[CT Birds] Native Phragmites

[ORCHIDS]

Connecticut was the first state to suggest that the invasive  
Phragmites australis is not native to the US and perhaps introduced.   
This has proven to be the case with the funding from the LIS License  
Plate Fund supporting research at Yale.  The native Phragmites was  
found in brackish marshes - not the salt marshes near the Sound.  In  
CT, native Phragmites has been found in Ragged Rock and Selden Creek  
and a limestone wetland in the northwest corner.

As many of you are out and about - perhaps you can keep you eyes open  
for native Phragmites.  The morphological characteristics are  
described at http://www.invasiveplants.net/phragmites/phrag/morph.htm

I just saw a colony at the Great Bay NERR in New Hampshire - what  
caught my attention is the 'golden appearance of these colonies.  The  
plants are small, stems are narrow but there are no leaves and few  
leaf sheaths - so the culms are exposed.  The culms are smooth - not  
ridged.  In the case of the introduced Phragmites - to see the culms  
you need to peel away the leaf sheaths - if you are doing this - the  
plants are not native.  Stem density is low - you can see through  
these colonies - but you can see through young non-native Phrag.  Here  
are some photos from New Hampshire:  http://picasaweb.google.com/Drbird.montego/NativePhragmites/photo#5198204044515227730

If you think you have found native Phragmites - please send me some  
photographs.

The European Phragmites is habitat for a number of rare bird species  
and their Phragmites is declining while their haplotype if doing well  
in the US.

Ron, Ashford