Yukon’s native plants uplift the territory’s people and ecosystems

A swath of what we now call Yukon once belonged to Beringia, a region that, unlike the rest of Canada, was not covered in glaciers during the ice age that ended around 11,000 years ago. Beringia connected North America to Siberia and allowed species, including people, to travel between the two continents.

As a result, Yukon boasts a perhaps-surprising amount of biodiversity, including over 1,250 species of flowers plants — some of which, like Yukon goldenweed (Nestotus macleanii), occur nowhere else in the world.

Modern-day Yukon spans five terrestrial ecozones. The majority of its land falls within the Boreal Cordillera and Taiga Cordillera: mountainous areas that are relatively dry because the highest mountains to the southwest block the inland movement of humid Pacific air. The Pacific Maritime ecozone extends slightly into the southwest corner of Yukon and is home to the tallest peak in Canada, Mount Logan.

In these ecozones, boreal forest predominates below the tree line, with smaller plants like flowers and mosses also found across the mountainsides and plateaus. This flora helps to support wildlife such as the Arctic ground squirrel, hoary marmot, American pika, spruce grouse, willow ptarmigan, thinhorn sheep, American bison, moose, black bear and grizzly bear. Most of the territory’s human population is also found here, with over two-thirds living in Whitehorse, within the Boreal Cordillera.

The Taiga Plains and Southern Arctic ecozones overlapping northern, northeastern and southeastern edges of Yukon are at a lower elevation than the rest of the territory and host Arctic species of flowers, willows, grasses, lichens and berry-producing shrubs. These plants help sustain species like caribou, muskox, greater white-fronted goose, grizzly bear, snow bunting and Lapland longspur.

Read on to discover three of the robust native plant species that help keep life going across Yukon, and don’t miss our other blogs on the native plants of Nunavut, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)

Fireweed became the territory’s official flower in 1957, replacing prairie crocus (Pulsatilla nuttalliana), which had already been selected by Manitoba. One of the first plants to spring up after a wildfire, fireweed spread to create vast purple-pink meadows until fall when their leaves live up to their name and turn a blazing red and orange.

Fireweed’s elegant flower spike may bear 50 or more individual blooms in the summer months and reach over two metres in height. Each flower has four petals alternating with thinner sepals (outer parts of the flower) surrounding a white stigma divided into four curled ends. After flowering and pollination, strands of long, silky fluff carry off the seeds on the wind.

All parts of the fireweed plant are edible, making it a popular traditional food source now used in products like honey, tea and skincare products. Gwich’in and Inuvialuit also use fireweed medicinally to treat rashes, burns, stings and arthritis.

Growing tips

This wildflower grows readily along roadsides, in meadows and rocky areas and along streams, adapting to varied habitats and elevations.

You don’t need to live in Yukon to add it to your native plant garden. It is native to every territory and province other than New Brunswick and PEI.

Fireweed can be grown from rhizomes or seed. Note that it can spread quickly, especially in moist areas, so consider planting in a container if you want to limit it to one spot.

Wildlife benefits

Fireweed is a valuable nectar source and is pollinated by bees, butterflies and moths. In the southwestern part of Yukon, Anna’s and rufous hummingbirds also visit this plant.

Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)

This hardy conifer has been Yukon’s official tree since 2001. While it can grow up to 30 metres tall, its size and shape depend on its location. In sheltered spots, it grows tall and straight with a pointed top and short, downward-slanting branches that shed snow, but at the windy treeline, it can be stunted and crooked.

Like all firs, the cones of subalpine fir stick up, like birds perching in a tree, and exude wax. To identify this species, look to the needles, which are flat and curved with a rounded or notched tip and grey- or blue-green with white markings. The bark is grey or brown with younger trees appearing bumpy due to resin “blisters.”

Subalpine fir is used for pulp and lumber and as a Christmas tree. Traditionally its needles are used to make a tea high in vitamin C, its wood is used to make baskets and roof shingles, and sap is used medicinally.

Growing tips

In nature, subalpine fir is found mostly at relatively high elevations (600-2000 metres) and prefers cool summers and cold, snowy winters. In Canada, it is native to B.C., western Alberta and a small part of Northwest Territories as well as Yukon. It grows slowly and adapts to various soils including nutrient-poor, rocky ones and is shade tolerant. Plant this tree in spring for best results.

Wildlife benefits

Red squirrels and songbirds eat seeds from subalpine fir cones, while grouse prefer the needles and buds, and deer, elk, bighorn sheep and moose dine on the bark. Caribou feed on lichens growing on the tree. Subalpine firs also provide cover for birds and mammals.

 

Soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis)

This deciduous shrub goes by many names, including Canada buffaloberry and mooseberry. It is best known for its bright red berries that do indeed feel soapy.

Soapberry grows about three metres tall and has oval shaped, leathery green leaves. Its small yellow flowers bloom in spring before the berries form.

Gwich’in have used this shrub in a variety of ways: eating the cooked berries, making tea from the berries to treat colds, boiling stems and roots to treat gastrointestinal problems, and making tea from branches to treat soreness, bites and infections. Yukoners also enjoy adding sweetener to foam made from the berries to create an ice cream-like treat.

Growing tips

This widespread shrub is native in every province and territory except for PEI. It grows in a range of soil types and moisture conditions, in full or partial shade. Soapberry is able to tolerate challenges from alkaline soil to cold to drought.

In nature, soapberry is a common understory shrub in the boreal forest, preferring moist, sloping areas. Uniquely for a shrub, soapberry — like peas and beans — hosts bacteria in its roots that convert nitrogen in the air into a form that plants can readily use. This makes the soapberry plant rich in protein, allows it to grow in nutrient-poor soils and fertilizes the plants growing near it.

You can grow soapberry from cuttings or seeds. Note that both male and female plants are needed in order to produce fruit and that the berries are likely to attract wildlife, which can include bears.

Wildlife benefits

As mentioned above, bears and grouse eat the berries of this plant while deer eat the leaves. Soapberry’s flowers are an early food source for pollinators in spring and are visited by syrphid flies (also called flower flies), bees and ants.