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…)
Siskiyou Mat aka Dwarf Ceanothus (Ceanothus pumilus)
Illinois River Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, OR, 3/2018.
This is one of two similar ceanothus ground covers whose rugged foliage set it apart from the larger more common trailside shrubs in the buckthorn family, (more…)
Chickweed Monkeyflower (Mimulus alsinoides)
Britt Woods, Jacksonville, OR. 3/2018.
We tend to see three different species of yellow monkey flower in the Cascades and the Columbia River gorge (more…)
Oregon Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum)
Rim Trail, Silver Falls State Park, OR, 5/2014.
Blooming earlier, and at lower elevations than the similar Avalanche Lily, and Glacier Lily, these are recognizable by their lovely, “mottled” leaves with streaks of white, lighter green or even brown (seen below). (more…)
Thin-petal Larkspur (Delphinium lineapetalum)
Leavenworth Ski Hill, Wenatchee National Forest, 5/2017.
The monkshood we posted recently was named Aconitum delphinifolium, as its leaves resembled that of a delphinium, or Larkspur. (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…)
Tall Silvercrown (Luina nardosmia)
Leavenworth Ski Hill, Leavenworth, WA, 5/2017.
Variously called Luina or Cacaliopsis, this waist-high plain-looking plant’s leaves resemble those of Coltsfoot, with flowers that look somewhat like a Rainiera. Upon close inspection, (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…)
Violet Suksdorfia (Suksdorfia violacea)
Castle Rock Trail, Tumwater Canyon, WA. 5/2017
Ran across this single specimen of an uncommon late-spring flower we’d spent days looking for in the Columbia Gorge, (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…)
