Part 2 Plant Requirements and Use
18 Plant Habitats
Learning Objectives
- Identify plants used in all segments of horticulture.
The horticultural use of plants for decoration, food, medicine, and materials spans the history of human development on earth. While early European explorers to North America described the new world as untouched wilderness, generations of Indigenous residents used plants for decoration and ritual and managed growing conditions for food for thousands of years. The relationship between people, plants, and the environment on the Pacific coast of North America is described at this link to the Garry oak ecosystem [New Tab].[1]
The early European plant explorer, Archibald Menzies has been credited as the first discoverer, describer, and collector of a number of plants whose provenance is the Pacific Northwest. Provenance refers to the populations of plants that occur naturally in local regions. For example, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) and Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone) both occur naturally in the Pacific Northwest. A plant’s nativity or provenance can be determined either geographically or politically. Acer saccharum (sugar maple), is native to central eastern North America, in other words, a Canadian native, but not a Pacific Northwest native. Similarly, Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) and Rhus glabra (smooth sumac) are native to interior British Columbia, but only to the dry interior valleys, not to the coast.
Native Plants
Plants that occur naturally in a place are considered native or indigenous to a place. Native plants have undergone genetic adaptations that have allowed them to evolve within the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of local ecosystems. As such, they function as part of a biodiverse community of organisms that includes plants, animals, and microorganisms adapted to local environmental conditions.
In North America, an indigenous designation is usually applied to plants that were present before first contact with Europeans. Thus, Plantago spp. (plantains), although widespread here, are not considered native since they were brought here as a result of immigration by early European settlers. However, the influences of climate change and globalization will likely redefine what it means to be indigenous.
Native gardening with indigenous plants that are appropriate to the conditions and geography of a given area can simulate the biodiversity of a natural habitat. Native plant gardens locally frequently include plants that are not native to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, but also include plants native to other parts of the Pacific Northwest. For instance, Quercus garryana (Garry oak), also discovered and described by Archibald Menzies, is now grown in gardens in the Lower Mainland, but is only found naturally in rain shadow climates, such as on southern Vancouver Island.
While not all native plants may be garden worthy for ornamental impact, those chosen from the regional loca