Shallow emergent marsh
Shallow emergent marsh
Traveling by canoe across Onondaga Lake in 1743, botanist John Bartram observed:
. . . the land about the lake is pretty good and some large marshes and rich low ground mostly on each side, but here and there the hills come close to the water: I think it must be eight miles long and above one broad, very brackish at the salt plain; very deep in some places near the middle, but shallow for 100 yards from the shore. (Bartram 1895, p. 55. July 27, 1743)
The community types suggested by Bartram’s passage include deep and shallow emergent marshes, as well as inland salt marsh (“salt plain”). Some species overlap between two of these types, so we’ve tried to indicate the primary habitat for each species; that is, the water conditions (depth, salinity) where it is most commonly found. “Emergent” means that these wetlands are dominated by plants that are rooted in standing water but have stems in the air (think of a cattail or bulrush, for examples). Further, the boundaries between these areas can be somewhat arbitrary, and would have shifted with water levels and changes in water chemistry, as well as sediment delivery from storms and other perturbing events. High and variable water levels prevent the establishment of woody plants (trees and shrubs), but many herbaceous plants flourish in such areas.
A shallow emergent marsh is defined as a marsh meadow community that occurs on mineral soil or deep muck soils (rather than true peat), that are permanently saturated and seasonally flooded. That is, water level varies, but the soil is too wet for plants not adapted to soggy substrates. During flood stages, water depths range from 6 in to 3.3 ft (15 cm to 1 m), but the water level usually drops by mid to late summer and the soil is exposed during an average year. Most abundant plants in shallow emergent marsh are cattails, bluejoint grass, bulrushes, sedges, marsh fern, manna grasses, spikerushes. Deep emergent marshes range from 6 inches to 6 feet (15 cm to 2 m) in depth, and usually have standing water year-round (although even here the soil can be exposed in a very dry year).
In fact, one of the confounding features of Onondaga Lake wetlands to early Euro-American settlers was the seasonal fluctuation in water levels. This variability was not unique to Onondaga Lake, but it was especially problematic here since deep spring floods diluted and even “drowned” the salt springs important for steady production of this valued commodity. Wetlands were also seen as “miasmas” which generated “mal air” and disease, especially malaria. Finally, variable water levels interfered with commerce on the Oswego Canal, which extended from Salina to Oswego and passed along the eastern shore of Onondaga Lake. For commercial and health reasons, then, the following proposal to lower Onondaga Lake was included in a resolution to study the potential for an east-west canal linking the Great Lakes and Hudson River (this waterway became the Erie Canal, of course).
And whereas numerous inhabitants of the counties of Oneida, Madison, and Onondaga, have by their petitions represented, that by reason of the spring freshets the Onondaga Lake is raised so high as to inundate large tracts of land adjacent thereto, which are thereby rendered unfit for cultivation, and highly injurious to the health of the neighboring inhabitants, and that the said evils may be remedied by removing a bar and deepening the channel of the outlet of the said Lake . . . (italics added; Clinton 1849)
In other words, the lowering of the water table around Onondaga Lake was part of the vision for what became the Erie Canal. The two water manipulation projects went hand in hand: lowering the lake, partly to protect workers in the salt works from disease but primarily to create a transportation channel (the canal) for ready shipping of this commodity to distant markets.[1] No other lake or wetland in the state was singled out for such management, at least not as part of this resolution.
Once Onondaga Lake was lowered, the shoreline area could be exploited for various industrial and transportation functions, beginning with salt production. As described by James Geddes in a letter of 1823:
Last summer [1822] the space between the Onondaga Lake and Seneca river, has been cut down so as to draw down the lake to the same level with the river, which affords great facility to the boating of wood from Lysander and Cicero to Liverpool. Lowering the lake allows of draining all the low lands around it, and considerable ditching has already been done under the direction of state agents, and the whole will be completed by next fall. The tract reserved for the use of the salt works has all been surveyed into small lots and sold last June. After waiting 30 years from the time I first saw the Onondaga lake, I am now about to see these noisome fens turned into fertile meadows, on the plan I had always urged . . .
Noisome fens turned into fertile meadows—that sums the EuroAmerican perspective, largely, on wetlands. Further, as forests were cleared in the upper parts of the watershed, the resulting flush of sediment also contributed to filling in the wetlands, as described by Clark (1849). In “clearing up of the hills in the neighborhood” around the lake, “sand, gravel and other substances, have been washed down…and become so solid, that loaded teams can now be driven along the beach” at Onondaga Lake.
The Clinton quotation also suggests the variable water levels of Onondaga Lake’s marginal lands. Euro-Americans did not appreciate the dynamic nature of the Lake, whereas the aboriginal inhabitants apparently lived with it, and had for millennia. In fact, Haudenosaunee often settled near wetlands, including swamps (Funk 1992, 25). These rich habitats provided a number of resources including fish, beaver, muskrat, deer, mollusks, and migratory waterfowl. Wetlands also support a number of medicinal and edible plants. Seasonal flooding can help to create heterogeneous landscapes that enhance plant diversity. The following list of plants occurring in shallow freshwater marshes, such as those once rimming Onondaga Lake, will highlight that diversity.
