Walter C. Meuly Woods
River Road, Piscataway Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey

Directions:

NJ Turnpike south to Exit 10 for US 287 north; get off at Exit 9 for River Road heading east; it is located just west of cross-road Rivercrest Road long before getting to Rutgers University.  There is a pull-off on the right side of the road.

History:

The land was donated to Middlesex County by Walter C. Meuly and Julia Meuly.  It is managed by the Middlesex County Department of Parks and Recreation.

Walter C. Meuly. 1976. History of Piscataway Township 1666-1976. http://www2.umdnj.edu/chinjweb/piscatawayhx.htm

Trails:

3/30/2005.  Wednesday.  Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the pull-off on busy River Road.  We walked back across the wet lawn (heavy, flooding rains on Monday) to the park sign surrounded by Scots pines.  There is a central rectangle of woods with trails on three sides and a huge lawn in front. We walked completely around the rectangle.  It is not a long walk.  We passed by a gas pipeline cut and the River Road Valve Site of the Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., milepost 24.20.  We tried several times, but could not get to the nearby Raritan River because there was just too much water in low areas between us and the river.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = blooming on date of field trip, March 30, 2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Alnus glutinosa (black alder)
Betula nigra (river birch)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)

Shrubs:
Amorpha fruticosa (false indigo bush)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Lonicera sp. (honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaved dock)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)