Comox Valley Nature

Jocie passed this message from Alison M. to the Botany Group on May 31.

In the past two weeks the warm weather and rain have cleared the boardwalks and paths of the treacherous rotting snow from the loops in Paradise Meadows, and there is an amazing array of the early spring flowers to be seen already. 

The Caltha leptosepala (alpine white marsh-marigold) starts to open as soon as the snowbanks recede and is still the predominant flower in the meadows.  Kalmia microphylla  (western bog-laurel) provides the first splashes of pink , with just a few Dodecatheon jeffreyi  (Jeffrey’s shootingstar)  in among the marsh-marigolds.  It won’t be long before the shootingstars take over.

The two yellow violas, as well as the pale blue Viola palustris are out, as is Trollius laxus (globeflower).

Always a challenge to find is the Coptis asplenifolia (fern-leaved goldthread);  there is a large patch on the north side of  the boardwalk on the path heading to Helen MacKenzie trail junction,  just past the gravel section.  They are hard to pick out as the delicate strands of the flower blend in amongst the sphagnum and the crowberry, plus the dull browns and yellows of last year’s dead vegetation. The fern-like green leaves of the species name will appear later.

From an email by Jocie Brooks to members of the Botany Group on May 18.

Backyard micro-botany

Staying closer to home this spring, I am noticing just how many plants, wanted and unwanted, are in my backyard. This year, I have three tiny species of Veronica (speedwell) blooming in my small, urban lot. Though diminutive, their purple-blue flowers have a certain charm. Due to their micro size, they are often overlooked, stepped on and mowed over. There’s a good chance that if you look for them, you will find one or more of these species in your backyard also. 

More about the genus Veronica

Flowers in the genus Veronica have 4 purple/blue petals, and usually only 2 stamens. Leaves are opposite each other on the stem. Veronicas typically grow in damp, muddy habitats.

The origin of the name Veronica may be a reference to St. Veronica, whose handkerchief had markings that resembled the flower. St.Veronica used the handkerchief to wipe the face of Christ as he carried the cross (the vera-iconica, meaning ‘true likeness’).

The common name “speedwell” comes from the parting words “God be with you” or “go on well,” referring to the healing powers of some species. The petals of Veronica fall off quickly after picking, which is also why it may be called “speedwell.” Another common name for veronicas is “brooklime,” an old English word meaning: “brook” – the stream-side muddy habitats where the plants are often found, and “to lime,” an old verb for trapping birds with sticky materials.

Veronica used to be in the figwort family, or Scrophulariaceae, but has recently been moved to the plantain family, or Plantaginaceae. 

There are some larger, native species of Veronica that will be coming into bloom in late spring and summer, so we might revisit this lovely genus later on!

Three common “backyard” veronicas

1. Thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia)

• Has upright stems with multiple flowers, often whitish and streaked with dark blue.
• It likes to grow in garden pots in my yard, but it is also found in a variety of habitats: moist places as well as disturbed sites. There are two varieties, one native (var. humifusa) and one introduced (var. serypllifolia) with subtle differences between them.

2. Slender speedwell (Veronica filiformis)

• Introduced from Asia, this is one of the prettiest of small veronicas, typically growing mixed with lawn grass. The flowers are quite big and showy relative to the small size of the plant. The leaves are kidney-shaped with blunt teeth.

3. Wall speedwell (Veronica arvensis)

• This tiny but aggressive Veronica has taken over whole sections of my lawn this spring, colonizing patches where the grass died from the drought last summer.
• The leaves are hairy, and the tiny blue flowers are just a few millimetres across. You need a hand lens for this one!

This post is by Jocie Brooks, leader of the Botany Group, adapted from her email to members of the group on May 12.

General notes

Horsetail and scouring rush are distinctive plants, with bamboo-like jointed stems and a strange rough-to-touch texture. They are also ancient, living fossils that transport us back to prehistoric times when they flourished 300 million years ago in the swampy landscape of the Carboniferous period. Artists’ re-creations of that period often depict tree-sized horsetails, the Calamites, with dinosaurs roaming through them. These are fascinating plants, true survivors of the trials of time. 

