Whetstone Park
Introduction to Whetstone
Whetstone is a Columbus city park located in Clintonville. It was the location for my botanical survey. The site was dominated by oak-hickory forest. Much of the site is heavily disturbed by human interactions and development.
Poison Ivy
At Whetstone I was able to find poison ivy. Poison ivy can be easily identified as a woody vine with trifoliate leaves. It also has white drupes as fruits.
New Plants
At Whetstone I found some new plants that we haven’t seen in class.
The first new plant I saw was Asimina triloba, or pawpaw. Pawpaw’s conservancy coefficient is 6. An interesting fact about pawpaw is that deer do not enjoy the taste of them, so pawpaw is often prevalent in places where deer are abundant. I learned this fact on the National Parks Department website. Here’s a link: https://www.nps.gov/articles/pawpaw.htm#:~:text=In%20recent%20decades%2C%20naturalists%20have,browsing%20pawpaw%20seedlings%20and%20saplings.
Another new plant that I found at Whetstone was Gleditsia triacanthos, commonly refered to as honey locust. Honey locust’s conservancy coefficient is 4. I learned from the Forest Service’s website that honey locust is typically an accessory species, meaning that it is a minor part in most forest ecosystems. Here’s a link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/gletri/all.html#:~:text=ABBREVIATION%3A%20GLETRI%20SYNONYMS%3A%20NO%2D,honeylocust%20is%20Gleditsia%20triacanthos%20L.%20(
Poison ivy is another plant I saw at whetstone that was not on our plants list. The scientific name for poison ivy is Toxicodendron radicans. When touched the oils in poison ivy cause a reaction in most people that gives them an itchy rash.
Another new plant that I found at Whetstone was spicebush. Spicebush is known for it’s leaves tasting spicy as the name implies. The scientific name for spicebush is Lindera benzoin.
Another new plant that I found at Whetstone was smooth alder, or Alnus serralata. I identified this plant from it’s fruit! Alders have very interesting fruits that are cones that start of green and turn brown as they ripen and release the seeds. I learned that fact from nativetreesfromseed.com. Here’s a link to that website: https://nativetreesfromseed.com/identify/alder#:~:text=Fruits,be%20carried%20away%20by%20water.
I was also able to identify Malus coronaria, or American crabapple by it’s fruit. American crabapple is in the Roseaceae and is infact a type of apple. The fruits are a pome as we learned in class.
Invasive Plants
At Whetstone I saw many invasive species. The first of which was Amur honeysuckle. Originally Amur honeysuckle was planted as an ornamental plant and has since escaped. Its native habitat is eastern Asia. Some control methods are to tear out young plants by hand, or apply herbicide to kill the more mature trees. I learned this information from invasive.org. Here’s the link: https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/loma.htm
Another invasive plant seen at Whetstone is burning bush. Burning bush was brought to the United States as an ornamental and is native to northeastern Asia. It thrives in shady understory and well drained soil. Foliar herbicide is being used to control burning bush. Another control method includes banning the sale of burning bush.
Another invasive found at Whetstone is Japanese barberry. Japanese barberry was yet another invasive that was introduced as an ornamental. It forms dense stands that crowd out native species. It is controlled by cutting, pulling and burning. As the name suggest it is native to Japan. This information was attained at ecolandscaping.org. Here’s the link: https://www.ecolandscaping.org/11/landscape-challenges/invasive-plants/japanese-barberry-exotic-invasive-plant-fact-sheet/
I also saw the invasive glossy buckthorn at Whetstone. Glossy buckthorn is an invasive understory shrub that is native to Asia and Europe. It was introduced for the purpose of being a living fence, but spread out of control. It grows well in sunny moist areas. Controlled burns have provided to be an affect control method. This information was learned on the Minnesota department of agriculture website. Here’s the link: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/pestmanagement/weedcontrol/noxiouslist/glossybuckthorn
Fruits
The first woody plant the I identified by fruit was boxelder. Boxelder is a maple and as such has the distinctive Samara that all maples have. I was able to identify it from the other maples due to the angle of the samara’s wings.
The next tree that I identified by it’s fruit was a bur oak. Bur oak’s fruit is a nut, specifically an acorn which all oak’s have. Bur oak acorn’s are easy to tall apart from other acorn’s due to the bur like tuft over the top of the acorn.
The next tree that I identified by fruit was a black walnut. Despite it’s name walnuts are drupes and not in fact nuts. The fruit is easily identifiable as it is relatively large and has a bright green husk all the way around it.
American crabapple was a plant that I identified by fruit. The fruit of American crab apple is a pome. I was able to identify the crabapple due to the fact that it waas small fleshy and green.
Mosses and Lichens
I saw many lichens and mosses at Whetstone. Here’s four of them.
On that same tree there is a moss along with the lichen.
