On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
Plants
Sea Cauliflower (Leathesia marina) seems to be a relatively easy to identify seaweed with relatively thick flesh growing in lumpy masses. It was abundant at John Brown’s beach early this summer, though I’ve not been familiar with it long enough to have a sense of how common it is more generally in the area. The … Read more
While at John Brown’s Beach during a recent low tide series, I noticed a distinct contrast between the new addition to the breakwater and that which had been there a while. I guess I am not surprised that there are differences, but it was interesting to see just how easy it was to see them. … Read more
Sometimes the black line of black band lichen (Verrucaria maura) is described as a bathtub ring when rocky shores are viewed from a distance. A trip to John Brown’s Beach this past spring was the first time I had noticed such a narrow distinct band around the edge of a pool in the rocks. The … Read more
On a late May walk around Totem Park, I noticed several small hemlocks (Tsuga heterophylla) with many yellowed needles. They all seemed to be showing a similar pattern of yellowing, with the needles near the ends of the branches remaining green, while those closer to the main stem were yellowed. It seemed that the ones … Read more
I have no idea how many times I’ve walked the trail along the river at Totem Park over the past several years. I’m sure it’s probably well over one hundred, but for some reason it wasn’t until one such walk earlier this year that I noticed a maple tree growing there. Introduced maples are fairly … Read more
Over the years, I’ve noticed that even though sometimes cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) plants are common in a muskeg, there might not always be any fruit. At some point along the way I learned that male and female flowers are on separate plants, and the reason some places had plants but no fruit is that all … Read more