Saturday, Aug. 5, turned out to be the perfect day for a hike at the Carantouan Greenway’s Wildwood Preserve in Waverly. Making it even more memorable was the presence of Dan Spade, president of the New York Flora Association.
As the group made its way through marsh, woodland and open fields, Dan accentuated visitors’ enjoyment of being out in nature with his encyclopedic knowledge of wildflowers. Plants that most people have never noticed were brought to life with names and botanical science information, describing their unique place in the environment.
Some visitors were thrilled to have seen the parasitic plant, ghost plant (previously known as Indian pipe), for the first time. He described how to tell native honeysuckle from the invasive Japanese honeysuckle and a fine example of perforate leaves occurring on boneset.
A special moment happened while discovering a rare threatened plant found at Wildwood. Dan explained how one could go about exploring on their own to discover names, history and uses about both showy and unassuming plants using field guides; the best one in his opinion being the Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide.
The Greenway often offers guided hikes. Find them at carantouangreenway.org or on Facebook.
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