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…)
Gordon’s Ivesia (Ivesia gordonii)
Cone Peak Trail, Willamette National Forest, OR, 6/2017.
From a distance, one might assume it to be Oregon Sunshine, given its bright yellow color and tendency to grow amid dry rock and shale near the top of mountains like central Oregon’s Cone Peak and Iron Mountain. (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…)
Coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis)
Iron Mountain, OR, 7/2014.
Also called “Western Cone Flower” and “Western Chocolate Cone”. A yellow variety occurs in southern Oregon and northern California. The purple/brown cones turn black and grow larger as they age.
Mountain Owl’s Clover (Orthocarpus imbicatus)
Iron Mountain, OR, 7/2014.
None of the three different groups of flowers called “owl’s clover” are actually clovers. (more…)
Little Pipsissewa aka Little Prince’s Pine (Chimaphila menziesii)
Marmot Pass, Buckhorn Wilderness, WA, 7/2017.
Both the common names refer to this plant resembling a smaller version of the common Pipsissewa (umbellata). We frequently recognize the foliage of these two siblings covering the woodland floor (along with twinflower), far more often than we find them flowering. (more…)
Woolly Sunflower aka Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum)
Iron Mountain, OR, 7/2014.
Contrary to popular belief, we get plenty of sunshine in Oregon, especially during the summer months, when these flowers, coincidentally, are in bloom. (more…)
