RSPP - Wineberry, Garlic Mustard, and Multiflora Traditional Cache

*For this cache, we recommend picking up a “Widespread Invasive Species of Rockefeller Preserve” brochure from the Park office to help with your find.

Invasives are important to monitor and manage because they crowd out native species. By crowding out natives, they are also destroying habitat for native wildlife and plants. Knowing some of the invasive species in this area may help you find this cache. Once you’re at the cache site, you can read these clues to identify the plants around you and determine where the cache is.

The first invasive you want to find is multiflora rose. Multiflora rose appears on both sides of the trail near the geocache site. Multiflora rose is a hardy perennial shrub known for the five-petaled white flowers that bloom in late May or June. The red to green twigs may have numerous curved thorns. They can grow 10 to 15 feet up and a width of 9 to 13 feet.

Next, look for wineberry. Wineberry will get you to the right side of the trail. Wineberry is an invasive shrub, in the same genus as raspberries and blackberries. It has reddish, almost furry stems, and produces a bright red berry, with a silvery underleaf. Think you’ve identified it? Then you’re probably very close to the cache. But to be sure, take a look around for garlic mustard. 

Garlic mustard is an herbaceous invasive that produces clumps of small white flowers that are visible at the top of the plant when blooming. Flowers will die by early June. 

Look near this group of invasives, and you should find the cache! 

*Poison ivy is also nearby, so watch out! But did you know that poison ivy is a native plant?

Dogs are allowed on leash.

There is a $6 daily parking fee, unless you have a New York State Empire Pass, A Golden Park Pass, or a Group/Individual Access Pass.

Additional Information:  Observe all parking signs on Route 448.  Trail Maps available at Main Parking/Welcome Center.