[1] Actually, lowering of Onondaga Lake apparently did little to drain the extensive wetlands in the villages around the lake; that process was much more complex and involved extensive ditching. The main reason for lowering the lake--according to a letter from D.S. Bates, canal engineer, to the Commissioners of the Erie and Hudson Canals-- was to improve navigation on the Oswego Canal (where Onondaga Lake Parkway runs today) (Wright no date, OHA). Lowering the water level also, Bates points out, exposes salt springs and reduces dilution of the brine resource.
sweetflag, muskrat root Acorus americanus OBL
Two species of sweet flag occur in the Onondaga Lake area, or at least did occur at one time. One species is native to the region and the other came from Europe. Both species have long histories of medicinal uses, so immigrant people probably brought the European species over to have as a remedy. With their sword-shaped leaves and wetland habits, sweet flags resemble Iris, but appear more yellowish green, and emit in aromatic fragrance when bruised. Also, unlike Iris, the flowers are minute, born on a dense, fingerlike spike appearing from the side of a leaf stalk. Unlike Iris, sweet flag leaves and rhizomes also have an unmistakable aromatic fragrance.
Records for A. americanus, the native sweet flag, come from the Seneca River and from south of Cross Lake. This plant grows in marshes and in still shallow water. A. calamus, discussed below, occurs widely in the area in depressions, ditches, and marshy areas without much tree cover.
The two species look so similar that even some herbarium records are probably mislabeled as one or the other species. The misidentifications also arise from past naming practices, which lumped the two species, usually as A. calamus. Several features, however, set the two species apart. American sweet flag has club-like flower stalk that develops into fruits that produce mature seeds. European sweetflag has a similar fruit, but the seeds never mature since the flowers are sterile. It reproduces not by seeds, but by rhizomes or “runners” that can form dense mats. In contrast, American sweet flag has a more open habit, tending to grow in scattered clusters. Both species have a prominent midvein in the leaf, but American sweet-flag often has other adjacent veins raised as well (Thompson 2000). The latter character is subtle and takes some practice to discern. The presence or absence of fruits (seeds) is the most useful character for American sweet flag, but unfortunately it’s one that is hard to see early in the season.
The medicinal properties of Acorus have been appreciated for centuries. The “root,” or more correctly the rhizome, is used for a variety of purposes the world over. In North America, it has been used to treat stomach ailments, colds, coughs, heart disease, headaches (Moerman 1998). Rafinesque, author of an early text of medical botany for North America, lists Acorus calamus as "stomachic, tonic, corroborant [i.e., invigorating] and carminative [i.e., antiflatulent]” (Flannery 1998).
There are chemical differences between the two species of sweet flag, which could affect medicinal properties. In particular, European sweet flag contains β-asarone, a suspected carcinogen (Motley 1994). To what extent this chemical might endanger those who ingest the plant is unknown, but we do know that the European species has been used as medicine in Asia (where it originated) as well as Europe for centuries, to apparent good effect. Acorus is best gathered in the fall after 1-3 frosts, to reduce impacts to the plants (M. Baumflek, pers. comm.)
calamus, European sweet flag Acorus calamus
Calamus or European sweet flag was introduced above. As discussed, the plant occurs in Europe as well as North America. Candied sweet flag roots were once popular on both sides of the Atlantic, and the making of such confections was one of the few frivolities of our great-great-great-great grandmothers (Fernald and Kinsey 1958). Candied calamus roots were sold by Shakers and others in New England. The fresh roots have a gingery or peppery taste that is also distinctly soapy, and therefore unpleasant to some people. To candy the root, boil continuously for 2-3 days, then cut into small pieces and boil a few minutes in sugar with just enough water to make a syrup.
Arum family (Araceae)
The Arum family includes familiar and obligate wetland species such as arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), swamp jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), wild calla (Calla palustris), golden club (Orontium aquaticum). Some of our best-known and most familiar wetland plants, such as skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), and duckweeds (Lemna sp. and Spirodela polyrrhiza.) belong to this family.
Arum family members have roots (or more correctly, rhizomes) containing abundant starchy material, probably intended as energy storage for the plant. Typically, however, these roots possess “such a fiercely puckering, peppery principle” that they need prolonged drying before you can eat them (Fernald and Kinsey 1958, p. 9). As early Swedish botanist Peter Kalm (1972) observed:
It is remarkable, that the Arums, with the plants akin to them, are eaten by men in different parts of the world, though their roots, when raw, have a fiery pungent taste, and are almost poisonous in that state.
Here is an introduction to some of these plants present historically, and which you can still find today in central NY wetlands.
swamp jack-in-the-pulpit Arisaema triphyllum ssp. stewardsonii
This subspecies’ several common names suggest the plant’s habitat as well as edible qualities-- bog onion, swamp turnip, dragon root, pepper turnip, starchworth (Harris 1891). Other English names suggest its clerical or noble attributes including priests’ pintle and lord and ladies. One source lists the Onondaga name as kah-ah-hoon-sah, translated as Indian cradle, for the resemblance of the above ground portion of the plant to a cradle board and child (Beauchamp 1923). The Senecas also called the plant “baby board” (o-ah-o-sah) (Harris 1891) for the same reasons.
