Although I was unable to attend the BioBlitz, I did have an opportunity to wander around the Brooklyn College campus a bit and observe all the different types of plants that were growing. Although I always appreciated the great foliage of campus, I never was able to look closely and observe the subtle and beautiful differences in colors, shapes, blossoms, flowers, and textures of all the different types of plants. Even though much of these plants were placed there intentionally by humans and not by nature, it was still fascinating to see how these plants lived side by side and created a great landscape of variety. One of the plants I found most beautiful was this tree that had bark of a nice reddish brown color and these finger-like dark green leaves.

This experience reinforced a lot of my ideas about nature in New York City. I was able to observe all of the different plants although I had to keep in mind that these plants were planned and not natural, so I could not fully appreciate the natural beauty, similar to other New York parks and natural landscapes. It also made me wonder if the natural landscape of that area would have the same plants as it does now, or if some of these plant species were not native to the area.

Here are some other plant species I saw. I noted the differences in texture and shape of the leaves for the most part.

I’m not sure if my little version of the BioBlitz changed my idea about NYC. Having grown up in lower Manhattan, I always had a pretty even mixture of nature (parks) and city. However at a younger age I don’t think that I would really observe and note the differences in plant species as much. I think the next time I go on a hike upstate I will take note of plant diversity just a little more.