Gordon Smith

Natural History of the Berkshires

9/13/09

0: Initial Site Description

For my site at Mission Park, the area I decided to investigate was the wedge-shaped section between the two paved paths leading south that has been let go to seed. This area has obviously been manipulated to certain extents by humans: there are beaten paths cutting though it, and it would be easy to suppose that at some point it has been mowed. There is not, however, evidence to suggest that animals are eating the plants in the area, which again would be true in the middle of the college campus.

As it stands now, the area in question contains a variety of plant species. There are approximately 20 trees, about half of which are deciduous, while the other half is coniferous. The conifers were all very similar, both in size and type, leading me to guess that they are all the same species of tree, though I do not know what species this is. The deciduous trees are a bit more varied. There is a large oak tree, several maples, including one whose leaf resembles that of a Canadian maple, and a few grey birches. Interestingly, it seemed that the coniferous trees were concentrated towards the center of the area in question, while the deciduous trees seemed to be on the edges. This may suggest that the deciduous trees are younger, growing up around the shaded edges of the conifers. This idea is supported by the fact that deciduous trees are more shade tolerant than conifers.

There was also a large amount of variety among the low-lying plants. The first distinction is between the plants in direct sunlight and those in the shade cover of the grove.

In the non-shaded area, the majority of the plant life was a tall, thick grass. Interspersed with this grass were several types of flowers. There were buttercups, a yellow flower that resembles a dandelion (though it is growing at the wrong time of the year) and a plant with many small, tubular, purple petals.

Under the trees was far less grass, and far more leafy plants. These plans included ferns, clovers, and other types of low lying leafy vegetation. The majority of the ferns were a bright but pale green in color, with rounded ruffles and with the fronds towards the tip connected. This type of fern was mostly found in large, dense patches on the west side of the area, though there was a patch on the east side. The other type of fern was sharper in its ruffles, darker in color, and less densely situated.

The clovers were scattered throughout the site, but the largest concentration of them was in a patch on the south edge, where they were also larger. Types included simple three leaved clovers, clovers with three heart-shaped leaves (that taste like lemon), and large, single leaved clovers.

The other leafy plants were concentrated mostly in the center of the grove. The two main types were a single stemmed plant with five leaves sprouting in different directions and a three-branched plant, each branch of which had three small leaves. These two types were found in almost all parts of the grove, but again were larger in dense patches in the center of the grove.

There was also a species of white flower that grew only in the shade of the trees. It is a small flower with a yellow center and about 10 thin white petals. These flowers, however, seem to be about at the end of their growth period, as many of them are missing some or all of their petals and are drooping considerably. Interestingly, these seem to be the only plants in this condition: all of the deciduous trees and low-lying plants still hold their summer vibrancy and health.

The only bare earth in the area is around the bases of a few coniferous trees in the center of the grove. This space is piled high with the remnants of pinecones: the scales as well as the cores litter the area.