Old field successional
Successional old field
The phrase “old field” refers to meadows dominated by forbs and grasses that occur on sites that have been cleared and plowed (for farming or development), and then abandoned (Edinger et al. 2002). The name “old field” highlights the fact that they are former agricultural lands in most cases, and not natural grasslands. Grasses and forbs colonize these sites, taking advantage of the tree-less space. The Onondaga Lake area is part of the temperate deciduous forest biome, and in the absence of clearing events, trees dominate upland areas. If forests are cut down, however, non-woody plants spring up in these open spaces. Old fields are referred to as “successional” since shrubs and trees will usually eventually creep in and take over in a process of landscape change or succession.
The pace of this transition (and presence of woody species) in successional fields depends on the availability of seed source and abandonment history. In the case of most old fields today, soil structure has been altered by the plow or by other equipment. Plowing shatters soil uniformly and inverts soil’s typical stratified structure. This process also creates a subsurface layer (about 6” down, the depth of the plow) with higher bulk density due to pressure applied in tillage operations (Brady and Weil 2002). This layer, known as the “plow line,” is easily observed by digging a soil pit, and can help distinguish soils tilled for crops from those only cleared for pasture.
This shattering of soil structure via the plough has such a fundamental affect on plant community structure and the cultures that inhabit place, that Engelbrecht (2003) distinguishes between agriculture (practiced with use of the plow) and horticulture (practiced with a digging stick and hoe). Haudenosaunee people were horticulturalists. [Horticulture resulted in a diversity of plants – see Engelbrecht for citation.] Plowing was such a novelty to native people that one of the early settlers of central NY, Asa Danforth, was called XXX “he who plows the earth” by the Onondagas (citation).
The phrase “old field” refers to meadows dominated by forbs and grasses that occur on sites that have been cleared and plowed (for farming or development), and then abandoned (Edinger et al. 2002). The name “old field” highlights the fact that they are former agricultural lands in most cases, and not natural grasslands. Grasses and forbs colonize these sites, taking advantage of the tree-less space. The Onondaga Lake area is part of the temperate deciduous forest biome, and in the absence of clearing events, trees dominate upland areas. If forests are cut down, however, non-woody plants spring up in these open spaces. Old fields are referred to as “successional” since shrubs and trees will usually eventually creep in and take over in a process of landscape change or succession.
The pace of this transition (and presence of woody species) in successional fields depends on the availability of seed source and abandonment history. In the case of most old fields today, soil structure has been altered by the plow or by other equipment. Plowing shatters soil uniformly and inverts soil’s typical stratified structure. This process also creates a subsurface layer (about 6” down, the depth of the plow) with higher bulk density due to pressure applied in tillage operations (Brady and Weil 2002). This layer, known as the “plow line,” is easily observed by digging a soil pit, and can help distinguish soils tilled for crops from those only cleared for pasture.
This shattering of soil structure via the plough has such a fundamental affect on plant community structure and the cultures that inhabit place, that Engelbrecht (2003) distinguishes between agriculture (practiced with use of the plow) and horticulture (practiced with a digging stick and hoe). Haudenosaunee people were horticulturalists. [Horticulture resulted in a diversity of plants – see Engelbrecht for citation.] Plowing was such a novelty to native people that one of the early settlers of central NY, Asa Danforth, was called XXX “he who plows the earth” by the Onondagas (citation).
Of course, before the plow ever came to North America, indigenous groups cleared significant areas of forest to grow crops and create village sites (see also section on Fire in CNY). In 1677, British trader Wentworth Greenhalgh wrote:
The Onondagoes have butt one towne, butt itt is very large; consisting of about 140 houses, nott fenced; is situate upon a hill thatt is very large, the banke on each side extending itself att least two miles, all cleared land, whereon the corne is planted. They have likewise a small village about two miles beyond thatt, consisting of about 24 houses. . . . They plant aboundance of Corne, which they sell to the Onyades (Greenhalgh 1849).
The larger “towne” here is likely the Indian Hill site, occupied by the Onondaga from 1663-1682 (Bradley 1987). The smaller “village” apparently refers to the Bloody Hill II (or Weston) site. Fittingly, an early Onondaga name for an area in the towns of Pompey and Lafayette referred to the openness of the site:
Ote-ge-ga-ja-ke, for Pompey and Lafayette, is correctly given by Clark as a place of much grass openings or prairies. This alluded to the many fields abandoned as the Onondagas removed their villages, for they occupied several places in these towns (Beauchamp 1907).
This place name may refer to lands cleared for agriculture, firewood, or other settlement activities during the time the Onondagas lived here.
How large was the open area Greenhalgh referred to? He says that the “banke on each side” of the town extends “att least two miles, all cleared land” planted with corn. From this description we can roughly assume the town to sit at the center of a circle having a 2 mile radius, from which we can calculate a conservative estimation of the amount of cleared land:
A = π(3.2 km)2 = 32.2 km2
The actual area of land cleared or disturbed was likely higher, since Greenhalgh’s figure applies only to the area planted with corn. Archaeological or oral history data would help to corroborate this rough estimate [I am currently collecting archeological data to refine the area covered by these sites.]
Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of “New France,” invaded Onondaga country in 1696, attacking a fortified settlement about a mile south of present-day Jamesville. (Today a small monument marks the site, on the east side of Jamesville Reservoir). The French army spent 3 days destroying growing corn, as
Frontenac (1850) wrote:
The destruction of the Indian corn was commenced the same day [August 7], and was continued the two following days. . . . . Not a single head remained. The fields stretched from a league and a half to two leagues from the fort : The destruction was complete.
Those figures, if they are roughly correct, suggest a cleared area with a radius of 3.5 to 6 miles or 5.6 – 9.7 km, for corn alone. A rough estimate of the area based on these numbers might be A = π(6 km)2 = 113.4 km2 just for corn. Other areas may have been cleared for berries, fruit trees, or as firewood gathering sites.
The point is that open habitats created by people occurred in this area long before the plough. These clearings probably had different species than post-European old fields for a couple of reasons, however. First, many so-called “old field” plants came in only with the Europeans. Such common eastern meadow components as chicory (Cichorium intybus), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), timothy grass (Phleum pretense) were imported from Europe. Second, indigenous people practiced a different form of agriculture than did the immigrant culture. They did not use the plough, and did not have herds of domesticated animals (cows, pigs, horses). Third, indigenous groups relied on the growth of various early successional species considered as weeds by the Euro-Americans, such as Indian hemp, Indian tobacco, and “briars” for berries (Rubus spp.), As with wetlands, there was greater tolerance of liminal habitats—in this case, those places neither wholly domesticated nor fully “wild” (as in, untouched by human husbandry). These differences are described below, along with their consequences for the resulting successional communities.
1. Land and soil preparation.
How did the Haudenosaunee prepare forest land for agriculture? Parker (1968) describes clearing forests in order to open areas for growing maize:
Land for cornfields was cleared by girdling the trees in the spring, and allowing them to die. The next spring the underbrush was burned off. By burning off tracts in the forests large tracts were made suitable for fields and towns.
Sagard, describing the agriculture of the Hurons (a group related to the Haudenosaunee), says that:
. . . every year they sow their corn in the same fields and places, which they freshen or renew with their little wooden shovels, made like an ear in shape, with a handle at the end; the rest of the ground is not cultivated, but merely cleared of injurious weeds (Sagard in Waugh 1916).
Loskiel notes the use of a deer’s shoulder blade, or a tortoise shell, sharpened and used as the blade of a hoe. Digging sticks were also used, presumably for creating holes for seeds.
Weeds were cleared from a shallow layer of soil, allowed to dry out and then burned. In any case Indians did not use the plough, “that sharp-footed instrument of conversion—that churned and turned the soil and removed the entire constellation of life forms existing in a place to substitute another, seen as more desirable” (Turner 2005). Waugh (1916, p. 17) refers to a taboo against soil disturbance that, if honored, would certainly work in favor of maintaining soil structure and limiting erosion.
Holes were made with a pecking instrument and sown with 4 corn seeds. In the spaces between the hills were planted beans, squash and (according to one observer in Virginia), sunflowers and “pease” (Waugh 1918).
It’s also worth noting that before planting, the Haudenosaunee would engage in ceremonies of thanksgiving that include songs, dances, games (Waugh 1916 p.13; see also Parker). The work was often communal, and everyone shared in the fruits of the harvest as well. In contrast, at least some frontier Euro-American farmers appeared to think of themselves as being at war with nature (see, for example, Taylor 1995). As Hedrick (1933) described the establishment of agriculture in New York state:
It was of necessity war to the knife and the knife to the hilt against nature in the new settlement of New York. When man lays low a forest, tills the soil, turns loose domesticated animals, he establishes antagonism between himself and Mother Nature who has reigned unmolested for countless ages, and brings on a conflict with the beasts, birds, insects, a vendetta that persists until one or the other set of forces is master.
Here, the agriculturalist pioneer assumes an antagonistic relationship between the human community and the natural surroundings, rather than on a reciprocal one, as the Haudenosaunee had learned to do over the millennia. This bellicose attitude in itself is bound to affect the resulting species composition, since its usual aim is to eliminate all species besides a few domesticated and desirable crop or forage plants. These changes often led to soil damage/loss and ecosystem simplification at least in the short run.
2. Length of land tenure
With most agricultural systems focused on annual crops such as corn (whether indigenous or immigrant), some degree of soil loss and nutrient depletion did seem to occur. However, this depletion occurred much faster in fields that are ploughed, due to the oxidation of organic matter made possible when soil is over turned (Pleasant 20XX). With digging stick and hoe, rather than plough, Haudenosaunee women caused little soil damage, making it possible to farm indefinitely in one place (Pleasant 20XX). Nonetheless the Onondagas moved periodically, in search of a fuel supply if not better soils. Jean de Lamberville (Thwaites 1901, Jesuit Relations vol. 62, chap. 62) described Onondaga village moving in 1682:
I found on my arrival the Iroquois of the town occupied in transporting their corn, their effects, and lodges to a situation two leagues from their former dwelling place, where they have been for 19 years. They made this change in order to have nearer to them the convenience of firewood and fields more fertile than those they abandoned.
He is probably describing the move from the Indian Hill site observed by Greenhalgh in 1677 to the Jamesville site along what is now Route 92.
3. Absence of domestic livestock
Settlers brought livestock including cows, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens. Farmers often allowed these creatures to roam freely in the forests and wetlands. In pasture areas, they fed selectively, resulting in “increaser” weed plants, and decreaser plants that were preferred forage. The need to protect livestock and grain fields from depredation by wild animals led to bounties on wolves, cougar, eagles, crows, and other predators who found the farm animals and grains a welcome new food source.
The systematic clearing and burning and the impact wrought by the introduction of heavy, grazing cattle devastated the native wild plants. This created niches for the more tenacious weeds which had followed the settlers from Europe to New England and which were well adapted to survive, even flourish, with farmers and their cattle (Taylor 1995).
When Pursh (1869) walked through Onondaga Hill (past the court house) on his way to James Geddes’ place in Fairmount, he commented on the plants along the way. He observes Tory weed (Cynoglossum officianale), mullein (Verbascum thapsus), and forget-me-not (Myosotis lappula), which he calls “everywhere common in the streets.” He also notes that “Sonchus canadensis” (probably S. asper, spiny-leaved sow thistle) “covers all clear spots in the woods” along with a plant he calls Epilobium parviflorum (presumably willow-herb, E. hirsutum, a European import that can grow in dense patches). The coverage of the forest floor by these weedy species suggests some form of major disturbance such as that caused by cows and pigs running around in the woods.
In contrast, when Pursh visits Ephraim Webster, who lives just outside the “Indian village,” he remarks on the abundance of native forest floor herbs:
The Hydrastis canadensis grows in great abundance in the woods here, they call it Curcume: Sanicula Marylandica,--Geum flore albo.-- Polymnia canadensis--Elymus canadensis-Potentilla Norwegica-- Asclepias tuberosa –Galium circaezans &c were in flower:--The Caulophyllum thalictroides grows in abundance in these woods, it is called here Cohosh. Capt. Webster informed me, that there was one sort of Cohosh growing here with red berries, which I suppose to be the Actea spicata: I dit not see any: The Botrypus virginicus, which is plenty here is used by the Indians as a principal remedy in the venereal disease.
In contrast to the settlers, the native people had no plough and no livestock. They did not regard the forest as a grazing commons with rather inferior forage (compared to alfalfa), but rather as a repository of medicines, materials, or food-- such as the goldenseal, sanicle, whiteflower leafcup, blue cohosh, rattlesnake fern described in this passage. (See “Rich mesophytic hardwood forest” for more details about these forest floor plants in CNY.)
Domestic livestock ran freely not only through forests but in wetlands as well. Peter Kalm (1972) described in 1749 the effect of pigs on stands of arrow arum (Peltandra virginica) in marshes (see also the entry for this plant in the section on shallow emergent marsh):
Hogs are very greedy of the roots, and grow very fat by feeding on them. . . . It is very plain that this plant must have been extirpated in places frequented by hogs.
4. Reliance on multiple sources of calories/nutrients
Finally, while the Haudenosaunee were accomplished agriculturalists according to numerous early sources (see Waugh 1916), they never relied wholly on agriculture for food. Theirs appeared to be a liminal system (Stein 2008) that relied on both annual crops and wild systems for food and other materials, and where lines between “wild” and domesticated were blurred; where plant communities were tended (Anderson 1996) to provide plant and other resources.
Crop areas probably increased in size only after the widespread adoption of Three Sisters agriculture and especially after the sharp increase in corn consumption in the aboriginal diet [citation and say a little more about where, who, how]. That is, caloric increase of corn in the diet increased about 1000 AD in the Northeastern US, as indicated by stable isotope studies in archaeology (Peterson and Fry 1987). Maize, as a prolific annual, provided surplus food to complement erratic years of nut and fruit production. However, maize and other crops were subject to failure or damage by insects, disease, and depredatory fauna, so were never relied on to the exclusion of wild herbs and woodland staples such as nuts.
“The prolific wilderness,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p.23) of the native landscape, “teemed with waste fertility.” In other words, it was just waiting to be farmed properly by people with beasts of burden and a plough. But the “fertility” of wild systems was not wasted on the native people, who gathered, fished, hunted for a significant part of their calorie intake, not to mention medicines and other materials. That reliance is suggested by Loskiel (1794):
Agriculture is more attended to by the Iroquois than the Delawares, but by both merely to satisfy their most pressing wants, for they are even satisfied with those eatable herbs and roots which grow without culture, especially potatoes and parsnips. Of the latter they make a kind of bread.
Apparently the wild earth provides with such abundance that perhaps limited agriculture only is needed:
The country is plentifully covered with plants, shrubs, and trees, which bear fruits. Strawberries grow so large and in such abundance, that whole plains are covered with them as with a fine scarlet cloth. They are remarkably well flavored (Loskiel 1794 p. 68)
The “waste fertility” referred to by Hedrick was augmented by fire, which created openings for plants like strawberries to grow; and perhaps by other interventions. That is, the Haudenosaunee may have had other ways of “cultivating” the wild that the immigrant culture did not, quite likely could not, recognize.
However, let’s get back to the “old field.” What happens when a field farmed for 10 years or so is abandoned? And does it matter if the land was burned, weeded, and seeded (as in the case of Indian fields), but never actually ploughed? Do you get a different suite of plants? Rhizomes may die after 10 years, but a seed bank could be still active unless already emptied by time of abandonment. George Geddes’ (1860) list of weeds for Onondaga County includes such plants as black-eyed susan, pokeweed, milkweed, "hempweed" (Apocynum or Eupatorium), goldenrod, asters, Indian tobacco, field pussytoes in upland sites. In addition, by this date many non-native plants also appeared as weeds: Canada thistle, hound’s tongue, common plantain, ragweed, oxeye daisy, burdock, and sow thistle.
In terms of the grasslands that filled in after indigenous “farming,” we might expect species that occurred concurrently with Indian corn might fill in once the cornfield is abandoned. Such plants would include those either encouraged around native settlements or whose seeds would have been discarded there—e.g. Apocynum cannibinum used for hemp making. Pursh recorded presence of prairie plants in CNY such as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), compassplant (Silphium laciniatum), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), and wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). Note too that the only occurrence of Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) in Onondaga County came from the “Indian Reservation” (Beauchamp 1923?). This prairie plant occurs in northern and western NY where grasslands were noted by early European travelers (see Fire in CNY).
Marks et al. (1992) record species associated with forest disturbances, according to military tract data from the 1790s. These plants include "Thorn" (Craetagus), "thorns" and “briers” (Rubus spp. or Rosa?) on the Allegheny plateau in former clearings made by Indians, and in blow downs. Currants also occurred in one of the same areas of blow down. "Thorns" were noted at a burned site; in the surveyor’s words, "little or no timber, occasioned I suppose by fire, but very thick covered with thorns and hazelbushes [Corylus spp.].” Plum was recorded in two “old clearings.” This is probably Canadian plum or Prunus nigra, which was cultivated by the Onondaga.
In any case, the sequential clearing and abandonment of forest for corn and vegetable growing left a mosaic of patches in various seral stages that could be exploited for various resources typical of each stage.
Engelbrecht (2003, p. 101):
In most cases . . . former village locations with their cleared fields were only a few miles away. The possible abandonment of some fields and the clearing of others would have led to a vegetational mosaic around settlements.
And as one archaelologist pointed out, prairies can be considered cultural landscapes, created by Indian people through their systematic manipulation of landscape to produce open areas for different resources and habitat types (R. Whitlam lecture quoted in Storm 2002).
Herbaceous Plants
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods, herbivores (see section on “Historic Disturbance Factors”). People also created openings of significant size around village sites, as land was cleared for horticulture and trees cut for fuel (as recounted in the Introduction to this section). The size and site conditions of the opening determined what species would grow there. Propagule availability—including seeds or vegetative materials—also played a role in determining species makeup of open sites.
In the case of big bluestem near Salina, openings were created by fluctuations in lake water levels and spring floods along tributary streams Onondaga and Ley Creeks. Also, the village was one of the first areas around Onondaga Lake to be settled by Euro-Americans, attracted here for the business of salt (James Geddes laid out village streets in 1798 [Clark 1849]). This fact alone created open areas for sun-loving plants to seed in. Ephraim Webster arrived in the area around 1786 and set up a trading post here, mainly for furs.
Long before European presence, however, the mouth of Onondaga Creek was an important fishing site for the Onondagas (Bradley 1987). During the 1700s, the Onondagas were at “Salt Point” boiling salt for a modest trade with the Delaware Indians and other partners (Clark 1849). The point is that the area was subject to disturbance, and that the flow of human traffic here over centuries could have brought seeds, intentionally or otherwise, from many kilometers away.
Apparently the range of big bluestem was limited historically in New York state to floodplains of large rivers like the Susquehanna or the Hudson (D. Werier, pers. comm.). On the eastern great plains, big bluestem was widely used by native people for lining food (maize, e.g.) storage pits, since it is believed to have mold resistant properties (Engelbrecht 2003, p. 25). This practice also occurred at least sporadically in NYS. At the Bates site, a fortified hamlet on a terrace of the Chenango River, Ritchie (1973, p. 232) reported finding probable fragments of big bluestem used to line a large storage pit (Engelbrecht 2003).
