NSRCF Guardianship Program Species Guide

FIRST DRAFT EDITION Contents:

Using this guide...... pg 3 Herbs: Goldthread...... pg. 4 Bloodroot...... pg. 5 Cleavers ...... pg. 6 Orchids ...... p. 7 Sage ...... p. 10 Sweetgrass ...... p. 11 Milkweed ...... p. 12 Shrubs: Low-bush cranberry...... p. 14 High-bush cranberry ...... p. 15 Mountain ash ...... p. 16 Showy mountain ash ...... p. 17 Trees: Cedar ...... p. 18 Birch ...... p. 19 Balm of gilead ...... p. 20

Printed in 2015.

All images by LL except for those on the following pages: americana (both), (flower), Galium aparine (the illustration and photo), Hierochloe hirta (illus- tration) and the photos on the two Viburnum pages. All of these images were taken from the wikipedia commons. Using this guide:

This guide is organized into three different groups which appear in the following order: herbs/grasses, shrubs, trees. Each page has one of three colours (green for herbs or grasses, yellow for shrubs, brown for trees) on the outer edge to tell which group the plant is in.

Amongst the groups the are organized according to their height, so that the book moves from the plants lowest to the forest floor up to the tallest trees.

Each entry gives ways for identifying the species at various stages throughout the year. Many entries also indicate spe- cies that are similar enough to be confused with the desired one.

Within the body of the text, some technical botanical words are printed in semibold. These words (will be) explained in a glossary provided at the back of this book. Goldthread: Coptis trifolia

Goldthread grows very low to the ground in cool, moist, acidic areas such as coniferous forests and spruce bogs.

A perennial, it returns each year in the same spot, forming dense patches.

Goldthread is named for its network of long thin yellow “roots” (rhizomes).

Each grows on a single stem, and is divided into three leaflets. The leaflets are dark green and glossy on top.

Each white flower grows on its own stem.

Goldthread often grows close to wood sorrel.

4 Bloodroot: Sanguinaria canadensis

Bloodroot is one of the first wildflowers to emerge in the spring. The single stem and flower first appear wrapped within a single leaf.

The white flowers have yellow centres that face towards the sky. There are usually 8 on each flower but can be up to 12. Each flower only lasts for about two days.

After the flowers disappear, the distinctive club-like grow to their full size, and can remain until autumn.

The lobbed-leaves of bloodroot are very distinctive. Only one leaf grows on each stem, and each stem grows out of the ground on its own. Bloodroot gets its name from its orange-red coloured sap. If unsure, you can beak off a stem look for the sap. Bloodroot is a perennial, so it will grow back from the same “root” (rhizome) system each year. If you saw it one year, it should be there again the following year. This also means that the plant tends to grow in groups. For most of the growing season you sould look for clusters of the distinctive leaves. Bloodroot is very sensitive to disturbance. 5 Cleavers: Galium aparine

Cleavers can grow very low to the ground, but can also climb on other plants.

Cleavers has square stems, which are covered in very fine bristles that make it feel sticky or scratchy and allow it to cling to other plants.

It has small white flowers with four petals, that appear from May to July.

After the flowers a nutlet forms, which is a small, fruit that looks like two balls joined together.

The leaves grow in whorls (circles) around the stem. Each leaf is composed of leaflets (usually 8, though sometimes fewer below the flowers or fruit).

Cleavers is one of several species in the genus Galium. These species can be very similar in appearance. Here are some ways to tell them apart:

Other species may not have any bristles or hairs on the stems, leaves or fruit.

Other species have only 4-6 leaflets. Look for 8 somewhere on the plant!

Other species may be free-standing, able to grow vertically without the support of other plants.

6 Orchids

The Orchids are a family of plants, which are most often thought of as having beautiful, fragrent flowers, and living in wet areas ike bogs.

While many orchids have unique and stunning flowers, the family is one of the two largest in the plant kingdom. With this great size comes a great diversity in forms of flowers as well as habitats of growth.

