Banchoff Park
 Mountain View Rd.., Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey

70 acres

Directions:

New Jersey Turnpike south to Exit 7A for US 195 west;  get onto US 295 north which becomes US 95 just after Exit 67 on US 295;  get off at Exit 2; turn right and drive 0.6 of a mile; turn left onto Mountain View Road; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn left into the park entrance..

Facilities:

4 tennis courts, walking, biking and hiking trails, dog run, a pond, picnic area, and a tot lot.

History:

This relatively new park was financed with funds from the Green Acres Trust Fund Program from the State of New Jersey.

Trails:

5/09/2005.  Cefe Santana, dog Sonar and I parked  at the parking lot.  We looked for a path into the woods and found an informal path.  The path went into the woods down to the stream where there is a clearing under a huge beech tree.  We then went west with the trail.  It soon merged with a wider trail heading west.  We took this trail until it approached near the backyard of a house.  We then turned around and went east back to the car on the wider trail. 

We then used the asphalt path around the area to go down to the small pond.  Working our way around the path we came to a sign with the trail layout.  The sign pictured the green and white trails going around in a loop with a couple of short-cuts thrown in.  The white trail takes a short spur off the loop heading over the stream then up a slope (probably to about the area where we turned around on our first trail adventure).  The path was easy enough to follow since it was so wide but we did not see any green or white trail markings.  Following the loop trail we came to a gas pipe line power-cut, turned left and came back to where we started, at the trail sign  Heading back to the car we stopped to place Sonar in their dog run.  He was the only dog in the run so all he did was walk around smelling the smells of the other dogs.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.  

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = blooming on date of field trip, 5/09/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)  *
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus spp. (apple) *
Salix alba var. (weeping willow)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus rubra (slippery  elm) 
Zelkova  ?

Shrubs:
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved dogwood)  *
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)  *
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)  *
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra) 
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Viburnum plicatum (double-file viburnum)  *soon
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)  *

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis aestivalis (summer grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort) 
Aster spp. (aster) 
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)  *
Capsella burs-pastoris (shepherd's purse)  *
Cardamine parviflora (dry-land bittercress)  *
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed)  *
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty)   *
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Galium aparine (cleavers)  *
Galium sp. (bedstraw six fat leaves in a whorl with mucronate tip)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground) *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lamium purpureum (purple dead nettle)  *
Lycopus virginicus (Virginia bugleweed) 
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)  *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) 
Plantago major (common plantain)
Podophyllum peltatum (may apple)  *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)  *
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot) *
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  *
Thlaspi arvense (field pennycress)  *
Trifolium sp. (clover) 
Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell)  *
Veronica serpyllifolia (thyme-leaved speedwell)  * 
Viola sororia (common blue violet) *

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex sp. (sedge)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass) 
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)  *

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)