Selected Excerpts from the Vancouver Natural History Society “Bulletin”

About 40 or 50 native plants of B.C. have medicinal properties but most have little commercial value if shipped east.

The cascara tree is the most valuable; its bark has been in demand for over 60 years. Stripping the bark off a standing tree always results in its death.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of bark are required annually to supply the world’s needs for cascara products. The average yield is 10 pounds of bark per tree, which has meant the death of 300,000 trees every year for the past 60+ years.

It is estimated that 90% of this Province’s original stand of cascaras has been wastefully depleted.

Cascara trees, when cut down before stripping the bark, send up shoots from their stumps. In four or five years’ time the flower, fruit and birds disperse the seeds and thereby increase the cascara crop.

Experiments and tests carried out at U.B.C. have proven that the medicinal property is also present in the wood of the cascara. On average, two pounds of wood supplies the same amount of drug as one pound of bark. Some trees have more in their wood, pound for pound, than in their bark.

For every pound of bark taken from the forest, more than ten pounds of wood has been left to rot; about five-sixths of our cascara resources have been wasted.

By cutting down the trees and using the whole log, wood and bark, our annual requirements could be supplied from 60,000 trees, without killing them.

Finely ground wood and bark give a greater yield than coarsely ground. Machines are being made which will grind logs to suitable fineness for extraction of the drug by percolation equipment.

A manufacturing druggist in the B.C. coastal area would permit the use of cascara logs purchased by the cord instead of by weight. The establishment of such a firm would encourage many farmers to cultivate medicinal plants, and drug farming would increase employment in many trades, as well as increase the revenue of the Province.

The use of some of our native plants of medicinal value, and the cultivation of introduced plants such as belladonna, digitalis, hydrastis, hyoscyamus, datura and a number of essential oil-yielding plants, could be carried out profitably. Prof. Davidson provided an account of successful tests made at the university’s Botanical Gardens, indicating promising possibilities. He illustrated his lecture with herbarium specimens of both native and introduced plants, with data on their uses and commercial value. He concluded by explaining the omission of ginseng [wild sarsaparilla] and devil’s-club from his list, as neither possesses medicinal properties.
Note: Professor Davidson along with members of the very small UBC Chemistry Department, published papers on B.C.’s medicinal plants. So intense and destructive were the harvesting methods for gathering Cascara bark that trees became hard to find. Professor Davidson’s method of cutting trees near their base instead of outright bark stripping, promoted sprouting. This made a huge difference in tree survival.
Bird Observations – Little Mountain and Stanley Park

Mr. Carl Gough, submitted a list of birds seen near Little Mountain and Stanley Park on January 1^st, 1945: Surf and white-winged scoters, mallard, horned grebe, scaup, red-breasted merganser, oldsquaw, Barrow’s goldeneye, [northern] shoveler, (spoonbill), American coot, bufflehead, herring and glaucous-winged gulls, spotted towhee, Oregon and Shufeldt’s juncos [both dark-eyed], pine siskin, Bewick’s and winter wrens, killdeer, varied thrush, house and song sparrows, Oregon [black-capped]chickadee and [northwestern] crow
#14 March 1945
Nature’s Inventions and Their Counterpart in the Field of Natural Life

Nature has supplied man with many ideas for his inventions. Mr. W.S. Maguire made numerous comparisons when he recently addressed the Society:

Suspension bridges were compared with the spider’s web, which probably is the strongest material, by weight or thickness known to man.

Helicopters and Hummingbirds. From recent high-speed camera observations it has become known that the hummingbird reverses the leading edge of its wing when it wishes to go backwards

Thermometer. Temperatures can be told fairly accurately by the peeping of different types of frogs in springtime. They respond to varying degrees of temperature and as soon as a particular degree is reached their croaking starts. Snakes react similarly.

Diving Bell. The water spider carries down a globule of air with it when it dives.

Buildings and Apartment Blocks. By comparing man’s size to that of the termite, some nests would require a human counterpart in a building 1,500 stories high.

Electric Eye. The larva of certain sphinx bees when put in a light-proof lead box, will turn inevitably to where the light is in the room, even to a low-powered light.

Oxygen Tent. Sperm whale have a large vein in their throat that they supercharge with oxygen to sustain them on long dives of 20 to 30 minutes.

Vault Doors. The trap-door spider builds a door stronger by comparison than those of the largest bank and is so well balanced a grain of sand will swing it open.

Cold Storage. Certain ants have become nothing else but a large pouch. These hang from a suitable beam and others fill them with food for winter use. Squirrels and bees display similar instincts.

Anesthesia. Wasps and hornets paralyze prey for young to feed on later.

Surgical clips. Diver ants were used by African natives to clamp wounds together.

Twilight sleep. Bears hibernate during the birth of their cubs.

