Riverside Park
427 Riverside Avenue, Westport, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Small Open Green Area

Directions:

Merritt Parkway north to Exit 41; turn right onto Sunny Lane; turn left onto Route 33 (Wilton Road); it heads into Riverside Avenue; pass by the bridges at Kings Highway and Post Road; the Park is on the left (east) side between Sylvan Road and Treadwell Avenue.

Facilities:

Picnic area, small open green area, woody setting with pedestrian path to the Saugatuck River

Habitats:

lawn, woods, salt marsh

Funds from:

Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and Coastal Management Program

Town of Westport Parks and Recreation

Trails:

11/07/2005.  On a beautiful day with temperatures much higher than usual, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the semi-circular parking lot at Riverside Park.  There is a small green lawn area with a path leading down to the Saugatuck River.  By the river is typical salt marsh vegetation. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip, 11/07/2005

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Magnolia sp. (magnolia) planted
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Salix spp. (willow)
Tilia americana (American basswood)

Shrubs:
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Iva frutescens (marsh elder)
Ligustrum (privet) planted hedge
Lindera benzoin (spice bush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow’s honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (?Asiatic bittersweet)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp (grape)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster cordifolius (heart-leaved aster) *
Aster spp. (aster)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Limonium carolinianum (sea lavender)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Grasses:
Spartina alterniflora (salt marsh cord grass)
Spartina patens (salt hay cord grass)
Leptoloma cognatum (fall witch grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Panicum virgatum (switch grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)

Ferns:
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

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