Comox Valley Nature

This report by Alison M., Some common bright winter / early spring fungi to be found in our forests, was distributed to the Botany Group on January 19.

I picked a few chanterelles and hedgehogs (Hydnum umbilicatum) in our woods on January 1^st – unheard of!!!!  Photo #1 shows the latter ready to be cooked. In any of our parks in the Valley, you should be able to find some other bright orange and yellow fungi that are appropriate to the season. 

The jelly type commonly called “witches’ butter” is exemplified by a Dacrymyces species (probably D. palmatus) on conifer (#2), as well as what used to be called Tremella aurantia, now Naematelia aurantia on hardwood (#3). The latter is similar to Gary’s enormous Tremella (sp. = mesenterica?)  circulated at the beginning of the month. Photo #3 shows the Naematelia aurantia with to its right the colourful orange, reddish brown and beige polypore that it parasitizes, namely Stereum hirsutum, which in growth habit is similar to the Turkey Tail or Trametes genus.  Photo #3 of both together was taken in Horne Lake Provincial Park.

Another frequently seen jelly fungus is the one commonly called gumdrops – Guepiniopsis alpina (formerly Heterotextus alpinus) with its little translucent yellow “cups”  attached by a short stalk to dead conifer branches (#4).

Pithya vulgaris is also common at this time of year – it has a small opaque brilliant orange saucer-like body. It is specific to dead branch ends of the Abies grandis (#5 and #6) and is usually very prominent amid the dark browns of dead leaves and fallen branches on the forest floor.

And another January surprise – amid the dark brown seedbearing stalks (# 7) of last year’s Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe or ghost plant) was a nice little clump of this year’s new shoots (# 8).  And we won’t mention the English daisies and dandelions already in bloom.

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on January 1.

Happy New Year! 

I don’t like to begin the year with a “bad news” story, but I’m obliged to report the first bloom of the year, which belongs to gorse (Ulex europaeus). I’m sure you are all familiar with this formidably spiny invasive species. 

A few days ago, I went for a walk at Woodhus Slough (near the Salmon Point pub, which is in the process of being rebuilt). It was a gloomy grey afternoon with fading daylight, and the gorse stood out defiantly in a blaze of yellow blooms. 

Strangely, the next day I opened Edith Holden’s classic The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. Every now and then I open this book to see what Edith was up to on a particular day. I flipped to an entry with a fine illustration of gorse, and a hand-copied poem “Lessons from the Gorse” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Browning, it seems, admired this spiny, tenacious winter-bloomer. 

Gorse is native to western Europe, and flourishes in open areas with poor soils that are often sandy or rocky. It was introduced as an ornamental to coastal Oregon in the late 19^th century, and has since spread along the coast from California to BC. In BC, it is most prevalent on the southern half of Vancouver Island, the southern Gulf Islands and the Vancouver area. Populations have also been found around Skidegate on Haida Gwaii.

Gorse is in the pea family, and the yellow blooms resemble scotch broom, but gorse, unlike the latter, is extremely spiny. The flowers smell sweetly of coconut. Hairy black seedpods produce thousands of seeds that remain viable for up to 40 years. When the pods split open the seeds are shot out a metre or more from the plant. 

When a patch of gorse is removed the battle isn’t over, since the plant can regenerate from root fragments and cut-off stalks. A mature stand can have an accumulation of 100 million seeds in the soil beneath it. Efforts to fully eradicate gorse take continual effort over a period of time. 

Gorse is also known as “furze” from the Anglo-Saxon word for fire. Gorse contains volatile oils which makes it a fire hazard. In Europe, it was sometimes used as firewood. In 1936 the town of Bandon, Oregon burned to the ground causing the death of 14 people. The fire was fueled by large areas of surrounding gorse. 

Gorse is not very widespread in the Comox Valley. There is some along the Comox waterfront, and at Little River Nature Park. I’m hoping that in 2021 we can have some work parties to remove patches of gorse and other invasive plants that threaten native plants and habitat. Let’s do it!

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on December 21.

Happy solstice! Here is the last quiz before Christmas, featuring local conifers. All of these are found at low elevation except for #9 which is mid to high elevation in this area.

#10 is just for fun…see if you can guess the species of this Christmas tree (a particularly nice one I had a few years ago). It is one of the previous 9.

Thanks for being a sport with these quizzes!

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]

You can download the answers here.