More Rare Plants. Still There!

Inspired by our success at re-finding rare plants at Moreau Lake State Park last week (see last post),  I decided to see if I could repeat this success regarding a few other rare plants I've found over the years. So off I went this past Sunday to re-visit two separate locations:  The Burl Trail along the Kayaderosseras Creek near Ballston Spa, and Canal Park in Rensselaer County, where the Hoosic River flows into the Hudson below Lock 4 of the Champlain Canal.

The Burl Trail along the Kayaderosseras Creek

The trail here that follows the Kayaderosseras Creek has seen massive changes over the past 12 years. Back in 2012, the state's Department of Transportation, during a flood-control project, denuded, re-shaped, and subsequently reforested the banks of the Kayaderosseras along this stretch.  Although the banks were re-planted with native trees and shrubs, a number of otherwise disjunct plant species were introduced to this location, arriving on the root-balls of the new plantings. 

Although some of those new species were distressingly invasive, I'm wondering if the spectacular Tall Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) that grows here now could have arrived at this location via that process. Rated as an Endangered species in New York State, this species previously had not been reported from a county anywhere near this one (Saratoga County), until in 2011 I reported finding a single specimen of it growing in a sandplain restoration site some miles away in Wilton. Unfortunately, that plant was subsequently mowed down by road crews, never to reappear. But then I found two specimens of Tall Ironweed along this Burl Trail in 2017.  Would they still be happy here?

Indeed, they sure seem to be!  I once again found both plants of Tall Ironweed along the Burl Trail, right where I first discovered them, and both were beautifully in bloom.  I am delighted to discover that they have persisted at this location now for seven years. 

Here's one of those plants, on the creek side of the trail.

And here's the second one, about 50 yards further along, on the opposite side of the trail.

One of the ways to distinguish this Endangered species of Tall Ironweed from the more common species called New York Ironweed (V. noveboracensis), is to observe the bracts on the flowers' involucres. Although Tall Ironweed's bracts are sharply pointed, they do not extend into long threadlike projections, as do those of the New York Ironweed. Here is my photo of the bracts on the Tall Ironweed involucres:

According to Newcomb's Wildflower Guide, an even more accurate way to distinguish the two species is to dismantle a flower and count the number of florets that make up each flower.  I did dismantle a flower of the specimen I found along the Burl Trail this week, and the 23 florets puts the number well within the limit for Vernonia gigantea, which is 13 to 30 florets.  The distinguishing number of florets for V. noveboraecensis (according to Newcomb) is 30 to 50.

Conclusion: Tall Ironweed continues to persist along the Burl Trail.  So far, anyway, so good!

Canal Park at Lock 4 of the Champlain Canal

Located in Rensselaer County where the Hoosic River joins the Hudson just below Lock 4 of the Champlain Canal, Canal Park is a nature preserve that offers trails that follow both rivers, wend through the woods, and lead down onto an alluvial plain where springtime floodwaters enrich the soil and create a habitat for unusual species of plants.  There are plants that grow here that my naturalist friends and I never find anywhere else we explore. I could see when I arrived at this juncture of the two rivers (Hoosic on the left, canal on the right) that the water levels were low.  This would allow me to explore some areas that would usually be under the water.

In fact, the water in the Hoosic was so low, I could teeter along on the craggy rocks below the shale cliffs that line this river's banks at this site.

Those shale cliffs are exactly the kind of habitat that supports the growth of Provancher's Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus var. provancheri), rated as a Threatened species in the state and considered by Native Plant Trust to be a very rare endemic of high-pH river shore ledges, restricted to Vermont, New York, Quebec and Ontario.  And sure enough, I did find several in perfect bloom, after finding hundreds of basal rosettes of this fleabane clinging to the shale.  The very fact that the basal leaves persist after blooming is one of the traits that distinguish this variety of fleabane from others of its genus and species.  It also has shorter stems and smaller flowers than do similar fleabanes.

Abundant patches of a second rare plant -- called Creeping Bushclover (Lespedeza repens) -- was thriving below the cliffs, spreading across the rocky shore between the cliffs and the water. Despite its rating as a Rare plant in New York, this sprawling bushclover has found a happy home at Canal Park, growing in several places along both the Hoosic and Hudson shores.

I was delighted that the low water levels allowed me close access to this thriving patch of Creeping Bushclover, so that I could manage to take a photograph of its pretty pink flowers.

As long as I was here at Canal Park, I made a point of seeking out the Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium) that grows to gigantic size in the floodplain along the Hoosic shore.  Although this is not at all considered a rare plant in our state, neither I nor any other of my naturalist friends has ever found it in our other wanderings except for here.  I felt lucky to find it in beautiful scarlet fruit, and with its big leaves still intact.  These plants were tall enough to reach my hips.

Oh gosh, I almost forgot to visit another really rare plant that grows at Canal Park! This is a globally rare moss called Sieve-tooth Moss (Coscinodon cribrosus) that likes to cling to vertical shale cliffs, an abundant habitat at this park.  Although it occurs nearly world-wide, it is considered critically imperiled in almost every location.  I wonder how it ever ended up on the cliffs along the shores of the Hoosic River at Canal Park? 

Although it appears quite green in my photo above, its silvery tips make it look quite gray from other angles.  When I first saw it clustered on a cliff height, I thought it looked like a colony of sleeping small mice: