From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on March 22.
I was down at Yellow Point Lodge (a bit south of Nanaimo) with my mother for a weekend in late February and found some interesting plants there and some early bloomers! Blue-eyed Mary should be making an appearance here soon, but of course it is much earlier down-island.
Here are a few notes & highlights. [Click a photo to enlarge it.]
- Blue-eyed Mary (in the genus Collinsia). My photo isn’t diagnostic enough to tell the difference between the similar looking parviflora and grandiflora.
- Common whitlow-grass (Draba verna). This is not a native plant, but it is one of our earliest blooms in the mustard family.
- Macoun’s meadowfoam (Limnanthes macounii). This is a rare, red-listed plant. I knew of its presence at Yellow Point from an old plant list. Glad to find it!
- Dwarf owl-clover (Triphysaria pusilla). The deep purple colour and strange growth form of this tiny plant are distinctive.
- Blinks (Montia fontana). This is a small and nondescript montia…blink and you miss it! It has some tiny early-blooming white flowers.
- Field madder (Sherardia arvensis). Another tiny plant, does it madder? Small and non-native, with a whorled leaf arrangement that is similar to cleavers.
- Hairy/purple honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula). Common on the drier gulf islands. Note the hairy leaf edges that are different from orange honeysuckle.
- Yerba buena (Clinopodium douglasii). A fragrant, trailing plant that is often found growing in the same habitats as the purple honeysuckle.
- Small-flowered nemophila (Nemophila parviflora). This lovely, albeit overlooked, native plant can be found around the Comox Valley and will be in bloom soon…look out for it!
- Maritime juniper (Juniperus maritima). There are some ancient maritime juniper in this area. It was neat to see the purple-blue juniper berries.
