A smattering of more than 300 densely wooded islands off southeast British Columbia, the Southern Gulf Islands are home to flora found nowhere else in Canada: the flowering yellow Lindley’s False Silverpuffs; the rare Triquetrella californica moss; the coast-clinging Arbutus menziesii —Canada’s only evergreen deciduous tree, known for its flaky cinnamon-hued bark that peels away every summer to reveal a smooth olive-green skin.

“Many of these are disjunct species,” explains Canadian naturalist Andrew Simon, who first visited in 2007. “You find them in places like California and Oregon, then they vanish until you reach the Southern Gulf Islands.”

Of the seven main islands in the archipelago, you might not expect Galiano to feel the wildest or the greenest. After all, the long, finger-

See Full Page