A nod of appreciation to Lisa from Quebec, aka Lilyofthevalley@UBC Garden Forums for today's photograph. Like yesterday's image, it was submitted via the BPotD Submissions Forum. Thanks, Lisa!

Over three thousand cultivars of hostas have been named. The huge cultivar, Hosta 'Sum and Substance', is highly regarded; it has won multiple awards from the American Hosta Society as well as an RHS Award of Garden Merit. To read more about Hosta 'Sum and Substance', head over to the Kemper Center for Home Gardening. For a more general (and humourous) essay on Hosta, nurseryman Tony Avent has an essay: “Hosta, Hosta, Hosta”.

Another common name for hosta is “slug food”.

Many thanks to Hollis from Wyoming for today's image, taken on a trip to Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park south of Santa Barbara, California. Hollis submitted the image via the BPotD Submissions Forum on this web site. Much appreciated, Hollis!

Santa Cruz Island silverhosackia or Santa Cruz Island bird's-foot trefoil is endemic to low elevations (<300 m) on Santa Cruz Island – it is found nowhere else in the world.

Considering its limited range, it is perhaps no surprise that it is endangered. According to the United Nations Environment Programme's site on US Islands, in an area of 255.7 square kilometres, Santa Cruz Island contains 420 species of plants. Of these, 40 are endemic to the archipelago of the Channel Islands, and eight of these can (could) only be found on Santa Cruz Island, including Lotus argophyllus var. niveus. Three of these endemics on Santa Cruz Island, however, are presumed extinct. Lotus argophyllus var. niveus shares its endangered status with seventeen other plant taxa.

Andreas from Bogotá (aka Quimbaya@Flickr) shared this image via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool (original image). Apologies to other BPotD contributors , but I use a high percentage of Andreas's photographs because they are from the tropics, and plants from that area are sorely underrepresented on BPotD relative to all of plant diversity. Thanks yet again, Andreas!

Carica pubescens is closely related to papaya (Carica papaya). It grows in the wild at high altitudes (>1000 m) in the Andes from Panama to Bolivia, but is also cultivated as an ornamental and food plant in gardens. Commonly known as mountain papaw, its similar biochemistry to papaya means it can also be used as a meat tenderizer. Purdue University hosts excerpts from two books on tropical fruits, both with sections on Carica pubescens: “South American Fruits Deserving Further Attention” and “Neglected Crops: 1492 from a Different Perspective”.

Its family, the Caricaceae, is distributed in the tropical and subtropical Americas, as well as Africa.

Yellow penstemon is a native of the dry interior of northwestern North America. Most references cite the genus Penstemon as being in the figwort family (or Scrophulariaceae), but the molecular evidence suggests otherwise; the Wikipedia entry on the current “best-fit” family, Plantaginaceae, provides a readable explanation on why the taxonomic landscape for this genus (and many of its relatives) has changed.

Conservation resource link: “Endangered by Research” in The Chronicle of Higher Education relates the sad stories of some newly discovered species of animals and plants being poached and collected to death after a description of the taxon appeared in a scientific journal. Read one of those stories about the devastation wrought on a small species of cactus in heartbreaking detail: Ariocarpus bravoanus – On the Edge.

After seeing a photograph of Spotted Lake by Becky Wolfe on the Earth, Sea and Sky Photo Critique Forum (the photo will scroll off in a few weeks, but for now see the post on 07/12/06 at 9:23 pm EST), I had to see the lake in person, so I made the trip on Saturday. A small roadside stop is the best vantage point without trespassing on lands belonging to the Okanagan First Nations, so photographic opportunities and perspectives were limited. Along with a number of photographs of the lake, I thought it might be interesting to also use it as a background for a few plant images, as you see in today's photo.

Crested wheatgrass was introduced into North America from the steppes of Russia. Although useful as a forage crop and a stabilizer in battling erosion, it does the latter job so well that it both displaces and prevents re-establishment of native grasses. If the Proposed South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Reserve ever becomes established, I imagine it is going to be very laborious to control the introduced grasses in the area.

By the way, you can help establish the National Park Reserve by signing the petition – I have, and I'm number 1056. I don't often ask for much from you (other than patience!), but if you could spend a small bit of time informing yourself about the proposed park and signing the petition if you agree, I'd appreciate it.

A few more links about Spotted Lake to end today's blurb: Spotted Lake from the Air and Paintings of Spotted Lake (via Vanishing British Columbia, a site by writer and artist Michael Kluckner).

Thanks again to Bill of San Jose, California (bbum@Flickr) for today's photograph (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image 1 | original image 2). I've pointed out Bill's eclectic weblog before, too: bbum's weblog-o-mat.

Native to Mediterranean Eurasia, yellow starthistle was introduced into California sometime in the mid-1800s via a batch of Chilean-grown alfalfa seed. (the species had already been established in South America for decades, if not centuries, prior). It is estimated that it is now spread over 15 million acres (6 million ha) in the state of California alone. Yes, it is highly invasive.

