The Plants of Acadia National Park by Glen H. Mittelhauser

Each she loves me, she loves me not petal is actually a complete Flower (take a look with a hand lens). Each Flower is a composite made up of many disk and ray Flowers.ĭisk Flowers are in the middle surrounded by ray Flowers. Their European relatives, daisies and black-eyed susans, are also in this family. In August and September Acadia's native wildFlowers, the asters and goldenrods, both in the aster family (Asteraceae formerly named Compositae), are in full bloom. You can take a peak at the gold threads without harm to the plant by carefully pulling the soil or moss away from the roots and then pushing it back. Goldthread gets its common name from its golden thread-like roots. Notice the arcuate venation (arching veins) on its leaves, a hallmark of the dogwood family (Cornaceae).īluebead lily has a pale yellow Flower in spring and later a striking blue, bead-like fruit that is poisonous. Bunchberry is a member of the dogwood family and has dogwood-like white Flowers in spring and red bunchberries later in the season. groenlandica), bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis), and starFlower (Trientalis borealis). If you are in a wooded area of Acadia National Park, you are likely to find common, native woodland Flowers, such as wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), goldthread (Coptis trifolia formerly C.

It is evident that 300 years of human settlement and land use have changed the composition of plant communities throughout Acadia National Park.

Almost one quarter of Acadia's flora is non-native, and about 25 species are state-listed rare plants. Grasses and wildFlowers abound in park meadows, and lakes and ponds are home to emergent and floating aquatic vegetation. Acadia has over 1100 vascular plant species that represent a wide diversity of plant life adapted to thrive in acidic, low nutrient bogs and rocky, treeless mountain summits. This benchmark publication cataloged vascular plants, mosses, algae and lichens. The Champlain Society, as they called themselves, published 'Flora of Mount Desert Island, Maine', authored by Rand and Redfield, in 1894. In the late 1880's, students from Harvard University made their way to Acadia from Boston via train and steamship each summer in search of the unique plants found in bogs, on mountain summits and the many habitats in between. There has been a long history of botanical exploration in and around Acadia National Park.

The Plants of Acadia National Park by Glen H. Mittelhauser