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When Fernald, and his travelling companions Bayard H. Long and Boyd H. Dunbar, left Boston for Newfoundland in July 1924, their planned destination was Trepassey, on the southern Avalon Peninsula, where they intended to look for patches of a mysterious heather that had long been reported from there (Fernald 1926; Nelson 2010). However, the call of the "limestone barrens" of the Newfoundland side of the Strait of Belle Isle, where Bachelot de la Pylaie, Mary Priest, and A. G. Huntsman had already reported many interesting species, became just too much for them to resist. After botanizing the hills behind Port aux Basques for two days, the party left for the Bay of Islands where they then intended to catch the coastal boat to the Strait of Belle Isle. After surviving a nasty train wreck[!] soon after leaving Port aux Basques, and after enduring various other delays (the coastal boat they had intended to take had run aground!) they eventually reached Flowers Cove. The party encountered its first "limestone plants" for the trip at Capstan Point. They then explored the wonderful "Rock Marsh" (locally known as the "White Rocks") - a large area of alternating "tundra, swale, thicket, pond and limestone pavement" just inland from the town of Flowers Cove. They later headed north toward Sandy Cove, where Mary Priest had earlier found Trift (Armeria maritima subsp. sibirica). Just before reaching Sandy Cove [at Yankee Point], they found a few fronds of the delicate and beautiful Mountain Bladder Fern (Cystopteris montana); a species that is VERY rare in Newfoundland to this day, being known only from Fernald's 1924 locality! After botanizing briefly at Savage Cove, they finally reached Sandy Cove, where Bayard Long found a diminutive wild mustard that proved so interesting the party ended up being late for supper at the local parsonage! Although a rare find, it was not recognized as being "new to science" until it was seen in flower the following year, when Fernald happily bestowed upon it the name Braya longii, or Long's Braya, in honour of its discoverer. After a fine week of collecting on the "limestone barrens", the party departed for the south by coastal boat, only to put into nearby St. Barbe because of the weather. Ever enthusiastic, the party got in another four hours of collecting near the harbour. About dawn the next day, the boat again set sail, only to promptly run aground off the Dog Peninsula! Fernald's party, and the other passengers had to be landed at Brig Bay by lifeboat. Not ones to miss an opportunity, the party collected madly for about 3 days, until their boat was finally pulled off the rocks. A short stop at Plum Point turned into a longer one when the wind came up, so the party naturally went ashore to make more collections. An overnight stop at Port Saunders enabled the party to get in another quick collecting trip on the "limestone" shores toward Port au Choix. The party finally reached the Bay of Islands, after a much-longer-than-expected twenty-day detour, and proceeded on towards the east by train. When they finally arrived in St. John's, they were nearly four weeks behind schedule! After some brief collecting in the St. John's area, they left for Trepassey by train. Though they collected some interesting things there (but no heather) Fernald found the pickings slim. On the way back to St. John's the party stopped off briefly at Bay Bulls. Not wanting to tempt the railway all the way across the Island again, the trip home was by way of Whitbourne and Argentia, and then along the south coast of the Island, by boat. After collecting some interesting things at Whitbourne, the party got in a bit more collecting at Argentia while waiting out a serious hurricane[!]. Finally, they set sail. A very brief stop at Harbour Breton yielded the only collection of Northern Mudwort (Limosella aquatica) yet taken on the Island of Newfoundland. After a few more brief stops the party reached Port aux Basques, and returned home. Despite all of the close calls and mishaps of the 1924 trip, Fernald, Wiegand and Long were firmly resolved to return to Newfoundland the next year to focus specifically on the limestone regions of the Great Northern Peninsula. REFERENCE: Fernald (1926) [Page last updated: November 11, 2021] ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... |
