Mitrula elegans (Match-stick Fungus)

I live in a float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC. Each year, a tiny plant appears right at the waterline on one of the cedar float logs.

It grows on the shady side of the cabin, has a white stalk and is topped with a yellow-orange fruiting body. It's only about 6 mm (1/4 inch) tall. It appears in April and is gone when the weather gets warm. This year I also found it growing on what I call my "garden log."


After a bit of searching I found the UBC (University of British Columbia) Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research website. If you like plants in nature or the garden, this is the place for YOU! Unfortunately, due to cutbacks, the forums are no longer maintained. But they still have a wealth of information.

I discovered my mystery plant is Mitrula elegans, match-stick fungus. Here are two links I found for pictures and a detailed description. I just love learning new things about this wonderful place I live in. -- Margy

Signs of Spring

I am sorry to say that my Friends Day Wednesday post isn't ready. Instead, I decided to share a few signs of spring up my way.

Wild berries in bloom.

Roadside posies (do you know what they are called?). UPDATE: kateR correctly identified it as Purple Dead Nettle. It is a member of the mint family. When I first saw it as a young green plant I thought it was mint. It is listed as a tenacious weed, but is supposed to be edible and has herbal properties.

Mossy glens. What's spring like out your way so far? - Margy

Western Skunk Cabbage

On our quad ride Saturday Wayne and I saw one of my favourite signs of spring weather, the bright yellow lantern shaped flowers of the Skunk Cabbage. All around Powell River in swampy and boggy areas you will find it growing. For such an ugly name, it is a beautiful plant - at least I think so.

The Western Skunk Cabbage is an early signal that spring weather is on the way. It's bright yellow flower can be found in wet woodlands and bogs from Kodiak, Alaska, to Northern California, and as far east as Wyoming. Oddly, it can also be found in England and Scotland.

Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) is also called Swamp Lantern, an apt name because of the shape and bright glow of its large hooded flower. The common name comes from the bad odour that the flower emits. It sounds strange, but the smell is what attracts its pollinators, flies and beetles. Bears and deer eat them despite their stron smell.

In Powell River, you can easily find them at the entrance to the Switchback Trail across from the Shinglemill. Happy flower hunting! -- Margy

Blackberry Jamin'

August is blackberry month here in Powell River, BC. There's even a week long Blackberry Festival in honour of the sweet, purple fruit that culminates with a street party. I swear the whole town turns out. Of course, Powell River Books had "Mr. Float Cabin" out on the street for the celebration.

This year the berries have been exceptionally big and juicy. Each time we head up the lake, I pick a some from the bushes in the Shinglemill parking lot. They come in waves, so there've been lots for the picking. I had such success with my strawberry jam, I decided to make some blackberry.

Blackberry Jam Recipe

I used two resources to make my jam. The first was a book I found at Kingfisher Used Books here in Powell River, the Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook. I got mine for $3.95 but they are much pricier online. I also used the directions from the Certo Pectin Crystals box.

The ingredients are simple.
Yields about 8 cups. Do not double the recipe.

5 cups crushed blackberries
1 box Certo Pectin Crystals
7 cups granulated sugar

Thoroughly crush berries. You can remove some of the seeds if you wish, but I like them included. The Farm Journal cookbook recommended lemon juice, so I added two tablespoons to the berry mixture.


Mix the crushed berries and the Certo Pectin Crystals in a large pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then add the sugar all at once. Return it to a hard boil and let it boil for one minute. The cookbook says to be very accurate, so I used my timer. Remove from heat and stir and skim for five minutes.

Pour into warm, sterilized jars to 1/4" from the rim. I used 250 ml (8.5 oz) jars. Wipe the tops clean of any spilled jam and place sterilized lids and screw caps on, making them finger tight. Both my friend Marg and the pectin recipe said this was enough to preserve the jam. The Farm Journal book recommend five minutes of processing in a boiling water bath (the lid was off only for the picture), so that is what I did. I guess overdoing it was better than under doing it.

The trick to jam making for the novice is to have things ready to go. I boiled the water to sterilize my jars and lids first. Then it was held at the ready for the boiling water bath at the end. The whole process took me about two hours, but the end result was some really tasty jam that will last us through the winter, reminding us of the warm, sunny days of August. -- Margy

No Chlorophyll Needed

This is the second time that an oddball plant named the Pinesap has sprouted up on the hill near our outhouse.