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).
spreading dogbane, fly-trap dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium
Pursh found spreading dogbane on his walk from Onondaga Hollow along Onondaga Creek to the salt springs at Salina during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. It can be distinguished from Indian hemp (described next) by its reflexed (bent backwards) petals, and branching stems. It’s also toxic.
Indian hemp, dogbane, amy-root, lechuguilla, honeybloom Apocynum cannibinum
Apocynum, this plant’s generic name, roughly translates to “dogs [keep] away” and refers to the poisonous nature of this plant. Cannibinum points to the fact that the fibers, like those of Cannabis or hemp, can be twisted into rope. This plant produces milkweed-like pods that split to release seeds bearing each a tuft of silky white hairs. Colonial and perennial, it spreads well in favorable sites. In fact it is considered a noxious weed in agricultural settings because of its invasive nature and its toxicity to domestic livestock.
From another cultural perspective, however, Indian hemp was/is was highly valued for fiber and medicine by native peoples across North America. People in places from California to New York use the plant to make twine, rope, and string. Peter Kalm (1972) noted that ropes made from fibers of this plant “were stronger, and kept longer in water, than such as were made of common hemp [Cannabis spp.].” (265) For this reason the Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey bought ropes made from dogbane from the local native people, using them for bridles and fishnets. (They got 14 yards of dogbane rope for one piece of bread.) “Many of the Europeans still buy such ropes,” Kalm observed, “because they last so well.” Dogbane was especially useful for fishnets—“sometimes the fishing tackle of the Indians consists entirely of this hemp.”
Kalm describes how the fibers are twisted into cordage:
On my journey through the country of the Iroquese, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. They made use neither of spinning-wheels nor distaffs, but rolled the filaments upon their bare thighs, and made thread and strings of them which they dyed red, yellow, black, &c. and afterwards worked them into stuffs, with a great deal of ingenuity (Kalm 1972).
Kalm also pointed out that dogbane is a perennial, “which makes the annual planting of it altogether unnecessary” (in contrast to hemp which must be seeded annually). He further observed that it grew “plentifully in old corn-grounds, in woods, on hills, and in high glades.” That suggests that when the native peoples needed a good supply of this plant, they could sometimes find it in fields they had abandoned. It may have occurred “plentifully” in such places, in fact, because people dispersed the seeds, accidentally or with intention.
Large quantities of Indian hemp are needed to make fishnets and cordage. According to one source (USDA 2013):
. . . it takes approximately five stalks of milkweed or Indian hemp to manufacture one foot of cordage. A Sierra Miwok feather skirt or cape contain about 100 feet of cordage made from approximately 500 plant stalks, while a deer net 40 feet in length (Barrett and Gifford 1933:178) contained some 7,000 feet of cordage, which would have required the harvesting of a staggering 35,000 plant stalks.
This large number highlights the importance of Indian hemp gathering sites. The plant is found in dry thin forests, rocky openings, fields, thickets, stream banks, roadsides, and occasionally marshes (Weldy and Werier 2013). It is known to increase after burns (Swan 1970).
Indian hemp is collected in the autumn after the leaves have begun to senesce or dry up and the stalks turn reddish brown (USDA 2013). Plants are cut at the base of the stem. Cutting the plants appears to stimulate new growth in the spring; so as many stalks as possible are cut. Plants are then split open and the fibers removed and processed into cordage.
Besides cordage, Indian hemp has medicinal uses. It has been used to treat various ailments as suggested in this passage from USDA Plants website (2013):
The root could also be used as an emetic, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, cathartic, anodyne, hypnotic, laxative, treats vomiting, diarrhea, hydrocephalus, urinary difficulties, dropsy, jaundice, liver problems, and stimulates the digestive system. It has been successfully employed for alcoholism. A wash made of crushed root can be shampooed into the hair to stimulate growth, remove dandruff and head lice. The milky juice can remove warts. A poultice of the leaves reduces tumors, hemorrhoids, and inflammation of the testicles.
Pursh found Indian hemp in the Fairmount area and near the Onondaga Lake salt marshes during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. Goodrich (1912) lists Indian hemp as “common,” found in “damp grounds, banks of streams.”
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Native people all over eastern North America have used milkweed for food, fiber, and medicine for millennia. Young shoots, buds, blossoms, and pods of this plant can be steamed and eaten (for preparation methods, see Kavasch 2005). However, the plant contains cardiac glycosides and can only be safely ingested if properly prepared. Milkweed should never be eaten raw.
Milkweed fibers are prepared for cordage in a manner similar to Indian hemp, described earlier:
Milkweeds supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. Milkweed stems are collected after the stalks senesce in late fall-early winter. The dried stalks are split open to release the fibers; milkweed fibers are sometimes mixed with fibers of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). The bark is removed and the fibers released by first rubbing between the hands and then drawing the fibers over a hard surface (USDA 2013).
As every school child knows, milkweed is the food plant of the migratory monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. Its fragrant flowers also provide nectar and pollen for a wide range of other invertebrates.
butterfly weed, pleurisy root Asclepias tuberosa
A native perennial herb, butterfly weed grows in dry, open soils and is abundant on prairies. A state protected plant (EV) in NYS, A. tuberosa now appears in grassy swaths of highway medians south of Syracuse. In CNY it grows in dry gravely or calcareous soils, such as those around Clark Reservation.
John Bartram includes “pleurisy root” in his herbal, writing:
. . . this hath been for many Years used with good Success for the Cure of the Bloody Flux; the Root must be powdered and given in a Spoonful of Rum, or rather as the Indians give it, bruise the Root, and boil it in Water, and drink the Decoction: Peter Kalm saith it is excellent for the hysteric Passion (Hobbs 2013).
Pursh found butterfly weed in the Onondaga Hollow, now the Valley section of Syracuse, where it still grows today along the mowed berms of channelized Onondaga Creek.
calico aster Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Aster lateriflorus)
Goodrich (1912) writes of this plant’s occurrence in Onondaga County, “Common. Everywhere. Rays short, white or pale blue.” It continues to be today one of the more common asters in the area. Like many asters, calico aster blooms late in the summer or early fall, and therefore supplies an important source of pollen and nectar when insect populations have peaked for the growing season. More common insect visitors include short-tongued bees, wasps, and flies, and less common visitors include long-tongued bees, small butterflies, skippers, beetles, and plant bugs. These insects seek nectar primarily, although the short-tongued bees may collect pollen, while some beetles and flies feed on the pollen (Hilty 2005).
New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster novae-angliae)
Another of our more common and lovely asters, called by Goodrich (1912) the “most attractive of the wild asters,” and therefore the one most often available as a landscape plant. The ray flowers (outer “petals”) can be purple, rose purple, or deep pink.
This native species has many faunal associates (Hilty 2005). The flowers are visited primarily by long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, and skippers. Short-tongued bees and syrphid flies also visit the flowers, but they collect pollen primarily and are non-pollinating. The long-tongued bees include such visitors as bumblebees, honeybees, miner bees, and large leaf-cutting bees. Cross-pollination by these insects is essential, otherwise the seeds will be infertile. The caterpillars of many moths feed on various parts of this and other asters. Other insects feeding on this plant include Lygus lineolaris (tarnished plant bug), Poccilocapsus lineatus (four-lined plant bug), Corythuche marmorata (chrysanthemum lace bug), and Macrosiphum euphoriaca (potato aphid).
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis
Canada wildrye is reported from the canal bank near Will & Baumer plant north of Syracuse near Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013). Pursh (1869) also found it south of Onondaga Hollow during his visit to Ephraim Webster in 1807.
Canada wild rye is a native perennial bunch grass found along trails rivers streams throughout much of North America (USDA 2013). You can recognize this grass by its large, distinctive spikes, which curve downward. Canada wild rye is short-lived, cool season grass found growing on shaded stream banks and in open woodlands. It generally lives in coarse textured sandy gravelly or rocky soils. It is fairly tolerant of shade and salt.
Canada wild rye makes an excellent species for use in erosion control due to seedling vigor and rapid establishment.
grass-leaved goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia
See entry under shallow emergent marsh.
strawberry Fragaria virginiana
The strawberry is among the first berries to ripen in the spring, and thus elicits special appreciation within the annual cycle of food According to Parker (1968), “strawberries are eagerly gathered in the spring and eaten by everyone as a spring medicine.” He writes:
The first fruit of the year is the wild strawberry and this the Iroquois takes as a symbol of the Creator’s renewed promise of beneficence. Quantities are gathered and brought to the feastmakers at the Long House for the Strawberry Thanksgiving. This is an annual ceremony of importance though it lasts but a day. (98)
Nutritionally, strawberries provide magnesium, potassium, beta carotene, iron, and malic and citric acids. The wild berries, though challenging to pick in quantity, are far superior in flavor to the ones cultivated commercially, and worth the work to pick.
One Onondaga name provided for strawberry is noon-tak-tek-hah-kwa, which translates to “growing where the ground is burned” (Beauchamp 1923). In other words, strawberries sprang up after fire cleared competing vegetation and allowed them to establish. Woodbury (2003) gives the name as gadekhahgwa7 [proper linguistic notation not possible with this font], which appears to include the verb base –adeg-, -adek- , meaning “to burn.”
Technically, the strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each apparent "seed" (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it.
Wild strawberry look-alikes include the closely related Fragaria vesca, the woodland strawberry, which has both native and European subspecies (Welty and Werier 2013). Woodland strawberry looks like wild strawberry except the seeds appear raised on the surface of the fruit. Although edible, this species lacks the flavor of its popular cousin. Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) has yellow flowers, not white, and occurs in forests and forest edges. Fruit is dry and inedible. The non-native Duchesnea indica also has yellow flowers, strawberry-like fruit, and grows commonly as a lawn weed.
annual sunflower Helianthus annuus
Sunflower is among a suite of plants thought to have been domesticated in the Eastern half of North America (Bodner 1999). The other plants include sumpweed (Iva annua var. macrocarpa), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), some forms of gourd (Curcurbita sp.), erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum), and little barley (Hordeum pusillum). In other words, it appears that agriculture in the Northeast did not begin with corn, beans and squash, but rather had been in development for thousands of years using indigenous plants-- including sunflower.
Sunflower is also one of the few domesticated plants whose wild ancestors still exist in nature. People selected for plants that had a single stalk and a single massive flower head containing large seeds. The oldest remains of domesticated sunflower come from a site in Tennessee dated about 2300 BC (Bodner 1999). The oldest remains in New York, of a sunflower achene is from a date about A.D. 1500.
In 1615, Champlain observed cultivated sunflower at a village in what is now Ontario, and northwest of Toronto:
They plant in it a great quantity of Indian corn, which grows there finely. They plant likewise squashes, and sunflowers, from the seed of which they make oil, with which they anoint the head (Champlain 1907 page 284).
Kalm (1972) too describes cultivation of sunflower in maize fields. Waugh (1916) mentions the use of sunflower oil for the hair, as well as the cultivation of the plant with corn and beans. Parker (1968) writes:
Sunflower oil was used in quantities by the Iroquois, with whom it was a favorite food oil. It was prepared by bruising the ripe seed in a mortar, heating a mass for a half hour and then throwing it into boiling water until most of the oil had been separated from the pulp. The water is cooled and strained and then the oil skimmed off.
Why would sunflowers be cultivated with maize? As Brodner (1999) points out, today's agrochemical industry is geared toward producing herbicides that kill sunflowers. They are considered weeds because they mangle combines used in the production of corn. The growth requirements of sunflower and maize are very close, so they make good companion plants. So it's possible that the owner shown he took advantage of a crop-weed pair and reaped the benefits of both plants.
Goodrich (1912) describes sunflower in Onondaga County as “frequent,” seen along roadsides, escaped from cultivation.
sweet grass Hierchloe odorata
Elkanah Watson, traveling along the Seneca River in 1791, made a stop near the salt works in Brutus, NY. He wrote:
After just after traversing a marsh, about 50 rods, sweetly perfumed with aromatic Seneca grass, which the Indians were around their necks, in braids, to enjoy the perfume, and as a preventive of headache, we reach to her three log huts, where salt is made on a pitiful scale. . . . (Watson 1856)
The “aromatic Seneca grass" he describes is probably sweet grass. Although there are no records of this plant for Onondaga Lake, it's entirely possible that it grew near the salt marshes at that location just as it did near Cayuga Lake salt marshes. Sweetgrass in this area is typically found on the “upper edges of salt marshes” (Welty and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is wetlands and riparian areas (USDA 2013). Sweet grass thrives in open, disturbed habitats so probably was another species that benefited from periodic burns (see Shebitz 2001).
Sweet grass is distributed throughout North America and is widely used by native peoples across the continent. The long sweet grass blades are burned as incense in various ceremonies. Hierchloe literally translates from Greek as sacred (hieros) grass (chloe) (USDA 2013). Odorata, the species name, refers of course to the plant’s sweet smell. Coumarin, a natural anticoagulant, gives sweetgrass that characteristic aroma (as well as toxic or medicinal properties associated with this chemical) (USDA 2013).
The Haudenosaunee people also use sweet grass for basket making, which provides an important source of income for these communities. Sweetgrass populations appeared to be declining for dear Henrymany years (Shebitz, Laurie), and in response several efforts have been made to revive this important grass in native communities.
wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Pursh found this member of the mint family near Salina (“Salt Point”) in 1807.
The root system consists of deep, strongly branched roots, and shallow rhizomes that are responsible for the vegetative spread of the plant. These rhizomes typically send up multiple leafy stems in a tight cluster, giving Wild Bergamot a bushy appearance.
Wild bergamot provides nectar and pollen for numerous insects (Hilty 2005). The nectar of the flowers attracts long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbird moths. Among the long-tongued bees, are such visitors as bumblebees, Miner bees, Epeoline Cuckoo bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees. A small black bee (Doufouria monardae) specializes in the pollination of Monarda flowers. Sometimes Halictid bees collect pollen, while some wasps steal nectar by perforating the nectar tube. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird also visits the flowers.
Oenothera biennis common evening primrose Fields, pastures, thickets, gravel and sand bars in streams, roadsides, and disturbed soils. A native species of disturbed sites.
Potentilla simplex common cinquefoil
Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia laciniata cutleaf coneflower
compass plant Silphium laciniatum
There are no actual herbarium records for compass plant naturally occurring in central NY, but Pursh reported seeing the plant, possibly somewhere in the Onondaga Hill area, in his journal of 1807. It would be a hard plant to misidentify, given its stature (6-12’ or 1.8 - 3.7 m) and striking form. Basal leaves range from 1-2’ long, and half as wide; leaves diminish in size as you move up the stem. At the time of his visit (July 13) it was not yet in flower. The inflorescence is tall and elongated, with daisy-like, yellow flowers. The large central taproot of this prairie species can extend 15’ into the ground. Compass plant can live up to 100 years.
The only herbarium record for compass plant in NYS is one from Genesee County in western NY (Weldy and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is tallgrass prairie, where it co-occurs with big bluestem. Sun-loving and drought resistant, this hardy plant also recovers readily from fires (Hilty 2005). When Aldo Leopold describes the “funeral of the native flora” in his essay “Prairie Birthday,” compass plant is the featured species:
. . . this yard-square relic of original Wisconsin gives birth, each July, to a man-high stalk of compass plant or cut-leaf Silphium spangled with saucer size yellow blossoms resembling sunflowers (Leopold 1966).
Should we rush to plant Silphium in central NY today? Before doing so, it's worth noting that a sister species (Silphium perfoliatum, cup plant) is on the NYSDEC interim list of invasive plants. Compass plant is not on the list, but perhaps some caution is advised at least until climate change turns this area into a grassland biome.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium narrowleaf blue-eyed grass
Solidago altissima tall goldenrod one of NYS's most common goldenrods, except in the northern parts of the state
Solidago canadensis Canada goldenrod
Solidago juncea early goldenrod Grows where soils are thin; does best in full light
Solidago nemoralis gray goldenrod
Solidago rugosa wrinkleleaf goldenrod, roughstem goldenrod successional fields, pastures, wet to mesic forests, swamps, and roadsides. Prefers slightly wetter than mesic soils, altho it grow in mesic conditions as well
Veronicastrum virginicum Culver's root
fireweed Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum former name Epilobium angustifolium
Fireweed is a native perennial with willow-like leaves and pink, four-part flowers adorning a long inflorescence (raceme). Pursh noticed this plant growing during his walk from Salina to Onondaga Hollow. Goodrich (1912) described it as “Common. Frequently follows forest fires, or newly cleared lands. Onon. Hill, July, 1905.” It apparently once occurred widely in the area, and including specimens from near Onondaga Salt Springs, Cicero Swamp, and the swamp west of Carpenter’s Pond.
Woody Plants
sweet crab-apple, sweet-scented crab tree Malus coronaria (Pyrus coronaria)
“On the reservation still grows the beautiful wild crabapple which has now become locally rare,” wrote William Beauchamp. “The Botanical club were naturally delighted last year to find it near Syracuse” ("Notable trees," Beauchamp papers-date?). At the Onondaga Nation there was “quite a group” of these trees (Beauchamp 1923), which probably reflected some form of cultivation.
“On Seneca reservations, I have seen it growing by houses, either for ornament or use,” Beauchamp adds. Loskiel (1794) reports that “crabs (malus sylvestris) grow in great plenty, and the Indians being very fond of sharp and sour fruit, eat them in abundance.”
Sweet crabapple also grew at Oak Openings, Kimber Springs, and the Valley and Bradford Hills sections of Syracuse. Variety dasycalyx is the only one for which there are record from Onondaga County (Weldy and Werier 2013).
Today, the horticulture industry sells mass-produced non-native crabapple cultivars that are readily available at nurseries and widely planted as a result. It's a shame that our native crabapple has been all but forgotten. It's listed as S3 (with a?) In New York State, so would be excellent heritage plant to add to our landscapes.
serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry Amelanchier spp.; probably A. arborea, downy serviceberry in this setting (old field)
This small tree has excellent fruit—sweet, purple-blue berries that ripen in June. Birds love it and flock to serviceberry trees; at least 40 bird species (such as orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings) eat the fruit, as do many mammals. Downy serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but also sprouts from the roots. Birds and mammals disperse seeds; scarification of the seeds after ingestion by birds is important for germination (USDA 2013).
This tree and its fruits were used by the Haudenosaunee, as Parker (1968) writes:
Juneberries were considered a valuable blood remedy, which was given to mothers after childbirth to prevent after pains and hemorrhages. The smaller branches of the juneberry bush were broken up and steeped as a tea for the same purpose.
If you are ever wondering where serviceberry grows, one of the best ways to locate this tree is to drive or walk along roads in mid-April when it's flowering. The white flowers give away the locations of serviceberry at a time when few other plants are stirring. A member of the rose family, serviceberry has five-part, long-petaled flowers. It gets the name “shadbush” because it flowers at the time that shad make their upstream runs from the sea.
apple Malus spp.
