Distinguishing Features – Overall colouration, tawny brown above, dotted with numerous blackish spots along the midline of the back. Underside, whitish with dark spots. Short tail, blackish above and white below. Legs, tawny with blackish horizontal streaks. Prominent streaked ruff on cheeks extending below the jaw. Ears, short with dark ear tufts. Can be mistaken … Read more
General – a loosely branched or straggling shrub, up to1 m high, erect; branchlets green to purplish, smooth; shredding bark on older stems. Canada Fly Honeysuckle Leaves – opposite; ovate to elliptic; thin, bright pale green; margins entire; surfaces essentially hairless; margins fringed with fine hairs. Flowers – in drooping pairs from long, slender stalks; … Read more
General – a smooth-barked deciduous shrub or small tree up to 10 m high with a short trunk, slender, spreading branches, and a narrow, open round-topped crown; similar to American Mountain Ash but winter buds are sticky. Showy Mountain Ash Leaves – alternate; compound with 13-17, similar to American Mountain Ash but shorter and more … Read more
General – erect, little branched, densely matted rhizoids on lower stems; forms large cushions and sometimes mats, 2 – 8 cm high. Leaves – 5 – 12 mm long, erect to curved, pointed in 1 direction, moist or dry; lance- shaped and sharply pointed; midrib single, ends in tip; uppper leaf cells longer than wide, … Read more
Distinguishing Features – Overall colouration, grizzled-gray mixed with reddy-brown, giving “salt & pepper” look, darker on back; sides, more grayish; underside, brownish with a whitish highlights. Dominant black mask extends from eyes across cheeks. Ears, edged in white; tail bushy with prominent dark rings. Size 75 – .93 m (2.5 – 3.1 ft) Habitat Much … Read more
General – a perennial from slender, creeping rhizomes; flowering stems stout (appear before leaves); growing up to 50 cm tall. Sweet Coltsfoot Leaves – round to heart- or kidney-shaped at stem base. 5 – 20 cm wide, deeply divided (more than halfway to centre), into 5 to 7 toothed lobes, green, essentially hairless above, thinly … Read more
General – olive green, yellowish or reddish green; stems creeping, 2 – 20 cm long, stems and branches reddish, often with branches on branches; current year’s growth arises from near middle of previous year’s branch, producing feathery ‘fronds’ in step form; forms springy mats. Stair-step MossLeaves – 2 – 3 mm long, oval, smooth-edged, wide … Read more
General – green to golden-green, 3 – 12 cm long; branches somewhat upright to drooping, symmetrical, feather, tapered; plumes ‘well-groomed’; forms decorative mats. Leaves – branch leaves pleated, egg-shaped, to 2 mm long, all curled towards branch below; stem leaves pleated, curled towards stem base. Sporophytes – stalk reddish, 2 – 4.5 cm long; capsule … Read more
In the uppermost Northern Hemisphere, North America, Europe, and Asia have significant expanses of land. The boreal forests ring the regions immediately south of the Arctic Circle in a vast expanse that easily rivals the rainforest regions of the world. The northern boreal ecoregion accounts for about one-third of this planet’s total forest area. This … Read more