Paper Bird Studio

Lost Lagoon Evening

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The yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus) is not native to North America. It is considered an invasive species. Though very pretty, it can take over a wetland and obliterate every thing else. Stanley Park is making attempts to control the spread of this plant, but I assume it plays a role in treating storm water runoff from the causeway that passes through the park on the eastern side of the Lost Lagoon. The irises can absorb heavy metals through their roots.

13 comments

  3. I’ve not noticed those irises before, but will keep an eye out for them elsewhere (since I’m not usually in Vancouver in the spring). Gorgeous photo of the downtown area!

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    • Thank you :-). I thought it might be fun to take a picture of the Lost Lagoon in context. Especially since the evening light created such a nice reflection.

      There were many yellow flag irises at Trout Lake as well. And I saw some in a few front-yard gardens.

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  4. When I spent a few days in Vancouver in 2000 I was disappointed to find out that many of the tall, pretty flower spikes I saw in many places weren’t native to the area (or even the continent). On the same topic, just this morning I learned that a pretty little wildflower that’s native in Texas, Neptunia pubescens, has become naturalized in Taiwan. In Texas we also now have the non-native yellow irises.

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    • A lot of plants and animals move to different parts of the word. I suppose it is only a problem if they reproduce too abundantly in their new environment and wreak havoc on the existing ecosystem. I was surprised to find out last year that tomatoes weren’t native to Italy, but were brought over from Mexico. I’m curious about why you were disappointed about the non-native irises. In my case, I wonder what would be there instead if the yellow irises weren’t there.

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      • I’ve come to appreciate native species, which, as you noted, can be crowded out by aliens. Texas, for example has native irises, so we don’t need yellow ones from elsewhere.

        Regarding tomatoes, you’re not alone in your reaction. Many people would be surprised to hear that Julius Caesar could never have eaten a standard pizza or had spaghetti with tomato sauce. Similarly, until the Renaissance there was no Belgian or Swiss chocolate because chocolate, like tomatoes, is native to Mexico. So is vanilla.

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        • Hmm… I guess if an alien iris is not a bully, I’m cool with it. Mmm… chocolate. I’m guessing Switzerland still doesn’t grow cacao trees though. But it seems the African and Indonesian cacao trees originated from Central or South America. Food of the gods!

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        • I’ve seen some blue flag irises on the edge of some ponds here. They are beautiful :-). It is also the provincial flower of Quebec, where my parents and their parents live.

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  5. Very nice photo. Yes, we have it in our wetlands here as well. It’s tricky to keep things in balance, isn’t it? It is good to have a plant that can take up heavy metals. I always wonder how it is we are putting those things into the water and soil in the first place.

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    • Thank you :-).

      The wetland for stormwater filtration in Stanley Park is fairly recent. I skimmed through the stormwater treatment wetland plan and yellow flag irises were not part of the plan, though they already existed on the edge of the lagoon. A very busy causeway runs through Stanley Park (it leads to one of the two bridges that connect Vancouver to the cities north of Vancouver). The metals are in the causeway runoff, some dissolved and some associated with particulates. The filtration wetland removes particulates through settling; dissolved contaminants get adsorbed onto soil particles or are removed through biological processes. The biological processes involve plants but I don’t know which ones or what they do. I would need to do more research…

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