From: Sandy O’Brien, botanist,  5500 S. Liverpool Rd., Hobart, IN 46342  ecorealm@msn.com
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 9:34 PM
Subject: Vale Park Plant Report & LIST (or scroll down)

Hi!  Here is my report.  The # of native species went from 51 to 100 with a spring visit!   Any comments?  Sandy 

 

Ecological significance of the Vale Park Property:
In summary, this property has better native plants than most land in the Chicago region.  While presently considered a lower quality natural area, it has good potential for restoration to a good quality natural area.  The quality assessment numbers would be expected to rise a bit more with observation of more of the growing season.  

The Vale Park property is a potentially good natural area and example of the historic landscape of wetland and oak woodland once common in Valparaiso.  The flowery wetland and woodland that should be there could be restored and made accessible to the public with travel modes that provide relief from automobile dependence.     

Preservation and restoration of oak woodlands are in the top tier of conservation targets of the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan** (see pages 44-48).  Because of their value for wildlife, basin marshes (essentially what Silver Lake is now) are in the second tier of conservation targets (see pages 55-59).  The Biodiversity Recovery Plan was adopted by the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission on March 16, 2000.  **(Citation:  Chicago Region Biodiversity Council 1999.  Biodiversity Recovery Plan.  Chicago Region Biodiversity Council, Chicago, IL.)

Regarding the property’s plant list, the NATIVE FQI of 37.00 is the "Floristic Quality Index".  It is a calculation based on the variety of native plant species found on a site and their conservativeness (likelihood of being found in intact natural areas) or weediness.  The FQI is naturally higher on larger sites with a greater variety of habitats.   Areas with an FQI lower than 35 are not considered natural areas, which includes almost all de novo (from scratch) prairie (and wetland) recreations because people do not know enough to recreate the complex web of life from scratch.  Pollinators, mychorrizae and unknown other parts of the web of life important to the perpetuation of all the species in natural areas are missing in de novo sites.  Page 18, Floyd Swink and Gerould Wilhelm in Plants of the Chicago Region* explains the significance of the FQI:  “The vast majority of land in the region registers FQI values less than 20 and essentially has no significance from a natural area perspective.  Areas with FQI values higher than 35 possess sufficient conservatism and richness to be of profound importance from a regional perspective.   Areas registering in the 50’s and higher are extremely rare and of paramount importance; they represent less than 0.5% of the land area in the Chicago region.”      *(Citation: Swink, Floyd and Gerould Wilhelm. 1994.  Plants of the Chicago Region.  4th Ed.  Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Sciences) 

The NATIVE MEAN C of 3.70 refers to the average of the "coefficient of conservatism" or "C" value of all the native plant species found on the site.  Each plant species has a "C" value assigned to it based on where it is usually found, from 10 for conservative plants, found in intact natural areas, to 0 for weeds, found in about any unkept place.  When a site's native mean C is 3 or lower, restoration potential is low because too little of the native fabric is left.  If a site's native mean C is at least 4, restoration potential is good with proper management.   Enough natural area and a seed bank must remain for a restoration project to ever become a high quality natural area.

The best ecological attributes of the Vale Park property are its oak woodland (middle), its forested wetland with ephemeral ponds (east end), and its edge of Silver Lake wetland.  The oak woodland is so valuable because its mature trees are about 100 years old.  Spring flowers such as such as mayapple, spring beauty, feathery false solomon’s seal, and wood anemone as well as native shrubs such as hazelnut, wild sweet crab, hawthorns, and choke cherry are present.  Pin oaks are the most common oak.   The oak woodland and adjacent shrub land could be restored by cutting out the alien shrubs, doing controlled burns, and reseeding some missing native plant species.

On 4-30-04 the forested wetland at the east end had a pair of wood ducks and a mallard with ducklings.  Its ephemeral ponds are important for amphibian and duck breeding.  The regulatory agencies tend to see these as particularly valuable wetlands because of the time it takes to grow mature trees.  The Silver Lake wetland had spring peepers calling, a woodcock, and a spotted sandpiper.  Silver Lake is notable for its clean water.  Its monocultural cattail and reed canary grass areas could be restored to native marsh and wet prairie/sedge meadow.  Two notable species found here are arrow arum, a rare marsh/bog plant, and winterberry, an uncommon shrub of bogs.

