found in Manitoba

Hackelia deflexa - northern stickseed
native to Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3770
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/163490-Hackelia-deflexa

Hackelia floribunda - many flowered stickseed
native to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3773
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/77322-Hackelia-floribunda

found elsewhere in Canada but not in Manitoba

Hackelia ciliata - Okanagan stickseed
native to British Columbia
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3768
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/163486-Hackelia-ciliata

Hackelia diffusa - spreading stickseed
native to British Columbia Imperiled in Canada
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3772
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/163491-Hackelia-diffusa

Hackelia micrantha - Jessica's stickseed
native to British Columbia, Alberta
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3774
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/77323-Hackelia-micrantha

Hackelia virginiana - stickseed
native to Ontario/Quebec;
http://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3775
https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/128620-Hackelia-virginiana

some links with additional descriptions...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259576550_Hackelia_deflexa_var_americana_Conservation_Plan

May 18, 2019
Jul 27, 2019
Apr 2, 2021
Apr 4, 2021

Jun 5, 2016
May 15, 2021
Jun 25, 2021

Jul 1, 2009
Aug 13, 2016
May 17, 2017
Jun 23, 2017
Jun 24, 2017
Aug 12, 2017
Aug 23, 2017
Aug 24, 2017
Sep 25, 2017
Jun 14, 2018
Jul 8, 2018
Jun 12, 2019
Jan 5, 2021
Jun 26, 2021

"Debwendon Inc is a non-profit organization formed in 2007 to promote and preserve the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve, raise public awareness of the historic cultural connection between the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and the Brokenhead Wetland, construct and maintain over the long term a boardwalk and interpretive trail adjacent to the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve, and raise funds toward those ends. The word Debwendon means “trust” in Ojibway.

Debwendon is a Manitoba corporation, and a Canadian non-profit charity. Our registration-number is 85940 9997 RR0001."

https://www.debwendon.org/

"In June 1998, Native Orchid Conservation Inc. applied for, and received, a grant from Manitoba Hydro to make a botanical survey of the Gull Lake wetlands, to be completed in the year 2000. Our recently completed interim report contains all the information compiled to date concerning the native flora of this wetlands, together with recommendations for their ongoing management."

Ewacha, B. (1999). Need for Preservation of the Gull Lake Wetlands, Manitoba. Blue Jay, 57(2). https://doi.org/10.29173/bluejay5796

A recent outing near Molson netted a enjoyable group of butterfly observations including a cooperative group of Harvester butterflies.

Checking my copy of The Butterflies of Manitoba, I found these notes, including this to me startling assertion....

The Harvester is the sole North American representative of a tropical Old World group of carnivourous gossamer winged butterflies.

It turns out that the larvae of this butterfly eat aphids - the Woolly Alder Aphid to be specific. It might be possible that other similar species which also form woolly wax covered colonies may also do.

The butterfly overwinters as a pupa. Adults emerge in the spring in mid May. Eggs are laid adjacent to aphid colonies. Greenish-brown larvae emerge from the eggs and enter the crowd of aphids. The white waxy threads of the aphids also stick to the prominent tufts on the larvae's body segments, helping them to blend in. Only 10-12 days later, the larvae is mature and pupates. In Manitoba, at least two generations are known to occur in a single season.

The population of Harvesters in Manitoba is probably limited by the availability of its prey species. The book describes it as "quite local, seldom abundant and populations fluctuate from year to year"

Woolly Alder Aphids also have a complex life. They start out the season on their primary host variously reported as Sugar maple or Silver maple. The colony formed there creates a generation that move to their secondary host Alders. These are the obvious white colonies on branches that persist through the summer. In autumn a sexual generation is produced that then returns to the primary host.

This story is somewhat problematic in a Manitoba setting as neither of those maple species occur here. It could be that the Manitoba populations are simply skipping the sexual generations and the primary host and only overwintering under fallen leaves or in loose earth beneath alder trees. All reproduction may then be parthogenetic.

it will be interesting to see what we observe.

all Manitoba observations of..

• Harvester
• Woolly Alder Aphid
• Speckled Alder

in the world

• Harvester
• Woolly Alder Aphid
• Speckled Alder

more....

• Prociphilus
• Prociphilus tessellatus
• Harvester

here's where we are with lepidoptera in Manitoba observed in July as of July 12, 2021...

3,389 observations of 505 species by 530 observers supported by 389 identifiers

and the top ten moth species observed in July in Manitoba to date

• National Moth Week 2021 - Canada
• National Moth Week 2020 - Canada
• National Moth Week 2019 - Canada
• National Moth Week 2018- Canada
• National Moth Week 2017
• National Moth Week 2016
• National Moth Week 2015
• National Moth Week 2014
• National Moth Week 2013
• National Moth Week 2012

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&verifiable=any&field:Observation%20group=80000161

Thanks @bee_happy for this series - cheering you on from the sidelines!

So here's the state of play for Campanula in Manitoba at the time of posting according to VasCan...

Native to Manitoba...

Campanula petiolata (no common name assigned as yet :) )
found in Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/31878

Campanula gieseckeana Giesecke's bellflower
found in NWT, Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/9754

Introduced in Manitoba...

Campanula rapunculoides

Campanula glomerata Subspecies Campanula glomerata subsp. glomerata

Campanula trachelium Subspecies Campanula trachelium subsp. trachelium

Excluded from the flora of Manitoba (and every other part of Canada)...

Campanula rotundifolia
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/4171

What was that you said?

now this is a bit of a upheaval as for many many years we have become accustomed to identifying our local native harebell as C. rotunidifolia and it can be a bit of a shock to find the name has been whisked away from us to only apply to the plants native to Europe.

so if our native harebell is not C. rotundifolia then what is it.....

well for most of southern Manitoba I expect the answer is going to be C. petiolata

here's the entry from Scoggans Flora of Manitoba 1957 (p 507) and you can see what I mean...

3. C. rotundifolia L. (incl. the intergrading var intercedens (Witasek) Farw. and var. petiolata (A. DC.) Henry (C. petiolata A. DC.))
Prairie, sandhills, rock outcrops, and clearings in the southern three-quarters of the province. Northernmost collection: Nelson River at Limestone Rapids about 155 miles south of Churchill; railway clearing....

C. intercedens proper is currently absent from Manitoba on VasCan being found in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes (excluding Newfoundland and Labrador)
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/name/Campanula%20intercedens

C. giesekiana - the slice of C rotundifolia complex that we thought we might be getting is really a plant of the Arctic - here's a discussion of this plant from the online Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. So plants in the northern quarter of the province are likely to be this species.

So I will be moving my identifications of C rotundifolia complex in Manitoba to align with this way of thinking - ymmv :)

PS For those of you wondering what happened to Marsh Bell flower -
Palustricodon aparinoides var. aparinoides is the new name of Campanula aparinoides Pursh
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/name/Campanula%20aparinoides

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is holding their second national bioblitz beginning today. This one is a 'members only' bioblitz so remember to join the project if you would like your observations to appear in the project totals. The NCC also has more things planned if you also register your participation with them on their website.

Joining the project will also make the projects daily posts appear in your daily feed on your dashboard. Their first post highlight trees and shrubs - the woody infrastructure of our natural communities. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look at how we are doing with observing the woody species that are big enough to make trees and that are native to Manitoba.

You could use this list to check how many you can find - the easiest to find and identify are at the top and it gets harder as you go down. If you would like even more challenge, you can generate your own checklist of native shrubs in Manitoba over at the VASCAN Checklist generator.

Have fun!