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Fall Conference 2025: Weird NJ Plants!
November 1 @ 8:50 am – 1:30 pm
New Jersey is home to more than 2,100 native plant species, yet many plant lists and gardens highlight only a small group of familiar species such as Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.), and Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). This year, the Native Plant Society of New Jersey is focusing on the less familiar species—the unusual, rare, and unique plants that make our state’s ecosystems so distinctive.
From parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll to carnivorous species that trap insects, from ancient plant lineages that predate the dinosaurs to aquatic plants that evolved on land before returning to water, New Jersey’s flora includes species that challenge our assumptions about how plants work. These “weird” plants aren’t just curiosities—they’re indicators of specialized habitats, key players in complex ecological relationships, and windows into evolutionary history. Understanding them helps us appreciate the full complexity of our native ecosystems and the importance of protecting diverse habitats.
With the kind permission of Weird NJ, our 2025 Fall Conference explores these botanical oddities. Join us as we highlight the “weird” side of New Jersey’s flora—and beyond.
Stalked Puffball-in-Aspic or Slimy-Stalked Puffball(Calostoma cinnabarinum) is a fungus whose fruiting body develops within a gelatinous outer layer that initially covers both stalk and spore sac, typically found in forested areas where it forms symbiotic relationships with trees; as it matures, the jelly layer sloughs off, sliding down the stalk to collect around its base.
Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria polymorpha), is a fungus that feeds on decaying hardwood stumps and roots, forming clusters of erect, black, finger-like fruiting bodies up to 8 cm tall, often emerging in temperate woodlands during spring and autumn.
Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata) is a pond-dweller that roots unseen in muck yet floats waxy, slit-edged pads and releases melon-scented flowers that open with the sun, flood briefly with sugary fluid to dunk visiting beetles, then reel the fertilized bloom underwater so its seeds ripen in the dark.
Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is a bog carnivore that molds each leaf into a squat, rain-filled jug, baits its slick rim with nectar so ants and flies tumble inside, drowns them in the dark pool where mosquito and midge larvae churn the broth, then raises a lone red flower like a warning lantern above the peat.
Shining Clubmoss (Huperzia lucidula) is an evergreen relic from the 300-million-year-old coal-age forests that carpets shady, rocky slopes with glossy bottle-brush shoots , creeps outward by dropping tiny bud-like tips that root into perfect clones , and showers the forest floor with fine oily spores once ignited as photographic flash powder —a living fossil hiding in plain sight.
Orange Mycena (Mycena leaiana) is a fungus that feeds on decaying hardwood, producing fruiting bodies with an orange, sticky cap atop a slender stalk, commonly found on fallen deciduous logs in temperate forests.
Dodder (genus Cuscuta ) is a leafless, threadlike parasitic vine that sprouts from soil, lashes bright-orange strands around a host, severs its own base, and siphons sap through barbed tap-roots, cloaking victims in spaghetti-like meshes before scattering clusters of tiny white bell-flowers whose seeds can sleep for decades.
The withered flower spikes of American Cancer-Root, also known as Bear Corn (Conopholis americana), a plant that lacks chlorophyll but survives by being parasitic on oak roots.
Princess Pine (Dendrolycopodium obscurum) is an evergreen clubmoss that creeps underground on rhizomes and sends up six-inch shoots resembling miniature pine trees , crowns some stems with yellow spore cones once ignited as theatrical flash powder , and expands so slowly that a doormat-sized colony may be a hundred years in the making. Unfortunately, it has been over-collected in the wild for Christmas wreaths and its numbers have dwindled.
Ghost Pipes (Monotropa uniflora) is a non-photosynthetic flowering plant that lacks chlorophyll and derives nutrients by parasitizing mycorrhizal fungi, producing translucent white stems topped by solitary nodding, bell-shaped flowers in shaded temperate forest understories.
Little Floating Bladderwort (Utricularia radiata) is a free-floating, rootless, carnivorous aquatic plant that captures zooplankton with tiny bladder traps, producing a small wheel-like float of inflated leaf segments that supports a short stalk with a few yellow flowers in still or slow freshwater of eastern North America.
Bullhead Pond-lily (Nuphar variegata) is a cold-water pond plant that buries fat, starchy rhizomes in muck, floats heart-shaped pads marbled by dark veins at the surface, and tops them with squat yellow blooms whose spongy seed core snaps free, drifts like a little cork for days, then bursts open to launch its seeds across the water.
Roundleaf Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) is a bog-dwelling carnivore that anchors in acidic peat yet lifts tiny scarlet spoon-leaves coated with sparkling “dew” that lures insects, glues them fast, curls the leaf into a slow hug while enzymes digest the prey, then unfurls to hunt again across northern peatlands.
