FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 



A group of twenty-four made the trip to Franklin Lake on 

 Sunday, October 16. The surrounding hills here are of the basalt 

 rock formation, a northern extension of the Watchung Moun- 

 tains and are characterized by an exceedingly rich and varied 

 flora. An interesting occurrence here is the walking fern growing 

 on the loose trap rock talus, where it seems to be thriving ex- 

 ceedingly well away from its usual limestone base. 



The group of Persimmon trees growing along the edge of the 

 swamp at the Clove were found to be abundantly in fruit. Sev- 

 eral members sampled the fruit and found the outer skin rather 

 bitter. The fruit improve with age and are at their best in mid- 

 winter when their bitterness has disappeared. Plants noted 

 along the trail were Blue Cohosh with its bright blue berries 

 flimsily supported on the dried and yellow plant stalks, Gold 

 Thread, and One-sided Pyrola, its persistant and dried up 

 flower stalk still proclaiming its identity. 



Prickly Pear Cactus is found growing on the exposed trap rock 

 ledges in quite a few places. More rarely Selaginella rupestris is 

 found in similar places. The other little member of the tribe, 

 S. apus, was found along the trail beside a spring on High Moun- 

 tain. Here also in open wet meadow spaces were the beautiful 

 Fringed Gentians in full bloom. Intermingled were Bottle Gen- 

 tians which had bloomed somewhat earlier. 



W. Lincoln Highton 



Field Trip of Saturday, October 22 



A perfect autumn afternoon brought out thirty-five people 

 for the field trip on the western slope of the Palisades near 

 Coytesville, New Jersey. Asters and goldenrods were the pri- 

 mary objectives in this area of beech, oak, and tulip tree woods. 

 The following species were noted: Aster cordifolius, A. divari- 

 catus, A. ericoides, A. later iflor us , A. macrophyllus, A. novae- 

 angliae, A. paniculatus, A. puniceus, Solidago altissima, S. 

 caesia, S. graminifolia, S. juncea, S. nemoralis, S. rugosa, S. 

 speciosa, and S. ulmifolia. 



H. K. Svenson 



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