Comox Valley Nature

Notes and photos from Alison M. on some of the first flowers blooming in the subalpine and other observations, distributed to the Botany Group on June 13. Click a photo to enlarge it.

We were up at Paradise Meadows last Friday (June 4th) on an overcast cool day,  and while the Meadows were open (photo #1), about half of the boardwalk still had crusty old snow that softens during the day, especially when it rains (photo #2)   This wet weather may help to clear away the snow – so perhaps by the end of next week.

The most exciting thing was the eerie “winnowing” of several Wilson’s snipe, around the ponds and in the area of Paradise Creek. 

On the floral front, there were lots of Caltha leptosepala (white marsh-marigold) in bloom amid the streams of snow melt-water (photos #3 and #4) .

In sheltered south-facing spots the Kalmia microphylla (western bog-laurel) was not quite open (photo #5).

Finally, to my embarrassment, a lonely sign [a plant identification sign placed by Alison in her work for the Strathcona Wilderness Institute], quite near the trail-head, had survived the heavy snow-pack! 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on June 9.

A few notes from our [Botany Group] members [click a photo to enlarge it]:

1. Kate reported that there is some nice candystick (Allotropa virgata) emerging at Nymph Falls Park.

2. Some notes from Joy about the camas bloom visible from the Dyke Road (with a close-up photo of camas from the estuary taken last year):

“A most wondrous sight greeted me this afternoon whilst driving along the Dyke Road.

In the mid-distance, between the river and the road, I spotted a large spread of beautiful blue that could have been low areas of water. I parked my vehicle, and with my binoculars I was thrilled to see that it was a largish display of camas (Camassia quamash) happily and generously blooming like a grand dame staging a comeback. Oh, so beautiful! There were the usual suspects in amongst the camas  and more so in the perimeter. The only one I can remember offhand is the orange of the castilleja, but there were more.

It was thrilling to see it bloom in such abundance after the heartbreak of losing the Kye Bay Road displays. It  would be wonderful to be able to see it from much closer, but my guess is that it is in some very boggy ground.

Too exciting! I hope others can stop by for a ‘gander’. I parked safely at the wide pavement by the Kus Kus Sum fence.”

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on June 6.

Last weekend (also showering, like this one) I did some wandering around Miracle Beach Provincial Park looking at all the nice blooms this time of year has to offer. You are probably thinking that beer and roses don’t exactly go together, but this gets to the truth of what we often see in the natural world…beauty side by side with human detritus.

Here are a few highlights [click a photo to enlarge it]:

1. June is the month for roses! The lovely Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana).

2. June also means that summer is coming, and with it more Lucky cans, garbage and beach fires!

3. Beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus). A plant that likes to lean out onto the beach, climbing over logs, rock and sand.

4. Dune grass (Elymus mollis). The strappy, blue-green leaves and giant spiky flowers are a showstopper. It is also a great shore stabilizer.

5. Maple erineum mite (Aceria calaceris). You may notice these bright strawberry-red patches on the leaves of Douglas maple (and possibly other maples…but I always seem to see it just on the Douglas maple).

6. Salal flowers (Gaultheria shallon). Look again at these common, but enchanting bell-like flowers covered in sticky hairs.

7. Vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla), are always attractively beaded with water droplets after the rain.

8. A peaceful view of Black Creek.

9. American brooklime (Veronica americana). This veronica likes ditches, stream sides and wet places.

10. Damp weather brings out the gastropods! Here is a banana slug (Ariolimax columibanus) out for a stroll on a sword fern frond. 

Here are a note and photos from Alison M., distributed to the Botany Group on May 19.

These photos of three exquisite flowers are from the lower elevations of Strathcona Provincial Park in the Buttle Lake area taken at the very end of April. [Click a photo to enlarge it.]

The Asarum caudatum (wild ginger) and the Calypso bulbosa (ladyslipper) can be found in woodlands around  the Comox Valley,  although where there used to be lots of the latter at the entrance to the Comox Bluffs Ecological Reserve they are sadly not visible this year.

The Coptis aspleniifolia (spleenwort-leaved goldthread) will be visible up in Paradise Meadows along the boardwalk as the snow recedes (not yet).

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on April 20.

Here are a few things from a walk at Roy Morrison Nature Park last week [click a photo to enlarge it]:

1. A trio of trilliums, Trillium ovatum. I was shocked to see some children clutching a bouquet of these and other flowers. We need to get the word out that these aren’t for picking, and are supposed to be protected by law in BC!!

2. Rusty, hairy fiddleheads of sword fern, Polystichum munitum.

3. The complexity of alder bark: old sapsucker drilling holes, black bear claw marks, layered over the squiggly lines of the lichen Graphis stricta. And more lichens, with intriguing boundaries that look like countries on a map.

4. This one is from my backyard: our showiest native shrub, red-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum. A great plant to have in the garden, and it’s a win-win because hummingbirds love these flowers also.