“The Iroquois,” says Parker, “loved the apple above other fruits.” (See Schoolcraft, Senate Document 24, “The apple is the Indian’s banana.”)
Apple trees sometimes appear in old field settings where there was a former orchard, or where birds distributed the seeds.
American plum, wild red plum Prunus americana
Both American plum and Canadian plum (described below) have somewhat spotty distributions in NYS (Weldy and Werier 2013), which could reflect the fact that they were dispersed by people who planted them around their settlements for fruit. (See http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/ for range maps.) In fact, the native range of American plum is hard to determine exactly since it has been planted so widely across North America. It is the most widely distributed native plum on this continent, extending from southern Saskatchewan to Maine, and south to Florida and Arizona.
American plum can grow either as a shrub or small tree. It prefers full sun to light shade, so is most common in early successional landscapes such as hedgerows, thickets, forest edges, young successional forests, and disturbed soils in valley bottoms and floodplains. The fruits are red to yellow plums prized for eating, baking, and using in jellies and jams. The plant’s thorny, suckering growth creates thickets of wildlife habitat, and is a favored deer browse (USDA 2013).
Goodrich (1912) notes that this species is “seldom found now” in Onondaga County, implying that it was once more common in the area. It may have lost favor among those preferring to cultivate the European plum, Prunus domestica.
Canadian plum, wild plum Prunus nigra
Prunus americana var. nigra is a historical synonym
“The only fruit cultivated by the Iroquois, if planting the seed can be called cultivation,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p. 23), “was the black plum, Prunus nigra.” While it is debatable that this tree was the only fruit grown by the Haudenosaunee, there is good evidence it was cultivated (see also Parker (1968).
Canadian plum is a small tree whose range is limited to the northern area around the Great Lakes. It was first recorded along the St. Lawrence River in 1535 by Jacques Cartier, when native people there gave him some dried plums to eat. As Hedrick writes:
This prune-making plum is found in New York only as an escaped from cultivation in the outskirts of Iroquois villages. That the Indians tended the trees is probable for early travelers record that plantations of plums were found about aboriginal villages and that dried plums were in common use during the winter diet. . . .
Hedrick points out that about 40 varieties of the Canada plum were under cultivation at the time he writes (1933). I believe this species has fallen out of favor among growers, however, and have not seen any of its fruits available in local markets.
In Onondaga County, Canada plum is recorded from several sites including Clark Reservation, Pompey Center, Carpenter’s Pond (Pompey), Kimber Springs, and Oak Openings (Hough 2013). The Pompey plants and possibly others could be descendants of those planted around Onondaga settlements.
hazelnut, American filbert Corylus americana FACU
John Bartram (1895) describes crossing "hazel planes" and "hazel bottoms" as he traveled up the Susquehanna Valley towards Onondaga in 1743. This shrub is strongly rhizomatous and colonial, so Bartram may have been describing thickets of the plant spreading across disturbed patches of ground. The extent to which areas were modified by native peoples for hazelnut production in the eastern US is not known, but perhaps the species was favored by periodic burns or floods that kept forest canopy at bay.
Goodrich lists hazelnut as “rare” in Onondaga County and occurring in open woods, including one location near Onondaga Creek. I could have discussed this plant within the riparian community, since American filbert occurs in a variety of settings including floodplains. In fact, Paine (1865) cites its habitats as low woods and riverbanks, and say it is “common in the valley of the Mohawk.” Hazelnut generally occurs in moist to dry woods and thickets, forest margins, roadsides, and fencerows and other disturbed areas (USDA PG 2012). Marks et al. (1992) found it appeared most often “as underbrush in an oak/hickory woods” in CNY. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils but often may be found close to streamsides and also grows on prairies. Open habitats are common, but it also can grow successfully in deep shade.
The nuts of American filbert, which have a higher nutritional value than acorns and beechnuts, also are eaten by squirrels, foxes, deer, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants, and deer. The leaves, twigs, and catkins are browsed by rabbits, deer, and moose (USDA PG 2012).
Hazel shrubs also provided a phenological cue in the aboriginal seasonal cycle. The time for planting Indian corn,” writes Loskiel (1794), “is when there is no further expectation of a frost, and the Indians judge of this by observing the hazel-nut (coryllus avellana) in bloom.”
beaked hazelnut Corylus cornuta
Also grows as an understory plant in deciduous and mixed deciduous conifer forests (so, shade tolerant). Grows in thin, poor soils.
smooth sumac Rhus glabra
Smooth sumac is a native deciduous shrub or small tree. It is extremely drought resistant, and is commonly found in open fields, roadsides and burned areas on sandy soil. You may be familiar with the pyramidal red fruits and fuzzy stems of staghorn sumac (see below), which is the more common sumac in the Onondaga Lake watershed today. However, smooth sumac is listed by Goodrich (1912) as frequently occurring in Onondaga County, so perhaps it was more widespread in the 19th century. The widespread clearing of forests for agriculture and fuel during this time may have opened up many habitats for this early successional species. In any case, smooth sumac is very similar to staghorn sumac in growth form, as well as ecological and reproductive characteristics. They have similar fruits, which are fuzzy and red, arranged in upright clusters that decorate the bare branches like candles in winter (the very time when both people and wildlife tend to rely on sumac berries). The main difference between these two sumacs is the stems, which are velvetine-fuzzy (pubescent) on staghorn sumac and smooth on smooth sumac. Smooth sumac berries also have less fuzz.
Most populations of sumac have male and female flowers on separate plants. Only the female plants produce fruits. Sumac seeds germinate best after passing through the digestive system of such wildlife as rabbits, pheasants, and quail. Fire also seems to encourage germination of smooth sumac seeds. Once established, sumac stands will spread from root sprouts. The lateral root system is extensive and can spread outward three or more feet a year (USDA 2013).
Waugh (1916) writes that sumac seed clusters were boiled during the autumn and winter and served as a beverage. He does not give the species name, however, and could be referring to either smooth or staghorn sumac, or both. Parker (1968) wrote that “sumac bobs were boiled in winter for a drink.” Since smooth sumac is the only species Parker refers to, it may be this plant to which he refers.
About 300 species of songbirds include sumac food and their diet (USDA 2013), especially as a winter emergency food.
staghorn sumac Rhus typhina
See entry for smooth some sumac above. A pioneer species, staghorn sumac can be commonly seen in old fields, edges of agricultural lands, roadsides, shrubby thickets, open stream banks, and edges of forests. As with smooth sumac, the fruits of this species was used for a beverage.
blackberry Rubus allegheniensis
Blackberries were among the fruits that were collected in sufficient quantities to be dried for winter use (Parker 1968). Dried blackberries are soaked in honey and water and use as a ceremonial food. The berries were easily dried as long as they did not become damp 9and therefore subject to mold) in the drying process. Blackberries were best dried on the stalk, according to Parker, who describes the drying process as follows: "The stalk or cluster stem was broken and allowed to hang on the bush where the sun could drive down the fruit with all its natural juices.” (In contrast, smaller pulpy species of berry, such as blueberries, were dried in shallow basket trays.)
Blackberries occur in old fields throughout the Onondaga Lake watershed, although black raspberry is probably the more common Rubus in the area. Goodrich (1912) writes for blackberry: “Common. Hillsides. Indian Hill.” Indian Hill, near Manlius, is the site of a former Onondaga village, where blackberries would have been welcome provender. (See also “Berry Economy” and “Index to Place” for more details on both of these subjects.) Most species of blackberry sprout prolifically from rootstocks, roots, or rhizomes, even when aboveground foliage is totally consumed by fire.
Blackberries closely resemble black raspberries (see below). They can be distinguished by their grooved stems (older stems only), berries which are seedy and do not come cleanly off the receptacle.
black raspberry Rubus occidentalis
This native perennial shrub grows in stalks or canes that start upright or erect, but they eventually bend over, their tips sometimes reaching the ground. The canes can root at the tips and produce new plants vegetatively this way.
First-year canes do not produce flowers and fruit. They are initially green, hairless, and, but turn brown, woody, and prickly during the winter. During the second year, these canes develop short branches that have flowers. The leaves come in groups of three, and are green above, and pale beneath (due to presence of short white hairs).
The flowers are white with 5 petals each. Fruits develop that technically represent a cluster of druplets, each having a single seed. The fruits or berries detach cleanly and easily from their receptacles when ripe.
red raspberry Rubus idaeus ssp. strigosus
Like its cousin Rubus’, red raspberry yields a delicious fruit long prized by people and wildlife. And like raspberry and blackberry, its life cycle is well integrated with periodic disturbance. It can spring up, flourish, and decline within the years following forest clearing, and before canopy closure blocks sunlight. Red raspberry spreads vegetatively and can resprout well after fire or cutting, due to protected underground regenerative structures. Further, viable seed can persist for in the soil for 60 to 100 years or more (Tirmentstein 1989). In fact, red raspberry seed germination seems to improve, not decline, with age (Graber and Thompson 1978).
In the Onondaga Lake area, records for red raspberry hail from Cross Lake, Mud Lake, Clinton St., and Clark Reservation. The European red raspberry, R. idaeus ssp. idaeus, is widely cultivated for fruit.
northern arrow-wood Viburnum dentatum
See Maple-Ash Hardwood swamp for a description of this important shrub. Although it tends to colonize more mesic habitats, it also occurs in successional sites such as old fields.
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods, herbivores (see section on “Historic Disturbance Factors”). People also created openings of significant size around village sites, as land was cleared for horticulture and trees cut for fuel (as recounted in the Introduction to this section). The size and site conditions of the opening determined what species would grow there. Propagule availability—including seeds or vegetative materials—also played a role in determining species makeup of open sites.
In the case of big bluestem near Salina, openings were created by fluctuations in lake water levels and spring floods along tributary streams Onondaga and Ley Creeks. Also, the village was one of the first areas around Onondaga Lake to be settled by Euro-Americans, attracted here for the business of salt (James Geddes laid out village streets in 1798 [Clark 1849]). This fact alone created open areas for sun-loving plants to seed in. Ephraim Webster arrived in the area around 1786 and set up a trading post here, mainly for furs.
Long before European presence, however, the mouth of Onondaga Creek was an important fishing site for the Onondagas (Bradley 1987). During the 1700s, the Onondagas were at “Salt Point” boiling salt for a modest trade with the Delaware Indians and other partners (Clark 1849). The point is that the area was subject to disturbance, and that the flow of human traffic here over centuries could have brought seeds, intentionally or otherwise, from many kilometers away.
Apparently the range of big bluestem was limited historically in New York state to floodplains of large rivers like the Susquehanna or the Hudson (D. Werier, pers. comm.). On the eastern great plains, big bluestem was widely used by native people for lining food (maize, e.g.) storage pits, since it is believed to have mold resistant properties (Engelbrecht 2003, p. 25). This practice also occurred at least sporadically in NYS. At the Bates site, a fortified hamlet on a terrace of the Chenango River, Ritchie (1973, p. 232) reported finding probable fragments of big bluestem used to line a large storage pit (Engelbrecht 2003).
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).
spreading dogbane, fly-trap dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium
Pursh found spreading dogbane on his walk from Onondaga Hollow along Onondaga Creek to the salt springs at Salina during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. It can be distinguished from Indian hemp (described next) by its reflexed (bent backwards) petals, and branching stems. It’s also toxic.
Indian hemp, dogbane, amy-root, lechuguilla, honeybloom Apocynum cannibinum
Apocynum, this plant’s generic name, roughly translates to “dogs [keep] away” and refers to the poisonous nature of this plant. Cannibinum points to the fact that the fibers, like those of Cannabis or hemp, can be twisted into rope. This plant produces milkweed-like pods that split to release seeds bearing each a tuft of silky white hairs. Colonial and perennial, it spreads well in favorable sites. In fact it is considered a noxious weed in agricultural settings because of its invasive nature and its toxicity to domestic livestock.
From another cultural perspective, however, Indian hemp was/is was highly valued for fiber and medicine by native peoples across North America. People in places from California to New York use the plant to make twine, rope, and string. Peter Kalm (1972) noted that ropes made from fibers of this plant “were stronger, and kept longer in water, than such as were made of common hemp [Cannabis spp.].” (265) For this reason the Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey bought ropes made from dogbane from the local native people, using them for bridles and fishnets. (They got 14 yards of dogbane rope for one piece of bread.) “Many of the Europeans still buy such ropes,” Kalm observed, “because they last so well.” Dogbane was especially useful for fishnets—“sometimes the fishing tackle of the Indians consists entirely of this hemp.”
Kalm describes how the fibers are twisted into cordage:
On my journey through the country of the Iroquese, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. They made use neither of spinning-wheels nor distaffs, but rolled the filaments upon their bare thighs, and made thread and strings of them which they dyed red, yellow, black, &c. and afterwards worked them into stuffs, with a great deal of ingenuity (Kalm 1972).
Kalm also pointed out that dogbane is a perennial, “which makes the annual planting of it altogether unnecessary” (in contrast to hemp which must be seeded annually). He further observed that it grew “plentifully in old corn-grounds, in woods, on hills, and in high glades.” That suggests that when the native peoples needed a good supply of this plant, they could sometimes find it in fields they had abandoned. It may have occurred “plentifully” in such places, in fact, because people dispersed the seeds, accidentally or with intention.
Large quantities of Indian hemp are needed to make fishnets and cordage. According to one source (USDA 2013):
. . . it takes approximately five stalks of milkweed or Indian hemp to manufacture one foot of cordage. A Sierra Miwok feather skirt or cape contain about 100 feet of cordage made from approximately 500 plant stalks, while a deer net 40 feet in length (Barrett and Gifford 1933:178) contained some 7,000 feet of cordage, which would have required the harvesting of a staggering 35,000 plant stalks.
This large number highlights the importance of Indian hemp gathering sites. The plant is found in dry thin forests, rocky openings, fields, thickets, stream banks, roadsides, and occasionally marshes (Weldy and Werier 2013). It is known to increase after burns (Swan 1970).
Indian hemp is collected in the autumn after the leaves have begun to senesce or dry up and the stalks turn reddish brown (USDA 2013). Plants are cut at the base of the stem. Cutting the plants appears to stimulate new growth in the spring; so as many stalks as possible are cut. Plants are then split open and the fibers removed and processed into cordage.
Besides cordage, Indian hemp has medicinal uses. It has been used to treat various ailments as suggested in this passage from USDA Plants website (2013):
The root could also be used as an emetic, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, cathartic, anodyne, hypnotic, laxative, treats vomiting, diarrhea, hydrocephalus, urinary difficulties, dropsy, jaundice, liver problems, and stimulates the digestive system. It has been successfully employed for alcoholism. A wash made of crushed root can be shampooed into the hair to stimulate growth, remove dandruff and head lice. The milky juice can remove warts. A poultice of the leaves reduces tumors, hemorrhoids, and inflammation of the testicles.
Pursh found Indian hemp in the Fairmount area and near the Onondaga Lake salt marshes during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. Goodrich (1912) lists Indian hemp as “common,” found in “damp grounds, banks of streams.”
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Native people all over eastern North America have used milkweed for food, fiber, and medicine for millennia. Young shoots, buds, blossoms, and pods of this plant can be steamed and eaten (for preparation methods, see Kavasch 2005). However, the plant contains cardiac glycosides and can only be safely ingested if properly prepared. Milkweed should never be eaten raw.
Milkweed fibers are prepared for cordage in a manner similar to Indian hemp, described earlier:
Milkweeds supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. Milkweed stems are collected after the stalks senesce in late fall-early winter. The dried stalks are split open to release the fibers; milkweed fibers are sometimes mixed with fibers of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). The bark is removed and the fibers released by first rubbing between the hands and then drawing the fibers over a hard surface (USDA 2013).
As every school child knows, milkweed is the food plant of the migratory monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. Its fragrant flowers also provide nectar and pollen for a wide range of other invertebrates.
butterfly weed, pleurisy root Asclepias tuberosa
A native perennial herb, butterfly weed grows in dry, open soils and is abundant on prairies. A state protected plant (EV) in NYS, A. tuberosa now appears in grassy swaths of highway medians south of Syracuse. In CNY it grows in dry gravely or calcareous soils, such as those around Clark Reservation.
John Bartram includes “pleurisy root” in his herbal, writing:
. . . this hath been for many Years used with good Success for the Cure of the Bloody Flux; the Root must be powdered and given in a Spoonful of Rum, or rather as the Indians give it, bruise the Root, and boil it in Water, and drink the Decoction: Peter Kalm saith it is excellent for the hysteric Passion (Hobbs 2013).
Pursh found butterfly weed in the Onondaga Hollow, now the Valley section of Syracuse, where it still grows today along the mowed berms of channelized Onondaga Creek.
calico aster Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Aster lateriflorus)
Goodrich (1912) writes of this plant’s occurrence in Onondaga County, “Common. Everywhere. Rays short, white or pale blue.” It continues to be today one of the more common asters in the area. Like many asters, calico aster blooms late in the summer or early fall, and therefore supplies an important source of pollen and nectar when insect populations have peaked for the growing season. More common insect visitors include short-tongued bees, wasps, and flies, and less common visitors include long-tongued bees, small butterflies, skippers, beetles, and plant bugs. These insects seek nectar primarily, although the short-tongued bees may collect pollen, while some beetles and flies feed on the pollen (Hilty 2005).
New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster novae-angliae)
Another of our more common and lovely asters, called by Goodrich (1912) the “most attractive of the wild asters,” and therefore the one most often available as a landscape plant. The ray flowers (outer “petals”) can be purple, rose purple, or deep pink.
This native species has many faunal associates (Hilty 2005). The flowers are visited primarily by long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, and skippers. Short-tongued bees and syrphid flies also visit the flowers, but they collect pollen primarily and are non-pollinating. The long-tongued bees include such visitors as bumblebees, honeybees, miner bees, and large leaf-cutting bees. Cross-pollination by these insects is essential, otherwise the seeds will be infertile. The caterpillars of many moths feed on various parts of this and other asters. Other insects feeding on this plant include Lygus lineolaris (tarnished plant bug), Poccilocapsus lineatus (four-lined plant bug), Corythuche marmorata (chrysanthemum lace bug), and Macrosiphum euphoriaca (potato aphid).
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis
Canada wildrye is reported from the canal bank near Will & Baumer plant north of Syracuse near Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013). Pursh (1869) also found it south of Onondaga Hollow during his visit to Ephraim Webster in 1807.
Canada wild rye is a native perennial bunch grass found along trails rivers streams throughout much of North America (USDA 2013). You can recognize this grass by its large, distinctive spikes, which curve downward. Canada wild rye is short-lived, cool season grass found growing on shaded stream banks and in open woodlands. It generally lives in coarse textured sandy gravelly or rocky soils. It is fairly tolerant of shade and salt.