Some writers argue that the Taw-ho or Taw-him of Kalm was not Peltandra at all, but rather jack-in-the-pulpit (Harris 1891). Harris points out that the Seneca people used “Indian turnip” for flour.
wild calla, water dragon, water arum, polly-whog Calla palustris OBL
Wild calla grows in cool hemlock or mixed conifer hardwood swamps. This unique wetland plant was reported by De Witt Clinton during his trip to investigate a route for what became the Erie Canal:
We saw on the margin of the river [Seneca River near Cayuga Lake] a plant with a beautiful white flower, composed of a single long flower like a grain of wheat, and several smaller ones attached to it, its leaves being nearly triangular. It was called here a polly-whog. (Clinton 1849 [1810] p. 97)
Water dragon is poisonous when fresh due to the calcium oxalate crystals it contains, but the rhizome, like that of other Araceae, is edible after drying, grinding, leaching and boiling. The Prince of Botany himself, Carl Linnaeus, gave an account of making bread using the rhizome of this plant:
Missen bread is made of Water Dragons (Calla palustris). The roots of this plant are taken up in the spring, before the leaves come forth, and, after being extremely well washed, are dried in the sun or in the house. The fibrous parts are then taken away, and the remainder dried in an oven. Afterwards it is bruised in a hollow vessel or tub, made of fir wood, about three feet deep; as is also practised occasionally with the fir bark. The dried roots are chopped in this vessel, with a kind of spade, like cabbage for making sour kale (sour crout), till they become as small as peas or oatmeal, when they acquire a pleasant sweetish smell; after which they are ground. The meal is boiled slowly in water, being continually kept stirring, till it grows as thick as flammery. In this state it is left standing in the pot for three or four days and nights. Some persons let it remain twenty-four hours; but the longer the better, for if used immediately it is bitter and acrid; both which qualities go off by keeping. It is mixed for use, either with the meal made of fir bark, or with some other kind of flour, not being usually to be had in sufficient quantity by itself; for the plant is, in many places, very scarce, though here in such abundance that cart loads of it are collected at a time. This kind of flammery, being mixed with flour, as I have just mentioned, is baked into bread, which proves as tough as rye bread, but perfectly sweet and white. It is really, when new, extremely well-flavored (Fernald and Kinsey 1958).
If you think this process represents an enormous work investment for a loaf of tough bread, consider the effort and cost in work to make a loaf of bread from wheat flour, something we take for granted. For one thing, existing habitats such as wetlands won’t do; the first step in acquiring wheat, an annual grass, is to drain the wetland, cut the forest, rip out and discard or burn all existing vegetation, stumps, rhizomes, and established root systems of all kinds. Then the land must be ploughed, and sowed. Weeds must be controlled; and the whole process of ploughing, seeding, and weeding, must be repeated annually. In the case of gathering wetland rhizomes, in contrast, all the work of establishing the plant material is done; no such drastic interventions are necessary, and in fact the wetland system probably gains, rather than loses soil over time as detritus builds under the plants and particles are trapped by the vegetation.
Once gathered, the wheat crop must be threshed, winnowed, stored and ground into floor, usually done at a mill. Consider the ecological costs of damming streams to form mill ponds. Such structures probably contributed to the early declines of Atlantic salmon runs (Clinton 1849). So you’ve drained a wetland, blocked the spawning of migratory fishes, potentially, contributed to soil loss-- and all for a loaf of bread. To be fair, I think we must begin to put some numbers on the energy and nutritional losses and gains of agriculture versus foraging, to help us weigh the true costs and benefits of each strategy. When settlers like James Geddes first arrived, the first thing they sought to do was not to dig roots, or hunt deer or fish, but to establish annual grasses like wheat. Onondaga County was a major producer of this grain in the 1800s (see Geddes 1860 for numbers).
golden club Orontium aquaticum OBL
I mention golden club here mainly to add to the list of edible Araceae, and because it is listed as Threatened in NYS. There are no known records for Onondaga Lake, though Goodrich (1912) lists occurrences in Otisco, and NYFA (Weldy and Werier 2012) suggests a county record. Today the plant is either rare or absent altogether from Onondaga County. In New York state golden club is most often encountered in tidal marshes along the Hudson River. Most are freshwater although some are perhaps slightly brackish. The plants also occur in adjacent swamps. It is also known from acidic peat bogs and ponds (Weldy and Werier 2012).
Kalm (1972) describes the plant and the collection of edible seeds:
Taw-kee is another plant, so called by the Indians, who eat it. . . . The plant grows in marshes, near moist and low grounds, and is very plentiful in North America. The cattle, hogs, and stags, are very fond of the leaves in the spring; for they are some of the earliest. The leaves are broad, like those of the Convallaria, or Lily of the Valley, green on the upper side, and covered with very minute hair, so they look like a fine velvet. The Indians pluck the seeds, and keep them for eating. They cannot be eaten fresh or raw, but must be dried.
green arrow arum Peltandra virginica (L.) Schott
Arrow arum can develop expansive stands in the shallow waters (up to .3 m deep) it inhabits. These stands cover open areas (arrow arum requires full sun) in marshes, bogs, swamps, stream and river bottoms, lakes, and ponds. You can see once such stand near Clay, where Lawton Road crosses Heron Marsh (a Central New York Land Trust property) and this plant forms a monoculture on either side of the road. The root masses of arrow arum knit together and stabilize submerged sediments. Arrow arum once grew at the “end of Onondaga Lake,” near Long Branch, and at Cross Lake (Hough 2013).
