August23_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

For my next trip I decided to do something closer to home: The Upper Mission Creek Greenway from East Kelowna Road into Gallaghers Canyon to the Layer Cake Mountain lookout.

Photos - Crawling around on blue Collimia Linearis (Narrow-leaved Collomia) blossoms is an energetic Pterourus Rutulus (Western Tiger Swallowtail). At this time of year there are many colorful butterflies out and about flitting from flower to flower, attempting to get by day to day with the business of surviving. I found this particular butterfly in a small field with Narrow-leaved Collomia in full blossom near the Phase Two Parking Lot beside East Kelowna Road in South Kelowna. Although the Tiger Swallowtail is fairly active and a bit skittish, I managed to snap a few close up shots of this beauty. The wings are very delicate so many of the butterflies have much wing damage, especially after a windy afternoon.

Photos - Mission Creek from the Cedars Footbridge over the creek. Looking east in frame left and looking west in frames right and center.

Photos - Frames left and right: Mission Creek trail over a very well made Cedars Bridge. This bridge is made of aluminum with wooden planking and will outlast many of the wooden bridges that have been built over creek and rivers throughout BC. This bridge is more expensive to install in the first place, but will save money over time.

Center frame: Heracleum Lanatum (Cow-parsnip, sometimes called Indian Celery) The plant has been used in past years as a fresh vegetable (by peeling the skin off the young stems and eating like celery) but caution must be observed as not to confuse this plant with Water Hemlock (poisonous) or Giant Hogweed (Causes acute Phototoxicity).

Click here for photos along Highway 3 near Osoyoos for this day.