March, 2016 Plant hunt summary

March marks the 10th year anniversary of our first flowering date record collected on March 26, 2006 for White Elm (Ulmus americana).  Over this time, over 55 surveyors have recorded plants across 15,451 ha of natural areas assessing 2524 Ecological Land Classification polygons on 36 environmental projects.  Since 2006 patterns in plant rarity have emerged with some interesting trends.  These will be highlighted at talk on "The State of Elgin County's Wild Plants in the 21st Century: Patterns and Trends in Rarity, Abundance and Distribution" for the Otter Valley Naturalists scheduled for May 9, 2016 at the Vienna Community Centre in Vienna, Ontario.

A few warmer days in March gave spring a jump start with some plants blooming a few weeks earlier than average.  Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) began flowering on March 9.  This is consistent with the onset of blooming in 2012, which was one of the warmest springs recorded during our 10 year sojourn conducting plant surveys.  Cold spells, however, delayed flowering resulting in plants blooming during their normal periods.

An early record of regionally rare (R2 in the Carolinian forest region - source: EARTHQUEST Plants of Ontario database) American Hazel (Corylus americana) was observed on March 24, 2016 in Norfolk county.

Photo: Dave Jolly

The earliest record for this species was recorded on March 20, 2012.  Note the 3 lobed calyx - indicative of Corylus and Betula genera within the Birch/Betulaceae family.

A total of 19 species were recorded among 5 counties in southern Ontario.  This did not beat the March, 2012 total of 80 species, but did beat all other previous years.

To view the March plant hunt summary please visit our website;

http://www.earthquestcanada.ca/March2016summary.pdf