One family resemblance amongst all of the orchids are the parrallel veins on the leaves. In fact, this feature is common to all monocotyldons. In this section are compiled some of the orchids that might grow in the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve. They have been divided into those with large noticible flowers, such as the lady’s slippers, and those with small, more discrete flowers, such as the rattlesnake plantains. Note on the leaves of orchids: Orchids are in the group of plants known as monocotyledons (or monocots). This means that the veins on the leaves of orchids are parralel. Some plants only flower for a short time, though their leaves remain for much longer. Keeping an eye open for parralel veined leaves is one way of finding orchids when they are not in flower. However, there are other monocots common to the area that also have parralel veins. Two examples are given below: Canada mayflower (left) and bluebead lily (right).

7 Pink Lady’s Slipper: Cypripedium acaule

Pink lady’s slipper flowers in late May and June.

Each plant is composed of two basal leaves, from the centre of which emerges a long stem that bears a single flower.

Pink lady’s slipper, like many orchids, can only live on very acidic soil (between pH 4-5). They are often found in stands of coniferous trees.

After the flower withers, the leaves and stem remain, as well as the hood, that looks like a bird’s beak.

The seed pod forms under this hood, and later the whole stem, hood and pod turn brown.

8 Rattlesnake Plantain: Goodyera oblongifolia

Rattlesnake plantain is an orchid that is best recognized by its leaves rather than its flowers.

9 Sage: Anaphalis margaritacea

Sage, also known as pearly everlasting, likes a lot of sun and mostly grows in open areas in woodlands, or disturbed sites like road edges.

It usually grows close to the ground but can grow over 1m tall.

The plant has long, thin silvery, or grey-green leaves.

The flowers grow in a cluster at the end of the main stem called a The most dsitinctive part of them are the white , which appear to be petals, but are actually the protection for the smaller yellow florets that appear in their centre throughout the summer.

10 Sweetgrass: Hierochloe hirta

Sweetgrass grows close to water.

11 Common Milkweed: Asclepius syriaca Milkweed has a very structured appearance. The leaves are opposite to each other on the stem and each pair is perpindicular to the next one.

The flowers grow in globular (round) clusters. Each individual floret is pinkish purple and looks as though it was made out of wax.

Later in the year milkweed grows its distinctive seed pods, which eventually split in the fall, releasing silk covered seeds that float on the air.

The large leaves of milkweed look like feathers (pinnate); each has a very noticible pink vein running from the stem to the tip of the leaf, called a mid-rib.

The plant has a milky white latex flowing through it. Break off a leaf, a pod or part of the stem and you will see the sap.

Milkweed loves sun so should be looked for in open areas such as meadows or roadsides.

12 Swamp Milkweed: Asclepius incarnata This plant is a very close relative of common milkweed. They are in the same genus, called “Milkweed” or Asclepius.

As the name suggests, swamp milkweed prefers to grow with wet roots, near the shorelines of lakes, ponds, rivers and swamps.

Swamp milkweed’s flowers are darker purple than regular milkweed, and each individual floret is smaller in size.

Swamp milkweed also grows seed pods after it has finished flowering. They are smaller in size than the pods of regular milkweed.

The flower clusters grow off of axilliary stems, that grow from the joints (or axils) of the upper leaves and the main plant stem.

13 Low-Bush Cranberry: Viburnum edule

Low-bush cranberry or Mooseberry is a shrub; it has woody stems and drops its leaves in the fall, growing new ones each spring, but is not as big as a tree. Low-bush cranberry grows to around 2 metres tall.

Its leaves have three lobes, like a small maple leaf, and are hairy on the veins and underneath, but otherwise smooth ontop.

The flowers of low-bush cranberry are white and appear in June and early July.

After the flowers yellow to orange-red berries appear (July and August), sometimes lasting into the winter.

Low-bush cranberry likes to grow where its roots can get a lot of water: in damp woods, bogs, lakeshores and stream banks.

14 High-Bush Cranberry: Viburnum trilobum

High-bush cranberry is a close relative of low-bush cranberry. It is also a shrub but grows up to twice as tall (4 metres).

The bark of high-bush cranberry is smooth and grey, to brownish-grey.

The leaves are three lobed, and grow opposite of each other on the stem.

High-bush cranberry has white flowers that grow in flat clusters that appear in June and July. The florets at the centre are infertile and inconspicuous, while the florets around the edge are more noticible.

The fruit are orange- red berries that get redder as they ripen. The fruit appear after the flowers in August and September, but often last into the winter.

Like low-bush cranberry, high-bush cranberry likes damp areas, such as swamps and bogs and shores. It will aslo grow in cool, open woods and thickets.

