It is the end of May 1, the third day of the Saskatoon City Nature Challenge April 29 to May 2. Thanks to everyone who has added observations on iNaturalist! Come out on Monday May 2, and make a difference!
It was an interesting day to follow through on the Insect Workshop. So, when you take a peek into pond water of marshes like the Chappell Marsh at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, there are bugs in the water swimming around! Here is a Pond Life video of the Caddisfly larva which was found! And following up on the Fungi including Lichen Workshop, 60 different observations have taken place for Lichen and shelf fungi are being noted at this time of the year.
And, now just a bit of a word about our Saskatoon and Area Species at Risk which were found so far…By randomly taking pictures across Saskatoon and area, it is fantastic what was discovered!
Goldenrod Gall Fly Eurosta solidaginis
Togwoteeus biceps
Green Ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica
American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Blackbottle Protophormia terraenovae
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Louisiana Broomrape Aphyllon ludovicianum
Prairie Violet Viola pedatifida
Early Blue Violet Viola palmata
So, now is the time to get involved
Observe April 29-May 2
Countdown has begun!
How many birds, bugs, feathers, lichen, plants, animals, etc can you find?
Are you coming?
Three easy steps
Find it
Snap it
Share it
Enjoy the outdoors whilst supporting vital conservation research by making observations April 29 to May
City Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challengeCity Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challengeiNaturalist Observation with smart phone connecting with nature, supporting vital conservation research worldwide.City Nature Challenge CNCYXE Saskatoon area versus YQRCNC Regina and area in a mini SK challenge
Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!
What is the difference? Well BioSmart shows the addition of both iNaturalist and eBird observations! In two days this is how Saskatoon and area has fared on BioSmart;
598 Observations
419 Identifications
217 Species
38 People
So that is pretty sweet! Hats off to everyone.
The ever beautiful Crocus Pulsatilla nuttalliana has been recorded today as an observation!
There has been an observation of a “Puccinia monoica (Rust Fungus) that infects prairie plants in early spring, usually species of Rock Cress (Boechera/Arabis)” (the description given by Glen Lee)
There are no more white rabbit sightings, only brown White-tailed Jackrabbits *whew*.
Some very beautiful Wintergreens are making a carpet of green which is ever wonderful to see.
If you have never seen a wondrous Spring Avens, well they are in bud now, so that is pretty cool!
But besides saying what is recorded, we should mention what is NOT recorded. There are NO pelican sightings recorded yet! And yet we know they arrived April 21! NO beaver nor muskrat sightings. So now the race is on, to see who can get the first pelican, beaver and muskrat sighting! Can you do it? Check on eBird Saskatoon for end of April usual bird sightings, and then it will be discovered what there may be to look for still 😉
Out of all the potential birds of prey around and about Saskatoon which may be sighted such as hawks, owls, vultures, only two have been registered to date = a Turkey Vulture, and a Merlin.
You know what is a rather unique and interesting happenstance of the City Nature Challenge? iNat user svetlana-bogdanovich out of Ukraine has made the most observations! So in the middle of war-torn Ukraine, svetlana has made 505 observations in 2 days! That is pretty incredible.
User eduardoramirez-anapri from Madrid Spain has made 444 observations in the first 2 days.
Pelican PreeningAmerican Pelican Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, SK, CAPelican PreeningMuskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), wetlands mammal enjoys the emergent vegetation around Chappell Marsh such as cattailsiNaturalist Observation with smart phone connecting with nature, supporting vital conservation research worldwide.
Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!
This week until Aug 30 work with the Nature Conservancy of Canada NCC as a conservation volunteer!
Contribute to community science in your own afforestation area!
Grab your smartphone, tablet or camera and contribute to online community science by searching for plants, animals and insects in your backyard or local green space. Track your observations using iNaturalist to help contribute to conservation!
Get outside in your own backyard or local green space and see how many different species of plants, animals and insects you can find.
Download the iNaturalist app to your smartphone or sign-up online.
Head outdoors and take photos of all the different species you can spot.
Upload your images to the app or online, use their identifying software to help identify what you see, and add your submission to the global network of species observations.
Please note
Participation in this event requires that you observe the direction of provincial health authorities. Stay 2 meters away from others, wear a face covering while in public spaces and wash your hands frequently.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
Canada Helps
“The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. ” Wangari Maathai.
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nations saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Act. Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!”–Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Answers to Rose Pollination Matching Sheet
Rose Hip
Aggregate fleshy fruiting body containing nutlets. Hypanthium
A cup-shaped body formed by the conjoined sepals, petals, and stamens. Endosperm
The tissue surrounding the embryo of flowering plant seeds. Achenes
True seeds. Pendulous
Hangs down. Calyx
A case divided into lobes called sepals which form a protective case around the rose bud petals. Perfect flower
Having both male and female organs in the same blossom. Androecium
Male reproductive organ featuring the collective stamens. Gynoecium
Female reproductive organ featuring the collective pistils. Pistil
The united plant part of stigma, style, and ovary together. Stamen
The united plant part of anther sacs containing pollen, and filament together. Perigynous
The sepals, petals and stamens at the same level around the lip of the hypanthium with ovary contained below in the cup of the hypanthium.
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
“The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it is the “Skin” of the earth, for without it there can be no water and, therefore, no life.”Richard St. Barbe Baker
Word Matching Word/Sentence Answer Sheet
Synapomorphy
Two or more taxonomic groups share a character or trait which is derived through evolution from a common ancestral form. Morphology
Study of the shape and form. Endosperm
The surrounding tissue of a flowering plant see embroyo. Reticulate
Being network-like in form. Exine
The decay-resistant outer coating or layer of a pollen grain or spore. Vessel
A holder, receptacle or trachea for moving water or fluid through a plant. Pits
Thin portions of the cell wall which allow permeability for fluid exchange Mucilage
A viscous or sticky substance which occurs in vegetable matter. Whorl
Circular
Monophyletic
Originating from one tribe, taxon, ancestor, or ancestral group.
