Dry-Mesic & Mesic Hardwood Forest Ecosystems
Slate Run Metro Park

This field trip site is at Slate Run Metro Park in Pickaway County, the Shady Grove Picnic Area.

 

The forested parts of the park are dominated by sugar maple, American beech, and various oaks and hickories. Let’s go look at some plants!

These are the trees we saw there. Below the list, see some videos we made in the field.

PLANT LIST
(Slate Run Metro Park)
with Links to Species Pages

 Acer negundo L.  BOXELDER  Sapindaceae  native tree
 Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal  PAWPAW  Annonaceae  native sm tree
 Carya cordiformis (Wangenh.) K. Koch  BITTERNUT HICKORY  Juglandaceae  native tree
 Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.  AMERICAN BEECH  Fagaceae  native tree
 Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx.  BLUE ASH  Oleaceae  native tree
 Lindera benzoin (L.) Blume  SPICEBUSH  Lauraceae  native shrub
 Liriodendron tulipifera L.  TULIPTREE  Magnoliaceae  native tree
 Quercus alba L.  WHITE OAK  Fagaceae  native tree
 Rosa multiflora Thunb. ex Murray  MULTIFLORA ROSE  Rosaceae  adventive shrub
 Smilax spp. L. GREENBRIER  Smilacaceae  native vine
 Toxicodendron radicans (L.) Kuntze  POISON IVY  Anacardiaceae  native vine
 Ulmus americana L.  AMERICAN ELM  Ulmaceae  native tree

 

Let’s start with poison ivy, it’s important to know this one!

Another woody vine (liana): greenbriar
A tree with simple leaves: American basswood
A tree that grows in clones: pawpaw
Scratch and sniff: spicebush!
We woke to an oak

Opposite compound leaves and 4-angled stems: blue ash.

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A woody monocot: greenbriar!
Did a turtle bite the maple leaves? No, it’s tuliptree.
 
Boo, hiss, it’s multiflora rose.
Elm is at the helm!
Hickernut bittery…I mean bitterhick nuttery…oh, you know what I mean!