Vale Park Road property









Valparaiso, Porter Co., IN
April 30, 2004 and January 24, 2004
Sandy O-Brien
valeparks


FLORISTIC QUALITY DATA NATIVE 80.00% ADVENTIVE
20.00%
100 NATIVE SPECIES
21 Tree 16.80% 5 Tree
4.00%
125 Total Special
10 Shrub 8.00% 6 Shrub
4.80%
3.70 NATIVE MEAN C
4 W-Vine 3.20% 1 W-Vine
0.80%
2.96 W/Adventives
0 H-Vine 0.00% 0 H-Vine
0.00%
37.00 NATIVE FQI
47 P-Forb 37.60% 6 P-Forb
4.80%
33.09 W/Adventives
0 B-Forb 0.00% 4 B-Forb
3.20%
-0.1 NATIVE MEAN W
5 A-Forb 4.00% 0 A-Forb
0.00%
0.4 W/Adventives
3 P-Grass 2.40% 3 P-Grass
2.40%
AVG: FACULTATIVE
0 A-Grass 0.00% 0 A-Grass
0.00%


6 P-Sedge 4.80% 0 P-Sedge
0.00%


0 A-Sedge 0.00% 0 A-Sedge
0.00%


4 Cryptogam 3.20%


C SCIENTIFIC NAME
W WETNESS PHYSIOG.
COMMON NAME
0 Acer negundo
(-2) FACW- Nt TREE
BOX ELDER
7 Acer rubrum
0 FAC Nt TREE
RED MAPLE
0 Acer saccharinum
(-3) FACW Nt TREE
SILVER MAPLE
*ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM
3 FACU Ad P-FORB
YARROW
2 Agrimonia gryposepala
2 FACU+ Nt P-FORB
TALL AGRIMONY
7 Agrimonia parviflora
(-1) FAC+ Nt P-FORB
SWAMP AGRIMONY
4 Alisma subcordatum
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
COMMON WATER PLANTAIN
*ALLIARIA PETIOLATA
pulled out
0 FAC Ad B-FORB
GARLIC MUSTARD
2 Allium canadense
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
WILD ONION
8 Amelanchier interior or humilis
5 UPL Nt TREE
INLAND SHADBLOW
7 Anemone quinquefolia
5 [UPL] Nt P-FORB
WOOD ANEMONE
3 Antennaria plantaginifolia
5 UPL Nt P-FORB
PUSSY TOES
*ARCTIUM MINUS
5 UPL Ad B-FORB
COMMON BURDOCK
4 Asplenium platyneuron
3 FACU CRYPTOGAM EBONY SPLEENWORT
4 Aster lateriflorus
(-2) FACW- Nt P-FORB
SIDE-FLOWERING ASTER
0 Aster pilosus
2 FACU+ Nt P-FORB
HAIRY ASTER
5 Aster sagittifolius
5 UPL Nt P-FORB
ARROW-LEAVED ASTER
3 Aster simplex
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
PANICLED ASTER
*BARBAREA VULGARIS
0 FAC Ad B-FORB
YELLOW ROCKET
3 Bidens polylepis or other species
(-3) FACW Nt A-FORB
BUR MARIGOLD?
5 Boehmeria cylindrica drummondiana
(-5) [OBL] Nt P-FORB
ROUGH FALSE NETTLE
3 Calamagrostis candensis
(-5) OBL Nt P-GRASS BLUE JOINT GRASS
1 Carex blanda
0 FAC Nt P-SEDGE COMMON WOOD SEDGE
4 Carex hirsutella probably
5 UPL Nt P-SEDGE HAIRY GREEN SEDGE?
7 Carex lupulina probably
(-5) OBL Nt P-SEDGE COMMON HOP SEDGE?
5 Carex normalis or other common wet sedge 0 [FAC] Nt P-SEDGE SPREADING OVAL SEDGE?
4 Carex pellita
(-5) OBL Nt P-SEDGE BROAD-LEAVED WOOLLY SEDGE
5 Carex pensylvanica
5 UPL Nt P-SEDGE COMMON OAK SEDGE
5 Carya ovata
3 FACU Nt TREE
SHAGBARK HICKORY
5 Cephalanthus occidentalis
(-5) OBL Nt SHRUB
BUTTONBUSH
1 Circaea lutetiana canadensis
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE
2 Claytonia virginica
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
SPRING BEAUTY
6 Cornus obliqua
(-4) FACW+ Nt SHRUB
BLUE-FRUITED DOGWOOD
1 Cornus racemosa
(-2) FACW- Nt SHRUB
GRAY DOGWOOD
