Oak
Hill
New Hampshire
The unofficial Site
News
Campus
Living
at Oak Hill
Trees
Animals and Plants
Neighbors
Events
Living Together
Action
Items
Landscape Issues
Rental Office-
Units
for Sale
Home
Comments
http://OakHillNH.com
| News | Plants at Oak Hill |
| Wildlife
and Plants at Oak Hill Take A Walk at Oak Hill Oak Hill is a great place to take a walk. To make your walk more enjoyable, try to identify the plants, trees and wildlife you see. I If you take some good pictures, send them to the webmaster for use on this page.
|
Stump Garden Near the gate I found this stump supporting: a Pine seedling, an Oak Seedling, two mushrooms, a wildflower, and Poison Ivy.
|
.jpg)
Primitive Plants
Most plants we are familiar with are flowering plants or Angiosperms. This includes plants we do not think of as having flowers such as trees, grasses, and small shrubs.
Some of the more interesting plants you can find at Oak Hill if you search are the primitive plants that do not reproduce with flowers, fruits and seeds.
| Lichens You may notice lacy patches growing on rocks and on older trees. These are lichens and consist of a fungus and a green algae in a mutually beneficial relationship. The fungus benefits from the food produced by the green algae and the algae benefits from the substrate provided by the fungus. Scientists call this a symbiotic relationship. Lichens are normal and do not indicate that anything is wrong with the tree nor do they harm the tree. Acids produced by lichens help to break down rocks into soil. In some cases multiple lichens grow together and cover most of the tree trunk. This does not mean the tree is dying. |
|
.jpg) |
Liverworts The liverworts are branching moss-like primitive plants that lay flat on the ground. I found these growing on the carport side of Building #3 in August of 2011. This species is known as Marchantia. Marchantia reproduces vegetatively by producing a cup like structure (A)on the surface of the plant. Rain drops fill the cup and mechanically detach the cup which if it falls on the ground will produce a new plant. The plant also produces stalked umbrella like structures (B)that produce spores. Spores are like seeds except they do not have a food store. The spore that finds a suitable habitat can form a new plant. |
| Mosses Mosses at Oak Hill grow in damp, shady places where grasses and other flowering plants do not grow. They are perennial which means they last through the winter. They have small roots and help to prevent erosion. |
|
|
|
Lycopodium is a club moss, also known as ground pines. You will probably notice what looks like a tiny evergreen tree in the Roby Park Woods. It is more closely related to the ferns than to conifers. Club Mosses are flowerless plants, with small, simple, needle-like leaves that cover the stem and branches. The light stalks are the spore producing bodies.
|
Ferns
|
|
This plant was photographed on the path that leads from Oak Hill Lane to the Building 4 and 5 parking lot. |
Flowering Plants
|
Pink Lady-Slipper Do orchids grow at Oak Hill? Yes, the Pink Lady-Slipper is a wild orchid native to New Hampshire that grows in dry woods. In the summer of 2008, only one plant could be found. Pink Lady-Slippers do not transplant well and digging them up will kill the plant. It is against the law to dig wild orchids and remember that Oak Hill is our private property. If you see anyone transplanting our Lady Slippers, call the police, take pictures, get their license number and most of all stop them immediately. It is stealing.
Spring 2009, one plant bloomed on the slope in front of Building #5. Spring 2010 - 2011 No plants |
Poke berries and the flower of this attractive plant. The Poke Berry bushes have formed an attractive hedge at the edge of the woods in front of Building #3. They are shading the poison ivy which should discourage its growth or maybe just make it grow out into the lawn. Birds will eat the berries come winter. |
|
Solomon's Seal spring
wildflower This plant found just inside the front entrance.
|
Flowering Shrub This shrub grows along St. James Place behind Building #1. It has leaves like a Maple tree and produces white flowers in clusters that eventually become blue berries. This shrub is called Maple-leafed Viburnum.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
|
Partridge Berry The little red berries and bright green leaves of the Partridge Berry can be found in Roby Park and sometimes along the edges of the woods.
|
Skunk Cabbage Skunk Cabbage grows in the streams and standing water of the old beaver pond in Roby Park. Leaves are bright green in spring.  |
| Indian
Pipes What is this plant doing under Flowering Plants? The unusual Indian Pipes is a flowering plant that evolved as a saprophyte¹, like a fungus The Indian Pipes is actually a member of the Periwinkle Family of flowering plants. It has evolved without chlorophyll and the lacks ability to make its own food. It feeds on dead organic matter in the soil. We usually have a few of these strange plants every summer. This nice clump grew under the pine trees near Building #2. Another nice clump was on the short path between Buildings #6 and #7. Others were in the woods near the gate to Spit Brook Road. ¹A saprophyte is a plant that has no chlorophyll (green pigment) and cannot make food from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight like green plants. Saprophytes live off dead organic material in the soil such as tree roots. A tree that is cut down will often show a circle of saprophytes such as mushrooms and toadstools around the old trunk where they are feeding on the roots.
|
 |
|
|
||
|
Poison Ivy Poison Ivy thrives on the edges of the woods where it is protected from the lawn mower, but has access to some light. Watch out for poison ivy when walking your dog. Not all plants with 3 leaves are poison ivy. Baby Pignut Hickory trees often have only 3 leaflets per leaf. |
 |
Mushrooms and Fungi
The summer of 2008 was very wet and we had bumper crops of fungi
growing in the lawns and flower beds. Mushrooms and fungi are the most
familiar ¹saprophytes.
I was amazed at the different colors and shapes. Here are some
pictures.
|
Yellow |
Fairy Umbrella
|
 Red
Orange |
Several of these large, convuled mushrooms sprouted. I noticed that squirrels were eating these mushrooms. While I am calling these mushrooms, I do not advise anyone to eat them. |
