In search of the elusive Twisted Stalk

Over the last couple of years I have volunteered for a couple a plant monitoring projects through the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, a hiking association that arranges for and maintains hiking trails in New York and New Jersey. The first project, a scientific study done in conjunction with the NYNJTC, Rutgers University, and the USDA, used hiker volunteers to monitor 22 invasive species (thus my habit to call out "invasive species" whenever I am walking outside). To balance this, I volunteered for another monitoring project, also run by the USDA and NYNJTC, to monitor rare and endangered plant species in New Jersey.

Each volunteer was assigned a plot and given a particular species to monitor. My plot, on Maple Hill along the Appalachian Trail, sits in Northern New Jersey along the New York border. It is in a small gully of a hill where the forest descends to a cool, dark stream. Ferns and skunk cabbages grow. And, as it turns out, it is the perfect climate for the rosey twisted stalk. The Twisted Stalk is rare in New Jersey, the southern tip of its range, but common as you move north into New England. Last weekend Michaela and I went out to the plot to do our counting (~125 individual plants found). The twisted stalk is named because it has, well, a twisted stalk. And its flowers are a rose color (shocking, I know).

Some photos:


Shot from above--shows the characteristic twist in its stalk


Against the background of the clipboard, you can see the delicate rose flowers