When we first booked our vacation to Nova Scotia, I imagined a world of plants and animals relatively unfamiliar to me. I figured since we were heading so far north (it turns out, Nova Scotia is really more east than north) and all the way to another country, I would be faced with an assortment of new species. But while the rocky coastlines and higher elevation ecosystems in Cape Breton were quite different from most of our Cape Cod landscapes, they weren’t substantially different from areas I had frequented in New Hampshire or Maine. We often encountered many familiar plants, including bunchberry, blue-bead lily, spotted jewelweed, and seaside goldenrod. A few of my favorite encounters (not typically found on a walk in the forest on Cape Cod) are highlighted below.

Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

We encountered four species of carnivorous plants in our travels: horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta), round-leaved (Drosera rotundifolia) and spoon-leaved sundew (Drosera intermedia), and purple pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea). The bladderworts were confined to shallow open water areas in the bogs that were hard to access and the sundews are small and low-to-the-ground, making them difficult to spot. Many of the pitcher plants, however, were proudly displaying their locations with large, downward nodding, oddly shaped flowers held on tall stems projected up above the other bog vegetation. The oddly shaped green disc on the underside of the flower is actually an enlarged stigma. The inner (upward facing) surface is the sticky part that receives pollen and is oriented flat like a landing platform for maximum surface contact with any insect pollinator that enters the flower. 

Although pitcher plants can photosynthesize like other plants, and therefore get some of their “food” that way, they supplement their sunshine diet with insects. The unique hollow shape of the leaves effectively serves as a pitfall trap. When an insect lands on the inner surface of the pitcher-shaped leaves, it may fall down the slippery inner walls. Once fallen, downward facing hairs and rainwater collected at the bottom of the “pitcher” prevent the insect from escaping. The pitcher plant then releases enzymes into the water to dissolve the soft parts of the insect, making it possible for the plant to absorb the additional nutrients gained from its insect prey. 

Note: Purple pitcher plants are native to New England and can be found on Cape Cod, but I have never encountered one here. 

Moose (Alces alces)

Whenever we told anyone we were going hiking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, one of the first things they would respond with is “Oh, you’re definitely going to see moose!” After 3 days in the park, disappointingly we still hadn’t seen one. On our last day, we made a targeted moose-sighting effort: go to an area where they are known to be common and be there at “the right time” (dawn or dusk). In addition to incredible views of the dramatic Cape Breton coastline, our sunset hike along the Skyline Trail awarded us with multiple moose sightings. 

Despite their somewhat goofy appearance, with a fleshy dewlap at their throat and an overhanging upper lip, moose are actually the largest deer species in the world. A large male can weight up to 1400 pounds in the fall, and have massive, flat antlers that spread up to 6 feet wide end-to-end with numerous prongs projecting up from their borders. Largely solitary animals, males become restless in the fall as they begin to look for mates, becoming more aggressive and often engaging in antler-to-antler combat. Luckily the end of August is a time of year when females have started to relax as their young have matured and no longer need as much protection and males have not yet begun looking for a mate. While a moose could still pose a danger to people at any time of year given their large size, I felt more comfortable being in their general vicinity knowing these animals weren’t already at a heightened level of aggression. 

Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)

Fireweed grows in northern climates throughout the world. Commonly seen colonizing recently disturbed ground, blooming fireweed is amazingly evident along roadsides this time of year. In fact, fireweed is an early successional plant and its name stems from its tendency to grow where fires have recently occurred. It is also an extremely adaptable plant and has been recorded from 25 to 70 degrees north, and from elevations as low as sea level in Canada and the northwestern United States to as high as to 15,000 ft. in the Himalayas.

Rose-pink, four-petalled flowers clustered along tall spikes bloom between July and September before giving way to slender pink seed pods that eventually open to reveal seeds attached to white, fluffy down; the down creates an effective wind-blown seed dispersal mechanism. The New England Wildflower Society’s GoBotany Website mentions that the young leaves, shoots and flowers of fireweed are edible, and that the flowers can used to make fireweed jelly. I only wish I’d discovered this while I was still there. Now I’m curious how the flowers taste.  

Note: Fireweed is native to New England and can be found on Cape Cod, but I have never seen it as common as it was in Nova Scotia.