Report submitted by Isabel Loveluck.
Nine interested members met at the Italian Hall and carpooled to Dinner Rock with Kelly as our leader. First we checked out the flowers on the bluff overlooking Dinner Rock and Savary, where we found Sea blush, Early Saxifrage, Chocolate Lilies, and Dove’s Foot Geranium.
After that, we hiked slowly up to the boundary of the park. It was a gentle climb and we were lucky enough to see lots of Licorice Fern on the way as well as Bitter Cherry just coming into bloom. It is interesting to note that Licorice Fern apparently does taste like licorice and Cherry bark is used by Indigenous Peoples’ weaving.
Near the top of the trail we found two types of Oregon Grape as well as Madrona just coming into bloom. Oregon Grape is edible, and the berries were often dried and used as currants. Its roots can also be used to produce a bright yellow dye.
At the top, we found patches of Shooting Stars, two species of Monkey flower, Coastal Strawberry and Kinickinick. We also saw several types of fern.
We ate lunch on the rocks overlooking Savary (and watched troops of Mergansers diving) and saw more Chocolate Lilies and Blue-eyed Mary.
After lunch, the group carpooled down to the Tla’amin Salmon Hatchery to see White Fawn Lily, Fringe cup, False Lily-of-the valley, and Yellow Violet as well as other flowers including the edible Siberian Lettuce.
Kelly, an extremely knowledgeable Botanist who was a previous MalaNat speaker, provided the list below of all the different species we saw:
| First stop near the parking lot:
|
Botanical name |
| Sea blush | Plectritis congesta |
| Early saxifrage | Micranthes (Saxifraga) integrifolia |
| Chocolate lily | Frittilaria lanceolata |
| Dove’s foot geranium | Geranium molle |
|
Second stop – upper bluffs: |
|
| Bitter cherry | Prunus emarginata |
| Kinickinick | Arctostaphylos uva-ursi |
| Shooting star | Dodecatheon pulchellum |
| Wingstem monkey flower | Erythranthe (Mimulus) alsinoides? (still not 100% sure of this) |
| Yellow monkey flower | Erythranthe (Mimulus) guttata |
| Coastal strawberry | Fragaria chiloensis |
| Tall Oregon grape | Berberis (Mahonia) aquilifolium |
| Ferns | |
| Parsley fern | Cryptograma acrostichoides |
| Green spleenwort (fern) | Asplenium viride |
| Fragile fern | Cystopteris fragilis |
| Licorice fern | Polypodium glycyrrhiza |
|
Third stop – lunch |
|
| Chocolate lily | Frittilaria lanceolata |
| Blue-eyed Mary | Collinsia parviflora |
|
Last stop – Salmon hatchery |
|
| Siberian lettuce | Claytonia sibirica |
| Fringe cup | Tellmia grandiflora |
| Sweet coltsfoot | Petasites frigidus var. palmatus |
| White fawn lily | Erythronium oregonum spp. oregonum |
| Pacific bleeding heart | Dicentra formosa |
| False lily of the valley | Mianthemum dilitatum |
| Yellow violet | Viola sempervirens |
