The Schenectady County Flora Project

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.