With Jim Goltz’s extensive plant knowledge and funding from the Province of New Brunswick’s Environmental Trust Fund, the Garden has been developing an online pictorial guide to the native and naturalized vascular plants of New Brunswick. Building on the groundwork of Hal Hinds’ Flora of New Brunswick, the guide is visual and based on digital photographs taken by scientists and naturalists.
The site is being designed for use by the general public, but will also be invaluable for scientists, land use managers, government officials, academics, students, conservation agencies, environmentalists and ecotourists. The resource depicts characteristics of each species that are important for identification, including flowers, leaves, fruits and other anatomic features. Non-scientific terms have been used where possible and the identification process can begin with any of the available selectors. Distribution maps (courtesy of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre), unique characteristics, conservation ranks, family pages, and similar species provide additional details for each plant.
It is exciting for the Fredericton Botanic Garden to spearhead this unique resource for our province. While the site is still very much a work-in-progress, there are now approximately 800 species live on the site, newbrunswickplants.ca, with more being added each week. Grasses, rushes, and sedges are the species currently being added. In future years, the site will include information about plant and wildlife relationships, a French site, additional illustrations, and further links between similar species.
In addition to the Environmental Trust Fund, the Garden values the in-kind support provided by the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, the Nature Trust of New Brunswick and the University of New Brunswick Department of Biology and Connell Herbarium. We are thankful to the many naturalists throughout the province and Garden members who have provided feedback, information and images as we develop the site.
Please let us know if you would like to be involved in this multi-year project.
