USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 16
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Only in the brackish areas and along the upper limits of high tide do we find large flowered plants growing to any conspicuous extent in the salt marshes. Here, however, a number of beautiful flowers find conditions to their liking. On some of the moist flats behind the sand dunes of the barrier beach, the sea pink (Sabbatia stellaris) grows in rich profusion and suffuses the meadows with thousands of its yellow-eyed pink flowers. Here also in late summer, wide stretches of salt meadow are studded with hosts of rose-purple seaside Gerar- dia, in company with the dainty blue sea lavender (Limonium carolin- ianum), the salt marsh' golden rod, the bright yellow sun-drops, the fleshy salt marsh aster, and the camphoric marsh fleabane (Pluchea camphorata).
Sand Dune-Beach
A rise in elevation of only a foot above the salt marsh along the ocean beach produces an amazing change in plant population and ushers in the sand dune-beach type. Here in the sterile, porous, white quartz sands and subjected to fierce buffeting winds, only a small com- pany of specially adapted plants can survive. Paradoxically, the inimical forces of nature against which these plants must wage bitter struggle in order to exist also act as a confederate in keeping out a vast number of plants which under more favorable conditions would crowd out their sand dune competitors. If a plant can survive the barrenness of the soil, the beating winds, the excoriation of wind- driven sand, the occasional overwhelning by tidal stormns, the burn- ing white glare of the summer sun, and the difficult search for water, then it will be respected by its neighbors and afforded plenty of room to live. Similar in many respects to desert vegetation, the sand dune plants are modified in their own special way to withstand the pummel- ling of the elements and excessive evaporation. Plants such as the sea rocket, seabeach sandwort (Arenaria peploides), seaside spurge, sea blite and prickly pear depend on thick, tough, fleshy leaves and stems to protect their cellular life substance. The beach pea and dusty miller send down deep roots searching for a constant supply of moisture; the pine barren sandwort (Arenaria caroliniana) and woolly Hudsonia rely on their minute hairy leaves to minimize evapo- ration; the grasses, notably the beach grass (Ammophila arenaria) and the giant reed (Phragmites), possess leaves and stems that are tough, pliable and provided with a hard, impervious surface. The beach plun and the bayberry, which are the two most common shrubs,
144
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
have deep root systems and an innate hardiness sufficient for them to survive and thrive. Dominant in their own domain, these plants extend along the wave-beaten beaches and over the wind-blown dunes in a narrow circumferential strip around Long Island and constitute a distinctive and beautiful feature of its landscape.
Within the confines of the beach sand dunes of Fire Island, bordering Great South Bay, is a unique plant association worthy of special mention. This is the famous "Sunken Forest" so called because it lies between ridges of sand dunes, with its tree tops kept to the level of the ridge crests by the shearing ocean winds. Because at a distance the forest is completely hidden by the dunes, its first view comes as a startling surprise. For here, amid the sparseness of the dune vegetation is found a dense wilderness of pitch pine, red cedar, holly, cat brier, various oaks, Virginia creeper, bayberry, fox grape, high bush huckleberry, beach plum, choke berry and poison ivy, growing together in intermingled confusion. In the shady depths of this gnarled and ancient forest, draped with lichens, the nearby ocean surf is only faintly heard and unconvincingly reminds one of the circumambient beach-world beyond the dune tops. This protected forest seems to indicate that the principal governing factor of plant distribution in the sand dune-beach type is the degree of exposure to the ocean wind.
Prairie
The occurrence of a natural prairie on Long Island is a strange botanical anomaly in the vegetation of eastern America. Amid the luxuriant forest, shrub and herbaceous plant growth that universally confronted the early settlers, the existence of the Hempstead Plains, an inland grassy, treeless area sixteen miles long and covering sixty thousand acres, is a scientific oddity. As stated in a federal soils survey report, this plain constitutes the only area of well drained, dark colored soil east of the Appalachian mountains. Various reasons have been advanced for this unusual condition, but no completely satisfactory theory has been offered. Whatever was the original cause that created this prairie, undoubtedly its persistence against encroachment by the surrounding forests is due to a combination of extremely rapid percolation of rainfall down through the porous gravel subsoil, the high evaporative power of the air, the thinness of the surface soil, the existence of a compact dense turf and the extensive grazing that occurred during colonial times.
