Download The Beginner`s Guide to Burns Bog Flora

A Beginner’s Guide to
BURNS
BOG
FLORA
by Richard Sterndale-Bennett
Table of Contents
Western Hemlock
Western Redcedar
Shore Pine
Sitka Spruce
Sitka Mountain Ash
Red Osier Dogwood
Red Alder
Red Elderberry
Common Snowberry
Bog Cranberry
Red Huckleberry
Salmonberry
Cloudberry
Canadian Bunchberry
Thimbleberry
Salal
Labrador Tea
False Azalea
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Western Sword Fern
Bracken Fern
Lady Fern
Spiny Wood Fern
Deer Fern
Liquorice Fern
Step Moss
Skunk Cabbage
Round-leaved Sundew
False Lily-of-the-valley
Fireweed
Small-flowered Bulrushes
Hardhack
Sweet Gale
Large-leaved Avens
Northern Starflower
Western Bog Laurel
Bog Rosemary
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Western Hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla
Western Hemlock is very common in the Delta Nature Reserve, and it’s also one of the easiest
trees to identify. Its flat needles form a broad sheet along the branch and have dark green tops with
a silvery underside. The edible needles smell like grapefruit when crushed, and the lighter green new
growth is tasty, sour, and rich in vitamin C. Western hemlock’s droopy head is quite obvious when the
branches don’t block it out, and the tree has surprisingly small cones which can usually be found abundantly littered around the base of the trunk. It grows up to 60 m tall.
Bark
Cones
2
Western Redcedar
Thuja plicata
Western redcedar is the mainstay of the Cedar Grove, along the second half of the outer loop of
Wally’s Walk. Cedar foliage has a distinctive scaly appearance and a unique cedar smell when crushed.
The tree’s bark often comes off in long, papery strips when pulled. When shaded the bark remains a
roan red colour, but exposed to sunlight it takes on a silvery grey hue. Cedar’s cones are small like
hemlock’s but less abundant, much woodier, and with thicker scales. Like western hemlock, this species can grow up to 60 m tall, and its foliage will often be out of reach for identification.
View from the bottom
Bark
3
Shore Pine
Pinus contorta, variation contorta
Shore pine grows close to the wettest parts of the Delta Nature Reserve, along the beginning
of the outer loop of Wally’s Walk. Pine bark is distinctively crumbly and chunky compared to the other
trees of Burns Bog, and the long needles, which grow up to 7 cm in length, distinguish it from other
bog evergreens. The paired needles can be used to help tell it apart from other pine species, and the
persistent pollen cones and large pine cones also make the tree fairly easy to identify. It is shorter than
the other bog evergreens, with a maximum height around 20 m.
Pollen cones
Paired needles
4
Sitka Spruce
Picea sitchensis
Sitka spruce is the tallest tree on Burns Bog, with a maximum height of 70 m. It has flat, woody
bark that flakes off in large scales as the tree grows large. Its needles, which grow up to 3 cm long, have
four edges along their length, and are very stiff, growing from persistent pegs that can be seen after
the needles die away. One simple test for a spruce is to shake hands with the old growth on one of the
branches—the sharp spines will hurt your hand when you grasp them. Spruce cones are much larger
than hemlock or cedar cones and much softer and narrower than pine cones.
Cones
Needles on persistent pegs
Sitka Mountain Ash
5
Sorbus sitchensis
Sitka mountain ash is one of the shrubs found in Burns Bog, with a maximum height of around
4 m. It’s a deciduous plant, losing its characteristic toothed leaves in the winter. In mid-summer this
plant bears bright scarlet to red-orange berries which grow in fat clusters. Although the berries are edible, they’re very sour and bitter and best left to the birds. In the Delta Nature Reserve, Sitka mountain
ash is commonly found along the boardwalks close to where they meet with Davies Creek.
Berries
Leaves
Red Osier Dogwood
6
Cornus stolonifera
Red osier dogwood is a relative of the Pacific dogwood, BC’s provincial flower. This shrub is
named after its distinctive reddish stems, though they start green when newly-grown. While the plant
bears white berries that ripen around the beginning of August, they are bitter and not fit for human
consumption. Its glossy leaves, which grow up to 10 cm long, have prominent veins that run along their
length. Growing up to 6 m tall, it’s most common along the gravel path that runs the length of Davies
Creek. The plant’s white flowers can bloom throughout the summer.
