Lowland Ecosystem

1. Lopseed Lavender Phryma leptostachya L.
Verbenaceae (Verbena Family)
Stems: Simple or openly branched above, swollen above each node.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, thin, ovate to lanceolate, margins irregularly coarsely-too Flower: Pairs of small, white or pinkish-lavender flowers in slender, elongated, spike-like clusters along top of stem and its diverging branches.
This species also occurs in Asia. The downward-hanging fruit, which accounts for the common name, makes the plant easily recognizable. Three of the calyx teeth are hooked at the tip, which may assist in dispersal by attachment to animals.
Native American chewed the root to treat sore throats; boiled the root and gargled the liquid for sore throats and took the liquid to treat rheumatism in the legs.




2. Gooseberry Shrub /Ribes uva-crispa
Order: Saxifragales Family:Grossulariaceae Genus: Ribes

-straggling bush growing to 1-3 meters (3-10 feet) tall, the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots.
-The bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves.

-The fruit of wild gooseberries is smaller than in the cultivated varieties, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but in one variety smooth, constituting the R. uva-crispa of writers; berries' colour is usually green, but there are red variants and occasionally deep purple berries occur.

-gooseberry canes normally produce a spine at each leaf node and bear roughly grape-sized berries singly or in groups of 2 or 3

3. Harvestmen Class: Arachnida
Order: Opiliones Arachnid
Harvestmen are members of the class Arachnida, which also includes spiders, scorpions, and mites. Like all arachnids, harvestmen have 4 pairs of legs, fang-like mouthparts called "chelicerae," and 2 antennae-like appendages near the mouth called "pedipalps." They have no antennae. Very long legs, and these species are usually called "daddy-long-legs." Harvestmen are often confused with spiders, but harvestmen are not true spiders. Spiders have 2 body segments (cephalothorax and abdomen) that are distinct and separated. On harvestmen the 2 body segments appear fused into a single large body segment (as with mites and ticks). Also, spiders have venomous fangs, whereas the fangs of harvestmen have no venom glands.
Some harvestmen search methodically over the ground and on plants for slow-moving or dead insects, insect eggs, earthworms, and decaying plant material.

4. American Toad Bufo americana Amphibian

Order: Anura
Family: Bufonidae
Genus: Bufo

The skin color brown, presence of several dark spots on their backs which contain only one or two warts each. These black spots are sometimes circled with white or yellow. Some types of American toads have a prominent ridge on the top of their heads. American toads have four toes on each front leg and five toes connected together by a webbing on each hind leg. The pupils of American toads are oval and black with a circle of gold around them. The sexes can be distinguished in two ways. Males have dark colored throats, of black or brown, while females have white throats and are lighter overall.
These toads have an immense ability to adapt to their surroundings as long as there is a source of semi-permanent water for them to use in the breeding season. This quality has allowed them to successfully colonize suburban and agricultural areas.


5. Jumpseed / Virginia Knotweed

Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Persicaria (per-sih-KAR-ee-uh) (Info)
Species: virginiana var. filiformis

Four-petaled very small greenish-white flower spaced out on slender spike (1 ft long); jointed stem with hairy axils; entire, alternate leaves.
Used to treat whooping cough with a tea from the leaves along with the bark of Honey Locust.

6. Rough Bedstraw Gallium asprellum


Family: Rubiaceae
Grows as a thicket hard round burrs slightly below center, four petalled white flowers. It's very very scratchy, whorled leaves are mostly in sixes distinguishes it from cleavers which have leaves in eights.

7. Millipede /Class: Diplopoda Phylum: Arthropoda
Are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment (except for the first segment behind the head which does not have any appendages at all, and the next few which only have one pair of legs). Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies. Can be easily distinguished from the somewhat similar and related centipedes (Class Chilopoda), which move rapidly, and have a single pair of legs for each body segment

8. Prickly Ash / Z. americanum
Order: Sapindales Family: Rutaceae Genus: Zanthoxylum

The plant has membranous leaflets numbering between 5-11 and growing in opposite pairs. It has "axillary flower and fruit clusters".
-The buds are hairy. Dark green leaves are bitter-aromatic, with crenate margins.
-The berries begin red and turn deep blue to black, with stalked fruit pods.
-Flowers are dioecious, with yellow-green petals. The greenish-yellow flowers appear about April or May, before the leaves are borne in dense, stemless clusters from the axils of the branches.
- The branches have brown, cone-shaped prickles, and the bark, leaves, and pods are highly aromatic (lemon-like)
-The common or northern prickly-ash is generally a shrub from 10 to 12 feet high, rarely exceeding 25 feet. Its leaflets are from 5 to 11 in number and from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.