The predominant plant of the Hempstead Plains, exceeding in number all other species combined, is the prairie beard grass (Andropogon scoparius), which is also locally known as bunch grass, red-stem, broom grass or big blue joint. This is the grass that cap- tures the fall landscape of the plains with its waving blanket of russet stems and plumose flowers. Other grasses commonly associated with the beard grass are the Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), Greene's rush (Juncus Greenei) and the wavy hair-grass (Deschampsia flexuosa). Before these grasses attain their new growth in the spring, great areas of the plains take on a celestial hue due to thousands of
145
THE FLORA OF LONG ISLAND
bouquets of pale blue bird's-foot violets. Interspersed in this blue car- pet are found the pink milkwort (Polygala polygama), the blue-eyed grass and the slender blue toadflax (Linaria canadensis). Later in the summer many other interesting plants brighten the plains with a medley of color. Among these are the yellow laden globular bushes of wild indigo, the ten-lobed purple Gerardia, the white spikes of the colic root, the yellow star grass, the white belled stagger bush, the sun-loving rock-rose (Helianthemum dumosum), the tough stemmed cat-gut or perhaps using a more genteel name the goat's rue (Tephrosia virginiana), the silvery leaved sage willow (Salix tristis), the slender ladies' tresses (Spiranthes gracilis), and the stiff-leaved aster (Aster linariifolius). These plants are being rapidly extermi- nated in the Hempstead Plains area as the expanding population of New York City replaces the primitive prairie with its own plant community of suburban gardens and lawns. The day is approaching when this unique plant association will have dwindled to only a few unrepresentative remnants and only the records will indicate its important place in Long Island's botanical history.
Oak Brush Plains
Along the eastern edge of the Hempstead Plains, in the neighbor- hood of Hicksville and Farmingdale, thickets of scrub oak appear which, as we proceed easterly, become more and more extensive until the whole outwash plain is covered from horizon to horizon with a solid shrubby mass, hardly more than a few feet high. These are the famous "Brushy Plains" of the early colonists which George Wash- ington described in his diary as being a country "too poor to admit inhabitants or cultivation, being a low scrubby oak, not more than two feet high, intermixed with small and ill thriven Pines." These oak brush areas occupy the greater portion of the center of the island where sterile, porous sands and gravels prevail. Because of the barrenness of this region, it has since Washington's time in general successfully resisted the inroads of the agriculturist. Even the great fires, which in late fall or early spring periodically sweep through these brushy barrens, do not seem to daunt the viability of the vege- tation, for in a few years the plains are again green with their shrubby cover. Two species of scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia and prinoides) make up the bulk of the vegetation; the former is espe- cially common, sometimes occurring in pure stands, miles in extent. The pitch pine is generally associated with the scrub oaks and if undisturbed by fire tends to establish itself as the dominant tree species. In very sandy areas the oak brush becomes sparse and there occur occasional openings of pure white sand where we find the bear- berry or kinnikinic, the heath Hudsonia (Hudsonia ericoides), the ipecac spurge (Euphorbia Ipecacuanhae), the blue lupine, the wild pink (Silene pennsylvanica), the butterfly weed, blue-eyed grass, sweet fern (Myrica asplenifolia), cat brier and the low bush blueberries. Mention must also be made of the scattered occurrence, according to local site conditions, of a number of species of larger oaks such as the white oak, black oak, scarlet oak, post oak, and black jack oak.
L. I .- II-10
146
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
On better soil areas these oaks attain ascendency over the scrub oak and form an intermediate but extensive oak woods subtype merging into the mixed deciduous forest.
Pine Barrens
The physical characteristics of the oak brush and pine barren types are very similar and consequently these two types merge imperceptibly and replace each other according to local circumstances. The plants listed under the oak brush type are also to be found locally occurring where the pitch pine becomes dominant. The claim of the pine barrens for distinction as a major plant type on Long Island is due to the large areas where the pitch pine grows in abundance in nearly pure stands. These pine barrens range from the center of the island easterly to the Shinnecock Hills where in company with the red cedar they make up the few patches of trees found in pro- tected areas of these otherwise bare and wind-swept hills. Because of repeated fires and heavy cutting, the pitch pine forest of today is usually composed of stunted low trees, not at all indicative of the time two hundred years ago when pitch pine from twenty inches to thirty-six inches in diameter were abundant.
