The Schenectady County Flora Project

Adiantum pedatum Maidenhair Fern

In rich moist woods, slopes of ravines and wooded hillsides.  Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 1226; Plotterkill, Baim 1898, Glenville, Baim 4861.

Anchistea virginica Virginia Chain Fern

Rotterdam in swamp, Whitney 4905 (NYS).  In Sphagnum bog south of the New York Central Railroad near Albany County line, Baim 3008.

Asplenium platyneuron Ebony Spleenwort

In dry open woods, lower end of Wolf Hollow, Baim 1117; northwest corner of the Town of Glenville, in thin soil on limestone, Baim and Edgar 1934; on dry shale, Aqueduct, Rev. E.J. Cummings (NYS).

Asplenium rhizophyllum Walking Fern

On shale and sandstone ledges and adjacent wooded slope of the Plotterkill gorge, Baim 38; on limestone and talus in Wolf Hollow, Baim 1940; Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, June 13, 1908 (NYS).

Asplenium ruta-muraria Wall-rue Spleenwort

Rare in Schenectady County. On limestone ledges in Wolf Hollow, Baim 1944; Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, Oct. 2, 1909 (NYS).

Asplenium trichomanes ssp. trichomanes Maidenhair Spleenwort

On moist shale ledges along the Plotterkill gorge, Baim 1861; Duanesburg, H.M. Denslow (NY); on limestone ledges and mossy talus in Wolf Hollow, Baim observation.

Athyrium angustum Lady Fern

Common in rich moist woods, in swampy places, occasionally in open places.  Plotterkill, Baim and Northrop 24, Baim 6822; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 1592; Rotterdam, Baim 1180; Taylor Pond, Glenville, House Sept. 19, 1926 (NYS); Stanford Heights, Niskayuna, Baim 3638.

Botrychium angustisegmentum Lance-leaved Grape Fern

Open woods in damp sandy loam. Stanford Heights, Niskayuna, Baim 3992 & 4672.

Botrychium dissectum Grape Fern

Infrequent but distributed throughout the county in rich, damp woods.  Rotterdam, Baim 9. Forma obliquum (Muhl.) Fern. The more common form. Plotterkill, Baim 1920; Niskayuna, Baim 4303.

Botrychium matricariifolium Matricary Grape Fern

In rich damp woods and thickets. Not common. Niskayuna, Baim 3991; Plotterkill, Baim and Edgar 1730.  In the Plotterkill location several hundred individuals of this species were found covering an area of 4 or 5 square meters on June 23, 1946.

Botrychium multifidum Leathery Grape Fern

In dry sandy woods and thickets among pitch pine and scrub oak, Woodlawn, Baim 10 and 2812. South Schenectady in sandy pine woods, Baim 3938 and 3954.  The above localities have been destroyed by housing developments.

Botrychium virginianum Rattlesnake Fern

More or less common in rich moist woods.  Plants up to one meter long are found in the lower end of the Plotterkill Ravine. Plotterkill, Baim 1731.

Cryptogramma stelleri Slender Cliff-brake

Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, June 8, 1907 (NYS).

Cystopteris bulbifera Bladder Fern

Locally common on damp ledges and in moist shaded places along ravines.  Plotterkill, Baim 717; Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, June 13, 1908 (NYS).

Cystopteris fragilis Brittle Fern

On damp or dry shaded ledges and rock outcrops along ravines of the Rotterdam and Glenville hills.  Plotterkill, Baim 1859; Schenectady, Dr. Allen Dedrick 1844 (La)

Dennnstaedtia punctilobula Hay-scented Fern

In dry or moist soil of open places, sandy banks and open woods.  Wolf Hollow, Baim 1046; Niskayuna, Baim and Edgar, 1785; Plotterkill, Baim 6841; dry open woods, Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, Oct. 2, 1909 (NYS).

