Round-Headed Buckwheat (Eriogonum sphaerocephalum)
Umtanum Creek Recreation Area, Yakima River Canyon, WA, 6/2018.
We encountered this bright yellow buckwheat shrub dotting the pale dry sagebrush steppe in the Yakima River Valley in early summer. (more…)
Monument Plant (Frasera speciosa)
Burnt Mountain Trail, William O. Douglas Wilderness Area, WA 6/2018.
Hiking along a ridge in Washington’s central Cascades, we were surprised to find a group of these large, unusual looking plants (more…)
Sitka Mistmaiden (Romanzoffia sitchensis)
Mary’s Peak, Siuslaw National Forest, 6/2016.
The common name “mistmaiden” is surely appropriate for these delightful flowers. (more…)
Pacific Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)
Wahclella Falls Trail (Tanner Creek), Columbia Gorge, OR, 5/2015.
This flowering shrub is native to the northwest coast and Cascades (more…)
Common Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)
Horsethief Lake, Columbia Hills State Park, WA. 5/2017.
While this plant is widespread and native to much of the western U.S., we still find ourselves taken with the rustic beauty of the flowers (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…)
Kalmiopsis (Kalmiopsis leachiana)
Illinois River Trail, Kalmiopsis Wilderness, OR, 3/2018.
It’s hard to believe that this plant was unknown until Portland botanist Lilla Leach and her husband discovered it in 1930 (more…)
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)
Hardy Ridge Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 6/2015.
We see three species of wild allium with some regularity on hikes in the Columbia Gorge and Cascades (more…)
Nuttall’s Linanthus (Linanthus nuttallii)
South Puyallup Trail, Mt. Rainier N.P. 7/2015.
This fragrant phlox relative, sporting distinctive needle-like leaves, appears to be relatively common in alpine and subalpine areas in much of the western U.S. (more…)
