Joseph Gjuresko, Jr. Wildlife Refuge
Steep Hill Road, Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut
4 acres

Directions:

Merritt Parkway north to exit 42; turn right onto Route 57 north; turn right onto Norfield Road/ turn left onto Old Hyde Road; turn right onto Steep Hill Road; the Wildlife Refuge is on the left located between houses  #103 and #111.  

921/2005.  On a warm afternoon, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I  parked at a small pull-off area near the sign for the Wildlife Refuge.  There is a small field here with some interesting plants.  But the mass of the area is swamp.  There are no formal trails and only short informal ones. We saw some young wild turkeys being led across the field in front of us.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plants blooming on field trip, 9/21/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Decodon verticillatus (swamp loosestrife)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)     *
Aster novi-belgii ((New York aster)     *
Aster spp. (small white aster)     *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle)
Desmodium sp. (tick trefoil)
Epilobium coloratum (purple-leaved willowherb)     *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)     *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Satureja vulgaris (wild basil)
Scrophularia sp. (figwort)     *
Solidago caesia (blue-stemmed goldenrod)    *

Sedges:
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)

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