Canada wild rye makes an excellent species for use in erosion control due to seedling vigor and rapid establishment.
grass-leaved goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia
See entry under shallow emergent marsh.
strawberry Fragaria virginiana
The strawberry is among the first berries to ripen in the spring, and thus elicits special appreciation within the annual cycle of food According to Parker (1968), “strawberries are eagerly gathered in the spring and eaten by everyone as a spring medicine.” He writes:
The first fruit of the year is the wild strawberry and this the Iroquois takes as a symbol of the Creator’s renewed promise of beneficence. Quantities are gathered and brought to the feastmakers at the Long House for the Strawberry Thanksgiving. This is an annual ceremony of importance though it lasts but a day. (98)
Nutritionally, strawberries provide magnesium, potassium, beta carotene, iron, and malic and citric acids. The wild berries, though challenging to pick in quantity, are far superior in flavor to the ones cultivated commercially, and worth the work to pick.
One Onondaga name provided for strawberry is noon-tak-tek-hah-kwa, which translates to “growing where the ground is burned” (Beauchamp 1923). In other words, strawberries sprang up after fire cleared competing vegetation and allowed them to establish. Woodbury (2003) gives the name as gadekhahgwa7 [proper linguistic notation not possible with this font], which appears to include the verb base –adeg-, -adek- , meaning “to burn.”
Technically, the strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each apparent "seed" (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it.
Wild strawberry look-alikes include the closely related Fragaria vesca, the woodland strawberry, which has both native and European subspecies (Welty and Werier 2013). Woodland strawberry looks like wild strawberry except the seeds appear raised on the surface of the fruit. Although edible, this species lacks the flavor of its popular cousin. Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) has yellow flowers, not white, and occurs in forests and forest edges. Fruit is dry and inedible. The non-native Duchesnea indica also has yellow flowers, strawberry-like fruit, and grows commonly as a lawn weed.
annual sunflower Helianthus annuus
Sunflower is among a suite of plants thought to have been domesticated in the Eastern half of North America (Bodner 1999). The other plants include sumpweed (Iva annua var. macrocarpa), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), some forms of gourd (Curcurbita sp.), erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum), and little barley (Hordeum pusillum). In other words, it appears that agriculture in the Northeast did not begin with corn, beans and squash, but rather had been in development for thousands of years using indigenous plants-- including sunflower.
Sunflower is also one of the few domesticated plants whose wild ancestors still exist in nature. People selected for plants that had a single stalk and a single massive flower head containing large seeds. The oldest remains of domesticated sunflower come from a site in Tennessee dated about 2300 BC (Bodner 1999). The oldest remains in New York, of a sunflower achene is from a date about A.D. 1500.
In 1615, Champlain observed cultivated sunflower at a village in what is now Ontario, and northwest of Toronto:
They plant in it a great quantity of Indian corn, which grows there finely. They plant likewise squashes, and sunflowers, from the seed of which they make oil, with which they anoint the head (Champlain 1907 page 284).
Kalm (1972) too describes cultivation of sunflower in maize fields. Waugh (1916) mentions the use of sunflower oil for the hair, as well as the cultivation of the plant with corn and beans. Parker (1968) writes:
Sunflower oil was used in quantities by the Iroquois, with whom it was a favorite food oil. It was prepared by bruising the ripe seed in a mortar, heating a mass for a half hour and then throwing it into boiling water until most of the oil had been separated from the pulp. The water is cooled and strained and then the oil skimmed off.
Why would sunflowers be cultivated with maize? As Brodner (1999) points out, today's agrochemical industry is geared toward producing herbicides that kill sunflowers. They are considered weeds because they mangle combines used in the production of corn. The growth requirements of sunflower and maize are very close, so they make good companion plants. So it's possible that the owner shown he took advantage of a crop-weed pair and reaped the benefits of both plants.
Goodrich (1912) describes sunflower in Onondaga County as “frequent,” seen along roadsides, escaped from cultivation.
sweet grass Hierchloe odorata
Elkanah Watson, traveling along the Seneca River in 1791, made a stop near the salt works in Brutus, NY. He wrote:
After just after traversing a marsh, about 50 rods, sweetly perfumed with aromatic Seneca grass, which the Indians were around their necks, in braids, to enjoy the perfume, and as a preventive of headache, we reach to her three log huts, where salt is made on a pitiful scale. . . . (Watson 1856)
The “aromatic Seneca grass" he describes is probably sweet grass. Although there are no records of this plant for Onondaga Lake, it's entirely possible that it grew near the salt marshes at that location just as it did near Cayuga Lake salt marshes. Sweetgrass in this area is typically found on the “upper edges of salt marshes” (Welty and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is wetlands and riparian areas (USDA 2013). Sweet grass thrives in open, disturbed habitats so probably was another species that benefited from periodic burns (see Shebitz 2001).
Sweet grass is distributed throughout North America and is widely used by native peoples across the continent. The long sweet grass blades are burned as incense in various ceremonies. Hierchloe literally translates from Greek as sacred (hieros) grass (chloe) (USDA 2013). Odorata, the species name, refers of course to the plant’s sweet smell. Coumarin, a natural anticoagulant, gives sweetgrass that characteristic aroma (as well as toxic or medicinal properties associated with this chemical) (USDA 2013).
The Haudenosaunee people also use sweet grass for basket making, which provides an important source of income for these communities. Sweetgrass populations appeared to be declining for dear Henrymany years (Shebitz, Laurie), and in response several efforts have been made to revive this important grass in native communities.
wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Pursh found this member of the mint family near Salina (“Salt Point”) in 1807.
The root system consists of deep, strongly branched roots, and shallow rhizomes that are responsible for the vegetative spread of the plant. These rhizomes typically send up multiple leafy stems in a tight cluster, giving Wild Bergamot a bushy appearance.
Wild bergamot provides nectar and pollen for numerous insects (Hilty 2005). The nectar of the flowers attracts long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbird moths. Among the long-tongued bees, are such visitors as bumblebees, Miner bees, Epeoline Cuckoo bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees. A small black bee (Doufouria monardae) specializes in the pollination of Monarda flowers. Sometimes Halictid bees collect pollen, while some wasps steal nectar by perforating the nectar tube. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird also visits the flowers.
Oenothera biennis common evening primrose Fields, pastures, thickets, gravel and sand bars in streams, roadsides, and disturbed soils. A native species of disturbed sites.
Potentilla simplex common cinquefoil
Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia laciniata cutleaf coneflower
compass plant Silphium laciniatum
There are no actual herbarium records for compass plant naturally occurring in central NY, but Pursh reported seeing the plant, possibly somewhere in the Onondaga Hill area, in his journal of 1807. It would be a hard plant to misidentify, given its stature (6-12’ or 1.8 - 3.7 m) and striking form. Basal leaves range from 1-2’ long, and half as wide; leaves diminish in size as you move up the stem. At the time of his visit (July 13) it was not yet in flower. The inflorescence is tall and elongated, with daisy-like, yellow flowers. The large central taproot of this prairie species can extend 15’ into the ground. Compass plant can live up to 100 years.
The only herbarium record for compass plant in NYS is one from Genesee County in western NY (Weldy and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is tallgrass prairie, where it co-occurs with big bluestem. Sun-loving and drought resistant, this hardy plant also recovers readily from fires (Hilty 2005). When Aldo Leopold describes the “funeral of the native flora” in his essay “Prairie Birthday,” compass plant is the featured species:
. . . this yard-square relic of original Wisconsin gives birth, each July, to a man-high stalk of compass plant or cut-leaf Silphium spangled with saucer size yellow blossoms resembling sunflowers (Leopold 1966).
Should we rush to plant Silphium in central NY today? Before doing so, it's worth noting that a sister species (Silphium perfoliatum, cup plant) is on the NYSDEC interim list of invasive plants. Compass plant is not on the list, but perhaps some caution is advised at least until climate change turns this area into a grassland biome.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium narrowleaf blue-eyed grass
Solidago altissima tall goldenrod one of NYS's most common goldenrods, except in the northern parts of the state
Solidago canadensis Canada goldenrod
Solidago juncea early goldenrod Grows where soils are thin; does best in full light
Solidago nemoralis gray goldenrod
Solidago rugosa wrinkleleaf goldenrod, roughstem goldenrod successional fields, pastures, wet to mesic forests, swamps, and roadsides. Prefers slightly wetter than mesic soils, altho it grow in mesic conditions as well
Veronicastrum virginicum Culver's root
fireweed Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum former name Epilobium angustifolium
Fireweed is a native perennial with willow-like leaves and pink, four-part flowers adorning a long inflorescence (raceme). Pursh noticed this plant growing during his walk from Salina to Onondaga Hollow. Goodrich (1912) described it as “Common. Frequently follows forest fires, or newly cleared lands. Onon. Hill, July, 1905.” It apparently once occurred widely in the area, and including specimens from near Onondaga Salt Springs, Cicero Swamp, and the swamp west of Carpenter’s Pond.
Woody Plants
sweet crab-apple, sweet-scented crab tree Malus coronaria (Pyrus coronaria)
“On the reservation still grows the beautiful wild crabapple which has now become locally rare,” wrote William Beauchamp. “The Botanical club were naturally delighted last year to find it near Syracuse” ("Notable trees," Beauchamp papers-date?). At the Onondaga Nation there was “quite a group” of these trees (Beauchamp 1923), which probably reflected some form of cultivation.
“On Seneca reservations, I have seen it growing by houses, either for ornament or use,” Beauchamp adds. Loskiel (1794) reports that “crabs (malus sylvestris) grow in great plenty, and the Indians being very fond of sharp and sour fruit, eat them in abundance.”
Sweet crabapple also grew at Oak Openings, Kimber Springs, and the Valley and Bradford Hills sections of Syracuse. Variety dasycalyx is the only one for which there are record from Onondaga County (Weldy and Werier 2013).
Today, the horticulture industry sells mass-produced non-native crabapple cultivars that are readily available at nurseries and widely planted as a result. It's a shame that our native crabapple has been all but forgotten. It's listed as S3 (with a?) In New York State, so would be excellent heritage plant to add to our landscapes.
serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry Amelanchier spp.; probably A. arborea, downy serviceberry in this setting (old field)
This small tree has excellent fruit—sweet, purple-blue berries that ripen in June. Birds love it and flock to serviceberry trees; at least 40 bird species (such as orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings) eat the fruit, as do many mammals. Downy serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but also sprouts from the roots. Birds and mammals disperse seeds; scarification of the seeds after ingestion by birds is important for germination (USDA 2013).
This tree and its fruits were used by the Haudenosaunee, as Parker (1968) writes:
Juneberries were considered a valuable blood remedy, which was given to mothers after childbirth to prevent after pains and hemorrhages. The smaller branches of the juneberry bush were broken up and steeped as a tea for the same purpose.
If you are ever wondering where serviceberry grows, one of the best ways to locate this tree is to drive or walk along roads in mid-April when it's flowering. The white flowers give away the locations of serviceberry at a time when few other plants are stirring. A member of the rose family, serviceberry has five-part, long-petaled flowers. It gets the name “shadbush” because it flowers at the time that shad make their upstream runs from the sea.
apple Malus spp.
“The Iroquois,” says Parker, “loved the apple above other fruits.” (See Schoolcraft, Senate Document 24, “The apple is the Indian’s banana.”)
Apple trees sometimes appear in old field settings where there was a former orchard, or where birds distributed the seeds.
American plum, wild red plum Prunus americana
Both American plum and Canadian plum (described below) have somewhat spotty distributions in NYS (Weldy and Werier 2013), which could reflect the fact that they were dispersed by people who planted them around their settlements for fruit. (See http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/ for range maps.) In fact, the native range of American plum is hard to determine exactly since it has been planted so widely across North America. It is the most widely distributed native plum on this continent, extending from southern Saskatchewan to Maine, and south to Florida and Arizona.
American plum can grow either as a shrub or small tree. It prefers full sun to light shade, so is most common in early successional landscapes such as hedgerows, thickets, forest edges, young successional forests, and disturbed soils in valley bottoms and floodplains. The fruits are red to yellow plums prized for eating, baking, and using in jellies and jams. The plant’s thorny, suckering growth creates thickets of wildlife habitat, and is a favored deer browse (USDA 2013).
Goodrich (1912) notes that this species is “seldom found now” in Onondaga County, implying that it was once more common in the area. It may have lost favor among those preferring to cultivate the European plum, Prunus domestica.
Canadian plum, wild plum Prunus nigra
Prunus americana var. nigra is a historical synonym
“The only fruit cultivated by the Iroquois, if planting the seed can be called cultivation,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p. 23), “was the black plum, Prunus nigra.” While it is debatable that this tree was the only fruit grown by the Haudenosaunee, there is good evidence it was cultivated (see also Parker (1968).
Canadian plum is a small tree whose range is limited to the northern area around the Great Lakes. It was first recorded along the St. Lawrence River in 1535 by Jacques Cartier, when native people there gave him some dried plums to eat. As Hedrick writes:
This prune-making plum is found in New York only as an escaped from cultivation in the outskirts of Iroquois villages. That the Indians tended the trees is probable for early travelers record that plantations of plums were found about aboriginal villages and that dried plums were in common use during the winter diet. . . .
Hedrick points out that about 40 varieties of the Canada plum were under cultivation at the time he writes (1933). I believe this species has fallen out of favor among growers, however, and have not seen any of its fruits available in local markets.
In Onondaga County, Canada plum is recorded from several sites including Clark Reservation, Pompey Center, Carpenter’s Pond (Pompey), Kimber Springs, and Oak Openings (Hough 2013). The Pompey plants and possibly others could be descendants of those planted around Onondaga settlements.
hazelnut, American filbert Corylus americana FACU
John Bartram (1895) describes crossing "hazel planes" and "hazel bottoms" as he traveled up the Susquehanna Valley towards Onondaga in 1743. This shrub is strongly rhizomatous and colonial, so Bartram may have been describing thickets of the plant spreading across disturbed patches of ground. The extent to which areas were modified by native peoples for hazelnut production in the eastern US is not known, but perhaps the species was favored by periodic burns or floods that kept forest canopy at bay.
Goodrich lists hazelnut as “rare” in Onondaga County and occurring in open woods, including one location near Onondaga Creek. I could have discussed this plant within the riparian community, since American filbert occurs in a variety of settings including floodplains. In fact, Paine (1865) cites its habitats as low woods and riverbanks, and say it is “common in the valley of the Mohawk.” Hazelnut generally occurs in moist to dry woods and thickets, forest margins, roadsides, and fencerows and other disturbed areas (USDA PG 2012). Marks et al. (1992) found it appeared most often “as underbrush in an oak/hickory woods” in CNY. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils but often may be found close to streamsides and also grows on prairies. Open habitats are common, but it also can grow successfully in deep shade.
The nuts of American filbert, which have a higher nutritional value than acorns and beechnuts, also are eaten by squirrels, foxes, deer, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants, and deer. The leaves, twigs, and catkins are browsed by rabbits, deer, and moose (USDA PG 2012).
Hazel shrubs also provided a phenological cue in the aboriginal seasonal cycle. The time for planting Indian corn,” writes Loskiel (1794), “is when there is no further expectation of a frost, and the Indians judge of this by observing the hazel-nut (coryllus avellana) in bloom.”
beaked hazelnut Corylus cornuta
Also grows as an understory plant in deciduous and mixed deciduous conifer forests (so, shade tolerant). Grows in thin, poor soils.
smooth sumac Rhus glabra
Smooth sumac is a native deciduous shrub or small tree. It is extremely drought resistant, and is commonly found in open fields, roadsides and burned areas on sandy soil. You may be familiar with the pyramidal red fruits and fuzzy stems of staghorn sumac (see below), which is the more common sumac in the Onondaga Lake watershed today. However, smooth sumac is listed by Goodrich (1912) as frequently occurring in Onondaga County, so perhaps it was more widespread in the 19th century. The widespread clearing of forests for agriculture and fuel during this time may have opened up many habitats for this early successional species. In any case, smooth sumac is very similar to staghorn sumac in growth form, as well as ecological and reproductive characteristics. They have similar fruits, which are fuzzy and red, arranged in upright clusters that decorate the bare branches like candles in winter (the very time when both people and wildlife tend to rely on sumac berries). The main difference between these two sumacs is the stems, which are velvetine-fuzzy (pubescent) on staghorn sumac and smooth on smooth sumac. Smooth sumac berries also have less fuzz.
Most populations of sumac have male and female flowers on separate plants. Only the female plants produce fruits. Sumac seeds germinate best after passing through the digestive system of such wildlife as rabbits, pheasants, and quail. Fire also seems to encourage germination of smooth sumac seeds. Once established, sumac stands will spread from root sprouts. The lateral root system is extensive and can spread outward three or more feet a year (USDA 2013).
Waugh (1916) writes that sumac seed clusters were boiled during the autumn and winter and served as a beverage. He does not give the species name, however, and could be referring to either smooth or staghorn sumac, or both. Parker (1968) wrote that “sumac bobs were boiled in winter for a drink.” Since smooth sumac is the only species Parker refers to, it may be this plant to which he refers.
About 300 species of songbirds include sumac food and their diet (USDA 2013), especially as a winter emergency food.
staghorn sumac Rhus typhina
See entry for smooth some sumac above. A pioneer species, staghorn sumac can be commonly seen in old fields, edges of agricultural lands, roadsides, shrubby thickets, open stream banks, and edges of forests. As with smooth sumac, the fruits of this species was used for a beverage.
blackberry Rubus allegheniensis
Blackberries were among the fruits that were collected in sufficient quantities to be dried for winter use (Parker 1968). Dried blackberries are soaked in honey and water and use as a ceremonial food. The berries were easily dried as long as they did not become damp 9and therefore subject to mold) in the drying process. Blackberries were best dried on the stalk, according to Parker, who describes the drying process as follows: "The stalk or cluster stem was broken and allowed to hang on the bush where the sun could drive down the fruit with all its natural juices.” (In contrast, smaller pulpy species of berry, such as blueberries, were dried in shallow basket trays.)
Blackberries occur in old fields throughout the Onondaga Lake watershed, although black raspberry is probably the more common Rubus in the area. Goodrich (1912) writes for blackberry: “Common. Hillsides. Indian Hill.” Indian Hill, near Manlius, is the site of a former Onondaga village, where blackberries would have been welcome provender. (See also “Berry Economy” and “Index to Place” for more details on both of these subjects.) Most species of blackberry sprout prolifically from rootstocks, roots, or rhizomes, even when aboveground foliage is totally consumed by fire.
Blackberries closely resemble black raspberries (see below). They can be distinguished by their grooved stems (older stems only), berries which are seedy and do not come cleanly off the receptacle.
black raspberry Rubus occidentalis
This native perennial shrub grows in stalks or canes that start upright or erect, but they eventually bend over, their tips sometimes reaching the ground. The canes can root at the tips and produce new plants vegetatively this way.
First-year canes do not produce flowers and fruit. They are initially green, hairless, and, but turn brown, woody, and prickly during the winter. During the second year, these canes develop short branches that have flowers. The leaves come in groups of three, and are green above, and pale beneath (due to presence of short white hairs).
