The Sanctuary at Hastings Park - a native and a probably not

The Sanctuary at Hastings Park is maybe better known as the park at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition - a two-week summer event, but the location has been fixed for many years and the park is open year round). I think I have identified these, but I usually get something wrong, so corrections are welcome.

This should be Sagittaria latifolia, and it is native to BC. It has lots of common names: Broadleaf Arrowhead (Common Arrowhead, Duck Potato, Wapato), and it's in the water-plantain family (Alismataceae).


I think this is Impatiens capensis. The E-flora E-Flora BC Atlas Page page intro starts out saying "Jewelweed is a native flowering annual that is found in lightly shaded moist to wet areas ...". But then under Status it says Exotic. Additional Notes indicate that there is some question or dispute about whether it is native or introduced. Here is one of the articles cited (different url, though):
"The status of Impatiens capensis (Balsaminaceae) on the Pacific Northwest coast". Peter F. Zika, the author of that article, is pretty convinced that it wasn't collected here until 1950 and is unlikely to be native, and is very likely to be a threat to the native Impatiens ecalarata with which it is often found. It's an interesting issue considering that Zika says pollinators far prefer I. capensis, the one that is the potential threat.

 

ID looks right for both plants, which I know from southeast US. A common occurrence for Impatiens capensis to be found growing near Toxicodendron radicans, or poison ivy. The juicy crushed stems, leaves, and blossoms of I. capensis is a field treatment for poison ivy exposure and for the subsequent rash. As a child I transplanted some from the Carolinas to my New Jersey yard and it reseeded all over. I'm sure it was native, but I'd never seen it before. Took a few years to weed it all out for good.

Sagittaria latifolia is also well known to me. Grew it in a bog garden for a few years.

 

In another thread I quoted this key that distinguishes Sagittaria latifolia and S. cuneata.
From E-Flora BC Atlas Page
1. Achenes with beaks extending at right angles to the body, the beaks 0.5-1.5 mm long; bracts of the inflorescences egg-shaped, rounded or hooded at the tips, 5-10 (15) mm long; mature male and female flower stalks of equal length.............Sagittaria latifolia

1. Achenes with beaks erect, the beaks 0.2-0.4 mm long; bracts of the inflorescences lanceolate, long-pointed at the tips, (5) 10-30 mm long; mature male flower stalks longer than the female flower stalks.................Sagittaria cuneata

I was back at the PNE yesterday and tried to capture something that would demonstrate something of this, and maybe I almost have or maybe I'm just collecting photos here. Well, Minnesota Wildflowers says of S. cuneata "triangular to lance-shaped bracts that are sharply pointed at the tip, and ¼ to 1½ inches long, often nearly as long as the flower stalks." I think my photos rule this out in this regard.

Here are the Minnesota Wildflowers pages, with good photos of both.
S. cuneata: Sagittaria cuneata (Arum-leaved Arrowhead): Minnesota Wildflowers
S. latifolia: Sagittaria latifolia (Broad-leaf Arrowhead): Minnesota Wildflowers

 

Here are two more from the Sanctuary at the PNE.
Epilobium angustifolium, fireweed. I must be the only person around here who sees this so seldom that I have to figure out the name every time.


What do you think of Symphyotrichum subspicatum for the ID of this aster? Here is the E-flora BC page for that: E-Flora BC Atlas Page

 

Check the generic name for the tall fireweed.

 

Did I misunderstand a posting in another thread and the current name is Chamaenerion angustifolium?

 

I don't think there is consensus on the correct name for this plant yet.
Epilobium angustifolium L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science
Chamerion angustifolium in Flora of China @ efloras.org
The Euro+Med Plantbase Project
E-Flora BC Atlas Page
Taxonomy - GRIN-Global Web v 1.10.5.0
Chamerion angustifolium subsp. circumvagum==>

 

Thank you. I see that it's GRIN that has the Chamaenerion name; I was starting to wonder seeing all those Chamerion names.

 

Yes, use GRIN / Washington Flora for fireweed. The Plants of the World Online is strange in that its distribution map ignores much of North America.

This is the paper on why Chamaenerion should be used: Chamerion or Chamaenerion (Onagraceae)? The old story in new words on JSTOR

From the abstract: "When treated separately from Epilobium, the group of species with zygomorphic flowers and alternate leaves has the correct generic name Chamaenerion Ség. 1754, and Chamerion (Raf.) Raf. ex Holub 1972 is its later heterotypic synonym."

 

Thank you, Daniel. That first page was a pretty good story, which only gets as far as where the Latinized variant Chamaenerium, appears.

 

This is from another thread, on September 13, 2021, in which Eric mentioned that almost everyone knows fireweed (it wasn't the plant being asked about). I was looking to see if I posted it for ID one year growing off in some corner at UBCBG, but I guess I figured it out. You could probably say that almost no-one knows what it's being called on the current day.