Archives: October2009

• First U.S. Tsunami Shelter Planned as Earthquake Looms

  An Oregon town may be the first in the United States to build a tsunami shelter that could withstand 50-foot tsunamis expected to hit the Pacific Northwest soon.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Comets Didn’t Wipe out Sabertooths, Early Americans?

  A cold snap that killed off much of North America’s wildlife and early humans about 13,000 years ago was not caused by a comet impact as previously suggested, scientists say.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Rhus typhina

  
  

  Lindsay is responsible for today’s written entry. I made the scan from leaves leaflets (thanks Richard, in comments below) collected by Emily P., another one of the garden’s work-study students. The leaves leaflets were picked from the ground in UBC Botanical Garden’s Carolinian Forest. The photo of the plant habit was made in New Brunswick. Lindsay writes:

  Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was able to go home to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island where the fall colour of the Rhus typhina was at its peak in the slightly cooler climate. The amber colour was spectacular against its elegant branching.

  A native of eastern USA and southern Canada, staghorn sumac favours dry sites and poor soil — it will often grow where other plants would be unable to survive. Sometimes seen as a “weedy” species because of its spreading rhizomes, Rhus typhina can remain quite manageable if left undisturbed. Unlike other members of Anacardiaceae, no parts of Rhus typhina are poisonous. It was used to make a kind of “sumac-ade” by First Nations, and also apparently makes a nice wine.