Incubator. Marsupials (kangaroos and opossum) are born only partly developed and must be nursed in a pouch until fully developed.

Birth control. Wasps and bees produce males or females as required.

Jet plane/Fog screen. The squid ejects an inky fluid by a process that resembles a jet plane propulsion system in either a forward or backward motion.

Glider. The condor of South America was studied for designs of effortless flight.

Knee action. The jaws of a snake react independently to allow for difficulties in swallowing a large animal.

Radar Direction Finder. Little brown cranes traveling in large groups at high speed through fog, and other migratory birds, have a built-in sense of direction in flight.

Mr. Macguire has a collection of 10,000 birds eggs and anyone interested in seeing them is invited to his home in New Westminster.

W.S. Maguire was a high school teacher in Chilliwack who taught summer school at UBC in biology. An excellent naturalist, he was an occasional participant in VNHS activities. He later obtained his Ph.D. and moved to a university in Texas.

……………………..

Now that spring and summer are approaching let us pass on this thought when rambling in the out-of-doors:

“Let no man say, and say it to your shame,

That there was beauty here, until you came.”

#16 May 1945

Brockton Point

Between 40 and 50 members of the Society met at Brockton Point for the first trip of the season on April 7^th, 1945 to study the bird life in Stanley Park. The following birds were observed in the sea along the north shore of the Park:

Ducks – American [black], surf, and white-winged scoters, greater and lesser scaups, red-breasted merganser, mallard, bufflehead, American [common] goldeneye and Barrow’s goldeneye, [American] widgeon or baldpate;

Gulls – Glaucous-winged, herring, and Bonaparte’s;

Grebes – western grebe, Holboell’s [red-necked] and horned.

Cormorants – Baird’s [pelagic] and Brandt’s

The party then proceeded to Beaver Lake where more ducks were seen: - [Northern] shoveller, ring-neck, pintail and green-winged teal. Among the land birds were [American] robin, spotted towhee, golden-crowned kinglet, Oregon [dark-eyed] junco, Oregon [black-capped] chickadee, red-shafted [northern] flicker, and the [northwestern] crow.

The party finished up at Lost Lagoon.
Musqueam Reserve:
Note: The Musqueam area of the 1940’s is now (2003) part of Southlands/Blenheim, a small remnant of which retains the name as Musqueam Park. The wetland has been diked and a number of plant species once present have vanished.
Fifty members of the Society turned out to study the woodland flora under the leadership of Prof. Davidson. He introduced the subject with a short resume of the three main groups of plants according to habitat: the Hydrophytes, or water-growing plants, the Mesophytes, or ordinary dry land plants, and the Xerophytes, or desert plants.
The locale was a typical spring state of a Mesophytic forest. The shrubs and small plants produce flowers early while they can get plenty of light and food, then the trees produce their flowers, then their leaves, thus forming a shade over the small plants while they [the latter] are producing fruit. It was noted that the small plants have large leaves well spread out, in order to get rid of as much moisture as possible, and to obtain plenty of sunlight. The deciduous trees are characteristic of this type of forest, with a small admixture of conifers. Those observed were [red] alder, maple, [Pacific] dogwood, cascara, birch, willow, [grand] fir, Douglas-fir, [western] hemlock, spruce and cedar [western redcedar].

Special Mesophytic undergrowth includes salmonberry and ocean spray, both of the rosaceae family; thimbleberry, which is commonly attacked by insects building nests in the stems and producing galls; cleavers (Rubiaceae), climbing and fly honeysuckle [both orange honeysuckle], red huckleberry, Indian-plum, [common] snowberry, mayflower [wild false lily-of-the-valley], Dutchman’s breaches [Pacific bleeding heart], fringe cup, avens or geum, true [sic] geranium, and horsetail. A number of fungi were also seen, including the bird’s nest fungus and Mitrula [sic] – one of the very poisonous species in B.C. [Possibly Amanita?]. There were also several types of moss, including hair moss and Mnium.

In cleavers the apparent ring of six leaves is actually a pair of leaves, each having two stipules. In the alder for example, the stipules form the cover to the leaf bud during the winter resting season. In the maple the bud is covered with specialized leaves that gradually become more like the ordinary leaves as they progress up the stem. The transition was demonstrated by observing the bud scales from a number of buds at different stages of advancement.
On the salt marshes along the shores of the Fraser River, lyme [wildrye] grass grew in the sand. It is used to fix shifting sands. Common cattails, rushes and whitlow grass [common draba] were also noted.
#17 June 1945
Marine Biology at Brockton Point

A small group braved a stormy Saturday afternoon on May 12^th to study marine life at the Point with Miss Elliot. Here the rocky shores furnish an abundance of plant and animal life, organic associations comprising millions of individuals inseparably connected, and many of them interdependent. The seaweeds find places for attachment. The rock pools harbour species whose habitat is below the low water mark and which could not otherwise bear the alternation of tides. On the sandy shore the greater part of the inhabitants live under the surface, their presence in evidence by the open mouths of their burrows. The swift moving currents and tide eddies around Brockton Point support many forms of life. Some of the species that the group observed were:

Plants:

Green algae – Ulva, sea lettuce with its plate-like double layer of cells. Entermorphora, a hollow or tubular form.

