June30_2011

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Photos - L-R - Pretty purple blossoms of the Lupinus Polyphyllus (Large Leaved Lupine) flower spikes in Rotary Park at the edge of Brandt's Creek Estuary. This familiar perennial herb has palmately compound leaves with 10 to 17 leaflets, blue to violet, pea-like flowers in dense clusters on an erect spike. This plant likes moist to wet, open habitats and disturbed sites in low to middle elevations. Mutations can occur spontaneously in populations of organisms, or induced artificially via chemicals or radiation. White-flowered mutants are relatively common in flowers with anthocyanin pigmens (such as blue-eyed Mary or Lupines) but are more rare in yellow flowered plants.

White Robina Pseudacacia (Black Locust) blossoms against a blue sky background. Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known as the Black Locust, is a tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas. A less frequently used common name is False Acacia, which is a literal translation of the specific epithet. It was introduced into Britain in 1636. With a trunk up to 0.8 m diameter (exceptionally up to 52 m tall and 1.6 m diameter in very old trees), with thick, deeply furrowed blackish bark. The leaves are 10–25 cm long, pinnate with 9–19 oval leaflets, 2–5 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad. Each leaf usually has a pair of short thorns at the base, 1–2 mm long or absent on adult crown shoots, up to 2 cm long on vigorous young plants. The intensely fragrant (reminiscent of orange blossoms) flowers are white, borne in pendulous racemes 8–20 cm long, and are considered edible (dipped in batter; deep-fried). The fruit is a legume 5–10 cm long, containing 4–10 seeds.

Although similar in general appearance to the honey locust, it lacks that tree's characteristic long branched spines on the trunk, instead having the pairs of short thorns at the base of each leaf; the leaflets are also much broader.

Rhapsody Sculpture in Waterfront Park Plaza sculpted by Robert Dow Reid in 1993. This is a monumental Fiberglass sculpture of dolphins at play in a large fountain. The sculpture and plaza was a joint project between the developer of the Grand Okanagan Hotel and the City.

Photos - Frames left and right: My next little day trip is out along Mission Creek Greenway to follow Mission Creek to the east into Scenic Canyon Park (Gallagher's Canyon) to view Layer Cake Hill and Pinnacle Rock. Cycling past the Environmental Center I noticed this Marmota Flaviventris (Yellow Bellied Marmot) lounging upon the shady rocks next to the dyke trail. This is an adult keeping a close eye on a young pup close by - I briefly glimpsed the youngling as it poked its head out from between the rocks in front of its den. The yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris), also known as the rock chuck, is a ground squirrel in the marmot genus. The yellow-bellied marmot lives in the western United States and southwestern Canada, including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. It inhabits steppes, meadows, talus fields and other open habitats, sometimes on the edge of deciduous or coniferous forests, and typically above 6,500 feet (2,000 m) of elevation. Marmots reproduce when about two years old, and may live up to an age of fifteen years. They reside in colonies of about ten to twenty individuals. Each male marmot digs a burrow soon after he wakes up from hibernation. He then starts looking for females, and by summer may have up to four female mates living with him. Litters usually average three to five offspring per female. Marmots have a "harem-polygynous" mating system in which the male defends two or three mates at the same time.

Center frame: Medicago Lupulina (Black Medic, sometimes spelled Medick or Meddick; aka Black Hay, Black Nonsuch, Blackweed, etc.) is a summer annual or perennial plant usually considered a weed. It has a tap root. Like other legumes, it has three leaflets; its center leaflet is on a separate petiole. As with other legumes, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, known as rhizobia, are found in nodules on the roots. Medicago lupulina is an annual or bi-annual plant, sometimes long-lived thanks to adventitious buds on the roots. The plant measures from 15 to 60 cm in height, with fine stems often lying flat at the beginning of growth and later erecting. The nodes bear three leaves, carried by a long petiole and have oval leaflets, partially toothed towards the tip. This species has very small yellow flowers are grouped in tight bunches. The fruit is a pod that does not open upon maturation, of a little arched form and bearing a single seed.

Photos - L-R - Looking west along Mission Creek from Kokanee Bridge near the Greenway Environmental Center.

Gerstmar Park near Hollywood Substation - part of the series of small community parks along the Mission Creek Greenway.

Looking east along the Mission Creek Greenway dyke trail toward Scenic Canyon Park.

Click here for more photos of Kelowna for this day.