(Post 1 of 5) Grounded in #iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut on Baffin Island, with lots of time to check out the neighbourhood. The long view from this part of town: the river, the fog and two locals checking their fish net. Arctic char come in under the same ice that is locking down boat…
(Post 2 of 5) This one’s is lovely: Pedicularis hirsuta (hairy lousewort, but common names are not encouraged by my guides, Jeff and Roger). I’m walking with @museumofnature botanists here in Iqaluit. The tundra is lush compared to #svalbard where I spent much of the spring. Here it’s heather, sweetgrass, willow, poppy, saxifrage, and bearberry…
(Post 3 of 5) Here’s a man who knows how to handle a bistort. Senior research assistant Roger Bull uses his impressive plant collecting knife to prepare some Bistorta vivipara root for me to try. Yummy.
(Post 4 of 5) A man and his plants. Jeff Saarela shows off the Oxitropus maydelliana he collected in Cape Dorset. It’s also called locoweed: “Don’t eat it,” Jeff says. Jeff and Roger came north from the Canadian Museum of Nature on a mission to collect, sample, map, press and dry plants. They have 2000…
(Post 5 of 5) Someday, somewhere, these plants I have arranged will be in a herbarium. Look at my Leymus mollis. I’m so proud! I’m a botanist in training now. As you can see, my supervisor (those are Jeff’s feet), is not too far away.