TRI-STATE CHAPTER

            On April 5, 2003 the Tri-State chapter spent a glorious day in the Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area, near Milton, WV. The temperature was in the 60s. We were surprised by the numbers and varieties of wildflowers in the WMA. There were signs of a long-gone homestead with irises, daffodils, day lilies, fruit trees, and the usual invasive species; but we found most of the site relatively untouched. We started with hiking the bottom woods near Mill Creek, and then hiked up a hill to an oak/hickory area. Here are the species we saw: (NB means herbaceous flowers, not in bloom)

NATIVE SPECIES

            Rue anemone

            Geranium maculatum

            Carolina vetch

            Greek valerian (NB)

            Redbud

            Bronze fern, Botrichium virginianum

            Short-leaved Bluegrass, Poa cuspidata

            Horsetail, Equisetum arvense

            Sandbar willow

            Toothworts

                        Isopyrum biternatum

                        Dentaria diphylla

                        D. heterophylla

                        Dentaria taunata

Phlox maculata

Ragworts

            Senecio obovatus

            S. obovatus Var. Elliottii (On a rock outcropping on the hill)

            S. aureus

Early Saxifrage, S. virginiensis

Violets

Common, Viola sororia

                        Canada, V.Canadensis

                        Creamy, V. striata

                        Marsh, V. cucullata

Southern wood, V. hirsutula

Spring Beauty, C. virginica

            Waterleaf, Hydrophllum macrophyllum (NB)

            Chervil, Chaerophyllum procumbens (NB)

            Spice bush

            Sassafras

            Sycamore

            Sugar maple

            Tulip tree 

            Virginia pine (There were no seedling VPs. The deciduous trees are shading them out.)

            Musclewood, Carpinus caroliniana

            Buttercups

                        Kidneyleaf buttercup, Ranunculus abortivus

                        Hispid buttercup, R. hispidus

            Sensitive fern

            Christmas fern

            Lycopodium flabelliforme

            Box elder

            Ebony spleenwort, Asplenium ebenoides

            Wood-Betony, Pedicularis canadensis (NB) in short leaf pine woods

            Prenanthes sp.  (NB)

            Asters

sp. (NB)

                        Large leaved aster leaves (NB)

            Juncus lazuli

            Beech

            Poison ivy

            Potentilla sp. (NB)

            Bedstraw, Galium aparine (NB)

Star chickweed, Stellaria pubera (NB)

Greenbrier, Smilax sp. (NB)

Elm seedlings, U. Americana

Eastern Red Cedar

Carex

sp.

C. glatoides

Maidenhair fern (last year’s dried fronds)

Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa (NB)

Serviceberry, Amelanchier sp.

Vitis sp.

Black cherry

Mosses - star, fern, pine tree

Round-leaf hepatica

Cranefly orchid

Virginia creeper

Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum macrophyllum (NB)

On the hill

Lazula campestestrus

Shagbark hickory

Bluets, Houstonis caerulea

Pussytoes

            Antennaria plantaginifolia

A.      Solitaria

Oaks - White, Northern Red, Chestnut

Rattlesnake orchid

Teaberry

Wild yam

Blueberries and huckleberries sp.

Striped wintergreen

Panic grass sp.

Creeping blackberry

Poverty grass, Danthonia spicata

Honewort (NB)

Geum sp.       

Dogwood

Ash sp.

Two-flowered Cynthia (NB)

Reindeer lichen

Red maple

Coralberry, Symphoricarpus orbiculatus

Bottomland again

            Walnut

            Butternut

Blackberry sp.

Raspberry sp.

Non-natives

            Coltsfoot        

            Multiflora rose (the most invasive of non-natives)

            Wild mustard, Brassica

            Tall fescue

            Chickweed

            Buttercup, Ranunculus acris (NB)

            Ground ivy

            Autumn olive

            Japanese honeysuckle

            ??Hawkweed ?? purple veined

            Purple dead-nettle