Plant Identification Resources

• Electronic Plant Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia – Eflora
• British Columbia Wildflowers : WildflowerSearch.org is a free app available for web, iPhone and Android smartphones. This useful app includes nearly 4000 species of plants—mostly wildflowers but including many common shrubs, trees, aquatic plants, grasses, ferns, lichen, mosses and seaweeds. It has a simple, easy to use key and is self-contained (does not require the internet).  Back home the website offers the same search and information.  Get Denis’ introduction BCwildflowers-app.pdf
• NV member Judith Holm and the Squamish Environment Society have produced an excellent Squamish Estuary Plant Guide which can be downloaded as a PDF or picked up in pamphlet form at the Squamish Adventure Centre. For other (unillustrated) lists see Squamish area plant lists (various habitats).
• Katharine Steig and other NV members contributed to The Friends of Cypress Provincial Park’s excellent colour pamphlet Flowering Plants in Cypress Provincial Park, available at the plant ID table on NV Botany nights.
• Two excellent books are: Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in British Columbia and Washington by Lyons and Merilees, 1995 (Plants arranged by flower colour), and Plants of Coastal British Columbia by Pojar and MacKinnon, Revised 2016 – Lone Pine Publishing  (Plants arranged by family).
• Algae & Seaweed: see above British Columbia Wildflowers App;
  UBC Beaty Biodiversity Museum has some photos;
  Dr. Bridgette Clarkston (UBC Botany) has a Seaweed Teaching Resources Google Drive ;
  Seaweed Sorter app is available for iPhone and Android;
  BullKelp.info has a mix of art and science.
  YouTube video “Introduction to Seaweeds” – NV Presentation by Teresa Gagné Apr 20, 2023

Botany Section Committee’s Feature Plant of the Month: short PDFs

• August: Feature-Plant-1_Gentian_sm.pdf : King Gentian (Gentiana sceptrum)
• March: BotanicalBoys&Girls.pdf : Indian Plum, Hazel, Red Alder male/female flowers.
• March: Feature Plant #3_Spring Bells.pdf : Indian Plum, Red-flowering Currant.
• March: Feature Plant #4_The Hazels.pdf : Male catkins, tiny female flowers, Hazelnuts.

Other Resources

• The Vancouver Mycological Society is a group of individuals who share a common interest in mushrooms and fungi. They hold monthly meetings, weekend forays and host the annual Vancouver Mushroom Show.
• Botany BC is an annual meeting of professional and amateur botanists and plant enthusiasts and is open to anyone interested in plants. Held in a different BC location each year, this weekend event features botanical hikes, walks and evening talks.
• Trees: The greater Vancouver area is home to an amazing variety of native and imported trees. Vancouver Tree Book by David Tracey is available in print or ebook format. Nature Vancouver’s pamphlet Trees in Metro Vancouver (updated 2018) offers links and locations for arboretums, public gardens, urban forests and tree walks.
• Professor John Davidson: For a profile of BC’s first Provincial Botanist and founder of Vancouver Natural History Society, see Professsor John Davidson 

Naturalised (Invasive) Plants

• Invasive Species Council of BC: For information on common invasive plants in our area
• Report invasive plants from your smartphone
• Concerns with the Removal of Naturalized Plants in the Lower Fraser Valley: PDF copy of the article by Kevin Bell and Al Grass, published in Fall 2008 issue of Discovery. For additional information not published with the article please see the following links:
  • Bibliography (pdf)
  • List of Bird Species That Use Himalayan and Evergreen Blackberry Thickets in SW BC in the winter (pdf)
  • List of Bird Species That Eat Berries and Seeds of Naturalized Shrub and Tree Species in SW BC (pdf)
  • List of Ground and Low Nesting Bird Species in SW British Columbia That May Use Blackberry Thickets (pdf)