Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society

Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe Male Staminate Flowers  – Photo by Bob Guscott

Bob Guscott will be giving a talk on the identification, biology, distribution and ecology of Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe at our member’s Zoom meeting on March 28. Bob is retired after 30 years with the Nova Scotia Dept. of Natural Resources as a Chief Technician and GIS Analyst. He lives in Wellington and remains an active volunteer and a keen naturalist

Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe Arceuthobium pusillum, is a little known and often overlooked, native, parasitic plant. It is found primarily on spruce trees throughout Nova Scotia, often along the coasts and in treed bogs. It is tiny but it can have a huge impact on the health of spruce forests in Nova Scotia.

NSWFS Members will be receiving email invitations to the Zoom meeting in a few days.

There will be a members Zoom meeting on Feb 28 at 7:00PM. All NSWFS members should have recently received an email invitation. Please contact Anne Mills ocotillo8@gmail.com if you did not.

Mary Kennedy will provide us with an introduction to both iNaturalist and the City Nature Challenge. Learn how to join the iNat community, contribute to a global citizen science program, and help highlight wild flora found here in NS.

As part of this presentation you will learn how to explore content, how to create your own account, how to share observations (old and new), and how to comment on observations shared by others. Learn how to contribute to projects and how to provide feedback on how to improve content associated with wild flora.

The second part of the presentation will be ‘hands on’. Members can learn how to create their own profile on iNat and practice uploading and reviewing observations. In preparation please have handy a number of photos of wild flora from known locations.

There will be plenty of time to discuss issues, to share feedback, and to exchange ideas.

iNaturalist is a recognized citizen science program. iNaturalist Canada is led by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) along with Parks Canada, NatureServe Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which collectively make up the iNaturalist Canada Steering Committee. The platform is managed by the steering committee in collaboration with iNaturalist.org which is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

The primary objective of iNaturalist is to help people connect with Nature.

In 2019 to help introduce iNat to Nova Scotians HRM was registered to participate in the global City Nature Challenge. The following year three areas in NS were registered. In 2022 HRM, CBRM, and the Valley (Kings and Annapolis Counties) are once again registered to participate. This 4-day event is an excellent opportunity to encourage people to get outdoors, to explore, to observe nature, to share observations, and to have fun.

Prior to the 2022 CNC event local groups such as the NSWFS are encouraged to browse and review existing observations and provide feedback on ways to improve content. A quick review filtered for plants with locations in Nova Scotia shows 207,712 observations of 2,633 species from 7509 observers. Over 3000 members helped suggest names for these observations.