Ethnobiology embarks on the scientific study of how human cultures interacted with the environment, and the ever-changing relationship with biota and organisms. Ethnobiologists investigate how human societies have used nature, and how do they view nature in the distant past, to the immediate present. They investigate the common lore or the folk knowledge of how humans interact with organisms. Traditional knowledge is rapidly being lost, and the field of ethnobiology is a process of knowledge acquisition and organisation for the management of useful plant and animal populations in the natural system and environment.
Besides wild animals, humans have been known to value the nutritional value of these plants. In addition to people and animals, worms and insects have an affinity for the nutrition value of the rose hips, so it is best to check for worms before eating a rose hip. According to Joseph Shorthouse in his report, Galls Induced by Cynipid Wasps of the Genus Diplolepis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on the Roses of Canada’s Grasslands, native rose plants “are host to insects in a variety of guilds, including leaf chewers, leaf miners, fluid feeders, stem borers, pollinators, and gall inducers.”
Rose hips with seeds and skins removed make jams, marmalades, catsup, jellies and syrups. Rose hips are tastiest for those used to a North American diet after the first frost which brings out the sweetness. This same rose hip pulp may be dried and ground into powder form as an addition to baking recipes or puddings. Young green rose hips can be peeled and cooked. Rose petals are known for their perfume.
Please be stewards of both the afforestation areas – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities, do not harvest too many parts of the rose plant. Learn and check into the scientific names of plants, and make a good native rose plant identification from Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3| Part 4 | Part 5. Nature is very diverse, and evolves and plant species may hybridize with each other. When in doubt, please leave the plant out before harvesting so that other visitors and animal foragers may enjoy the native roses. It is wise take only pictures and to leave no trace when visiting the Saskatoon afforestation areas to mitigate ecological damage. The afforestation areas are experiencing an exponential increase in the human footprint, and a little foresight will ensure that the plants are not extirpated from the greenspace. Consider where you are digging and harvesting: do you have permission? Who do you get permission from? Who owns the land, and who manages the land of the afforestation areas?
“If a man loses one-third of his skin he dies; if a tree loses one-third of its bark, it too dies. If the Earth is a ‘sentient being’, would it not be reasonable to expect that if it loses one-third of its trees and vegetable covering, it will also die?” Richard St. Barbe Baker
Buds and flowers or the soaked and boiled root cambium can be used in the making of rose water, a base for eye wash treatments. Leaves, flowers and buds can be infused in the making of teas. When using the bark of the rose bush for a tea decoction, muscles would find relief and diarrhea would be relieved. Flowers and flower buds may relieve diarrhea or stomach upset.
First Nations people sometimes smoked the inner bark-like substance of the rose bush like tobacco. There are reports that native persons ate the rosehip rinds, and left the seeds to grow again. Eating the layer of hairs around the seeds may cause irritation to the mouth and to the digestive tract. The rose hips may create diarrhea, if too many are ingested. A compress from the boiled rose roots would relieve swelling. The solution made from boiled rose roots could be gargled to relieve swelling of tonsillitis and sore throats, or mouth sores.
Besides the ethnobotanical uses of wild roses, rose wood can be fashioned into arrows and pipe stems. Rose hips would be used historically as beads before mass-manufactured beads were acquired through trade as early as the nineteenth century. The Cree called the Rosehip (singular); okiniy (plural); okiniyak ᐅᑭᓂᕀ
Do you think you would like to be an ethnobiolgist? Why or why not?
Debate the efficacy of native rose plants related to ethnobiology and health science, including developing materials to support the arguments for and against a posi៝tion. Would ethnobiological approaches contribute to mental, physical, or spiritual perspectives on health?
Do native rose plants provide any important macronutrients to maintain human, insect or animal health?
Do humans still rely on native rose plants for treating illness, disease, or to improve health and wellness? Are native rose plants a common garden plant for most city residents? How have communities and people changed historically to contemporary times? Could you purchase herbs, vitamins, essential oils from native rose plants in the local grocery store? in the health food store?
Have native rose plants contributed to traditional or indigenous rituals or ceremonies or in health care? Do native rose plants contribute in these same ways to any other culture world wide?
If a health care professional must weigh the following ethical decisions would a health care professional work hand in hand with an ethnobiologist?
What can be done for the patient? (intervention technologies)
Does the patient understand the options? (informed consent)
What does the patient want? (autonomy)
hat are the benefits? (beneficence)
Will it harm the patient? (non‐maleficence)
Are the patient’s requests fair and able to be satisfied? (justice)
Are the costs involved fair to society? (economic consequences)
When relying upon the various components of the native rose plant for health care; contrast – researching the differences, and compare -delving into the similarities through study those decisions made related to ethnobiology and health care from the various viewpoints of individuals who hold different beliefs.
How do plants – the native rose bushes, and animals – humans harvesting petals, root parts, and leafs interact to meet their basic needs?
What are some uses of the various parts of a rose bush plant based upon the form and materials that the plant is made of?
Compare the texture, and properties of the various part of the native rose plant. How do the leaves, petals, rose hips and stems compare with hardness, smell, flexibility, etc How do the characteristics of the rose plant create a useful feature for the plant in its survival? How do these same characteristics suggest that the various parts of the rose plant might be useful for a specific function, material source or usefulness for different objects.
