Drosera

NYC Wildflower Week

Marielle — Sat, 08 May 2010 01:00:38 +0000

Had a great time with Lloyd Miller of the Deedle Deedle Dees who sang some nature-themed songs for the younger set. An amazing turnout – we had about 30 children participate!

Also did a tour of the native plant garden in Union Square Park.

Blue Heron Park

Marielle — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:26:08 +0000

After a cold, snowy, bona fide winter the start of a new field season was very welcome. I decided to officially kick it off in Staten Island in Blue Heron Park, one of the most botanically rich spots in NYC.

It isn’t easy being green in the Big Apple. By some counts, New York City has lost 75% of its native plant species. Most have been non-woody ground layer vegetation. These herbaceous plants, frequently the vast majority of plant species diversity, appear to be acutely susceptible to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The latter is especially germane on an archipelago teeming with 8 million humans. Charting the health of this vegetation and threats to its continued survival is thus imperative.

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) is a good plant to notice. Its presence an indicator of a thriving mesic hardwood forest.

In NY Times today

Marielle — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:41:20 +0000

Hello New York Times readers! I think they did a great job framing the issues and not downplaying the issues around local native plant conservation in the urban context. What do you think?

“Today, that shadbush and dozens of other flora native to the New York region face extinction, a result of urban development and the encroachment of invasive plants from foreign lands…”

In Bloom Now

Marielle — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:10:39 +0000

Wild bean (Apios americana). Herbaceous, perennial, twining vine in the pea family (Fabaceae) found occasionally in the city (so a NYC rarity). This one was found in a canopy opening in a moist forest. I wonder why this isn’t available horticulturally? Pelham Bay Park, Bronx.

Interview with Brian Lehrer from April 2009

Marielle — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:22:31 +0000

Interview with Marielle Anzelone from Brian Lehrer Live on Vimeo

Why it’s lonely being green

Marielle — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:01:26 +0000

FROM THE DAILY GREEN: Being green can be lonely. As a botanist and urban conservation biologist, I fancy myself a real eco-type: preserving open space and restoring rare plant populations, what could be greener than that? Yet in the environmental community at large, I feel like an outsider.

Apprising people of my line of work, the response is either puzzled looks or inquiries about a certain stubborn mildew on prized garden roses. People no longer know what a botanist does, which is study plants in the wild. The current green conversation gushes over emerging technologies and new design. It is enthralled with the latest eco-iteration (“Is your pen good enough for the planet?”) and focused on calculating carbon footprints. This focus on “modern” and “cutting edge” ignores the history of the movement and leaves me feeling like I exist in backwater, a quaint and irrelevant anachronism. Where, in this discussion, is nature? After all, doesn’t the color green come from good ol’ chlorophyll?