The flowers are white with 5 petals each. Fruits develop that technically represent a cluster of druplets, each having a single seed. The fruits or berries detach cleanly and easily from their receptacles when ripe.
red raspberry Rubus idaeus ssp. strigosus
Like its cousin Rubus’, red raspberry yields a delicious fruit long prized by people and wildlife. And like raspberry and blackberry, its life cycle is well integrated with periodic disturbance. It can spring up, flourish, and decline within the years following forest clearing, and before canopy closure blocks sunlight. Red raspberry spreads vegetatively and can resprout well after fire or cutting, due to protected underground regenerative structures. Further, viable seed can persist for in the soil for 60 to 100 years or more (Tirmentstein 1989). In fact, red raspberry seed germination seems to improve, not decline, with age (Graber and Thompson 1978).
In the Onondaga Lake area, records for red raspberry hail from Cross Lake, Mud Lake, Clinton St., and Clark Reservation. The European red raspberry, R. idaeus ssp. idaeus, is widely cultivated for fruit.
northern arrow-wood Viburnum dentatum
See Maple-Ash Hardwood swamp for a description of this important shrub. Although it tends to colonize more mesic habitats, it also occurs in successional sites such as old fields.
The Onondagoes have butt one towne, butt itt is very large; consisting of about 140 houses, nott fenced; is situate upon a hill thatt is very large, the banke on each side extending itself att least two miles, all cleared land, whereon the corne is planted. They have likewise a small village about two miles beyond thatt, consisting of about 24 houses. . . . They plant aboundance of Corne, which they sell to the Onyades (Greenhalgh 1849).
The larger “towne” here is likely the Indian Hill site, occupied by the Onondaga from 1663-1682 (Bradley 1987). The smaller “village” apparently refers to the Bloody Hill II (or Weston) site. Fittingly, an early Onondaga name for an area in the towns of Pompey and Lafayette referred to the openness of the site:
Ote-ge-ga-ja-ke, for Pompey and Lafayette, is correctly given by Clark as a place of much grass openings or prairies. This alluded to the many fields abandoned as the Onondagas removed their villages, for they occupied several places in these towns (Beauchamp 1907).
This place name may refer to lands cleared for agriculture, firewood, or other settlement activities during the time the Onondagas lived here.
How large was the open area Greenhalgh referred to? He says that the “banke on each side” of the town extends “att least two miles, all cleared land” planted with corn. From this description we can roughly assume the town to sit at the center of a circle having a 2 mile radius, from which we can calculate a conservative estimation of the amount of cleared land:
A = π(3.2 km)2 = 32.2 km2
The actual area of land cleared or disturbed was likely higher, since Greenhalgh’s figure applies only to the area planted with corn. Archaeological or oral history data would help to corroborate this rough estimate [I am currently collecting archeological data to refine the area covered by these sites.]
Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of “New France,” invaded Onondaga country in 1696, attacking a fortified settlement about a mile south of present-day Jamesville. (Today a small monument marks the site, on the east side of Jamesville Reservoir). The French army spent 3 days destroying growing corn, as
Frontenac (1850) wrote:
The destruction of the Indian corn was commenced the same day [August 7], and was continued the two following days. . . . . Not a single head remained. The fields stretched from a league and a half to two leagues from the fort : The destruction was complete.
Those figures, if they are roughly correct, suggest a cleared area with a radius of 3.5 to 6 miles or 5.6 – 9.7 km, for corn alone. A rough estimate of the area based on these numbers might be A = π(6 km)2 = 113.4 km2 just for corn. Other areas may have been cleared for berries, fruit trees, or as firewood gathering sites.
The point is that open habitats created by people occurred in this area long before the plough. These clearings probably had different species than post-European old fields for a couple of reasons, however. First, many so-called “old field” plants came in only with the Europeans. Such common eastern meadow components as chicory (Cichorium intybus), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), timothy grass (Phleum pretense) were imported from Europe. Second, indigenous people practiced a different form of agriculture than did the immigrant culture. They did not use the plough, and did not have herds of domesticated animals (cows, pigs, horses). Third, indigenous groups relied on the growth of various early successional species considered as weeds by the Euro-Americans, such as Indian hemp, Indian tobacco, and “briars” for berries (Rubus spp.), As with wetlands, there was greater tolerance of liminal habitats—in this case, those places neither wholly domesticated nor fully “wild” (as in, untouched by human husbandry). These differences are described below, along with their consequences for the resulting successional communities.
1. Land and soil preparation.
How did the Haudenosaunee prepare forest land for agriculture? Parker (1968) describes clearing forests in order to open areas for growing maize:
Land for cornfields was cleared by girdling the trees in the spring, and allowing them to die. The next spring the underbrush was burned off. By burning off tracts in the forests large tracts were made suitable for fields and towns.
Sagard, describing the agriculture of the Hurons (a group related to the Haudenosaunee), says that:
. . . every year they sow their corn in the same fields and places, which they freshen or renew with their little wooden shovels, made like an ear in shape, with a handle at the end; the rest of the ground is not cultivated, but merely cleared of injurious weeds (Sagard in Waugh 1916).
Loskiel notes the use of a deer’s shoulder blade, or a tortoise shell, sharpened and used as the blade of a hoe. Digging sticks were also used, presumably for creating holes for seeds.
Weeds were cleared from a shallow layer of soil, allowed to dry out and then burned. In any case Indians did not use the plough, “that sharp-footed instrument of conversion—that churned and turned the soil and removed the entire constellation of life forms existing in a place to substitute another, seen as more desirable” (Turner 2005). Waugh (1916, p. 17) refers to a taboo against soil disturbance that, if honored, would certainly work in favor of maintaining soil structure and limiting erosion.
Holes were made with a pecking instrument and sown with 4 corn seeds. In the spaces between the hills were planted beans, squash and (according to one observer in Virginia), sunflowers and “pease” (Waugh 1918).
It’s also worth noting that before planting, the Haudenosaunee would engage in ceremonies of thanksgiving that include songs, dances, games (Waugh 1916 p.13; see also Parker). The work was often communal, and everyone shared in the fruits of the harvest as well. In contrast, at least some frontier Euro-American farmers appeared to think of themselves as being at war with nature (see, for example, Taylor 1995). As Hedrick (1933) described the establishment of agriculture in New York state:
It was of necessity war to the knife and the knife to the hilt against nature in the new settlement of New York. When man lays low a forest, tills the soil, turns loose domesticated animals, he establishes antagonism between himself and Mother Nature who has reigned unmolested for countless ages, and brings on a conflict with the beasts, birds, insects, a vendetta that persists until one or the other set of forces is master.
Here, the agriculturalist pioneer assumes an antagonistic relationship between the human community and the natural surroundings, rather than on a reciprocal one, as the Haudenosaunee had learned to do over the millennia. This bellicose attitude in itself is bound to affect the resulting species composition, since its usual aim is to eliminate all species besides a few domesticated and desirable crop or forage plants. These changes often led to soil damage/loss and ecosystem simplification at least in the short run.
2. Length of land tenure
With most agricultural systems focused on annual crops such as corn (whether indigenous or immigrant), some degree of soil loss and nutrient depletion did seem to occur. However, this depletion occurred much faster in fields that are ploughed, due to the oxidation of organic matter made possible when soil is over turned (Pleasant 20XX). With digging stick and hoe, rather than plough, Haudenosaunee women caused little soil damage, making it possible to farm indefinitely in one place (Pleasant 20XX). Nonetheless the Onondagas moved periodically, in search of a fuel supply if not better soils. Jean de Lamberville (Thwaites 1901, Jesuit Relations vol. 62, chap. 62) described Onondaga village moving in 1682:
I found on my arrival the Iroquois of the town occupied in transporting their corn, their effects, and lodges to a situation two leagues from their former dwelling place, where they have been for 19 years. They made this change in order to have nearer to them the convenience of firewood and fields more fertile than those they abandoned.
He is probably describing the move from the Indian Hill site observed by Greenhalgh in 1677 to the Jamesville site along what is now Route 92.
3. Absence of domestic livestock
Settlers brought livestock including cows, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens. Farmers often allowed these creatures to roam freely in the forests and wetlands. In pasture areas, they fed selectively, resulting in “increaser” weed plants, and decreaser plants that were preferred forage. The need to protect livestock and grain fields from depredation by wild animals led to bounties on wolves, cougar, eagles, crows, and other predators who found the farm animals and grains a welcome new food source.
The systematic clearing and burning and the impact wrought by the introduction of heavy, grazing cattle devastated the native wild plants. This created niches for the more tenacious weeds which had followed the settlers from Europe to New England and which were well adapted to survive, even flourish, with farmers and their cattle (Taylor 1995).
When Pursh (1869) walked through Onondaga Hill (past the court house) on his way to James Geddes’ place in Fairmount, he commented on the plants along the way. He observes Tory weed (Cynoglossum officianale), mullein (Verbascum thapsus), and forget-me-not (Myosotis lappula), which he calls “everywhere common in the streets.” He also notes that “Sonchus canadensis” (probably S. asper, spiny-leaved sow thistle) “covers all clear spots in the woods” along with a plant he calls Epilobium parviflorum (presumably willow-herb, E. hirsutum, a European import that can grow in dense patches). The coverage of the forest floor by these weedy species suggests some form of major disturbance such as that caused by cows and pigs running around in the woods.
In contrast, when Pursh visits Ephraim Webster, who lives just outside the “Indian village,” he remarks on the abundance of native forest floor herbs:
The Hydrastis canadensis grows in great abundance in the woods here, they call it Curcume: Sanicula Marylandica,--Geum flore albo.-- Polymnia canadensis--Elymus canadensis-Potentilla Norwegica-- Asclepias tuberosa –Galium circaezans &c were in flower:--The Caulophyllum thalictroides grows in abundance in these woods, it is called here Cohosh. Capt. Webster informed me, that there was one sort of Cohosh growing here with red berries, which I suppose to be the Actea spicata: I dit not see any: The Botrypus virginicus, which is plenty here is used by the Indians as a principal remedy in the venereal disease.
In contrast to the settlers, the native people had no plough and no livestock. They did not regard the forest as a grazing commons with rather inferior forage (compared to alfalfa), but rather as a repository of medicines, materials, or food-- such as the goldenseal, sanicle, whiteflower leafcup, blue cohosh, rattlesnake fern described in this passage. (See “Rich mesophytic hardwood forest” for more details about these forest floor plants in CNY.)
Domestic livestock ran freely not only through forests but in wetlands as well. Peter Kalm (1972) described in 1749 the effect of pigs on stands of arrow arum (Peltandra virginica) in marshes (see also the entry for this plant in the section on shallow emergent marsh):
Hogs are very greedy of the roots, and grow very fat by feeding on them. . . . It is very plain that this plant must have been extirpated in places frequented by hogs.
4. Reliance on multiple sources of calories/nutrients
Finally, while the Haudenosaunee were accomplished agriculturalists according to numerous early sources (see Waugh 1916), they never relied wholly on agriculture for food. Theirs appeared to be a liminal system (Stein 2008) that relied on both annual crops and wild systems for food and other materials, and where lines between “wild” and domesticated were blurred; where plant communities were tended (Anderson 1996) to provide plant and other resources.
Crop areas probably increased in size only after the widespread adoption of Three Sisters agriculture and especially after the sharp increase in corn consumption in the aboriginal diet [citation and say a little more about where, who, how]. That is, caloric increase of corn in the diet increased about 1000 AD in the Northeastern US, as indicated by stable isotope studies in archaeology (Peterson and Fry 1987). Maize, as a prolific annual, provided surplus food to complement erratic years of nut and fruit production. However, maize and other crops were subject to failure or damage by insects, disease, and depredatory fauna, so were never relied on to the exclusion of wild herbs and woodland staples such as nuts.
“The prolific wilderness,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p.23) of the native landscape, “teemed with waste fertility.” In other words, it was just waiting to be farmed properly by people with beasts of burden and a plough. But the “fertility” of wild systems was not wasted on the native people, who gathered, fished, hunted for a significant part of their calorie intake, not to mention medicines and other materials. That reliance is suggested by Loskiel (1794):
Agriculture is more attended to by the Iroquois than the Delawares, but by both merely to satisfy their most pressing wants, for they are even satisfied with those eatable herbs and roots which grow without culture, especially potatoes and parsnips. Of the latter they make a kind of bread.
Apparently the wild earth provides with such abundance that perhaps limited agriculture only is needed:
The country is plentifully covered with plants, shrubs, and trees, which bear fruits. Strawberries grow so large and in such abundance, that whole plains are covered with them as with a fine scarlet cloth. They are remarkably well flavored (Loskiel 1794 p. 68)
The “waste fertility” referred to by Hedrick was augmented by fire, which created openings for plants like strawberries to grow; and perhaps by other interventions. That is, the Haudenosaunee may have had other ways of “cultivating” the wild that the immigrant culture did not, quite likely could not, recognize.
However, let’s get back to the “old field.” What happens when a field farmed for 10 years or so is abandoned? And does it matter if the land was burned, weeded, and seeded (as in the case of Indian fields), but never actually ploughed? Do you get a different suite of plants? Rhizomes may die after 10 years, but a seed bank could be still active unless already emptied by time of abandonment. George Geddes’ (1860) list of weeds for Onondaga County includes such plants as black-eyed susan, pokeweed, milkweed, "hempweed" (Apocynum or Eupatorium), goldenrod, asters, Indian tobacco, field pussytoes in upland sites. In addition, by this date many non-native plants also appeared as weeds: Canada thistle, hound’s tongue, common plantain, ragweed, oxeye daisy, burdock, and sow thistle.
In terms of the grasslands that filled in after indigenous “farming,” we might expect species that occurred concurrently with Indian corn might fill in once the cornfield is abandoned. Such plants would include those either encouraged around native settlements or whose seeds would have been discarded there—e.g. Apocynum cannibinum used for hemp making. Pursh recorded presence of prairie plants in CNY such as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), compassplant (Silphium laciniatum), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), and wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). Note too that the only occurrence of Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) in Onondaga County came from the “Indian Reservation” (Beauchamp 1923?). This prairie plant occurs in northern and western NY where grasslands were noted by early European travelers (see Fire in CNY).
Marks et al. (1992) record species associated with forest disturbances, according to military tract data from the 1790s. These plants include "Thorn" (Craetagus), "thorns" and “briers” (Rubus spp. or Rosa?) on the Allegheny plateau in former clearings made by Indians, and in blow downs. Currants also occurred in one of the same areas of blow down. "Thorns" were noted at a burned site; in the surveyor’s words, "little or no timber, occasioned I suppose by fire, but very thick covered with thorns and hazelbushes [Corylus spp.].” Plum was recorded in two “old clearings.” This is probably Canadian plum or Prunus nigra, which was cultivated by the Onondaga.
In any case, the sequential clearing and abandonment of forest for corn and vegetable growing left a mosaic of patches in various seral stages that could be exploited for various resources typical of each stage.
Engelbrecht (2003, p. 101):
In most cases . . . former village locations with their cleared fields were only a few miles away. The possible abandonment of some fields and the clearing of others would have led to a vegetational mosaic around settlements.
And as one archaelologist pointed out, prairies can be considered cultural landscapes, created by Indian people through their systematic manipulation of landscape to produce open areas for different resources and habitat types (R. Whitlam lecture quoted in Storm 2002).
Herbaceous Plants
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods, herbivores (see section on “Historic Disturbance Factors”). People also created openings of significant size around village sites, as land was cleared for horticulture and trees cut for fuel (as recounted in the Introduction to this section). The size and site conditions of the opening determined what species would grow there. Propagule availability—including seeds or vegetative materials—also played a role in determining species makeup of open sites.
In the case of big bluestem near Salina, openings were created by fluctuations in lake water levels and spring floods along tributary streams Onondaga and Ley Creeks. Also, the village was one of the first areas around Onondaga Lake to be settled by Euro-Americans, attracted here for the business of salt (James Geddes laid out village streets in 1798 [Clark 1849]). This fact alone created open areas for sun-loving plants to seed in. Ephraim Webster arrived in the area around 1786 and set up a trading post here, mainly for furs.
Long before European presence, however, the mouth of Onondaga Creek was an important fishing site for the Onondagas (Bradley 1987). During the 1700s, the Onondagas were at “Salt Point” boiling salt for a modest trade with the Delaware Indians and other partners (Clark 1849). The point is that the area was subject to disturbance, and that the flow of human traffic here over centuries could have brought seeds, intentionally or otherwise, from many kilometers away.
Apparently the range of big bluestem was limited historically in New York state to floodplains of large rivers like the Susquehanna or the Hudson (D. Werier, pers. comm.). On the eastern great plains, big bluestem was widely used by native people for lining food (maize, e.g.) storage pits, since it is believed to have mold resistant properties (Engelbrecht 2003, p. 25). This practice also occurred at least sporadically in NYS. At the Bates site, a fortified hamlet on a terrace of the Chenango River, Ritchie (1973, p. 232) reported finding probable fragments of big bluestem used to line a large storage pit (Engelbrecht 2003).
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).
spreading dogbane, fly-trap dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium
Pursh found spreading dogbane on his walk from Onondaga Hollow along Onondaga Creek to the salt springs at Salina during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. It can be distinguished from Indian hemp (described next) by its reflexed (bent backwards) petals, and branching stems. It’s also toxic.
Indian hemp, dogbane, amy-root, lechuguilla, honeybloom Apocynum cannibinum
Apocynum, this plant’s generic name, roughly translates to “dogs [keep] away” and refers to the poisonous nature of this plant. Cannibinum points to the fact that the fibers, like those of Cannabis or hemp, can be twisted into rope. This plant produces milkweed-like pods that split to release seeds bearing each a tuft of silky white hairs. Colonial and perennial, it spreads well in favorable sites. In fact it is considered a noxious weed in agricultural settings because of its invasive nature and its toxicity to domestic livestock.
From another cultural perspective, however, Indian hemp was/is was highly valued for fiber and medicine by native peoples across North America. People in places from California to New York use the plant to make twine, rope, and string. Peter Kalm (1972) noted that ropes made from fibers of this plant “were stronger, and kept longer in water, than such as were made of common hemp [Cannabis spp.].” (265) For this reason the Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey bought ropes made from dogbane from the local native people, using them for bridles and fishnets. (They got 14 yards of dogbane rope for one piece of bread.) “Many of the Europeans still buy such ropes,” Kalm observed, “because they last so well.” Dogbane was especially useful for fishnets—“sometimes the fishing tackle of the Indians consists entirely of this hemp.”
Kalm describes how the fibers are twisted into cordage:
On my journey through the country of the Iroquese, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. They made use neither of spinning-wheels nor distaffs, but rolled the filaments upon their bare thighs, and made thread and strings of them which they dyed red, yellow, black, &c. and afterwards worked them into stuffs, with a great deal of ingenuity (Kalm 1972).
Kalm also pointed out that dogbane is a perennial, “which makes the annual planting of it altogether unnecessary” (in contrast to hemp which must be seeded annually). He further observed that it grew “plentifully in old corn-grounds, in woods, on hills, and in high glades.” That suggests that when the native peoples needed a good supply of this plant, they could sometimes find it in fields they had abandoned. It may have occurred “plentifully” in such places, in fact, because people dispersed the seeds, accidentally or with intention.
