Tannas Conservation Services

10/10/2026

This week's Flora Friday highlights Six-week Fescue, Vulpia octoflora. This tufted annual grass only grows to 6-60 cm tall and can be found in open sunny areas in arid grasslands, forests and disturbed areas from BC to Ontario. Sheaths are smooth, though they can be partially hairy lower down, with the culms bent slightly at the nodes. Nodes themselves are dark, and the blades are flat, smooth, 1 mm wide and up to 10cm long. The ligule is quite small, around 0.2-0.7mm long. Flowers are arranged in a narrow panicle 2-7cm long with 5-11 florets per spikelet, usually occurring from late spring to early summer. Each floret is 3.5-5.5mm long and closely overlapping to form a fishbone pattern. Lemmas are usually awned, with awns ranging from 1-9mm. Glumes are nerved with the lower glumes having 1-3 nerves and upper glumes having 3 nerves. The name Six-weeks fescue comes from the suggestion that this grass can provide cattle with six weeks of forage after a rain event. It can also frequently be found in areas that have been recently burned.

Photo and writeup by Haley Lacza
vulpiaoctoflora

10/03/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights narrow leaved collomia, Collomia linearis. It is native to North America, particularly in the north and west portion of the continent. It is most common in open grasslands, roadsides, disturbed sites, and montane zones and occurs throughout much of Alberta. It is an annual forb growing from a taproot. Stems are erect and generally unbranched, although in larger plants some branching may occur at the top of the plant. The stem is finely hairy below and may have long glandular hairs above. The stem can reach to 60 cm tall under the right conditions, although it is generally much smaller. Leaves are alternate and occur all along the stem. The leaves are linear or lanceolate, to 5 cm long and 10 mm wide, and generally hairless above and minutely hair and/or glandular below. The uppermost leaves under the flower cluster may be wider than the rest with a pale base. The flowers occur in a terminal inflorescence in the form of a cluster of 7-20 unstalked flowers. The corollas range in colour from white to blue to pink. The flowers are slender and trumpet-like, to 15 mm long, with 5 short lobes to 3 mm long. The calyces are 4-7 mm lon with 5 narrow, triangular lobes. Fruits are capsules with 1-seeded chambers.

Photo and writeup by Katherine Johnson

09/19/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights tufted phlox, Phlox caespitosa. Tufted phlox is a mat-forming tufted perennial herb growing from a taproot that is partially erect and somewhat shrubby. It is most commonly found on dry slopes, forest openings, and shrublands. There are numerous stems which are slender and hairy or glandular and 5 to 15 cm tall. The leaves are opposite, firm, and linear, with rigid sharp points at the tips and inconspicuous fringes of short hairs at the base. The leaves are between 5 to 13 mm long and 0.5 mm wide. The flowers are single, shortstalked or stalkless, and are produced at the ends of the branches. The corollas are 8 to 14 mm long and white, pink, or pale blue, with five lobes that are 7-10 mm wide. The calyces are glandular with 5 narrow, thickened teeth. The capsules are ellipsoid, 3-chambered, and few-seeded.

Writeup by Sarah Johnson, photos by Katherine Johnson

09/12/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights frog orchid, Dactylorhiza viridis. Frog orchids are stout, glabrous herbs with leafy inflorescences. It occurs in bogs, fens, open forests, moist meadows, shrublands, and in disturbed habitats. The stems are smooth and unbranched, with a few sheathes at the base and 2 to 6 leaves per stem. The leaves are 5 to 13 inches long and 2 to 8 inches wide, entire, and elliptic to oblong with blunt points. The leaves sheath the stem at the base and become smaller and more lance-like further up the stem. The flowers occur in a spike-like raceme with 11 to 76 irregular flowers approximately 15 mm long and 5 mm wide. The flowers are green or tinged purple, with an oval to round upper sepal and smaller, crescent-shaped lateral petals and sepals forming a hood. The lower petal is yellowish, long, and almost rectangular, with two teeth on each side of the lip and occasionally with a small middle tooth. A small ball-shaped spur grows behind the base of the lower lip. The flower bracts are leaf-like, conspicuous, and lance-like to linear. The lower bracts are 2 to 3 times the length of the flowers, up to 5.5 cm long, and grow shorter towards the top of the raceme.

Writeup by Sarah Johnson, photos by Katherine Johnson

09/05/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights Aphyllon purpureum or western one-flowered broomrape which is an unfortunate old-timey common name for an interesting parasitic plant. In AB, this species is ranked S3, or vulnerable. This is an example of a species that is relatively common where it occurs, but occurs mostly only in the southwest of Alberta, primarily between the Crowsnest Pass area and Waterton. It can also be found throughout most of southern BC, and south through most of the western states where mountains are present.

This species habitat is linked that of its hosts, which tend to occur at lower elevations in meadows and other open habitats, which can include seeps, bedrock meadows, and even sparsely vegetated grasslands, as well as steep drainages and fine scree slopes where erosion prevents tree or shrubs from forming closed canopies. Potential hosts include Sedum and Antennaria species, as well as members of the Saxifrage family, and very likely several other species as well.

