to reconstmct the forest vegetation of many of Gardiner’s Island (Todd [1907 1968), but stone
]
these areas at the time ofEuropean settlement. wasnotanoptionformostIslandfarmers. When
There are several independentandveryspecific George Washington visited Long Island in 1790
earlyaccounts oftheprominence ofhedges inthe hewrotewithdisapproval inhis diarythat, “Their
landscape of eastern Long Island, a feature that fences, where there is no Stone, are very
added to the quaintness ofthe region in the eyes indifferent: frequently ofplashed trees ofany &
ofmany travellers. Gabriel (1921) went so faras every kind which have gown by chance,”
to speak of “the hedges ofold England”. Rather (Washington, 1978). Plashing or pleaching is a
than serving as boundarymarkersperse, I would traditional method of forming a hedge, or
suggest (following Overton, 1943; Baily, 1956; thickening the base of a thinly-grown existing
and Bayles, 1962) that rows of lopped trees on hedge,bycuttingpartwaythroughupright stems,
Long Island are relics of hedges used to fence bendingthemoverhorizontallyandthenweaving
farmland. HedgesmadebytheEnglishsettlers of themtogether(Latinplectere “toweave”)toform
,
the East End in adaptationthe British tradition of a continuous barrier while forcing thick new
farm hedges ofnative plant materials. Instead of sprout growth from latent and epicormic buds.
plantedhawthorn(Crataegus),blackthorn(Prunus Alsocalled“hedgelaying”inBritain(Blisset,n.d.;
spinosa), or privet or “Prim” (Ligustrum), which Dowdeswell, 1987), this is precisely the method
were found to be susceptible to insect infestation used to “lop” trees on Long Island, except that
(“InthetownofEastHampton, in SuffolkCounty, the pole-size oaks required a small boy to climb
Page 40
them to bring them down with his weight References
(Overton, 1943 Bayles, 1962)! As Washington ALBION,R.G. 1965. Forests andseapower; the timber
said, trees ofeve;ry kind were used, and there are problemoftheRoyal Navy 1652-1862. Hamden, CT:
Archon.
accounts offlowering dogwood (Cornusflorida), ALLPORT, S. 1990. Sermons in stone: the stonewalls of
American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and newEngland andNew York. New York: Norton. 123
hickories Carya in “the old hedges of Long BAILEY, P. 1956. HistoricLongislandinpicture,prose
( )
Island,”andwithaliberaladmixture ofRubusand andpoetry. Amityville, NY: TheLongIslandForum. 75
BANKS, C. E. 1911. The historyofMartha’sVineyard.
Smilax they became “the abode of singing birds
Boston: George Dean.
and of the more timid marauders of the field” BAYLES, R.M. 1882. The town ofBrookhaven. IN:
(Flint, 1896: 29), perhaps a determining factor in Munsell, ed.: HistoryofSuffolkCounty. NewYork: W. W.
the ecology ofsome animal species ofthe Island Munsell&Co.
inaformerage ofopenfields. A 1903 photograph BAYLES, T.R. 1962. Old loppedtree fences.Long Island
by Howard Conklin (now in the collection ofthe Forum,December:268-272. [Problematically,thematerial
inthis articleappears in largeparttohavebeen extracted
Queens Borough Public Library) of a row of
from Overton (1943), withoutattribution]
Lopped Black Cherries (.Prunus serotina) in BIDWELL, P.W., andFalconer, J.I., 1941. History of
Bellportisevidencethatthistree specieswasused agriculture inthenorthern US. NewYork: PeterSmith.
as well, but with few exceptions only the long - BLISSETT, P. n.d. Hedges in ourlandscape. Website at
http://www.hedgelayer.freeserve.co.uk/hedlan.htm/.
lived oaks appear to remain now. With the past
DOWDESWELL,W.H. 1987. Hedgerowsandverges.Lon-
century ormoretoreasserttheirarborescenthabit, don:Allen&Unwin.
andwithstems and limbs lostto self-thinning and FLINT, M.B. 1896. Early Long Island. New York: G.P.
