Bogs and burning woods: small variations in elevation create the strange habitats of New Jersey's pine barrens

Natural History, May, 2003 by Robert H. Mohlenbrock

Bogs Interspersed with stunted Atlantic white cedars are hummocks bearing purple pitcher plant, three kinds of sundews, tuberous grasspink, snakemouth orchid, racemed milkwort, golden-crest, a pink Saint-John's-wort, and two creeping species of wild cranberry. A large, yellow-flowered bladderwort sends stems several inches above the surface of the water, and the yellow asphodel is spectacular in late June and early July. Here and there are patches of American white water lily and Engelmann's arrowhead. The curly grass fern can be found curled up on mounds of sphagnum.

Cedar Swamp Although the principal tree is Atlantic white cedar, the canopy also includes red maple, sweet bay magnolia, gray birch, and black gum. Coastal sweet pepperbush, highbush blueberry, and swamp azalea are the predominant shrubs. Beneath the woody plants grow netted chain fern, cinnamon fern, sensitive fern, and various sedges and rushes.

For visitor information, contact:
Wharton State Forest
4110 Nesco Road
Hammonton, NJ 08037
609-561-0024
www.state.nj.us/dep/forestry/parks

Robert H. Mohlenbrock is professor emeritus of plant biology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.