Aphyllon purpureum is distinctive in having no obvious leaves or green tissues, producing only a flower stalk. This stalk usually contains only one relatively large flower, though individual stalks can grow in clumps. The flowers have five fused petals, in this species ranging from nearly white to dark purple, with the lower petal bright yellow on the inner side, likely to guide pollinators into the flower. Bumblebees do visit this species, pollination seems to be relatively successful, with pale brown, somewhat egg-shaped fruits often present above the resilient calyx lobes.
Look out for this species next spring wherever its hosts grow, though the very persistent may still find some very crispy fruits this growing season.

Photos and writeup by Rowan Rampton.

09/02/2026

08/21/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights giant wild rye, Leymus cinereus. It’s a very large tufted perennial grass growing from short, thick rhizomes. The culms reach to 3 m tall, and the bunches can reach to 1 m in diameter. The blades are to 15 mm wide and 50 cm long, either flat or rolled. Veins on the leaves are strong and the surface is rough on the upper side. The lower side of the leaves is less heavily veined and roughened. Margins of the leaves are pale. The sheaths are rounded and split, with fine veins. The base of the sheath is brownish or faintly purple. The collar regions features a prominent ligule, from 3-7 mm long, either blunted or truncate. The ligule can be hairy at the base. Auricles are to 4 mm long, claw-like and clasping.
Heads are stiff, erect spikes, with 3-5 spikelets per node. Glumes are very narrow, to 20 mm long, tipped with an awn. Lemmas are 10-15 mm long and either hairless or finely hairy. They can have short pointed awns. Spikes can reach to 25 cm long.
Giant wild rye is found in large parts of western North America, often in moister sites along riverbanks, in coulees, on snow melt slopes, and in areas with springs and seeps. Within Alberta, it is most common in the southern prairies and foothills.

Photo and writeup by Katherine Johnson

08/15/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights bunchberry, Cornus canadensis. Bunchberry is a low perennial herb forming colonies from extensive creeping rootstocks. It is a highly common plant and grows in moist, shaded woodlands and forests, and is frequently found in climax coniferous forests. The stems are essentially herbaceous, but the bases are often woody. The plant can grow between 5 to 20 cm tall. The lower leaves are reduced to 1 or 2 pairs of bracts, and the upper blades occur in a terminal whorl of 4 to 6. The leaves are subsessile and obovate-rhombic to elliptic-ovate and can be from 2 to 8 cm long. The upper surface of the leaves is dark green with scattered scabrous hairs, and the lower surface is pale and sparsely pubescent with prominent veins. Bunchberry’s flowers occur in a solitary terminal cyme subtended by 4 showy white-greenish ovate bracts between 1 to 2 cm in length. The petals are white-greenish and less than 1.5 mm long. The fruits are showy, bright red drupes between 6 to 8 cm long.

Writeup by Sarah Johnson, photos by Katherine Johnson

08/08/2026

Today’s Flora Friday highlights Saxifraga flagellaris, commonly known as spiderplant or
spider saxifrage. In Alberta, this is a rare plant (S2, Imperiled) since it is only known from a
few alpine sites in the Rockies, beginning near Nordegg and continuing northwest until the
BC/AB border begins to run north south. It occurs scattered throughout the northern
hemisphere in tundra and alpine sites, including northern BC, the Yukon and Alaska,
Greenland, and both the Canadian and Siberian Arctic. It also has disjunct populations in
the Colorado Rockies, and more surprisingly in the Himalayas and Caucasus Mountains.

This species is distinctive in the bright red stolons that it is named for. These stolons can
produce new plants, likely providing a backup means of reproduction in alpine/arctic
habitats where short growing seasons and unpredictable weather can limit successful
seed production. It has yellow, spotted flowers typical of the Saxifrage genus with 5 petals,
10 stamens, and a central o***y that is partially split between the 2 carpels. S. flagellaris
forms basal rosettes with several small, simple, elliptic to spatulate leaves fringed with
hairs.

Look out for S. flagellaris at high elevation or in arctic tundra where other vegetation is
sparse and yet some moisture is present. In Alberta, it is likely quite uncommon. The
photographed population here was represented by only two plants observed over
approximately 8km spent walking through the alpine.

Photos and writeup by Rowan Rampton.

07/30/2026

Part 8 (the final part!) of Fire Ecology Series: Fire Refugia

Natural fires display variations in severity that create mosaics of burnt, partially burnt, and unburnt fuel. Pyrodiversity contributes to biodiversity by creating these ecological mosaics. The unburnt or less severely burnt patches are known as refugia, and these can be critical for the survival of various species during both the fire and the revegetation process that follows. Refugia promote biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem resilience against invasive species.

These refugia can be small patches of unburnt soil or stone from a few centimeters to a few meters wide, or large stands of unburnt trees up to many hectares in size. These refugia are particularly important in specific ecosystems such as old growth forests, and species that require connectivity use refugia as stepping stones or lifeboats to facilitate recolonization of the post-fire environment. Refugia provide a source of seeds to reestablish vegetation in the surrounding environment following a fire.

Areas such as peatlands have higher likelihoods of providing refugia, due to standing water that resists drying. Peatlands also have notably diverse structures that creates a more varied mosaic of burnt and unburnt habitat. Climate has a major impact on the presence of refugia, as periods of prolonged drought lead to severe fuel-drying that increases fire severity and reduces the prevalence of burnt or less-severely burnt areas.

Writeup by Sarah Johnson, photos by Sarah Johnson and Darin Sherritt

https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/er-2021-0115

https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.22507

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/68/12/944/5098928?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/5/243