How do people show respect for living things such as the native rose bush plants?
Describe and evaluate the methods in which the parts of the native rose plants may be used appropriately and efficiently to the benefit of themselves, others, and the environment.
How do humans and animals take note of their senses as they interact with a native rose bush. If humans were to eat the rose hip or smell the rose flower, what are some safety considerations?
What season would be great to find a rose hip? What time of the year would people locate a rose flower? Why do roses make these adaptations?
What are the consequences of combining a professional health care approach with the ethnobiologist report? Create and debate with arguments for and against a posi៝tion or hypothesis.
Do you know of another way that humans interacted with native rose bushes?
Nîhiyawak (Cree) refers to “those who speak the same language.[*]” The etymology of the nehiyaw has two roots; it comes from Nîwo translated as four and -iyaw or miyaw meaning body or souls, four aspect, four directional beings.[*, *,*,*,*]. Wahkohtowin is a word from the Cree language meaning those acts of being in kinship. Then there is the Cree word “maskihkiwiskwewiw” which loosely translated into English would be medicine woman[*]; “maskikiwiyiniwiw” meaning medicine man[*]. To fully understand ethnobotany, one must delve into the maskihkîy or medicine inherent in the native rose bush. This would be to take on the world view of the nehiyaw to be in true wahkohtowin with the rose bush, to speak the same language as the roses.
Identify both macronutrients and micronutrients found in the various plant parts of the native rose bush. Show how these sources and the amounts found in the native rose plant are necessary for health, and how they may affect the wellness of a human or animal.
Create a through scientific investigation into ethnobiology regarding native rose plants. Start with a question, then create a hypothesis, and then design a procedure to test the hypothesis with those details needed to collect and analyze the data.
What structural or physiological adaptations and methods does the rose hip employ to defend itself against predators?
Analyze and debate how the personal beliefs, culture and understanding effects the appreciation of place based learning with the environment is influenced by personal experiences and cultural understandings.
Discuss the roles of native rose plants as providers of medicinal, spiritual, nutritional needs of Western, First Nations, Métis and other cultures.
How many native rose bushes would you need to grow to sustain healthy eating practice for various ages, sizes and types of people for their lifestyle requirements?
What is appeal from the three native rose species to animals that live in the afforestation areas? Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii)
What is appeal from the three native rose species to humans historically? Do the rose species offer the same advantages? Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) the Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) and Wood’s Rose, or Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii)
Are there any other rose species which you may see in the afforestation areas? Why or why not?
Which rose species have you seen in the afforestation areas?
What happens from over-harvesting?
What is a hori hori?
Who owns the land, and who manages the land of the afforestation areas?
Can you establish native rose plants in your own yard, or in your community garden?
Brennont; et al. (October 24, 2018), Sessility (botany), Wikipedia, retrieved June 19, 2019
Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Brown, Addison (1970), Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Volume 2 of An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada: From Newfoundland to the Parallel of the Southern Boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean Westward to the 102d Meridian, Dover Books on plants. Dover Books. Courier Corporation, ISBN0486226433, 9780486226439, retrieved June 20, 2019
Conrad, C. Eugene (July 1987), Common Shrubs of Chaparral and Associated Ecosystems of Southern California(PDF), United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, California. General Technical Report PSW-99., retrieved June 20, 2019
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Culver, Denise; Smith, Pam (June 26, 2018), Botany Primer(PDF), Colorado Natural Heritage Program. Warner college of Natural Resources. Colorado State University., retrieved June 20, 2019
Hauser, Alan S (2006), Rosa arkansana, Fire Effects Information System (Feis) Syntheses about fire ecology and fire regimes in the United States USDA, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laborator, retrieved June 20, 2019
Rosa arkansana (Prairie Rose), Minnesota Wildflowers A field guide to the flora of Minnesota, 2006–2019, retrieved June 20, 2019
Runesson, Ulf T., Rosa acicularis Prickly Wild Rose, Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, retrieved June 20, 2019
Salick, Jan (1998–2014), What is Ethnobiology?, Society of Ethnobiology. partially excerpted from 2002 NSF Biocomplexity Workshop Report: “Intellectual Imperatives in Ethnobiology”, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, retrieved June 20, 2019
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Species: Rosa acicularis, Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). USDA. US Forest Service Department of Agriculture, 2019 June 10, retrieved June 19, 2019
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Taylor, Thomas N.; et al. (2019), Rosids, first published Paleobotany (Second Edition), 2009. Republished. Science Direct. Elsevier B.V., retrieved June 20, 2019
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Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis), British Columbia Outdoor Wilderness Guide. BC Adventure, 1995 – 2018, retrieved June 20, 2019
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Wood’s Rose Rosa woodsii Lindl.(PDF), Plant Guide. United States Department of Agriculture USDA. Natural Resources Conservation Service., 1995 – 2018, retrieved June 20, 2019
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“The simple act of planting a tree, which is in itself a practical deed, is also the symbol of a far reaching ideal, which is creative in the realm of the Spirit, and in turn reacts upon society, encouraging all to work for the future well being of humanity rather than for immediate gain. ” Richard St. Barbe Baker
“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
Flower morphology Longitudinal section showing achene formation and hypanthium in genus Rosa Courtesy RoRo cc1.2
How would one describe a rose hip?
The rose hip or fruiting body is referred to as an aggregate fruit which contains many true seeds or achenes within it. These small seeds or nutlets are pendulous with a size of about 3-4 mm. Pendulous derives from the Latin pendulus ‘hanging down.’ A rose hip features an expanded hypanthium (aka floral cup), which is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens unite with the receptacle to form a cup-shaped tube to encircle around the nutlets (seeds or achenes).
