Notes and photos from Alison M. emailed to the Botany Group on March 27.
It seems that our usual first spring blooms are very slow to appear. After the long winter, there has not been sufficient warmth on average to boost growth. Here are some photos (#1-3) taken at the Comox Lake Bluffs Ecological Reserve on Sunday March 20. At the Bluffs the kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana) are in bloom, and we espied two clumps of the rusty-haired saxifrage (Micranthes rufidula) over the cordon, but otherwise lots of tiny leaves of various monocots not quite recognizable.
The next set of photos (#4-6) are from the Tsolum River flats at the Exhibition Ground. Along the Tsolum there are lots of identifiable leaves popping up (bleeding hearts, false lily of the valley, western meadow-rue, etc.) Banks of fawn-lily leaves (Erythronium revolutum or E. oregonum) with buds, but there was only one pink fawn-lily bloom barely open ( E. revolutum). We found a couple of small yellow violets (Viola glabella) and one diminutive trillium (Trillium ovatum). Warmth is in order!
