The Genesee Naturalist GeneseeThe Naturalist Volume 27 Issue 3 Genesee State Park Region Mark Thomas, Western District Director Richard Parker, Assistant Regional Manager Roland Beck, General Park Manager Brian Scriven, Historic Site Manager Snow Bunting 585-493-3617 LETCHWORTH STATE PARK TABLE OF CONTENTS SILVER LAKE STATE PARK CONESUS LAKE STATE PARK Cover Feature Article Doug Kelly, Park Manager Meet the Dogwoods (Part 1) .....2 585-493-3605 HAMLIN BEACH STATE PARK Park Interpretive Program ......6 Kate Gross, Park Manager Winter Programs .............10 585-964-2462 LAKESIDE BEACH STATE PARK Calendar................Center OAK ORCHARD MARINE STATE PARK Thomas Rowland, Park Manager Humphrey Nature Center 585-682-4888 Highlights ..................24 DARIEN LAKES STATE PARK Chad Work, Park Manager TGN News...................25 585-547-9242 Kids’ Corner.................27 GENESEE VALLEY GREENWAY STATE PARK Kristine Uribe, Park Manager Area Nature Centers ..........28 585-493-3614 Editorial Board Patrons.....................30 Douglas Bassett, Lisa Burns, Prose ......................34 Karen Ferguson, Elijah Kruger, Mike Landowski, Karen Russell, Brian Phones: Scriven, Steph Spittal and Sandy Wallace 585-493-3600 General Park Information Design & Typesetting and Reservations Suzanne M. Coogan, Metro Graphics 585-493-5272 Fax Wildlife Illustrations 585-493-3625 Park Naturalist, Douglas Bassett Douglas K. Bassett 585-493-3637 Bus Tour Information, Field Trip Information Dear Reader: 585-493-3680 The Humphrey Nature Center Welcome to the 107th edition of The Genesee New York Relay Service Naturalist. Its pages are open to your HEARING 1-800-421-1220 ideas, inquiries, observations, responses, Websites: nysparks.com articles, sketches, photos, news clippings, reserveamerica.com quotes, poems, etc. For example, “Stump the letchworthparkhistory.com Naturalist,” “Readers Write,” and “Nature friendsofletchworth.com Sprouts” (contributions from our youth) are fogvg.org articles created to feature your questions Visit us at Facebook.com/LetchworthStatePark and letters. The deadline for materials to be and Facebook.com/pages/Genesee-Valley- included in the spring issue is FEBRUARY 1st, Greenway-State-Park/475076135976335 2018. Pease contact: The Genesee Naturalist P.S. Please advise us of any corrections needed on your mailing label (spelling or address). 1 Letchworth State Park Castile, NY 14427 Also, take note of the expiration date. WINTER 2018 1 The Genesee Naturalist Cover Feature Article Meet the Dogwoods (Part 1) Many people are familiar with the Flowering Dogwood, a small tree that produces showy blossoms in late spring that has been used in landscape plantings all over the world. There are approximately 58 species of dogwood in the genus Cornus, in the plant family Corna- ceae, originating on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Many grow as spreading shrubs with less noticeable flowers. They are often divided into 4 groups: 1) The large-bracted group with 7 species including flowering dogwood; 2) The cornelian cherry group, with 6 species. [A new cornelian cherry species was discovered in China in 2002 and differs from the others in being evergreen.] 3) The “bractless” group have showy, white flowers arranged in branched clusters with no bracts and small fruits that are white, blue or black. 4) The dwarf dogwoods or bunchberries, characterized by be- ing tiny versions only a few inches tall. All produce fruit, ber- ry-like drupes with 1 or 2 seeds, that are valuable foods for many animals, especially birds in migration or wintering over. Some European and Asian species fruit are eaten by people. All dogwoods have simple, untoothed leaves, with distinctive veins that curve parallel to each other, following the outline of the leaf edge and joining at the tip. Most have opposite leaves and branches; a few are alternate. Dogwood flowers have 4 parts and are often small, carried in open clusters. In other species (like flowering dogwood) the actual blos- soms are tightly packed and lack showy petals, but are surrounded by 4 to 6 large petal-like bracts. The origin of the name “dogwood” is uncertain. One legend says that a medicine to treat dogs afflicted with mange was brewed from the leaves. Another story tells that dogwood is derived from “dagger- wood” and that hard, dense dogwood twigs were uses like daggers or skewers in cooking meat over campfires. Historically, use of the wood of Cornus species was limited by the small size of most members, suiting it to become tool handles, shuttles for weaving, small wheels for moving furniture and for recreation as roller skate wheels and golf club heads. The first laminated wood tennis rackets were made 2 WINTER 2018 The Genesee Naturalist of thin strips of dogwood. The bark of most Cornus species is rich in tannins and has been used as a substitute for quinine to reduce fevers. During the Civil War, confeder ate soldiers, unable to obtain more accepted medicine, made tea with dogwood bark to reduce pain and used crushed dogwood leaves as dressings on wounds. At least 6 native dogwoods can be found in Letchworth State Park. In addition to these, 1 Asian and 1 European species were in- troduced historically. Those with fruit that persist into early winter will be covered in this article and those with summer fruit will be addressed in the Spring feature. