This lone straggly looking Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus) provided the opportunity for some riddle solving!

I knew that it probably was in the Mustard Family (Brassicaceae) because the flowers had four petals and the shape of the basal leaves fit fairly well with some of the plants in this group. The problem was that my trusty Plants of Coastal British Columbia didn’t seem to have anything that worked with the look of my mystery mustard.

The four-petalled white flowers of Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus) indicate that it belongs in the Mustard family.

My next step was to consult Marcus Bell’s 1972 plant list for Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, looking at plants listed in Brassicaceae. The eight plants listed by Bell weren’t viable options either.

Lacking a paper copy of the Illustrated Flora of British Columbia to flip through (as I’ve said previously, I’m somewhat challenged by the task of keying out a species) I turned to a 1974 copy of Hitchcock and Cronquist’s Flora of the Pacific Northwest and began flipping through the section of Cruciferae (the former name of Brassicaceae).

Note the large terminal lobe of this Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus) leaf.

It didn’t take long to find two plants that matched the look of the flowers and leaves – both were in the genus Raphanus (radish) but the seed pods I collected looked more like that of Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus). With the genus name figured out and a potential match I checked both species in eFlora and confirmed that my plant was indeed Garden Radish. Radish riddle solved! 

So what were the features that pointed me in the right direction? First, the flowers had four petals which is typical for plants in the Mustard family – the colour of the flowers helped to eliminate some members of the family right away. Second, the pinnate shape of the leaf and the general hairy/bristly nature of the plant provided another key bit of information. Finally, I collected a seed pod on a second visit to the plant, the shape of which is useful when trying to separate out mustards (pods or siliques are used to key out plants in Brassicaceae).

The leaves of the Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus) are often round toothed and stiffly hairy.

One of the things I love about botany is the challenge of figuring out unusual plants even if they’re an introduced weedy garden escapee. It’s a bit like solving a puzzle, especially if the plant is out of context as it was in this case. I’m curious as to how this Garden Radish found itself alone on this stretch of Florencia Bay. Perhaps a hungry hiker left a radish behind? Sounds like another riddle to be answered!

The line of spines down the midrib of this Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) leaf is an obvious field mark.

An initial look through Pojar and MacKinnon’s Plants of Coastal British Columbia turned up a couple of possibilities but nothing really fit. I thought that the flowers sort of looked like they belonged to the hawkweeds (Hieracicum sp.) but the leaves didn’t fit with any of the common plants in this genus. Instead, I thought that the leaves looked more like sow-thistle leaves (Sonchus sp.) but the flowers didn’t work with any of those species. I’m not great at keying plants out (my wife Jocie has much more patience for it) but thought that I’d try our copy of the Illustrated Flora of British Columbia but was quickly overwhelmed.

Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) flowers lack disk flowers.

Back to the photographs. I looked at the shape of the leaf and tried to ignore the nasty looking spines down the rib of the leaf and had a thought – the leaf sort of looked like Wall Lettuce (Lactuca muralis) in shape. I returned to Plants of Coastal British Columbia and read through the notes  for this species (often similar plants are described in this section even though an image isn’t usually provided). Sure enough, one of the species described was Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola)! A quick check of eFlora, British Columbia’s on-line database of plants confirmed that my aster was indeed Prickly Lettuce – mystery solved!

The pinnate lobed shape of the leaf of Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is somewhat similar to the leaf of Wall Lettuce (L. muralis).

This distinctive looking plant is one more introduced species from Europe that can be found at the Courtenay Airpark Lagoon. The leaves have a network of veins with a very noticeable line of spines down its midrib. The yellow flower consists of ray flowers only – no disk flowers are present. While Wall Lettuce is considered edible, if bitter, I’d have serious doubts about trying Prickly Lettuce!

White Cockle | Silene latifolia ssp. alba

Walking the riverside walk along the Puntledge River in Courtenay is a great place to see all sorts of invasive introduced plants. Lately I’ve taken to strolling our two young children around the Airpark Loop and always keep my eyes open for interesting plants and birds (the Airpark Lagoon is excellent for migrating shorebirds and every year something odd turns up there).

I’ve seen these catchflies along the edge of the path in at least two places and was unsure exactly what species they were. Yesterday I figured that taking a sample wouldn’t do any harm (it is, after all, an non-native plant!).

Back at the dining room table I pulled out Volume 2 of the Illustrated Flora of British Columbia and consulted the section on Silenes. After some deliberation and working through the key (and consultation with my wife Jocie who is much better at plants that I am) I concluded that the plant is white cockle (Silene latifolia ssp. alba). Keying out plants – what a great way to spend a cold, wet, British Columbian fall day!

White Cockle | Silene latifolia ssp. alba

Make sure to check out other posts in Berry Go Round #20, hosted this month by Further Thoughts. Awesome reading and photography!

Common Tansy | Tanacetum vulgare

Up at Paradise Meadows today I had the (unfortunate?) opportunity to photograph some common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) growing along the roadside. Common tansy is an invasive perennial that grows in disturbed places, road edges and stream banks. WeedsBC reports that the common tansy is problematic especially in areas like interior BC so it was disconcerting to find it in the sub-alpine. The plant spreads by both seed and root material which is often transported by birds, animals and humans. According to the Invasive Plant Council of BC, seeds can remain viable for up to 25 years!

Common Tansy | Tanacetum vulgare

Common tansy is fairly easy to identify with distinctive “button like” flowers and fern-like leaves. Its flowers are comprised of disc flowers but lack ray flowers. In addition, it lacks basal leaves. These identification features are helpful to separate it from the native dune tansy (T. bipinnatum ssp. huronense) discussed below. Compare these two tansies with Tansy Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) – note the difference in leaves and flower structure.

Dune Tansy | Tanacetum bipinnatum ssp. huronense

In 2006 my wife and I found a nice patch of dune tansy at Schooner Cove in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. I was working for the summer with Parks Canada and we hiked out to Schooner Cove to explore the sensitive plant communities in the dunes and the marine life in the tide pools. The dune tansy was a neat find – it is yellow listed by the BC Conservation Data Centre and appropriately enough is found only in coastal dune ecosystems in BC. Detailed information about North American status and distribution of dune tansy is available at NatureServe Explorer.

Dune Tansy | Tanacetum bipinnatum ssp. huronense

While dune tansy looks superficially like common tansy there are some key differences. Most noticeable are the ray flowers surrounding the button-like disc flowers. Common tansy lacks these ray flowers. The stem of the dune tansy is hairy and the plant has well developed basal leaves. Stem leaves are very intricately divided.

If you’re traveling in British Columbia look for these two tansies. Keep in mind that the dune tansy is grows in sandy coastal areas and that we found it blooming in July. If you discover a tansy flowering later in the year on the side of the road odds are it is a common tansy.

Read more about the historical use of Common Tansy at Common Tansy, Little Buttons of Gold.

Awesome Aster

This wonderful seed-head was one of many in a field full of tall weedy dandelion like asters in front of the old Hamilton Mac Laing house in Comox. Unfortunately my 2 year-old son only allowed me to take a couple of photographs before it was time to move on!