15 Mountain Ash: Sorbus americana

Mountain ash is usually considered a shrub, because, with a top hieght of around 12 metres, it is shorter than most trees.

Mountain ash has distinctive flowers and berries that can help in identification. The flowers are clusters of many small white florets. They are open in June and July.

The bright orange-red berries of mountain ash come after the flowers have disappeared, in August and September (sometimes lasting into the winter).

Mountain ash leaves are compound and pinnate. This means that each leaf is made up of many small leaflets that grow along a single (stem). These leaflets are considered one leaf, because the whole petiole falls off of the tree in autumn.

Mountain ash leaves usually have 13-15 leaflets, but can range from 11-17.

Each leaflet is 3 to 5 times longer than it is wide.

The bark is thin, turning reddish brown. It is covered in lenticels.

Mountain ash is difficultly similar to Showy mountain ash, it’s close relative. For tips on telling the two apart see the page on showy mountain ash.

16 Showy Mountain Ash: Sorbus decora

Showy mountain ash is very similar to moutain ash. This page focuses on how showy mountain ash is different.

The flowers of showy mountain ash (June and July) are slightly larger than regular mountain ash, and so are the individual florets.

The bright orange-red berries (August and September) are slightly larger than those of regular mountain ash: 8-12mm across compared to 5-6mm.

Showy mountain ash leaves are also compound and pinate, but each leaflet is only 2 to 3 times longer than it is wide.

Showy mountain ash bark also has lenticels.

Leaves turn yellow in the fall.

17 Cedar: Thuja occidentalis

This distinctive evergreen coniferous tree is often closer in size to a shrub.

Cedar will only grow with lots of sun, so will not usually be found under a closed canopy. Often cedar forms its own dense stands.

It is also capable of growing on exposed rock such as cliff sides, or rocky shores. These trees are usually smaller in size and can live for many hundreds of years.

Cedar can also tolerate bogs and swamps, though these trees also tend to be smaller.

Cedar has a distinctive yellow-green colour that can sometimes be spotted from a distance. The cones are an even lighter green than the leaves when they are young, and turn brown with age. They form in clusters.

The bark of cedar grows in vertical strips, which are often loose or peeling.

18 Paper birch: Betula alba

Paper birch is much loved for its distinctive and useful bark, which peels off in sheets that look like paper. Paper birch needs lots of sunlight to grow. Look for it along the edges of water and roads, as well on rocky areas where other trees cannot grow large enough to block the sun. It will also grow in large stands, often mixed with poplar, where fires or clear-cuts have occured. The leaves are double toothed (serrated) and cordate (heart shaped) to ovate. From a distance the white bark of paper (otherwise known as white) birch, can be easily confused with the white bark of younger trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides). The two trees are sun lovers and so often grow close together. Two tricks to distinguish between them from a distance: 1) look up to the top of the canopy; do the leaves move in the wind all togehter, or do individual leaves seem to dance, and flicker in the sunlight? Trembling aspen leaves each spin on their own stem (petiole) making the top of the tree shimmer even in gentle breezes. 2) look down to the bottom of the trunk; trembling aspen bark begins to turn dark grey, with deep fissures when it gets older. This process begins from the bottom up. If you still can’t tell, get closer!

Right: Bottom of trembling aspen trunk 19 Balm of gilead: Populus balsamifera

Balm of gilead, black poplar and balsam poplar are three names for the same tree.

This tree loves sun, and is what foresters call early successional, meaning that it grows only in open areas where there has been a recent disturbance that removes any shade, like fire.

Balm of gilead, like trembling aspen, is a member of the genus Populus, meaning they are very close relatives, and this is also why we sometimes refer to them both as “poplars”.

Like trembling aspen, balm of gilead can be recognized in part by its leaves, which appear to shimmer in the breeze. This happens because the top of each ovate leaf is dark, shiny green, while the bottom is very light green, and because each leaf is on a very long petiole (stem) allowing for a greater range of motion.

The leaves of balm of gilead are larger and more elongated than trembling aspen, as well as a darker green on top. The leaves turn yelllow in the fall.

The bark of balm of gilead is grey and smooth on young trees, becoming yellowish-grey with age. The bark also cracks with age, forming grey, vertical ridges that begin at the bottom of the trunk.

Balm of gilead prefers to grown on moist, but well-drained soils.

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