- a wildflower walk - boreal forest to rocky …...mar 22/06 sudbury naturalists - a. fyon 2 journey...

- A Wildflower Walk -Boreal Forest to Rocky Mountain

Foothills to the Alpine ZoneFrom a Cultural and Naturalist’s Perspective

Andy Fyonontariowildflower.com

Sudbury, Ontario

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 2

Journey• Geology• Culture – Far

North First Nations

• Boreal forest– Fort Hope,

Kasabonika Lake• Rocky Mountains

– Kananaskis Country to Waterton Lake National Park

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 3

Disclaimer

• I am:– Not a biologist– Not an horticulturist– a geologist

• Wildflowers are my hobby

Prefer not to discuss medicinal or some culinary uses of plants

Mar 22/06

Geology in Our Lives• We eat minerals• We grow food in

geological materials• We get drinking

water from the Earth• Rocks are a source

of energy

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 5

Geology in Our Lives• Construction material

– Roads, bricks, facing– Buildings

• Metals– Cars, trains, planes,

boats• Horticulture materials

– Ornamental stone– Fertilizer

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 6

Geology in Our Lives• We depend on geological materials

from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep

• So do plants

Warm rock, Iqaluit

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 7

Ontario Bedrock Geology

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 8

Glaciers Over Ontario

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 9

Fort Hope – Eabametoong First Nation

Several cultural slides have been removed from the web version, but were used to discuss some cultural aspect of this First Nation.

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 10

Fort HopeEabametoong First Nation

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 11

European Influence

Catholic Church Anglican Church

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 12

Boreal Forest - Landscape

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 13

Iceberg Tracks

Mar 22/06 14

Boreal Forest ShrubBearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

Rocky areas

Ground cover

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 15

Boreal Forest ShrubBush Honeysuckle – (Diervilla Ionicera)

Dry rocky areas

Ornamental shrub

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 16

Boreal Forest ShrubPipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata)

Perennial evergreen

Dry conifer forest

“Treat stabbing wounds to the chest”

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 17

Boreal Forest ShrubPincherry – (Prunus pensylvanica)

Sunny areas

Fruit food for birds

Red dye

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 18

Boreal ForestBunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

“Itchy beard berry” (hairs on fruit)

Red food colouring

Shady woodlands

Mar 22/06

Boreal Forest - Clintonia or Blue Bead Lily (Clintonia borealis)

Woodland forest

“True” blue berries

Named: De Witt Clinton, governor of New York State, early 1800’s

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 20

Boreal – Wild Lily-of-the-Valley or Canada Mayflower - (Maianthemum canadense)

Moist woods

Fruit food for wildlife

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 21

Boreal – Wild Iris or Northern Blue Flag (Iris versicolor)

Quebec’s Provincial flower

Lakeshore

“Versicolor” = rainbow or various colours

Water garden

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 22

Ontario Bedrock Geology

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 23

Grass of Parnassus(Parnassia palustris)

• Moist calcareous Soil• Evergreen• Parnassia: Greek,

Parnassos - "of Mount Parnassus“; mountain in central Greece

• palustris: Latin, paluster, "boggy, marshy"

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 24

Large Yellow Lady’s Slipper(Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens)

• Forest, bogs, open swamps, alongside streams

• Calcareous soil

• Never transplant

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 25

Northern Green Bog-orchid / Leafy Green Orchid(Platanthera aquilonis)

• Moist calcareous soil

• Common orchid

• Never transplant

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 26

Kasabonika Lake First Nation

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 27

Kasabonika

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 28

Kasabonika Lake First Nation

Several cultural slides have been removed from the web version, but were used to discuss some cultural aspect of this First Nation.

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 29

Northern Limits of Boreal

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 30

Bog - Geology• Depressions in

sand and gravel left by glaciers or rock

• Isolated, no connection to rivers or other lakes

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 31

Bog - Conditions• Acidic• Low nutrients - not in

plant friendly form– Little nitrogen,

phosphorus, and potassium

• Isolated from sources of mineralized water

• Dominated by peat moss above water

• Organic deposits below peat mosses

Boreal - Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus)

Bake-apple, Headberry, salmonberry

Bogs

Delicious fruit

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 33

Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

Coniferous bog

Edible – commercial cranberry cultivated from this wild species

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 34

Bog – Flowering Plant Survival Tactics

• Carnivorous: trap and digest insects• Non-carnivorous

– work with soil fungi (mycorrhizal association) to:• pull in nutrients• change nutrients to form used by plant

– fungus may penetrate plant root– What’s in it for the fungus?

