GOERT: Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team

Heavy-limbed tree growing 12 to 35 m tall, with main stem 60 to 270 cm in diameter, though often short and crooked in rocky habitats. Bark is light grey, with thick furrows and ridges. Leaves are alternate, deciduous, deeply round-lobed typical oak leaves to 12 cm long, shiny dark green above, greenish-yellow and brown-haired below, turning dull yellow-brown in fall. Male and female flowers are tiny and inconspicuous, borne in separate inflorescences on the same tree but are self-incompatible. Male flowers are hanging catkins female flowers are single or small clusters. Flowers at same time as leaves appear. Fruit is an acorn found singly or in pairs, 2.5-3 cm long ovoid to obovoid, with a shallow cup enclosing less than third of the acorn (Elias, 1980; Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Brian Reader.

Tolerant of a wide range of conditions, the attractive feathery appearance of this grass makes it a good choice for borders and banks. Photo by Toni Corelli.

Tap-rooted perennial herb. Solitary, erect, leafy stem 25-120 cm tall. Alternate leaves; lower leaves stalked, becoming smaller and sessile above. Basal and lower stem leaves with 3-5 palmate lobes, primary divisions slightly lobed or toothed, blades 3-13 cm long and 2-18 cm wide. Flowers yellow or sometimes purple tinged, small. 8-13 in small, compact, rounded clusters less than 1 cm wide on long stalks subtended by leafy bracts. Fruits ellipsoidal to spherical burrs, 2-5 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, covered with stout, hooked prickles (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Moralea Milne.

Medium to tall shrub, 1-5 m tall; stems clumped, arching; pith chambered; bark bitter, purplish-brown. Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, lanceolate to oblong-egg-shaped or elliptic, short-stalked, the stalks 5-10 mm long, the blades 5-12 cm long, not toothed, pale green and smooth above, paler and often sparsely hairy below; crushed leaves smell like cucumber. Flowers: Inflorescences loose, drooping, bracted, 5- to 10-cm long clusters, at the ends of short axillary branchlets, of several (five to ten) stalked flowers; flowers mostly unisexual, the male and female flowers on separate plants, appearing very early in the year, as the leaves develop; corollas greenish-white, saucer- to cup-shaped, about 1 cm across, the petals five, egg-shaped, 5-6 mm long, spreading (shorter, narrower and erect on female flowers); calyces 6-7 mm long, five lobed, the lobes about equaling the top-shaped hypanthium; ovaries (female plants) usually five, superior; stamens 15. Fruits: Fleshy drupes, like small plums with a large stone, bean-shaped, about 1 cm long, peach-coloured, ripening to bluish-black with a whitish bloom, one to five per female flower; seeds one per drupe (Pojar et al., 1994). Photo by Dave Polster.

Delicate, several-stemmed annual, 5-30 cm tall, hairless except for loose cottony tufts in the axils of smooth, slightly fleshy leaves. Basal leaves are spatulate, while stem leaves are narrow and alternate; all leaves are entire or few-toothed. Flower heads have bright-yellow central discs, 8-13 ray flowers 4-10 mm long and a conic receptacle (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Dave Polster.

Perennial herb from a deep, egg-shaped bulb 2-4 cm long; flowering stems 20-70 cm tall, smooth. Leaves: Basal leaves several to numerous, linear-lanceolate and grass-like, to 50 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, smooth, sheathing at the base, the margins entire; stem leaves lacking. Flowers: Inflorescence a terminal raceme of five to many, stalked flowers, the stalks 1-2 cm long, spreading in flower, ascending to erect in fruit; flowers pale to deep blue, rarely white, of six similar, distinct, petal-like segments (tepals), the tepals 15-40 mm long, 2-8 mm wide; six stamens, anthers yellow to violet; one pistil, three-chambered. Fruits: Fruit capsules, egg-shaped to oblong, cross-ridged, 1-2.5 cm long; fruiting stalks shorter than the bracts, ascending to erect, curved in towards stem; seeds several to many, shiny black, 2-4 mm long (Douglas et al., 2001). Two varieties occur in BC: (1) Perianth segments three to five-veined, mostly less than 6 mm wide, usually less than 30 mm long; stalks appressed in fruit; plants from the dry interior: var. quamash, and (2) Perianth segments five to nine-veined, mostly more than 6 mm wide, usually more than 30 mm long; stalks ascending or spreading in fruit; plants from the coast: var. maxima (Gould) Boivin. Photo by Dave Polster.

Small yellow flowers form compact heads on stalks of unequal lengths. The leaves are not fern-like but are composed of well-defined leaflets. There are no leaves on the flower stalk. Fruits oblong to elliptic, 7-15 mm long. Seeds flattened, with broad wings and distinct ribs. Photo by Dave Polster.

Broadleaf tree, 6-30 cm tall, often with many stems from the base and more shrublike; young bark chartreuse and smooth, aging to deep brownish-red and peeling off. Leaves alternate, evergreen, leathery, egg-shaped to elliptic, glabrous, entire on mature older growth, fine-toothed on young shoots, 5-15 cm long, dark shiny green above and whitish-green below. Flowers in large drooping terminal clusters; corollas white or pinkish, urn-shaped, 6-8 mm long, fragrant. Fruits: berries, globe-shaped, orange to red, about 1 cm across; surface finely granular (Douglas et al., 1999). Photo by Dave Polster.

Tufted perennial; stems yellowish-green, leafy towards base, spreading, usually velvety-hairy, 15-40 cm tall. Leaves flat, firm, erect to ascending, hairy, 5-10 mm wide, no auricles; ligules 3-4 mm long, consisting of long hairs. Inflorescence a panicle, open, 3-9 cm long; spikelets up to 2 mm long, short-hairy, two flowered, the lower flower sterile; glumes unequal in size; fertile lemmas hardened (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994). Photo by Keir Morse.