IRELAND BROOK PARK
Riva Avenue, East & South Brunswick, Middlesex County, NJ
380 Acres
Located roughly equally between East and South Brunswick on both sides of Ireland Brook between Davidson's Mill Road and Church Lane.
The property connects 371 acres of Tamarack Golf Course, Farrington Lake and 395 acres of Davidsons Mill Pond Park yielding over 1,000 acres of open space for the County.
Directions:
Travel south on the New Jersey Turnpike and get off at Exit 8A; yield right onto Forsgate Drive (Routes 32 & 130); drive 0.9 of a mile and turn right onto Rt. 130 north; drive 2.0 miles and turn right onto Fresh Pond Road; drive past Dean-Rhode Hall Road and turn left onto Davidson's Mill Road; turn right onto Riva Avenue which parallels Lawrence Brook (that heads north to the Raritan River). There are many pull-offs where one can park because a lot of people fish here. We parked on the right side of the road just after driving over the bridge over Ireland Brook.
Trails:
4/17/04. We stopped for a short while at one of the fishing pull-offs. Then we parked on the right side of Riva Avenue just after we passed over the Ireland Brook bridge. Took a short walk. We walked along Ireland Brook following a rough informal trail. Soon the trail moved away from the brook and into the woods proper. We kept following the informal path and it started to become a circular walk. We came to a big cleared area with meadows and dirt road. At Riva Avenue we turned left and walked back to the parking area.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
date = date plant found in bloom, 4/17/04
Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) 4/17/04
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula nigra (river birch)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) lots in the field
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple tree)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Salix sp. (willow) 4/17/04
Shrubs:
Alnus sp. (alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) 4/17/04 soon
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Decodon verticillata? (yellow loosestrife)?
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive) quite a few in the fields
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) 4/17/04
Rhus sp. (sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. (a lowbush blueberry)
Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) lots
Smilax sp. (greenbrier) all over the place
Vitis sp. (grape)
Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)
Callitriche sp. (water starwort)
Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress) 4/17/04
Cardamine parviflora ? (dry land bittercress)? 4/17/04
Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle)
Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley)
Datura stramonium (jimsonweed)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Draba verna (whitlow grass) 4/17/04
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lamium purpureum (purple dead nettle) 4/17/04
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Muscari botryoides (grape hyacinth) 4/17/04
Narcissus sp. (daffodil) 4/17/04
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Phytolacca americanum (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaved dock)
Saxifraga virginiensis (early saxifrage) 4/17/04
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) 4/17/04
Trifolium sp. (clover)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Viola sp. (violet)
Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Sedges:
Carex laxa type (loose-flowered sedge like)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge) 4/17/04
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Ferns and Fern Allies:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine) carpets of its
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Others:
Fontinalis sp. (moss)