Arrow arum has a unique flower, a leathery green cup or spathe surrounding a dense spike of minute flowers. It blooms from May to July. As the fruit matures, the entire flowering stem curves downward, immersing the spathe. The green, berry-like fruit is pulpy, and about 1/2 inch long. Usually it contains one seed. Upon separation from the flowering stem, this floatable fruit begins to turn black. Wood ducks, muskrats, and rails eat the fruit, while the plant’s large sturdy leaves provides good cover to ducks, wading birds, insects, and water-dwelling mammals (USDA 2013).
Various native groups of people consumed both roots and seeds of arrow arum (Fernald & Kinsey 1958, Kalm 1972 p 250). The root contains a large amount of starchy matter and when thoroughly dried, it quite lacks the pungent taste of the raw version (Fernald and Kinsey 1958).
Peter Kalm (1972, p. 251) writes about harvest and preparation of roots of “Taw-ho” or “Arum virginicum” in 1749. He does not specify the “Indian” group to whom he refers. He learned a lot from the Haudenosaunee, though, during his travels in New York State, so it’s quite possible he is referring to something he learned while here.
Taw-ho and Taw-him was the Indian name of another plant, the root of which they eat. . . . It grows in moist ground and swamps. 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. . . . .When they are fresh, they have a pungent taste, and are reckoned a poison in that fresh state. Nor did the Indians ever venture to eat them raw, but prepared them in the following manner: They gathered a great heap of these roots, dug a deep long hole, sometimes two or three fathoms and upwards in length, into which they put the roots, and covered them with the earth that had been taken out of the hole; they made a great fire above it, which burnt till they thought proper to remove it; and then they dug up the roots, and consumed them with great avidity. These roots, when prepared in this manner, I am told, taste like potatoes. The Indians never dry and preserve them; but always take them fresh out of the marshes, when they want them.
Due to the monocultures formed by this plant in wet areas, we can imagine people collecting, baking, and eating large quantities of this root. In fact, Fernald and Kinsey suggest that further research on this plant’s root could make it “of considerable importance” as a food plant, due to its size and abundance.
As for the seeds, they too are edible when well dried—“slightly sweetish, suggesting in taste parched Indian corn” (Fernald and Kinsey 1958). An unsightly but tasty bread can be made from the seeds “tasting like corncake with a strong flavor of cocoa.”
PUT in UPLANDS jack in the pulpit Arisaema triphyllum spp. triphyllum FAC
This is the upland species of this unmistakeable plant, occurring in mesic forests along with other forest floor herbs such as Trillium, Hepatica, squirrel corn,
Other Araceae? Duckweeds
rootless duckweed? Lemna arhhiza
common duckmeat Spirodela polyrrhiza formerly Lemna polyrhiza
Pursh, July 16, 1807, causeway through the flooded marsh near Onondaga Lake (and near Salina).
swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata
Along with common milkweed (A. syriaca) (Lyford 1945), swamp milkweed was used as a source of fiber (Hedrick 1933). Goodrich (1912) calls it “common,” noting its habitat in swamps such as that near Long Branch, where it may still grow to this day. Monarch butterfly caterpillars feed on the leaves, and its lovely spray of pink flowers attracts many pollinators. Swamp milkweed makes an excellent ornamental for the home garden and is commonly added to rain gardens.
northern water plantain Alisma triviale
Water plantain’s oval leaves have prominent, parallel veins similar to common plantain, the abundant yard weed. It’s in the same family as arrowhead (Sagittaria) and has a similar growth form—leaves emerging from a basal rosette. The single, branched flower stalk extends above the leaves and has “an open, airy grace” (source?). Flowers are tiny, three-petaled, white. Goodrich (1912) lists water plantain as common in marshes, ditches, and borders of streams, such as Onondaga Creek.
yellow pond-lily, bullhead lily, pond collard, spatterdock Nuphar lutea
The cup-shaped flowers of yellow pond-lily are showy and fragrant, while its leaves float on the surface providing cover for fish and aquatic insects. A thick, spongy rhizome anchors the plant. This “root” or rhizome was collected by people in much the same way as wapato, described below. As Parker (1968) describes it:
The tuberous roots were gathered in the fall by treading them out with the toes and scooping them up. When it is realized that the roots generally grew in 5 or 6 feet of water the difficulty of procuring them may be realized.
Sometimes native people raided muskrat houses for the tubers (see also Harris 1891), but this practice was not widely condoned since water animals like muskrats were considered “powerful agents” who must not be robbed of roots without proper ceremonies (Parker 1910). In fact, the roots were probably only taken when the muskrat was killed for food and no longer need the roots that it stored.
common reed Phragmites australis
Common reed is a native plant that was once uncommon around Onondaga Lake, although it occurred “in all bays and marshes along the shore of Lake Ontario” in the nineteenth century (Paine 1865). Since the 1960s, however, the area covered by Phragmites has exploded (Faust and Roberts 1983). These reed stands appear to consist of a more vigorous Eurasian variety of Phragmites. In other words, there is a native variety of Phragmites, but it lacks the invasive growth habit of the European version. The native reed occurs sparsely and mixed with other plants in emergent marshes. Road salt and wetland degradation have contributed to the spread of this salt-tolerant plant.
