Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)
Cone Peak Trail, Willamette National Forest, OR, 6/2017.
Spring Beauties are part of a group of plants sometimes called “spring ephemerals”, also including Blue-Eyed Grass, that harness the insulating properties of winter snowfall to send a shoot up from their underground bulb through the cold wet soil, during winter (more…)
Tweedy’s Lewisia (Lewisia tweedyi)
Chiwaukum Creek Trail, Wenatchee NF, WA, 5/2017.
The largest member of the Lewisia family grows at low and mid-elevations almost exclusively in the Wenatchee Mountains in central Washington. Frank Tweedy, a botanist with the US Geological Survey stumbled upon this beauty while working with the Northern Pacific Railway in 1882. (more…)
Fringed Pinesap (Pleuricospora fimbriolata)
Table Rock Trail, Table Rock Wilderness, OR 8/2016.
Easy to miss, and difficult to identify (more…)
Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor)
Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA 6/2016.
This flowering shrub, a mainstay along roads and trailsides throughout the west, begins blooming in June at lower elevations (like our photos here) and peaks in July and August at higher elevations. (more…)
Mountain Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium montanum)
Badger Creek Trail, Badger Creek Wilderness, OR 5/2016.
This rare orchid is a special treat if you can find it. (more…)
Mertens’ Coral Root (Corallorrhiza mertensiana)
Iron Mountain, OR, 7/2014.
Much like Spotted Coral Root, only without the spots, this plant is sometime called “Western Coral Root”. (more…)
Scouler’s Bluebell (Campanula scouleri)
Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 6/2015.
This small, unassuming woodland flower does not immediately seem similar to its more common relative, rotundiflora. (more…)
Tooth-leaved Monkey Flower (Mimulus dentatus)
St. Perpetua Trail, Cape Perpetua State Park, OR, 5/2015.
We’ve been seeing a lot of these on recent hikes–both in the gorge and on the coast. (more…)
Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Bridalveil Falls State Park, Columbia Gorge, OR, 4/2015.
This prevalent plant’s common name refers to its alleged nourishment for miners living in the wilds, far from civilization. (more…)
Snow Queen (Synthyris reniformis)
Silver Falls State Park, OR, 5/2014.
There are nine species in the Synthyris genus. Four appear in the Pacific Northwest. Only two appear in the Columbia Gorge (more…)