5 Crataegus flabellata
5 UPL Nt TREE
LARGE-SEEDED HAWTHORN
2 Cragaegus mollis
4 FACU- Nt TREE
DOWNY HAWTHORN
6 Cystopteris fragilis protrusa
3 FACU CRYPTOGAM FRAGILE FERN
*DACTYLIS GLOMERATA
3 FACU Ad P-GRASS ORCHARD GRASS
*DAUCUS CAROTA
5 UPL Ad B-FORB
QUEEN ANNE'S LACE
*ELAEAGNUS UMBELLATA
5 UPL Ad SHRUB
AUTUMN OLIVE
4 Elymus virginicus
(-2) FACW- Nt P-GRASS VIRGINIA WILD RYE
3 Epilobium coloratum
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
CINNAMON WILLOW HERB
0 Equisetum arvense
0 FAC CRYPTOGAM HORSETAIL
4 Eupatorium perfoliatum
(-4) FACW+ Nt P-FORB
COMMON BONESET
1 Fragaria virginiana
1 FAC- Nt P-FORB
WILD STRAWBERRY
5 Fraxinus americana
3 FACU Nt TREE
WHITE ASH
1 Galium aparine
3 FACU Nt A-FORB
ANNUAL BEDSTRAW
1 Geum canadense
0 FAC Nt P-FORB
WOOD AVENS
2 Geum laciniatum trichocarpum
(-3) FACW Nt P-FORB
ROUGH AVENS
8GLECHOMA HEDERACEA
3 FACU Ad P-FORB
CREEPING CHARLIE
4 Glyceria striata
(-3) [FACW] Nt P-GRASS FOWL MANNA GRASS
2 Helianthus grosseserratus
(-2)FACW- Nt P-FORB
SAWTOOTH SUNFLOWER
*HIERACIUM CAESPITOSUM
5 UPL Ad P-FORB
FIELD HAWKWEED
4 Hypericum punctatum
3 [FACU] Nt P-FORB
SPOTTED ST. JOHN'S WORT
9 llex verticillata
(-4) FACW+ Nt SHRUB
WINTERBERRY
3 Impatiens capensis
(-3) FACW Nt A-FORB
ORANGE JEWELWEED
5 Iris virginica shrevei
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
BLUE FLAG
5 Juglans nigra
3 FACU Nt TREE
BLACK WALNUT
0 Juncus tenuis
2 [FACU+] Nt P-FORB
PATH RUSH
*LIGUSTRUM VULGARE
1 FAC- Ad SHRUB
COMMON PRIVET
*LONICERA X MUENDENIENSIS
5 UPL Ad SHRUB
COMMON FLY HONEYSUCKLE
7 Luzula multiflora
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
COMMON WOOD RUSH
5 Lycopus americanus
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
COMMON WATER HOREHOUND
9 Lysimachia thyrsiflora probably
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
TUFTED LOOSESTRIFE?
8 Maianthemum canadense interius
5 [UPL] Nt P-FORB
CANADA MAYFLOWER
4 Malus coronaria
5 UPL Nt TREE
WILD SWEET CRAB
*MALUS PRUNIFOLIA
5 UPL Ad TREE
PLUM-LEAVED CRAB
*MALUS PUMILA
5 UPL Ad TREE
APPLE
*MORUS ALBA
0 FAC Ad TREE
WHITE MULBERRY
8 Onoclea sensibilis
(-3) FACW CRYPTOGAM SENSITIVE FERN
2 Parthenocissus quinquefolia
1 FAC- Nt W-VINE
VIRGINIA CREEPER
10 Peltandra virginica
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
ARROW ARUM
*PHALARIS ARUNDINACEA
(-4) FACW+ Ad P-GRASS REED CANARY GRASS
1 Phytolacca americana
1 FAC- Nt P-FORB
POKEWEED
*PINUS SYLVESTRIS
5 UPL Ad TREE
SCOTCH PINE
*POA COMPRESSA
2 FACU+ Ad P-GRASS CANADA BLUE GRASS
4 Podophyllum peltatum
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
MAY APPLE
3 Polygonatum canaliculatum
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
SMOOTH SOLOMON'S SEAL
4 Polygonum coccineum
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
WATER HEARTSEASE
2 Populus deltoides
(-1) FAC+ Nt TREE
EASTERN COTTONWOOD
4 Populus tremuloides
0 FAC Nt TREE
QUAKING ASPEN
