Nanaimo's Offical flower
Dan Morris - www.danmorris.ca - Nanaimo Real Estate
FYI fact about Nanaimo:
Did you know that Nanaimo has an offical flower?
Official Flower
Lotus pinnatus (or the Bog bird's-foot trefoil) was adopted by City Council as Nanaimo's floral emblem in 2010. It is a yellow and cream pea-like flowering perennial herb that grows from a thick taproot and short rhizome (underground stem). The sprawling to upright stem is hollow and it grows 15-60 cm long.
Bog bird's-foot trefoil grows in open, seasonally wet meadows, along the margins of creeks, or in seepages where underground water comes to the surface. The species appears to require contact with cool, seeping water during the growing and blooming period. It grows in sites with shallow (< 15 cm) soils, over gently sloping sandstone or conglomerate bedrock.
The Government of Canada's Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife (COSEWIC) reports there are five known sites for this rare flower in Canada - all near Nanaimo. Three of these sites are on Harewood Plains, one on Gabriola Island and one on Woodley Range near Ladysmith. There are just over 1800 plants in Canada in total, but 1500 of them are in Nanaimo on Harewood Plains (or 83% of the total Canadian population). Although the plant is red-listed in BC, it is not in danger globally.
Dan Morris - www.danmorris.ca - Nanaimo Real Estate