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
The botanical term calyx arises from the Greek kalux ‘case of a bud, husk’, and is related to kaluptein ‘to hide’. The species Rosa will first use the calyx as a case ‘to hide” and protect the rose bud as it develops. The calyx surrounds the corolla, and is typically divided into lobes called sepals. The sepals emerge out of the apex or top of the red to orange coloured rose hip fruiting body.
The perianth is the botanical term for the envelope and has two separate units arising from a central point of origin (concentric). Perianth arises from two roots, Greek peri ‘around’ + anthos ‘flower’. The outer perianth is termed the calyx, and the calyx may be divided into sepals. The inner perianth is the corolla. The calyx is cup-shaped or urn-shaped, with a constriction at the top or the throat. Imagine a small crown, garland or a wreath made of petals, and that is a corolla, from the Latin corolla meaning small garland, little crown, chaplet or wreath.
Perfect flower
Now, then the interesting thing about roses, are that though the plants may arise from a rhizomatous root producing clones growing within a rose thicket. The clones or individual Rose plants which are seen above ground have perfect flowers (male and female organs in the same flower) so they are neither dioecious (having male flowers on one plant and female flowers on a different plant like the trembling aspen Populous tremuloides), nor monoecious (having male flowers and female flowers on the same plant).
Delve into the diversity between the ways in which the trembling aspen and the native rose bushes reproduce. Compare -find ways that they are similar and contrast -explore ways that they are different.
Male reproductive organ the Androecium.
The stamens are the yellow pollen bearing organ of a flower, from the Latin stamen, foundation in weaving, the thread of the warp, from Proto-Indo-European steh₂– “stand”, and from Gothic stoma, Sanskrit Sthaman, “Place, strength.” The stamens in a flower are collectively called the androecium. A stamen will feature an anther and a filament, Filament derives from classical Latin filum, meaning “thread” Anther derives from French anthère, from classical Latin anthera, meaning “medicine extracted from the flower” in turn from Ancient Greek ἀνθηρά, feminine of ἀνθηρός, “flowery”, from ἄνθος, “flower.” Androecium derives from Ancient Greek ἀνήρ meaning “man”, and οἶκος meaning “house” or “chamber/room”.
Female reproductive organ, the Gynoecium.
Rose plants have perfect flowers (male and female organs in the same flower), and therefore, they may be referred to as hermaphroditic, or bisexual. The male organs are the stamens, and the female organs are the carpels or pistils making up the fertile portion of the flower. The stamen consists of anther and filament as mentioned earlier, and the pistil features the stigma, style and ovary. Together, the stigma, style and ovary are referred to as the pistil and make up the female organ of the flower, the gynoecium. The male organ of the rose is the androecium, and the female organ the gynoecium.
Perigynous flower.
A rose, besides featuring a perfect flower, is also termed a perigynous flower. Perigynous comes from two Greek words as roots, peri- ‘around’ + gunē ‘woman.’ This perigynous term describes the sepals, petals, and stamens at the same level ‘around’ the edge or rim of the hypanthium with the ovary below. The ovary wall, becomes the fleshy part of the rose hip. The floral parts of the ovary are fused into a cup, referred to as the hypanthium which surrounds the ovary. Perigynous flowers are often referred to as having a half-inferior ovary (or, sometimes, partially inferior or half-superior). This arrangement is particularly frequent in the rose family.
Pollination.
Several taller stamens surround the shorter styles in the central area of the bloom. Roses produce yellow pollen held on pollen sacs called anthers reaching up high from the center of the rose blossom on the tips of filaments. A pollinator insect will fly around to feed on the nectar, and some of the pollen rubs off onto the legs and body of the pollinator. The rose flowers also have a stigma, which receives the pollen on the sticky stigma carpel situated at the tip of the style. When the insect flies off to the next flower, it is pollinated when the pollen sticks to the top of the pistil. The style connects the ovary and the stigma of the rose flower. The ovary, thus pollinated will then begin producing seeds. At the top of the rose stem, the “receptacle” begins to grow from the seeds being created within the ovary contained within it. Another name for the receptacle is the hypanthium.
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Bumblebee on rose
The flower bloom
If a rose has more than one blossom, the inflorescence type is a cyme, which means each axis of the peduncle blooms before the flowers lower down on the stem. Additionally, each bloom (inflorescence) is stellate, or star shaped.
Reproduction methods
Reproduction of these native rose plants takes place by four methods. Roses can reproduce by
Place the following labels on the first picture at the top of the page.
Petal (Edge of petals are showing)
Sepals (Edge of sepals are showing)
Stamens
Filament
Anther sacs holding the yellow pollen
Pistil
Stigma
Style
Ovary
Achenes, seeds or nutlets
When the bees and pollinating insects come to the native roses is it day or night?
When a trembling aspen (Populous tremuloides) is compared to a native rose plant, would pollinating insects go to both the aspen tree and the rose bush?
How does the structure of the hypanthium help the rose bush to survive? Would a rose bush do as well with a winged seed that was carried off in the wind?
Why do rose petals fall off shortly after pollinating season?
How are the rose bushes benefited by a visit from a pollinating insect?
Can you hear a bee buzzing when they are collecting pollen from a flower? Why or why not?
What safety assessments need to be made while observing pollinating insects?
Are bees the only insects which are capable of pollinating rose bush flowers?
Can bees pollinate rose bush flowers in September? Why or why not? What happens to bees over the winter months?
Will pollinating insects continue to pollinate the rose bush flower if humans are around? If other animals are nearby?
