North Branch Park
Milltown Road, Bridgewater Township, Somerset County, NJ
185 acres

Geology:

on the park's western border is the North Branch of the Raritan River

History:

1961  -- Somerset County acquired the park.

Facilities:

two picnic areas,  softball fields, soccer, fishing, children's playground, fairgrounds

PLANT LIST:
Robert C. Meyer

Trees:

Acer negundo (box elder)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula nigra (river birch)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Celtis occidentalis (American hackberry)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Fraxinus pensylvanica (red ash)?
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus phellos (willow oak)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) 5/10/97
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) 5/10/97
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)

Herbs:
Acalypha rhomboidea (three-seeded mercury)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort) 9/14/96
Bidens connata (swamp beggar ticks)
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks)
Bidens polylepis (Ozark tickseed sunflower)
Callitriche sp. ? (water starwort)
Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd's purse) 5/10/97
Cardamine pratensis (cuckoo flower) 5/10/97
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty) 5/10/97
Epilobium coloratum (purple-leaved willow herb) 9/14/96
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) 9/14/96
Galium aparine (cleavers) 5/10/97
Geum sp. (avens)
Glechoma hederacea (gill over the ground) 5/10/97
Heracleum lanatum (cow parsnip)
Hydrophyllum virginica (Virginia waterleaf)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed) 9/14/96
Laportea canadensis (wood nettle) 9/14/96
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) 5/10/97
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Pilea pumila (clearweed) 9/14/96
Polygonatum biflorum (true Solomon's seal) 5/10/97 soon
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla canadensis (dwarf cinquefoil) 5/10/97
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaf crowfoot) 5/10/97
Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine) 5/10/97
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaved dock)
Sagittaria latifolia (broad leaved arrowhead)
Sicyos angulatus (one-seeded bur cucumber) 9/14/96
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Teucrium canadense (American germander)
Thalictrum dioicum (early meadowrue)
Trifolium repens (white clover) 9/14/96
Veronica persica? (bird's eye speedwell)
Viola pubescens (yellow forest violet) 5/10/97
Viola striata (cream violet) 5/10/97

Rushes:

Juncus tenuis (path rush)
 

Sedges:

Carex vulpinoidea (sedge)
 

Grasses:

Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Eleusine indica (goose grass)
Elymus hystrix (bottlebrush grass)
Elymus virginiana or riparius (wild rye grass)
Glyceria septentrionalis (eastern mannagrass)
Leersia virginica (white grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Muhlenbergia schreberi (nimblewill muhly grass)
Phalaris arundinacea (reed canary grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
 

Ferns and Fern Allies:

Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
 

September 3, 1983. White Station, NJ.

. . .

After lunch a trip was made to North Branch Park in Somerset County. Among the plants found there were rosin-weed (Silphium perfoliatum), tall cone-flower (Rudbeckia laciniata), and one fine specimen of wild rice (Zizania aquatica), the latter growing in a small steam near the Raritan River. A large sedge (Carex grayii) was also found in this area.

Attendance 4: Leader Robert C. Meyer.