Moor
In eastern Long Island at the tip of the southern fluke there exist approximately six thousand acres of grassy, rolling hills known as the Montauk Downs. They are very similar in aspect and plant type to the coastal Downs of Sussex in England, and undoubtedly result from the same causal factor of violent wind exposure. According to Weather Bureau records, Montauk Point is the windiest spot on the Atlantic Coast. It has twice as much wind as the center of the island, and averages one hundred and nine separate winds a year whose velocity is over fifty miles an hour. The buffeting and evapo- rative effect of these winds is particularly destructive to plants of large wind resistance and evaporative surface. Hence conifers are noticeably absent and deciduous trees are found on the moors only as distorted individuals or in normal groups in valleys and in situa- tions that are protected. Certain species of shrubs, noteworthy the bayberry, Carolina rose, cat brier, shadbush and winterberry achieve a considerable success in withstanding the rigorous winds, and in some places appear to be slowly spreading. These shrubs form hundreds of small "islands" of thicket scattered over the grassy hills and create a spectacular springtime display when the shadbush is in bloom. The four grass-like plants which comprise the bulk of the vegetative cover are the same species found so commonly on the Hempstead Plains, viz., the prairie beard grass, Indian grass, wavy hair-grass (Deschampsia flexuosa) and Greene's rush (Juncus Greenei). Among the common herbaceous plants are the plantain- leaf everlasting ( Antennaria plantaginifolia) which forms great white beds of cottony flowers; the pink milkwort, the white-topped aster (Seriocarpus asteroides) and the purple Gerardia. Of unusual inter- est on these moors is the wide prevalence of the reindeer moss
147
THE FLORA OF LONG ISLAND
(Cladonia rangiferina) which commonly makes a gay, crisp mat among the grasses and flowering plants.
In the Shinnecock Hills, about thirty miles west of the Mon- tauk Downs, a similar treeless and wind-exposed area of sandy roll- ing hills is found. It forms only a narrow barrier either to the full force of the ocean winds from the south or the unimpeded winter winds sweeping in from Peconic Bay on the north. In consequence, all exposed points and slopes exhibit characteristics similar to the Montauk Downs but different in the greater proportion of shrubby growth occurring. The blueberries (Vaccinium pennsylvanicum and vacillans), the huckleberries (Gaylussacia frondosa and baccata), bearberry, Hudsonia, shadbush, impenetrable masses of cat brier, the chokeberry, bayberry, blackberry, sheep laurel (Kalmia angusti- folia), choke cherry and poison ivy-all have proven to thrive despite the winds, drought and fire that in recurring cycles over several hundreds of years have prevented the red cedar, pitch pine, post oak and white oak from conquering these hills.
Diversity of Plant Types and Richness of Flora
Although the principal plant societies indigenous to Long Island have been broadly sketched under the eight foregoing ecological cate- gories, it must be remembered that this classification is only an arbitrary convenience and that each subtype which was mentioned could have been equally treated with the importance of a separate type. Plant types on Long Island intergrade extensively and vary locally because of their intimate dependence on slight changes of moisture, soil fertility or salinity. The usual important factors of topography, elevation, and climate play little part in differentiating ecological types on Long Island but because of their uniformity pro- vide a mild, generally fertile and receptive land for the sustenance of a wide variety of plant species. It is this geniality of environ- ment that enables a sandy island with no cliffs, rock outerops, gorges, mountains, limestone, large rivers or heavy soils to maintain a rich- ness of plant life unique for a geographical unit of its size.
THE EFFECT OF MAN'S TRANSFORMING HAND
As the white man moved across the face of the land he was fol- lowed by a host of plant invaders that have since established them- selves as a permanent part of the island's naturalized vegetation in the meadows, waste lands, hedgerows, roadsides, old fields, cutover forests and city lots. New plant types have been formed, and the flowers strange to the Indian are now accepted by the child "as always having been there". The locust, now so securely naturalized on Long Island, is not native, but according to tradition was introduced about 1700 at Sands Point whence the settlers carried the seedlings the length of the island for establishment of fence-post lots. A later arrival is the Ailanthus, or Tree of Heaven, plucked out of a Chinese temple yard to become the green badge of Brooklyn, and to rise triumphant out of the city's stones where no other plant dares live.