Consider the position of the stamens, and pistils in the hypanthium of the rose flower. Why do the stamens and pistils rise out above the petals of the rose bush flower?
If you were as small as an insect, how would the stamens and pistils look as the insect crawled along the petal, and observed the stamens and pistils from the side?
How does the colour of the yellow pollen in the anther sac affect the visibility to pollinating insects?
The taxonomic sub-family Rosoideae describes those plant genera bearing aggregate fruits containing seeds, small achenes or drupelets, and the fleshy part of the fruit is the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and a style. Does it help to learn about the hypanthium, and how the rose flower is pollinated to understand how the fleshy fruit grows and develops into a rose hip?
As pollinating insects such as bees visit the rose bush flowers, what kind of behaviour takes place? Draw a picture of a pollinating insect, and how the unique nature of the hypanthium helps them to collect pollen.
Have you been aware of another plants that have a similar pollinating system?
If the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities had no humans in them, and they were preserved habitats, what effect would that have on the native rose bushes? Are the native rose bushes in danger of extirpation or extinction, or are they thriving? Why? Does human activity affect the pollination of native rose bushes?
How do light and sounds in and around the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities affect the native rose bush pollination? Do pollinating insects become more or less active under artificial light? Do rose bush flowers close up in the dark?
If you were a bug walking on a rose petal, would it be easy or hard to walk along the surface of the petal?
Does weather affect the pollination of rose flowers? Do pollinating insects fly around in a rain storm? in a hail storm? during a light rain sprinkle?
Native rose plants have four methods of reproduction, are they asexual, or sexual? Does pollination and creating achenes in the fruiting body work better for the native roses, or does suckering via rhizomatous roots?
Do rose plants have other methods of reproduction?
Learning about how a rose bush creates seeds by being pollinated, how is the flower shape important to the survival of the rose bush?
How large are the seeds compared to the rose bush plant?
How does the rose bush get the seeds out of the rose hip after the flower has been pollinated?
Create a story of the relationship between bees and rose bush flowers.
How are the bumble bees benefited from flying over to the rose bush flowers?
Do both the trembling aspen and the rose bush have leaves, roots, stems. flowers, fruits and seeds?
Every act of kindness benefits the giver, as well as the receiver.
-Katrina Mayer
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“We forget that we owe our existence to the presence of Trees. As far as forest cover goes, we have never been in such a vulnerable position as we are today. The only answer is to plant more Trees – to Plant Trees for Our Lives.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Act. Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.” Philip Wollen founder of Winsome Kindness Trust
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!”–Thomas Wentworth Higginson
The Species: R. Acicularlis Lindl., R. arkansana,R. woodsii
How can we determine which of the roses are which in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?
Distinguishing between the three Saskatchewan wild roses to determine the species
Making observations of the plant structure, the leaf structure, and the flower structure.
How to describe the species; learning botanical terms.
Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Bumblebee on rose
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Native Rose Bush blooming in June
Wood’s Rose, or Common Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) may also form thickets of clones from rhizomatous roots. The rose shrubbery may grow as high as 30 to 240 centimeters (1 to 8 feet high.) These thickets of rose bushes provide nesting sites for birds, as well as thermal and feeding cover for deer and other small mammals. The flowers may be either solitary or corymbose. Blooms are short-pedicelled AKA the stalk of an individual flower is short.
Flowers are usually a deep pink about 5 cm (2 inches) across. Flowers can be set on rose bush in clusters of one to five at the end of a branch less commonly are they seen solitary. The inflorescence is distinctly saucer shape, and the petals are not flat across.
The sepals provide a covering around the rose bud during the formation period before the inflorescence blooms. The sepals are lanceolate, which is a botanical term meaning shaped like a lance or a spear head. Looking closely, the sepals can be located under the rose bloom, supporting the petals, and the sepals will be broad in the lower half close to the stem, and tapering to a point near the tip similar to a lance or a spear. Tomentose is another apt botanical description for the sepals meaning that they are densely covered with short matted downy filaments or hairs, they are rather fuzzy looking. The Wood’s Rose sepals are persistent on the fruit (rose hip), and each rose hip may have 15 – 35 seeds. Persistent in botanical terminology means that the sepals do not fall off, and will still be seen on the rose hip in the winter months.
The leaflets are single-toothed with a shape described as obovate to ovate to elliptic. Often the leaflets are cuneate or narrowed at the base and may feature straight sides converging at base, producing a ‘wedge shape’, cuneate is from the Latin root cuneus ‘wedge’ + -ate. An obovate shape would describe the leaflet as shaped like a tear-drop where the tip of the tear drop attaches to the stem near the base. An ovate leaflet shape is an egg-shaped oval, where the point tapers, and the widest portion of the leaflet is nearest the base. Whereas an elliptic shape refers to the leaflet being oval without a point, or a very rounded and subdued point. There are usually 5 to 7 leaflets making up one leaf, and may be as many as 11. The upper surface of the leaf is shiny. Stipules are prominent and united at the base of the leaf giving rise to the term adnate stipule. Adnate means joined or united by having grown together. A pair of stipules (straw, stalk) are little outgrowths on either side of the base of the leafstalk. Each leaflet has a very short or no stalk at all stalk (sessile). Sessility from sessilis meaning “sitting” or in botany “resting on the surface” having no stalk
Oddly pinnate leaf – imparipinnate Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology OBOVATE Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology OVALE Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Leaf shape or morphology ELLIPTIC Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
Figure 1 Rose Leaf showing alternate odd-pinnate leaflets. Leaflet shapes. Draw the leaflet shape of the roses seen in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Prickles on a Wood Rose stem may be straight or curved, however generally have a curve. Infrastipular spines are commonly present, and the stems are prickly. Infrastipular means below (infra) the stipules (stipular), so the spines are commonly seen below ‘the small appendage at the base of the petiole of a leaf’ (stipule). The Common Wild Rose (Wood Rose) only has a few scattered thorns, in comparison to the Prickly Wild Rose which is covered with many small weak bristles. The Wood Rose thorns feature are broad and flattened at their base.
