Plants
Cootes Paradise is home to the highest concentration of plant species in Canada at over 750 native species, however an addition 300 have also been introduced following European settlement of the area, putting strain on the local ecosystems ability to function. Among the trees found in Cootes Paradise are various species of oak, maple, and pine, as well as less common species such as sassafras tree, Kentucky Coffee Tree, and tulip tree. Examples can be found along the native trees walk across from the nature centre. In recent years there has been a noticeable loss of trees due to ongoing anthropogenic stresses on the RBG property surrounding Cootes Paradise, and in 2005, following the death of a child participating on a nature hike, the RBG was forced to cut down numerous dead and dying trees that posed a public-safety concern, and alter the trail system to ensure some of the sensitive habitat could remain undisturbed by these activities.
A recent analysis of the checklist of all plants growing within the various nature sanctuaries of RBG reveals that these properties are among the richest spots in Canada for plant diversity, with 24% of the flora of Canada and 38% of the flora of Ontario present. Among this diversity are multiple nationally and provincially endangered species.
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Famous quotes containing the word plants:
“When the
Marne flowed by the plants nodded
And above the glistering Gila
A sunset as beautiful as the Athabasca
Stammered. The Zambezi chimed. The Oxus
Flowed somewhere.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“... feminism is a political term and it must be recognized as such: it is political in women’s terms. What are these terms? Essentially it means making connections: between personal power and economic power, between domestic oppression and labor exploitation, between plants and chemicals, feelings and theories; it means making connections between our inside worlds and the outside world.”
—Anica Vesel Mander, U.S. author and feminist, and Anne Kent Rush (b. 1945)
“What I did not yet know so intensely was the hatred of the white American for the black, a hatred so deep that I wonder if every white man in this country, when he plants a tree, doesn’t see Negroes hanging from its branches.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)