Self-tutoring about local plants: the tutor mentions English holly. Some kinds of trees have separate sexes, so that any individual is either male or female. Such a species is described as dioecious: an example is English holly. The berries only …
Self-tutoring about botany: the tutor mentions a surprise about the Canada thistle. As a Canadian, I’m proud to say I’ve been stung by the Canada thistle likely hundreds of times, or even more, since early childhood. Its spiky leaves and …
Self-tutoring about local plants: the tutor mentions Indian-pipe. Indian-pipe is a plant one can find in shaded coniferous forests along the south coast of BC. It likes humus-rich soil. I’ve seen Indian-pipe a few times, appearing in a group of …
Self-tutoring about trees one notices: the tutor mentions the empress tree. There are a few trees around town that someone told me are empress trees. They have purple flowers that appear in clusters; when in bloom, they’re spectacular. The ones …
Self-tutoring about trees one encounters: the tutor mentions horse chestnut. Horse chestnut trees are distinct, but can go unnoticed in the corner of a yard or off the main path in a park. They can become quite large. Their leaves …
Self-tutoring about trees in western Canada: the tutor mentions the Douglas fir’s reach into Alberta. Douglas fir is a species we see everywhere on BC’s south coast. Sometimes we might even fall under the impression it only grows here on …
Self-tutoring about ecology and observation: the tutor makes one. Where I lived in the Annapolis Valley, we had two common pine trees: red and white. Both were common, especially in sandy places. Wondering what ecology might favour one versus the …
Botany: pine trees: red vs white: an observation about ecology? Read more »
Self-tutoring about which trees grow where, and why: the tutor begins…. In the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, where I lived from 1980-83, pines and oaks were both common. Maples were even more so, but I’ll talk about them in another …
Self-tutoring about trees in Canada: the tutor mentions beech. As a kid in the Maritimes, I often saw beech trees – American beech – which are included the Acadian forest. They can grow large: you might walk by one’s trunk …
Self-tutoring about tree identification: the tutor looks into the meaning of double-toothed leaf. Often in my reading a tree’s leaves are described as double-toothed – meaning what? Single-toothed simply means the edge of the leaf is like a saw blade …