Deparia acrostichoides Silvery Spleenwort

In rich moist woods and along ravines.  Taylor Pond, Glenville, House 13445; Wolf Hollow, Baim 1943; Vale Cemetery, Baim 2041; east end of the Crabbe Kill, Glenville, Baim observation; Plotterkill, Baim 6973.

Dryopteris carthusiana Common Wood Fern

Common in rich damp woods, wooded swamps and in ravines. Vale Cemetery, Baim 2368; Central Park, Schenectady, Baim 2496; Plotterkill, Baim 6789; Stanford Heights, Baim 3280, 3704.  var. intermedia (Muhl.) Morton, Plotterkill, Baim 11; Niskayuna, Baim 3704. var. fructuosa (Gilbert) Morton, Niskayuna in swampy woods, Baim 5142.

Dryopteris goldiana Goldie’s Fern

In wet woods and on talus. Wolf Hollow, Baim 1211; Hoffmans, E.J. Wheeler, January 13, 1908 (NYS); in swampy woods bordering the upper end of the Crabb Kill, Glenville (obs.)

Dryopteris marginalis Marginal Wood Fern

Common in dry rocky woods and on ledges and outcrops along ravines. Plotterkill, Baim 15.

Dryopteris x bootii Boott’s Wood Fern

(D. cristata x austriaca var. intermedia) In wet alder thicket on farm of Warren Martin, Niskayuna, Baim and Edgar 2000; Three miles west of Mariaville, S.J. Smith (obs.).

Gymnocarpium dryopteris Oak Fern

In cool moist woods and along ravines. Plotterkill, Baim 19 and Baim 1061; in ravine south of Rotterdam Junction, Baim 1196; formerly in Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim observation; Vale Cemetery ravine, Baim observation.

Homalosorus pycnocarpos Narrow-leaved Spleenwort

Wolf Hollow in thin moist humus, Baim 1210.

Matteuccia struthiopteris var. pensylvanica Ostrich Fern

In alluvial soil along the Mohawk River, in swamps, moist woods and in springy places. South side of railroad near the Plotterkill, Baim 7U; Woodlawn, Baim 2404, Stanford Heights, Baim 6677.

Ophioglossum vulgatum Adders-tongue Fern

Formerly abundant in low wet grassy depressions, 1/4 mile west of Kings Road in Woodlawn.  Baim 734 and 3002. Locality destroyed in 1950.

Osmunda claytoniana Interrupted Fern

In damp woods, swamps and wet meadows.  Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 705.

Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis Royal Fern

Locally common in wet woods and wooded swamps.  Plotterkill Preserve, Baim 710.  Forma anomalis (Fern.) Harris, Stanford Heights, Baim 3320.  Forma orbiculata Clute, Stanford Heights, Baim 4148.

Osmundastrum cinnamomeum var. cinnamomeum Cinnamon Fern

Common in moist woods and swampy places.  Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 704.  Stanford Heights, Baim 3664.  Forma bipinnatifida Clute, Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 2896.

Pellaea atropurpurea Purple Cliff-brake

On limestone ledges in Wolf Hollow, Baim 1118.

Phegopteris connectilis Long Beech Fern

In rich damp woods and along ravines. Vale Cemetery near Nott Terrace, Baim 1946 and Baim 2847; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 5525 and Baim 5822; Wolf Hollow, Baim 4534; Featherstonhaugh Lake, Baim 6471.

Phegopteris hexagonoptera Broad Beech Fern

Woods in rich moist or dry soil. Bottom of Plotterkill Gorge, Baim 1896; north of Rynex Brook, Plotterkill Preserve, Baim observation; north slope of Yantapuchaberg, Baim 20; in wooded swamp east end of the Crabb Kill, Glenville, Baim 4860; Taylor Pond, Glenville, House 13448 (NYS); Rotterdam, east of the Plotterkill, Baim 3864.

Polypodium virginianum Common Polypody

On slopes of ravines, rock outcrops and ledges.  Plotterkill, Baim 40; Verf Kill, Baim 2842; Wolf Hollow, Baim observation.

Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas Fern

Common in dry or damp rocky woods, and on wooded slopes of ravines. Plotterkill, Baim and Northrop 1; Wolf Hollow, Baim 3136, Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 4408; Plotterkill, Baim 6936; Stanford Heights, Baim 3328. Forma incisum (Gray) Gilbert, rock slope of ravine, north base of Yantapuchaberg, Rotterdam, Baim 3. Forma cristatum Clute, Niskayuna near Lock 7, Baim 5009; in rich moist woods.

Pteridium aquilinum ssp. latiusculum Braken Fern

Common in dry rocky woods, thickets and open places.

Thelypteris noveboracensis New York Fern

In moist woods and thickets. Plotterkill, Baim 1039; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 1593; Vale Cemetery, Baim observation; locally abundant in rich damp woods, Stanford Heights, Baim observation.

Thelypteris palustris Marsh Fern

Common in moist woods, swamps, border of ponds and in wet ditches. Rotterdam, Baim 16; Woodlawn, Baim 3862; Plotterkill, Baim 6865. Forma pufferae (A.A. Eat.) Prince, Stanford Heights, Baim 5118; swampy woods in Niskayuna, Baim 5144.

Thelypteris simulata Massachusetts Fern

Border of wooded swamp, Stanford Heights, Baim 3945.

Woodsia obtusa Common Woodsia

Wolf Hollow on limestone ledges, Baim 1945.

Equisetum arvense Common or Field Horsetail

Common on roadsides, waste places, in fields and along railroads.  Collins Lake, Baim 642; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 332; Plotterkill, Baim 6894.  Forma pseudo-sylvaticum Milde, in wet gravel along streams and in damp shady places.  Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 2422; Wolf Hollow, Baim 3142.  Forma varium Milde, Rotterdam along the Mohawk River, Baim 5103; Woodlawn, Baim 5153.

Equisetum sylvaticum Wood Horsetail

In rich, moist woods and in springy places on wooded slopes of ravines.  Schenectady, Dr. Allen Dedrick, May 21, 1845 (La); Woodlawn in swamps, Baim and Smith 3778; Plotterkill, Baim 425; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 1686.

Equisetum fluviatile Swamp Horsetail

In shallow water along the shore of the Mohawk River and along the borders of Mariaville, Featherstonehaugh and Collins Lakes. Collins Lake, Baim 428; Collins Lake, Muenscher and Curtis 410 (CU).

Equisetum hyemale ssp. affine Scouring Rush

Locally abundant in wet or dry soil. Roadsides, railway embankments and waste grounds.  Infrequently in woods.  Forma polystachyum Prager, Rotterdam on damp hillside, Baim 2230.  Forma pumilum (Eat.) Vict., in woods, Stanford Heights, Baim 3722.

Equisetum variegatum Variegated Horsetail

Locally abundant in wet depression, south side of railroad west of the Plotterkill, Baim 429; in sand pit, South Schenectady, Baim 3909; Cotton Factory Hollow, Baim 1062.

Selaginella apoda Creeping Spikemoss

In damp grassy places and on lawns.  Stanford Heights, Baim 6410; Union College grounds, Winne.

Isoetes echinospora Quillwort

In shallow water south side of Featherstonehaugh Lake, Baim 1844; “Common in Mariaville Lake” (Muenscher, Biol. Surv. 1934).

These are the species listed by Ted Baim for Schenectady County with scientific names updated to the present NY Flora Atlas.

Huperzia lucidula Shining Clubmoss

In rich leaf mold of damp woods and in cold ravines. Woodlawn, Baim 1155; Wolf Hollow, Baim observation; Verf Kill, Baim 2839; Plotterkill, Baim and Northrup 270; Stanford Heights, Baim 6120.

