{"id":70155,"date":"2016-07-19T08:28:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=70155"},"modified":"2016-07-19T08:28:55","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:28:55","slug":"botanizing-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=70155","title":{"rendered":"Botanizing in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello!<\/p>\n

I’m Laura, one of those rare East Coast CLM interns. I’m working for the Greenbelt Native Plant Center in Staten Island and living in Brooklyn. Being placed in New York City was not what I expected, though it was definitely a blessing in disguise, even though living in a big city with all its crowds and traffic can sometimes be a lot.<\/p>\n

Anyways – onto the plants! I’m working for Seeds of Success – a program through the Bureau of Land Management that aims to collect wild native seed for research, conservation, and restoration. As interns, our goal is to make 100 seed collections per team, each of 15,000-30,000 seeds. Since most seed is ripe in the fall, the first few months of our internship mostly consist of getting to know our target collection species and scouting out different parks and preserves to see what’s growing, if there’s enough to collect, and monitoring its phenology (when it blooms and when the seed is ripe).<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting to know 200+ species is\u00a0definitely a challenge, but I’m getting better at it the more I slow down, make careful observations, and consider the habitat that the plant is growing in. Some plants are easier to remember than others because, well, they’re really cool – something all plant lovers will understand. Here are a few of my favorites:<\/p>\n

Salicornia depressa:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This little squirt, the common glasswort, grows as the edges of salt marshes and turns bright red in the fall. Its small, squishy, and adorable.<\/p>\n

Opuntia humifusa:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Did you know that the east coast has a native cactus? The eastern prickly pear grows in sandy areas along the coast and has showy yellow flowers that pollinators (and botanists) love. Each flower lasts a single day, but each cactus pad produces many flowers that bloom throughout late spring and early summer.<\/p>\n

Kalmia latifolia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I’m used to seeing the flowers of the great laruel (Rhododendron maximum<\/em>), but I was instantly drawn to the flowers of its relative, the mountain laurel. They’re unique and delicate, and they go quite well with its elegant evergreen leaves.<\/p>\n

Lathyrus japonicus:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The beach pea! All Fabaceae<\/em> (the pea\/bean\/legume family) are adorable, but the beach pea really takes the cake. I actually took this picture on a beach in the south shore of Massachusetts – it would have made a great collection if it was in New York!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n

Laura Shriver<\/p>\n

Seeds of Success Intern<\/p>\n

Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island, NYC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello! I’m Laura, one of those rare East Coast CLM interns. I’m working for the Greenbelt Native Plant Center in Staten Island and living in Brooklyn. Being placed in New York City was not what I expected, though it was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70155"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70736,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70155\/revisions\/70736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}