Observations by allishakassie

I found this American Holly in Jamaica Bay, NYC. The Holly is native to the North East, but I understand that these trees were introduced as a part of post-Hurricane Sandy restoration efforts. It was a medium sized broad-leaved evergreen tree with an 18 inch diameter trunk. There were small red fruits, drupes about 6-10 mm in diameter, and the leaves bore spikey points with a prominent midrib. I did also observe birds consuming the red fruit, and from talking with conservancy volunteers, I learned that the species is more salt tolerant and hence suited to maritime forests and an excellent choice to rehabilitate the Jamaica Bay area and hopefully make it more resilient before the next big storm.

I observed a dense clonal strand of common reed in the Jamaica Bay area with stems that were about 6 feet tall. Many stems were alive; some were dead. There is ample sunlight in the bay area where the reeds were discovered and they dominated the habitat. This specific area, as you can see from my photo seemed very monoculturalistic indicating that the common reed likely crowded out other species and deprived them of sunlight and nutrients. This particular species is invasive.

This Acer rubrum, or Red maple as it is commonly known due to its brilliant red foliage displayed in Fall, is left bare and bent after a long cold winter and 4 Nor'easters back to back within a three week period. While the photo does not do it justice, this Red Maple is at least 80 feet tall spanning about 6-7 stories up in front of an apartment building in Brooklyn. The trunk is at 20-25 inches in diameter. This tree has got some age on it as I could determine from the bark which is very dark in color, grey to almost black, and there are numerous cracks. Needless to say the bark is also very hard. Branches have a large spead, 20-30 feet across. There are no leaves at this point; it is a deciduous tree.