shanebustapbj's Favorites

A new disjunct apparently, as the previously furthest south disjunct in B.C. was known from the Itcha range much further north in the Chilcotin. Found in a ~small area on the Dil-Dil plateau between Big Creek and Vic Lake. See the eflora entry here: https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Saxifraga%20flagellaris.

H 100
Petal 10 lgth
C across 15
Sepals 5
Lf up stem 5 total
B lf 10 mm
C lf 12
Stolons

Tentative ID. Located based on specimen records from the area (quite likely the exact same rock from 2011).

Current taxonomy looks to split the western plants as P. sibiricum, from P. virginianum in the east.

Upright form looks to match sibiricum/virginianum, quite unlike hesperium that I have seen further south in BC, although I'm not seeing any of the fieldmarks from the key that would seperate it as such.

Abundant at base of shaded rock outcrop, just barely visible through the trees from the road, about a 50m bushwack in relatively easy terrain.

1.5km north of the main road to the WAC Bennett Dam, at the base of Bullhead Mtn.

Gametophytes, previously reported from this stump. Far smaller than I realized!

Step 1: Consult the iNat app from Port Alberni to confirm the location in a last-second plan before driving to Kennedy Lake.
Step 2: Walk the access road, find a small trail in the right area, and walk until my location dot on the iNat map matches the middle of the cluster of sightings.
Step 3: Spend at least 10 minutes searching the nearby forest for a stump matching the ones in the photos.
Step 4: After finding the right stump, spend another solid 10 minutes in miniature world searching the stump for the ferns, including going back to the photos several times for every clue I could find!

I thought I was looking for something larger, but the biggest ones were only about 2mm in size. Even more fun than Botrychium searches ;-) And I must say, I only saw them through the iPhone lens/screen, as they were too small to really see unassisted.

Now that I've seen them once (with all this tech help), hopefully I can find more!

This observation collected under a BC Parks permit to visit Woodley Range Ecological Reserve. Note that this Ecological Reserve is closed to the public: research is conducted via permit. (https://bcparks.ca/eco_reserve/woodley_er.html)