Description

Horsetails are in the Phylum Sphenophyta, of which there is only one living Genus today, Equisetum, which means “horse bristle.” There are 15 species of horsetail in the world and they are among the oldest surviving vascular plants on earth. Horsetails grow from perennial rhizomes that can grow a metre deep. In the spring, annual shoots arise that are hollow, ribbed and jointed. Whorled branches fan out from the joints and inconspicuous leaves form a sheath with pointed teeth. The whole plant has a coarse texture due to the presence of silica dioxide. Scouring rush differs in that it has no branches, and the shoots are perennial. 

The three most common species in our area are:

1. Giant horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) this is the largest horsetail in our area, common in wet places such as swamps, marshes, ditches and stream sides. It is not found east of the coast mountains. The species name telmateia means “of muddy water or swamps.”
2. Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense)is a smaller species that is circumpolar. It grows in a variety of habitats, and can tolerate sun exposure and poor soils, often colonizing roadsides and disturbed places. It is notoriously hard to remove from the garden!
3. Scouring rush (Equisetum hyemale) has no branches, and has darker, blue-green stems. All of the stems look alike and are evergreen.

How do horsetails reproduce?

Many species of horsetail produce green vegetative shoots that are sterile, as well as ghostly, colourless fertile shoots with a cone-like structure, or strobilus at the tip. The strobilus is packed with small, plate-like sporangiophores that are ringed with spore-producing sporangia. A spring-like elater is coiled around each spore, and when conditions are right, the spores are shot into the air. Spores grow into the beginnings of a new plant, the gametophyte, which is either male or bisexual. Male gametophytes (like mosses and ferns) have sperm with flagella that require water to swim to female plants. The fertilized plant, now called the sporophyte begins to grow and eventually detaches from the gametophyte and develops to maturity. 

First Nations/Traditional use

Fertile shoots of horsetail were traditionally harvested by many coastal groups. The new spring shoots were eaten fresh or boiled after the tough outer fibers were removed. Saanich people thought the shoots were good for the blood. Squamish people used to drink water from the hollow stem segments of giant horsetail. 

Horsetail, especially the green shoots, can be extremely toxic to livestock and humans, causing weakness and trembling and in some cases coma and death. It is recommended that the green shoots are never eaten, and fertile shoots should only be consumed “in small quantities and with extreme caution.”

Scouring rush was used as an abrasive, a bit like sandpaper, for polishing a variety of wooden implements. In colonial times it was used as a pot-scrubber.

Fun facts

The tallest horsetail in the world is the Mexican giant horsetail (Equisetum myriochaetum) which grows in wet, fertile soils in Mexico and Central/South America and reaches heights of 15 feet. 

Horsetail is a very tough plant, that can tolerate disturbance and poor soils with metals and/or salinity. Its ability to form colonies and spread by deep rhizomes and tubers is also key to its success. After the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, horsetail was the first vascular plant to grow. 

Sources

Plants of Coastal BC (Pojar & MacKinnon), Illustrated Flora of British Columbia (Douglas, Meidinger & Pojar), Biology of Plants (Raven, Evert, Eichhorn), Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples (Nancy Turner), Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)

Loys Maingon provided the following explanation for the trilliums with double and triple flowers reported in the previous post Strange Trilliums!

The answer to the question about the trillium is one that I have often given to questions on my walks.  First, it is not “rare” (about 20% of the trilliums at my place are double – and I see it increasingly).  The phenomenon is quite common.  Here are three photos that can illustrate the point.

Some relevant facts:

1. The thing to always remember is that flowers arise out of “meristematic” tissue (generally apical) and therefore their cells can become anything.
2. Physiologically in their development, petals and sepals and stamens are modified leaves.
3. The genes that control modification are controlled by proteins which are activated by environmental conditions.  That can be either the environment within  the cell, or within the environment at large.
4. Protein conformation (shape) is temperature dependent. (It can also be affected by pollution, nutrients, or radiation.)  The simplest explanation is temperature.

So if you look at a common form of a trillium (photo 1) you will count 3 petals and 6 stamens.  Compare that to a double flower (photo 2)  and you will count 6 petals and 3 stamens. Interestingly enough, this development affected not only this flower, but both flowers on the same plant (photo 3).  So the protein signal was not just at the flower but throughout the plant’s programming.

