Category: Herbarium News

Botanical Interest:

2022 Outings – Friends of CMH

In 2022, a small group of volunteers from the Connell Memorial Herbarium made some botanical explorations. These outings were usually spontaneous – from a need to get outside to discover and re-discover our native plants. The first outing was May 25th to Tower Lake, a small boggy area close to Fredericton. In the collection, there are 12 specimens of the Virginia Chain Fern (Woodwardia virginica) of which two were collected near Tower Lake. As some of the volunteers have never seen this fern in NB we ventured out to re-locate the plant. The herbarium specimens, collected in 1977, had vague descriptions for the location (N. Side of Tower Lake) and unfortunately, after a long day of wading through a boggy habitat, we did not find it. We were blessed, however, with large swaths of Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense), in full bloom.

Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) Photo: Liz Mills

Our second outing on June 11th, was to the Fred Tribe Forest near Lower Royalton. It is a preserve of the Nature Trust of NB and is now called the Sasokatokuk Nature Preserve. It is 90 acres of Appalachian Hardwood Forest with some calcareous cedar fen and abandoned farmland. A visit to the rich hardwoods forests of NB is always lovely – and we were not disappointed. Goldie’s fern (Dryopteris goldiana), Maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), Silvery spleenwort fern (Deparia acrostichoides) and Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) were in abundance.

Goldie’s fern (Dryopteris goldiana) Photo: S.Belfry

The third site for a botany outing was the Lincoln Trail that runs from Hwy 102 near the Fredericton airport to the Saint John River. The property is co-owned by the Lincoln Elementary School and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. This site was chosen by Gart Bishop because of its rich wetland and stands of Basswood and Butternut. A botanical survey has not been undertaken and thus with the permission of the Nature Conservancy, volunteers collected and documented the vegetation on two dates, July 9th and August 6th. This study will be continued in 2023.

Our final outing was a relaxing botanical foray along the Schribner Brook in the Oromocto River Watershed. Clay Merrithew chose this location as a matter of general interest in the area. We started at the Schribner Brook Falls trailhead on Hwy 785 near Central Blissville. It was October 16th and the fall colours were lovely as were the flowering Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Also in abundance was Hop-hornbeam or ironwood (Ostrya virginiana).

Photo: S.Belfry
Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Photo: S.Belfry

Text: Susan Belfry Photos: Susan Belfry, Liz Mills Map: Google Earth

Volunteer Profile: Dr. C. Mary Young

C. Mary Young in the Connell Memorial Herbarium

The success of the Connell Memorial Herbarium is due to many people who have donated their time and expertise. However, one person stands out: Mary Young is the herbarium’s most longstanding volunteer. Since 1975 she has spent countless hours in mounting, identifying and archiving plant specimens for the collection.

Born and educated in England, she has a B.Sc in zoology and botany and a PhD from London University. She met her future husband (Dr. Murray Young) in London and after some years, they settled in Fredericton where he taught history at UNB. They raised a family of three children in a beautiful home with a large garden filled with vegetables and native plants.

Mary concentrated on identifying plants in the herbarium’s special collections such as Dr. Taylor’s Arctic Study (1944), Dr. Wein’s Yukon and NWT Study (1972) and several other collections from Nova Scotia and PEI. For more on the challenging work with the Taylor Collection please see the previous Blog, posted June 29, 2016. She played an active role in the establishment of the Nature Trust of New Brunswick (an organization dedicated to the conservation of critical natural areas), serving as secretary, president, and past-president. With her interest in plant distribution and diversity, the conservation of plants was also of great importance. For her dedication to conservation and her role in the Connell Memorial Herbarium, Mary was recognized by an Honorary D.Sc. from UNB in 2016.

As a veteran of the herbarium, Mary knows a lot about its history and she wrote an excellent account in the booklet, “The Connell Memorial Herbarium, University of New Brunswick 1838-1985”. This document is reproduced on the CMH website under About/ History of the CMH.

