Robbin's Swamp Wildlife Management Area
Route 7, Canaan, Litchfield County, CT

Directions:

From the junction of Route 4 and Route 7; about a mile or so down the road you will turn right into the small parking area for Robbins Swamp.

Trails:

There are no official trails here, so I followed a trail laid out by blue flagging tape. It went south along the border line with private property. This area is not as wet as that owned by the Nature Conservancy just one-half mile north of here.

Habitats:

Northern White Cedar Swamps: ~Basin Swamp - forested and/or shrub swamps with stagnant or slow moving water; in topographically defined basins; on decomposed peats and mucks. Includes pH neutral Northern white cedar basin swamps and White cedar (Thuja occidentalis) seasonally flooded forests. Community example: Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) seasonally flooded forests Example - Robbins Swamp Natural Area Preserve, Canaan

(Source: Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection: Connecticut's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy: Species and Habitat Lists  http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/wildlife/geninfo/fedaid/cwcs/sphblist.asp?Group=Habitats)

6/16/06.  Another brief stop.  But this time I went farther into the area.  There are no trails; had to pay great attention to where I was going.  It was made easier by a series of ponds, so I worked my way to the third pond (all of them in the process of drying up) and then back.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, very brief stop March 4, 2002; * = plant in bloom on date of field trip, 6/16/06

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula papyrifera (paper birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood) lots
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine) lots
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Coptis trifolia (gold thread)
Cornus sp. (dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhamnus sp. (buckthorn)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)  *
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (hairy arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy)  *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)  *
Euphorbia cyparissias (cypress spurge)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)  *
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lycopus sp. (water horehound, with deeply cut leaves)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover)  *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)  *
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf)
Ranunculus sp. (buttercup)
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan)  *
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) 
Senecio sp. (ragwort)
Sisyrinchium sp. (blue-eyed grass)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Trientalis borealis (starflower)
Trifolium repens (white clover)  *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern)

Back to the w. Connecticut Page
Back to the Main Page