Inland salt marsh
(aka “Sedge Samphire Meadow,” “Salt Beach Meadow Samphire”)
Southern and east side of lake; also near Liverpool.
Historically rare communities, inland salt marshes occur on saline mudflats associated with inland salt springs. The substrate ranges from mineral to organic and is seasonally saturated to flooding. Vegetation ranges from robust to sparse in association with soil salinity levels. Species diversity is low. Inland salt marsh is one of the few habitats where succulent and C4 species naturally occur in upstate New York (Eallonardo 2011).
Salt marsh vegetation is often sparse, with no trees and less than 50% cover of herbaceous plants. Species include salt-tolerant plants such as salt marsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus), seaside atriplex (Atriplex patula), salt marsh sandspurry (Spergularia marina), salt marsh aster (Aster subulatus), glasswort or samphire (Salicornia spp.), saltmeadow rush (Juncus gerardii)—all species reported from Onondaga Lake salt marshes.
The salt plans of Onondaga attracted the notice and visitation of several prominent historical botanists including John Goldie, Frederick Pursch, John Bartram, and likely Peter Kalm. John Bartram collected Triglochin maritima from the "Salt Springs, Country of Five Nations” in 1743, according to Peter Kalm to whom Bartram showed the specimen (Kalm 1972). Bartram may have collected other plants from Onondaga, but nothing from his trip remains today. Frederick Pursh in 1807 was the next botanist to examine the salt flora at Onondaga Lake. He mentions Salicornia herbacea, Triglochin maritima, and Ranunculus cymbalaria. “Near the springs themselves,” he writes, “the Salicornia herbacea is the only plant which grows” (Pursh 1869). The first complete list of salt plants around Onondaga Lake was published in 1865 by G.W. Clinton (Faust and Roberts 1983).
Phragmites australis was present in small amounts when Glenna Wurth conducted her thesis study in 1932-33. In 1942 it began to gradually increase until the 1960s when it spread widely, becoming a problem (Faust 1983).
Inland salt marshes closely resemble their counterparts along the seashore in terms of sharing many of the same types of plants, and even in some cases the same species. “It is interesting to speculate,” mused Wurth (1933), “on how these plants ever reached an isolated saline spot such as this with the sea coast at least three hundred miles away.” She noted that the vegetation of the Syracuse Salt Flats was a typical salt meadow comparable to salt meadows found all over the world.
Many changes have occurred in the salt marsh flora of Onondaga Lake over the past 500 years. As mentioned in the Introduction, some salt marsh plants probably spread as trees were cut and lakeshore habitats opened and made saline by disturbances associated with the salt industry. In fact, some of the plants once present in drier areas of salty soils (Puccinellia distans, Spergularia media, and S. marina) were not recorded until after the development of solar evaporation, when some vats were put on higher ground (Faust and Roberts 1983). Inland salt marshes around Onondaga Lake have disappeared under McArthur (now P&C) stadium, the Onondaga Lake Parkway, and LeMoyne Park (First Ward Playground) (Faust 1983, Wurth 1933). “Nothing at all of the original salt vegetation remains on the west side of the lake,” writes Wurth (1933), “due to the dumping of waste from a chemical plant.” Her thesis documents the steady decline in numbers of salt marsh plants around Onondaga Lake over the years. Where Goodrich found 40 salt plants, her study found only 16. She presages that “if the city continues to expand at the rate it has in the past years, the salt vegetation of Syracuse will soon be only herbarium records.”
“The waste material from the soda ash is used for filling in purposes on the boulevard and on the marsh lands,” reported the Syracuse Daily Standard (Anonymous 1897). Around this time also, a local resident reflects on the burial of the salt marshes with mixed feelings:
The marshy places where we used to pick sand weed [Salicornia] are all covered with that grayish deposit from the Solvay works. . . . I dare say the Solvay refuse is more healthful than marshes . . . . but I remember it as it was and it all looks very strange (Anonymous 1899).
Salt marsh species occur in regular patterns according to the salinity content of the soil, which in turn is affected by changes in the water table. That is, in a typical salt marsh, the salt concentration in the soil fluctuates depending on moisture levels that are influenced in turn by rainfall, snowmelt, evaporation processes, etc. Species respond individually based on how well each can tolerate saline soils. Glenna Wurth (1933) attempted to capture this pattern for the salt plants in her study in the following diagram.
Southern and east side of lake; also near Liverpool.