Her interest in the historical aspect of the collection led her to research and write of our province’s early naturalists and botanists. Her book, “Nature’s Bounty: Four Centuries of Plant Exploration in New Brunswick” was published in 2015 by the UNB Library. The electronic version of this text is freely available from UNB: https://naturesbounty.lib.unb.ca/

Both of these publications have been illustrated with Mary’s botanical sketches and paintings. As an artist, self-taught, she has sharpened her observational skills in botany by drawing the native plants of New Brunswick.

As I write this, Mary still lives in her home surrounded by her lovely garden of perennials and native ferns. Equipped with a microscope, a dissecting kit, plant keys and access to online databases, Mary continues her work on plant identification from her home. She is currently identifying and annotating some sedges from the collection and is grateful for the online digital database and high-resolution images of the collection that help in the identification of New Brunswick plants.

“This collection becomes more and more valuable as the data is available to anyone over the internet.”

Mary Young, email communication

Her thoughts on those giving their time as ‘Friends of the Herbarium’ reflect her appreciation for the many people who keep all the data, photos and specimens together:

“I think they are a remarkably dedicated group of people. It does not seem to matter whether it is field work, collecting specimens, or some routine lab job, they do it with alacrity and dedication.”

Mary Young, email communication

* The Connell Memorial Herbarium holds 205 specimens collected by C. Mary Young.

References/Sources:

Young, C. Mary. The Connell Memorial Herbarium, University of New Brunswick 1838-1985, University of New Brunswick, 1986.

Young, C. Mary. Nature’s Bounty: Four Centuries of Plant Exploration in New Brunswick. UNB Libraries, University of New Brunswick, 2015.

C.M. Young (personal communication, November 19, 2022)

Text: Susan Belfry. Illustrations: C. Mary Young. Photo: Roger Smith.

Nature NB Festival of Nature 2022

The Festival of Nature is taking place in Fredericton this year, and we (UNB Herbarium) are taking part by opening our doors for a tour on Saturday June 4!

Tour of the Connell Memorial Herbarium in the Biology Department at UNB — The Herbarium is a collection of preserved botanical specimens dating from 1834 to present. The specimens were collected all across New Brunswick, with some from other parts of Canada and the world. It is a valuable resource in many scientific disciplines and touches on history and art as well. During the tour, participants will have an opportunity to explore the herbarium, use keys to identify common plants, and learn how to prepare botanical specimens for science or art.

See you then!

Herbarium update

Since the University of New Brunswick is only open to researchers, grad students, and necessary staff at this time, the Herbarium is closed to the public.  However, I remain available to answer questions, arrange loans and receive specimens etc. so feel free to email plants @ unb . ca .   Hopefully, we will be able to welcome back all our volunteers and visitors come the fall!

Thank you!

Robyn

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Ferns and friends

This month’s workshop focus

This week’s workshop focussed on identifying ferns, club mosses and horsetails. Gart Bishop made a terrific new slideshow introduction to the group and we put out an array of specimens from the herbarium to make side by side comparisons. Liz Mills and Gart also brought in fresh specimens to examine and compare. We have posted a guide previously (2017 New Brunswick ferns ) as well. In addition, Gart recommends the reference Northeast Ferns: A Field Guide to the Ferns and Fern Relatives of the Northeastern United States Paperback – Aug 26 2013

common-ferns-and-alliesDownload

New Brunswick Plants and their Habitats Course

From Aug 24 to 30 UNB is offering a 4 Credit Hour course on identifying New Brunswick common plant families. Open to everyone, this 7 day course involves classroom sessions, lots of field work and lab time to develop botanical skills you can use anywhere! See go.unb.ca/nbplants page for more details ! From the site:

  • Learn how to identify common plant species in New Brunswick
  • Gain the skills and tools needed to identify other species beyond what the course covers
  • Be taught by experts who collectively have 70+ years of knowledge and hands-on experience in the botanical profession
  • Take daily field trips to seashores, lake shores, bogs, and different hardwood ridges
  • Learn how to make use of botanical resources