Berries
Flowers
7
Red Alder
Alnus rubra
Red alder is an important stream-side tree in British Columbia and is very common along the
edge of Davies Creek. Tall for the creekside at up to 25 m, it provides essential shade and protection
for salmon where it grows, and the leaf litter from its fallen deciduous leaves attracts insect life. Its
bark is very thin and silvery grey, often supporting lichen growth. Red alder produces crumbly cones
about 2 cm in length that can be found clinging to old branches or scattered on the ground under the
trees. The tree’s leaves grow up to 10 cm long and are deeply veined with toothed edges.
Cones
Bark
8
Red Elderberry
Sambucus racemosa subspecies pubens variation arborescens
Elderberry has long oval leaves that taper into a sharp point. When rubbed, the leaves have a
tell-tale peanut butter smell that makes them very easy to distinguish from the other shrubs on the
bog. In the summer, elderberry bears clusters of smallish, bright red berries whose flesh, though edible, may cause nausea unless cooked—all other parts of the plant including the seeds are poisonous
if consumed. Elderberry grows up to 6 m tall and generally grows next to the path along Davies Creek.
Berries
Leaves
Common Snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus
9
also known as waxberry, corpseberry, snake’s berry
Snowberry bears fat, lumpy, white berries that are fun to squeeze and pop, but beware—its
berries are poisonous! First Nations people variably called them corpseberry or snake’s berry for this
reason, and it’s worth noting that none of the white berries that grow on Burns Bog are suitable for
human consumption. Snowberry grows up to 2 m tall and has deciduous, roundish oval leaves that vary
greatly in size even when fully grown. The stems are spindly and greyish brown.
Snowberry shrub
Different-sized round leaves
Bog Cranberry
10
Oxycoccus oxycoccos
Bog cranberry grows as woody vine-like stems up to 40 cm tall that tend to cling close to the
sphagnum moss in which they nestle. This plant is most commonly found along the first quarter of the
outside loop of Wally’s Walk, clearly visible growing in the sphagnum along the edge of the boardwalk.
The alternating centimetre-long leaves are glossy and deep green, with a central vein and a pointy tip.
The plant bears edible berries up to a centimetre in diameter which rest suspended above the main
stem of the plant.
Leaves with dew
11
Red Huckleberry
Vaccinium parvifolium
Red huckleberry has attractive, bright red berries in the early summer that are tasty though
often very tart. Its delicate, deciduous, oval leaves grow up to 3 cm long, and the spindly stems of the
plant grow in jagged lines. Red huckleberry loves the dappled shade of coniferous forests, and in the
Delta Nature Reserve it’s most commonly found in the Cedar Grove.
Foliage
Berry
12
Salmonberry
Rubus spectabilis
Probably the most common Pacific Northwest berry after salal, salmonberry is found along
Davies Creek and the more open parts of the forest in the Delta Nature Reserve. Though it can grow
up to 4 m tall, it rarely reaches higher than 2 m in the bog. Its bright pink flowers bloom in late spring
and are followed soon after by tasty berries that can be eaten as soon as they’re soft and arguably
taste better when still yellow. The distinctive leaves come in clusters of three and look like a beard and
moustache when held with the centre-point down. Slight, sparse thorns line the plant’s stems.
Leaves
Near-ripe berry
13
Cloudberry
Rubus chamæmorus
also known as knottberry
Cloudberry is only found in bogs, and is an oddity among berry plants in that it is sexed—individual plants are either male or female and pollen from the males must be carried to the females to
produce berries. Consequently, it’s much rarer to see a cloudberry fruit than a fruit from the other bog
berries, though they’re said to taste like baked apples if you do find one. This plant grows on slender
stems extending from the sphagnum moss and tends to cluster into herds. It can be found in the wetter parts of the bog along the edge of the boardwalk. Its white flowers bloom in June.
Cloudberry flower
Stem extending from sphagnum moss
Canadian Bunchberry
Cornus canadensis
14
also known as dwarf dogwood, creeping dogwood
Bunchberry grows (usually in clusters of separate plants) in the wetter parts of the bog, often
rubbing shoulders with starflower or cloudberry along the boardwalk’s edge. It is a close relative of
Pacific dogwood, BC’s provincial flower; the showy white bracts are not actually the flowers, however.
The heads of the flowers are the black dots suspended above the white “petals” which are actually
bracts (modified leaves like those that wrap the bottom of a rose’s bloom). In any case, in August the
plants bear bright red fruits that taste like baked apples and have a satisfyingly crunchy central seed.