The stem of this rose shrub is reddish brown to gray.
The Wood Rose has a distinct style featuring calyx-lobes entire. Entire meaning not divided and featuring a smooth margin, not lobed or toothed.
The orange-red to bright red or blue-purple fruit is fleshy, globose or globose-ovoid 5-12 mm (.2 – .5 inches) wide, Glabrous (hairless and smooth) and sometimes glaucous (dull bluish-green, gray). As many as 15 to 35 nutlets (achenes) may be found within the rose hip, and the nutlets are 3-4 mm (0.1-0.16 inches) long.
Rosa arkansana, the prairie rose, dwarf prairie rose or wild prairie rose (Rosa arkansana) is also a rose bush of Saskatchewan which will reach heights of 30-60 centimeters (1 – 2 feet) tall. The flowers are unique as they are pink and may be streaked with a deeper pink. The blooms are 3 to 7 cm (1.25 to 2.5 inches) in diameter. There may be as many as 5 or more flowers, or solitary flowers on the terminal end of the stems. The inflorescences are corymbs which are a flat-topped or convex cluster of flowers derived from Latin corymbus, bunch of flowers, from Greek korumbos, head where the outermost flowers open first. The petals on the inflorescence have a top wavy edge, with a central peaked notch at the top.
The sepals are rounded at the base with a smooth outer surface.
Droughty conditions or freezing may cause the plants above the surface to totally die back each year. The roots are very hardy, and will grow deep into the soil, reaching as far as 2.4 -3.7 meters (8 – 12 feet) down in the soil. Asexual regeneration takes place from roots sprouting from the root crown.
The rose hip is almost globular, and starts out as a deep red colour. The sepals persist on the fruit. Seeds produced need a dormancy period featuring successive cold and warm moist periods, and may not germinate until the second year.
This rose bush sports many dense reddish thorns.
The leaves are also pinnately compound, and may contain as many as nine to eleven leaflets. The upper side of the leaves are smooth dark green in contrast to the lighter green hairy undersides. The hairy undersides can be called puberulent from the Latin puber, (downy, adult) + -ulent, from ulentus (abounding in). The leaves can be 8 to 10 centimeters (3-4 inches) in length with leaflets 2 – 3 cm (.75 – 1.25 inches) long. The leaflets bear 2 wing-like stipules at the base of the stem, and may have a few glands at the tip edges. The leaflets are fringed on the margin with hairs and so can be described by the botany word ciliate from the Latin root cilium: an eye lash. The leaflets have either a very short leaf stem, or none at all.
As this is a short growing rose bush, it prefers the open grasslands, however will be found in the parklands. The prairie rose thrives on the extreme continental climate which alternates between severe winters and very warm or hot summers. It was noted that the Prairie Rose thrived during the most extreme years of drought experienced during the “dirty thirties.”
Prickly Rose (Rosa Acicularlis Lindl.) Acicularis has a Latin root meaning small pin or needle. The prickly rose is just that, densely prickled with straight weak thorns or bristles. The prickly rose defence of thorns prevent over-grazing by the animals in the vicinity. Prickly Rose will have no infrastipular spikes.
Each solitary flower is located at the axis of a short thin pedicel (stalk or stem). When there are more than one flower, they are featured in a corymb. At 4 – 7 cm (1.6 – 3 inches) across, the flower is fairly large. Look for blossoms at the very end of May through out June.
The calyx-lobes (referred to on the flower as sepals) are erect on the fruit. Erect in botanical terms mean upright, more or less perpendicular to the point of attachment. The calyx lobes are lanceolate and acuminate. Acuminate is another way of saying “coming to a point” from the Latin acuminatus, past participle of acuminare (“to sharpen to a point”). The stipules are mainly broad. The fruit or rose hip can be ovoid or pear-shaped with a length of 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) The rosehips is a bright red when ripe, and can be seen orange-red across the prairies.
The leaves are pinnately divided, and the leaflets are often twice toothed or double toothed. The leaves have conspicuous winged stipules with outward turning teeth born at the base of the leaf. The winged stipules may also be termed auricle having a small ear-like projection, from Latin auricula ‘external part of the ear’, diminutive of auris ‘ear’. Leaflets may number 5 to 9, and are often glabrous or resinous so are often sticky. The leaves are pubescent on the undersides which also means the leaflets are covered with short, soft hairs. Glandular-hairy petioles and rachises would imply that the leafstalk (petiole) which joins the leaflet to the stem and the main axis or shaft (rachis) bearing the leaflets have hairs upon them mounted with glands producing secretions on the surface of a plant. The leaflets are obtuse (blunt or rounded) at the apex and rounded at the base. Leaflets are oval or oval-lanceolate. The leaves are hairy on the underside of the leaflets. Each dark green leaflet is on average 3-4 cm (0.1-0.16 inches) long.
Thorns are straight, needle like and unequal.
The shrub may be formed as clones from rhizomatous roots, or from achenes born in rose hips. The shrub of the Prickly rose will reach a height of 0.9 to 1.2 meters (3-4 feet) at full maturity, and a rose thicket has rhizomatous roots which may create a single clone as large as 10-20 square meters (12-24 yards square) in size. However, rhizome roots of the rose sprout after a fire, or other types of disturbance.
