\'0L. 43 T O R R E Y A DECEiiBER 1943 



The Field Trip to the New Jersey Coast and Pine Barrens 

 Friday and Saturday, June 26-27, 1942 



E. J. Alexaxder axd H. K. S\'exsox 



As in the case with most field trips the participants came from many direc- 

 tions by train and automobile, to join at Point Pleasant. The early departure 

 from Xew York had left most of the group without breakfast so that an hour 

 or so was squandered in the various cafes of the village, but Doctor Chrysler 

 finally rounded up a party and we proceeded along the railroad track and 

 road to the south of Point Pleasant. We had gone perhaps a quarter of a 

 mile, noticing the large trees of Querciis phellos on the roadside, when we 

 were pulled up into a meadow on the east side of the track. This meadow 

 had a good many of the interesting plants to be found along the seacoast above 

 tide-level, such as the two milkweeds, Asclepias rubra and A. lanceolata, the 

 latter species apparently reaching its northern limit at this point. There was 

 much interest in the yellow flowers of Oenothera (Kneiffia), but all the varia- 

 tions seemed to resolve themselves into one species, 0. longipedicellafa. The 

 meadow also had a good deal of Aletris jarinosa, the white spikes being es- 

 pecially conspicuous at this time of year, and some scattered plants of Polygala 

 lutca, a species which is more at home in the pine barrens. A large colony of 

 J^iola Brittoniana was found here, the plants in full seed. This is an attractive 

 cut-leaved inhabitant of acid coastal soils, rather rare and locaHzed in its occur- 

 rence, so that a future trip was planned for the following spring to see the 

 colony in flower. 



]\Iaking a short turn toward the ocean we came to one of the lagoon-like 

 ponds bordered by a wealth of interesting aquatics. Creeping along the shore 

 Avere MyriopJiylluin tenelluni in great abundance and also the more common 

 M. liumile ; along with a carpet of the small yellow Utricular ia gihha, Gratiola- 

 aurea, Eriocaiilon septangulare, Hydrocotyle unibellata, and Elatine ameri- 

 cana. At the margin of the pond were several specimens of Ranunculus scelera- 

 tus, an interesting species with exceedingly acrid juice and rare in the Xew 

 York region. Farther out in the water, to be reached only by deep wading, was 

 a growth of Potaniogeton pectinatus, a species generally of limestone regions 

 but scattered in semi-brackish ponds along the coast. An hour or two was spent 

 along the borders of this pond which ended up not far from the coastal dunes, 

 where several members of the party had their first glimpse of dune plants such 

 as the ever-present Euphorbia polygonifolia, sea-rocket (Cakile), seaside gol- 

 denrod, (Solidago sempervirens), Artemisia caudata, and the silvery-leaved 

 A. Stelleriana, which is commonly known as Dusty ]\Iiller. 



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