Floodplain forest
These hardwood forests occur on mineral soils along low terraces of river floodplains and river deltas. Floodplain forests are subject to an annual cycle of spring flooding, with higher areas flooded irregularly. In other words, flooding is a natural and even necessary part of the cycle in terms of delivering fresh sediment, scouring and sculpting riverside landforms and creating seedbeds for plant regeneration.
Floodplain forests occur along Onondaga Lake's tributary streams such as Onondaga and Ninemile Creeks, as well as the Seneca, Oneida, and Oswego Rivers.
Floodplain forests occur along Onondaga Lake's tributary streams such as Onondaga and Ninemile Creeks, as well as the Seneca, Oneida, and Oswego Rivers.
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides
bitternut hickory Carya cordiformis
Perhaps the most common hickory of Central New York forests, bitternut hickory can be readily identified even in winter by its sulphur-yellow buds. It was used to extract an oil and, along with Shagbark Hickory, is one of the two hickories used by the Haudenosaunee (Parker 1968). The nuts are too bitter to eat.
The foliage of bitternut, hickory has a high calcium content and is near the top of the list of soil-improving species (Burns and Honkala 1990). Early settlers used oil extracted from the nuts for oil lamps, and to rub on body parts affected by rheumatism. Bitternut hickory is desirable as an ornamental or shade tree, and the dense root system provides good soil stability.
Perhaps the most common hickory of Central New York forests, bitternut hickory can be readily identified even in winter by its sulphur-yellow buds. It was used to extract an oil and, along with Shagbark Hickory, is one of the two hickories used by the Haudenosaunee (Parker 1968). The nuts are too bitter to eat.
The foliage of bitternut, hickory has a high calcium content and is near the top of the list of soil-improving species (Burns and Honkala 1990). Early settlers used oil extracted from the nuts for oil lamps, and to rub on body parts affected by rheumatism. Bitternut hickory is desirable as an ornamental or shade tree, and the dense root system provides good soil stability.
shellbark hickory, kingnut Carya laciniosa
Shellbark hickory occurs in low bottom-lands or borders of marshes. Uncommon in New York State, it is listed as Threatened. It occurs at Owasco Lake inlet, and is also reported from "borders of Cayuga marshes, as well as low woods in Junius" (Dudley 1886). Shellbark hickory has been planted as a street tree in Ithaca; we in Syracuse should think about doing the same for this unique tree. It's listed as Threatened in NYS by the Natural Heritage Program.
Shellbark hickory occurs in low bottom-lands or borders of marshes. Uncommon in New York State, it is listed as Threatened. It occurs at Owasco Lake inlet, and is also reported from "borders of Cayuga marshes, as well as low woods in Junius" (Dudley 1886). Shellbark hickory has been planted as a street tree in Ithaca; we in Syracuse should think about doing the same for this unique tree. It's listed as Threatened in NYS by the Natural Heritage Program.
prickly ash, toothache tree Zanthoxylem americanum FACU
In his 1807 Frederick Pursh observed “plenty of Zanthoxylum fraxinifol.” along the banks of Onondaga Creek. This small tree has many uses, mostly medicinal, and mostly using the bark. Bark preparations were used by various groups to treat ailments including sore throats, itching skin, sore joints, back pain, fevers, colds and coughs, to name a few (USDA Plant Guide).
According to Loskiel (1794):
The Tooth-ach tree (zanthoxylum clava Herculis) resembles the ash, and is thus called, because the Indians use its wood as a remedy against tooth-ach.
In his 1807 Frederick Pursh observed “plenty of Zanthoxylum fraxinifol.” along the banks of Onondaga Creek. This small tree has many uses, mostly medicinal, and mostly using the bark. Bark preparations were used by various groups to treat ailments including sore throats, itching skin, sore joints, back pain, fevers, colds and coughs, to name a few (USDA Plant Guide).
According to Loskiel (1794):
The Tooth-ach tree (zanthoxylum clava Herculis) resembles the ash, and is thus called, because the Indians use its wood as a remedy against tooth-ach.
black elderberry Sambucus canadensis
This lovely shrub once occurred commonly along roadsides, fields, fences, etc., and along Onondaga Creek (Goodrich 1912). Today that niche has been largely filled by non-native honeysuckles and European buckthorn, and black elderberry is less common.
The edible berries and flowers are used for food, medicine, dyes for basketry. Only the purple or blue berries are edible. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be observed with this plant (USDA PG 2012). Elderberries are high in Vitamin C.
