Oregon Grape
Mahonia nervosa
Description:Erect rhizomatous evergreen shrub grows to 60cm tall. Leaves appear similar to holly with sharp teeth, bark and wood are yellowish. Flowers are bright yellow in erect clusters to 20cm long. Leaves are clustered and long, alternate with 9-19 leathery leaflets that are slightly shiny on both surfaces. Produces small blue berries to 1cm across.
Ecology: Grows in dry to fairly moist open to closed forests at low and middle elevations. A very common understory plant in our coastal BC forests, particularly at low elevations.
Notes: Root is used in herbal medicine as a tonic for the liver , for all kinds of skin disorders, for inflammatory conditions of the joints and digestive system.
Pink Mountain Heather
Phyllodoce empetriformis
Description: A pretty, low growing shrub on branched matted erect stems 10-40cm tall. Its needle-like 1cm or less long leaves are alternate and evergreen, with a groove on their lower surface. Showy pink flowers are bell shaped and nodding in a terminal cluster of one or several.
Ecology: Generally found in subalpine or alpine heath but it also occurs in cold coniferous forests at middle and high elevations on rocky or seepage areas.
Notes: This one was found blooming in a boggy area in the Lyon Lake system in the Caren Range mountains, July 2006 photo.
Laborator Tea
Ledum groenlandicum
Description: Branched evergreen shrub that grows 0.5-1.5m tall on twigs with rusty hairs. Its alternate lance shaped 4-6cm long leaves are leathery dark green above with dense rusty hairs underneath (hair on young leaves may be creamy coloured and will turn rusty with age). Its white flowers occur in short umbrella clusters.
Ecology: Grows in peat lands and bog forests at low and middle elevations. Considered to be a good indicator of very acid and nutrient poor organic soils typical of peaty areas.
Notes: Labrador tea was widely used as a pleasant tea taken in moderation, and was used for its medicinal properties in helping to fight colds and flus. A common ingredient in herbal smoke blends for respiratory problems.
Trapper's Tea (Ledum glandulosum) is very similar and occupies similar habitats but its undersides are always woolly-white and never rusty.
Western Bog Laurel
Kalmia microphylla
Description: Small, slender branched evergreen that grows to 0.5m tall; it spreads by short rhizomes and by layering. Its opposite narrow lance shaped leaves are leathery green and whitish with fine hair beneath. It produces large, beautiful saucer shaped pink flowers 2cm across.
Ecology: Found in bogs, wet mountain meadows and peaty soils.
Notes: Poisonous. This one was found in a bog at Carlson Lake at middle elevation, Summer 2002.
Twinflower
Linnaea borealis
Description: Trailing, slender evergreen with short erect and leafy stems from long runners. Opposite leaves are 1cm long or less, they are broadly elliptic and have a few shallow teeth on their upper half. Produces pink, nodding trumpet like flowers in pairs.
Ecology: Common in open or dense forests, shrub thickets, and rocky shorelines from low elevation to the timberline. Often found on the sides of logging roads at all elevations on exposed soil banks at the forest edge, and on rocky bluffs near the sea.
Notes: This one was found growing in a sheltered bay in Sechelt Inlet, growing on a rocky bluff, June 2001.
Kinnickinick AKA Bearberry
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Description: A low, trailing evergreen forming mats. Its bark is brownish red, leathery leaves are oval or spoon shaped and dark shiny green above, lighter below. Produces small pinkish drooping urn shaped flowers and bright red berries that persist into the winter.
Ecology: Common on dry rocky slopes and outcrops, dry forests, clearings and sandy well drained soils, from low elevations to alpine tundra.
Notes: This one was found at the edge of a middle elevation swamp near Carlson Lake, BC, August 2001.
Mountain Boxwood
AKA Falsebox
Pachistima myrsinites
Description: Low dense evergreen shrub that may be either erect or prostrate growing 20-80cm tall. Reddish brown branches are smooth but have 4 distinct edges, Leaves are opposite oval to elliptic and 1-3cm long. Margins are toothed and may be rolled under, texture is leathery. Very small maroon berries are found in small axillary clusters all along the branches and are very fragrant, often attracting a range of insects.
Ecology: Found in coniferous forests, rocky openings, and dry slopes at low to middle elevations.
Notes: This one was found in West Sechelt, summer 2003, in a rocky outcrop / dry Douglas Fir & Arbutus forest overlooking the sea.
Common Juniper
Juniperus communis
Description: Prostrate, trailing evergreen usually less than 1m high forming mats or clumps but occasionally growing to the size of a small tree. It has thin reddish scaly bark and needle-like and very prickly leaves that are dark green above and lighter below. Female cones are pale green but become dark and berry-like with maturity.
Ecology: Found in dry, open woods, rocky outcrops and muskeg from lowlands to alpine tundra.
Notes: This left picture is of a juniper shrub was found on a rocky outcrop beneath some powerlines October 2006, and the right picture is a branch of a small juniper tree in Pender Harbor, it was growing in amongst coastal Arbutus and Douglas Fir, spring 2005 photo.
Crowberry
Empetrum nigrum
Description: A low creeping branching perennial to 20cm tall, resembles a small fir tree, it spreads by creeping rhizomes. Evergreen leaves are needle-like 3-7mm long in whorls of 4 or alternate on the branches, margins rolled under, grooves on bottom sides. Purplish crimson flowers in very early spring followed by juicy black berry-like drupes in small clusters.
Ecology: In low exposed coastal heathlands and bogs, rocky mountainous slopes, subalpine meadows, alpine tundra in dry to wet sites from sea level to alpine areas.
Notes: This one was found in a moist forest on the edge of a bog next to Lyon Lake at high elevation in the Caren Range, it was growing with Dwarf Blueberry and a variety of mosses.
Bog Cranberry
Oxycoccus oxycoccos
Description: Low creeping dwarf shrub 2-15cm tall, occasionally up to 40cm. Bark is brown or black. Leaves are alternate and evergreen, widely spaced, leathery, small 3-10mm sharp pointed with edges rolled under, grey waxy beneath and dark green above. Deep pink nodding flowers have petals that are sharply bent backwards with protruding stamens making them look like little shooting stars. Produces pale pink to dark red juicy berries up to 1cm across that look very large for the size of the plant.
Ecology: Found from low to subalpine elevations usually half buried in Sphagnum hummocks or lichen covered bogs, also in wet meadows.
Notes: The berries were eaten by coastal natives, they were usually cooked and served with oolichan, or eaten fresh as a snack, they were stored fresh in moss or dried into cakes. This one was found growing in a bog on Wormy Lake at low elevation near Sechelt, it was buried in Cladina lichens that covered that section of the peaty bog, June 2003 photo.
