Photographs by Caroline Penn; post by Nina Shoroplova

Twenty-three members of Nature Vancouver gathered in front of a leafy entrance to Jericho Beach Park. We each had a list of native and naturalized shrubs, native and ornamental trees growing in the park.

Numbered from right to left:

1) a western redcedar, Thuja plicata, with seed cones; not a true cedar;

2) three Sawara false cypresses, Chamaecyparis pisifera var. squarrosa, with seed cones; a feathery form;

3) a yellow cedar, most often scientifically called Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, with pollen cones; not a true cedar;

4) an English elm, Ulmus procera; leaves are asymmetrical; the young twigs have corky ridges as protection from herbivores.

Staying in the cool air to the west of the parking lot, we looked at a slim English oak, Quercus robur (a species in the white oak group that all have rounded lobes); later we saw many pin oaks, Quercus palustris (a species in the red oak group that all have sharply pointed lobes)

We looked at a black locust tree, Robinia pseudoacacia.

There are many black locust trees in this part of the park, some intentionally planted, some self-seeded perhaps (growing near the English holly trees, Ilex aquifolium), and one troubled with many burls. A European mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia, had rooted into one of its injuries. Being in the Fabaceae family of peas, beans, and legumes, and some years growing many pods of seeds, black locust has naturalized in many places, making it less welcome to some gardeners. Personally, I find this tree very attractive.

An eight-spotted skimmer dragonfly, Libellula forensis, rests for a time on an English holly leaf.

In sunny areas are many baldcypress trees, Taxodium distichum.

They grow as very large shrubs, as tree with single trunks, and in one case as a mound of the feathery foliage peeking through an overtaking, determined growth of Himalayan blackberry, Rubus armeniacus.

Two silver poplars, Populus alba, were planted near the shoreline many years ago.

These poplars are native to Europe, western Siberia, and central Asia. Participants felt the leaves to help with the trees’ identification. The gently lobed leaves are green above and silver and hairy underneath. Lombardy poplars grow elsewhere in the park too; they are also in the Populaceae family, as are aspens and cottonwoods.

Walking along the path near the sandy beach, we looked at two small, 2-needled pines: a red pine, Pinus resinosa, an ornamental from eastern North American with long needles, and a shore pine, Pinus contorta var. contorta, a native pine with short needles.

Further along, a naturalized rugosa rose, Rosa rugosa, displayed the last of its pink flowers and expanding orange hips. A photo taken previously, in early July, shows the brilliant pink of the flowers being checked out by a common eastern bumblebee, Bombus impatiens.

Still in the open parkland during our August 1 tree walk, we could see ahead a grove of trees. Out of a choice of 1) tuliptree, Liriodendron tulipifera, native to southern US, with rough undersides of leaves, and 2) Chinese tuliptree, Liriodendron chinense, native to China and Vietnam, with smooth underside of leaves, we chose 1). The undersides of the leaves are rather rough: the US species.

We continued our loop, walking past some small lakes and going across a bridge.

Here we saw a bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum, laden with chains of double samaras.

Canada’s official arboreal emblem are all native maple species. Altogether, we saw six species of maple in the park, two native to Canada and the rest ornamental:

1) bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum, native to British Columbia; its leaves have the deepest sinuses and are the largest of all maples’ leaves;

2) Caucasian maple, Acer cappadocicum, native to the Caucasus Mountains, where Europe and Asia meet; its leaves have five pointed lobes;

3) Norway maple, Acer platanoides, native to continental Europe; its double samaras are close to horizontal; the leaves are dark green with five lobes, like a larger version of the sugar maple, Acer saccharum, the native tree upon which the Canadian flag is stylized;

4) a globe Norway maple, Acer platanoides ‘Globosum’, a cultivar that grows a globe of bright green foliage;

5) silver maple, Acer saccharinum, native to eastern NA; the petioles are long, allowing the light leaves to turn and flutter even in a gentle breeze, and allowing us to see the silvery undersides of the leaves;

6) sycamore maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, native to central Europe and western Asia.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we finished our walk. Thanks for joining us, Nina Shoroplova and Caroline Penn, members of the botany section of Nature Vancouver.