A windy afternoon at Point Holmes, but nice to get some fresh air and look for nature abstracts in the strand line. Today there was plenty of eelgrass (Zostera marina) washed up on the sand and cobble but most of it was tangled and damaged from being tossed ashore in the waves. The blades of eelgrass were interesting and with …
Grass
Learning about Ligules
I’m out on the west coast of Vancouver Island this weekend finding out more about Parks Canada’s dune restoration program in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. European Beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria) creates a wall at the edge of the dunes that prevents sand movement. Sand dunes up and down the west coast of North America are being choked with introduced grasses, …
Grass Workshop at the Courtenay Airpark
A couple of Fridays ago I had the opportunity to join an impromptu grass workshop led by Dr. Brian Wikeem at the Courtenay Airpark. The Comox Valley Naturalists Society has an ongoing restoration/invasive plant removal project at Airpark and Dr. Wikeem had volunteered to help us try to identify some of the 75+ species of grass growing there. I should …