Fodder Galega - Galega orientalis

Every now and then I find a plant I wasn't expecting. This is certainly the case for this charming beauty, found along one of the trails in the Mont-Royal park, which I confess to being intrigued about, because I wonder how it ever got there:

Galega orientalis

This is Galega orientalis, a plant native to Russia & environs [1,2]. It is a member of the Fabaceae (legume family), and like many plants in that family is a fixer of nitrogen [1] -- nitrogen-fixing plants are plants which take atmospheric nitrogen and put it into the soil; this is a very useful trait in agriculture (as nitrogen is one of the essential nutrients for plant growth), but not the primary agricultural use of this plant.

Galega orientalis inflorescence - raceme shape

So why was I surprised to find this plant in the park? Well, the plant has been introduced to North America as a fodder (animal feed) plant [1,2,3,4], so it's not surprising to find it somewhere on this continent so much as it is surprising to find it in the Mont-Royal park, relatively distant from any farms or agricultural operations.  There was only the one plant that I could find and it certainly wasn't there as animal feed. My guess would be that it was brought in on a dog's fur or on the clothes of a person involved with or near agricultural operations with this plant.

Galega orientalis inflorescences

G. orientalis is an excellent fodder plant, as it is relatively high in protein and other valuable nutrients [1,5], as well as hardy and tough, making it suitable for tougher conditions. Work is ongoing to determine the best cultivars for introduction of this plant in agriculture as far north as Alaska [4].

Galega orientalis flowers

G. orientalis is a perennial shrub with upright, non-climbing growth habit [3,5,6]. This plant is a good nectar-producer and is pollinated by bees [1,5].

It's also quite a beautiful plant. I'm often quite charmed by plants in the Fabaceae, many of them are quite beautiful. Of course, a great deal of the world agrees with me: the Fabaceae are not only popular in agriculture but in gardening all over the world; sweet peas, among others, are favourite ornamentals from this family. One of the distinctive characteristics of this family is the bilateral symmetry of the flowers (as opposed to the radial symmetry seen in many other families):

Galega orientalis : bilaterally symmetric flowers

Cow Vetch - Vicia Cracca

V. cracca flower stalk and fern-like leaves

This is my specimen photo of cow vetch (fr. vesce craque, pois à crapauds), vicia cracca. It is a very hardy, invasive plant, considered a weed where it isn't native. Though it isn't native to Canada, in this environment it isn't particularly problematic. Cow vetch, being a meadow flower, has limited scope in a mostly wooded area like the one where I photographed this plant. It can be problematic as an invasive plant, but it is an excellent fixer of nitrogen, so it's not entirely bad, either. The difficulty with this plant is in its tendency to spread aggressively, choking and eventually squeezing out other plants.

V.  cracca flower stalk

I love the shape of the flower; it looks a bit like a rabbit's head to me. I love the way the deeper purple veins in the upper petals are clearly visible here, in their double-loop pattern. Cow vetch is particularly attractive to bees and butterflies, so sticking around these for a while results in quite a show.

I took a stroll this morning with my father to identify two shrubs, the berries of which seem to be particularly attractive to birds; yesterday, we spotted a cedar waxwing on one of them. This area is mostly too dense and forested for cedar waxwings, so it was a nice sight. The plant that attracted it was a red elderberry (fr. sureau rouge), sambucus racemosa.

Also, my parents adopted kittens recently. They're brothers, and close to 4 months old now. Here's a picture of them spooning. Just for the cute.

Leo (orange) and Noirot (black)