Flowers and bracts
Berries
15
Thimbleberry
Rubus parviflorus
With what are possibly the tastiest berries in the bog, thimbleberry plants can grow up to 3 m
tall, are thornless, and have fuzzy maple-like leaves. This plant grows along with salmonberry and red
osier dogwood along Davies Creek and the more open parts of the forest in the Delta Nature Reserve.
Its delicate, seedy berries are tart, sweet, and juicy, and worth looking for in July. Thimbleberry flowers
are large, floppy, and white, and can be seen starting in June. The soft, broad leaves have earned it the
nickname “Nature’s toilet paper” as it makes a great substitute when out in the woods.
Leaf
Flower
16
Salal
Gaultheria shallon
Salal is the quintessential Pacific Northwest shrub. In Burns Bog, it’s especially successful along
the first section of the outer boardwalk, though it can be found throughout the Delta Nature Reserve.
Most salal bushes are less than a metre tall, but the plants can grow to chest height or higher. In the
early summer salal has white bell-like flowers that develop into juicy purple-black, hairy berries that
taste like grainy blueberries. It has tough, leathery leaves that help it conserve water during the rainless summer months, and its twigs, which start out green and pliable, age into grey-brown brittle twigs.
Berries
Flowers
17
Labrador Tea
Ledum grœnlandicum
Labrador tea grows in the wetter, peatier parts of the bog, especially in amongst salal along the
outer boardwalk. Labrador tea is so-called as its leaves can be dried and made into tea. To this end,
t’s important to tell it apart from its two poisonous look-alikes, bog laurel and bog rosemary. Labrador
tea’s leaves, which grow to 4 cm long, are dull (not lustrous) on top and have white or rusty orange fuzz
on the underside. When rubbed or crushed, the leaves have a strong herbal smell. The plant grows up
to 50 cm tall and has brittle grey-brown stems. It bears clusters of white flowers in the early summer.
Fuzz under leaf
Full plant
18
False Azalea
Menziesia ferruginea
also known as fool’s huckleberry
False azalea grows in the dappled shade of the Cedar Grove. Its unevenly-sized leaves form
distinctive starbust clusters on the branch. This plant is poisonous if consumed. Growing up to 3 m
tall, it has flaky, grey-brown bark when mature, and its stems become quite stiff and woody with age.
The leaves, flower pods, and flowering stems are covered in fine hairs.
Leaves
Unripe flower pods
Western Sword Fern
19
Polystichum munitum
Western sword fern is a commonly-used landscaping plant in BC, and it’s an important plant
for erosion control because of its extensive root ball. Its fronds can grow up to 1.5 m long and cascade
out from a central base to form a thick bunch. The leaflets feel tough and papery and have an eggshell
lustre. The underside of each leaflet will bear rusty orange spore clusters when mature, and each
leaflet attaches to the central stem of the frond by only a narrow hilt—hence the “sword” in the name.
Western sword fern is found throughout the Cedar Grove.
Sori (spore clusters)
Frond
Bracken Fern
20
Pteridium aquilinum
Bracken fern is a forest species common throughout the northern hemisphere. It looks almost
like a miniature tree, growing as a single stem, never in clusters like lady, sword, and spiny wood ferns.
The stem is quite stiff and resilient and will bend much less than a normal fern stem when tested—they
often break rather than arc. Bracken fern tolerates much more sun than the other ferns on the bog
and can be seen mingling with the salal and pine trees at the beginning of the outer boardwalk as well
as in the sunnier parts of the Cedar Grove.
Central stem
Underside without obvious spore clusters
21
Lady Fern
Athyrium filix-femina
Lady fern is common in the Cedar Grove and in the wet bog-side of the path along Davies
Creek. It strongly prefers shade and becomes yellow and stringy when growing in direct sunlight. The
fronds sprout from a central base, as with sword, deer, and spiny wood ferns. This fern is easily confusable with spiny wood fern—both share a similar light green colour and similar feathery fronds on
flexible stems. The easiest way to tell them apart is to look at the silhouette of the fronds: lady fern’s
leaflets form a diamond shape along the length of the frond and the leaflets extend down to the base.
