Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society

Monday April 23, 2018: AGM and Sean Blaney on an Arctic Flora Paradise in the Cape Breton Highlands

Posted on April 7, 2018 by admin

Monday April 23, 2018
AGM and Sean Blaney on an Arctic Flora Paradise in the Cape Breton Highlands
Following our short Annual General Meeting, our speaker will be Sean Blaney of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre. Sean will present the results of their 2017 fieldwork in the Cape Breton Highlands of the national park.
View More on the Programme Page.

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Saturday, March 24, 2018: “Come celebrate the Municipality of Chester’s newest green space at Castle Rock”

Posted on March 22, 2018 by admin

View Poster for details

“Castle Rock in East River is the Municipality of Chester’s newest public open space. Previously private property, it was sold to the Municipality along with another, smaller parcel so the public could enjoy the popular spot overlooking the Mahone Bay. We are hosting a guide hike! Please join us on March 24, 2018 for a tour of the picturesque location. Hike, Bike and ATV to the heights of East River with panoramic views. Trails are now marked. Guided hikes will depart the trail head every 30 minutes beginning at 10:00am. The last group will head up the hill at 2:00pm.” View Poster

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Mon March 26, 2018: Biodiversity of Nova Scotia’s Barrens: Not so Barren After All

Posted on March 3, 2018 by admin

If you ever enjoyed a walk out at Peggys Cove, Taylor Head, Duncan’s Cove or the Skyline trail in Cape Breton Highlands national park, this talk is for you.

As well as being iconic landscapes, barrens contribute an important and historically overlooked part of Nova Scotia’s natural history. These distinctive ecosystems are characterized by some of the harshest conditions in the maritime provinces, but they host a great diversity of plants and lichens, produce many edible berries, and provide habitat for a handful of species that aren’t found elsewhere in the maritimes.

This talk discusses current and ongoing research to describe plant communities on the barrens, mapping the way plant communities are arranged on the barrens, and understand the diversity of plants, lichens and bee pollinators that live there.

A presentation to Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society by Biology Professor Dr. Jeremy Lundholm, PhD student Emily Walker, and research associate Caitlin Porter of the Ecology of Plants in Communities (EPIC) Lab, Saint Mary’s University.

All welcome. 7:30 pm at the Museum of Natural History, Summer Street, Halifax.

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Sunday February 11, 2018 Lichen Walk

Posted on February 8, 2018 by admin

The fascinating and beautiful microcosm of lichens can be explored all year round. Lichens are not plants, not fungus, not moss, and not parasites. Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga. Join us for a lichen walk lead by Bob McDonald along some of the trails in Mainland Common Park. Details on Programme Page

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Mon Feb 26, 2018: Hunting for the Disjunct Populations of Flora in Nova Scotia

Posted on February 7, 2018 by admin

Thread-leaved sundew.
Photo by Bob Kennedy
View COSEWIC doc

Nova Scotia is particularly blessed with many small and unique communities of plants. Most of them are relics of different times in our natural history since glaciation. Many are unknown anywhere else in Canada. These small and isolated populations sometimes date back to the arctic and alpine plant life that dominated as the glaciers retreated, while others were stranded over a thousand miles away from their relatives to the south when warmer times cooled or the sea level rose. Some are fairly recent arrivals. Together, these populations form a record of the many climatic, geological and environmental changes that have been experienced here over the past 12,000 years and are still happening now.

On Mon Feb 26, 2018, NSWFS member Bob Kennedy will show some pictures of his explorations with the NS Wild Flora Society last spring and summer to some of the best locations in South-West Nova Scotia. Please join us and contribute to the discussion.

7:30 pm at the NS Museum of Natural History on Summer Street. Come in by the side entrance.

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An explanation for the “Acadian Forest Love Affair”

Posted on January 28, 2018 by admin

Participants in our October field trip to the old forest by Sandy Lake (Bedford, NS) will recall the embrace of a yellow birch and a hemlock. It was hard to see it as totally accidental. A little literature research suggests that indeed, it isn’t.

I first viewed this intimate association on the summer solstice (2017): a pair of yellow birch and hemlock seemed to be growing from the same base (photo at top left) their trunks ascending to the skies in tandem. I immediately thought of it as an “Acadian Forest Love Affair”.

Subsequently, with my eyes open to this forest affair, I viewed a half dozen or more other such couples.
Read more

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Please help protect West Mabou Beach Provincial Park

Posted on January 22, 2018 by admin

West Mabou Beach Provincial Park is under threat of partial development in the form of a golf course.

View Fight brewing over potential golf course in Mabou area
CBC, Jan 1, 2018

The West Mabou Beach Committee is asking wild flora enthusiasts to help them in their efforts to protect the park:

“You may or may not be aware that the beautiful West Mabou Beach Provincial Park is under threat, once again. Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources has been in discussions with Cabot Links/Cabot Cliffs owner to development 18-hole golf course at West Mabou Beach Provincial Park.

“We feel that any attempt to compromise any part of this park with any type of development is unacceptable. We ask for your support in getting the word out on how important this park is to all of us and why it must remain, in its entirety, a provincial park.
Continue reading →

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Monday Jan 22, 2018: Members’ slide night

Posted on January 9, 2018 by admin

January 22^nd marks the first meeting in 2018 with members’ slide night. Members will receive an e-mail about how to proceed if you to participate as a presenter.

Slide night is always a fun evening as we learn about members’ special places, new finds and mystery plants.

All welcome. 7:30 pm at the Museum of Natural History, Summer Street, Halifax.

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Canada Rock Rose topic of BNS meeting in Wolfville, Oct 16, 2017

Posted on October 12, 2017 by admin

Canada rockrose, Crocanthemum_canadense
Source: Wikimedia

From the Blomidon Naturalists Society:

The Blomidon Naturalists Society will hold its regular October meeting on Monday, October 16 at 7:30 PM in Room BAC241 of the Beveridge Arts Centre, Acadia University, Wolfville.

The Blomidon Naturalists Society will be joining the Valley Gardeners Club for their annual joint meeting. The topic this month will be the Canada Rock Rose/Canada frostweed (Crocanthemum canadense), a species at risk in Nova Scotia. New work from researchers at Acadia, have uncovered the fascinating relationship between the rockrose and an insect larvae that results in pollination. This past summer, the research team at Acadia completed field work in the northeastern United States to determine whether this phenomena extends throughout the population. Join us to learn more about this fascinating plant and the results from the 2017 field season.

The meeting is open to the public.

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Oct 14, 2017: Acadian Forest Walk

Posted on September 29, 2017 by admin

Acadian forest walk.
The area of Sandy Lake/Jack Lake/Marsh Lake in Bedford supports some magnificent sweeps of mixed, multi-aged Acadian forest. David Patriquin will lead a walk to view several Old Growth stands. The basic walk will take about 2.5 hours, not difficult but slow-going in a few spots. There is a limit of 30 participants. To register, send an e-mail to nswildflora@yahoo.ca; please put SANDY LAKE FOREST WALK in the subject line. NSWFS members will be given priority until Friday October 6th, then non-members will be accepted as space allows, but non-members can send in a request to participate earlier. Information on where to meet will be forwarded once registration is confirmed.