Plants of the Olentangy Bike Trail

Introduction

For my botanical survey, I chose to catalogue the plants of the Olentangy Bike Trail. This site follows the bike trail north of OSU campus, as seen on the below map.

I started my search where Oakland Avenue meets the bike trail, near the Tuttle Park Community Center. I followed the bike trail north all the way to the Dodridge Street Bridge, investigating and identifying plants along the way. I categorized this survey site into 3 habitats-trailside plants, streambank plants, and plants of the surrounding woods. Some of the plants I found were only in one of the habitats, but some were present in all 3. One such plant is a foe of mine-poison ivy.

Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)

There was Poison Ivy EVERYWHERE at my survey site. Nearly every time I looked down while walking off the trail, I could spot some in very close proximity to my ankles. Luckily, I know how to identify it and managed to avoid a nasty rash. You know that phrase “leaves of 3, leave it be”? That is wrong. It should be “leaflets of 3, leave it be.” Poison ivy has trifolioate leaves, as seen in the photo above. It is also a hairy vine that grows on trees. The rootlets on the vines help it attach to trees and make it easily identifiable even without leaves. The photo on the right is a giant vine I saw-about the width of my arm! The third main identifying feature of poison ivy is their fruit. They have white drupes that wildlife like to eat, but people should not. Now you too can identify Poison Ivy and avoid it at all costs!

6 New Plants

While it was fun to recognize plants that we’d already learned in class, it was even more exciting to identify brand new plants! Here’s 2 trees, 2 woody vines, and 2 fruiting plants that I had the pleasure of identifying.

White Mulberry (Morus alba) (CC=0)

White Mulberry was a little difficult to identify. I originally thought it was sassafras based on the strange shaped lobed leaves, but a quick sniff test of a crushed leaf proved me wrong. I was then stuck between Red and White Mulberry. I ultimately ended up with White Mulberry because the leaf bases are uneven and the leaf undersides are not hairy. This tree is a bit of a disappointment compared to Red Mulberry. The fruits are whitish and often tasteless, while the red fruits are blackberry-like and edible! I’ve had them before and they are delicious. The White Mulberry is actually not native to Ohio, and was originally brought to the United States by the British before the revolution. Their goal was to establish a silkworm industry and they failed (Petrides).

Black Locust (Robina pseudo-acacia) (CC=0)

This tree took me through a turbulent identification process. I was finally able to identify it based on its occasional thorns, rounded egg-shaped leaflets, and its fruits (more on that later). Black Locust is often found along roadsides or in disturbed areas. I found this tree right next to the Olentangy Trail near an area that recently had new concrete put down, which makes sense for this species. The flowers are an important pollen/nectar source for bees, and the honey produced from Black Locust is considered high quality. This tree also fixes nitrogen in the soil, so it was planted on old strip mines in an effort to restore soil quality (US Forest Service). Despite having a low coefficient of conservatism, this tree seems to do a lot of good for the surrounding ecosystem!

Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia) (CC=3)

I used to have a grapevine at home, so I knew instantly that this woody vine was some kind of grape. The question was, what kind? I was able to narrow it down by noting that the leaves were green beneath, rather than red-wooly. I came to the conclusion of Riverbank Grape after considering its habitat. Petrides had given me 3 grape options-Frost, Riverbank, and Sand. Frost Grape grows in bottomlands and has broad teeth, so I could count that one out. Sand Grape unsurprisingly grows in sandy soils and the leaf shape was quite different, so I ruled that one out as well. That left me with Riverbank Grape which grows on streambanks! This vine is flood, disease, and insect tolerant and produces berries that are eaten by songbirds, gamebirds, waterfowl, and mammals (Lady Bird Johnson). While animals might love the berries, Petrides reports that the fruits are bitter and not the best for people to eat.

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) (CC=2)

Virginia Creeper is our second woody vine of the day. It has 5 leaflets arranged in the fan-compound fashion and is sometimes mistaken for poison ivy (not by me though!) It is a climbing vine and has long and slender tendrils. Its fruits are blue berries that are eaten by a significant amount of wildlife-gamebirds, songbirds, mice, chipmunks, and skunks (Petrides). They are not for human consumption though-they will make you sick unfortunately. This vine is notable for moth lovers-it’s a larval host for a number of sphinx moths. It even has a moth named after it, The Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth (Darapsa myron)! (Lady Bird Johnson).

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) (CC=1)

Pokeweed was so fun to identify! I was captivated by its bright red stems and dark berries. The flowers/fruits are arranged in racemes and the flowers are usually white or pink. The plant can get to be over 3 feet tall which makes it very easy to notice while walking along the trail. Unfortunately, the fun looking berries are not edible but the young shoots are! (Newcomb). They can be boiled and served like asparagus or battered and fried like okra (Lady Bird Johnson). It would be really fun to try it someday (while knowing for absolute certain that it is Pokeweed).