Immature sori (spore clusters)
Frond
22
Spiny Wood Fern
Dryopteris expansa
Like lady fern, spiny wood fern strongly prefers shade. It grows in the damp forested parts of
the Delta Nature Reserve. Its fronds extend from a central clump like with lady and sword ferns, and its
light green colour is much yellower than that of deer or sword fern. This plant is easily confusible with
lady fern, and two features help distinguish it from that look-alike. First, spiny wood fern’s fronds have
a Christmas tree silhouette; this is due to the second important feature, that the base of each frond is
bare of leaflets. As with most ferns, clusters of spores are found on the underside of mature leaflets.
Base of fronds
Frond
23
Deer Fern
Blechnum spicant
Deer fern, the story goes, is so-called because deer crushed the fronds against the stubs of
their recently-shed antlers to help heal the sores. This fern is similar to western sword fern, but with
a few key differences. Its fronds are glossier and smoother to the touch; its leaflets are skinnier, more
tightly-spaced, and attached along their entire width to the central stem of the frond; and the new
growth tends to stand straight up, while the older fronds rest on the ground in a crown around the
plant. Deer fern favours the wetter forested parts of the bog and the area near the Sunken Tractor.
Leaflets along main stem
Frond
24
Liquorice Fern
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Liquorice fern is pretty easy to overlook as it looks a lot like a young sword fern. On Burns Bog,
it grows almost exclusively epiphytically—sprouting from plant litter perched on trees or logs. Like
bracken fern, this fern also sprouts single fronds rather than having many from a central clump. It can
be told apart from sword fern by the attachments of its leaflets to the central stem of the frond: liquroice fern’s leaflets attach along their entire width rather than by a hilt-like sliver as with sword fern. This
fern’s name comes from the flavour of its rhizome, which tastes like black liquorice.
Leaflets along main stem
Single stalk emerging from litter
25
Step Moss
Hylocomium splendens
Step moss, which can grow into staircases up to 20 cm long, forms shag-carpet-like mats on the
forest floor of the Cedar Grove. It’s named after its growth habit: each year the plant forms a fan-like
platform. Then the next year it sprouts another vertical stem and forms a new “step” and so on, until
after a few years it looks like a staircase. Of all the individual moss species on Burns Bog, this is one of
the easiest to identify, which is why it’s included in this guide.
Side view of “steps”
Top view of a “step”
Skunk Cabbage
Lysichiton americanum
26
also known as swamp lantern
Skunk cabbage is very common in the Pacific Northwest, and when it finds itself in favourable
conditions it forms thickets like the Delta Nature Reserve’s own Skunk Cabbage Meadow. This plant
requires very wet conditions and at least partial sun, though many shrimpier individuals can be found
in the Cedar Grove. Skunk cabbage leaves are poisonous if consumed, to the extent that black bears
use them as a laxative in the spring after denning. Both its names result from the plant’s flower, a large,
bright yellow spike that gives off a rotting flesh smell. Its leaves can get enormous—up to 1.8 m long.
Individual plant
Leaves trampled at end of season
Round-leaved Sundew
Drosera rotundifolia
27
also known as common sundew
No bog is complete without a carnivorous plant, and round-leaved sundew is Burns Bog’s. This
wee plant sprouts modified leaves crowned in hairs with sticky red sap—the sap traps insects which
then decompose, and the sundew absorbs their nutrients. Sundews bear flower buds on long, slender
stalks in the summertime, but these won’t bloom unless exposed to direct sunlight. This plant, often
shown at great magnification, often underwhelms people in person: the main leafy cluster of the plant
grows to a maximum of 7 cm tall. Sundews favour the wetter parts of the bog.
Flowers that failed to bloom
Sundew cluster base
False Lily-of-the-valley
28
Mainanthemum dilatatum
False lily-of-the-valley has single or paired roughly heart-shaped leaves with deep veins that
run parallel to the leaf’s edge. In late spring, this plant bears spikes of small white flowers. Forming
communities in the dappled shade under evergreens, it’s easiest to find along the middle of the outer
boardwalk of Wally’s Walk, where the bog transitions from wetter to drier conditions.
Flowers
Leaf shape
Fireweed
Epilobium angustifolium
29
also known as Rosebay willowherb
Fireweed is one of the first plants to return after a forest fire, which explains its name. This
plant is easily identifiable by its dagger-like leaves: long, slender, and coming to a sharp point. Fireweed
bears spikes of floppy pink flowers with sparse but showy petals. Fireweed is also identifiable once the
flowers have gone to seed—the plant’s seeds are borne by a soft, fuzzy cotton not unlike cottonwood’s.