Historically rare communities, inland salt marshes occur on saline mudflats associated with inland salt springs. The substrate ranges from mineral to organic and is seasonally saturated to flooding. Vegetation ranges from robust to sparse in association with soil salinity levels. Species diversity is low. Inland salt marsh is one of the few habitats where succulent and C4 species naturally occur in upstate New York (Eallonardo 2011).
Salt marsh vegetation is often sparse, with no trees and less than 50% cover of herbaceous plants. Species include salt-tolerant plants such as salt marsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus), seaside atriplex (Atriplex patula), salt marsh sandspurry (Spergularia marina), salt marsh aster (Aster subulatus), glasswort or samphire (Salicornia spp.), saltmeadow rush (Juncus gerardii)—all species reported from Onondaga Lake salt marshes.
The salt plans of Onondaga attracted the notice and visitation of several prominent historical botanists including John Goldie, Frederick Pursch, John Bartram, and likely Peter Kalm. John Bartram collected Triglochin maritima from the "Salt Springs, Country of Five Nations” in 1743, according to Peter Kalm to whom Bartram showed the specimen (Kalm 1972). Bartram may have collected other plants from Onondaga, but nothing from his trip remains today. Frederick Pursh in 1807 was the next botanist to examine the salt flora at Onondaga Lake. He mentions Salicornia herbacea, Triglochin maritima, and Ranunculus cymbalaria. “Near the springs themselves,” he writes, “the Salicornia herbacea is the only plant which grows” (Pursh 1869). The first complete list of salt plants around Onondaga Lake was published in 1865 by G.W. Clinton (Faust and Roberts 1983).
Phragmites australis was present in small amounts when Glenna Wurth conducted her thesis study in 1932-33. In 1942 it began to gradually increase until the 1960s when it spread widely, becoming a problem (Faust 1983).
Inland salt marshes closely resemble their counterparts along the seashore in terms of sharing many of the same types of plants, and even in some cases the same species. “It is interesting to speculate,” mused Wurth (1933), “on how these plants ever reached an isolated saline spot such as this with the sea coast at least three hundred miles away.” She noted that the vegetation of the Syracuse Salt Flats was a typical salt meadow comparable to salt meadows found all over the world.
Many changes have occurred in the salt marsh flora of Onondaga Lake over the past 500 years. As mentioned in the Introduction, some salt marsh plants probably spread as trees were cut and lakeshore habitats opened and made saline by disturbances associated with the salt industry. In fact, some of the plants once present in drier areas of salty soils (Puccinellia distans, Spergularia media, and S. marina) were not recorded until after the development of solar evaporation, when some vats were put on higher ground (Faust and Roberts 1983). Inland salt marshes around Onondaga Lake have disappeared under McArthur (now P&C) stadium, the Onondaga Lake Parkway, and LeMoyne Park (First Ward Playground) (Faust 1983, Wurth 1933). “Nothing at all of the original salt vegetation remains on the west side of the lake,” writes Wurth (1933), “due to the dumping of waste from a chemical plant.” Her thesis documents the steady decline in numbers of salt marsh plants around Onondaga Lake over the years. Where Goodrich found 40 salt plants, her study found only 16. She presages that “if the city continues to expand at the rate it has in the past years, the salt vegetation of Syracuse will soon be only herbarium records.”
“The waste material from the soda ash is used for filling in purposes on the boulevard and on the marsh lands,” reported the Syracuse Daily Standard (Anonymous 1897). Around this time also, a local resident reflects on the burial of the salt marshes with mixed feelings:
The marshy places where we used to pick sand weed [Salicornia] are all covered with that grayish deposit from the Solvay works. . . . I dare say the Solvay refuse is more healthful than marshes . . . . but I remember it as it was and it all looks very strange (Anonymous 1899).
Salt marsh species occur in regular patterns according to the salinity content of the soil, which in turn is affected by changes in the water table. That is, in a typical salt marsh, the salt concentration in the soil fluctuates depending on moisture levels that are influenced in turn by rainfall, snowmelt, evaporation processes, etc. Species respond individually based on how well each can tolerate saline soils. Glenna Wurth (1933) attempted to capture this pattern for the salt plants in her study in the following diagram.
“The center of the sketch,” Wurth explains, “represents the lowest ground level which would be presumably under water in the spring.” As the ground rises and the salt and water concentrations diminish, Salicornia disappears and Spergularia grows. At the next level comes Atriplex patula var. hastata, and then usually Puccinellia distans. Of course, these species mix and overlap in the messiness of actual habitats, but the conceptual drawing is useful to illustrate general patterns. I’ve listed the plants below according to the distribution patterns recorded by Glenna Wurth in her thesis (1933).
