By the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago, High Park would have been under 60 metres of water. As the water drained, large deposits of sand and other fine material were laid down here. The sand remains and, as a result, some sand-loving plants thrive.
Huckleberry thrives in old dunes and plains:
The Wild Lupine that was originally here was all picked and disappeared over time. In the last few years, it has been reintroduced and does well in this dry sandy soil:
Sassafras is uncommon in the Toronto area because there is not much of the dry sandy forest that it thrives on:
Sassafras is lovely in autumn:
It seems odd that a plant called Swamp Dewberry would grow in sandy High park. It is usually found in moist, shaded places but occasionally appears in dry forests like High Park:
Other botany on this June day:
NATURE QUOTE
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
― John Muir
Miles Hearn