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) (CC=1)

The Common Milkweed is an easily recognizable plant by butterfly enthusiasts. When flowering, it has a spherical umbel of pinkish flowers that smell amazing. It can be identified by its large leaves that are grayish-downy underneath. Inside, there’s a poisonous milky sap. It produces follicles with warty surfaces that will burst open in late fall or early winter. It spreads easily and often colonizes disturbed sites. I was so happy to find it here at my survey site because these plants host an incredible amount of insect species, most notably the Monarch Butterfly. Milkweed is the sole plant that the caterpillars feed on, despite the poisonous sap. They are adapted to eat it and as a result the larvae and adult monarchs are toxic to predators (Lady Bird Johnson).

4 Invasive Plants

Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii)

Amur Honeysuckle is incredibly abundant at my survey site. It was difficult to find other shrubs/woody vines because nearly every time I thought I saw something new, it turned out to be this nasty invasive. Amur Honeysuckle is native to China, Eastern Russia, Korea, and Japan. It was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s as an ornamental plant. It invades a variety of ecosystems such as forest edges, moist woods, and prairie remnants. It is particularly prolific in disturbed woods, which is why it’s thriving at my survey site. The most effective control measure is herbicide use. For well established stands, cutting the stems to ground level and applying herbicide to the stumps works the best (Ohio Invasive Plants Council).

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

There was a large area of ground covered with kidney-shaped leaves that I deduced to be young Garlic Mustard. It is native to Europe and was introduced to the United States for herbal and medicinal purposes. It is now widespread in Ohio, occupying almost every county. It invades floodplain and upland forests, pastures, savannas, lawns, and along roadsides. It usually starts at the forest edges and creeps deeper in until it hits streams and trails. It can be controlled through hand-pulling, cutting stems when flowering, or prescribed fire in late spring as long as these practices are repeated for several years. Herbicide use can also be effective, but it can be difficult to apply it to just the target species and not surrounding native plants (Ohio Invasive Plants Council).

Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

After learning what this tree looks like, I began spotting it all over my survey site. It was originally introduced to the United States from China as a garden plant in 1784. It was introduced a second time during the California Gold Rush as a medicinal plant and was well-established by the mid-1800s. It thrives in disturbed and urban areas and invades forest edges. I found it alongside the bike trail which fits the disturbed and forest edge areas. It’s best controlled through selective herbicide application to the foliage, cut stems, or bark at the base of trees. There are also some promising biological control agents. Ailanthus webworm feeds exclusively on this tree and has overlapping generations each season. It could be an effective method of biological control (Ohio Invasive Plants Council).

Winter Creeper (Euonymus fortunei)

This vine was found all over the ground throughout my site. It can stay on the ground or also climb up trees by clinging to the bark. It is native to China, Japan, and Korea and was introduced to the United States as ornamental groundcover. It invades forest openings and margins and tolerates a wide range of soil conditions (except heavy and wet soils). Control measures include hand pulling and cutting the plant. Like many of the other woody vines, applying herbicide is the most effective treatment of this invasive plant (Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health).

Woody Plant Fruits Identification

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)

Black Walnuts were all over the ground at my survey site. The trees were very tall and too hard to identify based on the faraway leaves alone, so having the fruit on the ground was very helpful. The Black Walnut fruit is a nut. It’s recognizable by its green husk that gets darker and black when ripe. Inside is a hard shelled and furrowed nut which is edible (Lady Bird Johnson).

Boxelder Maple (Acer negundo)

This tree had very few leaves left, but luckily was ripe with fruits! These are very easily identifiable as Maple samaras. It has the “helicopter” look that aids in wind dispersal. I was able to deduce that this tree was a Boxelder Maple based on the few leaves that were left. It had compound leaves, which is not the norm for maples. That led me to believe it was Boxelder, and the samaras confirmed it. They ripen in the fall but tend to stay on the tree through the winter (Indiana Nature). These samaras were still very connected to the tree.

Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra)

Here we have another recognizable fruit-an acorn! Acorns are of the nut fruit type and this specific acorn came from a Northern Red Oak. It is stout and barrel shaped and the cupule is wide and rounded, covering about a quarter of the nut (Leafy Place). I found this on the trail and had to look around quite a bit to find the tree. When I did find it, the leaves were pretty high up and I couldn’t take a good photo, but they were bristle tipped. This makes me feel pretty confident in my identification of it!

Black Locust (Robina pseudo-acacia)

Oh hey, here’s our Black Locust again! This tree was tricky to identify for me. I used the fruits to help me figure out the tree. First, I noticed that the fruits are very flat legumes. Some were straight, some were very gently curved, and they were all around 3 inches long. I used this fruit type to help narrow down which tree it was. Combined with the egg-shaped leaves, I concluded it was Black Locust.

Mosses and Lichens

There were quite a few mosses and lichens present at my site! I tried my best to identify them and got some practice with the moss identification key and my hand lens. Check them out below and thanks for reading!