FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 



Winter Walk of Sunday, February 16, Staten 

 Island. From Pleasant Plains 'to 

 Kreischersville. 21 Present 



We were fortunate in having for this winter field-trip the 

 only real winter day of the entire season. A temperature of 

 only 10°-15° F. throughout the day and a snowfall of 3 or 4 

 inches during the previous night made cross-country walking 

 over the frozen ground easy. A fire and hot coffee tended to 

 reduce shivering. In this region, pines were well represented; 

 P. Strohiis by a stand of large trees near the bridge road, P. 

 rigida by scattered individuals, and P. virginiana, the objective 

 of the trip, by about 50 trees (some up to 50 ft. in height and 

 1| ft. in diameter) in a cat-brier jungle. Only a half dozen 

 trees of P. virginiana had last year's cones, but cones of pre- 

 vious years were abundant. The station is probably the nor- 

 thernmost for the Virginia Pine. Other points of special interest 

 were the barrens covered in places by bayberry bushes, Myrica 

 carolinensis , with a great quantity of berries; groves of sweet 

 gum, Liqiddamher Styracifliia; and a single medium-sized tree 

 of the rare red birch, Betula nigra, growing in a small swamp 

 south of the stand of Pinus virginiana. 



h. k. svenson 



The Lnwood-Palisades Walk of Sunday March 9 



47 members and guests present. 



Before skirting Inwood's northern shore line, we stopped 

 to study some of the winter buds of Ailanthus glandulosa, 

 Morus alba, Quercus alba var. latiloba, Q. velutina, Q. bicolor, 

 and Q. coccinea, the while taking note of a picturesque "Gum" 

 tree (Nyssa sylvatica). This surprising group at 204th Street 

 and 10th Avenue constitutes one of the few remaining stands 

 of native growth on northern Manhattan. Typical of the fast 

 disappearing vacant lots of Gotham, here were colonies of 

 Ailanthus, with the Ailanthus Silk-moth cocoons {Philosamia 

 walkeri) festooned about and dangling within easy reach, offer- 

 ing particular delight to some of the younger members of our 

 group. It was with interest that I found this cocoon on the 



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