Fireweed was an important source of textile fibres for the First Nations peoples as the outside fibres
of the dried stems are long and tough like flax.
Leaves
Flowers
30
Small-flowered Bulrushes
Scirpus microcarpus
Of all the aquatic plants on the bog, this is one of the most common and easiest to identify. Its
leaves are long, sharp, and yellowish-green with a W cross-section. The namesake flowers are raised
above the leaves by a three-cornered stalk. The leaves and stalks of small-flowered bulrushes (as with
all sedges) can easily slice open the hand that tries to pick them, so it’s safer to leave these be... or to
pull with caution. It lives on the wettest sections along Davies Creek and near the Sunken Tractor.
Flowers
Leaf cross section
31
Hardhack
Spirea douglasii subspecies douglasii
Hardhack is one of the two shrubs that grows in the wettest, peatiest sections of Burns Bog.
Along with sweet gale, hardhack forms dense thickets, one of which the outer boardwalk of Wally’s
Walk cuts through. Hardhack can be identified by its flexible, long leaves which are toothed at the tip
and don’t have an obvious strong scent when crushed. Hardhack’s flowers, which bloom in summer, are
also a dead giveaway—the tall, pink clusters typically grow 10–15 cm tall, atop plants up to 2 m tall.
Flower clusters, fresh and spent
Leaves
Sweet Gale
32
Myrica gale
Sweet gale grows with hardhack in the wettest, peatiest parts of the bog. This plant’s leaves give
off a strong smell when crushed—similar to cloves or allspice. The leaves are similar to hardhack’s, but
more slender at the base and covered with tiny yellow pores. Sweet gale’s flowers look more like mace
spikes, are they’re bright yellow when ripe in the summer. The leaves of sweet gale are used to flavour
mead. This shrub grows up to 1.5 m tall, a little shorter than hardhack.
Flowers
Hardhack (L), and sweet gale (R) leaves
Large-leaved Avens
33
Geum macrophyllum
This unassuming flower is easily mistaken for some exotic form of buttercup, but it’s actually a
native species. The namesake leaves can grow as big as an adult man’s hand, and the stalks leading
down to the cluster’s centre are lined with miniature versions of the large leaf on the stalks’ ends. Yellow flowers up to 1.5 cm across group in clusters at the end of a central stem, and the flowers, once
pollinated, develop into seed burrs that catch on animals’ fur when they pass. It grows in full and partial sun, especially along Davies Creek and in the sunnier parts of the Cedar Grove.
Flowers and immature seed burr
Size of large leaf
Northern Starflower
34
Trientalis arctica
Tucked away into the nooks and crevices of the wetter, peatier parts of the bog, northern starflower blooms at the end of May or beginning of June. It emerges from the sphagnum moss (or leaf
litter under hardhack and sweet gale) on a long, spindly main stem, and has oval leaves up to 7 cm long
that come to a rounded point. Its flower is a white starburst shape with 5–7 petals which are fused at
the base and curve upward into a parabola along their length. The entire plant is up to 25 cm tall.
Stem and leaves
Western Bog Laurel
Kalmia macrophylla subspecies occidentalis
35
also known as swamp laurel
This plant is easily confused with western Labrador tea, which is problematic as all parts of bog
laurel are poisonous if consumed. Luckily, bog laurel lacks the white or orange fuzz that Labrador tea
has on the undersides of its leaves, and bog laurel is also glossier on top of its leaves, leaves whichare
smoother than Labrador tea’s with no scaly texture. Bog laurel has small but showy pink flowers in May
and June, and it grows mixed in with the pine, salal, and Labrador tea along the sides of the first half
of the outer boardwalk. Bog laurel grows up to 50 cm tall.
Bare undersides
Flowers
36
Bog Rosemary
Andromeda polifolia
This plant is easily confused with western Labrador tea, and unfortunately, as with bog laurel
all parts of bog rosemary are poisonous if consumed. Like bog laurel, bog rosemary lacks the white
or orange fuzz that Labrador tea has on the undersides of its leaves, and bog rosemary’s leaves, at a
maximum of 3 cm, are much smaller than Labrador tea’s. Bog rosemary has small, pink, lantern-shaped
flowers similar to blueberry flowers, and it grows mixed in with the pine, salal, and Labrador tea along
the sides of the first half of the outer boardwalk. Bog rosemary grows up to 80 cm tall.
Size comparison
Bog rosemary in the mix