Canada Post Issues New Flower Stamps

This is what Canada Post has to say about these new stamps:

“Canada Post’s latest stamp issue features two native wildflowers that are important sources of food for a variety of pollinators, including hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.

The brilliant blossoms of butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata) become heavy with nectar and pollen, attracting hungry insects and birds. Those pollinators play a crucial role in fertilizing plants, including fruit trees and other agricultural crops.                                                       

Both plants are perennial herbs that can grow up to a metre tall. The glossy leaves of butterfly milkweed, and the leaves of other milkweeds, are the sole source of food for monarch butterfly caterpillars. These striking pollinators are affected by deforestation, climate change and the loss of native plants along their migratory corridors.

A fragrant member of the mint family, spotted beebalm is known for its unique and intricate whorls of purple-spotted, tubular flowers that alternate with rings of white-to-purple leaf bracts along its upper stem.

In Canada, spotted beebalm and butterfly milkweed are native only to certain regions of southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec. In Quebec, these wildflowers are designated as threatened and protected by law.

March 2024

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