Spring Beauty in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn

Founded in 1838 Green-Wood is 478 spectacular acres of hills, valleys, glacial ponds, and century-and-a-half-old trees. Among the statuary and mausoleums are native soils that still support local wildflowers.

One of our earliest spring ephemerals is Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). Despite its diminuitive size, it often in showy masses at the woodland's edge. This plant appears to be thriving in the cemetery's open, rolling hills. Using hand lenses, we'll spend time at different populations looking at floral color variation, reproductive structures, and nectar guides while making note of any pollinator visitors or fungal infections (see below photo).

We'll also look at the phenophases of floral and leaf growth of some surrounding native trees, like Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), White Oak (Quercus alba), Red Oak (Q. rubra), and Sassafras (Sassafras albidum).

Meeting location in RSVP confirmation email.

Walk Leader: Marielle Anzelone is the founder of NYC Wildflower Week. She talks local flora on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. Follow @nycbotanist on instagram

NYC Wildflower Week thanks Con Edison for their generous support of these botanical tours.

Host or Publisher NYC Wildflower Week