Trip Report – Brohm Lake Trail June 24 and 25, 2017

It was fun to be out with others who really appreciate nature. We spent several hours each day walking, investigating and photographing plants in a variety of habitats, from the shoreline of the lake, to mature and regenerating forest, and rocky outcrops. Complete Plant List from this outing.

Ferns are well represented here: 11 species were noted: Bracken, deer, fragile, lady, liquorice, maidenhair, spiny, sword, and western polypody.

We saw several species of mycoheterotrophs. These plants get all or part of their food from parasitism upon fungi rather than from photosynthesis:

Pinesap was in varying stages and colourations.
Gnome plant had not yet made its appearance.
Ghost pipe was only just emerging.
Western coralroot was nearing the end of bloom – and! – along the Bridge Trail it was exciting to find the spotted coralroot, which is much less common in the Squamish area.
The wintergreens (Pyrola spp) are partial myco-heterotrophs and we compared three species along the Bridge Trail: green, white-veined, and one-sided.

Pink corydalis was in bloom on the rocky open lookout along the Cheakamus Loop. In B.C. this is considered an ‘infrequent’ plant.

Sedges with their triangular stems are plentiful along the shoreline, including: small-flowered bulrush, cattails, and Sitka sedge. Out in the deeper water, it was too early to see the round-stemmed rush species in flower.

The forest was alive with bird songs and calls and we recognized 15 species: