Large-flowered Collomia (Collomia grandiflora)
Major Creek Road, Columbia Gorge, WA. 5/2017.
This small flower stands out for its unusual salmon color and contrasting blue pollen. It grows in dry sandy soils west of the Continental Divide. (more…)
Copperbush (Elliottia pyroliflora)
Saddle Mountain Trail, Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, OR, 6/2015.
We were shocked and disappointed that not one of our many wildflower guides featured this native flowering shrub. (more…)
Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida)
Near Memaloose Viewpoint, Columbia Gorge, OR, 5/2014.
The many different species of this genus of the figwort family are notoriously hard to distinguish from one another, even for botanists. (more…)
California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia californica)
Near Eight-Dollar Mountain, Selma, OR, 4/2015.
The only carnivorous plant native to the west coast. (more…)
Cliff Paintbrush (Castilleja rupicola)
McCord Creek Falls, Columbia Gorge, OR, 4/2014.
This is one of the easier paintbrush varieties to identify (more…)
Candy Stick (Allotropa virgata)
South Prairie Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 7/2014.
Sometimes called “Sugarstick” or “Barber’s Pole”; this is certainly one of the odder-looking plants we’ve come across. (more…)
Red Bells (Fritillaria recurva)
Lithia Park, Ashland, OR, 3/2014.
Recognizably similar to its relatives in the Fritillaria family, Checker Lily and Yellow Bells, (more…)
Youth-on-age (Tolmiea menziesii)
Cascade Head Nature Preserve, OR, 4/2014.
This odd-looking member of the saxifrage family occurs almost exclusively in the western portion of the Northwest U.S. and Canada. (more…)
Bronze Bells (Stenanthium occidentale)
Near Easy Pass, North Cascades NP, WA 8/2012.
This uncommon (and uncommonly modest) lily has a nodding raceme of bells rising from grassy onion-like leaves. (more…)
Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa)
Dog Mountain, Columbia Gorge, WA, 5/2013.
On a May climb up Dog Mountain, perhaps the classic wildflower hike in the Columbia Gorge, this flowering vine took the prize for the brightest-colored flower we saw. (more…)