• receives sugars and other products from the plant

Flowering Carnivorous PlantPitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

Attract insects using bold coloured patterns and nectar secretions

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 36

Flowering Carnivorous PlantPitcher Plant

• Leaves contain water “soup”

• Hairs stop insect from exiting

• Drowned insect releases nutrients

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 37

Flowering Carnivorous PlantsSpoon-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 38

Flowering Carnivorous PlantsSpoon-leaved Sundew

• Sticky, sweet secretions attract and trap insects

• Insect digested• Nutrients

absorbed

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 39

Bog - Non-carnivorous Plants Symbiosis with soil fungi

• Plant receives nutrients from fungi that change organic nitrogen to plant-friendly amino acids

• Fungus receives plant derived carbon compound

• Fungi block plant uptake of metal poisons, like zinc, copper, aluminum

40

Boreal - Non-carnivorous PlantsLeatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)

Bog

Early blooming

Early established in bog

Mar 22/06

Bog - Flowering Non-carnivorous PlantsLabrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

• Retains leaves– plants efficiently

use scarce nutrients to make leaves

– keep nutrients stored in leaves

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 42

Flowering Non-carnivorous PlantBog Rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla)

Flowers on new growth

Poisonous

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 43

Sheep Laurel(Kalmia angustifolia)

Flowers on old growth.

Poisonous, hence the name sheep-laurel or lamb-kill.

The nectar contains the toxin that results in toxic honey.

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 44

Kananaskis Country to Waterton Lakes National Park

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 45

Mountains

• Alpine• Subalpine• Montane• Foothills

–Plant adaptation

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 46

How Mountains Form• Plate tectonics• Large pieces (plates) of the Earth

collide against each other

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 47

Parkland to Foothills• <2400 m

(<1700 ft);• Rolling hills

grade into prairie;

• Mix of grassy slopes and open aspen forest

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 48

FoothillsCalypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa)

Canada Violet (Viola canadensis)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 49

Foothills – Blue Clematis (Clematis occidentalis)

Foothills Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 51

Foothills – Larkspur (Delphinium nelsonii)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 52

Foothills – Cliff Anenome (Anemone multifida)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 53

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 54

Montane and Boreal Foothills• 2400 – 3000 m

(1700 – 5100 ft)• Open stands of

forest at low elevations become more dense toward subalpine

• Lodgepole pine, white spruce, aspen

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 55

Mule Deer

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 56

Montane – Monkey Flower (Mimulus lewisii)

Moist to wet conditions

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 57

Montane - Heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 58

Montane – Scorpion Weed (Phacelia sericea)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 59

Montane – Beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 60

Subalpine

• 3000 – 3500 m (5100 – 7000 ft)

• Ends where trees end

• Moisture is high (snow + rain)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 61

Ground Squirrel – High Pass

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 62

Subalpine – Yellow Columbine (Aquilegia flavescens)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 63

Subalpine - Yellow glacier-lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)

Subalpine

Alpine Forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris)

Globeflower (Trollius laxus)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 65

Subalpine – Elephant-head (Pedicularis groenlandica)

Subalpine – Siberian Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

Subalpine – AlpineWestern Pasqueflower or Anemone (Anemone

occidentalis)

Early to flower

“Shaggy seed head (“Hippie on a stick”)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 67

Subalpine – White and Yellow Mountain Aven (Dryas octopetala and Dryas drummondii)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 68

Subalpine cirque – formed by glacier

Subalpine

Mountain Gentian (Gentiana calycosa)

Mountain Sorrel (Oxyria digyna)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 70

Alpine (Tundra)

• >3500 m (7000 ft)• Treeline to end of

vegetation• Cold, windy, snow or

bare, dry• Small, low-growing,

rapid growth• Arctic plants• No trees• Pika

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 71

Rocky Mountain Sheep

Geological mineral “salt lick”

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 72

Alpine - Moss campion (Silene acaulis)

Alpine

Alpine Buttercup (Ranunculus eschscholtzii)

Alpine Sawwort

(Saussurea densa)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 74

Alpine – Alpine Rock Jasmine(Androsace chamaejasme)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 75

Alpine – Shrubby Penstemon(Penstemon fruticsus)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 76

Alpine – King’s Crown(Rhodiola integrifolia)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 77

Spotted Saxifrage (Saxifraga bronchialis)

Mar 22/06 Sudbury Naturalists - A. Fyon 78

Red Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)

The EndAndy Fyon

info@ontariowildflower.com

www.ontariowildflower.com