As a final note, some salt plants are now making a comeback in a rather different sort of habitat: along roads where soil salinity has increased due to the liberal use of road salt as a de-icing agent. Plants occurring along this roadside biotope include seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), salt marsh sandspurry (Spergularia marina), and weeping alkali grass (Puccinellia distans).
Here are the plants, arranged generally according to Ms. Wurth’s concentric model.
As a final note, some salt plants are now making a comeback in a rather different sort of habitat: along roads where soil salinity has increased due to the liberal use of road salt as a de-icing agent. Plants occurring along this roadside biotope include seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), salt marsh sandspurry (Spergularia marina), and weeping alkali grass (Puccinellia distans).
Here are the plants, arranged generally according to Ms. Wurth’s concentric model.
glasswort, samphire Salicornia europaea (Salicornia herbacea)
The signature plant of the Syracuse salt marshes, glasswort once grew abundantly around leaky vats and drip puddles associated with the salt industry. Come autumn, the plants blazed brilliant red.
Well before the extraction of salt began, however, these small, succulent plants clustered in the most saline zones around Onondaga Lake’s salt springs. "Near the springs themselves,” reported Pursh, on his visit to Onondaga in 1807, “Salicornia herbacea is the only plant which grows." Glenna Wurth in her Master’s Thesis (1933) research found also that Salicornia is among the most salt tolerant of the salt marsh plants.
A diminutive plant, samphire has jointed cylindrical branches. Salina salt boilers pickled samphire and added it to salads. William Beauchamp wrote of glasswort (1923):
In Syracuse perhaps many know little of its most characteristic plant,
the slender glasswort, better known to the earlier settlers as Samphire. It
was the natural accompaniment of the salt industry here and seems likely to
disappear with it. In autumn its bright red myriads of plants arrested every
eye, but its usefullness same earlier for pickles, which I never tasted, though
the plants were sold on the streets.
Paine (1865) noted Salicornia as “common at Salina, and abundant on the west side of the lake opposite Liverpool.” He added:
Many of the low grounds are covered with this plant; and in autumn they are very beautiful, after a few frosts have turned them into fields of crimson.
The signature plant of the Syracuse salt marshes, glasswort once grew abundantly around leaky vats and drip puddles associated with the salt industry. Come autumn, the plants blazed brilliant red.
Well before the extraction of salt began, however, these small, succulent plants clustered in the most saline zones around Onondaga Lake’s salt springs. "Near the springs themselves,” reported Pursh, on his visit to Onondaga in 1807, “Salicornia herbacea is the only plant which grows." Glenna Wurth in her Master’s Thesis (1933) research found also that Salicornia is among the most salt tolerant of the salt marsh plants.
A diminutive plant, samphire has jointed cylindrical branches. Salina salt boilers pickled samphire and added it to salads. William Beauchamp wrote of glasswort (1923):
In Syracuse perhaps many know little of its most characteristic plant,
the slender glasswort, better known to the earlier settlers as Samphire. It
was the natural accompaniment of the salt industry here and seems likely to
disappear with it. In autumn its bright red myriads of plants arrested every
eye, but its usefullness same earlier for pickles, which I never tasted, though
the plants were sold on the streets.
Paine (1865) noted Salicornia as “common at Salina, and abundant on the west side of the lake opposite Liverpool.” He added:
Many of the low grounds are covered with this plant; and in autumn they are very beautiful, after a few frosts have turned them into fields of crimson.
swamp rose mallow Hibiscus moscheutos
This perennial shrub with the large showy flowers must be among our loveliest native plants. It once occurred commonly around Onondaga Lake. As Beauchamp (1923) wrote:
I fear we have lost another [mallow] in the Swamp Rose Mallow, of great size and fine color, once frequent around Onondaga Lake and in Seneca River.
Swamp rose mallow is found in “brackish and fresh tidal and non-tidal often large and extensive marshes” (Weldy and Werier 2013), so it probably grew on the edges of the Onondaga salt marshes. The plant is listed as S4, “apparently secure,” in New York State.
This perennial shrub with the large showy flowers must be among our loveliest native plants. It once occurred commonly around Onondaga Lake. As Beauchamp (1923) wrote:
I fear we have lost another [mallow] in the Swamp Rose Mallow, of great size and fine color, once frequent around Onondaga Lake and in Seneca River.
Swamp rose mallow is found in “brackish and fresh tidal and non-tidal often large and extensive marshes” (Weldy and Werier 2013), so it probably grew on the edges of the Onondaga salt marshes. The plant is listed as S4, “apparently secure,” in New York State.