Talk and Walk on Asters and Goldenrods of Ontario

Set your schedule to come and join author Dave Jolly as he delivers a presentation and hike on asters and goldenrods.

The talk is scheduled for 7:30 pm on Friday October 5, 2018 at the Knox Presbyterian Church at 55 Hincks Street in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.  The St. Thomas Field Naturalists.  Mr. Jolly will provide the key visual traits that distinguish the plants based on flower color, leaf shape, venation, flowerhead arrangement and habitat.  Some of Ontario's rarest asters and goldenrods will also be discussed.  Maps, photos of plants during all stages from spring, summer, fall and winter will sure to delight the avid aster and goldenrod enthusiast.

Available for purchase will be a photo field guide to the asters and goldenrods of Ontario.

The cost of this book is $35.00.  Proceeds will be donated to the St. Thomas Field Naturalists, Otter Valley Naturalists and the publication of an updated book on the Plants of Elgin county in honor of the late Bill Stewart (the original author of the first publication printed by the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority in 1969) and Dave's wife Jan Barnett-Jolly who passed away on August 16, 2018.  Jan always accompanied Dave on his sojourns to document the asters and goldenrods in Ontario.

The talk will be also be dedicated to Jan followed by a guided hike in her memory to Port Burwell Provincial Park in search of asters and goldenrods on Saturday October 6, 2018 at 10:00 am.  The rendezvous point for the hike will be at the Park administration office located at 9 Wilson Lane in Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada.

If you're interested in purchasing the book, or attending the talk and walk please contact Dave at EARTHQUEST.

Tel: 226-926-1470,
Email: earthquestcanada@yahoo.com

Field Botanists of Ontario hike to Port Burwell Provincial Park

On Sunday August 12 Dave Jolly led a Field Botanists of Ontario (FBO) hike through Port Burwell Provincial Park.  The hike started with an orientation and introduction to the Park, ecological studies performed to data, history and information about the Discovery Park by Park staff.  This was followed by a stroll through the Carolinian forest on Ravine Trail in search of examples of vascular plants recorded during the 2016 Ecological Land Classification (ELC) and vegetation survey work.

Photo: Dave Jolly

Plants observed included typical deciduous forest species such as Spotted St. Johnswort (Hypericum punctatum), Great Lobelia (Lobelia silphilatica), Agrimony (Agrimonia grypyosepela), Blue-stemmed x Canada Goldenrod (Solidago caesia x canadensis) and several sedge species - new to the Park such as Swan's Sedge (Carex swanii), Eastern Rough Sedge (Carex scabrata) and Slender Beakrush (Rhynchospora capillacea) were discovered courtesy of Will Van Hemessen and Rivka Schachak

Swan's Sedge inflorescence (Photo: Dave Jolly)

Venturing to the sand dune community the group marveled at the inconspicuous and easily overlooked emerging Hooker's Bugseed

Hooker's Bugseed (Photo: Dave Jolly)

A total of 26 new vascular plant species were added to the updated master plant list for the Park. This list of 464 taxa breaking down to 450 species (4 varieties, 5 hybrids and 5 sub-species).  Of these, the Park now boosts three Species at Risk (SAR), 5 provincially rare (i.e., species of conservation concern), 21 regionally rare (within the Carolinian forest region) and 30 locally rare (within Elgin county).  The official list was passed onto Park staff and the Discovery Program coordinator for Ontario Parks with the goal of publishing a pamphlet for Park patrons courtesy of EARTHQUEST (Canada) for the Environment.

April 2018 plant hunt summary

Entering our 12th season collecting data for the master EARTHQUEST plant database with 112,000 records the first plant of the season was a Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) recorded flowering on February 1st.

Skunk Cabbage

Photo: Dave Jolly

April was a long, cold, and lingering month for the flora of Ontario.  We had the coldest April since the master database began in 2006.  The spring was delayed by two weeks in most areas with only 33 species recorded across 16 counties and municipalities of Ontario.

With the addition of 4 new plants for Renfew county the amount of coverage for this municipality is slowly rising.

The rarest plant was Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa) observed on April 22, 2018 in Elgin county - approximately 2.5 weeks behind the onset of the normal flowering period.  No insect pollinators were observed visiting this plant.

To view the April summary report please go to April plant summary.

Talk on Ontario's Orchids at Vienna Community Centre

Orchids are among the most beautiful and fragile flowers on the planet.  They range in size from the largest - the Queen of Orchids (Grammatophyllum speciosum) at a staggering 5.5 m in height to the smallest - measuring 0.5 mm, discovered in Brazil in 2015 - known as Campylocentrum insulare.  

Over 30,000 species exist in the world.

In Ontario there are over 50 species, most of these reside within the Bruce peninsula.  My personal favourite is Ram's-head Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium arientinum), which favours sandy sites among pines.

Photo: Dave Jolly

If you're interested in learning more about these fascinating plants plan on attending my talk for the Otter Valley Naturalists on Monday February 12, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Vienna Community Centre in Vienna, Ontario.