Brown algae - Fucus, rockweeds, very gelatinous to protect the cells from the effects of extreme conditions of entire submergence followed by exposure to sun and air. Laminaria, a brown fluted seaweed ‘sea furbelows’ growing to great length. Nereocystis, a sea onion with holdfast and long whip-like extension to the bladder.

Red algae – Gigartina, leathery, gelatinous and covered with many protuberances. Iridaea, flat, thick, leathery, glittering in the water with blue and purple tints. Polysiphonia, many tubes. Porphyra, plate-like, delicate, edible and made into soap by the Chinese.

Animals. Coelenterata – one large sea anemone with tentacles drawn in and muscles contracted. Annelida, Polychaeta – nereis, or green sea worm examined for horny jaws of ejected pharynx to show predatory habits. Sedentaria – tube worms [Eudistyliasp.] very numerous. Protective case was dissected to see horny nature and comparison was made with free-living Nereis. Bryozoan colonial form examined with hand lens. Echinodermata – two species of starfish [sea stars] were numerous, feeding on both dead cod and live cockle clams. Commensal worms in ambulacral groove also noted. The tide was not low enough to observe brittle stars or sea cucumbers.
Crustacea. Purple shore crabs were examined to show habits of feeding and reproduction; female abdomens and swimmerets flexed around egg masses. Cancer productus, red [rock] crab with tooth-like margin on the anterior of carapace, and hermit crab with soft defenseless abdomen protected by whelk shells.
Mollusca. Univalves, whelks Nucella lamellose], and egg masses. Limpets attached to rocks by their stomach foot; bi-valves, cockle clams on the surface of sandy patches among the seaweed and mussels attached to rocks.
Vertebrates. Squirming, wriggling blennies found in rock pools.

L.E.
Louise Elliot [Mrs. Louise McLuckie], an early UBC graduate in Science, was a popular teacher of high school biology in Vancouver. She was also a fine athlete and one of a small group of dedicated, intelligent, career women who supported the V.N.H.S. Among her students at Magee High School were Gary McTaggart-Cowan, Keith Wade and Bill Merilees.

Caulfeild
Bulletin #2 (November 1943) contained a report on the Caulfeild trip of the previous spring and members are therefore referred to that report for a brief description of the flora of the rocky bluffs found there. Twenty-six members attended this year’s trip on May 5^th. Prof. Davidson gave some interesting descriptions of the flowers and plants and demonstrated the various methods of pollination. Comparison with the previous year showed growth about normal and there was no evidence of the winter destruction that had been noted in May of 1943 following a previous cold winter. A.H.B
A.H.Bain came from Scotland. He was an ardent support of Prof. Davidson and the V.N.H.S. Mrs. Bain was very hospitable and their home was often open for committee meetings. Mr. Bain was President of the V.N.H.S. from 1943 until 1950.

#18 October 1945

Burnaby Lake
On the afternoon of May 19^th thirty-two members visited the Lake to study with Prof. Davidson the specialized flora found in the bog area. The lake bed was formed by glacial deposits into which drained the run off from the surrounding land. It is a shallow basin, much of which is now bog, with floating vegetation. The various plants that form the bog are found by drilling through successive layers of decaying matter. In one part of the Lake there is 20 feet of peat – decayed sphagnum moss – and two feet of decaying cattails, before reaching water. The plants found on the fringe of the lake are different from those found nearer the center; they are usually found in the following order: water lilies, cattails, sphagnum moss, various members of the Ericaceae or heather family such as Kalmia or [western] bog-laurel, Labrador tea, and heather.
The decaying vegetation gives off carbon dioxide that, combined with the water of the Lake, forms carbonic acid. There is little drainage out of the Lake and evaporation is therefore the only means of keeping the level down – which in turn means an increasing concentration of acid in the water. The plants deriving their sustenance from the Lake must be specially adapted to this acid condition. The acid content makes it hard for plants to form root hairs necessary for the absorption of water; to offset this difficulty they must conserve what water they can obtain. Three main adaptations were noted: cuticle on the upper surface of the leaves prevents evaporation (Kalmia); the leaves roll under along their edges, parallel to the main vein, to reduce the surface of the underside (Labrador tea); and hairs on the underside of the leaves (Labrador tea). Most bog plants are characterized by their small leaves. S.B.
Sheila Buchanan was a capable young woman who graduated from UBC with a specialty in Soils and Soil Microbiology. Her agricultural background was of service to her later when she spent much of her life as a missionary in the rural areas of Bolivia.