Are there any other rose species which you may see in the afforestation areas? Why or why not?
In 2013, the South West Off Leash Dog Park becomes a 14.5 acre fenced off OLRA within the afforestation area. The SW OLRA has a large number of rose bush plants. Why? Are there more or less rose bush plants inside the SW OLRA or outside the fence? What happens to rose bush roots when disturbed by digging, or human influences?
Which rose species have you seen in the afforestation areas?
How many native rose species are there in Canada? in North America? around the world?
Does the domestic rose found in a flower shop have any relation to the native rose?
What challenges to the native rose plants face in this habitat? Why do native rose plants grow very well in the grasslands areas of the afforestation areas?
Explain how geographic ecosystems, and habitat adaptations can influence the creation of a new species.
Write a report describing the native rose plant discovered. Make notes of how tall the rose plant is to a tree, or to the grass around it. Describe the position of the rose blossom by measuring how high it is from the ground.
In the habitat and environment where you found the native rose plant, does it receive enough sun? Does the plant get enough water?
Are there any young rose plants nearby?
Are there any rose plants with rose hips on them?
Draw the entire leaf, and the smaller leaflet shape of the roses seen in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park.
Which leaflet morphology is the closest to the rose seen in the afforestation area?
As you draw the leaf and leaflets by looking and observing them, try to also, touch them, smell, hear, and taste them. Does this sensory interaction, convince you to start another close up sketch or drawing?
What kind of safety procedures would you tell a person who was blind if this person were to use their senses to touch, smell, hear or taste a native rose flower leaf or leaflet? Would you communicate the safety rules to a person who was deaf in the same way?
How many leaflets does the entire leaf contain?
What is the size in length of the leaflets?
Is the underside of the leaf the same color as the top?
Would a bug find it easy or hard to walk along the top surface of the rose bush leaf?
Would an insect find it easy or hard to walk along the underneath surface of the rose bush leaf?
Are there any eggs, insect larva, etc under the rose bush leaf?
Why do some rose species have stripy rose petals? Does the shape or colour of the rose petal help a pollinating insect? Does the smell of a rose petal help the pollinator?
Does the afforestation area rose bush leaflet have a long or short leaf stem (petiole) or is it sessile? Sessility from sessilis meaning “sitting” or in botany “resting on the surface” having no stalk
When you draw the native rose plant leaves, which leaflets are seen from the top, which from the side, and from the bottom.
What color is the leaf backbone or the ‘rachis’?
Are there hairs on the leaflets? on the rachis?
Does the leaf have a stipule where the petiole attaches the rachis to the peduncle? leafstalk (petiole) joins the leaflet to the stem, the main leaf axis or shaft (rachis), the woody rose stem of the plant (peduncle).
Can you find the stipules? These are the little straw like outgrowths on either side of the base of the leafstalk (petiole)?
Is the stipule winged or adnate (joined together)?
Are there thorns or bristles below the stipules? These would be the infrastipular spikes.
What colour is the leaf in spring and summer?
What colour is the rose leaf in the autumn?
Are the leaflets whole, or nibbled?
Draw the flower of the native rose plant in the afforestation area.
Is the bloom solitary, or do the flowers appear in a corymb?
What colour is the blossom?
Are there any rose buds?
Can you find the sepals supporting the petals of the flower?
Can you find the sepals encasing the petals of the rose bud?
What size is the flower?
Is the flower fully open? Can you see the bottom of a blossom at the same time as looking at the top of a flower bloom? Can you observe the side of a rose flower? Are all the rose flowers in the front of the rose plant, or are some flowers tucked behind grass, surrounding plants, rose buds, other flowers, or leaves?
What is the date of first sighting a rose bud?
What is the date of first sighting a rose flower?
How does the drawing of the rose flower compare between June and August?
What is the date when the petals fall off leaving behind the rose hip?
What is the condition of the petals, did you draw any petals with holes? What caused the petal not to be whole?
As you draw the rose blossom and petals by looking and observing them, try to also, touch them, smell, hear, and taste them. Does this sensory interaction, convince you to start another close up sketch or drawing?
What kind of safety procedures would you tell a person who was blind if this person were to use their senses to touch, smell, hear or taste a native rose flower petal? Would you communicate the safety rules to a person who was deaf in the same way?
Draw a sketch of the entire native rose plant.
How high off the surface of the ground is the height of the plant?
Are there other rose plants nearby?
Is the ground or habitat in the area disturbed?
Has there been a lot of snow melt, and flooding in the spring?
Were there a lot of spring rains?
Has it been very dry, and an early year of drought so far?
Is there evidence of any insects or pollinators?
Do you think deers and rabbits affect the native rose plants? Do you think humans and offleash dogs have any impact on the native rose plants? How do the rhizomatous roots respond to disturbances by small mammals or dogs digging?
In your picture position the flowers and leaves on the plant relative to each other. Observe which leaves are in front or behind other leaves and blooms. Distinguish if a rose bud is larger or smaller than a leaflet.
Is there evidence on the plant of rose galls? (Rose galls are bulges or balls forming in the middle of the plant stem where insects have laid their eggs, and the growing larva cause the plant stem to swell into a gall.) According to Joseph Shorthouse in the report “Galls Induced by Cynipid Wasps of the Genus Diplolepis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on the Roses of Canada’s Grasslands” Thirteen species of cynipid wasps of the genus Diplolepis induce structurally distinct galls on the three species of wild roses found on the grasslands of western Canada. Three species of Diplolepis gall the short rose, Rosa arkansana, in the Mixed Grassland and Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregions of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and eight species gall the common prairie rose, R. woodsii, throughout the prairie grasslands. Five species of Diplolepis gall the larger rose, R. acicularis, in more shaded regions such as the Aspen Parkland Ecoregion.”
