Western Spiderwort
Alberta Home
Western spiderwort is restricted to sand
dune areas and appears to require some element of active or drifting
sand. In Alberta, the single known location where western spiderwort
occurs is in one small area of the Pakowki Lake sand hills in the
southeastern portion of the province. There, the species is restricted
to partially stabilized sand in dune slack areas and active sand on the
dune area northeast of Pakowki Lake. The sites where western spiderwort
occurs are sparsely vegetated and somewhat depressed areas among dunes.
Slip faces of dunes immediately to the south and north of the site and a
dune with choke cherry thickets to the west provide some shelter but
sand gets deposited during windy days. The major active sandy areas that
the western spiderwort and other rare, threatened, and
endangered
species of plants and animals depend on have been almost completely
cultivated.
In Alberta, western spiderwort is restricted to the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion of the Grassland Natural Region. The climate in the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion is the warmest and driest in Alberta. This subregion has a typical continental climate with cold winters, warm summers and low precipitation. Because of the warm summer temperatures and high average wind speed, the rate of evaporation is high throughout the summer months.