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     Spring Beaufy  
     
    
   
   
    
     BY BRUCE MacLAREN m 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana), a 
     
     fragile-looking, small plant with attractive pink 
     
     flowers, is not well known in P.E.I. In Dr. Erskine‘s 
     
     first publication on the plants of P.E.I. he reports ‘NHD 
     
     it only from the New Glasgow area. I have never been ‘ 
     
     able to find it in this area, probably the wrong 
     
     place or the wrong time. I have, however, found 
     
     Spring Beauty quite prevalent in (wouldn't you know it) the Indian Bridge 
     
     area of the Morell River. I feel sure it is present in other areas, probab— 
     
     ly overlooked because, unless it is in sun in bloom, it would take a talent— 
     
     ed botanist to recognize it. 
     
    

    
     The term "fragile looking" must be a mistake because this small at- 
     
     tractive plant finds its way from a small tuber, about the size of a small 
     
     hazel nut, from at least six inches down, through the roots of birches, 
     
     elms, etc. The tuber is edible but I have not tried it because it took me 
     
     well over half an hour to obtain three plants to press for the herbarium 
     
     at the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa. The tubers are very lightly 
     
     attached to the root and each time I would get down to the tuber it would 
     
     break off. i 
     
    

    
     The late Euell Gibbons in "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" refers to a 
     
     closely related species Claytonia Virginia. Apparently the tubers on this 
     
     species are a good bit larger, and Gibbons is high on the flavour of them 
     
     when boiled for about 10-15 minutes. If I were stranded at Indian Bridge in 
     
     late May or early June I'm afraid I would not'be able to survive on the 
     
     tubers from P.E.I.'s Spring Beauty! 
     
    
   
   
    
     H0bl+¢1+ PrO‘I'eL‘hon [3251' POIICY 
     
    
   
   
    
     BY TONY DUKE 
     
    
   
   
    
     (This is the second half of a story excerpted from the Fall 1986 is- 
     
     sue of Conservation, published by the Department of Lands and Forests in 
     
     Nova Scotia.) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Also listed as endangered is the eastern cougar, a smaller reddish 
     
     cousin of the more common western cougar. None have ever been shot or trap— 
     
     ped within the province. But every year, a few unconfirmed sightings are 
     
     reported in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (21 in 1985), so the Department 
     
     continues to list it as protected during the hunting and trapping season. 
     
    

    
     Fortunately for the endangered eastern peregrine falcon, which was 
     
     exterminated from eastern North America by pesticide poisoning and to a 
     
     lesser degree by habitat loss and shooting, there is a captive breeding 
     
     program being carried out by the Canadian Wildlife Service. Sixty—one birds 
     
     hatched in incubators inAlberta have been released around the Bay of Fundy 
     
     since 1982 and Nova Scotians get an occasional glimpse of them near the 
     
     Bay. We hope this small nucleus of birds will return to breed and develop 
     
     into a self—sustaining population. 
     
    

    
     The right whale gets its name from the first whate hunters who felt it 
     
    
   
   
    
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