Monday, June 11, 2007

Nut Point Wildflowers

We went for a hike on the trail in the Nut Point Provincial Park recently. In case you are not familiar with the area, it is described as boreal forest and includes rocky outcroppings interspersed with small lakes. Peaty bog areas are found in low-lying areas and there is evidence of felled and scorched trees from a fire several years ago. My special interest is stalking the wildflowers and capturing them with my camera (the best kind of hunting). I am not an expert flower photographer, sadly, but here are some of the flowers we found:
Trientalis borealis, growing on a rotten stump:
I don't know what this was and my close-up photos were not in focus. It reminds me of a Pulmonaria (lungwort) with its blue flowers. Like Pulmonaria, the unopened buds are pink.
The pink corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens), growing in the open on a rock face. Labrador tea shrubs (Ledum groenlandicum) carpet vast areas of the rocky terrain. This plant is one of the first to recolonize burned bog areas, which is consistent with its abundance here. Along with Labrador tea, there were thousands of blueberry, lingonberry (aka cranberry), bearberry, and bunchberry plants in bloom.
Of course, there were plenty of pink lady's slippers. These ones were at the trailhead, just outside the Nut Point Campground. These are almost always found in rocky areas, among moss and under dappled shade of spruce trees. Of course, never never dig these flowers up! They are rare and protected and besides, are in a provincial park!

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