Last updated: September 8, 2021
Article
World's End Plants
In a two-year project funded by the Island Alliance to study the vegetation of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, 32 islands were surveyed and inventoried for vascular plant species. Field surveys began on 9 June 2001 and ended on 30 September 2002.
Below is the data collected for World's End.
Data Notes:
* = introduced species
(v) = voucher specimen
(p) = photograph
Due to formatting restrictions, species scientific names are not italicized in the data table.
* = introduced species
(v) = voucher specimen
(p) = photograph
Due to formatting restrictions, species scientific names are not italicized in the data table.
| Species_Scientific_Name | Species_Common_Name | Family | Date_Observed | Habitat |
|---|
Notes on Habitats and Flora
This list is by far the longest of any plant list compiled for the Harbor Islands in 2001, but it is by no means complete. The scale, variety, and complexity of the World’s End landscape merit several weeks of floristic surveys to inventory in detail the pensinsula’s remarkable diversity of native and introduced plant species. In spite of centuries of agricultural use and the implementation of a landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century (Island Alliance 2001, Kales 1983)-- which included the introduction of numerous exotic plants--World’s End’s habitats are healthier and more natural than those on any other Harbor Island.Upland communities feature the visually stunning meadow expanses on Planter’s Hill, Pine Hill, and the World’s End drumlin. These fields, which cover about 40% of the total property acreage, are dominated by perennial grasses and forbs, but shrubs and tree saplings have encroached onto many fields (Hopping 2000). These managed fields are mown periodically by the Trustees. Thickets of shrubs and young trees, many of them exotic species, occur throughout the property. Thicket communities range from dry, ericaceous patches on Rocky Neck to shaded, moist habitats on the edges of the Damde Meadows marsh. Woodlands, featuring a mix of maturing native and non-native tree species and densely grown over with understory shrubs, are widespread throughout World’s End.
In his analysis of World’s End’s plant communities, Russell Hopping (2000) identified upland habitats of particular regional significance. One of these communities is the oak-hickory forest on the southeast section of the property, to the east of the Damde Meadows marshland. This forested community is the only closed-canopy habitat in the Harbor Islands dominated by native trees. Mature black oak (Quercus velutina), red oak (Quercus rubra), and white oak (Quercus alba) are the primary canopy trees. Mature red maple (Acer rubrum), bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis), hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), white pine (Pinus strobus), and hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) grow in association with the oaks. Shrub species include witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum). Herbaceous flora in this community is characteristic of mature, oak-dominated forests and it represents a unique assemblage for the Harbor Islands. Species include: wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), Indian cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana), partridge berry (Mitchella repens), interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana), false Solomon’s-seal (Smilacina racemosa), blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), and New York fern (Thelypteris noveboracensis).
Another significant upland community identified by Hopping is the red cedar woodland on the open ledges of Rocky Neck. This community is classified as a “Maritime Juniper Woodland/Shrubland” in Swain and Kearsley’s (2000) “Classification of the Natural Communities of Massachusetts”. This community type is ranked S1 (extermely rare and vulnerable to extirpation) in Massachusetts. The community consists primarily of a semi-open woodland of red cedars (Juniperus virginiana) on the slopes and ridgetops of Rocky Neck. Native species associated with the cedars include: sand sedge (Bulbostylis capillaris), poverty grass (Danthonia spicata), common hairgrass (Deschampsia flexuosa), black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), orange grass (Hypericum gentianoides), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and late lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium).
The site’s largest wetland complex is the Damde Meadows marsh on the southeast section of the property, north of the parking area. This wetland receives some tidal inflow through a broken dam, and has a measure of salinity (Karnauskas 2001). Extensive stands of common reed (Phragmites communis) dominate the Damde Meadows marsh. A large population of swamp rose mallow (Hibiscus palustris) grows intermixed with and partly camouflaged by the Phragmites. When the plants are in peak bloom in late July and August, this population has a magnificent array of colors, ranging from white to pink to deep red. Other swamp rose mallow populations that I have seen (including the Long Island population) consist only of pink flowers. Marsh edges have corridors of swampy thickets, and a wet, semi-open field is located adjacent to a boardwalk that crosses the northeast end of Damde Meadows. This field has unusual flora, including the only populations of purple milkwort (Polygala sanguinea) and lance-leaved violet (Viola lanceolata) found in the Harbor Islands.
A true freshwater wetland is the Ice Pond just south of Rocky Neck. Hopping (2000) suggests that this artificial pond, constructed in the early 20th century, may function as a vernal pool, but Karnauskas (2001) did not find aquatic species characteristic of vernal pools during visits in the spring and summer of 2001. Edges of the pond, which had standing water throughout the summer, have a dense growth of buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), the only observed location on the Harbor Islands for this wetland shrub. Other plants noted here were purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and a small population of brown beakrush (Rhynchospora capitellata).
World’s End also has limited areas of salt marsh, especially on the eastern end of the property along the Weir River, and sandy beach, found in the bars between the inner and outer drumlin complexes and in small patches elsewhere along the shoreline.
The only rare plant found on World’s End was a large population of showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa), a watch-listed species in Massachusetts. This population, first documented by Russell Hopping in 2000, has approximately 2000+ plants, located in one large patch and two smaller patches in the open fields of the World’s End drumlin. When I first observed this large and vigorous population on August 23, it had not yet bloomed. I returned on September 8 to photograph the plants in bloom, finding that almost all of the 1500+ plants in the largest subpopulation had been mowed, with a scant handful of scattered individuals still erect. The two smaller patches south of the main population had not been mowed, leaving approximately 400 plants of the total population intact.
Another unusual plant deserving mention is prairie or freshwater cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), which was only found on World’s End. The plant grows in small populations in moist, open conditions near Damde Meadows and in several locations on the south end of Rocky Neck. These World’s End plants support populations of the Spartina borer (Spartinaphaga inops) moth, a species of special concern in Massachusetts (Mello and Healey 2002).
World’s End merits two or three additional days of floristic surveys in 2002, in conjunction with closer investigations of the significant forest and wetland habitats on Rocky Neck and the area surrounding Damde Meadows.