BOTANY BC 2016

Curious botanist, birders, and naturalist got together in the Churn Creek Protected Area and Marble Ridge parks in southeast BC June 16-19th for their 30th anniversary. In this case, BOTANY stands for Botanically Organized To Accomplish Nothing Yearly. It is a time when Botanist let their hair down and enjoy the flowers and take it all in.

Churn Creek Protected Area “includes some of British Columbia’s rarest ecosystems – low, middle, and high elevation bunchgrass grasslands” and where the group was able to see the rare, and red-listed species Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, river bulrush found only in “marshes, streamsides, and lakeshores in the lowland and steppe zones; rare in southwest and south-central BC, known only from Osoyoos Lake and Hesquiat on Vancouver Island.”

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Walking towards the dry lake (Churn Creek Protected Area) | Photo: Ian Cumming

 

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Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, river bulrush | Photo: Creative Commons, June 2016.

 

We also visited Marble Range Provincial Park, known for the “limestone karst formations that can be accessed and viewed from high in the alpine.” We hiked Porcupine Creek Trail up to the top of a beautiful Lime Ridge, with an astounding number of beautiful plants blooming throughout the very up-hill walk.

Saxifraga occidentalis, western Saxifrage

Saxifraga occidentalis, western Saxifrage

If you have never had a chance to visit these two spectacular areas, I suggest you do, as BC has so many beautiful and biologically diverse areas that are waiting to be explored.

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Clematis occidentalis, blue clematis | Photo: Ian Cumming