self-pruning,theirformerplace infarmhedgeshas Putman’s Sons.
become obscure. GABRIEL,R.H. 1921. TheevolutionofLong Island. New
Haven: YaleUnivesityPress. 38
The author wishes to thank the support ofthe •JANSSEN, R.E. 1940. Trail signs ofthe Indians. Natural
Douglas DockeryThomasFellowship fromthe History,February: 116-117
Garden Club of America and the Carpenter- L’HOMMEDIEU, E. 1794. On ditches and hedges. Trans-
Sperry-MellonFellowshipfromYaleUniversiy. actions ofthe Society Institutedinthe State ofN.Y. forthe
Promotion ofAgr.,Arts, and Manufacturers II:103-105.
McINTOSH, R.P. 1962. The forest cover ofthe Catskill
Mountain region, new York as indicated by land survey
records.AmericanMidlandNaturalist68 (2): 409-423
MURPHY, R.C. [1964] 1991. Fish-shape Paumanok: na-
ture and man on Long Island. Great Falls, VA: Waterline
Books. 40-41
OVERTON,F. 1943. Oldlopped-tree fences. TheLong Is-
landForum, March: 49-50.
PRIME, N.S. 1845. A history ofLong Island. New York:
Robert Carter. 54
RACKMAN, O. 1990. Trees and woodland in the British
landscape. London: J.M. Cent& Son. RevisedEdition.
RUSSELL,H.S. 1976.Along,deepfurrow:threecenturies
offarminginNewEngland.Hanover,NH: UniversityPress
ofNewEngland.
STRONG,K.W. 1948.Oldwillsandboundtrees.TheLong
IslandForum,August: 149-154.
THOMPSON,B.F. 1839.HistoryofLongIsland.NewYork:
E.French. 275
Potente THOREAU, H.D. [1865] 1988. Cape Cod. Princeton, NJ:
E. PrincetonUniversityPress.
TODD, C.B. [1907] 1968. In olde New York. Port Wash-
John
ington,NY: IraJ. Friedman. 194
WASHINGTON, G. 1978. The diary ofGeorge Washing-
Photo:
ton from 1789-1791. Williamstown, MA; Comer House
Publishers. 128
The author with a lopped tree in Robert Cushman WHITNEY, G.G. 1994. From coastal wilderness to fruited
Murphy County Park in Manorville, Long Island. plain.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Page 41
Marshall
Philip
Lopped tree on Accabonac Road in East Hampton. A knobby lopped tree in Manorville.
Marshall
Philip
WhiteOakonMontaukHighwayin EastHampton BoundaryditchonEdgeofWoodsRoadinWaterMill.
Page 42
A lopped tree on College Road in Selden A lopped tree on Accabonac Road in EastHampton.
A lopped tree on Old Sag Harbor Road in Noyak. A lopped tree at the Maple Swamp in Flanders.
Page 43
Orchids darkredleaves andflowers. The other, andavery
diminutive one, is the Round-leaved Sundew,
--at arms length, but not for picking-- (Drosera rotundifolia). Poking through the
sphagnum,theirstemmedleavesare adornedwith
Gigi Spates glue-tipped hairs. What a curious and exciting
discovery is this bog!
Comingbacknowto the dangerous decrease in
For years in a bog1 along a boardwalk at the
Quogue Wildlife Refuge (QWR), a small the number of White-Fringed Orchids, in the
populationofWhite-fringedOrchids Platanthera summer of 1996, as director of the QWR, I
( approached Eric Lamont for advice on
blephariglottis) hadheldtheir own. Coming into
the 1990’s, the population dwindled to become a managementofthis andseveralotherpocketbogs
scattering ofsix. As these slender, gracefulplants around Old Ice Pond. We were concerned about
these rareplants as well as the well-being oftheir
were being crowded by a succession ofwetland
shrubs and young trees. habitat. EricandIknewthattokeepthebogplants
Now thriving,weneededtomanage formorespaceand
to be accurate about it, White-fringed
Orchids,nomatterhowmanyinthegroupingthere sunlight and to do that we needed to set back the
are, do grow scatteredinabog amongstotherbog natural succession ofshrubby plants. Removing
plants. The first and foremost plant, indeed the woodyplantswouldalsokeepthebogfromdrying
base plant of the bog habitat, is sphagnum out,forasthoseplantsmatured,theywouldrequire
(Sphagnum spp.). Whatisbasic aboutthisyellow- a great deal ofwater and their roots would raise
green moss, tinged with red? It has evolved to dry islands withinthewetbog. Thus, in 1996, we
retain many more times its own weight in water. set outto plan for a gathering ofwilling and able
Carpeting the bog, the sphagnum even in severe laborers, for appropriate tools ofthe trade and, of
course,thenecessaryDECwetlandspermit. (Even
drought conditions holds water at ground level
which allows other bog plants to take hold and theDEC-managedfacilitymustapplyandreceive
permission to work within the boundaries of a
flourish.