8:50 AM
President’s Welcome
Kazys Varnelis, NPSNJ President
9:00 AM
Weird Fungi of New Jersey
Presented by Jason Hafstad
Most fungi tend to be pretty weird, but even within the fungal kingdom, some species stand out. This presentation will introduce the audience to New Jersey fungi, particularly those species with a weird morphology, ecology, or natural history. From Dead Man’s Fingers to the Flying Salt Shakers of Death, these tales from the underground won’t soon be forgotten.
Biography:
Jason Hafstad is the Preserve Manager and Ecologist for the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust. He is responsible for overseeing more than 100 nature preserves across the state totaling over 30,000 acres. Before this, he was the botanist for the Endangered & Threatened Species Unit of the NJDEP, where he reviewed wetland permit applications for impacts to rare plant species. Outside of work, he enjoys documenting underappreciated elements of New Jersey’s natural heritage like vascular plants, lichens, mushrooms, mosses, and liverworts, and is an active member and Trustee of the New Jersey Mycological Association.
10:00 AM
Botanical Dinosaurs: New Jersey’s Primeval Lycophytes
Presented by Dr. Jeffrey Benca
Did you know that New Jersey is home to botanical dinosaurs? Meet the Lycophytes, a plant group with a deep past that is so different from all other land plants that they seem like something from a different planet. In New Jersey’s Primeval Lycophytes, we will take a deep-dive into the native diversity of this amazing branch of the tree of life and learn how their ancient relatives impacted our planet over 400 million years.
Biography:
Jeff Benca, PhD is a Research Associate in the University of California Museum of Paleontology at UC Berkeley. As an experimental paleobotanist, professional horticulturist, artist, and National Geographic Explorer, he studies fossil and modern plants to better understand the environmental drivers of mass extinctions. In addition, Jeff is a leader in pioneering the cultivation and conservation of early-diverging plant lineages. In particular, lycophytes have been a central theme in his work and life since childhood. Jeff is on a mission to help shed light on these incredible seed-free plants.
UV-B induced forest sterility implications
Cultivation techniques for terrestrial Lycopodiaceae
11:10 AM
Pitchers and Sundews and Parasites, Oh My! Carnivorous and Parasitic Plants in New Jersey
Presented by Dr. Kadeem Gilbert
This presentation will tour the weird and wonderful carnivorous and parasitic plant species that can be found living naturally in New Jersey. Dr. Gilbert will also highlight some of his lab’s research on the northern purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, and the mysterious functional role of the red pigments they produce in their pitcher trap leaves.
Biography:
Dr. Kadeem Gilbert is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Biology and W.K. Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University. He was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey. After graduating from the Union County Magnet High School for Math, Science, and Technology in 2008, he went on to earn a BS in Applied Ecology from the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University in 2012. He then subsequently earned his PhD from the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in 2019, where his dissertation was on the ecology and evolution of the tropical pitcher plants of Southeast Asia (genus Nepenthes). He had a short stint as a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State (made shorter by the pandemic) before starting his own lab at MSU in 2021. His research is focused on the biology of carnivorous plants as well as more broadly on the ability of plants to regulate their interactions with animals and microbes via their leaf traits.
Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Carnivorous Plant Family Sarraceniaceae
Anthocyanin Impacts Multiple Plant-Insect Interactions
Volatile Chemical Cues Guide Host Location and Host Selection
Parasitic angiosperms: How often and how many?
A living bridge between two enemies
Leaf litter capture in the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea
12:15 PM
The Wet & Wild World of Aquatic Plants
Presented by Dr. Kate B. Lepis, Ph.D.
What is the difference between algae and aquatic plants? The evolutionary path taken by algae never strayed from an aqueous environment. That of aquatic plants is analogous to marine mammals in the sense that their ancestors were truly terrestrial, and their path led them back into the water. There is an ecological gradient that exists for plants that make their home in the marshes and swamps of NJ. Some species live in standing water for part of the year, others part of the month, while true aquatic plants require standing water continuously. Let’s explore some of the species that exist within the interface of land and open water. A focus will be put on the adaptations and ecology that make aquatic plants unique (aka weird).
Biography:
Dr. Lepis has been dedicated to the use of native plants in the landscape for 30 years. She combines her background in botany, horticulture, and wildlife biology to grow habitat and spread passion for the beautiful subtleties that define the plant world and New Jersey’s native flora. Kate is the horticulturist at Deep Cut Gardens which is part of the Monmouth County Park System. She has been a member of NPSNJ since the late 1990s and recently joined the board as the state botanist. Through teaching, writing, garden design/techniques, and public outreach she works toward the goal of ridding society of the disease that is plant blindness.
Wet & Wild World of Aquatic Plants Links
1:20 PM
Concluding Remarks
Dr. Randi Eckel,
NPSNJ Vice President for Membership, Past President, Entomologist, and Owner, Toadshade Wildflower Farm
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