About this catalogue

417 native plants of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the 1,121 animals documented to use them, and 7,207 relationships between plants and animals.

Who's behind this

I'm Marci, and I'm in Edmonton. I wanted to share my passion for nature and encourage people to grow native plants, which are the cornerstone of the ecosystem. By reducing the friction of deciding which plant is best, and sharing just how much of the nature we love relies on them, I hope more folks make the choice to include native plants in their gardens.

While I'm not a botanist, I do have years of permaculture knowledge as well as years tending my own gardens. I see the life my little native plant garden attracts and want that for my whole neighbourhood and beyond.

What it is

A reference to the native plants of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the animals that depend on them. The ecoregions here stop at the Saskatchewan border, and they're not all prairie; a third of these species are recorded from boreal or montane ground.

It's also the catalogue behind Site & Pattern, a desktop app for lawn-to-habitat conversion, pollinator gardens and restoration planting. I published this website so you can read it without installing anything.

What it won't tell you

Blanks stay blank. A plant with no recorded bloom window shows up under no month, and one with no recorded flower colour shows up under no colour. Nothing gets filled in to make a page look finished.

The evidence comes with the claim. A region built from three records doesn't look like one built from three hundred, because the count sits right next to it.

Every animal on a plant page comes from a sourced record. Nothing is inferred from what a related species does.

311 of 417 species have a photograph I can credit. The other 106 show none. If I can't name the photographer, there's no image.

The occurrence records aren't identification-checked. They come out of GBIF as submitted, so misidentifications are in here the way they're in any occurrence dataset. I'm planning to check them against the regional floras over winter '26-27.

Where the data came from

These are the works the data cites. I copied the details out of the source records without opening the works themselves, so I can't yet tell you whether they back the claim citing it.

A citation tells you where a claim came from. That's all.

Published works (25)

• Acorn, J. Bugs of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.
• Acorn, J. and Sheldon, I. (2006). Butterflies of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.
• Barrett, S. C. H., and K. Helenurm. 1987. The Reproductive-Biology of Boreal Forest Herbs.1. Breeding Systems and Pollination. Canadian Journal of Botany 65:2036-2046.
• Bird, C.D., Hilchie, G.J., Kondla, N.G., Pike, E.M. and Sperling, F.A.H. (1995). Alberta Butterflies. Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
• Clements, R. E., and F. L. Long. 1923, Experimental pollination. An outline of the ecology of flowers and insects. Washington, D.C., USA, Carnegie Institute of Washington.
• Clint Otto, Russ Bryant, and Ned H. Euliss Jr., 2020, The U.S. Geological Survey Pollinator Library Dataset: U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.5066/P9DSS3VL. Accessed at <https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/5f076d2082ce21d4c3fb7426?f=__disk__c5%2F05%2Fa4%2Fc505a40f8b320c4d1444ba286d4e7ec1143390a9> on 31 Jul 2026.
• Dorey, J.B., Fischer, E.E., Chesshire, P.R. et al. A globally synthesised and flagged bee occurrence dataset and cleaning workflow. Sci Data 10, 747 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02626-w. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/dorey2023/archive/ee2f9f138a5c4464fc8edc69c39507d20fe4a0f4.zip> on 01 Aug 2026.2014.
• Fricke, E.C., Svenning, J. Accelerating homogenization of the global plant–frugivore meta-network. Nature 585, 74–78 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2640-y. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/fricke2020/archive/a104a34d91a6267efdc0660ff45ca7783cfc8b20.zip> on 01 Aug 2026.Prather 2000.
• Guzman, Laura Melissa; Kelly, Tyler; Elle, Elizabeth, 2022, "A dataset for pollinator diversity and their interactions with plants in the Pacific NorthWest", https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/WTEZNH, Borealis, V1. Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/guzman2022/archive/e24f70b4a435156264c45a853b4a58687df4cdfc.zip> on 31 Jul 2026.
• hurlbertlab/dietdatabaseMcGowan, J. D. 1973. Fall and Winter Foods of Ruffed Grouse in Interior Alaska. The Auk 90: 636-640.
• hurlbertlab/dietdatabaseTheberge, J. B. and G. C. West. 1973. Significance of Brooding to the Energy Demands of Alaskan Rock Ptarmigan Chicks. The Arctic Journal of the Arctic Institude of North America 26: 138-148.
• hurlbertlab/dietdatabaseWeeden, R. B. 1967. Seasonal and geographic variation in the foods of adult White-tailed Ptarmigan. Condor 69:303-309.
• hurlbertlab/dietdatabaseWest, G. C. and M. S. Meng. 1966. Nutrition of Willow Ptarmigan in northern Alaska. Auk 83:603-615.
• LaManna, JA, Burkle, LA, Belote, RT, Myers, JA. Biotic and abiotic drivers of plant–pollinator community assembly across wildfire gradients. J Ecol. 2020; 00: 1– 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13530 . Accessed at <https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/lamanna2020/archive/f8f0791ae6261bf65eee5156413c5c3a370a4359.zip> on 31 Jul 2026.
• millerse/Pollination-CollectionAlarcón, R., Waser, N.M. and Ollerton, J., 2008. Year‐to‐year variation in the topology of a plant–pollinator interaction network. Oikos, 117(12), pp.1796-1807.
• millerse/Pollination-CollectionBauer, P.J., 1983. Bumblebee pollination relationships on the Beartooth Plateau tundra of southern Montana. American Journal of Botany, pp.134-144.
• Oppenheimer, R. L., and Lill, J. T. (2021). A Plant-Bee Visitation Network for Plummers Island, MD. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 123(2): 365-381.
• Pattie, D. and Fisher, C. Mammals of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.
• Pohl, G.R., Anweiler, G.G., Schmidt, B.C. and Kondla, N.G. (2010). An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, Canada. in ZooKeys.
• Pohl, G.R., Landry, J.-F., Schmidt, B.C., Lafontaine, J.D., Troubridge, J.T., Macaulay, A.D., van Nieukerken, E.J., deWaard, J.R., Dombroskie, J.J., Klymko, J., Nazari, V. and Stead, K. (2018). Annotated Checklist of the Moths and Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of Canada and Alaska. Pensoft Publishers.
• Robertson, C. 1929. Flowers and insects: lists of visitors to four hundred and fifty-three flowers. Carlinville, IL, USA, C. Robertson.
• Sheffield, C.S., Frier, S.D. and Dumesh, S. (2014). The bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes) of the Prairies Ecozone, with comparisons to other grasslands of Canada. in Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands. Biological Survey of Canada.
• Small, E. 1976. Insect pollinators of the Mer Bleue peat bog of Ottawa. Canadian Field Naturalist 90:22-28.
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Insect Division. Full Database Export 2020-11-20 provided by Erika Tucker and Barry Oconner. Accessed at <https://github.com/EMTuckerLab/ummzi/archive/6731357a377e9c2748fc931faa2ff3dc0ce3ea7a.zip> on 31 Jul 2026.https://doi.org/10.15468/tmxd7n.
• Wilson, J.S. and Carril, O.M. (2015). The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees. Princeton University Press.