wetland.)
Intheparticularbogwhere the QuogueWildlife
Whatwastheresultofthiswarmweatherprepa-
Refuge’s White-fringed Orchids grow, there are
A
also populations of two insect-digesting plants. ration? bandofarmedpruners inthemiddle of
The most noticeable one is the Pitcher Plant that very next winter! To avoid disturbance as
(Sarraceniapurpurea here in small but showy much as possible Eric recommended selective
),
pruning in the depth ofthe dormant season. He
stands with their odd pitcher-shaped green and
Potente
E.
John
Photo:
Helping to revert the site to bog habitat at Quogue Eric and Gigi by the restored bog site in the summer
of 2001 with eighty-eight White-fringed orchids
as1.boAgust,hotrha’tsbNeoitneg:tIhnetohledfdoelsliognwaitnigoanrtfiocrlew,hIatrewfeerntoocwerktnaoinwwheetrleaonndLaroenags (Platanthera blephariglottis) in bloom.
IslandtobemoreaccuratelycalledCoastalPlainPoorFens.
Page 44
summoned several ofhis Riverhead High School bear in mind the need for adequate bordering
Environmental Studies students. I lured several wetland areas to allow for pioneer orchid plants
SouthamptonCollege students doingcooperative to establish themselves.”
education work at the Refuge and even snagged I personally hope that in late July/early August,
mysister. Bundledtothecoldanddelicatelystep- you take a trip to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge to
ping, our little group pruned the encroaching see, up close, the striking beauty of the White-
woodyvegetation such as Inkberry (Ilexglabra fringes. Theyhave a long lower lip with eyelash-
),
High Bush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), like projections. They are, as the common name
Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida) and Red Cedar states, white, and a very pure white indeed. To
(Juniperus virginiana) down to soil level in sev- see so many stark white beauties during the heat
eralbog areas along the MainTrail ofthe refuge. ofthe summer in one small site is to be mightily
It was tedious but interesting work and with the impressed. Itremindsme ofapartofonoldRobert
,
management goal in mind, even exciting. We Frostpoem:
worked diligently in several different bog areas;
in one we were setting back succession not for A saturated meadow,
White-fringed Orchids, but for Rose Pogonias Sun-shaped andjewel-small,
A
(Pogonia ophioglossoides another freshwater circle scarcely wider
),
wetland orchid native to Long Island. Than the trees around were tall;
That management work occurred three and a Where winds were quite excluded,
half years ago. This summer of 2001, Eric And the air was stifling sweet
Lamont, John Potente and I counted eighty-eight With the breath ofmany flowers—
A
White-fringedOrchids inbloominAugust. Wow, temple ofthe heat.
what a sight and what a satisfaction!
Beyondpreserving the diversity ofthe Quogue
Wildlife Refuge and its habitats, the importance
of setting back succession in these bogs is spe-
cifically geared to preserve this site of White-
fringed Orchids. Several ofthe remaining sites
ofthis orchid on Long Island are threatened for
various reasons, as this site had been. I would
also add that maintaining these bog areas at
Quogue will help not only other unusual plants
likethe largeCranberry(Vacciniummacrocarpon)
but populations of animals such as the Spotted
Turtle (Clemmysguttata). The Refuge harbors a
small population of this species of special con-
cern, a ranking just under threatened. Spotteds
preferbogs, headwaters ofponds and sometimes
swamps, ratherthatthe openpond. Thus, we can
expect our management work to have multiple
successes.
