Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Wahclella Falls Trail (Tanner Creek), Columbia Gorge, OR, 5/2014.

This non-native member of the mustard family appears sporadically across the U.S., but more often in Oregon and Washington.  The flowers aren’t bad to look at, but the name makes us think of a sappy Billy Joel hit from our youth (sorry if we got it in your head).  The latin name, according to calflora.net (an indispensable site for latin plant name origins), comes from “the flat, round seedpod (seen forming below the flowers below) that resembles a full moon.”

Valencia State Park, Columbia Gorge, OR, 4/2014.