Tongue Mountain
Lake George, New York

Geology:

Composed of quartz-bearing syenite, Tongue Mountain Range runs 10 miles south into Lake George at the southern end of the Narrows Group of lake islands.  Tongue Mountain used to be part of the separation between two ancient rivers preceding our modern Lake George.

History:

19th century  -- the forest of the range fell to the logger's ax. 

1860  --  as late as this date, 10,000 softwood logs a year were being floated north to the sawmills at Ticonderoga.   Hardwoods went to feed the iron forges on Lake Champlain. 

The range is noted for its population of timber rattlesnakes. 

(Source: McMartin 1988:75)

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, * = blooming on the date of the field trips, 7/28/04 with Philip and John Duckett

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm) ?

Shrubs:
Cornus rugosa (round-leaved dogwood)
Diervilla lonicera (bush honeysuckle)
Gaultheria procumbens (checkerberry) *
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Ribes sp. (gooseberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus odoratus (purple flowering raspberry) *
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Vaccinium angustifolium (low bush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (hairy arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow) *
Actaea alba (white baneberry)
Agrimonia gryposepala (agrimony) *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Apocynum androsaemifolium (spreading dogbane)
Aquilegia canadensis (columbine)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Aralia racemosa (spikenard)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster acuminatus (sharp-leaved aster) *soon
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Aster sp. (aster) *
Bidens comosa (beggarticks)
Campanula rotundifolia (harebell) *
Caulophyllum thalictroides (blue cohosh)
Chelidonium majus (celandine) *
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade) *
Cirsium vulgaris (bull thistle) *
Clintonia borealis (bead lily)
Corydalis sempervirens (pale corydalis) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Epigaea repens (trailing arbutus)
Epipactis helleborine (helleborine orchid) * waning
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Hepatica acutiloba (sharp-leaved hepatica)
Hieracium paniculatum (panicled hawkweed)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed) *
Lycopus virginicus (Virginia bugleweed) *
Lysimachia quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife) *
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Melampyrum lineare (cowwheat) *
Melilotus alba (white sweet clover) *
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Osmorhiza claytonii (sweet cicely)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonatum pubescens (hairy true Solomon's seal)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prenanthes sp. (rattlesnake root)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf) *soon
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved buttercup)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Saponaria officinalis (bouncing bet) *
Scutellaria galericulata (marsh skullcap) *
Scutellaria lateriflora (mad-dog skullcap) *
Silene vulgaris (bladderwort campion) *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade) *
Solidago canadensis var. altissima (tall goldenrod)  *
Sonchus sp. (sow thistle) *
Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower) * one in bloom
Triadenum virginicum (marsh St. Johnswort)
Trientalis borealis (star flower)
Trillium erectum (red trillium)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Urtica dioica v. dioica (stinging nettle) *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Vicia cracca (cow vetch) *
Viola sp. (violet)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)
Scirpus cyperinus (dark-green bulrush

Grasses:
Brachyelytrum erectum (long-awned wood grass)
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Danthonia spicata (poverty grass)
Deschampsia flexuosa (hair grass)
Leersia oryzoides (rice cut grass)
Poa compressa (Canada bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Lycopodium lucidulum (shiny clubmoss)
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Botrychium sp. (rattlesnake fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris intermedia (fancy woodfern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

Other:
reindeer lichen

A Few of the Islands and Mountain Trails of Lake George

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