Unlike most plants, the Pine Sap (Monotropa hypopithys) does not contain chlorophyll to convert sunlight into energy. The Pinesap gets its nutrients from organic matter in the soil and is a parasite of plant roots (much like the Vancouver Groundcone). It flowers from June through October. In the summer, the blooms tend to be yellow and in the fall, they tend to be more reddish. As you can see, mine is the summer variety.

For plant identification I like to use Plants of Coastal British Columbia by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. It includes trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatics, grasses, ferns, mosses, lichens and, of course, some oddball plants like the Pine Sap. -- Margy

Where the Cottonwoods Blow

Ever since I got back to Bellingham, there's been puffy white seeds floating everywhere. When I saw my good friend Betty (Mud Creek Mama), I asked if it was cattails. She said no, it's Cottonwood Trees.

Cottonwoods are a type of poplar, with the same quivering leaves. They grow in moist areas, so the wetlands behind our Bellingham condo is a prime spot. Male and female flowers are in separate catkins (long, slim clusters) that appear before the leaves each spring. The female catkin produces the cottony seeds that are blown long distances. It's these fluffy white masses that give the tree its name.



The seeds are very small (1X4 mm) which is remarkable considering they can grow into one of the largest trees in North America, up to 100 feet (30+ metres) high.

Not only are Cottonwoods large, but fast growing, reaching maturity in 10-30 years. As a commercial product, their course wood is best suited for making pallets and shipping crates. As summer changes to fall, the leaves of turn bright yellow and orange, making a warm contrast to the cooling blue skies. -- Margy

The Story of Scotch Broom

Each May, Scotch Broom is in full bloom here in Powell River and all along the Sunshine Coast. Most of the year it's a nondescript evergreen, but each spring it stands out in all of its magnificent yellow glory. But Broom also has a darker side. A little research led us to an interesting, if not scary, story.

Scotch Broom is a non-native invasive perennial shrub that has taken hold in many places in the US and western Canada as far north as the Queen Charlotte Islands. It was first introduced in the US as an ornamental plant in the 1800s and in Victoria, BC, in 1850. It has spread an amazing distance in a relative short period of time. It is categorized in many places as a noxious weed and efforts at eradication are taken to protect native plants, re-foresting efforts and animal habitats.

The Latin name for Scotch Broom is Cytisus scoparius. It was introduced from Europe where it was used in the “olden days” for thatching and brooms, hence the common name. The seeds that develop from the pea-like yellow flowers are prolific and grow vigorously. The plants are adaptable to many soil types. You will find it in road and logging cuts where the plants thrive in the direct sunlight. Current uses are minimal beyond ornamental value (the yellow flowers are beautiful).

In Bellingham there is a unique approach for the control of Scotch Broom. They have a Weed Wrench that can be borrowed for free by calling the Whatcom County Noxious Weed Control Board at (360) 715-7470. That must be some tool to pull out a plant than can reach 10 metres high! -- Margy

Vancouver Groundcone

This week when I went up to water my hillside potato patch, I noticed an unusual plant pushing out of the ground at the base of a fir tree.

Using my guidebook, I identified it as a Vancouver Groundcone. It's a parasitic herb that grows with salal and obtains nutrients from its roots. While this specimen was pushing its way through the duff at the base of a tree, it was right next to a big patch of salal.

Vancouver Groundcone grows to about 12 cm (4.7 in) in height from a thick underground tuber that was sometimes eaten raw by First Nations people. They come in red, yellow and purple. Mine were a rich golden (almost pinkish) yellow. These are the first I've noticed, but the book says each one produces 300,000 plus seeds. I may be seeing more soon.

Are you interested in plant identification? I use Plants of Coastal British Columbia by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. I like it because it includes trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatics, grasses, ferns, mosses, lichens and, of course, some oddball (and very interesting) plants. In addition to the color pictures, line drawings, and identification information, the narratives include how the plants were used by First Nations people and early settlers. I highly recommend it for the casual observer as well as experienced botanists. -- Margy

Orange Peel Fungus

Today Wayne and I took a quad ride. Along the way, the roads seemed to be littered with bright orange confetti. When we stopped to consult a map I found the source, a fungus growing right out of the rocky soil.

Some were tiny and growing in clusters, but some were several inches across. They are called "Orange Peel Fungus," a very appropriate common name. They look like just like bright orange peels curled up on the ground. The scientific name is aleuria aurantia. It is a cup fungus that likes to grow in clay soil and along road cuts and banks in the fall.

This is mushroom time in Powell River. Lots of people were out today collecting edible ones such as Chanterelles and the highly prized Pine Mushroom. You can sell those here in town to mushroom buyers, but we were just happy to be out in the woods and enjoying the scenery.