Browsed by
Category: Botany

Phantom Orchids at Teapot Hill

Phantom Orchids at Teapot Hill

Trip Report by Vicky Earle On June 17, I joined trip leader Kelly Sekhon for a hike up Teapot Hill near Cultus Lake in search of the rare phantom orchid. This plant is globally secure but is listed as red/endangered in British Columbia. The phantom orchid (Cephalanthera austiniae) is the only Cephalanthera species entirely dependent on symbiotic mycorrhizae for its nutrition. Being an entirely white perennial with only a small yellow gland on the lip of each blossom, this plant has no chlorophyll and is unable…

Read More Read More

Juan de Fuca Trip – 2023

Juan de Fuca Trip – 2023

NV Trip to Juan de Fuca Marine Park – June 2 to 6, 2023 Report by Denis Laplante We had no rain, and the worst patch of mud was only 2cm deep. Many of the trails required scrambling and good balance; some sections were like a walk in the park. For tides we used Fisheries & Oceans https://tides.gc.ca/en/stations stations Point No Point and Port Renfrew (also Java App jtides.jar). Beware daylight saving time – tide tables at trailheads were in…

Read More Read More

Tree Identification Walk in Kitsilano

Tree Identification Walk in Kitsilano

Trip Report by Nina Shoroplova On a pleasantly cool day, nineteen members of Nature Vancouver joined co-leader and photographer Caroline Penn and me to identify trees in Kitsilano Beach Park and over to Vancouver Maritime Museum. It was June 9, a day bookended by much hotter weather. Our first tree was a hiba arborvitae, Thujopsis dolobrata, growing in the verge between Cornwall Avenue and a fence beside the Kitsilano Beach cycle path. It seems to be a rather nondescript coniferous evergreen…

Read More Read More

Wildflower Walk in Camosun Bog

Wildflower Walk in Camosun Bog

Trip Report by Rita Li & Laura Cottle On Sunday, May 21, we had 16 participants, a group comprised of members of Nature Vancouver and Northshore Hikers, enjoying a walk in the Pacific Spirit Park. We started at the north entrance to Camosun Bog, walked around the Bog, then over to the second growth coniferous forest Southwest of the bog, and finally across Imperial Road to walk through the area west of Imperial road. The description here concentrates on the…

Read More Read More

Trip to Galiano Island

Trip to Galiano Island

Report and Photos by Leader – Bettina Matzkuhn Nine members of Nature Vancouver and one guest participated. The weather was warm and breezy. We saw a Humpback whale spouting in the distance en route to the island. We covered approximately 10km to and from the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, with a short stop at the historic Japanese Charcoal Pit Kiln. We made a few mistakes with the route but were rescued by Teresa’s GAIA track. The trail that goes up the back…

Read More Read More

Birds & Wildflowers of Horth Hill Park

Birds & Wildflowers of Horth Hill Park

Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon; Photos by John Martin Nine members of Nature Vancouver and a guest, participated in this trip to North Saanich on 15 April 2023. Forecast was for rain but it held off until after we were back on our return ferry to Tsawwassen. We had very pleasant day walking around the park with White Fawn Lilies, and Shooting Stars at their peak of flowering season. Other flowers in bloom were Blue-eyed Mary, Small Monkey Flower, Red-flowering…

Read More Read More

Old Growth Conservancy – Cypress Mountain

Old Growth Conservancy – Cypress Mountain

Snowshoe Walk – Thursday, March 23, 2023 Submitted by Caroline Penn Nestled inside the elbow of one of the hair-pin turns of the road to Cypress Mountain is the Old Growth Conservancy. It is a 54-hectare forest located at an elevation of 760 metres just south of the Works Yard. The area was saved from development as a golf course in 1990, and is now conserved and protected by municipal bylaw. Like many old growth forests, it is a mix…

Read More Read More

Wild flowers, invasives on CBC Radio March 24

Wild flowers, invasives on CBC Radio March 24

Gloria Makarenko, temporary host of CBC Radio show The Early Edition, spoke with Teresa Gagné, member of Nature Vancouver’s Botany Committee, early on Friday March 24 2023. You can view the Video version on CBC TV Our Vancouver (April 1 edition) – starts at 33m18s. There is also the original 7 minute audio-only recording Below are photos of flowers and plants discussed: CBC studio; section of tree weighted down by English Ivy; Osoberry ; Salmonberry; Trillium (and some Ivy); Red…

Read More Read More

Tree Identification in Kitsilano – Feb 10, 2023

Tree Identification in Kitsilano – Feb 10, 2023

Report by Nina Shoroplova, Photos by Nina Shoroplova and Teresa Gagne Friday, February 10, 2023, was a sunny, dry day, perfect for “Identifying Trees in Winter at Kitsilano Park and Kitsilano Beach Park.” Eighteen Nature Vancouver members joined leaders Nina Shoroplova and Teresa Gagné mid-morning in the southwest corner of Kitsilano Park and for the next two hours identified both evergreen and deciduous, native and introduced, ornamental and invasive species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Whereas evergreen trees offered…

Read More Read More

Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium

Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium

Book Review by Nina Shoroplova Linda P. J. Lipsen and Derek Tan’s Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium, published in February 2023 by Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia One of the hobbies I enjoyed as a girl was pressing wildflowers. My friend Rosemary lived in a house that backed on to some wild land near Cyncoed Village. We would walk the lanes and trails collecting wildflowers: lesser celandine and meadow buttercup (we could tell the difference), willowherb, red campion, and red clover….

Read More Read More

Nature Vancouver