Loskiel (1794) mentions black elderberry in his discussion of important food and medicinal plants:
The Canada shrubby elder (sambucus Canadensis) resembles the elder, and bears a small berry of a reddish hue and aromatic smell. A decoction of the wood or buds is an excellent remedy in agues, and the Indians use it likewise for nflammations.
Elderberry wood is hard and has been used for combs, spindles, and pegs, and the hollow stems have been fashioned into flutes and blowguns.
Fruits of elderberry are gathered from the wild for wine, jellies, candy, pies, and sauces. The plants are commercially cultivated for fruit production in Oregon. All parts of the elderberry plant are considered valuable for healing in many folk medicine traditions (USDA PG 2012). Elderberry flowers contain flavenoids and rutin, which are known to improve immune function, particularly in combination with vitamin “C.” The flowers also contain tannins, which account for its traditional use to reduce bleeding, diarrhea, and congestion.
Bears love to eat the elderberry fruits while deer, elk, and moose browse on the stems and foliage. The elderberries are important sources of summer food for many kinds of songbirds.
Elderberry occurs in moist woods, edges of marshes and swamps, as well as in riparian areas. Along with other shrubs, it adds to structurally complex riparian vegetation communities provide many different habitats and support a diverse array of animal species. Different groups of animals occupy or use the different layers of vegetation, and this multi-story arrangement is often present nowhere else in the urban landscapes. Canopies of plants growing on stream banks provide shade, cooling stream water, while roots stabilize and create overhanging banks, providing habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms (USDA PG 2012).
This lovely shrub once occurred commonly along roadsides, fields, fences, etc., and along Onondaga Creek (Goodrich 1912). Today that niche has been largely filled by non-native honeysuckles and European buckthorn, and black elderberry is less common.
The edible berries and flowers are used for food, medicine, dyes for basketry. Only the purple or blue berries are edible. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be observed with this plant (USDA PG 2012). Elderberries are high in Vitamin C.
Loskiel (1794) mentions black elderberry in his discussion of important food and medicinal plants:
The Canada shrubby elder (sambucus Canadensis) resembles the elder, and bears a small berry of a reddish hue and aromatic smell. A decoction of the wood or buds is an excellent remedy in agues, and the Indians use it likewise for nflammations.
Elderberry wood is hard and has been used for combs, spindles, and pegs, and the hollow stems have been fashioned into flutes and blowguns.
Fruits of elderberry are gathered from the wild for wine, jellies, candy, pies, and sauces. The plants are commercially cultivated for fruit production in Oregon. All parts of the elderberry plant are considered valuable for healing in many folk medicine traditions (USDA PG 2012). Elderberry flowers contain flavenoids and rutin, which are known to improve immune function, particularly in combination with vitamin “C.” The flowers also contain tannins, which account for its traditional use to reduce bleeding, diarrhea, and congestion.
Bears love to eat the elderberry fruits while deer, elk, and moose browse on the stems and foliage. The elderberries are important sources of summer food for many kinds of songbirds.
Elderberry occurs in moist woods, edges of marshes and swamps, as well as in riparian areas. Along with other shrubs, it adds to structurally complex riparian vegetation communities provide many different habitats and support a diverse array of animal species. Different groups of animals occupy or use the different layers of vegetation, and this multi-story arrangement is often present nowhere else in the urban landscapes. Canopies of plants growing on stream banks provide shade, cooling stream water, while roots stabilize and create overhanging banks, providing habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms (USDA PG 2012).
Jerusalem artichoke, sunchoke Helianthus tuberosa
This plant has the strangest common name—it is neither an artichoke, nor from Jerusalem. It is rather a sunflower, growing in roadside ditches, stream banks, wet fields. The common name is a mistranslation of the Italian, girasole articiocco which translates as “sunflower artichoke” in English. The knobby roots (or rhizomes, more properly) have a crisp texture and unique, nutty flavor. It contains high levels of soluble fiber, along with iron, potassium, and other nutrients.
The plant grows vigorously and bears many golden yellow flowers as well as starchy tubers underground. Native to the central parts of North America, it grew in wet prairies and damp woods. Its range was probably extended by native people who valued it as a crop.
Parker (1968) was not able to confirm that this plant is actually cultivated by the Seneca, “but it frequently grew in their cornfields on flat lands along streams, and roots, raw or roasted, furnished food for the camp dinners of husking parties.”
In her 1912 Flora of Onondaga County, Goodrich reported occurrence of this plant as “frequent,” adding that it is “cultivated for its edible tuberous roots” and eaten raw by the Onondagas.
