It is my mission to visit all the land trusts in and around Syracuse. In order to teach myself the native flora I will be photographing and keeping record of where I find plants, and when they are blooming. This week I was able to visit Rand Tract Bird Sanctuary. I was hoping to find some trilliums, and a maybe a dicentra or two. I was lucky and found many Trillium grandiflorum, a small patch of Dicentra canadensis, and a few other surprises.
This was my first visit to the 97 acre preserve, the weather was intermittent with rain and clouds, and it felt cozy with a layer of humidity wrapped around me. When I started out I saw vinca vine, garlic mustard, and some other unpleasant non-native species. I decided to take the trail uphill in search of something in bloom. My eyes focused in on a hillside speckled with blooming trilliums. While I was searching for more, I almost missed some Arisaema triphyllum, or jack-in-the-pulpit, blooming right underfoot. There were also large patches of non-blooming Podophyllum peltatum,and Caulophyllum thalictroides scattered about the forest.
I’m hoping to revisit Rand Tract in the near future and catch the Hepatica and Allium in bloom. Something I didn’t expect to see was a small Sambucus racemosa, growing out of moss-covered boulders. I missed earlier blossoms, as only the leaves and fruit were left on the Sanguinaria canadensis.
Would have loved to hike thru there with you!
That is a beautiful area and I haven’t ever explored it. Let me suggest that you try the woods in Burnet Park south of the golf course. No trillium but lots of May Apple and Trout Lilly. Most of the year some friends and I walk our dogs down the service road that runs along the golf course and either take that road through the woods or the path along Grand Ave. We pass to the south of the zoo and go NE into the woods and up a steep hill to the grounds of what was Syracuse Developmental Center. Those grounds are deteriorating but still magnificent. At the high point of those grounds there is a spectacular view of the city. At that point there is a break in the fence from which you can access the upper zoo parking lot. It is a great walk on the wild side and for most of it the dogs are off leash. Watching 4-5 dogs work together can be can also be rewarding.