Large quantities of Indian hemp are needed to make fishnets and cordage. According to one source (USDA 2013):
. . . it takes approximately five stalks of milkweed or Indian hemp to manufacture one foot of cordage. A Sierra Miwok feather skirt or cape contain about 100 feet of cordage made from approximately 500 plant stalks, while a deer net 40 feet in length (Barrett and Gifford 1933:178) contained some 7,000 feet of cordage, which would have required the harvesting of a staggering 35,000 plant stalks.
This large number highlights the importance of Indian hemp gathering sites. The plant is found in dry thin forests, rocky openings, fields, thickets, stream banks, roadsides, and occasionally marshes (Weldy and Werier 2013). It is known to increase after burns (Swan 1970).
Indian hemp is collected in the autumn after the leaves have begun to senesce or dry up and the stalks turn reddish brown (USDA 2013). Plants are cut at the base of the stem. Cutting the plants appears to stimulate new growth in the spring; so as many stalks as possible are cut. Plants are then split open and the fibers removed and processed into cordage.
Besides cordage, Indian hemp has medicinal uses. It has been used to treat various ailments as suggested in this passage from USDA Plants website (2013):
The root could also be used as an emetic, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, cathartic, anodyne, hypnotic, laxative, treats vomiting, diarrhea, hydrocephalus, urinary difficulties, dropsy, jaundice, liver problems, and stimulates the digestive system. It has been successfully employed for alcoholism. A wash made of crushed root can be shampooed into the hair to stimulate growth, remove dandruff and head lice. The milky juice can remove warts. A poultice of the leaves reduces tumors, hemorrhoids, and inflammation of the testicles.
Pursh found Indian hemp in the Fairmount area and near the Onondaga Lake salt marshes during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. Goodrich (1912) lists Indian hemp as “common,” found in “damp grounds, banks of streams.”
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Native people all over eastern North America have used milkweed for food, fiber, and medicine for millennia. Young shoots, buds, blossoms, and pods of this plant can be steamed and eaten (for preparation methods, see Kavasch 2005). However, the plant contains cardiac glycosides and can only be safely ingested if properly prepared. Milkweed should never be eaten raw.
Milkweed fibers are prepared for cordage in a manner similar to Indian hemp, described earlier:
Milkweeds supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. Milkweed stems are collected after the stalks senesce in late fall-early winter. The dried stalks are split open to release the fibers; milkweed fibers are sometimes mixed with fibers of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). The bark is removed and the fibers released by first rubbing between the hands and then drawing the fibers over a hard surface (USDA 2013).
As every school child knows, milkweed is the food plant of the migratory monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. Its fragrant flowers also provide nectar and pollen for a wide range of other invertebrates.
butterfly weed, pleurisy root Asclepias tuberosa
A native perennial herb, butterfly weed grows in dry, open soils and is abundant on prairies. A state protected plant (EV) in NYS, A. tuberosa now appears in grassy swaths of highway medians south of Syracuse. In CNY it grows in dry gravely or calcareous soils, such as those around Clark Reservation.
John Bartram includes “pleurisy root” in his herbal, writing:
. . . this hath been for many Years used with good Success for the Cure of the Bloody Flux; the Root must be powdered and given in a Spoonful of Rum, or rather as the Indians give it, bruise the Root, and boil it in Water, and drink the Decoction: Peter Kalm saith it is excellent for the hysteric Passion (Hobbs 2013).
Pursh found butterfly weed in the Onondaga Hollow, now the Valley section of Syracuse, where it still grows today along the mowed berms of channelized Onondaga Creek.
calico aster Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Aster lateriflorus)
Goodrich (1912) writes of this plant’s occurrence in Onondaga County, “Common. Everywhere. Rays short, white or pale blue.” It continues to be today one of the more common asters in the area. Like many asters, calico aster blooms late in the summer or early fall, and therefore supplies an important source of pollen and nectar when insect populations have peaked for the growing season. More common insect visitors include short-tongued bees, wasps, and flies, and less common visitors include long-tongued bees, small butterflies, skippers, beetles, and plant bugs. These insects seek nectar primarily, although the short-tongued bees may collect pollen, while some beetles and flies feed on the pollen (Hilty 2005).
New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster novae-angliae)
Another of our more common and lovely asters, called by Goodrich (1912) the “most attractive of the wild asters,” and therefore the one most often available as a landscape plant. The ray flowers (outer “petals”) can be purple, rose purple, or deep pink.
This native species has many faunal associates (Hilty 2005). The flowers are visited primarily by long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, and skippers. Short-tongued bees and syrphid flies also visit the flowers, but they collect pollen primarily and are non-pollinating. The long-tongued bees include such visitors as bumblebees, honeybees, miner bees, and large leaf-cutting bees. Cross-pollination by these insects is essential, otherwise the seeds will be infertile. The caterpillars of many moths feed on various parts of this and other asters. Other insects feeding on this plant include Lygus lineolaris (tarnished plant bug), Poccilocapsus lineatus (four-lined plant bug), Corythuche marmorata (chrysanthemum lace bug), and Macrosiphum euphoriaca (potato aphid).
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis
Canada wildrye is reported from the canal bank near Will & Baumer plant north of Syracuse near Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013). Pursh (1869) also found it south of Onondaga Hollow during his visit to Ephraim Webster in 1807.
Canada wild rye is a native perennial bunch grass found along trails rivers streams throughout much of North America (USDA 2013). You can recognize this grass by its large, distinctive spikes, which curve downward. Canada wild rye is short-lived, cool season grass found growing on shaded stream banks and in open woodlands. It generally lives in coarse textured sandy gravelly or rocky soils. It is fairly tolerant of shade and salt.
Canada wild rye makes an excellent species for use in erosion control due to seedling vigor and rapid establishment.
grass-leaved goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia
See entry under shallow emergent marsh.
strawberry Fragaria virginiana
The strawberry is among the first berries to ripen in the spring, and thus elicits special appreciation within the annual cycle of food According to Parker (1968), “strawberries are eagerly gathered in the spring and eaten by everyone as a spring medicine.” He writes:
The first fruit of the year is the wild strawberry and this the Iroquois takes as a symbol of the Creator’s renewed promise of beneficence. Quantities are gathered and brought to the feastmakers at the Long House for the Strawberry Thanksgiving. This is an annual ceremony of importance though it lasts but a day. (98)
Nutritionally, strawberries provide magnesium, potassium, beta carotene, iron, and malic and citric acids. The wild berries, though challenging to pick in quantity, are far superior in flavor to the ones cultivated commercially, and worth the work to pick.
One Onondaga name provided for strawberry is noon-tak-tek-hah-kwa, which translates to “growing where the ground is burned” (Beauchamp 1923). In other words, strawberries sprang up after fire cleared competing vegetation and allowed them to establish. Woodbury (2003) gives the name as gadekhahgwa7 [proper linguistic notation not possible with this font], which appears to include the verb base –adeg-, -adek- , meaning “to burn.”
Technically, the strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each apparent "seed" (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it.
Wild strawberry look-alikes include the closely related Fragaria vesca, the woodland strawberry, which has both native and European subspecies (Welty and Werier 2013). Woodland strawberry looks like wild strawberry except the seeds appear raised on the surface of the fruit. Although edible, this species lacks the flavor of its popular cousin. Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) has yellow flowers, not white, and occurs in forests and forest edges. Fruit is dry and inedible. The non-native Duchesnea indica also has yellow flowers, strawberry-like fruit, and grows commonly as a lawn weed.
annual sunflower Helianthus annuus
Sunflower is among a suite of plants thought to have been domesticated in the Eastern half of North America (Bodner 1999). The other plants include sumpweed (Iva annua var. macrocarpa), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), some forms of gourd (Curcurbita sp.), erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum), and little barley (Hordeum pusillum). In other words, it appears that agriculture in the Northeast did not begin with corn, beans and squash, but rather had been in development for thousands of years using indigenous plants-- including sunflower.
Sunflower is also one of the few domesticated plants whose wild ancestors still exist in nature. People selected for plants that had a single stalk and a single massive flower head containing large seeds. The oldest remains of domesticated sunflower come from a site in Tennessee dated about 2300 BC (Bodner 1999). The oldest remains in New York, of a sunflower achene is from a date about A.D. 1500.
In 1615, Champlain observed cultivated sunflower at a village in what is now Ontario, and northwest of Toronto:
They plant in it a great quantity of Indian corn, which grows there finely. They plant likewise squashes, and sunflowers, from the seed of which they make oil, with which they anoint the head (Champlain 1907 page 284).
Kalm (1972) too describes cultivation of sunflower in maize fields. Waugh (1916) mentions the use of sunflower oil for the hair, as well as the cultivation of the plant with corn and beans. Parker (1968) writes:
Sunflower oil was used in quantities by the Iroquois, with whom it was a favorite food oil. It was prepared by bruising the ripe seed in a mortar, heating a mass for a half hour and then throwing it into boiling water until most of the oil had been separated from the pulp. The water is cooled and strained and then the oil skimmed off.
Why would sunflowers be cultivated with maize? As Brodner (1999) points out, today's agrochemical industry is geared toward producing herbicides that kill sunflowers. They are considered weeds because they mangle combines used in the production of corn. The growth requirements of sunflower and maize are very close, so they make good companion plants. So it's possible that the owner shown he took advantage of a crop-weed pair and reaped the benefits of both plants.
Goodrich (1912) describes sunflower in Onondaga County as “frequent,” seen along roadsides, escaped from cultivation.
sweet grass Hierchloe odorata
Elkanah Watson, traveling along the Seneca River in 1791, made a stop near the salt works in Brutus, NY. He wrote:
After just after traversing a marsh, about 50 rods, sweetly perfumed with aromatic Seneca grass, which the Indians were around their necks, in braids, to enjoy the perfume, and as a preventive of headache, we reach to her three log huts, where salt is made on a pitiful scale. . . . (Watson 1856)
The “aromatic Seneca grass" he describes is probably sweet grass. Although there are no records of this plant for Onondaga Lake, it's entirely possible that it grew near the salt marshes at that location just as it did near Cayuga Lake salt marshes. Sweetgrass in this area is typically found on the “upper edges of salt marshes” (Welty and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is wetlands and riparian areas (USDA 2013). Sweet grass thrives in open, disturbed habitats so probably was another species that benefited from periodic burns (see Shebitz 2001).
Sweet grass is distributed throughout North America and is widely used by native peoples across the continent. The long sweet grass blades are burned as incense in various ceremonies. Hierchloe literally translates from Greek as sacred (hieros) grass (chloe) (USDA 2013). Odorata, the species name, refers of course to the plant’s sweet smell. Coumarin, a natural anticoagulant, gives sweetgrass that characteristic aroma (as well as toxic or medicinal properties associated with this chemical) (USDA 2013).
The Haudenosaunee people also use sweet grass for basket making, which provides an important source of income for these communities. Sweetgrass populations appeared to be declining for dear Henrymany years (Shebitz, Laurie), and in response several efforts have been made to revive this important grass in native communities.
wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Pursh found this member of the mint family near Salina (“Salt Point”) in 1807.
The root system consists of deep, strongly branched roots, and shallow rhizomes that are responsible for the vegetative spread of the plant. These rhizomes typically send up multiple leafy stems in a tight cluster, giving Wild Bergamot a bushy appearance.
Wild bergamot provides nectar and pollen for numerous insects (Hilty 2005). The nectar of the flowers attracts long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbird moths. Among the long-tongued bees, are such visitors as bumblebees, Miner bees, Epeoline Cuckoo bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees. A small black bee (Doufouria monardae) specializes in the pollination of Monarda flowers. Sometimes Halictid bees collect pollen, while some wasps steal nectar by perforating the nectar tube. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird also visits the flowers.
Oenothera biennis common evening primrose Fields, pastures, thickets, gravel and sand bars in streams, roadsides, and disturbed soils. A native species of disturbed sites.
Potentilla simplex common cinquefoil
Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia laciniata cutleaf coneflower
compass plant Silphium laciniatum
There are no actual herbarium records for compass plant naturally occurring in central NY, but Pursh reported seeing the plant, possibly somewhere in the Onondaga Hill area, in his journal of 1807. It would be a hard plant to misidentify, given its stature (6-12’ or 1.8 - 3.7 m) and striking form. Basal leaves range from 1-2’ long, and half as wide; leaves diminish in size as you move up the stem. At the time of his visit (July 13) it was not yet in flower. The inflorescence is tall and elongated, with daisy-like, yellow flowers. The large central taproot of this prairie species can extend 15’ into the ground. Compass plant can live up to 100 years.
The only herbarium record for compass plant in NYS is one from Genesee County in western NY (Weldy and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is tallgrass prairie, where it co-occurs with big bluestem. Sun-loving and drought resistant, this hardy plant also recovers readily from fires (Hilty 2005). When Aldo Leopold describes the “funeral of the native flora” in his essay “Prairie Birthday,” compass plant is the featured species:
. . . this yard-square relic of original Wisconsin gives birth, each July, to a man-high stalk of compass plant or cut-leaf Silphium spangled with saucer size yellow blossoms resembling sunflowers (Leopold 1966).
Should we rush to plant Silphium in central NY today? Before doing so, it's worth noting that a sister species (Silphium perfoliatum, cup plant) is on the NYSDEC interim list of invasive plants. Compass plant is not on the list, but perhaps some caution is advised at least until climate change turns this area into a grassland biome.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium narrowleaf blue-eyed grass
Solidago altissima tall goldenrod one of NYS's most common goldenrods, except in the northern parts of the state
Solidago canadensis Canada goldenrod
Solidago juncea early goldenrod Grows where soils are thin; does best in full light
Solidago nemoralis gray goldenrod
Solidago rugosa wrinkleleaf goldenrod, roughstem goldenrod successional fields, pastures, wet to mesic forests, swamps, and roadsides. Prefers slightly wetter than mesic soils, altho it grow in mesic conditions as well
Veronicastrum virginicum Culver's root
fireweed Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum former name Epilobium angustifolium
Fireweed is a native perennial with willow-like leaves and pink, four-part flowers adorning a long inflorescence (raceme). Pursh noticed this plant growing during his walk from Salina to Onondaga Hollow. Goodrich (1912) described it as “Common. Frequently follows forest fires, or newly cleared lands. Onon. Hill, July, 1905.” It apparently once occurred widely in the area, and including specimens from near Onondaga Salt Springs, Cicero Swamp, and the swamp west of Carpenter’s Pond.
Woody Plants
sweet crab-apple, sweet-scented crab tree Malus coronaria (Pyrus coronaria)
“On the reservation still grows the beautiful wild crabapple which has now become locally rare,” wrote William Beauchamp. “The Botanical club were naturally delighted last year to find it near Syracuse” ("Notable trees," Beauchamp papers-date?). At the Onondaga Nation there was “quite a group” of these trees (Beauchamp 1923), which probably reflected some form of cultivation.
“On Seneca reservations, I have seen it growing by houses, either for ornament or use,” Beauchamp adds. Loskiel (1794) reports that “crabs (malus sylvestris) grow in great plenty, and the Indians being very fond of sharp and sour fruit, eat them in abundance.”
Sweet crabapple also grew at Oak Openings, Kimber Springs, and the Valley and Bradford Hills sections of Syracuse. Variety dasycalyx is the only one for which there are record from Onondaga County (Weldy and Werier 2013).
Today, the horticulture industry sells mass-produced non-native crabapple cultivars that are readily available at nurseries and widely planted as a result. It's a shame that our native crabapple has been all but forgotten. It's listed as S3 (with a?) In New York State, so would be excellent heritage plant to add to our landscapes.
serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry Amelanchier spp.; probably A. arborea, downy serviceberry in this setting (old field)
This small tree has excellent fruit—sweet, purple-blue berries that ripen in June. Birds love it and flock to serviceberry trees; at least 40 bird species (such as orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings) eat the fruit, as do many mammals. Downy serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but also sprouts from the roots. Birds and mammals disperse seeds; scarification of the seeds after ingestion by birds is important for germination (USDA 2013).
This tree and its fruits were used by the Haudenosaunee, as Parker (1968) writes:
Juneberries were considered a valuable blood remedy, which was given to mothers after childbirth to prevent after pains and hemorrhages. The smaller branches of the juneberry bush were broken up and steeped as a tea for the same purpose.
If you are ever wondering where serviceberry grows, one of the best ways to locate this tree is to drive or walk along roads in mid-April when it's flowering. The white flowers give away the locations of serviceberry at a time when few other plants are stirring. A member of the rose family, serviceberry has five-part, long-petaled flowers. It gets the name “shadbush” because it flowers at the time that shad make their upstream runs from the sea.
apple Malus spp.
“The Iroquois,” says Parker, “loved the apple above other fruits.” (See Schoolcraft, Senate Document 24, “The apple is the Indian’s banana.”)
Apple trees sometimes appear in old field settings where there was a former orchard, or where birds distributed the seeds.
American plum, wild red plum Prunus americana
Both American plum and Canadian plum (described below) have somewhat spotty distributions in NYS (Weldy and Werier 2013), which could reflect the fact that they were dispersed by people who planted them around their settlements for fruit. (See http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/ for range maps.) In fact, the native range of American plum is hard to determine exactly since it has been planted so widely across North America. It is the most widely distributed native plum on this continent, extending from southern Saskatchewan to Maine, and south to Florida and Arizona.
American plum can grow either as a shrub or small tree. It prefers full sun to light shade, so is most common in early successional landscapes such as hedgerows, thickets, forest edges, young successional forests, and disturbed soils in valley bottoms and floodplains. The fruits are red to yellow plums prized for eating, baking, and using in jellies and jams. The plant’s thorny, suckering growth creates thickets of wildlife habitat, and is a favored deer browse (USDA 2013).
Goodrich (1912) notes that this species is “seldom found now” in Onondaga County, implying that it was once more common in the area. It may have lost favor among those preferring to cultivate the European plum, Prunus domestica.
Canadian plum, wild plum Prunus nigra
Prunus americana var. nigra is a historical synonym
“The only fruit cultivated by the Iroquois, if planting the seed can be called cultivation,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p. 23), “was the black plum, Prunus nigra.” While it is debatable that this tree was the only fruit grown by the Haudenosaunee, there is good evidence it was cultivated (see also Parker (1968).
Canadian plum is a small tree whose range is limited to the northern area around the Great Lakes. It was first recorded along the St. Lawrence River in 1535 by Jacques Cartier, when native people there gave him some dried plums to eat. As Hedrick writes:
This prune-making plum is found in New York only as an escaped from cultivation in the outskirts of Iroquois villages. That the Indians tended the trees is probable for early travelers record that plantations of plums were found about aboriginal villages and that dried plums were in common use during the winter diet. . . .
Hedrick points out that about 40 varieties of the Canada plum were under cultivation at the time he writes (1933). I believe this species has fallen out of favor among growers, however, and have not seen any of its fruits available in local markets.
In Onondaga County, Canada plum is recorded from several sites including Clark Reservation, Pompey Center, Carpenter’s Pond (Pompey), Kimber Springs, and Oak Openings (Hough 2013). The Pompey plants and possibly others could be descendants of those planted around Onondaga settlements.
hazelnut, American filbert Corylus americana FACU
John Bartram (1895) describes crossing "hazel planes" and "hazel bottoms" as he traveled up the Susquehanna Valley towards Onondaga in 1743. This shrub is strongly rhizomatous and colonial, so Bartram may have been describing thickets of the plant spreading across disturbed patches of ground. The extent to which areas were modified by native peoples for hazelnut production in the eastern US is not known, but perhaps the species was favored by periodic burns or floods that kept forest canopy at bay.