TheblossomingWhite-fringedOrchids of2001
brought the only reward necessary for the Where else can you be at arm’s length to rare
management work of several years ago. Their plants like the sun-loving White-fringed Orchid,
spectacularbeauty alsobrought an enthusiasmto thePitcherPlantandRound-leaved Sundew, even
help maintain these wetlands in the future. For, to lay down on the boardwalk and gently touch
to quote from Lance Biechele’s article, “Secret the cool wetness ofthe sphagnum moss?
RelationshipsAmongOurNative Orchids”, inthe Go therenext summer, and enjoythem—fortheir
April-June 2001 edition ofthe LIBS newsletter, rarity, beauty and uniqueness. But remember,
“Whenplanningfororchidpreservation, onemust look, but do not disturb.
Page 45
.
Notes on the White-fringed Orchid The east end ofLong Island is the final refuge
on Long Island, New York forthis showy orchid, but in recentyears eventhe
East End populations have been threatened with
Eric Lamont destruction. Forexample, intheTownship ofEast
Hampton a roadside population of the White-
The White-fringed Orchid was described as a fringed Orchid consisted ofbetween 150 to 200
new species in 1805 bythe Germanbotanist Carl flowering individuals in the mid to late 1980’s
LudwigvonWilldenow(1765-1812),basedupon (with at least twice that many sterile plants).
a collection from Pennsylvania. Willdenow However, due to uncontrolled roadside mowing
included the new orchid in the genus Orchis and by the Town’s Department ofHighways only one
A
gaveitthe speciesname blephariglottis In 1824, individual plant flowered in 2001! similar
theEnglishbotanistWilliamHooker(1785-1865) decline was being noted from a population at
transferred the species to the genus Habenaria Quogue Wildlife Refuge (QWR) in the Township
andin 1835 JohnLindley(1799-1865)transferred ofSouthampton. But the loss ofindividuals was
the speciestothegenusPlatanthera. Today,most due to the process of ecological succession, not
QWR
bota^fejk^ow the White-fringed Orchid as by the deliberate action of humans. The
Platanthera blephariglottis, but some botanists population of the White-fringed Orchid was
still refer to it a£Habenaria blephariglottis. decliningduetothe loss ofsuitablehabitat; shrubs
The oldest herbariunrtdllection ofthe White- were encroaching upon the open wetland, thus
fringed Orchid from Long Island dates back to crowdingoutthe sun-lovingorchids andotherbog
1869 (just a few years after the American Civil plants. During the 1980’s, dozens of flowering
War), when Elihu Miller collected a specimen orchids occurred at the Quogue site, but by the
from a swamp at the “Forge” near Riverhead. mid-1990’s, only six individualsremained. Itwas
That specimen was deposited at the Brooklyn feared that if the habitat was not managed and
Botanic Garden where it remains to this day. restored, the orchids would completely die out.
Historically, at least 33 different populations of
the White-fringed Orchid have been known to
occur on Long Island (Figure 1). Today, this
number has been reduced to approximately 16
extantpopulationsandseveraloftheseremaining
populations are in serious danger of being
destroyed by humans. The large populations of
the White-fringed Orchid that used to adorn the
wetlands of Brooklyn and Queens have been
totally destroyed. Only two small populations
ofthis orchid remain inNassau County and only
one population is currently known from western
Suffolk County.
Potente
E.
John
Photo:
Figure 1. Past and present locations of White-fringed White-fringed Orchid (Platanthera blephariglottis)
Orchid{Platantherablephariglottis)on LI. [From:Atlas Blephariglottis,fromtheGreekblepharon(“eyelid”)and
oftheOrchidsofLongIsland,NewYork,byEricLamont glotta (“tongue”), referringtothelowerlip(ortongue)
(1996), published by Torrey Botanical Society.] of the flower with its finely fringed edges.
Page 46