William S. Post Natural Area
Post Kunhart Road, Bernardsville, Somerset County, NJ
21 acres (11 acres north of, and 10 acres south of Post Road)

Directions:

From the south:

From I-287  take exit 26 for for Mount Airy Road (Route 525) toward Bernardsville. Turn left onto Route 202 South at the traffic light. At the railway station, turn right onto Claremont Road. Follow Claremont Road for approximately 1.1 miles. Look for the Upper Raritan Watershed and Green Acres signs on the left. Turn left onto Post Kunhart Road, and park along the street. The preserve is on either side of Post Kunhart Road.

From the north:

From I-287 heading south take exit 30B; at the traffic light turn left onto Route 202 south; turn right onto Claremont Road and follow the directions above.

Geology:

The west branch of Mine Brook (a tributary of the Raritan River North Branch) flows through the site.

Trails:

There are no actively maintained trails at this site, but several deer paths allow access.

5/18/2005.  On a great day weatherwise, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I toured both sides of Post Kunhart Road.  The property parallels Claremont Road.  We did not see any easy way to access the property.  Bushwhack is the only way.  On the left side of the road, the property is lower and there is a great many streams in the area with lots of skunk cabbage marsh.  There are a few islands of dry land in this marsh that we had to work our way on to as we went through the area.  It might be better to wear boots.  It was slow going, but we did see more plants that way.

We crossed the road to take a look at the vegetation.  This is higher ground.  There is much more dry ground and large areas of Japanese stilt grass forms a kind of maze of open areas that substitute for a trail.   We proceeded uphill through the vegetation picking up a few new species for the plant list.  We noted that there was a great deal of Japanese barberry in the area. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plant found in bloom, 5/18/2005  brief visit

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Fraxinus pensylvanica (green ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) *  lots and lots of it
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Philadelphus sp. (mock orange)
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)  *
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) 
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum) *

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

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Aster spp. (aster)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Cardamine pensylvanica (Pennsylvania bittercress)  *
Cardamine rhomboidea (spring cress)
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed)  *
Chrysosplenium americanum (golden saxifrage)
Cirsium sp. (thistle)
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry)  *
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Galium aparine (cleavers)   *
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground)  *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Narcissus sp. (daffodil)
Polygonum arifolium (halberd-leaved tearthumb)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prenanthes altissima (tall white lettuce) 
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf)
Ranunculus recurvatus (hooked crowfoot)  *
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (water cress)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)  a lot of it 
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Thalictrum dioicum (early meadowrue) 
Trientalis borealis (starflower) 
Veratrum viride (swamp hellebore)  *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Viola cucullata (marsh blue violet) *

Rushes:
Luzula multiflora (wood rush)

Sedges:
Carex spp. (sedges)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)  ?
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

Source: Upper Raritan Watershed Association;  http://www.urwa.org/land/bernardsville.htm