Databases and specimen collections (88)

Occurrence and interaction records exported from a collection or an aggregator. A record here means somebody observed the animal on the plant and filed it; it is not a paper arguing the relationship matters.

• Alberta Native Bee Council. Alberta native bee compilation.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://birdsoftheworld.org/.
• GBIF dataset 03fec74b-695e-4de5-bbe6-ae735fe4ab31. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/03fec74b-695e-4de5-bbe6-ae735fe4ab31.
• GBIF dataset 26255917-adf2-4cc3-853e-94dd1bc27b8d. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/26255917-adf2-4cc3-853e-94dd1bc27b8d.
• GBIF dataset 58d3f169-9b29-45b6-afd4-bc5ad6a13b0e. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/58d3f169-9b29-45b6-afd4-bc5ad6a13b0e.
• GBIF dataset 6e1ef328-8dc0-4366-a79f-93d5c34a5b34. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/6e1ef328-8dc0-4366-a79f-93d5c34a5b34.
• GBIF dataset 9c3f2c77-7980-4e76-86a9-525221c85074. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/9c3f2c77-7980-4e76-86a9-525221c85074.
• GBIF dataset acf0d7d1-d84c-4148-a208-2882fee74aab. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/acf0d7d1-d84c-4148-a208-2882fee74aab.
• Packer, L. Bees of Canada.
• Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. and Miller, C.J. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. in Ecological Informatics. Elsevier.
• Specimen records from arctos.database.museum. https://arctos.database.museum/.
• Specimen records from bins.boldsystems.org. https://bins.boldsystems.org/.
• Specimen records from ecdysis.org. https://ecdysis.org/.
• Specimen records from iNaturalist.org. https://iNaturalist.org/.
• Specimen records from mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu. https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/.
• Specimen records from mycoportal.org. https://mycoportal.org/.
• Specimen records from scan-bugs.org. https://scan-bugs.org/.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1156633 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165301 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165564 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165565 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165587 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165700 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165701 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165757 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165762 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165816 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1165960 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1166137 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1166170 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1166253 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175572 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175738 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175805 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175842 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175939 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175949 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1175960 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176010 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176014 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176017 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176023 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176024 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176037 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176064 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176081 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176085 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176086 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176087 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176285 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176288 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176290 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176301 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176306 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176348 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176416 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176426 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176433 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176435 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176446 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176473 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176487 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176502 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176517 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176534 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176552 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176553 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176554 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176555 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176564 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176566 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176569 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176570 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176576 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176613 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176617 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176688 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176692 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176698 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176699 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176785 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1176844 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1177101 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1177160 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1180512 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1180513 collection.
• Specimen records from the USDA-ARS:BBSL1180514 collection.
• Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org. https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/.

1 further entry in the dataset names no actual work and is omitted here rather than dressed up as a citation.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell me in the Feedback section.

Photo credits especially. If a picture of yours is on this site and the credit is wrong, or you'd rather it weren't here at all, I'll fix it or take it down.

Catalogue built 2026-09-13.