75 



FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 



Trip of Sunday, March 13, 1932, to the Palisades 



Twenty-seven members and guests appeared for the seven 

 mile walk under the cliffs and the trek to and from the Kelders 

 — the depression atop the Palisades and our objective at the 

 end of the trail. The coltsfoot, Tussilago Farfara, and common 

 chickweed, Stellaria media, were in full bloom and many of the 

 winter buds were showing signs of spring, among others Amel- 

 anchier canadensis, Sassafras variifolium, Acer rubrum, Sam- 

 bucus racemosa, Staph ylea trifolia, Ulmus americana and U. 

 fulva, Benzoin aestivale and many others. Halfway up the trail 

 we came upon a young yellow birch, Betnla lutea, still wearing 

 many of its last year's leaves. Sheltered in the ravine it had 

 withstood the winter's winds and was an object of considerable 

 interest. Upon reaching the Kelders we found Corylus americana 

 with the pistillate flowers just beginning to show, and in the 

 swamp a fair-sized specimen of the somewhat rare red birch, 

 Betnla nigra. 



Armed with a permit from the Park commission, the earnest 

 students of winter botany were enabled to collect specimens, 

 many of which found their way into classrooms on the following 

 morning. In spite of the drastic "improvements" in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of New York City, this stretch of wild wood- 

 land still invites the botanist. 



Helene Lunt 



Field Trip, March 27, 1932 



Ripe catkins of Alnus rugosa and Alnus incana, and of 

 Corylus rostrata, and the well advanced flowers of Symplocarpus 

 foetidns, were the only flowering plants in bloom, on the field 

 trip of Sunday, March 27, in the Highlands of the Hudson, from 

 Bear Mountain, via Fort Montgomery to Torne Pond, Hawk 

 Hill and return via Popolopen Creek. A few mosses, Ceratodon 

 purpureiim, Polytrichum piliferum, Mnium hornum and cus- 

 pidatum and Bartramia pomiformis, showed well developed 

 capsules. 



But lichens were in fine condition and, in the absence of 

 other plants in advanced stages, were made the chief object 

 for study. The ledges and old wood roads, on Hawk Hill, rising 