Historically, Jerusalem artichokes were noted by the earliest explorers to North America and were soon adopted by Europeans. Champlain was the first explorer to note the actual cultivation of the plant along the New England coast (Parker 1968, p. 105).
Parkinson, writing in England in 1629, says Jerusalem artichokes were so common that “even the vulgar began to despise them” they were so plentiful and cheap (Booth quoted in Fernald and Kinsey 1958). Later, as Europeans discovered the potato, it gradually replaced artichokes as a staple root crop and today this plant is but a marginal part of the diet both in England and North America. The plant is more highly esteemed on the continent of Europe, but here (to quote Booth again), “notwithstanding all that has been written and said in its favor, it is still far from common, and by no means as esteemed as it deserves to be.”
This plant has the strangest common name—it is neither an artichoke, nor from Jerusalem. It is rather a sunflower, growing in roadside ditches, stream banks, wet fields. The common name is a mistranslation of the Italian, girasole articiocco which translates as “sunflower artichoke” in English. The knobby roots (or rhizomes, more properly) have a crisp texture and unique, nutty flavor. It contains high levels of soluble fiber, along with iron, potassium, and other nutrients.
The plant grows vigorously and bears many golden yellow flowers as well as starchy tubers underground. Native to the central parts of North America, it grew in wet prairies and damp woods. Its range was probably extended by native people who valued it as a crop.
Parker (1968) was not able to confirm that this plant is actually cultivated by the Seneca, “but it frequently grew in their cornfields on flat lands along streams, and roots, raw or roasted, furnished food for the camp dinners of husking parties.”
In her 1912 Flora of Onondaga County, Goodrich reported occurrence of this plant as “frequent,” adding that it is “cultivated for its edible tuberous roots” and eaten raw by the Onondagas.
Historically, Jerusalem artichokes were noted by the earliest explorers to North America and were soon adopted by Europeans. Champlain was the first explorer to note the actual cultivation of the plant along the New England coast (Parker 1968, p. 105).
Parkinson, writing in England in 1629, says Jerusalem artichokes were so common that “even the vulgar began to despise them” they were so plentiful and cheap (Booth quoted in Fernald and Kinsey 1958). Later, as Europeans discovered the potato, it gradually replaced artichokes as a staple root crop and today this plant is but a marginal part of the diet both in England and North America. The plant is more highly esteemed on the continent of Europe, but here (to quote Booth again), “notwithstanding all that has been written and said in its favor, it is still far from common, and by no means as esteemed as it deserves to be.”
groundnut, wild bean, Indian potato, Apios americana
A member of the pea family, groundnut (not to be confused with peanuts, which also sometimes also get called groundnuts) grows in moist places. Almost every part of the plant is edible—shoots, flowers, peas that grow in the pod and, most importantly, the tubers (Dean 2007). These tubers (the “groundnuts”) are swellings that form along a thin rhizome, like beads on a string (Dean 2007).
Groundnut was a staple in the diets of many native peoples, and was eaten by the Haudenosaunee. Parker (1968) reported that groundnuts were “used in considerable quantities up to within the past 25 years [i.e., up to about 1910].” Both Parker and Harris point out that an early Seneca clan name, the Potato People, referred to this food.
Groundnut was not only eaten, but intentionally sown, since the tubers transplant easily. According to Waugh (1916 p. 120):
The tubers of the Apios tuberosa are often referred to as potatoes and are sometimes planted in suitable locations, though they are not, strictly speaking, cultivated.
Kalm (1972 p. 248) called the plant hopniss, and reported:
Mr. [John] Bartram told me, that the Indians who live farther in the country not only eat these roots, which are equal in goodness to potatoes, but likewise take the pease which lie in the pods of this plant, and prepare them like common pease.
Pursh found groundnut near Onondaga Lake in 1807, and those plants could have been descendants of tubers planted by the Onondagas to supply food at this important fishing camp and trade site. Spangenberg, a Moravian missionary, observed north of Owego that:
two canoes filled with Indian women from Tioga, came up to hunt for wild beans (Beauchamp et al. 1916, p. 21).
Thomas Herriot in 1584 describes a plant that could be groundnut:
a kind of root of round form, some of the bigness of walnuts, some far greater, which are found in moist and marsh grounds, growing many together one by another in ropes, as though they were fastened with a string. Being boiled or sodden they are very good meat (in Harris 1891).
