Bio-diversity and Species Listing (Flora)
Pleasant Valley Park is very valuable ecologically because of its size. Biologists have found that when a wooded area gets smaller than 100 hectares (247 acres) the probability of finding certain species of wildlife drops sharply. PV Park is over 15 acres larger than the critical point where bio diversity begins to plummet, so it could serve as a valuable refuge for certain species of birds. For that reason alone, it is worth saving and a valuable asset to the community. Besides serving as a possible wildflower refugia, it may also be important someday as a wildlife corridor. It is another place to control the deer population and a place for old growth to develop. The terrain is particularly scenic, and like Duff Park, when the trees mature, could draw tourists. It is worth keeping, now and even more so in the future.
Species Lists - Flora (10/5/11)
Also available in a printer-friendly version (Opens in new tab or window).
| Trees | ||
|---|---|---|
| American basswood | Eastern hemlock | Red mulberry |
| American beech | Eastern white pine | Red oak |
| American elm | European chestnut | Red pine |
| American holly | Flowering dogwood | Sassafras |
| American hornbeam | Flowering peach | Serviceberry |
| American sycamore | Grey-stemmed dogwood | Shagbark hickory |
| Apple | Hackberry | Shingle oak |
| Beech | Hawthorne | Silver maple |
| Big tooth aspen | Hop hornbeam | Slippery elm |
| Bitternut hickory | Ironwood | Staghorn sumac |
| Black birch | Northern catalpa | Sugar maple |
| Black cherry | Northern red oak | Sycamore |
| Black gum | Norway spruce | Tree-of-heaven |
| Black locust | Paw paw | Tulip tree |
| Black oak | Pignut hickory | White ash |
| Black walnut | Pin cherry | White oak |
| Catalpa | Pitch pine | White pine |
| Crab apple | Red maple | Witch-hazel |
| For more info about the trees located in Pleasant Valley Park, please visit our Tree Identification Sign Project Page. |
||
| Fungi, Ferns and Lichens | ||
|---|---|---|
| Black cherry burl | Green shield lichen | Sensitive fern |
| Christmas fern | Nectria galligena fungus on Sassafras trees |
Target fungus |
| Ebony spleenwort | Violet-toothed polypore | |
| Vines and Shrubs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Barberry | Multi-flora rose | Spicebush |
| Black jetbead | Oriental bittersweet | Summer grape |
| Black raspberry | Poison ivy | Virginia creeper |
| Creeping dewberry | Privet | Wild hydrangea |
| Greenbrier | Serviceberry | Witch hazel |
| Winter Weeds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Anne's lace | Deptford pink | Rough-fruited cinquefoil |
| Avens species | Dogbane | |
| Bitter dock | Garlic mustard | Self-heal |
| Broom sedge | Horse nettle | Teasel |
| Brown-eyed Susan | Indian hemp | Tick-trefoil |
| Burdock | Penstemon digitalis (Beardstongue) |
White snakeroot |
| Canada goldenrod | White vervain | |
| Canada rye grass | Poison hemlock | White basil |
| Dame's rocket | Pokeweed | Yarrow |
| Plants | ||
|---|---|---|
| American pennyroyal | Early goldenrod | Pennsylvania sedge |
| Baneberry (Doll's eyes) | Early saxifrage | Red clover |
| Bird's-foot trefoil | Ebony spleenwort | Rice cutgrass |
| Black-eyed susan | Enchanter's nightshade | Shrubby St. Johnswort |
| Blue phlox | False mermaid | Smooth rock cress |
| Bluet | False nettle | Spotted touch-me-not |
| Bottlebrush grass | Figwort | Star of Bethlehem |
| Butter-and-eggs | Flowering spurge | Starry campion |
| Butterflyweed | Garlic mustard | Sweet cicely |
| Calico aster | Gill-over-the-ground | Tear thumb |
| Canada goldenrod | Golden ragwort | Thyme-leaved speedwell |
| Chicory | Grass: Poa cuspidatum |
|
| Christmas fern | Timothy grass | |
| Climbing false buckwheat |
Heath aster | Trillium grandiflorum |
| Japanese stitgrass | Violet, common blue | |
| Common chickweed | Joe pye weed | Violet, pale (cream) |
| Common ragweed | Kidney leaf buttercup | Virginia spring beauty |
| Coneflower, green headed |
Lowrie's aster | Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) |
| Mayapple | ||
| Corydalis | Milkweed | White avens |
| Crownvetch | Miterwort | Wild ginger |
| Cutleaf toothwort | New England aster | Wild stonecrop |
| Daffodil | Nodding onion | Wild strawberry |
| Daisy fleabane | Oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides) |
Wingstem |
| Deer-tonque grass | Yellow goatsbeard | |
| Dutchmen's breeches | Pennsylvania bittercress | Yellow sweet clover |
Do you like to take photos of wildlife and plants? We would love to have photo examples of all the flora and fauna on our species lists. However, the photos MUST be taken in Pleasant Valley Park in Murrysville.
Contact Bonnie Belak at 724-327-6885 to discuss submitting your photos.