Lycopodiella inundata Northern Bog Clubmoss

Woodlawn in area of partially drained swamp on sandy-clay subsoil (bulldozed area) 1/2 mile west of Albany-Schenectady County line. Locality destroyed by housing development, Baim 4676.

Spinulum annotinum Stiff Clubmoss

In damp or dry humus of woods and on wooded slopes of ravines. Potterkill, Baim 268.

Lycopodium clavatum Staghorn Clubmoss

Usually in rather dry woods, occasionally occurs in open places along the borders of woods.  The spores of this species were formerly collected in large quantities and sold by apothecaries under the name Lycopodium powder or Pulvis Lycopodii, and was also used to produce artificial lighting effects in theaters.  Plotterkill, Baim 12 and Baim and Northrup 271; Stanford Heights, Baim 7123.

Dendrolycopodium obscurum Ground Pine

In rich damp woods.  Plotterkill, Baim 1862; east end of Woodlawn, Baim and Smith 3777; Stanford Heights, Baim 7123.

Diphasiastrum digitatum Southern Ground Cedar

Locally abundant in rather dry humus of woods and thickets. Plotterkill, Baim and Northrup, 272; Featherstonehaugh Lake, Svenson. (Brooklyn Bot. Garden Herb.); Baim and Edgar 3912; House 23576; Wolf Hollow (ob.).

Diphasiastrum tristachyum Blue Ground Cedar

Rare. In dry woods and open places.  West of Gregg Rd. Rotterdam at about 1000 ft. elev. Baim 2877; in dry open pine woods east end of Woodlawn, Baim 3981.

By Ted Baim

In 1864 E. W. Paige published his Catalogue of Flowering Plants of Schenectady County listing 913 species and varieties in 398 genera. The following year in March 1865, the Catalogue of the Plants of Oneida County and Vicinity by John A Paine Jr. was published in Albany, New York. Paine’s catalog covered a major portion of New York State and cited a number of plants and localities in the Schenectady area. During the intervening years very little has been done toward a systematic study of the flora of Schenectady County except for a few brief reports that have appeared from time to time in special publications. Among these are Notes from Schenectady County by J. Herman Wibbe in the Torrey Club Bulletin in 1866 and Homer D. House Notes Upon Local Floras, NY State Museum Bulletin 176, in 1915. W. C. Muenscher made studies of the aquatic vegetation for the Biological Survey of the Mohawk-Hudson Watershed published in 1935.  In later years Homer D. House had collected botanical material in several localities in the county mainly in the vicinity of Featherstonhaugh Lake, along the Mohawk River in the vicinity of Lock 7, and at Taylor pond in Glenville.

One of the earliest vegetation records of the Schenectady area is that of Richard Smith of Burlington, New Jersey. Smith, who was making a survey of the natural resources of the Hudson, Mohawk, Susquehanna, and Delaware rivers for the colonial government, passed through Schenectady in the spring of 1769. Smith recorded in his journal observations on the agriculture and timber of the country through which he traveled. Smith wrote, “May 11, 1769 from Cohoes to Schenectady. Along the road the trees are out in full leaf and the grass in the vales several inches high, clover and Timothy are common to the country. Timber in these parts, besides the two sorts of pine, consists of black and white oak, white and brown aspen, large and small bilberry, maple, red oak, hazel bushes, ash, and gum together with butternut and shellbark hickory in plenty, elm and others. The woods abound in strawberries, and we find the apple trees, bilberries, cherries and some others in blossom as are the wild plums which are very common here.” Smith noted that the “Sandy pineland approaches within 300 yards of the buildings in Schenectady.”

In 1826, on a tour conducted by Amos Eaton from Albany to Lake Erie via the newly opened Erie Canal, George Clinton collected botanical material along the way. Clinton made twenty-two collections of common plants near Schenectady in the vicinity of Alexanders Bridge. This bridge was located about 300 feet upstream from the aqueduct and connected Rexford and Niskayuna townships.

