Purple Saxifrage

The snow around town has pretty much disappeared. We are in a bit of a solar oven here, and tend to lose our snow earlier than much of the area around here. My in-laws just snowmobiled to Hall Beach and back last week, and they were still able to travel over the land portions of the route with little difficulty. It is funny to see the building site without snow cover, as it has been a long time since we last saw ground there. It is almost devoid of snow, only a couple of stubborn patches of ice from thick packed snow remain.

Out in front of the House a couple of days ago I noticed the first Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) of the year. The Purple Saxifrage is kind of like the Prairie Crocus (Anenome patens) of my youth, the first flower to appear and the sign that spring is really here to stay. They usually start to appear about the middle of June well before the other flowers appear, although I did find a Wolly Lousewart that is well on its way to full flower.

In a couple of weeks the area around here will be covered in wildflowers. Arctic Dryads, Arctic Poppy, Oxitropes, Milkvetches, Cinqfoils, a myriad of Saxifrages, River Beauty, Heather and on and on. There are many many species that have adapted to life up here.

Most of the plants have many adaptations for life in the High Arctic, to survive the climate and to set seed in the very short growing season. The most obvious adaptation is that none of the plants grow very tall. Cotton grasses and sedges are about the tallest here, and at about 6 inches, the Arctic Poppy is our tallest flower. Everything else pretty much stays at ground level, including our “shrubs” the Arctic Willow. Arctic Willow grows right along the ground here. When we were in Kugluktuk they grew much higher, in some areas along the Coppermine River they were almost five feet high. Coming from Arctic Bay that kind of feels like a rain forest. But Kugluktuk is much farther south than here, and on the continent and has a much more moderate climate.

In terms of setting seed some plants like the Purple Saxifrage start their flowers before winter and their nearly complete flower buds spend the winter protected by the foliage and snow cover, and have a head start come spring. Many plants have asexual reproduction strategies, in addition to sexual reproduction, and many have a wind dispersment system for their seeds. How do they get pollinated? Well, there is a lot of self pollination, but we have butterflies, and bumblebees and a host of other insects that have a hand in the job. Travis and I had a good close look at a bumblebee the day before yesterday. She was working the few Purple Saxifrage flowers that had got a head start on everything else. Soon she’ll have quite a banquet, but a banquet that won’t last very long. Not very long at all.