Lakeside plants, old boots, and other things

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 30.

I don’t know how you all coped with the excessive heat this summer…but I ended up spending more time out on the water than I did hiking. I paddled some parts of the Sayward Canoe route, which is a chain of lakes northwest of Campbell River.

The timber around these lakes has been logged in the past and logging is ongoing. Though the area is mostly unprotected, much of the lake flora remains intact and I imagine it is quite similar to what it would have been like pre-logging. Despite the ongoing abuses to this area, these lakes have a quiet, peaceful character and some lovely native plants, a few of which I’ll share here. These are from Amor Lake. [Click a photo to enlarge it.]

  1. King gentian (Gentiana sceptrum). Alison recently sent a photo of this lovely blue flower from Paradise Meadows, but gentians can also be found along the edges of lower elevations lakes.
  1. Northern water horehound (Lycopus uniflorus). This member of the mint family has tiny white flowers in the axils, but it lacks a mint scent.
  1. Field mint (Mentha arvensis). This mint, with clusters of lilac-coloured blooms in the axils, has a strong minty odour and makes a nice tea.
  1. Aster….so many asters but this is likely Douglas’ aster (Aster douglasii) though I didn’t look at it very closely.
  1. Lake shores glisten with red-coloured sundews, whose sticky leaves trap insects. This is a patch of great sundew (Drosera anglica).
  1. Lake reflections to contemplate from the canoe.
  1. Here’s a creature that isn’t celebrated much…a leech (subclass Hirudinae) that was lurking in the shallows. It had some quite handsome black & brown speckling. It didn’t stop me from having a swim!
  1. Lots of dragonflies on the lakes. According to “Dragonflies of BC & the Yukon” (Cannings) this looks like the saffron-winged meadowhawk, Sympetrum costiferum (note the golden veins on the wing).
  1. Resting the Grumman (built like a tank and almost as heavy) on a short portage from Amor Lake to Surprise Lake. There’s a camping spot here known as “Mr. Canoehead” which has a nice display of old historic logging boots and various shoes.
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