Flowers and Plants – Page 8

Gallery containing public domain photos of flowers and plants from the Canadian National Parks – Western Canada. From the warm, temperate broadleaf forests of southern Ontario to the frigid Arctic plains of Northern Canada, from the wet temperate rainforests of the west coast to the arid deserts, badlands and tundra plains, the biodiversity of Canada’s plants is extensive.

 

Monotropa hypopitys, also known as Dutchman’s Pipe, Yellow Bird’s-nest or Pinesap, is a herbaceous perennial plant, formerly classified in the families Monotropaceae or Pyrolaceae, but now included within the subfamily Monotropoideae of the blueberry family (Ericaceae). It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and is scarce or rare in many areas.

Unlike most plants, it does not contain chlorophyll; it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. These fungi form a mycorrhiza with nearby tree species.

Mimulus guttatus, the Common monkey-flower, is a yellow bee-pollinated annual or perennial herbaceous wildflower that grows along the banks of streams and seeps in western North America. A highly variable plant, taking many forms, it is a species complex in that there is room to treat some of its forms as different species by some definitions. Mimulus guttatus is 10 to 80 cm tall with disproportionately large, 20 to 40 mm long, tubular flowers.

Lupin, often spelled lupine in North America, is the common name for members of the genus Lupinus in the family Fabaceae. The genus includes between 150-200 species, and has a wide distribution in the Mediterranean region – Subgen. Lupinus, and the Americas – Subgen. Platycarpos. In New Zealand lupins have escaped into the wild and grow in large numbers along main roads and streams in South Island.

 

Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva Pursh) is a small, low plant with a pink to white flower. The plant is a low-growing perennial plant with a fleshy taproot and a simple or branched base. They range in color from whitish to deep pink or rose during May and June. It is found on sagebrush plains to the lower mountains, in western and south central Montana. It ranges in the north from British Columbia to southern California, and on the east side of the Cascade Range to Colorado and Arizona.

Lithospermum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Herbs or small shrubs, they are widely distributed except in Australasia. Species are known generally as gromwells or stoneseeds. Lithospermum officinale, or gromwell, is a European native while Lithospermum caroliniense, a species of puccoon, is native to North America. Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum is native to Japan.

Lilium philadelphicum, also known as the Wood Lily, is a perennial species of lily native to North America. This lily grows to a height of approximately 30 to 90 centimeters, and produces red or orange blooms between June and August. The wood lily is listed as endangered in Maryland, New Mexico, Tennessee and North Carolina. Its status is “threatened” in Kentucky and Ohio. In Saskatchewan, the flower is protected under the Provincial Emblems and Honours Act, meaning it cannot be picked, uprooted or destroyed in any way.

 

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a fungus (the mycobiont) and a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont or phycobiont) growing together in a symbiotic relationship. The photobiont is usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium. The morphology, physiology and biochemistry of lichens are very different from those of the isolated fungus and alga in culture.

Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth-arctic tundra, hot deserts, rocky coasts, and toxic slag heaps. However, they are also abundant as epiphytes on leaves and branches in rain forests and temperate woodland, on bare rock, including walls and gravestones, and on exposed soil surfaces in otherwise mesic habitats.

Lichens are widespread and may be long-lived; however, many are also vulnerable to environmental disturbance, and may be useful to scientists in assessing the effects of air pollution, ozone depletion, and metal contamination. Lichens have also been used in making dyes and perfumes, as well as in traditional medicines.