Goodrich (1912) describes groundnut as “occasional” on low ground and along borders of streams such as Onondaga Creek. Beauchamp (1923) reported finding it “at the old Float Bridge, below Baldwinsville, on the Seneca River.” He adds that “in floral catalogues it is now classed as a highly desirable vine.” In contrast, almost no nurseries today sell groundnut in any capacity, and few people are familiar with the plant at all. That’s a shame, since groundnut is highly nutritious-- starchy like a potato, but also high in protein (about 3x more protein than a potato). Plants for a Future, a British organization that educates the public on “edible, medicinal, and useful plants for a healthier world,” ranks Apios americana as the fourth-most-important plant in its database of seven thousand. Look for it along streams, near marshes, and in moist wild places.
A member of the pea family, groundnut (not to be confused with peanuts, which also sometimes also get called groundnuts) grows in moist places. Almost every part of the plant is edible—shoots, flowers, peas that grow in the pod and, most importantly, the tubers (Dean 2007). These tubers (the “groundnuts”) are swellings that form along a thin rhizome, like beads on a string (Dean 2007).
Groundnut was a staple in the diets of many native peoples, and was eaten by the Haudenosaunee. Parker (1968) reported that groundnuts were “used in considerable quantities up to within the past 25 years [i.e., up to about 1910].” Both Parker and Harris point out that an early Seneca clan name, the Potato People, referred to this food.
Groundnut was not only eaten, but intentionally sown, since the tubers transplant easily. According to Waugh (1916 p. 120):
The tubers of the Apios tuberosa are often referred to as potatoes and are sometimes planted in suitable locations, though they are not, strictly speaking, cultivated.
Kalm (1972 p. 248) called the plant hopniss, and reported:
Mr. [John] Bartram told me, that the Indians who live farther in the country not only eat these roots, which are equal in goodness to potatoes, but likewise take the pease which lie in the pods of this plant, and prepare them like common pease.
Pursh found groundnut near Onondaga Lake in 1807, and those plants could have been descendants of tubers planted by the Onondagas to supply food at this important fishing camp and trade site. Spangenberg, a Moravian missionary, observed north of Owego that:
two canoes filled with Indian women from Tioga, came up to hunt for wild beans (Beauchamp et al. 1916, p. 21).
Thomas Herriot in 1584 describes a plant that could be groundnut:
a kind of root of round form, some of the bigness of walnuts, some far greater, which are found in moist and marsh grounds, growing many together one by another in ropes, as though they were fastened with a string. Being boiled or sodden they are very good meat (in Harris 1891).
Goodrich (1912) describes groundnut as “occasional” on low ground and along borders of streams such as Onondaga Creek. Beauchamp (1923) reported finding it “at the old Float Bridge, below Baldwinsville, on the Seneca River.” He adds that “in floral catalogues it is now classed as a highly desirable vine.” In contrast, almost no nurseries today sell groundnut in any capacity, and few people are familiar with the plant at all. That’s a shame, since groundnut is highly nutritious-- starchy like a potato, but also high in protein (about 3x more protein than a potato). Plants for a Future, a British organization that educates the public on “edible, medicinal, and useful plants for a healthier world,” ranks Apios americana as the fourth-most-important plant in its database of seven thousand. Look for it along streams, near marshes, and in moist wild places.
manyflower marshpennywort Hydrocotyle umbellate OBL
This tiny member of the Apiaceae or Parsley family is one of the more rare plants (S3 status) in NYS, with vouchered specimens from Onondaga and Oswego Counties only. It is listed as extirpated in PA and Endangered in CT (USDA 2013). Pursh reported finding it in 1807 near Oswego Rift, and wrote: “Hydrocotyle, with peltated leaves, growing along the edge of the water.” Marshpennywort was also found on the “Indian Reservation” by William Beauchamp’s daughter, Virginia, in 1881 (Beauchamp 1923), during a Botanical Society outing. Beauchamp also reported finding it “in abundance a little above Three Rivers Point.” Records for this plant exist from the Onondaga Nation, Seneca River, and near Three Rivers (Hough 2013).
This tiny member of the Apiaceae or Parsley family is one of the more rare plants (S3 status) in NYS, with vouchered specimens from Onondaga and Oswego Counties only. It is listed as extirpated in PA and Endangered in CT (USDA 2013). Pursh reported finding it in 1807 near Oswego Rift, and wrote: “Hydrocotyle, with peltated leaves, growing along the edge of the water.” Marshpennywort was also found on the “Indian Reservation” by William Beauchamp’s daughter, Virginia, in 1881 (Beauchamp 1923), during a Botanical Society outing. Beauchamp also reported finding it “in abundance a little above Three Rivers Point.” Records for this plant exist from the Onondaga Nation, Seneca River, and near Three Rivers (Hough 2013).