Saving an endangered Nanaimo flower

A small flower with yellow and cream petals is on the edge of extinction in Canada and a VIU research team is fighting to save it.

Bryan Lamprecht, a VIU Biology student, is working with Dr. Jasmine Janes, a VIU Biology Professor, studying Hosackia pinnata, also known as Bog bird’s-foot-trefoil. The rare species is red-listed in BC and Canada. There are only five sites where this rare flower grows in Canada, all near Nanaimo. The plant also grows along portions of the western coast of the United States.  

“It is an endangered species and is the official flower of Nanaimo, which a lot of people don’t know,” says Bryan.

The Hosackia pinnata has been the City of Nanaimo’s floral emblem since 2010. 

“We pride ourselves on having this plant around and yet there are so few populations of it left. We know that many of the areas that it occupies are under risk of development or future development,” says Jasmine. “We can either save this species from development, or we can work out strategies to try and translocate or introduce it into new areas that could be suitable. We don’t know much about this species at all.”

Jasmine says there are stories that this flower once grew widely across Nanaimo including in Maffeo Sutton Park, but now no flowers grow there. She says protecting the plant is important to maintain the levels of biodiversity we have.

The goal of the research is to understand the species’ health using genetics and recommend how to help the species propagate to perhaps introduce it to other areas in the region. The researchers collect the leaves of the Hosackia pinnata, not the flowers. This is important as the researchers can get much more DNA from fresh leaves and make sure the plants can still reproduce by leaving the flowers intact.

“The end goal is to give vital information that conservationists need to create change,” says Bryan. “The more we understand populations the more we’ll know how to help them in the future, to help them propagate and to come back from being endangered.”

Bryan says this work is crucial and his way of making a positive impact on the environment.

“This work is hugely important because the planet is really in a bad spot right now and one person can’t save the world, but I feel like this is my way of doing my part. Being out here and actively having an impact on the environment, that for me is why I want to do this,” says Bryan. 

He plans to pursue a master’s degree and says this is the kind of work he wants to continue doing.

Bryan is gaining hands-on learning working in the field by collecting samples, recording data, examining samples in the lab and doing report writing.

“All these skills are very transferable to many different projects and places in the future. It’s just hugely valuable to the future of any student,” says Bryan.

Jasmine received a VIURAC grant to help pursue her research and secured permits from government and non-government landholders to study the plant.

“We gratefully acknowledge them for giving us permission to do this,” says Jasmine.