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The Fascinating Native Flora of BC Part 1

The fascination of our native plants lies in their stories. But those stories are hidden and rarely told. The stories are fragmented throughout the literature, but when the bits are gathered they tell of a plant’s evolutionary journey, of its relationship with insects, the tricks it uses to induce pollinators to do its bidding, the elaborate structures that have evolved to allow plants to thrive in every one of the vast range of habitats that exists in BC – and on and on.

The plants have a human history as well. The earliest voyages to our coast by Cook and Vancouver included physician/naturalists who made the first plant collections that created a sensation in England. Later, the Lewis and Clark expedition and plant hunter David Douglas introduced hundreds more of our native plants that transformed science, gardening and economies in England and Europe.

Every plant has its own unique story, and, almost certainly, you will not have heard them before now.

Ron had a 36 year career as the sciences photographer at Simon Fraser University. Over 50 years ago he developed an interest in native plants, and has continued to photograph and research their stories ever since. Now retired, Ron travels to botanical hotspots around the world to photograph ever more exotic wildflowers.

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