A giant grass, common reed rapidly spreads by means of underground stems or rhizomes, and above-ground stems known as stolons. Stolons can grow dozens of feet in a year, and new plants sprout at nodes along the stem. New shoots also sprout from the rhizome as well. Further, new plants can also sprout from the merest fragment of stem, allowing Phragmites to disperse from upstream sources via these floating pieces.
According to Waugh (1916), Phragmites rhizomes were an important ingredient in a mixture used to soak corn seeds before they were planted. This “corn medicine” caused the kernels to germinate slightly, and added vitality to the seeds and growing plant. The mixture may have played some role in warding off birds and invertebrate seed-eaters once the seed was in the soil (p. 16).
In Europe, common reed was gathered to thatch roofs. People around the world have long used this prolific coastal species for food. English botanist Phoebe Lankester reports that young Phragmites shoots, cut from the roots (especially before exposed to sunlight), make an excellent pickle. Some reed fans point out that vast stands of common reed could provide food throughout the year-- during winter the rhizomes can be dug and boiled as potatoes; in the early spring the shoots can be boiled and eaten like asparagus; the partly unfolded leaves can be cooked as a pot herb; and the seeds can be cooked into a gruel (Fernald and Kinsey 1958, Kavasch 2005).
Common reed grows in brackish and fresh tidal and non-tidal marshes, ditches, pond and lake edges, swamps, and wet thickets. The plant is common today in roadside ditches and disturbed wetlands. It’s especially common along highway margins where road salt is liberally applied.
creeping spikerush, common spikerush Eleocharis palustris
Despite the name, "spikerush" is actually a sedge (family Cyperaceae), not a rush. What features of this plant make it a sedge? First, the inflorescence (flower structure) of sedges has flowers that are each subtended by a single scale, and spikerushes share this feature. (In Carex, a large genus of sedges, flowers are further encased each in a perigynium). For fruits, sedges produce small achenes of various shapes and forms. But even if you can't find flowers or seeds, the leaf structure of sedges is distinct--three-ranked and alternate.
Eleocharis are distinct plants you can learn to recognize fairly easily. They have a single spikelet (inflorescence) at the top of each stem; they look like elongate matchsticks standing in the water. E. palustris even has leaves, but they are reduced to basal sheathes along the stem.
Spikerush rhizomes are high in carbohydrates. In fact the water "chestnut" of Asia is actually a tuber that swells on a spikerush (E. Tuberosa) rhizome. But even the smaller rhizomes of native spikerushes are eaten by muskrats and waterfowl, while wildlife also consume the tiny nutlets. Spikerush is reportedly used for mats, basketry, pillows, and even food, especially by western Indians (Moerman 1998).
Creeping spikerush is valued for erosion control, constructed wetland system applications, wildlife food and cover, wetland restoration and creation and improvement of plant diversity in wetland and riparian communities. Plants spread rapidly by rhizomes and will develop a thick root mass that is resistant to compaction and erosion. The rhizomes also form a matrix for many beneficial bacteria, making this plant an excellent choice for wastewater management applications.
Creeping spikerush grows on sites that are either permanently or seasonally flooded. The plants can grow and thrive in permanent water up to 1 m (3 ft) deep. They can also survive in areas where the water table drops to 30 cm (12 in) below the surface late in the growing season. Plants are commonly found growing in areas totally inundated for up to 4 months. Plants grow in saturated, fine textured soils in neutral to alkaline or saline conditions.
soft rush, common rush Juncus effusus
Rushes (family Junceae) have distinct, small flowers that you might not even recognize as such. The flowers are bisexual, meaning that they have both male and female around the flowers. Around the flowers are six petal-like structures called tepals, giving the rush the appearance of a small lily. For fruits, the rushes produce a capsule that contains many seeds in Juncus, and three seeds per capsule in Luzula (the wood rushes). Lacking flowers or fruit, remember that "rushes are round," that is, their stems are round and in cross-section, and solid.
One of our most common rushes, soft rush forms dense stands with deep fibrous root systems. This root mat protects shorelines, filters suspended solids, takes up nutrients, and increases oxygen supply to sediments. Tolerant of metals and acid conditions, soft rush often survives in polluted habitats. Like spikerush, soft rush rhizomes form a matrix for many beneficial bacteria, making this plant useful for wastewater treatment. Given all these eco-engineering services, soft rush is a natural choice for damaged sites and long term healing of polluted areas. In addition, muskrats, birds, moose and livestock eat seeds and stems of soft rush, and rely on it for cover.
Besides cleanup functions, rushes are used for various crafts. Juncus stems are used in the coiled baskets of Southern California tribes (USDA 2012). The foundation material is made of Juncus balticus and Juncus effusus, and the sewing material is made of Juncus textilis. The Quinalt of western Washington used soft rush for plaiting tumplines for baskets, and mixed soft rush with cattails to make string. The Snoqualmie used the stalks for tying things. The stems of this grass-like plant have also been used for making floor mats, and chair seats.
Note that another rush species, Juncus pylaei, looks very similar to J. effusus. If you look on the stem (culm) just below the inflorescence (flowers), however, you’ll see that J. pylaei has ten to twenty grooves or ridges, whereas J. effusus has 25-30 finer grooves or striations. Some authors treat J. pylaei as a subspecies of soft rush, and the ecological differences may be minute.