Kitsilano Beach

On June 22^nd forty members met under the leadership of Mr. J.J. Plommer to study rock formations along Kitsilano Beach. He pointed out that the spot at the foot of Alma Road where we started our observations, marked the western extremity of the area in which the tertiary sedimentary rocks underlying Vancouver are exposed. These no doubt continue an indefinite distance further west, below sea level, but the peninsula of Point Grey is composed entirely of glacial till and inter-glacial material brought from the mountain area to the north. It is a remnant of the cordillera glacier flood plain and has no relation to the alluvial lands at the mouth of the Fraser, which are, of course, of more recent deposits.

The mountains of the north shore, although far more recent than the hills of eastern North America, are old in comparison with the tertiary sedimentaries being assigned to the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous periods. Interrupted at times, the Coast and Cascade ranges exhibit a general upward movement for many ages. Coincident with this was local down folding, as in the lower Fraser basin. In this basin the tertiary sedimentaries were laid down. These are represented in the Vancouver area by a series of conglomerates, shales and sandstones, perhaps 4,000 feet in depth. These have been divided into the Burrard and Kitsilano formations. The base of the Burrard formation can be seen in the Capilano River near Keith Road and in Sumas Mountain. The base of the overlying Kitsilano formation can be seen at the entrance to False Creek and half way up Burnaby Mountain.

These formations have been assigned to the Eocene and are fresh water lake and stream deposits. This can best be understood by considering the 600 miles of continental shelf that extends west of Vancouver Island. Thus, when the coast was so much further west, it is not difficult to understand that sub-aerial deposits could be laid down in this area.

The shales show in places with streaks of lignite, but the amount is small, probably being only the remains of driftwood. Some of these ancient lakes dried and left muddy bottoms in which cracks developed and the surface was pitted by rain. The cracks and rain spots can be seen in the shale on the beach at Kitsilano. In Miocene times basaltic dikes that are now exposed on the beach invaded the Kitsilano formation. These appear to follow the general lines of weakness along the N.W. mountain trend. They can also be seen intruding the granodiorite on the West Vancouver shore. Many glacial boulders were noted on the beach, stranded remnants of the old flood plain. Their glacial origin is clearly evident as such boulders have one or more flat sides, this being in contrast to water-borne boulders that are rounded on all sides.

Mammal and Bird Life of Burnaby Lake

An eager party of 32 members met at Burnaby Lake on June 16^th to observe birds and small mammal life under the leadership of Dr. Cowan. He began by listing the birds and animals likely to be seen, and indicated that the fauna of the region was quite extensive with a variety of small mammals and a good number of birds. In order to see some of the mammals, Dr. Cowan set a trap line the day before and as the party proceeded along the lakeshore, various specimens were collected, including: - white-footed [deer] mouse], (most common) wandering [vagrant]shrew and dusky shrew. Other species observed in the marsh were muskrats, the Townsend’s and creeping vole, the blue [Trowbridge’s] shrew and the two shrews of which we saw [trapped] specimens.

A blue-winged teal, [American] widgeon, mallards and an [American] coot were seen on the Lake, and a coot’s nest noticed in the grass at the edge of the Lake. Other birds seen, or heard, were the yellow warbler (and nest), orange-crowned warbler, cliff swallow, violet-green swallow, red-winged black-bird, russet-backed [Swainson’s] thrush, [common yellowthroat, warbling vireo and the red-eyed vireo, [American] robin, cedar waxwing, [northern] goshawk,song sparrow, downy woodpecker, western and Traill’s [willow] flycatchers, [spotted] towhee, Oregon [black-capped] chickadee, California purple finch, bushtit (and nest), bald eagle, black-headed grosbeak, Tule [marsh] wren, Seattle [Bewick’s] wren, Virginia rail, northwest coast heron [a sub-species of the great blue heron]. A hen [ring-necked] pheasant was disturbed and one of her chicks caught as they scattered. It was thought to be about a week old, but like all game birds the wing feathers were almost fully developed while the rest of the chick was still covered with down. This enables them to run from birth and to fly within a week. They are known as precocial.
A bullfrog was heard croaking and both a northern [western] toad and a tree toad [Pacific tree frog] were studied. Their breathing was noted; they have no diaphragm but pump air by lower jaw action that gives them a panting effect. The most common local snakes were seen: the Puget Sound [northwestern] garter snake and the striped [common] garter snake.

The former grows to about 18” long, has live young and eats insects. The latter will eat larger fare such as frogs etc. The place where a colony of mountain beaver lived was noted but none were seen. They are somewhat like a muskrat without a tail. The burrows of a shrew-mole and a creeping vole were uncovered under a log.

#20 December 1945
Manning Park

Download 2.61 Mb.

Share with your friends: