Last weekend I collected some mushrooms and made some spore prints. We were lucky to identify a few reasonably conclusively. Today I’m going to introduce you to some of the mushrooms that we struggled to identify. Even though I can’t tell you what these mushrooms are I think that you’ll enjoy them as much as we did! Having a hand …
Natural History
Searching for the Robust Lancetooth
We’ve been keeping an eye out for some of the bigger snails during our forest walks this week. They’re much easier to identify than some of the smaller ones that we’ve discovered underneath paving stones and wood. This week we found the shell of a Robust Lancetooth (Haplotrema vancouverense). The robust lancetooth is a fairly common large snail in deciduous …
Banded Woolly Bear Predicts Mild Winter
Is it going to be a mild winter this year in British Columbia? You be the judge. According to some, if the orange band in the middle of a banded woolly bear (Pyrrharctia isabella) is wider than the black bands on the ends of the caterpillar it will be a mild winter. The opposite is the case if the orange …
Black Spots on Bigleaf Maple Leaves
Bigleaf Maple | Acer macrophyllum It’s that time of year when the Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) leaves are changing colour and falling to the ground. I’ve always noticed the small, circular imperfections on maple leaves at this time of year and have wondered what they were. On the weekend I took a walk in Miracle Beach Provincial Park with my …
A Tale of Two Tansies
Common Tansy | Tanacetum vulgare Common Tansy Up at Paradise Meadows today I had the (unfortunate?) opportunity to photograph some common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) growing along the roadside. Common tansy is an invasive perennial that grows in disturbed places, road edges and stream banks. WeedsBC reports that the common tansy is problematic especially in areas like interior BC so it …
Cow Parsnip Seeds
Cow Parsnip | Heracleum maximum While out on a family walk at Rosewall Creek Provincial Park south of Fanny Bay on Vancouver Island we discovered a small patch of Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum). Use caution with this plant due to the furanocoumarins in the outer skin. This can cause skin irritation when handled by people who are sensitive to light. …