What Activities and Resources Does the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society Offer?

Updated

The Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society (nswildflora.ca) is a botanical society focused on the wild plants, lichens, and bryophytes of Nova Scotia. Its website functions mainly as an activity hub and reference library: you can join guided field trips, watch recorded presentations, use identification guides and species lists, and find links to external courses and seminars. The site is most useful if you want to learn plants in the field, identify species you've found, or connect with other naturalists in the province.

Field Trips

Field trips are the core in-person activity. The site maintains a Field Trips page plus a Field Trip Archive, and announcements are posted as news items on the front page.

  • Upcoming and recent trips are announced individually, with dates and locations. Examples from the site include an Otter Brook field trip on Saturday, September 26, and a proposed Cape Breton field trip running July 25–August 1 (or August 3).
  • Cancellations are posted too — a "Cape Breton Field Trip Cancelled" notice appears alongside the trip announcements, so it's worth checking the latest post before travelling.
  • The archive collects past trip records, which is useful if you want to see what areas the society has covered or retrace a route.

If you plan to attend, check the most recent news post rather than an older trip listing, since dates and status change.

Presentations, Videos, and Past Events

The society records its indoor programme and makes it available online.

  • Videos and Power Points of Presentations — recordings and slide decks from past talks.
  • Past Events — organised by year, with sections for 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016 and earlier.

This is the section to browse if you can't attend meetings in person but want the content, or if you're looking for a specific past talk.

Publications and Identification Resources

The site hosts a substantial reference section aimed at people identifying plants in the field.

Resource area What it covers
Publications Articles and presentations, plus reference literature
Bryophytes Publications Mosses and liverworts
Lichens Publications Lichen identification and ecology
NW Guides & Keys Guides and keys for northwestern species groups
Identifying Carex Sect. Ovales A key to a notoriously difficult sedge group
New Distributions and Floristic Lists Records of species distributions in Nova Scotia
Flora Of Nova Scotia A field course resource hosted via Acadia University
Glossaries and Related Learning Materials Terminology and background material

There are also Vascular Plants Links (pages 1 and 2), Bryophytes & Lichens Links, and a Taxonomy & Ecology section, so the site works as a jumping-off point to external botanical references as well as a host of its own material.

Tools for Identification and Recording

  • Hints on using iNaturalist to ID species — practical guidance for using iNaturalist as an identification aid.
  • NS Wild Flora Project on iNaturalist — a project you can contribute observations to, which ties your records into a provincial dataset.
  • Eco-Travel and Point Pleasant Park sections, including tree-thinning maps and background documents on thinning at PPP.

The iNaturalist project is the most direct way to turn a walk into a usable record, especially if you're not yet confident identifying species on your own.

Education, Courses, and External Seminars

The society links out to structured training run by partner organisations. Current and recent listings include:

  • Nova Scotia Museum's Natural History Field School — an "Introduction to Lichens" course, November 9–13, 2026, in Halifax. The site notes registration opened a couple of weeks earlier and that roughly 10 spots remained at the time of posting, so early registration matters for these courses.
  • Eagle Hill seminars — including "Natural History of Insect Pollinators" (Ron Butler and Herb Wilson, April 1–15, 2025), a canopy lichens seminar on identification and ecology, a liverworts seminar, and seminars on vascular plants.
  • Flora Of Nova Scotia Field Course at Acadia University.
  • Gardening with Native Plants — guidance for planting locally native species.

These are external programmes, not society-run events, so registration and fees are handled by the hosting institution.

Conservation and Species at Risk

A dedicated Conservation/Species at Risk section covers:

  • The Bill Freedman native plant collection
  • Nova Scotia-specific conservation material
  • Other Atlantic Provinces, federal, and US resources
  • International resources
  • Invasive Species information

There is also an Organizations page for related groups, and a Links section that branches into vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens, and glossaries.

Membership and Community

  • Membership — how to join the society.
  • Code of Conduct — expectations for participants, relevant if you're joining field trips.
  • Affiliations — partner organisations.
  • Facebook — the society's social channel for updates.

How to Decide Where to Start

  • Want to get outside and learn in person? Check the latest news post for upcoming field trips and confirm the trip hasn't been cancelled.
  • Want to identify something you found? Go to Publications, then the group-specific page (vascular plants, bryophytes, or lichens), and use the iNaturalist hints if you're unsure.
  • Want to build identification skills formally? Look at the Education section for museum field school and Eagle Hill seminars.
  • Can't attend events? The Videos and Power Points page plus the Past Events archive by year give you the presentation content without leaving home.
  • Interested in conservation policy or at-risk species? The Conservation/Species at Risk section collects the relevant documents and external links.