An interesting aspect of this is that with climate change this is likely to become even more common.  There is an article in this week’s  Science [Loys wrote on May 2] about the decline of insects and the decline of protein production in plants.  

That is how the cookie crumbles.

This post is by Jocie Brooks, leader of the Botany Group, adapted from her email to members of the group on May 4.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis)

General notes

Many people first learn about stinging nettle the hard way. My first encounter, as a child, was a downhill wagon ride that ended in a roll through the nettle patch. A painful, bumpy red rash was the result.  

Despite its bad reputation, stinging nettle is a highly useful plant, and can be harvested as a spinach-like vegetable for use as steamed greens or in soups or pesto. It also makes an excellent medicinal tea. When the plant dies down in the late summer/fall, the tough fibres from the stem were traditionally harvested to make netting and cordage. 

Description

Stinging nettle has a square stem, with leaves opposite each other. The bright green leaves are saw-toothed, tapering to a point. Drooping clusters of small greenish flowers at the axils are either male or female (on the same plant) with the female spikes usually above the males. Stinging nettle is a perennial and spreads from rhizomes, often forming extensive colonies.

The genus name Urtica means “to burn” and the species name dioica means dioecious, or males and females on separate plants, which is true of some stinging nettle subspecies (not ours, which is monoecious). The word nettle comes from the old German word “nezzila” which translates as “net.” 

What causes the sting?

Stinging nettle has hollow hairs called trichomes and at the base of each hair is a gland that contains formic acid. Touching the plant causes the tip of the hair to break, and the fluid is drawn through the capillary hair into one’s flesh. Brave people like to show off by grasping nettles firmly, proving that they do not sting if you break the delicate hairs. 

Where to find it

Stinging nettle likes nitrogen-rich soil and is often found on disturbed sites such as roadsides, clearings and middens. It can also be found in open forest, meadows and stream sides. 

Harvesting notes

The first leaves of nettle usually appear in March or early April, and it is best to harvest before flowering. Gloves must be worn for harvesting, but after cooking nettle loses its sting. Beware of harvesting nettle from contaminated areas. In our area, this includes old railway grades (that were heavily sprayed) and former coal mining sites (even though they may look natural). 

Note that stinging nettle is an important larval foodplant for butterflies in our area, most notably the Milbert’s tortoiseshell, Satyr angelwing and red admiral. When harvesting, take only what you need and leave the rest!

Fun facts

• Samuel Pepys reported in his diary that he enjoyed a nettle porridge on February 25, 1661.
• During WWII hundreds of tons of nettle were harvested in Great Britain for the extraction of chlorophyll and dyes for camouflage nets.
• One of Aesop’s fables (by an ancient Greek storyteller) tells a story of a boy who was stung by nettles. He ran home and told his mother, saying, “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his Mother. “The next time you touch a nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand, and not in the least hurt you.” Moral: whatever you do, do it with all of your might!

Sources

Plants of Coastal BC (Pojar & MacKinnon), Food for Free: a guide to the wild edible plants of Britain (Richard Mabey), Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest (Lewis Clark), Illustrated Flora of British Columbia (Douglas, Meidinger, and Pojar), aesopsfables.com, avogel.ca.

This post is by Jocie Brooks, leader of the Botany Group, from an email to members of the group on April 26.

Dawn Moore recently sent me some photos of unusual trilliums, some with double flowers and some even stranger “mutants” from the Snowden Demonstration Forest just north of Campbell River. I have no idea what is causing this…whether these are natural genetic mutations, or whether they could be the result of herbicide use? (which could be possible, with the Snowden forest’s history). If anyone can enlighten us with more information it would be appreciated!

Here’s a bit more of what Dawn had to say:

Here are a few photos taken of double trilliums a few days ago. One of our favourite spots for the “Big Search” for unusual trilliums is along the Lower Lost Frog Trail in Campbell River’s Snowden Demonstration Forest and we were once more successful this year.  One usually finds the extra petals of the double trillium to be incomplete or malformed, but photo 1 attached is of a rather perfect specimen.  And then…we found what was, for us, an even rarer mutant(?)- a trillium trying for 9 petals and which had at least 6 leaves, over 3 sepals and at least 2 pistils/stamens sets.