This is a great time of year to spot a PEI fungust that's best known as a disease of Cherry trees: Black Knot ( Apiosporina morbosa ). Black Knot fungus forms distinctive, black galls on stems and branches of our native Pin Cherry and Chokecherry, as well as ornamental Cherries and Plums. While it’s unattractive, reduces fruit production, and may kill the infected branch, Black Knot doesn’t usually kill the entire tree unless the infection is very severe. Within those black

One of my favourite PEI animals is seldom seen despite being fairly common: the Northern Flying Squirrel ( Glaucomys sabrinus ), shown here in a photo by Ron Serres (used with permission). Flying Squirrels are beautiful, large-eyed, soft-furred animals, with a flap of skin (called a ‘patagium’) running from wrists to ankles on each side. That flap allows them to glide 50 metres or more between trees in the forest and has been copied by the wingsuits used by some BASE jumpe

You may think there’s no old growth forest or wilderness on PEI, but that’s not true. We have amazing ancient and wild spaces if you know where to look and can recognize the signs. Lung Lichen ( Lobaria pulmonaria ) is one of those signs. A lichen is a unique creature: usually, it’s a combination of a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium functioning as one organism. But Lung Lichen is one PEI’s few tripartite lichens: it includes a fungus, a green alga, and a cyanobacter

At the end of the last Ice Age about 12,500 years ago, PEI would have looked more lunar than Earthly: no vegetation, just clay, silt,...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. Winter is great time to spot...

PEI’s autumn leaves are gone, but there are still bright splashes of colour in the landscape. One of my favourites is the tiny but...

In honour of Halloween, let’s look at something that can make PEI’s trees look decidedly eerie: Old Man’s Beard Lichens ( Usnea spp.)...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, a weekly look at some of PEI’s beginner-level fungi. Today it’s the distinctive Ornate-stalked Bolete (...

September marks the return of Mushroom Mondays! Let’s start the season with some common, easy-to-identify choice edibles: Meadow...

The fantastic rain PEI has had over the past week has encouraged our wild fungi to start fruiting, and Chanterelles (Cantharellus spp.)...

I’m always on the lookout for new-to-me PEI fungi and so was pleased to spot a choice edible species during one of my recent plant...

Of all the plants on PEI, I think Mayflowers (Epigaea repens) are the ones with which Islanders have the deepest connection. If you...

If you are at all familiar with PEI’s famous sand dunes, you likely understand the importance of Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata)...

March snowmelt marks the welcomed advance of spring on PEI, but for about one in five people it also means the return of far-less-popular...

Some of PEI’s natural habitats punch well above their weight – their importance far exceeds the area they occupy in the landscape....

I hope you didn’t find a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking, but did you know you can find it along PEI’s shores? Let’s start the...

We’ve lost our nature literacy. Here’s why that matters. It wasn’t that long ago that just about every Islander knew how to catch a...

If decorating a tree is part of your December routine, you’re not alone. PEI’s Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) have been doing...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal “Google” for information on all things natural on PEI! Recently, we looked at the...

As a professional botanist, I don’t know my mushrooms well, but I am working to learn more. This fall, I’m sharing some easily...