Sedges, genus Carex
You may have heard the rhyme "sedges have edges," and certain most sedges in the genus Carex do. This is a huge group of mostly wetland, mostly native plants. They may be distinguished from grasses by their solid, angular stems. Also, the achene or "fruit" is enclosed in a structure exclusive to character called a perigynium, a sack like structure surrounding the female flower. The perigynia in Carex may take many forms, often unique to particular species (so, useful to distinguish Carex species one from another). In fact, a closer look at Carex will reveal the subtle beauties and distinct forms of these common wetland graminoids (grass-like plants). Some, like Carex lupulina, have bold inflated perigynia that could almost pass for bubblewrap; in other species perigynia are small and nondescript. Certain habitats like rich fens and wet meadows harbor a great diversity of sedges.
Carex flowers are always unisexual-- that is, either male or female. The perigynium encloses the fruit, called an achene-- a thick-walled, heavily silicified nutlet. That is, the fruit walls are reinforced with glass-like silica dioxide crystals. Part of the reason we can eat grasses and not sedges is this armoring, which precludes sedge seed eating.
creeping sedge Carex chordorrhiza
This sedge, listed as Threatened in NYS, was formerly “frequent along streams, banks of Onondaga Lake” (Goodrich 1912). It grows in some what mineral rich peat lands including fens (Welty and Werier 2013). As the name suggests, it “creeps,” spreading by rhizomes.
porcupine sedge Carex hystricina
Common in calcareous wetlands, there is a record for this plant from Onondaga Lake.
lake sedge Carex lacustris
A large, often abundant sedge of calcareous, north-temperate wetlands, lake sedgecan form extensive colonies along floodplains and other wetlands. It is. Leaves form a “W” in cross-section, and have silicified margins sharp enough to draw blood from the unwary or unprotected. It currently grows along the relatively natural West Branch of Onondaga Creek.
mud sedge Carex limosa
Goodrich (1912) noted this plant’s presence “near Onondaga Lake.”
turtlehead Chelone glabra
This lovely wildflower once grew at Long Branch according to Goodrich (1912), who further described it as “frequent” in Onondaga County, occurring in swamps and along streams. Turtlehead is the food plant for the caterpillar stage of the lovely checkerspot butterfly. In wetlands where numbers of this insect abound (such as Labrador Hollow), you can see turtlehead plants chewed down to bare stems due to the voracious feeding of these growing youngsters.
You can provide more food for the butterflies, and beautify your yard, by growing turtlehead around your home.
bulblet-bearing water hemlock Cicuta bulbifera OBL
Cicuta is possibly the most poisonous genera of native NA plants; all parts of the plants are poisonous, especially the roots. Eating the roots, stems, and leaves can cause convulsions and death. BBWH is unusual in that it can reproduce by bulblets—vegetative structures borne in the leaf axils—as well as by seeds. A member of the Parsley family, BBWH
spotted water hemlock Cicuta maculata
OBL; has tuberous, sweet-smelling, deadly poisonous roots; all parts are toxic. Pursh saw this plant near the “Indian Village” at Onondaga on July 18, 1807:
Cicuta maculata grows in great abundance throughout Onondaga: the Indians use it to poison themselves, when they have an inclination in going out of this world; it is a most powerful poison (Pursh 1869).
Notes on identifying the look-alike parsley family wetland plants
Four Parsley family (Apiaceae) plants grow commonly in central NY wetlands, and it can be challenging to sort them out. Here’s some tips (adapted from Hilty 2005):
· Water hemlock is larger than bulblet-bearing water hemlock and it has broader leaflets (more than 1/3" across). It’s also the more common plant in CNY wetlands.
· Water hemlock blooms during mid-summer before bulblet-bearing water hemlock blooms. Another white-flowered member of the parsley family, water parsnip (Sium suave), often blooms at the same time as bulblet-bearing water hemlock
· Water parsnip has 3 lanceolate bracts at the base of its compound umbels and its leaves are always simple-pinnate
· Another similar species that blooms late, cowbane (Oxypolis rigidior), also has leaves that are simple-pinnate. In contrast, the lower leaves of bulblet-bearing water hemlock are doubly pinnate.
boneset Eupatorium perfoliatum
Historically boneset served as a cure for fevers such as those occasioned by malaria. Frederick Pursh found boneset around Onondaga Lake in 1807. Before leaving the air he caught the fever himself, and steeped some “thoroughwort” (boneset) in gin for medicine:
This morning I found myself very ill; the Influenza prevalent to a very high degree hereabouts got hold of me likewise, & attacked me with the most violent headache, ever I have felt, I was forced to lie down ; as soon as got somewhat over the fever, I got some Thoroughwort set up with gin. which I used very freely, bathed my teet at night, in warm water & drank a large portion of sage thee (Pursh 1807).
Similarly, De Witt Clinton notes the presence of boneset along the Seneca river as they proceed westward in the area of Onondaga Lake seeking a route for the east-west canal across the state.
We could not but admire the benignity of Providence, when we beheld boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) scattered profusely over the unhealthy, fever-generating country which borders on this [Seneca] River. . . Boneset, from being a powerful sudorific [makes you sweat] is considered a sovereign remedy for agues and Fall fevers, and has even been recommended for yellow fever (Clinton 1849).