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) Flowering Dogwood is one member of the gen- era that generally grows in typical tree form, one trunk with spread- ing branches at the top. It can reach 30 feet in height and grows in de- ciduous woods as an un- derstory tree, able to sur- vive in the filtered light Flowering Dogwood under the taller cano- (15 mm fruit) py trees. Bark is grey to grey-brown, rough and in older trees, divided into irregular, square plates. Younger bark as on branches is smoother textured and has scattered round lenticels, or air pores. Branches and leaves are op- posite. Leaves are up to 5 inches long and 2½ inches wide, oval, tapering to points and smooth on the edges. Each has 4 to 6 veins on either side of a central vein; these curve gradually following the shape of the leaf to join at the tip. Autumn leaf color is an attractive deep red to maroon. The flowers that give the tree its common name is misleading. What appears to be a large white or pink flower with a yellow center is in fact, a cluster of small, four-petal yellow flowers surrounded by four white bracts (petal-like modified leaves). These WINTER 2018 3 The Genesee Naturalist bracts each have a notch at the tip that is a remnant of their function as bud scales protecting the flower buds through the previous win- ter. The true flowers develop into clusters of ½ to ¾ inch long, bright red drupes that shine at the tops of the trees calling birds to come and eat and plant new dogwood trees far away. At least 35 species of birds eat the fruit, which contain both calcium and fats. 10 or more mammals, from chipmunks to black bear also dine on the drupes. Deer and rabbits browse on bark and foliage. Many smaller creatures also use flowering dogwood as well as other Cornus species, both food and home. The slug-like caterpillars of the spring azure but- terfly feed on dogwood leaves. The caterpillars excrete a sweet liquid that attracts tiny ants which defend the caterpillars from parasitic flies. Several species of moth larvae, sawfly larvae that look like cat- erpillars and beetles also feed on foliage. Club-shaped swellings on twigs are caused by dogwood clubgall mites (Mycodiplosis clavula) that feeds inside the gall into autumn. All this insect nibbling may also cause the trees to be vulnerable to attack by parasitic fungi, es- pecially the anthracnose Discula, which can kill the tree. Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) Gray Dogwood is a shrub that col- onizes old fields and wood edges, form- ing thickets that are cloned plants growing in a dome form with oldest, tallest stems in the center and young- er, shorter ones around the edges. Each trunk is usually 3 to 8 feet tall, though they can sometimes reach over Gray Dogwood (7 mm fruit) 10 feet, and become branched. [The state record Gray Dogwood lives on the River’s floodplain at Lee’s Landing and is 11" in circumference and 32' tall.] Bark is gray to gray-brown and roughened with lenticels. Leaves are opposite and untoothed, lance-shaped with pinnate vein- ing. They are longer than wide and darker green on the upper leaf surface than the lower. [If a leaf is creased in half and gently torn apart, the two halves can be stretched apart for more than an inch due to the stretchy fibers of the fibro-vascular bundles within the leaf veins – this is a feature characteristic to most of the dogwoods, but the park record of 15⁄8 inches is held by the Gray Dogwood.] Small white flowers ¼ inch across are produced on domed panicles 1½ to 2½ inches across and tall. The panicles are cream colored when flow- 4 WINTER 2018 The Genesee Naturalist ering but become red as the white drupes ripen and are very notice- able in the fall. Each drupe, or fruit has 1 or 2 seeds. Gray Dogwood is common in fields no longer cultivated, roadsides and powerlines. Many of the animals that feed on dogwoods use any species available. Gray Dogwood’s nectar and pollen attract a wide variety of bumblebees, cuckoo bees, carpenter bees, flies, wasps, butterflies and moths. Aphids, plant bugs, caterpillars and sawfly larvae feed on the leaves and several beetle species tunnel under the bark or in the twigs. The fruit are eaten by many birds and seem to be es- pecially favored by Ruffed Grouse.