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The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail:
Late Spring Flowers


Photographs were taken during the International Trails Day
Nature Walk (June 7, 09).


Click on photos for larger versions.


Admiring the tamarack (Larix laricina)
in fen area near the beginning of the trail.

Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) by boardwalk near the beginning of the trail. Fertile fronds in the centre.

Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum) in fen area near the beginning of the trail..

Leaves of Labrador tea have a wooly orange coating on their undersides.


Mountain holly (Nemopanthus mucronatus) in fen area near the beginning of the trail, June 7.

Male flowers, May 26.

Last blooms of Rhodora
(Rhododendron canadense) in fen area near the beginning of the trail.

Wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense) in mixed forest.

Witherod or wild raisin (Viburnum nudum). It will produce white flowers in a week or two. Common in low spots in the open.

Bunchberry (Cornus canadenisis), common in woodland by the trail.

Starflower (Trientalis borealis), common in coniferous and deciduous woodland.




Black spruce (Picea mariana) with recently fertilized cones (purple)



"Mossy" floor cover in moist understory of black spruce near the beginning of the Pot Lake loop (going away from the lake).

The main constituent: Bazzanina trilobata, a liverwort.

Broom crowberry (Corema conradii) on rock barrens. Healthy populations of this species are found in N.S., the only province in which it occurs within Canada. It is threatened or endangered to the south. Even in N.S., populations are dwindling due to habitat loss.

Developing fruits.

Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) on rock barrens.

Indian cucumber root (Medeola virginiana)
in deciduous woods.

LEFT: Pink lady's-slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule) was common along much of the trail. ABOVE: Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) with developing fruits. This understory shrub flowers mid-Sept to December.

Painted trillium (Trillium cernum) with developing fruit in mixed woodland (June 7).

Painted trillium flower 2 weeeks earlier.

Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) on barrens, edges of woods.

Chokeberry (Aronia sp.) occures in moist pockets in the open.

Rock tripe (lichen) covered erratic.

Nature walkers!
Use of Photographs

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