This “Fall fever” was most likely malaria. It was called fall fever since most cases occurred in the fall, and the mosquitoes that carried the plasmodium protozoan died with the first frost. It was also known as ague.[2]
John Bartram includes boneset (along with nearly 30 other plants) in his 1751 Appendix to a popular European herbal, pithily named Description, virtues and uses of sundry plants of these northern parts of America, and particularly of the newly discovered Indian cure for venereal disease. This seven-page work was published separately in 1751, but was usually bound with Medicina Britannica: containing a particular account of their nature, virtues and and uses, by Thomas Short. Benjamin Franklin reprinted Bartram’s piece because he saw the need for practical information on medical uses of North American plants (Hobbs 2012). During this time, botany and medicine were still intertwined and considered complementary disciplines. Doctors knew plants since they were the sources of medicines; in fact, botany had only recently become a separate discipline of study at all.
joe-pye weed Eupatorium maculatum, Eupatoriadelphus maculatus
hollow-stemmed joe-pye weed Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus (Eupatorium fistulosus)
Eupatorium purpureum sweet-scented joe-pye weed
Euthamia graminifolia grass-leaved goldenrod, flat-topped fragrant goldenrod FAC
E. graminifolia is a prolific rhizomatous perennial that spreads aggressively through vegetative reproduction. Flat-top goldentop can be found in moist, open ground; meadows; prairies; roadsides; ditches; inter-dunal flats; exposed lakes; conifer swamps; lowland forests; calcareous seeps; and sandy moist shorelines. It is tolerant of poor, gravelly, sandy, or dry soils and once established, can tolerate droughty conditions. It is also found in shaded wood edges or sunny fields and clearings. (USDA FS)
Wildlife Use:Flat-top goldentop provides a nectar source for pollinators and is well-suited for use in pollinator restoration. Preliminary observation found that flat-top goldentop attracted 13 different species of Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera in Cape May, New Jersey. The European honey bee (Apis mellifera),common buckeye (Junonia coenia), and eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) were most frequently observed visiting the flower. (USDA FS)
cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis L.
Pursh found along Seneca River; see quotation. See entry under hardwood swamp.
great blue lobelia Lobelia siphilitica L.
See Bartram – used for medicine
arrowhead, wapato, duck potato, swan potato Sagittaria latifolia
Native peoples in many parts of North America ate the starchy tubers of wapato. Women harvested the tubers by wading into shallow waters and stirring up the mud with their feet. This agitation released the tubers, which floated to the surface where they could be collected (Darby 2005). In this way people were mimicking wapato harvest by waterfowl, which also stir up the mud in shallow water (using their bills and feet) to releasing the nutritious “duck potatoes.” Ducks also eat wapato seeds.
Such harvest activity (by people and birds) helps disperse wapato by freeing tubers and seeds that can float to other locations, enhancing wapato growth through thinning and spreading the plants. Daughter plants can establish from rhizome (underground stem) fragments.
Nutritionally wapato compares well with potatoes, except it has more iron. In contrast to the Arum family plants’ rhizomes, those of wapato do not need to be peeled, pounded or processed. The Haudenosaunee usually boiled the roots (Parker 1968), although they could also be roasted and ready to eat in about 10 minutes.
Muskrats are a major wapato consumer, so wapato patches have the secondary benefit of attracting a source of meat and fur. Muskrats would have provided fat-rich meat during winter, when fish were scarce and other game lean. Wapato thrives in fresh water 6 to 12 inches deep, having full exposure to sun.
Also:
arum arrowhead Sagittaria cuneata
Herbarium record of S. cuneata for the “Onondaga Salt Springs” collected by Pursh in 1807 (McVaugh 1936). Along with S. latifolia, arum arrowhead is one of the larger arrowhead species, and therefore would be more remunerative to gather for food. How to distinguish arum arrowhead from broad-leaved arrowhead?
grass-leaved arrowhead Sagittaria graminea
Check Goodrich for records for the Onondaga Lake area.
smaller – so not so good as food
lizard’s tail Saururus cernuus
Bartram – medicine
Paine, Goodrich records for Onondaga Lake
Scirpus atrocinctus
Woolgrass; see entry for S. cyperinus, below.
Scirpus atrovirens
woolgrass Scirpus cyperinus
Woolgrass, once considered a single species, has now been split into three. Scirpus atrocinctus, listed above, has a black sheath at the base of the inflorescence. It flowers, and seeds ripen, in late June or July, earlier than the other woolgrass look-alikes. S. cyperinus flowers in late July, and seeds or achenes mature in August. It lacks the black band. S. pedicilatus, an S4 species, is uncommon in central NY, although records exist from the Tamarack Swamp and Onondaga Lake area (Hough 2013).
river bulrush Scirpus fluviatilis Bolboschoenus fluviatilis
hardstem bulrush Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus acutus var. acutus
Pursh describes in his journal finding "a very tall species of Scirpus" near Salt Point, but across the marsh and on the banks of Onondaga Lake. The tallest species of Scirpus that one would find in this area is hardstem bulrush or Schoenoplectus acutus as the current name goes.
broadleaf cattail Typha latifolia
Cattails have been called “nature’s supermarket,” for the variety of services they provide to the people. Every part of the plant is edible. Parker (1910, p. 108) writes:
The roots of the cat-tail were often used [by the Haudenosaunee]. Dried and pulverized the roots made a sweet white flour useful for bread or pudding. Bruised and boiled fresh, a syrupy gluten was obtained in which corn meal pudding was mixed.
