#newenglandnative

Quercus palustris // Pin Oak

Origin:  Native to Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Species epithet (palustris) comes from Latin word for swamp (palus).  Common name Pin Oak refers to short, tough branchlets along limbs and branches.  Alternate common names are Swamp Oak, Water Oak, and Spanish Swamp Oak due to tolerance of wet conditions.

Zone:  4-8

Habitat:  Spontaneous Urban Growth community.  Prefers moist loams but tolerates poorly drained soils. Tolerates some flooding.  Found in floodplains, forests, shores of rivers/lakes, and swamps.

Mature Size:  50-70′ tall with 40-60′ spread, with broad, pyramidal crown. Upper branches ascend, middle branches grow outward horizontally, and lower branches descend. 

Leaves:  Alternate.  Simple.  Glossy, dark green leaves grow up to 5” long and typically have 5 bristle-tipped lobes with deeply cut sinuses.  Leaves develop deep red foliage in the Fall. 

Bark:  Smooth gray-brown bark usually develops ridging with age. 

Flower/Fruit:  Monoecious.  Insignificant, yellowish-green flowers in separate male and female catkins appear in Spring.  Fruits are rounded acorns (1/2” long), with shallow, saucer-shaped acorn cups that barely cover the acorn base. Acorns have characteristic alternating darker/lighter streaks.  Trees may take 15-20 years to start producing mast.  

[www.gobotany.newenglandwild.org]

[gobotany.newenglandwild.org]

Fragaria virginiana // Wild Strawberry, Common Strawberry

Origin:  Native to Eastern North America

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Genus Fragaria comes from the Latin word Fraga for strawberries, most likely originating from “fragrans” in reference to the plant’s fragrant fruit.  Common name Strawberry comes from the historic practice of mulching the plant with straw, which fought the possible threat of fungal diseases.

Strawberries were cultivated by Native Americans and colonists as a food and medicinal source.  Commercially bought Strawberries today are a hybrid of Fragaria virginiana (which has an ideal sweet flavor) and Fragaria chiloensis (which produces larger berries).  

Zone:  5-9

Habitat:  Easily grown in fertile, moist to dry, well-drained soils in full sun to partial shade. Prefers organically rich, sandy loams.  Generally dislikes high Summer heat, humidity and strong winds.  Found in anthropogenic habitats, fields and meadows, and along shores of lakes and rivers.  

Mature Size:  0.25-0.75′ tall with 1-2′ spread.  Spreads with ground-hugging runners (stolons).

Leaves:  Trifoliate leaves with three coarsely toothed leaflets (leaflets grow to 2.5″ long).  Each leaf appears on a slender stalk (up to 6″ long).

Flower/Fruit:  Monoecious.  Five-petaled white flowers are about 3/4″ across, and have a multitude of yellow-anthered center stamens.  Flowers bloom in April-May in flat umbel-like clusters (4-6 flowers each) below the leaves. Flowers give way to achene-dotted ovoid fruits (up to 1/2″) which mature to red.  Seeds are embedded in the pits of the strawberries. 

[www.gobotany.newenglandwild.org]

Rubus allegheniensis // Common Blackberry

Origin:  Native to North America

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Genus Rubus means Red, and refers to a collection of plants with fruit consisting of small, rounded segments that make up a single larger berry.  Alternately called Appalachian Raspberry and Dewberry.

Harvested by both colonists and Native Americans in the 17 and 1800′s as a food source, and has also been consistently valued for medicinal properties, dyes, teas, and wine.

Zone:  3-9

Habitat:  Urban Growth community.  Prefers organically-rich, well-drained soils, but also tolerates clay-loam or rocky soil.  Grows best in full sunlight to partial shade.  Found in anthropogenic habitats, forest edges, and fields/meadows.  

Mature Size:  3-6′ tall with 2-4′ spread.    

Leaves:  Alternate.  Palmately compound leaves with long petiole have 3-7 ovate, doubly serrated leaflets.  Leaflets are dark green above, lighter green and pubescent below.