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
How can we determine which of the roses are which in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities?
Binomial nomenclature is a two-naming system featuring the first part of the name – the generic name– identifies the genus to which the plant or organism belongs, while the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – identifies the species.
The plants belonging to the genus Rosa can be characteristically described by flowers, leaves, fruit, and thorns.
The flowers of most species of native roses have five petals. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink. Beneath the petals are five sepals. These sepals may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into rose hips bearing achenes. Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.
Rose in the Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Bumblebee on rose
The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous.
Oddly pinnate leaf – imparipinnate Courtesy Maksim CC x 1.2
The leaves of the wild roses of the region are alternate, and oddly pinnated. Pinnation is the arrangement of the leaflets arise on both sides of a common axis. This common axis is referred to as a rachis which is the backbone or spine of the leaf. Each petiole or the stalk attaches the leaf to the stem or peduncle of the plant. The small leaflets, themselves have little stems called petiolules. The root pinna is from the Latin meaning “feather”, and these plants can be referred to as “feather-leaved” in everyday or informal usage. Oddly pinnated leaves are also called imparipinnate, both terms meaning that the leaf bears one lone leaflet at the terminal or top of the leaf, rather than a pair of leaflets.
The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. The hips of most species are red. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 “seeds” (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
Rose Hip fruiting body bearing seeds within sepals (rose hip lobes) above
The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called “thorns”, are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem), unlike true thorns, which are modified stems. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa Acicularlis have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer.
The amazing thing about the rose bush, is that it will do the best on alluvium soils which are seasonally flooded, which works out well at the afforestation areas located as they are in the West Swale (a low-lying area caused the Pleistocene Yorath Island glacial spillway.) However, that being said, the roses have a very high drought tolerance.
American Red Squirrel Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla Garrulus Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Mule deer, snoeshow hare, coyotes, squirrels, white-tailed deer and birds such as waxwings, pine grosbeaks, and grouse will nibble on the rose hip fare provided by the rose bush. Wild rose hips are high in both Vitamin A and Vitamin C. These animals, and birds will carry the seeds (achenes) away after nibbling on the rose hips, and through the digestive process disperse the seed in new areas. The achenes do not sprout immediately, in fact, the majority will sprout on the second spring after snow melt. The seeds require this period of dormancy and require the seasonal changes of warm and cold in order to sprout. In regards to the health of the animals, the crude protein is higher in the wild rose hip while the leaves remain on the trees. The rose hips remain on the shrubbery into the winter months, providing a much-needed snack during the cold days of the year for winter foragers when snow covers the ground. The pollen during the month of June is beneficial for many pollinators.
When trying to distinguish various species of wild roses, bear in mind, that species may hybridize with one another. The next chapter will delve into the taxonomic classification for species of roses at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
Activities and Questions:
Take a camera, ruler, pencil, and start a nature journal of your visits to the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities where you record observations and measurements about the observable characteristics of native rose plants, insects and animals around these plants. Record their blooming time, and when the petals drop off, and when the leaves turn colour in the autumn. Are all plants the same? Identify the number of leaflets, and their shape, record the colour of flowers, and the height of the plant.
Would a bug find it easy or hard to walk along the top surface of the rose bush leaf?
Would an insect find it easy or hard to walk along the underneath surface of the rose bush leaf?
Are there any eggs, insect larva, etc under the rose bush leaf?
Become a citizen scientist.
Stop and smell the roses! How do your ears, eyes, nose, mouth and skin relate to native rose plants for all the senses – hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch? Do other animals need their senses to interact with native rose plants?
Compare native rose plants with other forbes, and flora in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities. Which plants bloom at the same time?
Do you think pollinator insects, dogs, birds, and deers appreciate the smell of the native rose plants?
How do you think rose bush plants get the rose seeds out of the rose hip so the seeds may germinate in the ground?
What kind of safety procedures would you need to use when observing a native rose plant? What do animals do when presented with the sticky substance on rose leaves, or with the thorns and bristles on the rose stem?
Compare the flowers, leaves, and seeds between the native rose plants, and other plants in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities.
What kind of seasonal changes may occur for a native rose plant?
Why do native roses lose their leaves for the winter months?
Why would animals choose to eat rose hips in the winter? Do native rose plants support the health or harm the growth of deers, rabbits, and squirrels? Do animals help the plants? What happens when the animals disperse the seeds after digesting the rose hips which contain the rose seeds? Create a food web of animals and native rose plant interactions. What would happen if the native rose plant became extinct?
How have humans affected the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities? Analyze an issue or case study where humans have greatly affected these environments, including a cost‐benefit analysis and ethical implicaᅾons
Are the native rose plants afforested in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional Park forest communities, or do they grow naturally there?
Create a map which will guide others to the location of a native rose plant.
Create a set of directions from a specified location to arrive at the location of a native rose plant which you have found.
Why are there no native rose plants in the middle of a trembling aspen grove?
How can a native rose plant reproduce, if the animals eat the rose hips which contain the rose seeds?
Observe the native rose plants, and write a poem or story, paint a picture or sketch a drawing of them.
Analyze any of the native rose plants, and see what happens if there is a lot of rain, or if there is an extended dry spell.
How do the native rose plants defend themselves, if there is a large population of wildlife eating their rose hips and flowers?
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker
“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. He will have to discover where he went wrong and make his peace with nature. In so doing, perhaps he may be able to recapture the rhythm of life and the love of the simple things of life, which will be an ever-unfolding joy to him.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 