148
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
To balance these two accessions to the list of Long Island's trees, the strange ways of man caused a sad page of American botanical history to be written when the blight disease, accidentally introduced early in the 1900s, swept the magnificent chestnut from the American scene. In the Long Island woods, the chestnut sprouts still bravely linger, and in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, man attempts to discover a blight-resistant strain, but the great change in our Long Island woods will never be undone.
The lesser plant newcomers form a familiar lot. They are our garden and roadside weeds, immigrants from Europe and Asia, which have usurped an unwelcome intimacy with the white man's life. Now thoroughly naturalized, the dandelion, tansy, purslane, shepherd's purse, knotweed, mullein, plantain, burdock, Canada thistle, hawkweed, pigweed, wild mustard, chickweed and many others, all came as unnoticed passengers in the seed and fodder carried by the early colonists into the New World. These are Old World nuisances which sometimes become genuine New World afflictions. One of the worst of these is the Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), which despite its mitigating fragrance, has become a troublesome jugger- naut in some areas of Long Island, smothering all other plant growth, forming solid mats on the ground, overrunning shrubs and trees, and even conquering the assertive cat brier. Another plant, whose occurrence on Long Island suggests the possibility of a similar com- plete seizure of large areas by one species is the European purple loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria) which has run rampant in nearly every moist meadow in the Hudson Valley. This brilliantly flowered shrub is established near Southampton, Babylon and at other points on Long Island and, if it follows its behavior elsewhere, will even- tually spread its glorious magenta blanket over many of our fresh water marshes at the expense of multitudes of less robust species.
NOTABLE PLANT SPECIMENS AND SPECIES ON LONG ISLAND
Undoubtedly the virgin forest contained magnificent tree giants and cathedral groves which far exceeded in size and grandeur any- thing that exists at the present time. We now have no trees that compare with the black walnut that once stood on the William Cullen Bryant estate at Roslyn and measured twenty-nine feet in circum- ference, but here and there still are found a few patriarchs which date back to prehistoric times of aboriginal glory. The largest living tree on Long Island is the American sycamore at Wheatley which measures over twenty-seven feet in circumference one foot above the ground, just below its first large limb; the largest northern red oak in the United States is on Lloyds Neck and measures over nineteen feet in circumference; the largest holly, black oak, and white oak of New York State are also located on Long Island.
Besides holding these big tree records and being the proud possessor of many historic trees, Long Island still maintains some of the finest stands of timber found within hundreds of miles of New York City. On Gardiner's Island up to the time of the damaging hurricanes of 1938 and 1944, there were sixteen trees over nine feet
149
THE FLORA OF LONG ISLAND
in circumference growing on one acre, and many times more than that number between six and nine feet in girth. Among other examples of magnificent and spectacular plant scenes on Long Island are- the dogwood, whose legions endlessly fill the rich woods with great blizzards of bloom and give the crowning glory to Long Island spring; mountain laurel, crowding miles of hillside along the moraine with June color; acres of prickly pear at Orient laden with their big yellow blossoms; the south shore marshes, gaudily bedecked with innumerable riot- ous autumnal flowers; the shad- bush at Montauk; the lupines in great masses of bloom in late May throughout the oak and pine barrens; the beach plums of Hither Hills, Fire Island and Promised Land; the blue ex- panse of bird's foot violets on the Hempstead Plains; the wet woods heavy scented from thou- sands of white spired sweet pep- perbush and azalea-and many more masterpieces of nature for the eyes' delight and the mem- - ---- ory's treasure.