Flower/Fruit:  Monoecious.  Showy white flowers (1″ across) are borne in racemes consisting of up to 12 blossoms, each with 5 petals.  The flowers bloom during late Spring or early Summer before giving way to 3/4″ drupes later in the Summer.  The drupes begin white or green, but eventually turn red, then ultimately almost black.  They are seedy and have a sweet flavor when fully matured.

[www.gobotany.newenglandwild.org]

[http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/]

Typha latifolia // Common Cattail, Broad-Leaved Cattail

Origin:  Native to North America, Europe, Northern and Central Asia, and Northern Africa

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Genus Typha comes from Greek Typhos, meaning marsh, or Greek Typhe, meaning cat’s tail.  Common name comes from fuzzy, cylindrical fruiting spikes which resemble cat tails.  Alternate common names include Cat-o-Nine Tails, Bulrushes, and Cossack Asparagus.  

Used by both Native Americans and colonists as a food source and for various other purposes, including basket-making, matting/bedding, and rope-making.

Zone:  3-10

Habitat:  Easily grown in rich loams in full sun to part shade in water to 12” deep.  Found in anthropogenic habitats, fens, marshes, shores of rivers and lakes, and wetland margins.  Aggressive colonizers of human-disturbed areas.

Mature Size:  4-6′ tall with 4-6′ spread.  

Leaves:  Narrow, upright, mostly basal, green leaves grow up to 7’ long. Leaves rise from base of a stiff, unbranched central stalk that rises equal to or slightly less than the height of the leaves.

Flower/Fruit:  Monoecious.  Each stalk is topped with two sets of minute flowers densely packed into a cylindrical inflorescence.  Yellowish male flowers are located at the top of the inflorescence, greenish female flowers are underneath.  Flowers bloom in Summer, then the male flowers rapidly disperse, leaving a naked stalk tip.  Pollinated female flowers turn brown as the seeds mature, forming the familiar cylindrical cattail fruiting spike (up to 9” long). Foliage turns yellow-brown in Autumn. Fruiting spikes usually persist to early winter before disintegrating. 

[www.missouribotanicalgarden.org]

[www.gobotany.newenglandwild.org]

Polypodium virginianum // Rock Polypody

Origin:  Native to North America and Eastern Asia

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Alternate common names include Virginia Polypody, Rockcap Fern or American Wall Fern.  Common names derive from the plant’s ability to grow in extremely rocky, steep conditions. Genus Polypodium means “Many leaves.” 

It was widely used by Native Americans as a medicinal herb to treat stomach pains, colds, coughs, and sore throats.

Zone:  3-8

Habitat:  Prefers moist, humusy, somewhat infertile soils that drain well in partial to full shade.  Found on cliffs, ledges, ridges, and rocky slopes.

Mature Size:  0.5-1′ tall with 0.5-1′ spread.  Can be difficult to establish, but once adapted will naturalizes over time into large colonies by branched, creeping rhizomes.

Leaves:  Erect to arching, leathery fronds are oblong-lanceolate to triangular, deeply-cut, and pinnately lobed.

Flower/Fruit:  Reproduces through production and dispersal of spores. Soro are circular or kidney-shaped.  Young fiddleheads appear in the Spring.

[www.missouribotanicalgarden.org]

Polystichum acrostichoides // Christmas Fern

Origin:  Native to Eastern North America

Etymology/Cultural Associations:  Common name refers to shape of leaflets, which have a lobe next to the stem that resembles a Christmas stocking.

Zone:  3-9

Habitat:  Prefers organically rich, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade.  Found in forests and rocky slopes.

Mature Size:  1-2′ tall with 1-2′ spread.  Rhizomatous, although Christmas Fern does not spread independently.  Typically grows in fountain-like clumps that gradually grow larger over time.  

Leaves:  Compound.  Leathery, lance-shaped, evergreen fronds.  Leaflets grow 0.75-3″ long.

Flower/Fruit:  Young fiddleheads appear in the Spring are exhibit a distinct silvery and scaly appearance.  Sori appear on the undersides of the pinnae only at the ends (last 1/3) of the fronds. 

[www.missouribotanicalgarden.org]