Dusky Horkelia (Horkelia fusca)
Eight Mile Creek Loop, Mt. Hood National Forest, OR, 6/2020.
This small and rather plain member of the rose family, also known as “Pink Pinwheels”, was prevalent in a small, sunny meadow near the trailhead on a recent hike on the east side of Mt. Hood. (more…)
Narrow-Leaved Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
Rowena Plateau, Tom McCall Preserve, Columbia Gorge, OR, 7/2015
Milkweeds, genus Asclepias, are often plain, overlooked, and rarely appear in our wildflower reference guides, but A. fascicularis, in particular is critical to the survival of Monarch butterflies! (more…)
Showy Phlox (Phlox speciosa)
Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.
Unlike the phlox we commonly see carpeting gravelly windswept mountain passes, the p. speciosa variety is a taller plant found in open woods and meadows at low elevation , often mixed with other grassland flowers. (more…)
Idaho Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium idahoense)
Willow Creek Nature Preserve, Eugene, OR, 5/2016.
This is the most common of the bashful blue-eyed grasses we encounter, (more…)
Farewell to Spring (Clarkia amoena)
Tire Mountain, Willamette National Forest, OR, 7/2019.
Often seen growing amid browning grasses from drying soil, this lovely flower gets its common name from the fact that it appears as many spring blooms are dying back, often carpeting full hillsides. (more…)
Sagebrush Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus)
Umtanum Ridge Trail, Yakima River Canyon (BLM), WA 6/2018.
The exquisite sagebrush mariposa lily, the largest in size of the many calochortus, (more…)
Kellogg’s Monkeyflower (Diplacus kelloggii)
Viewpoint Mike Trail, Lost Creek Lake, OR, 4/2018.
What a treat to discover these tiny, and possibly somewhat rare, monkeyflowers on the dry grassy slopes among the blooming buckbrush and long-needled ponderosa pines on a recent hike in Southern Oregon! (more…)
Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii)
Lower Table Rock, BLM Medford district, Oregon, 4/2018.
Although the flowers were quite small (less than 0.5 inches in diameter), we still believe the Nemophila we found growing among the grasses near the seasonal vernal pools on top of Table Rock a few weeks back are of the fairly common menziesii species (more…)
Gray Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa)
Sheep Rock Unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, OR, 10/2017.
Golden rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) framed the arid piñon-juniper desertscape in our recent fall trip to Eastern Oregon. We saw them blooming everywhere across the rolling hills near the John Day Fossil Beds. They look similar to sagebrush (more…)
Tolmie’s Mariposa Lily (Calochortus tolmiei)
Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Dallas, OR, 5/2017.
This low elevation west-side species of Calochortus is notable for the extreme hairiness inside the flower. More than other Mariposa lilies (“butterfly” in spanish), (more…)
Gairdner’s Penstemon (Penstemon gairdneri)
Rattlesnake Dance Trail, Yakima Canyon, WA. 5/2017
We found these lovely, endemic penstemons on an impromptu hike just south of Ellensburg, WA, on our way back to Portland from Leavenworth this past spring. (more…)
Large-flowered Collomia (Collomia grandiflora)
Major Creek Road, Columbia Gorge, WA. 5/2017.
This stalk of small flowers stands out for its unusual salmon color and contrasting blue pollen. It grows in dry sandy soils west of the Continental Divide. (more…)
Small-flowered Godetia (Clarkia purpurea)
Saddle Mountain Trail, Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, OR, 6/2015.
Looking very much like its better know relative Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena), (more…)
Meadow Checker Mallow (Sidalcea campestris)
Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville, OR, 6/2015.
There are four varieties of the Sidalicea genus common to the Pacific Northwest (more…)
Naked Broomrape (Orobanche uniflora var. purpurea)
Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA 4/2016.
Look closely for these tiny flowers, but don’t expect to find any leaves. (more…)
Yakima Milk-vetch (Astragalus reventiformis)
Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.
Yakima is the name of a group or tribe of Native Americans who live in Washington state. (more…)
Upland Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)
Rowena Plateau, Tom McCall Nature Preserve, Columbia Gorge, OR, 3/2015.
If you’re seeing larkspur now (early spring) in the Northwest, chances are that it’s this variety. Also called “Common Larkspur”. (more…)
Sicklepod Rockcress (Arabis sparsiflora)
Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.
Many books/botanists now classify this as Boechera sparsiflora.
Hood’s Phlox (Phlox hoodi)
Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.
Phlox is Greek for “flame” (apparently named after a bright red variety). (more…)
Dagger Pod (Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides)
Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.
Named after its dagger-like seedpods, this plant’s range extends north to southeast Washington, east to western Idaho and south to northeastern California and western Nevada, but always east of the Cascades and Sierras. (more…)
Tomcat Clover (Trifolium willdenovii)
Catherine Creek Trail, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, WA. 4/2013.
Also known as Sand Clover, it was formerly named tridentatum. Named after Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812), a German botanist.
nwwildflowers 