4 Potentilla simplex
4 FACU- Nt P-FORB
COMMON CINQUEFOIL
5 Prenanthes alba
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
LION'S FOOT
0 Prunella vulgaris lanceolata
3 [FACU] Nt P-FORB
SELF HEAL
1 Prunus serotina
3 FACU Nt TREE
WILD BLACK CHERRY
3 Prunus virginiana
3 [FACU] Nt SHRUB
CHOKE CHERRY
5 Quercus alba
0 FAC Nt TREE
WHITE OAK
8 Quercus palustris
(-3) FACW Nt TREE
PIN OAK
7 Quercus rubra
3 FACU Nt TREE
RED OAK
6 Quercus velutina
5 UPL Nt TREE
BLACK OAK
0 Ranunculus abortivus
(-2) FACW- Nt A-FORB
SMALL-FLOWERED BUTTERCUP
2 Rhus radicans
(-1) FAC+ Nt W-VINE
POISON IVY
1 Rhus typhina
5 UPL Nt TREE
STAGHORN SUMAC
*ROSE MULTIFLORA
3 FACU Ad SHRUB
MULTIFLORA ROSE
7 rosa palustris
(-5)OBL Nt SHRUB
SWAMP ROSE
3 Rubus allegheniensis
2 FACU+ Nt SHRUB
COMMON BLACKBERRY
3 Rubus flagellaris
4 FACU- Nt SHRUB
COMMON DEWBERRY
*RUMEX CRISPUS
(-1) FAC+ Ad P-FORB
CURLY DOCK
5 Salix amygdaloides
(-3) FACW Nt TREE
PEACH-LEAVED WILLOW
2 Salix discolor
(-3) FACW Nt SHRUB
PUSSY WILLOW
1 Sambucus canadensis
(-2) FACW- Nt SHRUB
ELDERBERRY
3 Sassafras albidum
3 FACU Nt TREE
SASSAFRAS
5 Scutellaria lateriflora
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
MAD-DOG SKULLCAP
3 Smilacina racemosa
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
FEATHERY FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL
5 Smilax tamnoides hispida
5 UPL Nt W-VINE
BRISTLY CAT BRIER
*SOLANUM DULCAMARA
0 FAC Ad W-VINE
BITTERSWEET NIGHTSHADE
1 Solidago altissima
3 FACU Nt P-FORB
TALL GOLDENROD
4 Solidago gigantea
(-3) FACW Nt P-FORB
LATE GOLDENROD
3 Solidago graminifolia nuttallii
0 [FAC] Nt P-FORB
HAIRY GRASS-LEAVED GOLDENROD
5 Solidago juncea
5 UPL Nt P-FORB
EARLY GOLDENROD
7 Spirodela polyrhiza
(-5) OBL Nt A-FORB
GREAT DUCKWEED
*TARAXACUM OFFICINALE
3 FACU Ad P-FORB
COMMON DANDELION
*TRIFOLIUM REPENS
2 FACU+ Ad P-FORB
WHITE CLOVER
1 Typha angustifolia
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
NARROW-LEAVED CATTAIL
1 Typha latifolia
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
BROAD-LEAVED CATTAIL
1 Typha X glauca
(-5) OBL Nt P-FORB
HYBRID CATTAIL
3 Ulmus americana or red elm
(-2) FACW- Nt TREE
AMERICAN ELM OR SLIPPERY ELM
*ULMUS PUMILA
5 UPL Ad TREE
SIBERIAN ELM
2 Urtica procera
(-1) FAC+ Nt P-FORB
TALL NETTLE
4 Verbena hastata
(-4) FACW+ Nt P-FORB
BLUE VERVAIN
4 Vernonia missurica
(-1) FAC+ Nt P-FORB
MISSOURI IRONWEED
*VIBURNUM OPULUS
3 [FACU] Ad SHRUB
EUROPEAN HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY
*VIBURNUM RECOGNITUM
(-2) FACW- Ad SHRUB
SMOOTH ARROW-WOOD
3 Viola sororia
1FAC- Nt P-FORB
COMMON BLUE VIOLET
2 Vitis riparia
(-2) FACW- Nt W-VINE
RIVERBANK GRAPE


There are also planted trees of white paper birch and red cedar which were not included in the above list so as not to 
unairly add to the floristic quality index.


Native species are in regular type and non-native or "ADVENTIVE" special are in all capital letters.