Goodrich lists hazelnut as “rare” in Onondaga County and occurring in open woods, including one location near Onondaga Creek. I could have discussed this plant within the riparian community, since American filbert occurs in a variety of settings including floodplains. In fact, Paine (1865) cites its habitats as low woods and riverbanks, and say it is “common in the valley of the Mohawk.” Hazelnut generally occurs in moist to dry woods and thickets, forest margins, roadsides, and fencerows and other disturbed areas (USDA PG 2012). Marks et al. (1992) found it appeared most often “as underbrush in an oak/hickory woods” in CNY. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils but often may be found close to streamsides and also grows on prairies. Open habitats are common, but it also can grow successfully in deep shade.
The nuts of American filbert, which have a higher nutritional value than acorns and beechnuts, also are eaten by squirrels, foxes, deer, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants, and deer. The leaves, twigs, and catkins are browsed by rabbits, deer, and moose (USDA PG 2012).
Hazel shrubs also provided a phenological cue in the aboriginal seasonal cycle. The time for planting Indian corn,” writes Loskiel (1794), “is when there is no further expectation of a frost, and the Indians judge of this by observing the hazel-nut (coryllus avellana) in bloom.”
beaked hazelnut Corylus cornuta
Also grows as an understory plant in deciduous and mixed deciduous conifer forests (so, shade tolerant). Grows in thin, poor soils.
smooth sumac Rhus glabra
Smooth sumac is a native deciduous shrub or small tree. It is extremely drought resistant, and is commonly found in open fields, roadsides and burned areas on sandy soil. You may be familiar with the pyramidal red fruits and fuzzy stems of staghorn sumac (see below), which is the more common sumac in the Onondaga Lake watershed today. However, smooth sumac is listed by Goodrich (1912) as frequently occurring in Onondaga County, so perhaps it was more widespread in the 19th century. The widespread clearing of forests for agriculture and fuel during this time may have opened up many habitats for this early successional species. In any case, smooth sumac is very similar to staghorn sumac in growth form, as well as ecological and reproductive characteristics. They have similar fruits, which are fuzzy and red, arranged in upright clusters that decorate the bare branches like candles in winter (the very time when both people and wildlife tend to rely on sumac berries). The main difference between these two sumacs is the stems, which are velvetine-fuzzy (pubescent) on staghorn sumac and smooth on smooth sumac. Smooth sumac berries also have less fuzz.
Most populations of sumac have male and female flowers on separate plants. Only the female plants produce fruits. Sumac seeds germinate best after passing through the digestive system of such wildlife as rabbits, pheasants, and quail. Fire also seems to encourage germination of smooth sumac seeds. Once established, sumac stands will spread from root sprouts. The lateral root system is extensive and can spread outward three or more feet a year (USDA 2013).
Waugh (1916) writes that sumac seed clusters were boiled during the autumn and winter and served as a beverage. He does not give the species name, however, and could be referring to either smooth or staghorn sumac, or both. Parker (1968) wrote that “sumac bobs were boiled in winter for a drink.” Since smooth sumac is the only species Parker refers to, it may be this plant to which he refers.
About 300 species of songbirds include sumac food and their diet (USDA 2013), especially as a winter emergency food.
staghorn sumac Rhus typhina
See entry for smooth some sumac above. A pioneer species, staghorn sumac can be commonly seen in old fields, edges of agricultural lands, roadsides, shrubby thickets, open stream banks, and edges of forests. As with smooth sumac, the fruits of this species was used for a beverage.
blackberry Rubus allegheniensis
Blackberries were among the fruits that were collected in sufficient quantities to be dried for winter use (Parker 1968). Dried blackberries are soaked in honey and water and use as a ceremonial food. The berries were easily dried as long as they did not become damp 9and therefore subject to mold) in the drying process. Blackberries were best dried on the stalk, according to Parker, who describes the drying process as follows: "The stalk or cluster stem was broken and allowed to hang on the bush where the sun could drive down the fruit with all its natural juices.” (In contrast, smaller pulpy species of berry, such as blueberries, were dried in shallow basket trays.)
Blackberries occur in old fields throughout the Onondaga Lake watershed, although black raspberry is probably the more common Rubus in the area. Goodrich (1912) writes for blackberry: “Common. Hillsides. Indian Hill.” Indian Hill, near Manlius, is the site of a former Onondaga village, where blackberries would have been welcome provender. (See also “Berry Economy” and “Index to Place” for more details on both of these subjects.) Most species of blackberry sprout prolifically from rootstocks, roots, or rhizomes, even when aboveground foliage is totally consumed by fire.
Blackberries closely resemble black raspberries (see below). They can be distinguished by their grooved stems (older stems only), berries which are seedy and do not come cleanly off the receptacle.
black raspberry Rubus occidentalis
This native perennial shrub grows in stalks or canes that start upright or erect, but they eventually bend over, their tips sometimes reaching the ground. The canes can root at the tips and produce new plants vegetatively this way.
First-year canes do not produce flowers and fruit. They are initially green, hairless, and, but turn brown, woody, and prickly during the winter. During the second year, these canes develop short branches that have flowers. The leaves come in groups of three, and are green above, and pale beneath (due to presence of short white hairs).
The flowers are white with 5 petals each. Fruits develop that technically represent a cluster of druplets, each having a single seed. The fruits or berries detach cleanly and easily from their receptacles when ripe.
red raspberry Rubus idaeus ssp. strigosus
Like its cousin Rubus’, red raspberry yields a delicious fruit long prized by people and wildlife. And like raspberry and blackberry, its life cycle is well integrated with periodic disturbance. It can spring up, flourish, and decline within the years following forest clearing, and before canopy closure blocks sunlight. Red raspberry spreads vegetatively and can resprout well after fire or cutting, due to protected underground regenerative structures. Further, viable seed can persist for in the soil for 60 to 100 years or more (Tirmentstein 1989). In fact, red raspberry seed germination seems to improve, not decline, with age (Graber and Thompson 1978).
In the Onondaga Lake area, records for red raspberry hail from Cross Lake, Mud Lake, Clinton St., and Clark Reservation. The European red raspberry, R. idaeus ssp. idaeus, is widely cultivated for fruit.
northern arrow-wood Viburnum dentatum
See Maple-Ash Hardwood swamp for a description of this important shrub. Although it tends to colonize more mesic habitats, it also occurs in successional sites such as old fields.
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods, herbivores (see section on “Historic Disturbance Factors”). People also created openings of significant size around village sites, as land was cleared for horticulture and trees cut for fuel (as recounted in the Introduction to this section). The size and site conditions of the opening determined what species would grow there. Propagule availability—including seeds or vegetative materials—also played a role in determining species makeup of open sites.
In the case of big bluestem near Salina, openings were created by fluctuations in lake water levels and spring floods along tributary streams Onondaga and Ley Creeks. Also, the village was one of the first areas around Onondaga Lake to be settled by Euro-Americans, attracted here for the business of salt (James Geddes laid out village streets in 1798 [Clark 1849]). This fact alone created open areas for sun-loving plants to seed in. Ephraim Webster arrived in the area around 1786 and set up a trading post here, mainly for furs.
Long before European presence, however, the mouth of Onondaga Creek was an important fishing site for the Onondagas (Bradley 1987). During the 1700s, the Onondagas were at “Salt Point” boiling salt for a modest trade with the Delaware Indians and other partners (Clark 1849). The point is that the area was subject to disturbance, and that the flow of human traffic here over centuries could have brought seeds, intentionally or otherwise, from many kilometers away.
Apparently the range of big bluestem was limited historically in New York state to floodplains of large rivers like the Susquehanna or the Hudson (D. Werier, pers. comm.). On the eastern great plains, big bluestem was widely used by native people for lining food (maize, e.g.) storage pits, since it is believed to have mold resistant properties (Engelbrecht 2003, p. 25). This practice also occurred at least sporadically in NYS. At the Bates site, a fortified hamlet on a terrace of the Chenango River, Ritchie (1973, p. 232) reported finding probable fragments of big bluestem used to line a large storage pit (Engelbrecht 2003).
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).
spreading dogbane, fly-trap dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium
Pursh found spreading dogbane on his walk from Onondaga Hollow along Onondaga Creek to the salt springs at Salina during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. It can be distinguished from Indian hemp (described next) by its reflexed (bent backwards) petals, and branching stems. It’s also toxic.
Indian hemp, dogbane, amy-root, lechuguilla, honeybloom Apocynum cannibinum
Apocynum, this plant’s generic name, roughly translates to “dogs [keep] away” and refers to the poisonous nature of this plant. Cannibinum points to the fact that the fibers, like those of Cannabis or hemp, can be twisted into rope. This plant produces milkweed-like pods that split to release seeds bearing each a tuft of silky white hairs. Colonial and perennial, it spreads well in favorable sites. In fact it is considered a noxious weed in agricultural settings because of its invasive nature and its toxicity to domestic livestock.
From another cultural perspective, however, Indian hemp was/is was highly valued for fiber and medicine by native peoples across North America. People in places from California to New York use the plant to make twine, rope, and string. Peter Kalm (1972) noted that ropes made from fibers of this plant “were stronger, and kept longer in water, than such as were made of common hemp [Cannabis spp.].” (265) For this reason the Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey bought ropes made from dogbane from the local native people, using them for bridles and fishnets. (They got 14 yards of dogbane rope for one piece of bread.) “Many of the Europeans still buy such ropes,” Kalm observed, “because they last so well.” Dogbane was especially useful for fishnets—“sometimes the fishing tackle of the Indians consists entirely of this hemp.”
Kalm describes how the fibers are twisted into cordage:
On my journey through the country of the Iroquese, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. They made use neither of spinning-wheels nor distaffs, but rolled the filaments upon their bare thighs, and made thread and strings of them which they dyed red, yellow, black, &c. and afterwards worked them into stuffs, with a great deal of ingenuity (Kalm 1972).
Kalm also pointed out that dogbane is a perennial, “which makes the annual planting of it altogether unnecessary” (in contrast to hemp which must be seeded annually). He further observed that it grew “plentifully in old corn-grounds, in woods, on hills, and in high glades.” That suggests that when the native peoples needed a good supply of this plant, they could sometimes find it in fields they had abandoned. It may have occurred “plentifully” in such places, in fact, because people dispersed the seeds, accidentally or with intention.
Large quantities of Indian hemp are needed to make fishnets and cordage. According to one source (USDA 2013):
. . . it takes approximately five stalks of milkweed or Indian hemp to manufacture one foot of cordage. A Sierra Miwok feather skirt or cape contain about 100 feet of cordage made from approximately 500 plant stalks, while a deer net 40 feet in length (Barrett and Gifford 1933:178) contained some 7,000 feet of cordage, which would have required the harvesting of a staggering 35,000 plant stalks.
This large number highlights the importance of Indian hemp gathering sites. The plant is found in dry thin forests, rocky openings, fields, thickets, stream banks, roadsides, and occasionally marshes (Weldy and Werier 2013). It is known to increase after burns (Swan 1970).
Indian hemp is collected in the autumn after the leaves have begun to senesce or dry up and the stalks turn reddish brown (USDA 2013). Plants are cut at the base of the stem. Cutting the plants appears to stimulate new growth in the spring; so as many stalks as possible are cut. Plants are then split open and the fibers removed and processed into cordage.
Besides cordage, Indian hemp has medicinal uses. It has been used to treat various ailments as suggested in this passage from USDA Plants website (2013):
The root could also be used as an emetic, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, cathartic, anodyne, hypnotic, laxative, treats vomiting, diarrhea, hydrocephalus, urinary difficulties, dropsy, jaundice, liver problems, and stimulates the digestive system. It has been successfully employed for alcoholism. A wash made of crushed root can be shampooed into the hair to stimulate growth, remove dandruff and head lice. The milky juice can remove warts. A poultice of the leaves reduces tumors, hemorrhoids, and inflammation of the testicles.
Pursh found Indian hemp in the Fairmount area and near the Onondaga Lake salt marshes during his visit to Onondaga in 1807. Goodrich (1912) lists Indian hemp as “common,” found in “damp grounds, banks of streams.”
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Native people all over eastern North America have used milkweed for food, fiber, and medicine for millennia. Young shoots, buds, blossoms, and pods of this plant can be steamed and eaten (for preparation methods, see Kavasch 2005). However, the plant contains cardiac glycosides and can only be safely ingested if properly prepared. Milkweed should never be eaten raw.
Milkweed fibers are prepared for cordage in a manner similar to Indian hemp, described earlier:
Milkweeds supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. Milkweed stems are collected after the stalks senesce in late fall-early winter. The dried stalks are split open to release the fibers; milkweed fibers are sometimes mixed with fibers of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). The bark is removed and the fibers released by first rubbing between the hands and then drawing the fibers over a hard surface (USDA 2013).
As every school child knows, milkweed is the food plant of the migratory monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. Its fragrant flowers also provide nectar and pollen for a wide range of other invertebrates.
butterfly weed, pleurisy root Asclepias tuberosa
A native perennial herb, butterfly weed grows in dry, open soils and is abundant on prairies. A state protected plant (EV) in NYS, A. tuberosa now appears in grassy swaths of highway medians south of Syracuse. In CNY it grows in dry gravely or calcareous soils, such as those around Clark Reservation.
John Bartram includes “pleurisy root” in his herbal, writing:
. . . this hath been for many Years used with good Success for the Cure of the Bloody Flux; the Root must be powdered and given in a Spoonful of Rum, or rather as the Indians give it, bruise the Root, and boil it in Water, and drink the Decoction: Peter Kalm saith it is excellent for the hysteric Passion (Hobbs 2013).
Pursh found butterfly weed in the Onondaga Hollow, now the Valley section of Syracuse, where it still grows today along the mowed berms of channelized Onondaga Creek.
calico aster Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Aster lateriflorus)
Goodrich (1912) writes of this plant’s occurrence in Onondaga County, “Common. Everywhere. Rays short, white or pale blue.” It continues to be today one of the more common asters in the area. Like many asters, calico aster blooms late in the summer or early fall, and therefore supplies an important source of pollen and nectar when insect populations have peaked for the growing season. More common insect visitors include short-tongued bees, wasps, and flies, and less common visitors include long-tongued bees, small butterflies, skippers, beetles, and plant bugs. These insects seek nectar primarily, although the short-tongued bees may collect pollen, while some beetles and flies feed on the pollen (Hilty 2005).
New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster novae-angliae)
Another of our more common and lovely asters, called by Goodrich (1912) the “most attractive of the wild asters,” and therefore the one most often available as a landscape plant. The ray flowers (outer “petals”) can be purple, rose purple, or deep pink.
This native species has many faunal associates (Hilty 2005). The flowers are visited primarily by long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, and skippers. Short-tongued bees and syrphid flies also visit the flowers, but they collect pollen primarily and are non-pollinating. The long-tongued bees include such visitors as bumblebees, honeybees, miner bees, and large leaf-cutting bees. Cross-pollination by these insects is essential, otherwise the seeds will be infertile. The caterpillars of many moths feed on various parts of this and other asters. Other insects feeding on this plant include Lygus lineolaris (tarnished plant bug), Poccilocapsus lineatus (four-lined plant bug), Corythuche marmorata (chrysanthemum lace bug), and Macrosiphum euphoriaca (potato aphid).
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis
Canada wildrye is reported from the canal bank near Will & Baumer plant north of Syracuse near Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013). Pursh (1869) also found it south of Onondaga Hollow during his visit to Ephraim Webster in 1807.
Canada wild rye is a native perennial bunch grass found along trails rivers streams throughout much of North America (USDA 2013). You can recognize this grass by its large, distinctive spikes, which curve downward. Canada wild rye is short-lived, cool season grass found growing on shaded stream banks and in open woodlands. It generally lives in coarse textured sandy gravelly or rocky soils. It is fairly tolerant of shade and salt.
Canada wild rye makes an excellent species for use in erosion control due to seedling vigor and rapid establishment.
grass-leaved goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia
See entry under shallow emergent marsh.
strawberry Fragaria virginiana
The strawberry is among the first berries to ripen in the spring, and thus elicits special appreciation within the annual cycle of food According to Parker (1968), “strawberries are eagerly gathered in the spring and eaten by everyone as a spring medicine.” He writes:
The first fruit of the year is the wild strawberry and this the Iroquois takes as a symbol of the Creator’s renewed promise of beneficence. Quantities are gathered and brought to the feastmakers at the Long House for the Strawberry Thanksgiving. This is an annual ceremony of importance though it lasts but a day. (98)
Nutritionally, strawberries provide magnesium, potassium, beta carotene, iron, and malic and citric acids. The wild berries, though challenging to pick in quantity, are far superior in flavor to the ones cultivated commercially, and worth the work to pick.
One Onondaga name provided for strawberry is noon-tak-tek-hah-kwa, which translates to “growing where the ground is burned” (Beauchamp 1923). In other words, strawberries sprang up after fire cleared competing vegetation and allowed them to establish. Woodbury (2003) gives the name as gadekhahgwa7 [proper linguistic notation not possible with this font], which appears to include the verb base –adeg-, -adek- , meaning “to burn.”
Technically, the strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each apparent "seed" (achene) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with a seed inside it.
Wild strawberry look-alikes include the closely related Fragaria vesca, the woodland strawberry, which has both native and European subspecies (Welty and Werier 2013). Woodland strawberry looks like wild strawberry except the seeds appear raised on the surface of the fruit. Although edible, this species lacks the flavor of its popular cousin. Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) has yellow flowers, not white, and occurs in forests and forest edges. Fruit is dry and inedible. The non-native Duchesnea indica also has yellow flowers, strawberry-like fruit, and grows commonly as a lawn weed.
annual sunflower Helianthus annuus
Sunflower is among a suite of plants thought to have been domesticated in the Eastern half of North America (Bodner 1999). The other plants include sumpweed (Iva annua var. macrocarpa), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), some forms of gourd (Curcurbita sp.), erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum), and little barley (Hordeum pusillum). In other words, it appears that agriculture in the Northeast did not begin with corn, beans and squash, but rather had been in development for thousands of years using indigenous plants-- including sunflower.
Sunflower is also one of the few domesticated plants whose wild ancestors still exist in nature. People selected for plants that had a single stalk and a single massive flower head containing large seeds. The oldest remains of domesticated sunflower come from a site in Tennessee dated about 2300 BC (Bodner 1999). The oldest remains in New York, of a sunflower achene is from a date about A.D. 1500.
In 1615, Champlain observed cultivated sunflower at a village in what is now Ontario, and northwest of Toronto:
They plant in it a great quantity of Indian corn, which grows there finely. They plant likewise squashes, and sunflowers, from the seed of which they make oil, with which they anoint the head (Champlain 1907 page 284).
