Wildflowers of the Southern Interior of
British Columbia and adjacent parts of Washington, Idaho and Montana

About This Site

This site has been adapted in 2004 from the first version of the Living Landscapes / Thompson-Okanagan Past, Present and Future, regional website developed in partnership between the Royal BC Museum and Okanagan University College between 1996 and 2002. The original project was overseen by Dr. Peter Dill of Okanagan University College, who approved and supported the production of this reprint to ensure continued puclic access to, and appreciation of this Field Guide.

About the Book

The original version of this Field Guide was published by the University of British Columbia Press, in 1989. As the book is now out-of-print, the author, Joan Burbridge, has given Living Landscapes permission to republish the guide electronically. An electronic version will, of course, be used quite differently than a field guide that can be tucked in one's pocket, but nonetheless it will be a useful guide to the abundance of wildflowers which are found in this southwest region of Canada and northwestern US.

About the Author

Joan Burbridge was born in Cheshire, England. Interested in wildflowers from the time she was in her mid-teens, she used as her reference books the companion volumes, Handbook of the British Flora by George Bentham & Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Illustrations of the British Flora, by Walter Fitch, Smith and others. Illustrations in these references were excellent line drawings. When Joan found flowers she painted them, identified them, and noted date and location.

In 1958 Joan came to British Columbia, Canada. When pursuing her interest in Botany, she was unable to find a wildflower reference book with coloured illustrations. She decided to write her own book with detailed descriptions and colour photographs. In her book wildflowers, whether annual or perennial, are illustrated by over 300 colour photographs, most of which were taken by Joan.

Until her death in 2001, Joan enjoyed her role as knowledgeable tour guide and caretaker at the Woodhaven Nature Conservancy, operated by the Central Okanagan Regional District, on Raymer Road in Kelowna, BC. Within these twenty-one acres are three biogeoclimatic zones: the dry interior zone to the North, the wet interior zone to the West, and an old creek area is to the South. Within the creek zone Saskatoon berries and False Solomon's- seal can be found; in the wet interior region are cedars, firs, Sarsaparilla and Hooker's Fairybells; and in the dry interior zone there is cactus, Ponderosa pine, Balsam Root and Penstemon.

Project Team

Transcription of the graphics and text for the first electronic version of Wildflowers... was ably done by Jennifer Ostafew, Biology student at Okanagan University College (OUC). She worked under the direction of Dr. Peter Dill, a Biology professor at OUC who initially conceived the project and has supervised it throughout. Dr. Alan Paeth, a professor of Computer Science at OUC, designed and implemented all software for operation on the royal server which he maintained as system architect until the site was transferred to the Royal BC Museum in June 2001. Carol A. Thomson, as the first regional coordinator for Living Landscapes, Thompson-Okanagan, initiated discussions with Joan Burbridge, the other photographers, UBC Press, and worked with all members of the Project Team.

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