Warrior’s Plume (Pedicularis densiflora)
Cathedral Hills Park, Grants Pass, OR 3/2022.
When we think of Pedicularis, we think of alpine plants like Elephant head and the various Louseworts we find in the moist meadows of Mt Rainier and the high Cascades. (more…)
White Shooting Star (Dodecatheon dentatum)
Elowah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, OR. 5/2021.
Elated to discover multiple specimens of this unusual White Shooting Star growing out of a dripping wet cliffside in the Columbia Gorge! (more…)
Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla)
Three Corner Rock Trail, Skamania County, WA, 5/2020.
It’s nearly impossible to hike in the Cascades without recognizing large drifts of this common plant in the understory, but nearly as rare is seeing it in bloom. (more…)
Bastard Toadflax (Comandra umbellata)
Weldon Wagon Road Trail, Klickitat County, WA .5/2020.
This native flowering plant is one we often see on spring hikes in the Columbia River Gorge, (more…)
Silverleaf Phacelia (Phacelia hastata)
Upper Canyon Creek Meadows Trail, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR, 7/2019.
We found this guy holding on amidst alpine scree and snow near the crest of central Oregon’s Three Fingered Jack this summer. (more…)
Wedgeleaf Violet (Viola cuneata)
Eight Dollar Mountain, Selma, OR, 4/2015.
A special two-colored violet found only in serpentine soils at the Oregon-California border, a unique botanical environment we return to again and again. (more…)
Bell Catchfly (Silene campanulata)
Viewpoint Mike Trail, Lost Creek Lake, OR, 4/2018.
We recently photographed this uncommon catchfly, and then realized we had also seen it on a previous trip visiting, Oregon’s southern Cascades. Although common in this limited area, we more often see Parry’s Catchfly, elsewhere in the northwest. (more…)
Mountain Coyote Mint (Monardella odoratissima)
Hyatt Lake Recreation Area, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, OR, 7/2019.
Apparently David Douglas found this quite lovely member of the mint family while botanizing the upper reaches of the Columbia River in the 1820s (more…)
Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata)
Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2015.
We find coral roots, except for this striped species, faithful companions that reward those that closely scan the pine-needle floors throughout the wilderness areas of the Pacific Northwest. (more…)
Giant White Wake Robin (Trillium albidum)
Camassia Nature Preserve, West Linn, OR, 4/2019.
“What a pleasure, seeing the year’s first trilliums in March or April, just when the winter rains feel like Forever!” — Daniel Mathews, Cascade-Olympic Natural History
We couldn’t agree more! (more…)
Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana)
Willow Creek Natural Area, Eugene, OR, 5/2016.
For Valentine’s Day, we’re posting our first of several native roses from our region, (more…)
Varied-leaf Collomia (Collomia heterophylla)
Glacier Lake Trail, Goat Rocks Wilderness, Gifford Pinchot NF, WA, 6/2018.
The Varied-leaf Collomia is a much smaller sibling to the previously-posted Grandiflora collomia. Although their tiny sweet pink flowers (more…)
White Sweetvetch (Hedysarum sulphurescens)
Boundary Trail, Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness, WA, 7/2016.
Grizzly food! Good thing we didn’t know this fact (more…)
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)
Mirror Lake, Rooster Rock State Park, OR, 7/2015.
The big-heads of this aster family member can be dried, powdered and used as snuff, (more…)
Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia)
South Puyallup Trail, Mt Rainier National Park, WA, 7/2015.
This member of the orchid family is common in conifer woodlands across the west and northwest. (more…)
Clasping Leaf Twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius)
Royal Basin trail, Olympic National Park, 7/2016.
This is the most common of the 3 twisted-stalks in our region. (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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
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