Plants are an incredibly important part of Vancouver, a city well known for its greenery.
While huge ceder and fir trees get lots of attention, there are lots of other leafy neighbours to talk about, both being cultivated and living wild.
Here are some facts about those ones.
1. There are local carnivorous plants
In pop culture carnivorous plants are often shown in exotic jungles with jaw-like leaves chomping on some unsuspecting critter.
In fact, there are some 750 different species and have a variety of different ways of extracting nutrients from animals.
In Metro Vancouver the Triantha was recently discovered to be a part of this group.
In 2021 scientists discovered the plan caught insects in a unique way near its flowers. The plant would then pull certain nutrients from the weaker insects that got trapped and allowed larger pollinating insects like bees to escape.
Its not the only one, local species like the round-leaved sundew and common butterwort also consume insects.
2. There are kiwis growing in an unexpected Vancouver park
Kiwis may seem like an exotic fruit, but you can find some growing in a park in Coal Harbour.
The Kiwi plant is actually from China and what we call kiwi fruit are actually berries. In Marina Park there's a large mass of plants growing near the water.
Each year lots of kiwi fruits/berries grow, but the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation recommends people don't eat them since they don't properly ripen.
3. UBC has a rare physic garden
Physic gardens are a specific type of garden dedicated to plants used in medicine and drug production; there history goes back hundreds of years, well before modern pharmaceuticals.
These days formal physic gardens have become less common, but UBC has one tucked away in the UBC Botanical Garden. Hidden behind a yew hedge sits the Harold and Frances Holt Physic Garden.
While it includes plants that have been helpful in the past, there are also many that are poisonous, so don't go in planning to chew on any leaves.
4. There's a secret garden in Point Grey you can visit
Tucked away at the intersection of West 14th Avenue and Courtenay Street is a garden dedicated to one of Vancouver's most influential residents.
The Erickson Garden is the former garden of Arthur Erickson, the famed architect.
While it's not regularly open to the public, the Arthur Erickson Foundation does do tours of it, guiding people around the "contemplative garden landscaped with reflective water, rhododendrons, ferns, bamboo and grasses."
5. The stinkiest plant in Vancouver
There aren't many plants like Uncle Fester.
Named after the Addams Family character, the Amorphophallus titanum plant is nearly as unusual as its namesake.
The species is famed for its bizarre flowers, which bloom rarely. When they do it comes with a smell akin to rotting flesh.
Normally its kept in an offsite garden,but when it's time to flower the gardeners at the Bloedel Conservatory bring Uncle Fester in to show off to the crowds.
