Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 30, 2020
Like last week’s Philesia magellanica, today’s species is also a member of a family containing only two species. In this instance, though, both species are within the same genus, Cercidiphyllum.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 27, 2020
It is likely this plant is just finishing its flowering in UBC Botanical Garden’s E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden, but I can at least revisit it with my photograph from 2015.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 26, 2020
Researching the plant featured in today’s photograph seems to have helped resolve much of a long-standing mystery: why is there a Beer Trail in UBC Botanical Garden? And what does that have to do with a photo of Obama in Asheville, North Carolina?
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 13, 2020
First scientifically described in 1985, Fargesia scabrida doesn’t seem to have a well-known common name. On the label for this plant growing at UBC Botanical Garden, we’ve opted to tentatively use “orange stem bamboo”.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on February 7, 2020
The overlapping leaves of Thuja plicata are small, only 3-6mm in length (and sometimes as small as 1mm). In quantity, though, they can sustain trees exceeding 70m (230 ft.) in height.
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on August 2, 2019
Species of Calceolaria are variously known as slipperworts, slipper flowers, pocketbook flowers, and lady’s purses. The common names are similar to lady’s slipper orchids or slipper orchids (Cypripedium spp.). Today’s Calceolaria biflora does indeed bear a superficial resemblance to Cypripedium parviflorum, for example, but there are differences. For one, Calceolaria are eudicots while orchids are […]
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Published by Daniel Mosquin on April 18, 2019
Flowers get most of the attention at this time of the year in northern temperate areas, but emerging foliage deserves some as well. The tactile experience of brushing one’s fingers along the needles of a branch of Larix laricina is another delight of spring.
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