Fagin: Princess Pine brings a welcome hue to fall’s drabness
Despite the Latin name obscurum, princess pine is a familiar sight throughout the Northeast forest. Because it takes so long to reproduce and is difficult to transplant successfully, you should never dig up princess pine. This rule applies to most wild plants.
While hiking a few miles on the Perry property, Maggie, Phil Plouffe, Marco Barres and I also came upon another lycopodium, creeping Jenny, which resembles princess pine and provides the same welcome hue to seasonal drabness.
Avalonia Land Conservancy (ALC) acquired the 68.2-acre former farm homestead in 1982, and established a network of public hiking trails that pass extensive stone walls, cairns and foundations, as well as a cemetery with graves dating back to the early 1800s.
While many stone constructions appeared to be of colonial origin, doubtless others were built by indigenous people long before Europeans settled here in the 17th century. The property, on the east side of North Anguilla Road, is close to Pequot Trail, a busy thoroughfare that follows a former Native American footpath.
After hiking a couple miles at the Perry property, we drove a short distance to the Fennerswood Preserve on North Main Street, to ramble a couple extra miles. That's one of the many rewards of ALC's admirable record of land-preservation — you can easily tack together two or more short hikes, in close proximity.
Following a trail on the west side of the road, we passed through woodlands, along fields and rocky ledges, arrived at a slab overlooking Stony Brook, and then retraced our steps.
More information about the Perry and Fennerswood properties, as well as other ALC preserves, is available at alc.org. The conservancy has protected more than 4,000 acres of land in eastern Connecticut.
More information about how to conduct a lycopodium powder experiment is available … uh, no, don't try this at home.