Sensitive Joint Vetch (Aeschynomene
virginica) - yellow flower |
Gerry Moore, Ph.D.
has conducted a number of botanical surveys of the Maurice River
Watershed for Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its
Tributaries, Inc. His reports document rare and endangered species and
their habitats that occur in the watershed, often identifying existing
threats to these species and making recommendations on how these
species could be better protected. Other botanists have conducted
surveys for Citizens United. Sometimes these have been funded in
conjunction with other organizations like the New Jersey Conservation
Foundation; most have been conducted by botantists under the umbrella
of the environmental consulting firm, Herpetological Associates.
Cardinal-Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) - G.
Moore |
The Maurice River is
floristically unique. In
this watershed, along the freshwater tidal marshes of the Manumuskin
River, the world’s largest population of the
federally-threatened
sensitive-joint vetch (Aeschynomene virginica) can be found. The
Maurice River watershed also contains populations of the
federally-threatened swamp pink (Helonias bullata). Other globally-rare
plant species that have been documented in the watershed include:
Barratt’s sedge (Carex barrattii), Barton’s St.
Johnswort
(Hypericum adpressum), bur marigold (Bidens Bidentoides var.
bidentoides), chaffseed (Schwalbea americana), curly-grass fern
(Schizaea pusilla), New Jersey rush (Juncus caesariensis),
Parker’s pipewort (Eriocaulon parkeri), pine barrens gentian
(Gentiana autumnalis), pine barrens smoke grass (Muhlenbergia
torreyana), pineland tick trefoil (Desmodium strictum), pink tickseed
(Coreopsis rosea), and resinous boneset (Eupatorium resinosum). The
watershed also supports populations of numerous plant species that are
of state concern. And lastly many wonderful more common plants are
abundant including arrow arrum, pickerel weed, cardinal-flower, wild
rice, various mallows and other typical wetland species.
American Misletoe (Phoradendron serotinum) -
G. Moore |
Many of these plants are in
habitats that
support unusually high concentrations of rare species. Such habitats
include Atlantic white cedar swamp, coastal plain, intermittent pond
and freshwater tidal marsh.
The
results of the surveys are provided to appropriate state and federal
agencies, and conservation organizations. Because of the sensitive
nature of these plants we do not make their exact locations available
to the public at large.
Significant
botanical surveys have been performed on the tidal Maurice River by the
Natural Lands Trust, (www.natlands.org), the most comprehensive of
which is the "Lower Maurice River Resource Identification Project."
|
