Westwood Park natural area

SI Expressway, Woodward Ave., Wooley Ave. and Westwood Ave.

Westwood Park is a 6.5-acre wooded natural area in Staten Island. Despite its small size, it supports a variety of wetland and upland forests. In the early spring, before the tree canopy fills in with leaves, the forest's floor is carpeted with a spring ephemeral called trout lily (Erythronium americanum). Spring ephemerals are perennial wildflowers that complete their aboveground lifecycle in the early spring. These plants must grow, flower, be pollinated, set seeds, and store energy within a few short weeks — all before the trees and shrubs leaf out and cast shade on the forest floor. The forests support a mix of deciduous trees such as sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), pin oak (Quercus palustris), red maple (Acer rubrum), black cherry (Prunus serotina) and shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), white oak (Quercus alba), black oak (Quercus velutina) and red oak (Quercus rubra).

Tucked away in the tangles of greenbriar (Smilax rotundifolia) are small populations of American strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus), a New York State endangered plant species that is in decline in the borough as result of deer herbivory. This species is also known as “deer candy” because it is among their favorite plants to eat.