The NYFA Blog
Application Period OPEN for Student Research Grants
2023 Applications for the NY Flora Association Student Research Grant are now Open. Check out the Grants and Awards page for more details.
The 2023 Winter Issue of Mitchelliana is now available.
Available Here to Members. Editor's Note: Our lead article in this issue is designed to get everyone ready to look closely at the weedy bedstraws this upcoming season – and help determine the extent of Galium album vs. G. mollugo in NY. Dan Spada, our new NYFA...
Torrey’s Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum torreyi)
Torrey's Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum torreyi) Seven species of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.) are found in New York. Of these, four are state listed as either threatened or endangered. These mountain mints include: blunt (P. muticum), whorled (P. verticillatum var....
Lobed Blue Violets
Not counting the unusual green violet (Hybanthus concolor), there are 78 documented taxa in the violet family (Violaceae) in New York. This number includes hybrids (of which there are many) and some lower taxa. If we only count violet species, NY has a total of 29....
Legacy Lost
A Brief History of Colonization and the Loss of Northeastern Old-Growth ForestsThe first Europeans to arrive to eastern North America were greeted with what some have recently called the "Great American Forest." This mainly uninterrupted wall stretching from the...
November Botanizing on a Saline Roadside
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...
The Nonnative Crab Grasses (Genus Digitaria) of New York
In New York State there are three nonnative crab grasses, Digitaria ciliaris, D. ischaemum, and D. sanguinalis. These annual grasses begin flowering in mid-summer and continue to flower and fruit until frost knocks them back. The native range of D. ciliaris is...
Exploring Noblewood Park – Willsboro, NY
In 2016 I was fortunate enough to consult for the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. My job involved exploring Noblewood Park at the mouth of the Boquet River in Willsboro, NY, and documenting the plants growing there. Noblewood Park is owned and...
Big-leaved Avens
Geum macrophyllum (Big-leaved Avens) Geum macrophyllum is an attractive, late spring- to early summer-flowering species that is listed as endangered in the State of New York. There are two varieties, a widely distributed var. macrophyllum (with shallowly lobed...
iNaturalist App and Plant Identification
If you have not use the iNaturalist app to enter plant photographs and location information you haven’t had the opportunity to use the automatic identification feature. For those of us who have, we are increasingly amazed at how good it is at identifying the plant to...