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Nov 6, 2009: Cypripedium montanum
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Nov 7, 2007: Quercus suber
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November 12, 2007 : Quercus garryana

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Keywords: Fagaceae | Quercus garryana Dougl. ex Hook. | Ruckle Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada

Quercus garryana

A community of lichens surrounds the branches of this Garry oak and catches the late afternoon side-light of mid-November in Ruckle Provincial Park (Saltspring Island, British Columbia). A survey of this epiphytic life on twenty years old Quercus garryana branches in the Willamette Valley of Oregon revealed over thirty-five species of macrolichens, mosses and liverworts can be found on the branches of Garry oak trees in a single grove of the plants. This suggests some dynamic forces are occurring, and indeed, the growth of a new branch opens up an uncolonized area that is subject to ecological succession processes. Some of the epiphytic species initially colonize and jostle for light, water and nutrients, but these are later subjected to a slowly changing environment as branches expand, new branches are grown, and other epiphytes become established. Over time, the composition of the community of epiphytes on older branches changes; see: Stone, D. 1989. Epiphyte Succession on Quercus garryana Branches in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon. The Bryologist. 92(1): 81-94. doi:10.2307/3244020.

Please note that a second common name for this species is Oregon white oak; for a discussion of the common name, see this previous BPotD entry on Quercus garryana.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 12, 2007 7:52 AM

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Comments

daniel i hope you know better then
to stand in one place to long when
you are out picture taking

do the mosses need a lot of wet weather
the air is now some how different as the
ages have past and they have changed also

is that monty python in the background

Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at November 12, 2007 2:53 PM

35 species of lichen? thats absurd for such a temperate area. I'm amazed. That must rival the tropics.

Posted by: Joe at November 12, 2007 4:39 PM

i am amazed with today's Photograph. However it was what I read that was so interesting. It is so nice to learn new things and I am grateful for the knowledge. I really like to learn something new each day and this has done it for me.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae

Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at November 12, 2007 8:46 PM

Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!

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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.