Native Plants on the South Coast

Native Plants on the South Coast

From the Royal BC Museum

Royal BC Museum Books

Check out Royal BC Museum’s books about British Columbia’s native plants. Ethnobotanist Dr. Nancy Turner has been working with First Nations people in British Columbia for decades to understand and document human use of plants in our province. Dr. Turner’s books are fascinating reading about Indigenous peoples’ relationship with plants.

Nancy Turner and Richard Hebda present the results of many years of working with botanical experts from the Saanich Nation on southern Vancouver Island.

A must-have reference for anyone interested in wild edible plants and traditional cultures of BC’s coastal First Peoples.

This excellent field guide to many plants native to British Columbia emphasizes the traditional technological uses of plant materials by the First Peoples of the region.

This book is the definitive guide to all native and naturalized woody plants in British Columbia. T.C. Brayshaw describes and illustrates almost 300 species of trees and shrubs, as well as many subspecies and varieties.

Dr. Ken Marr and Dr. Richard Hebda write about the museum’s native plant garden. If you can get to the Royal BC Museum in person, be sure to wander through our beautiful native plant garden.

Retired curator of botany and earth science Dr. Richard Hebda has published a series of articles with photographs about native British Columbian plant species on his museum profile page. Links to specific articles are listed below.

Where to Begin Your Own Research

Outside Links

These links will take you away from the Learning Portal. Come back soon!

  • E-Flora BC (Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia)

This is an excellent native plant database with images, identification guides and distribution maps, hosted by the University of British Columbia. It includes data from specimens at the Royal BC Museum herbarium—a place where dried research specimens are stored and filed according to a system of classification that makes it easy to search for a particular species.

A collection of data from 38 herbariums with collections from the Pacific Northwest, including the Royal BC Museum herbarium.

This is a great resource for information related to BC’s native plants.

This is a terrific guide to help you nurture and grow native plants at home or in a schoolyard.

Rich resources related to Garry Oaks and associated species of native plants.

Explore this database hosted by the Conservation Data Centre (CDC) of the BC Ministry of Environment.  It is the CDC’s mandate to report on the status of rare species.

HAT works to conserve nature on southern Vancouver Island. See this page for resources on gardening with native plants!

Practical article about plant identification from the American Museum of Natural History.

Take your love of birds to the next level by creating habitat in your yard or garden that provides life-saving resources (think food, water, and shelter) for birds throughout the year.