View ‘Not just weeds’: how rebel botanists are using graffiti to name forgotten flora
In the Guardian, May 1, 2020.
A rising international force of rebel botanists armed with chalk has taken up street graffiti to highlight the names and importance of the diverse but downtrodden flora growing in the cracks of paths and walls in towns and cities across Europe.
Also view their Wild Cities page.
I guess this is a next step from Guerilla Gardening!
While we may not be able to get out this year due to social isolation, Charlie Cron has sent us some pictures from last year of what we are missing…
Broom Crowberry – Corema conradii – Early April 2019
Coltsfoot – Tussilago farfara – Early April 2019
Dr. Sean Haughian, Botany Curator of the Nova Scotia Museum has kindly made some of the museum’s archived materials on Bryophytes and Lichens available to us. PDF files can be found here for Bryophytes and Lichens and web site links can be found at here for Bryophytes & Lichens
I guess it’s a toss-up between Skunk Cabbage and Dwarf Eastern Mistletoe
Above: Skunk Cabbage Mar 30, 2008, St. Mary’s Bay area, Digby Co. Left: Spathes emerging from snow. Right: spadix (flower clusters) exposed.
Below:Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe, Mar 28, 2020; at right, opened up. These photos by Bob Guscott
Click on image for larger version
I thought the answer was skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, which I thought is found naturally only in SW Nova Scotia but, according to Nova Scotia Plants, also occurs in Cumberland Co.
The skunk cabbage pics at right were taken during a NS Wild Flora Society outing in 2009, led by our President, Charlie Cron, who travels to SW Nova Scotia most springs to check it out.
I made a post about it on Facebook and soon got a message from Bob Guscott, retired forest pest specialist with DNR (now L&F), one of his obsessions being the ecology of mistletoe in NS.
Said Bob:
“Saw your FB post today on Skunk Cabbage. I have not seen it in Nova Scotia yet, but always thought that it was a candidate for first native plant to flower. The other candidate for first to flower in NS is Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe, Arceuthobium pusillum.
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The Museum of Natural History is now closed as a precaution to the spread of COVID-19. We will be postponing all future meetings and field trips until we hear that circumstances have changed.
Meeting was cancelled yesterday by the Dept of Lands and Forestry
Bob Kennedy had the opportunity to briefly visit Northern Europe this past summer. He became fascinated by the few plants which were native to both Europe and Nova Scotia and the many more that were similar, yet different species. Bob will take you through his explorations in the Black Forest, Grindewald in the Swiss Alps and Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
While in Sweden, Bob also had the opportunity to visit the Linnaean Botanical Garden in Uppsala. Bob will introduce us to Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, at the location he did much of his work.
The following letter was emailed by the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society to the people listed below on January 30, 2020
Attn: Premier Stephen McNeil; Honourable Iain Rankin, Minister of Lands and Forestry; Honourable Gordon Wilson, Minister of the Environment; Tim Houston, Progressive Conservative Opposition Leader; Gary Burrill, Leader of the NDP; Sean Fraser, Central Nova Member of Parliament; Kevin Murphy, Eastern Shore Member of the Legislative Assembly; Thomas Trappenberg, Leader of the Green Party:
We of the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society are writing to express our concern with the de-listing of Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve and proposed golf course development on these public lands. The Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation and conservation of wild flora and habitat in Nova Scotia.
Owls Head is a provincial treasure that must be protected for the benefit of future generations. The coastal barrens at Owls Head support globally rare Broom Crowberry heathlands. This plant community is found nowhere else in Canada. The species Broom Crowberry can only be found in northeastern North America, where it is rare to all provinces and states outside of Nova Scotia. Like our provincial tree the Red Spruce or the Nova Scotia Mayflower, Broom Crowberry is an important emblem of our province’s natural history.
Owls Head also supports extensive bog wetlands, which the government of Nova Scotia is committed to protect under the Nova Scotia Wetland Conservation Policy. These wetlands are biodiverse and contribute important ecosystem services including maintaining watershed health. The wetlands, ponds, lakes, and marine environment associated with Owls Head would be adversely affected by a golf course development. Data that we have collected at similar sites in the province show deterioration of water quality in surface runoff with the removal of barrens vegetation. We urge the province to follow through on commitments of the Nova Scotia Wetland Conservation Policy by not permitting a golf course development at Owls head.
We urge the province to follow through also on its commitments to protect Owls Head as part of Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan. Owls Head has been considered a Provincial Park Reserve for decades, enabling generations of Nova Scotians to kayak and hike within its boundaries. A golf course development at Owls Head removes accessibility to organizations like ours and to the greater public. A golf course development at Owls Head removes its valuable contribution to the greater Eastern Shore Islands Wilderness Area and the 100 Wild Islands Conservation Campaign.
In the greater interest of Nova Scotians, we of the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society ask you to:
1) please re-instate and make legal Owls Heads protected areas status and,
2) stop the land sale of Owls Head, reject the proposal to destroy this conservation gem for the purposes of a privately-owned golf course.
Sincerely,
Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society
c/o Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
1747 Summer Street
Halifax NS B3H 3A6
nswildflora.ca
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Please see the About Us page for contact addresses.
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