Native Plant?

I was involved in a native plant salvage in Saanich a few months ago and these dried plants came alongside some other plants. I'm hoping they are also native plants in which case I will try to propagate the seeds. They were not more than about 20 cm tall. Anyone know what these might be?

 

A member of the Solanaceae...Physalis sp.?

 

Physalis should have berries, not just dry seeds. I suggest that this may be yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) or some related native plant that looks similar. Fresh plants might be easier to ID, though.

 

Rhinanthus minor! Yes, I believe you've got it. Thank you.

 

According to sources on the Net ( http://www.canadaplants.ca/display.php?id=3046 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinanthus_minor ) Rhinanthus minor is not native to Canada (it is native to Europe and Western Asia).

 

Hmmm, Pojar-Mackinnon doesn't suggest that it's a non-native.

 

E-Flora BC (http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Rhinanthus minor) and volume 5 of the "Illustrated Flora of British Columbia", published in 2000, suggest that the species might be native in British Columbia. Cultivation might be tricky, however, because this is a hemiparasitic plant.

 

I've moved this out of the native plants section. We had an internal discussion about this a few months ago here at the Garden after we collected some seed from low-elevation plants in Vancouver Island, and I'll share the correspondence/discussion:

From me:

This led to a bit of back-and-forth, and we ended up asking Adolf Ceska, who replied:

In short, subalpine plants are a native subspecies, but low elevation plants in disturbed sites are the introduced species.

 

Thanks Daniel for your thoughtful reply. It was salvaged from a Garry Oak meadow which was slated for development, i.e. not a disturbed site although there were non natives which had crept onto the site--ivy etc. I'll still try to propagate the seeds anyway just as an exercise.