Botany Lesson in the Forest

Murdoch showing off a horsetail

This morning I attended a botany walk at Pacific Spirit Park which started at the park's headquarters, just near the beginning of the 16th Avenue highway. About a dozen of us joined the stroll led by naturalist Dave Murdoch. He's a retired school teacher and admitted right away that he was not a botanist, but taught geography and has done some research on native plants in the forest.

The park on 16th Avenue is not one I have been to so it was nice to explore another part of the forest (sliced up by the highway).

Flowering thimbleberries

Murdoch walked along with two walking poles, which meant the walk would not be too arduous, though most of the participants were keen walkers.

As we wandered along the trails, he would point out interesting facts. Some of them include:

There are around 100 varieties of moss in the park;

Salmonberries always grow near Alder trees because they give off nitrogen, which helps the salmonberries develop. Indigenous people eat salmon with salmonberries. If you peel the bark of Alder trees, underneath it's red, and that is harvested and used as a dye for clothing.

Salal berries are a source of food for First Nations, with lots of Vitamin C. They are also eaten with salmon.

We also saw thimbleberries flowering, and wild blueberries. Will have to look out for the berries later in the summer.

There are also horsetails in the park, long stems with what look like bristle leaves. These plants date back over 100 million years ago because they have been discovered in fossils. Apparently they were used as toothbrushes!

Holes made by birds or animals

Sword fern is the most popular fern species in the park. There are also bracken fern, also widely found here.

Practically all the trees in Pacific Spirit Park are what's called second growth -- the first growth were cut down and new trees planted, which are about 50 to 100 years old. When the first growth trees were cut, they were dragged out of the forest by horses. 

With that, our walk was over in about an hour and 20 minutes. Neat to see there are people willing to show others what they know about the forest! And a beautiful day for a stroll.