PLANTS AND HUMAN PROGRESS ON LONG ISLAND
(By Courtesy of Edwin Way Teale)
The native Indian was directly dependent upon the wilderness Dogwood in Full Bloom The Spring Glory of Long Island for his food, habitation, clothes and medicines. Since the pioneer white man in a large measure likewise had to fall back upon the natural fruits and forage of the land, especially during the difficult initial years, the part played by our native plants in the colonial economy was an important one. The winter larder of the settler was filled with bushels of various nuts; dried shadbush berries, blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries and cherries; bayberries for candle wax ; milkweed down for beds, cloth and paper; jams and jellies of plum, grape, strawberries and other fruits; and even perhaps a supply of ground nut roots. The medicine cupboard was an intriguing and aromatic array of mints, wild ginger, sweet flag, sassafras root, wild cherry bark, slippery elm, sweet birch, wintergreen, pleurisy root, spice bush, witch hazel, pennyroyal and a host of others. In the spring, many young shoots and leaves contributed to the proverbial "tonics" and "potgreens", that were so important to the health of the settler.
As transportation and horticulture developed, the economic part played by the native flora changed in emphasis from one of individual family importance to one of community and social importance. Indus- tries based upon utilization of the products of native plants began to
150
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
spring up and exert their influence upon the growing prosperity of the island. Minor industries such as harvesting hay from the salt meadows, furnishing forage for large herds of cattle and sheep, culti- vating cranberries, and gathering nuts, berries and other fruits for- market-all were important factors in local development. Lumbering and woodcutting on Long Island, however, became one of the most important industries in the state and contributed tremendously to the rapid growth of New York City when wood was its only building material as well as its only fuel. One hundred and thirty years ago, the Town of Brookhaven was exporting annually no less than 100,000 cords of wood. Even as late as the Civil War, Suffolk County was listed as the first woodcutting county in New York State. This industry gave employment to many men in woodchopper camps and on the sloops and schooners transporting the cordwood from the many "landings" to the wood-hungry city, which had not yet adopted anthracite. This industry also caused the opening up of the country, encouraged the extension of the road system, and built up the small villages. Great fires following the completion of the Long Island Rail Road in 1844 have destroyed much of the young timber that remained after cutting, and perpetuated much of the "barrens" of today.
The plant heritage of Long Island has given both an aesthetic and economic richness to the life of the island's inhabitants, but is fated to disappear before the encroaching farm, garden and home. From the extreme eastern tip at Montauk Point to the heart of the greatest city in the world is only one hundred and eighteen miles, which distance is a trifle in this day of modern transportation. The city will crawl, run or fly to the tip of Orient and Montauk, and the forests, barrens and even salt marshes will disappear before the "Suburban City". Yet, all vestiges of the primeval Long Island will not entirely disappear because with the growing park consciousness of the modern citizen, will come an ever increasing demand for the extension of the park systems that have been developed so remark- ably and masterfully in the last two decades. It is in the State, County and other municipal parks that we must look for a sanctuary for much of the native beauty of Long Island that we still enjoy and which our great-grandchildren will expect to be preserved for them.
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Mammals of Long Island W. J. HAMILTON, JR. Associate Professor of Zoology Cornell University
I NSULAR life holds a peculiar fascination for the biologist. Whether he be botanist or zoologist, he strives to account, in some measure, for the distribution of the forms he sees or collects. How did they escape from the mainland? How have they become estab- lished across rips, wide channels, or extensive bodies of water? Some species have undoubtedly been introduced by man, others, through their ability to swim, have occupied the Island under their own power.
General works dealing with Long Island mammals are scarce. DeKay's account of the mammals of New York (Zoology of New York, Mammalia, 1842) is the first serious work. The veteran naturalist, Arthur H. Helme, published an account of Long Island mammals (Abstract Linnaean Society of New York, 1902, nos. 13-14, pp. 19-30) in which 31 land species were listed. Murphy and Nichols give an excellent account of the bats (The Bats: Long Island Fauna and Flora-I, Science Bulletin, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-15, 1913).
Since that time little specific information on the mammalian fauna of Long Island has appeared. The present writer published an account of eastern mammals (The Mammals of Eastern United States, Comstock Publishing Co., pp. 1-432, 1943) in which Long Island species were treated.
Unlike birds, the commonest of mammals will repay close study. We have yet to learn the exact mode of life of even the commonest species, and when we consider that some species mnay exceed a hun- dred individuals to the acre, we realize the economic role they must play. Since small mammals are for the most part both secretive and nocturnal, a real interest alone will bring forth new data on their life history. The writer will be glad to outline such procedures if the interested reader should care for such.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.