Broadleaf cattail occurs commonly in marshes, wet thickets, pond and lake edges, streamsides, swamps and wet areas generally. Robust rhizomes (“roots”) in standing water provide for vigorous growth. The plant’s tall, sword shaped leaves, 10-23 mm wide and 1 m or more tall, help distinguish it from the narrowleaf cattail. The cattail flower (or more properly, its inflorescence, made of many flowers) is the “hot dog on a stick” familiar to anyone who has been to a cattail marsh. The female flowers form below the male flowers in a cylinder or spike where thousands are tightly packed together. Anthers on the male spike open to shed pollen to the wind. In the broadleaf cattail, no gap exists between the male and female flowering spike; that is, they are adjacent to one another on the “stick.”
Few plants provide so many gifts as this highly productive marsh dweller, earning it the name “supermarket of the swamp.” We limit ourselves to just a few examples here. The green flower spikes can be gathered before the yellow pollen shows, boiled in salted water and served. These cooked flower buds have a flavor and consistency “somewhat suggestive of both olives and artichokes” (Fernald and Kinsey 1958). You have to eat the flower buds off the central axis of the spike, though, since the core is quite tough (think of eating corn off the cob). Male pollen can be collected in a bag (look for yellow spikes in early summer), and added to flour or smoothies for an extra protein boost. Early spring shoots can be picked, peeled, and eaten cooked or raw. You can also collect winter rootstocks, dry into powder, and use as flour.
Uses of this plant go well beyond food, though. Cattail down makes excellent fire starter, and brown heads dipped in animal fat can be used as torches. With the seed removed, the central axis of the dried stalk makes a passable toothbrush (I’ve tried it!).
Pursh reports Typha (he doesn’t give species) from Onondaga Lake in 1807. Near their salt making operation in 1743, John Bartram reports that his Onondaga guides “took their arrows, made of reed and down to shoot small birds.” Cattail has long been used for arrow making, so the “reed” and “down” likely originated with this plant.
This highly productive, useful plant was the focus of the Cat-tail Research Center founded in 1947 at Syracuse University.
narrowleaf cattail Typha angustifolia OBL
This plant is likely only native to the salt marshes on Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley, and possibly the inland salt marshes of central New York. Paine (1865) says it is “common around Onondaga lake and west of Syracuse,” while mentioning no other sites for its local occurrence. This plant may have spread throughout much of the state along salted roadways (Weldy and Werier 2012). Clearly it has some salt tolerance compared to the broadleaf cattail. Narrowleaf cattail can be harvested and used in much the same way as the broadleaf species.
Narrowleaf cattail leaves are 4-10 mm wide, and tend to be weaker in form than the stout, sturdy leaves of its broadleaf counterpart. Also, the narrowleaf cattail has a gap of 2-4 cm between the male and female flowering parts of the spike.
hybrid cattail Typha x glauca OBL
Broadleaf cattail will hybridize with narrowleaf cattail to form the hybrid Typha x glauca, whose characteristics (such as leaf width) usually fall somewhere those of its between its two parent species. The hybrid tends to have the gap between pistillate (female) and staminate (male) flowers in the spike. However, the leaves of the hybrid are usually 2-3 meters tall, compared to 1-3 meters for broadleaf and narrowleaf. Finally, the hybrid’s flowering spike is about 6 inches long, compared to less than 6” for the parent species.
All cattails are not alike, and the narrowleaf and hybrid cattails are superior competitors to the broadleaf in most wetlands. They also can colonize disturbed wetlands and ditches with greater facility, perhaps because they can grow in more saline conditions.
wild rice Zizania aquatica
Wild rice is an annual grass once common around Onondaga Lake, the Oswego River, and the Great Lakes generally. Paine (1865) lists wild rice as “abundant round the shores of Onondaga Lake,” and “common in all the bays, inlets, and marshes of Lake Ontario, from several miles northeast of Oswego, through Sodus Bay and the mouth of Genesee River, to Braddock’s bay, Monroe county.” In 1807 Pursh collected wild rice from the Seneca River near Three Rivers. “The boatmen calld it Wild rice,” Pursh reports, “& said I would see plenty higher up: which was the case, it covers here the shore & is when in flower quit upright.”
Wild rice grows in water no more than two feet deep. It cannot tolerate changes in water level, but after it becomes established it will grow in mud later in the year. Wild rice needs constant movement of the water in the spring and fall, which allows for erosion and redeposition of the soil and reduces competition from other aquatic plants. Without this movement, wild rice rapidly disappears as other plants establish and crowd it out. In order to germinate, wild rice seeds must remain in water over winter.
[1] Actually, lowering of Onondaga Lake did little to drain the extensive wetlands in the villages around the lake; that process was much more complex and involved extensive ditching. The main reason for lowering the lake--according to a letter from D.S. Bates, canal engineer, to the Commissioners of the Erie and Hudson Canals-- was to improve navigation on the Oswego Canal (where Onondaga Lake Parkway runs today) (Wright no date).
[2] Yellow fever came north from tropical areas carried by mosquitoes on board ships from the Caribbean or other southern ports. Since those ships did not make the journey inland to places like Salina, it is unlikely that yellow fever was one of the illnesses present in Syracuse swamps.