Wright and Hall mentioned a few Schenectady County locations in their Catalogue of the Plants in the Vicinity of Troy. In 1843 Torrey’s Flora of the State of New York was published with eight or ten citations of Schenectady County plants.

Since the time of Paige’s catalog many changes have taken place in the county. Extensive natural areas have been eliminated as a result of the increase in population and expansion of the City of Schenectady.

 

By Ted Baim

Schenectady County, although small in size, with an area of about 195 square miles, is in a natural position to produce both an indigenous and an adventive flora with as great a variety of plant life as can be found in many localities of much larger size. The county is located in eastern New York State about midway between two large physiographic provinces, the Adirondack Mountains to the north and the Catskill Mountains to the south. These two mountain areas undoubtedly have had a certain amount of influence in the development of the native plants of the county.

The topography of Schenectady County is for the most part hilly except for the sand plain bordering on Albany County that has a fairly uniform elevation of 350 to 400 feet. The lowest point in the county is in Niskayuna with an elevation of less than 200 feet. The highest point is situated two miles west of Featherstonhaugh Lake in Princetown at 1440 feet elevation. Featherstonhaugh Lake at 1290 feet and Mariaville Lake at 1275 feet are located in an area of 25 or 30 square miles having an altitude of 1100 feet or more. In this elevated area much of the flora is distinctly boreal in character. Other parts of the county however, also have a certain percentage of northern species even at lower elevations.

The development of the vegetation has also been influenced by the underlying bedrock, which in Schenectady County consists mainly of gray and black sandstone and shale. This geological formation, the Schenectady sandstone, has a thickness of more than 2000 feet and overlies the Canajoharie shales. Where the sandstones and shales lie close to the surface the soils derived therefrom are of an argillaceous composition, usually intermixed with glacial till, often with angular rocks of local origin. This type of soil is found on the hills throughout the county. West of the Hoffman Fault the underlying geological structure consists of a thin layer of Potsdam sandstone, a massive layer of Little Falls dolomite topped with thinly bedded Trenton and Black River limestones. In the eastern part of Glenville Township there are extensive deposits of Pleistocene sands and gravels. In the southwestern part of Duanesburg Township insignificant beds of Manlius limestone, Rondout water lime and Cobleskill limestone extend into the county. The Hudson River formation is found in the eastern end of Niskayuna where outcrops of this formation are to be seen along the lower part of the Lishakill and in the vicinity of Lock 7.

There are other sources of vegetation development responsible for more recent additions to the county flora. Among these is the Mohawk River flowing eastward through the county and the proximity of the county to the Hudson River valley a short distance eastward. The Mohawk River was the chief artery of travel and commerce during the original occupation of New York State and continued to be during the settlement of the region by Europeans. Owing to its position along one of the earliest roots of travel to and from the west, the county has acquired a large number of plants foreign to its soil. The constant increase in the plant population of any area situated along the main routes of travel takes place by the accidental introduction of many of the more or less weedy species. With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 there was probably a great influx of weedy plants coming in with shipments of grain and other products.  Many of the weeds so introduced became permanent members of the flora and in some cases undoubtedly became so abundant as to choke out more desirable species. Other plants brought into the area may be considered mere transients, a plant or two growing by the wayside or on the lawn, lasting only one season and then dying out altogether. Invasion of weeds is still going on and will continue as long as there are plants to produce seeds to be carried by one means or another from distant places of origin. An example of weed introduction can be seen in the vicinity of grain elevators such as at the Albany Port District, and in railroad yards, where the sweepings from railroad cars bring in grain from the west and have given rise to a very local weed flora different from that of closely adjacent areas.

Ted Baim, a resident of Niskayuna, spent years collecting and documenting the flora of Schenectady County. This is his final hand-written version, completed in 1987.

The Schenectady County Flora Project is just getting started with the mission of completing and expanding a flora that was begun many years ago by Ted Baim. More information about the project will be coming soon.