Plants at the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park

The Site

The site that I picked for this survey was the OSU wetlands aka the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. The site showcases a variety of plant communities including a stand of trees next to ponds/generally wet habitat. Additionally present at the site is a kind of prairie-like ecosystem with graminoids and wildflowers. Unfortunately, the people managing that ecosystem chopped down the entirety of the northern section of the property that had the most diversity in terms of forbs on the site. That being said, it was pretty interesting to see what kinds of plants have been recolonizing the newly opened habitat.

A rough outline of what I considered to be part of my site.

Poison Ivy!

This site was full of poison-ivy and I found it by its leaflets of three and while I let them be, I did snap a photo. While the photo that I took is quite a young plant, older poison-ivy can be seen climbing trees and displaying hairy roots and white drupes. There were other trifoliate plants in the area like box elder so to differentiate the two, I looked at leaf arrangement and it turns out box elder has opposite leaf arrangement while poison-ivy has alternate.

A lovely specimen of *Toxicodendron radicans*.

Trees

White Mulberry (Morus alba)

One tree I stumbled across at my site was white mulberry (CC=*) which is not a native plant and thus warrants a CC value of “*” instead. The leaves of mulberry trees are pretty distinct and the only other tree you might mistake this for is red mulberry which has longer fruit, red-brown bark, and leaves that are hairy underneath. White mulberry was initially introduced into America in colonial times to try to start a silkworm industry which did not work out (Petrides, George A. 1958, A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs, 207 pp.).

White mulberry leaves that have many lobes.

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

The second tree I found was silver maple which has a CC value of 3. Its leaves are whitish underneath and are deeply lobed which help to differentiate it from other maple species like sugar maple whose scientific name is very similar (Acer saccharum). Additionally, when the twigs are broken, they smell bad which can be helpful separating silver maple from red maple which shares many features. The sap of silver maple is also sweet but not as sweet as that of the sugar maple (Petrides, George A. 1958, A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs, 97 pp.).

Pictured is a silver maple leaf which is often described as looking “delicate” compared to other maples due to the deep dissection of the lobes.

Shrubs and Vines

Honeyvine Climbing Milkweed (Cynanchum laeve)

Honey-vine Climbing milkweed is a pretty crazy looking plant in the dogbane family and is not present on the FQAI so it does not have a CC value. It produces the same fruit as normal milkweed and milkweed beetles can usually be seen on the plant which helped me be more certain of my identification of this plant.

Honeyvine Climbing Milkweed on a fence featuring milkweed beetles in the upper left-hand side.

Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia)

Riverbank Grape is also a vine and has a CC value of 3. The plant produces fruits that are blueish-black and that taste like sour candy but crunchier. I would highly recommend trying these grapes if you ever get a chance but be sure to correctly identify the plant first. The leaves are quite broad and are have toothed lobes, with similar leaves in species like Frost Grape and Cat Grape (Petrides, George A. 1958, A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs, 186 pp.).

A Riverbank Grape leaf where you can see the margin to separate it from other grape species.

Flowering/Fruiting Plants

White Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum)

White snakeroot was a plant we mentioned briefly in class when talking about different asters like Joe-Pye weed and boneset. White snakeroot has a CC value of 3. The flowers are discoid are bright white and the leaves are egg0shaped and serrate (Newcomb, Lawrence. 2011, Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, 436 pp.). Snakeroot is famously known for causing milk sickness, a condition from drinking the milk of cows who have eaten this plant.

A top view of white snakeroot where the discoid inflorescences are visible.

Giant Foxtail (Setaria faberi)

Giant foxtail is a graminoid which is not native to Ohio and thus doesn’t have a CC score (CC=*). Like its name implies, Giant Foxtail is quite large and its fruit is very long which can be helpful in identification. This plant is in the Poaceae family and is a monocot since it’s a grass so it displays parallel leaf venation.

Pictured above is the very long fruiting part of the plant.

Invasive Plants

Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)

Honeysuckle is prolific and is found very commonly in the understory of forest stands, usually near the edges for more sunlight. They are very aggressive and often outcompete many native shrubs. The fruits are dispersed by animals like robins which help spread it further. Management for this species usually requires manual removal by tools like handsaws and then spraying the stumps with herbicide or else they regrow (OIPC. 2022. Plant Assessment Results).

Here are the characteristic red fruits of honeysuckle.

White Mulberry (Morus alba)

White Mulberry is a threat to the native Red Mulberry species because it has the ability to interbreed and is found in riparian areas. This plant is dispersed primarily by animals and species such as cedar waxwings have been documented to carrying these fruits rather far (OIPC. 2022. Plant Assessment Results). Effective management of white mulberry is very similar to honeysuckle and the stumps are ground down and then treated with herbicide.

Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense)

Creeping thistle prefers open, disturbed environments which is exactly where I found it at the wetlands. Originally from Europe and northern Asia, this species was introduced to many other places Methods of control are herbicides, manual removal, and late-season burnings of the environment (usually prairies) that it is found in (OIPC. 2022. Plant Assessment Results).

A spiky specimen of invasive creeping thistle.

Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)

Multiflora rose is mostly dispersed by birds and the seeds that it produced can be viable in the soil for up to twenty years (OIPC. 2022. Plant Assessment Results). This plant tolerates a wide range of habitats but prefers well-drained soils. Effective control of this species is focused on chemical and biological control through rose rossette virus. Seeing as these plants have spines, it is rather difficult to remove by hand.