Comox Valley Nature

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 29.

Summer is drawing to a close, which means it is time to fit in a few more mountain hikes!

Here are a few photos [click to enlarge] from a hike up Crest Mountain in Strathcona Park. On the hike my brother Julian was telling me about the famous German philosopher Nietzsche, who abandoned a cushy position as a tenured professor to pursue the rigours of Swiss mountain hiking. In the mountains, he found new meaning in his life and produced some of his best work. If this sounds interesting, check out this link which has an excerpt from John Kaag’s book Hiking with Nietzsche .

Nietzsche said “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” which we can all remember as we slog uphill in search of interesting plants.

Scenics

1.  View of Kings Peak.

2. Small lake near the lookout.

3. Cloud shadows on distant valleys.

Botany

4. Slime mould (genus Hemitrichia??) in the forest duff.

5. Coast Range lomatium (Lomatium martindalei).

6. Western sweet-vetch (Hedysarum occidentale).

7. Pacific stonecrop (Sedum divergens).

8. Nodding arnica (Arnica parryi). There is a patch about 3/4 of the way up. It was in bloom and I meant to photograph it on the way down, but of course I blew right past it. This is a photo from my last hike up Crest in 2016. 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 26.

Here are a few photos from John B. (with notes) which demonstrate the amazing diversity of plant and fungi species that are all around us.

John’s notes

I thought it might be fun to  share a few pics which emphasize amazing textures in our flora worthy of our attention [click photos to enlarge]:

1. Worm-leaved stonecrop, Sedum stenopetalum, at Pipers Lagoon.

2. Purple club coral, Alloclavaria purpurea, at Morte Lake.

Two from the wet areas at Ships Point:

3. Hedgehog dogtail, Cynosurus echinatus.

4. Slough sedge, Carex opnupta.

5. And finally, exquisite young leaves contrasting with crusty berries on common juniper, Juniperis communis, at Mt. Arrowsmith.

Lots of floral delight.

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 22.

Alison M. passed along some lovely photos of plants from Strathcona Park (click photo to enlarge).

Alison’s notes 

Here are a few photos of subalpine slopes and meadows….from Arnica Lake and the slopes around the Moat Lake to Castlecrag Trail. In various locations in the Park we have visited this summer there was a very obvious contrast between the less frequented trails and those of easy access such as Paradise Meadows and the trails on the Plateau.

The rain in June and early July contributed to the splendid expanses of flowering plants, waist-high in places  –  arnica, columbine, cow-parsnip, daisies, false hellebore, lupins, paintbrush,  penstemons, and the list goes on.

We also found a few unusual plants:  

1. Snow bramble (Rubus nivalis)  which appeared near the start of the trail up to Arnica Lake (we have also seen it at similar low elevations on the Myra Falls trail).

2. Quillwort (Isoetes bolanderi ?)  in a small pond at ~1200 m  on the rocky high point of a ridge that runs from above Harris Lake toward the route up to Sunrise Lake and Jutland.  

3. Bog St. John’s wort (Hypericum anagalloides), with its tiny, but rich yellow flower – one of my favourites – in amongst Drosera rotundifolia.  It is prolific in the wetlands both around McKenzie Lake and the small lake above Divers.

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 19.

Another mountain hike (and looking at plants of course) in Strathcona Park….here are a few pics from a recent backpack trip I did with my kids up the Elk River valley to Landslide Lake and beyond to Berg Lake. It’s a wonderful hike through old growth forest, following the Elk River and passing by some nice waterfalls. Landslide Lake has an impressive view of the rugged peaks of Mt. Colonel Foster.

The only downside is that this trail is very busy, especially on the weekends. Just a few years ago there were few people hiking the trails of the Buttle Lake corridor, but that has really changed. I have concerns that BC Parks is not prepared for the influx of so many hikers!

Some botanical highlights (click photo to enlarge):

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 17.

Continuing on the mountain theme…here are some photos from John B., who like many of us wishes he had “more time and and spare legs.” These are all from the Mt. Washington area (click photo to enlarge):

1. Western tea-berry (Gaulteria ovatifolia). Looks like a mini version of salal!

2. Running clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum). An intriguing and ancient plant.

3. Scouler’s valerian (Valeriana sitchensis ssp. scouleri). Note the stamens that extend well beyond the flower petals.

Botany nerds read on….

Scouler’s valerian is less common than sitka valerian in our area. The key differences:

• V. stichensis is taller (up to 120cm) with leaves mainly along the stem.
• V. sitchensis ssp. scouleri is shorter (up to 70cm) with mostly basal leaves, that are less toothed than sitka.

On iNaturalist, Randal and Jason have some records from lower elevations in the CV and Cumberland. Betty Brooks also recorded Scouler’s valerian from the upper Campbell Lake bluffs (no longer accessible by road). 

Another belated post from earlier Botany Group communications – Jocie’s email to the group on July 1.

Below is a message from Randal about a lichen project for iNatuarlist happening this summer. I hope this will inspire all of you to do some lichen-looking. There is a rich diversity of lichens in Strathcona Park and Randal is sure to make many additions to the list.

Randal’s note:
“I was wanting to focus on lichens in the park this summer. I’ve set up an iNaturalist Project page for Lichens of Strathcona Park:”

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lichens-of-strathcona-provincial-park

“There are 194 current observations and about 50 species [on July 1]. With a little attention, both of those numbers should grow through the summer.”

Here are a few photos of common lichens to look out for in the Buttle Lake area (click to enlarge).

From an email by Jocie to the Botany group on August 16.

It’s mid-August, and a great time for mountain hikes and botanizing! It’s also a great time to relax in the garden with a tall glass of lemonade. If you are doing the latter, check out these photos from a recent hike to Kings Peak in Strathcona Park taken by Frank H., Jack B. and Jack’s dad Chris. Steep terrain, lots of bugs, great views and amazing plants!

Here’s a bit more from Frank: 
“We had a very good hike up Kings Peak last week and saw some great alpine 
plants.  The hike was a lot tougher than what I remembered from 15 years 
ago.  Funny how that works.”

All photos by Jack B. (click to enlarge).

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on July 7.

Here are a few more of John B’s photos (click to enlarge):

1. An usual view of a twinflower (Linnaea borealis).

2. Clusters of purple flowers in the axils of Canada mint/corn mint (Mentha arvensis). This is one of our most fragrant native mint species. 

3. Water lobelia (Lobelia dormanna). This is a lovely aquatic lobelia that lifts its flowering head above the water. John’s photo is from Morte Lake on Quadra Island. John reports that he has also seen it at Poum Lake. It can also be found along the shores of Morton Lake north of Campbell River and similar habitats. It is on the Comox Valley list too…not sure where it is in the CV, perhaps one of you will know.