It’s nearly December. Goldenrods and asters are long gone, leaves have turned and fallen. Yet I remain in denial – I simply haven’t been able to call an end to the botanizing year.
Besides dried weeds, milkweed pods and other winter delights, there is still some green to be found. Take a look along roadsides – many verges are still green, and it’s not all grass.
I’m not sure exactly what caught my eye, but I stopped at a roadside recently and quickly realized there were some unfamiliar plants, probably because I haven’t spent a lot of time botanizing along weedy roadsides! It soon dawned on me that many of these plants are halophytes – plants that can tolerate runoff of the salt that is applied in the winter. Some are native, and have extended their range out of their native habitat (e.g. salt marshes or similar), while others are non-native, and do well in disturbed sites. All of the ones where I stopped can tolerate some salt just fine.
Here is a verge I stopped at last week, along the Lake Ontario Parkway in Hamlin, New York (Monroe County), a little west of Rochester. It’s not exactly the kind of place that would invite most botanically-minded people! But as I looked more closely I saw some interesting plants.
I immediately saw this grass I didn’t recognize. It turned out to be bearded sprangletop, Diplachne fusca ssp. fascicularis (sometimes known as Leptochloa fusca ssp. fascicularis). I’ve now found it to be quite common at several places along the Lake Ontario Parkway. Formerly listed as a rare plant by the Heritage Program (S1S2) where it was known from salt marshes and other habitats close to the coast. It was just removed from the rare plant list this year, as it has become common throughout the state on saline roadsides.
Growing abundantly with the Diplachne was this European alkali grass, Puccinellia distans,. This non-native species, still in reasonably good shape in mid-November, is common on saline roadsides throughout the state.
Many species in the Amaranthaceae are also well represented in these types of salty roadsides. The fleshy-leaved, almost succulent, horned seablite, Suaeda calceoliformis is a treat to encounter. A native species found in salt marshes on Long Island, it is another one that has moved to saline roadsides as well.
Another fun plant growing on this salty verge is summer cypress, Bassia scoparia. I was finding lots of dried specimens of this species and struggled with the ID, until I found a still green one (on November 19!) and it readily keyed out, with its distinctive ciliate bracts subtending the tiny flowers.
Also growing here is oak-leaved goosefoot, Oxybasis glauca (formerly Chenopodium glaucum), a weed often found in, but not restricted to, saline habitats. Its distinctive leaves that are densely farinose, while the inflorescence is glabrous.
Two Atriplex species grow at this same roadside corner, sometimes side by side. Differences can be a little subtle but seaside orach, A. prostrata (on right if your reading this on a computer display, the lower of the three pics if reading this on your phone or tablet) often has downward pointing lobes on the lower leaves while A. patula may often not show lobes as all. Additionally there are differences in the bracts, with those of A. patula being somewhat rhomboid (upper pic) , while those of A. prostrata (lower pic) are more typically triangular.
Plants in the Caryophyllaceae include a great many native and non-native weeds in New York, including these two halophytes, both growing side by side at this very same intersection. Both in the genus Spergularia, growing here were the non-native greater salt marsh sand spurry, Spergularia media var. media and the native (but spreading along roadsides throughout New York) lesser saltmarsh sand spurry, Spergularia marina. While some differences between these species can be subtle, a quick look at the seeds will easily diagnose them – S. media with the winged seeds, while S. marina without.
Greater Sand Spurry – Spergularia media var. media
Lesser Saltmarsh Sand Spurry – Spergularia marina
I was pleasantly surprised to find so much interesting diversity at a random roadside stop. Hooray for November botanizing!