Kalm (1972) too describes cultivation of sunflower in maize fields. Waugh (1916) mentions the use of sunflower oil for the hair, as well as the cultivation of the plant with corn and beans. Parker (1968) writes:
Sunflower oil was used in quantities by the Iroquois, with whom it was a favorite food oil. It was prepared by bruising the ripe seed in a mortar, heating a mass for a half hour and then throwing it into boiling water until most of the oil had been separated from the pulp. The water is cooled and strained and then the oil skimmed off.
Why would sunflowers be cultivated with maize? As Brodner (1999) points out, today's agrochemical industry is geared toward producing herbicides that kill sunflowers. They are considered weeds because they mangle combines used in the production of corn. The growth requirements of sunflower and maize are very close, so they make good companion plants. So it's possible that the owner shown he took advantage of a crop-weed pair and reaped the benefits of both plants.
Goodrich (1912) describes sunflower in Onondaga County as “frequent,” seen along roadsides, escaped from cultivation.
sweet grass Hierchloe odorata
Elkanah Watson, traveling along the Seneca River in 1791, made a stop near the salt works in Brutus, NY. He wrote:
After just after traversing a marsh, about 50 rods, sweetly perfumed with aromatic Seneca grass, which the Indians were around their necks, in braids, to enjoy the perfume, and as a preventive of headache, we reach to her three log huts, where salt is made on a pitiful scale. . . . (Watson 1856)
The “aromatic Seneca grass" he describes is probably sweet grass. Although there are no records of this plant for Onondaga Lake, it's entirely possible that it grew near the salt marshes at that location just as it did near Cayuga Lake salt marshes. Sweetgrass in this area is typically found on the “upper edges of salt marshes” (Welty and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is wetlands and riparian areas (USDA 2013). Sweet grass thrives in open, disturbed habitats so probably was another species that benefited from periodic burns (see Shebitz 2001).
Sweet grass is distributed throughout North America and is widely used by native peoples across the continent. The long sweet grass blades are burned as incense in various ceremonies. Hierchloe literally translates from Greek as sacred (hieros) grass (chloe) (USDA 2013). Odorata, the species name, refers of course to the plant’s sweet smell. Coumarin, a natural anticoagulant, gives sweetgrass that characteristic aroma (as well as toxic or medicinal properties associated with this chemical) (USDA 2013).
The Haudenosaunee people also use sweet grass for basket making, which provides an important source of income for these communities. Sweetgrass populations appeared to be declining for dear Henrymany years (Shebitz, Laurie), and in response several efforts have been made to revive this important grass in native communities.
wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Pursh found this member of the mint family near Salina (“Salt Point”) in 1807.
The root system consists of deep, strongly branched roots, and shallow rhizomes that are responsible for the vegetative spread of the plant. These rhizomes typically send up multiple leafy stems in a tight cluster, giving Wild Bergamot a bushy appearance.
Wild bergamot provides nectar and pollen for numerous insects (Hilty 2005). The nectar of the flowers attracts long-tongued bees, bee flies, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbird moths. Among the long-tongued bees, are such visitors as bumblebees, Miner bees, Epeoline Cuckoo bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees. A small black bee (Doufouria monardae) specializes in the pollination of Monarda flowers. Sometimes Halictid bees collect pollen, while some wasps steal nectar by perforating the nectar tube. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird also visits the flowers.
Oenothera biennis common evening primrose Fields, pastures, thickets, gravel and sand bars in streams, roadsides, and disturbed soils. A native species of disturbed sites.
Potentilla simplex common cinquefoil
Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia laciniata cutleaf coneflower
compass plant Silphium laciniatum
There are no actual herbarium records for compass plant naturally occurring in central NY, but Pursh reported seeing the plant, possibly somewhere in the Onondaga Hill area, in his journal of 1807. It would be a hard plant to misidentify, given its stature (6-12’ or 1.8 - 3.7 m) and striking form. Basal leaves range from 1-2’ long, and half as wide; leaves diminish in size as you move up the stem. At the time of his visit (July 13) it was not yet in flower. The inflorescence is tall and elongated, with daisy-like, yellow flowers. The large central taproot of this prairie species can extend 15’ into the ground. Compass plant can live up to 100 years.
The only herbarium record for compass plant in NYS is one from Genesee County in western NY (Weldy and Werier 2013). Its native habitat is tallgrass prairie, where it co-occurs with big bluestem. Sun-loving and drought resistant, this hardy plant also recovers readily from fires (Hilty 2005). When Aldo Leopold describes the “funeral of the native flora” in his essay “Prairie Birthday,” compass plant is the featured species:
. . . this yard-square relic of original Wisconsin gives birth, each July, to a man-high stalk of compass plant or cut-leaf Silphium spangled with saucer size yellow blossoms resembling sunflowers (Leopold 1966).
Should we rush to plant Silphium in central NY today? Before doing so, it's worth noting that a sister species (Silphium perfoliatum, cup plant) is on the NYSDEC interim list of invasive plants. Compass plant is not on the list, but perhaps some caution is advised at least until climate change turns this area into a grassland biome.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium narrowleaf blue-eyed grass
Solidago altissima tall goldenrod one of NYS's most common goldenrods, except in the northern parts of the state
Solidago canadensis Canada goldenrod
Solidago juncea early goldenrod Grows where soils are thin; does best in full light
Solidago nemoralis gray goldenrod
Solidago rugosa wrinkleleaf goldenrod, roughstem goldenrod successional fields, pastures, wet to mesic forests, swamps, and roadsides. Prefers slightly wetter than mesic soils, altho it grow in mesic conditions as well
Veronicastrum virginicum Culver's root
fireweed Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum former name Epilobium angustifolium
Fireweed is a native perennial with willow-like leaves and pink, four-part flowers adorning a long inflorescence (raceme). Pursh noticed this plant growing during his walk from Salina to Onondaga Hollow. Goodrich (1912) described it as “Common. Frequently follows forest fires, or newly cleared lands. Onon. Hill, July, 1905.” It apparently once occurred widely in the area, and including specimens from near Onondaga Salt Springs, Cicero Swamp, and the swamp west of Carpenter’s Pond.
Woody Plants
sweet crab-apple, sweet-scented crab tree Malus coronaria (Pyrus coronaria)
“On the reservation still grows the beautiful wild crabapple which has now become locally rare,” wrote William Beauchamp. “The Botanical club were naturally delighted last year to find it near Syracuse” ("Notable trees," Beauchamp papers-date?). At the Onondaga Nation there was “quite a group” of these trees (Beauchamp 1923), which probably reflected some form of cultivation.
“On Seneca reservations, I have seen it growing by houses, either for ornament or use,” Beauchamp adds. Loskiel (1794) reports that “crabs (malus sylvestris) grow in great plenty, and the Indians being very fond of sharp and sour fruit, eat them in abundance.”
Sweet crabapple also grew at Oak Openings, Kimber Springs, and the Valley and Bradford Hills sections of Syracuse. Variety dasycalyx is the only one for which there are record from Onondaga County (Weldy and Werier 2013).
Today, the horticulture industry sells mass-produced non-native crabapple cultivars that are readily available at nurseries and widely planted as a result. It's a shame that our native crabapple has been all but forgotten. It's listed as S3 (with a?) In New York State, so would be excellent heritage plant to add to our landscapes.
serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry Amelanchier spp.; probably A. arborea, downy serviceberry in this setting (old field)
This small tree has excellent fruit—sweet, purple-blue berries that ripen in June. Birds love it and flock to serviceberry trees; at least 40 bird species (such as orioles, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings) eat the fruit, as do many mammals. Downy serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but also sprouts from the roots. Birds and mammals disperse seeds; scarification of the seeds after ingestion by birds is important for germination (USDA 2013).
This tree and its fruits were used by the Haudenosaunee, as Parker (1968) writes:
Juneberries were considered a valuable blood remedy, which was given to mothers after childbirth to prevent after pains and hemorrhages. The smaller branches of the juneberry bush were broken up and steeped as a tea for the same purpose.
If you are ever wondering where serviceberry grows, one of the best ways to locate this tree is to drive or walk along roads in mid-April when it's flowering. The white flowers give away the locations of serviceberry at a time when few other plants are stirring. A member of the rose family, serviceberry has five-part, long-petaled flowers. It gets the name “shadbush” because it flowers at the time that shad make their upstream runs from the sea.
apple Malus spp.
“The Iroquois,” says Parker, “loved the apple above other fruits.” (See Schoolcraft, Senate Document 24, “The apple is the Indian’s banana.”)
Apple trees sometimes appear in old field settings where there was a former orchard, or where birds distributed the seeds.
American plum, wild red plum Prunus americana
Both American plum and Canadian plum (described below) have somewhat spotty distributions in NYS (Weldy and Werier 2013), which could reflect the fact that they were dispersed by people who planted them around their settlements for fruit. (See http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/little/ for range maps.) In fact, the native range of American plum is hard to determine exactly since it has been planted so widely across North America. It is the most widely distributed native plum on this continent, extending from southern Saskatchewan to Maine, and south to Florida and Arizona.
American plum can grow either as a shrub or small tree. It prefers full sun to light shade, so is most common in early successional landscapes such as hedgerows, thickets, forest edges, young successional forests, and disturbed soils in valley bottoms and floodplains. The fruits are red to yellow plums prized for eating, baking, and using in jellies and jams. The plant’s thorny, suckering growth creates thickets of wildlife habitat, and is a favored deer browse (USDA 2013).
Goodrich (1912) notes that this species is “seldom found now” in Onondaga County, implying that it was once more common in the area. It may have lost favor among those preferring to cultivate the European plum, Prunus domestica.
Canadian plum, wild plum Prunus nigra
Prunus americana var. nigra is a historical synonym
“The only fruit cultivated by the Iroquois, if planting the seed can be called cultivation,” wrote Hedrick (1933 p. 23), “was the black plum, Prunus nigra.” While it is debatable that this tree was the only fruit grown by the Haudenosaunee, there is good evidence it was cultivated (see also Parker (1968).
Canadian plum is a small tree whose range is limited to the northern area around the Great Lakes. It was first recorded along the St. Lawrence River in 1535 by Jacques Cartier, when native people there gave him some dried plums to eat. As Hedrick writes:
This prune-making plum is found in New York only as an escaped from cultivation in the outskirts of Iroquois villages. That the Indians tended the trees is probable for early travelers record that plantations of plums were found about aboriginal villages and that dried plums were in common use during the winter diet. . . .
Hedrick points out that about 40 varieties of the Canada plum were under cultivation at the time he writes (1933). I believe this species has fallen out of favor among growers, however, and have not seen any of its fruits available in local markets.
In Onondaga County, Canada plum is recorded from several sites including Clark Reservation, Pompey Center, Carpenter’s Pond (Pompey), Kimber Springs, and Oak Openings (Hough 2013). The Pompey plants and possibly others could be descendants of those planted around Onondaga settlements.
hazelnut, American filbert Corylus americana FACU
John Bartram (1895) describes crossing "hazel planes" and "hazel bottoms" as he traveled up the Susquehanna Valley towards Onondaga in 1743. This shrub is strongly rhizomatous and colonial, so Bartram may have been describing thickets of the plant spreading across disturbed patches of ground. The extent to which areas were modified by native peoples for hazelnut production in the eastern US is not known, but perhaps the species was favored by periodic burns or floods that kept forest canopy at bay.
Goodrich lists hazelnut as “rare” in Onondaga County and occurring in open woods, including one location near Onondaga Creek. I could have discussed this plant within the riparian community, since American filbert occurs in a variety of settings including floodplains. In fact, Paine (1865) cites its habitats as low woods and riverbanks, and say it is “common in the valley of the Mohawk.” Hazelnut generally occurs in moist to dry woods and thickets, forest margins, roadsides, and fencerows and other disturbed areas (USDA PG 2012). Marks et al. (1992) found it appeared most often “as underbrush in an oak/hickory woods” in CNY. It grows best on rich, moist, well-drained soils but often may be found close to streamsides and also grows on prairies. Open habitats are common, but it also can grow successfully in deep shade.
The nuts of American filbert, which have a higher nutritional value than acorns and beechnuts, also are eaten by squirrels, foxes, deer, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants, and deer. The leaves, twigs, and catkins are browsed by rabbits, deer, and moose (USDA PG 2012).
Hazel shrubs also provided a phenological cue in the aboriginal seasonal cycle. The time for planting Indian corn,” writes Loskiel (1794), “is when there is no further expectation of a frost, and the Indians judge of this by observing the hazel-nut (coryllus avellana) in bloom.”
beaked hazelnut Corylus cornuta
Also grows as an understory plant in deciduous and mixed deciduous conifer forests (so, shade tolerant). Grows in thin, poor soils.
smooth sumac Rhus glabra
Smooth sumac is a native deciduous shrub or small tree. It is extremely drought resistant, and is commonly found in open fields, roadsides and burned areas on sandy soil. You may be familiar with the pyramidal red fruits and fuzzy stems of staghorn sumac (see below), which is the more common sumac in the Onondaga Lake watershed today. However, smooth sumac is listed by Goodrich (1912) as frequently occurring in Onondaga County, so perhaps it was more widespread in the 19th century. The widespread clearing of forests for agriculture and fuel during this time may have opened up many habitats for this early successional species. In any case, smooth sumac is very similar to staghorn sumac in growth form, as well as ecological and reproductive characteristics. They have similar fruits, which are fuzzy and red, arranged in upright clusters that decorate the bare branches like candles in winter (the very time when both people and wildlife tend to rely on sumac berries). The main difference between these two sumacs is the stems, which are velvetine-fuzzy (pubescent) on staghorn sumac and smooth on smooth sumac. Smooth sumac berries also have less fuzz.
Most populations of sumac have male and female flowers on separate plants. Only the female plants produce fruits. Sumac seeds germinate best after passing through the digestive system of such wildlife as rabbits, pheasants, and quail. Fire also seems to encourage germination of smooth sumac seeds. Once established, sumac stands will spread from root sprouts. The lateral root system is extensive and can spread outward three or more feet a year (USDA 2013).
Waugh (1916) writes that sumac seed clusters were boiled during the autumn and winter and served as a beverage. He does not give the species name, however, and could be referring to either smooth or staghorn sumac, or both. Parker (1968) wrote that “sumac bobs were boiled in winter for a drink.” Since smooth sumac is the only species Parker refers to, it may be this plant to which he refers.
About 300 species of songbirds include sumac food and their diet (USDA 2013), especially as a winter emergency food.
staghorn sumac Rhus typhina
See entry for smooth some sumac above. A pioneer species, staghorn sumac can be commonly seen in old fields, edges of agricultural lands, roadsides, shrubby thickets, open stream banks, and edges of forests. As with smooth sumac, the fruits of this species was used for a beverage.
blackberry Rubus allegheniensis
Blackberries were among the fruits that were collected in sufficient quantities to be dried for winter use (Parker 1968). Dried blackberries are soaked in honey and water and use as a ceremonial food. The berries were easily dried as long as they did not become damp 9and therefore subject to mold) in the drying process. Blackberries were best dried on the stalk, according to Parker, who describes the drying process as follows: "The stalk or cluster stem was broken and allowed to hang on the bush where the sun could drive down the fruit with all its natural juices.” (In contrast, smaller pulpy species of berry, such as blueberries, were dried in shallow basket trays.)
Blackberries occur in old fields throughout the Onondaga Lake watershed, although black raspberry is probably the more common Rubus in the area. Goodrich (1912) writes for blackberry: “Common. Hillsides. Indian Hill.” Indian Hill, near Manlius, is the site of a former Onondaga village, where blackberries would have been welcome provender. (See also “Berry Economy” and “Index to Place” for more details on both of these subjects.) Most species of blackberry sprout prolifically from rootstocks, roots, or rhizomes, even when aboveground foliage is totally consumed by fire.
Blackberries closely resemble black raspberries (see below). They can be distinguished by their grooved stems (older stems only), berries which are seedy and do not come cleanly off the receptacle.
black raspberry Rubus occidentalis
This native perennial shrub grows in stalks or canes that start upright or erect, but they eventually bend over, their tips sometimes reaching the ground. The canes can root at the tips and produce new plants vegetatively this way.
First-year canes do not produce flowers and fruit. They are initially green, hairless, and, but turn brown, woody, and prickly during the winter. During the second year, these canes develop short branches that have flowers. The leaves come in groups of three, and are green above, and pale beneath (due to presence of short white hairs).
The flowers are white with 5 petals each. Fruits develop that technically represent a cluster of druplets, each having a single seed. The fruits or berries detach cleanly and easily from their receptacles when ripe.
red raspberry Rubus idaeus ssp. strigosus
Like its cousin Rubus’, red raspberry yields a delicious fruit long prized by people and wildlife. And like raspberry and blackberry, its life cycle is well integrated with periodic disturbance. It can spring up, flourish, and decline within the years following forest clearing, and before canopy closure blocks sunlight. Red raspberry spreads vegetatively and can resprout well after fire or cutting, due to protected underground regenerative structures. Further, viable seed can persist for in the soil for 60 to 100 years or more (Tirmentstein 1989). In fact, red raspberry seed germination seems to improve, not decline, with age (Graber and Thompson 1978).
In the Onondaga Lake area, records for red raspberry hail from Cross Lake, Mud Lake, Clinton St., and Clark Reservation. The European red raspberry, R. idaeus ssp. idaeus, is widely cultivated for fruit.
northern arrow-wood Viburnum dentatum
See Maple-Ash Hardwood swamp for a description of this important shrub. Although it tends to colonize more mesic habitats, it also occurs in successional sites such as old fields.
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. How did prairie plants get here? In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods. Biotic disturbances may have also played a role in maintaining open areas (people, bison, passenger pigeons). and in those openings you will find plants more typical of grasslands. Salina was an open place subject to disturbance because of human settlement, creating patches for grassland plants to settle.
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates.
At Salt Point (Salina) in 1807, Pursh observed “a species of Andropogon, very tall.” He collected this grass, and the specimen was later identified as A. gerardii, or big bluestem (McVaugh 1936). Big bluestem is the dominant grass of the midwestern tallgrass prairie. It is found in open woods, prairies, meadows, and along rivers.
You might wonder what a tallgrass prairie plant is doing in central New York, a place of forests and wetlands. How did prairie plants get here? In fact, there were openings and clearings in the forest created by fires, wind storms, floods. Biotic disturbances may have also played a role in maintaining open areas (people, bison, passenger pigeons). and in those openings you will find plants more typical of grasslands. Salina was an open place subject to disturbance because of human settlement, creating patches for grassland plants to settle.
Big bluestem is adapted to fire and drought. Roots of established plants can reach two and a half meters underground. Rhizomes resprout following fire disturbance, but regeneration is slow if fire occurs during the summer (active growth stage). Regeneration following springtime fire is much more vigorous because the rhizomes have winter-stores of carbohydrates.
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).
Goodrich (1912) lists this grass as “rare,” and notes places where it can be found: “Indian Hill. Reservation.” That a dominant member of shortgrass prairie systems could be found on Indian Hill, once the site of an Onondaga village (1650s), seems fitting in light of the discussion that heads this section (see above). Little bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass that grows in dry soils. There is also a record from salt flats at Onondaga Lake (Hough 2013).