Walter F. Wagner Preserve
Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut
13 acres

Directions:

Merritt Parkway east to exit 42;  right turn onto Route 57 (Weston Road); go under Weston Road; turn right onto Lyons Plains Road; turn right onto Pheasant Hill Road; drive 0.5 of a mile, reaching the intersection with Partridge Lane on the left; the Preserve entrance is on the right. 

Trails:

Pond Trail = black arrow on a red background. 

Joe's Creek Trail  = black arrow on white background.

9/21/2005.  On a great day weatherwise, Cefe Santana, dog Sonar and I started this short walk by heading d ownhill to the pond.  We walked along the right side of the pond with a large field on our right.  The pond is very small with lots of vegetation around it.  After investigating the pond and field we crossed over a wet area on a wooden bridge.  We headed into the woods.  We walked slightly uphill to where the woods was very open.  Here the trail makes a short loop around the small hill area bringing the walker back to the start of the small loop trail.  From here we headed back to the pond.  Nearing  the pond we turned right, walked uphill to the road, and then turned left to walk the short distance back to the car.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.   

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

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

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Salix sp. (willow)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Alnus sp. (alder)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Rhus copallina (winged sumac)
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry) 

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

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Amphicarpaea bracteata ( hog peanut)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)     *
Aster spp. (small white aster)     *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)     *
Dianthus armeria (Dianthus armeria)     *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)     *
Eupatorium perfoliatum (boneset)     *
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)     *
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)     *
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Pycnanthemum sp. (mountain mint)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)     *
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Viola spp. (violet)
vetch

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Eragrostis spectabilis (purple love grass)
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium thelypteroides (silvery glade fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

Others:
Sphagnum sp. (sphagnum moss)

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