A site dedicated to yellow starthistle from the University of California in Davis provides the biology and ecology of the species. It also includes suggestions on pest control for this weedy species.

Today's image is courtesy of Quentin Cronk, director of UBC Botanical Garden. Quentin visited Badlands National Park six weeks ago, and this is one of the images he's chosen to share with us.

With respect to number of species, the genus Astragalus is huge. In fact, it is the largest genus of vascular plants, with over two thousand five hundred species. Even though North America contains over five hundred species, it is not the centre of diversity for the genus – that title belongs to southern Asia. This cream milkvetch is representative of many of the plants in the genus: adapted to live in an arid or semi-arid climate.

Why so many species? The diversity of Astragalus is a result of adaptive radiation, i.e., the rapid speciation of a single or few species into dozens or hundreds of species in a very short time. Other examples of adaptive radiation include stickleback fishes (studied by UBC's honoured evolutionary biologist Dolph Schluter) and the vascular plants known as the Hawaiian silverswords.

For more information on Astragalus, an excellent resource is the The Astragalus Website (the section on biogeography is particularly good).

A nod of appreciation to Dale Hameister (Dale Hameister@Flickr) for sharing today's photograph (original image | via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you, Dale!

This California and Oregon native has an interesting common name: prettyface. I have a hard time believing this name was used commonly until the modern era – an alternative common name, golden brodiaea, seems more likely to me to be the “traditional” common name for this taxon.

The Flora of North America page for Triteleia ixioides suggests there are five subspecies, but notes “although readily recognizable as a rule, [the five subspecies] often cannot be separated by constant characters”. I interpret this to mean that any one single feature of the plant cannot reliably be used to distinguish the subspecies. Instead, a combination of morphological features must be taken into account.

Triteleia ixioides is a geophyte, a term used to describe plants which store food underground (in organs such as bulbs, corms, tubers). In the case of Triteleia, the storage organ is a corm, or a thickened underground piece of stem tissue.

Lilium columbianum was previously featured on BPotD, but I thought it might be nice to show a photograph of Columbia Lily in its wild habitat. As I mentioned in the previous entry on Cornwall Hill Provincial Park, we observed hundreds of lilies in the moist open forests of the area.

In BPotD un-news, Nature recently published a list of the top 50 science weblogs. Absent from this top fifty list is this very weblog, which would have ranked number 35 using the Technorati ranking scheme they based the ratings on. Ah well. I still recommend visiting the science weblogs on the list – many gems in there.

Another thank you to Andreas from Bogotá (aka Quimbaya@Flickr) for sharing photographs from Colombia (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image 1 | original image 2). I think it's a real benefit for BPotD to be able to share photographs from around the world.

Wax palm, Andean wax palm or palma de cera has the dubious honour of being on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. Like so many other species, the major threat is habitat loss. In this case, the montane forest it grows in is being cleared for agriculture. I've looked closely at the hillside photograph – despite the adult plants being “protected” in this pasture, there is no seedling establishment to speak of, no young plants to replace the old. Not hopeful.

The Plants for a Future database has an entry for Ceroxylon quindiuense, if you are interested in the economic botany and growth requirements of the plant.

For more reading on threatened species, recent headlines feature birds, amphibians and deep-sea fish.

The web is replete with information about lavender (more), so I'll only add that the cultivar 'Provence' is purported to be moisture-tolerant, making it better suited for maritime climates. I've not noticed it performing any better or worse than other lavenders in the garden, though.

There are a number of lavender festivals around the world, including some in Washington state this upcoming weekend (for example, Sequim, WA). I'm fairly certain, though, that France is the best place in the world to see lavender fields.

In a (former) forest three years post-burn, Chamerion angustifolium displays why it has the most fitting of common names: fireweed. Older texts and some modern taxonomists use the scientific name Epilobium angustifolium for this species.

A tip-of-the-hat to Colour@Flickr for today's photograph submitted via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool (original image). Thanks, Colour.

Like the Zantedeschia rehmannii posted a couple days ago, Arisaema ciliatum is an aroid – a member of the family Araceae. The resemblance of the two species should be readily apparent. However, Zantedeschia is restricted to Africa, while the genus Arisaema can be found in Africa, North America (including Mexico) and temperate Asia. By far, the genus is most diverse in temperate Asia; Arisaema ciliatum itself is native to southern China.

The “Asian Flora” web site has extensive images of Arisaema ciliatum, or you can spend much time learning about the diversity of aroids on the site of the International Aroid Society.

It is difficult for me to see a calla lily without thinking of Imogen Cunningham and her photographs: “Calla” and “Two Callas”. Brent Hine has planted both this species and the yellow Zantedeschia jucunda together in the African section of the Alpine Garden. To see a comprehensive set of technical images for this species, visit this page on Zantedeschia rehmannii.

The summer dry season has arrived in British Columbia, and with it, forest fires. The Venables Fire of late summer 2003 burned 7636 ha (nearly 19000 acres). These trembling (quaking) aspen were a few of the victims. Three years later, the blistered, burnt sienna bark still clings to the dead trees in places.