While out at Schooner Cove last week I decided to check out the small sand dunes for a number of dune plants. It was here at the top of the beach that I found two species of Searocket (Cakile sp.) as well as some interesting Silver Burweed (Ambrosia chamissonis) which show some variation in leaf shape.

Records of yellow listed Dune Tansy (Tanacetum bipinnatum ssp. huronense) show that it occurs at Schooner Cove. As I walked back toward my vehicle at the Incinerator Rock parking lot, I kept an eye open for its yellow flowers and somewhat yarrow-like leaves.

Localized to Schooner Cove?

On a previous visit back in 2006 I had found a couple of plants but there seemed to be more in bloom this year. It was common along the shoreline from Schooner Cove well around to the beginning of Long Beach. I haven’t seen this plant elsewhere in the Long Beach Unit of Pacific Rim National Park and it would be interesting to know if it does grow in other locations.

Dune Tansy is a beautiful plant and has a lovely aroma of camphor. When the leaves are crushed, the scent is especially noticeable. The leaves are delicate and fern-like, intricately divided. The yellow flowers are disc-like but have an outer ring of ray flowers. This serves to distinguish  it from the superficially similar Common Tansy (T. vulgare). For those interested in comparing the two plants, A Tale of Two Tansies gives an overview of the similarities and differences.

It was great to revisit this vulnerable plant and to see it doing so well at Schooner Cove. I’m definitely going to look for it elsewhere in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.