Klamath Rushlily (Hastingsia alba)

Gumboot Lake, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, CA, 7/2023.

What a find!  Just a handful of steps from our campsite were marshy areas filled with masses of white flower stalks (teeming with pollinators). We initially mistook them for bog orchids,

California Bog Asphodel (Narthecium californicum)

Near Gumboot Lake, Shasta Trinity NF, CA, 7/ 2023.

We encountered this attractive spike of yellow flowers several times in hikes near Mount Shasta. 

Snow Plant (Sarcodes sanguinea)

Manzanita Creek Trail, Lassen National Park, CA, 7/2023

The forests of the pacific northwest are a mycotrophic plant lover’s dream!

Giant Blazing Star (Mentzelia laevicaulis)

Near Lake Siskiyou, CA 7/2023.

We’ve been chasing these huge neon yellow Blazing Star blooms for a couple years. 

California Corn Lily (Veratrum californicum)

Paradise Meadow, Mt. Lassen N.P. , CA 7/2023.

California has its own Corn Lily, and it puts on a real flower show

Rocky Mountain Iris (Iris missouriensis)

Bandit Springs Trail, Ochoco NF, OR 6/2023.

Our third Iris post, this Rocky Mountain Iris is found in wet pockets of Ponderosa Pine forests with drier summers.  In the PNW that means east of the cascades,

Dwarf Hesperochiron (Hesperochiron pumilus)

Lookout Mountain Trail, Ochoco NF, OR 6/2023.

This darling flower has no common name, forcing you to remember (and remember how to pronounce)  its latin genus,

Brown’s Peony (Paeonia brownii)

Lookout Mountain Trail, Ochoco NF, OR 6/2023.

At last, thanks to this summer’s late thaw, we finally spotted Brown’s peony in bloom, a bit later than usual, in central Oregon’s Ochoco mountains. 

Clustered Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium fasciculatum)

Weldon Wagon Wheel Trail, WA 5/2022.

We nearly passed up this rare orchid, well camouflaged within inches of the trail.  This single plant with a pair of intricate nodding slipper flowers was the prize of a blustery May hike on a flower covered ridge just north of the Columbia Gorge. 

Warrior’s Plume (Pedicularis densiflora)

Cathedral Hills Park, Grants Pass, OR 3/2022.

When we think of Pedicularis, we think of alpine plants like Elephant head and the various Louseworts we find in the moist meadows of Mt Rainier and the high Cascades.