Field outing on High Park - Lab Report Example

Introduction For the past decades, there has been a massive increase of the numbers of visitors visiting High Park. I must admit that my experience in High Park created a strong platform for me to appreciate nature and its wide range of species. This park is found in a hilly landscape and it is well-known for its natural park, sporting facilities, the zoo, playgrounds, education facilities, and cultural facilities. Since its establishment, the park has ranked the largest within Toronto city. While in the park, I found out that the park is the home to various wildlife species that to date attracts millions of visitors across the globe.

This report provides a detailed description of the habitat I explored, the plants I saw, and the supplementary information I researched about the plants’ features. I had an amazing opportunity to watch the rare Black Oak Savannah habitat. About a third of the park environment consists of rare oak savannah with an open landscape. Most experts believe that the Oak savannah at this park is continentally significant because of its nature, size, and features of the remnant ecosystem (High Park Toronto, 2013).

This research shows that, the black oak savannah of the High Park is considered significant because of its virtue of location and different plants that are unique and rare to find. For over 150 years, the Black Oak Savannah habitat has been an outstanding environment for different types of wildlife. This is because Oak trees have nesting sites for insects and birds and its acorns are the excellent food for wild turkey, deer, rodents, and other species. The parks department has implemented programs of acorn collection to attract a wide number of visitors who have a passion for such collection.

The species I found in High Park are rare and unique to find in a park such as cup-plant and wild lupine. The low-nutrient and dry conditions of the Black Oak savannah of High Park supports the growing conditions of various plants such as Indian grass, little bluestem, and big bluestem whose binominal name is Prairie grasses. Additionally, it attracts prairie flowers such like wild lupine, showy tick-trefoil, and cylindrical blazing star. After a thorough investigation, I found out that there are various species that bloom well between the month of June and July such as rockrose, wild lupine, and New Jersey tea.

There are other species that blossom well in the mid and late summer such as sunflower and bean family. At the High Park, there are notable wetland plant species such as sweet flag categorized as Acorus Calamus, blue-flag iris categorized as Iris Versicolor, and common arrowhead classified as Sagittaria latifolia. I must admit that High Park is the ideal place for visitors who love nature and ecology system. In essence, the park has different plants, trees, and flowers that capture many people’s attention.

The place is so appealing in that one can pick a new favourite tree or flower each time he visits the park. The following section discusses some plants I found in the park plus their characteristics. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberose) Butterfly weed also known as Pleurisy root is a native plant categorized in the class of tall grass prairies. This plant is the most attracting plant around that attracts many butterflies. The plant grows well in well and strong drained type of soil. In the park, the plant tolerates clay to sand soil and grows well in full sun and