On July 14, Mr. Watt and I took our first wildflower walk of the season up at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. We were a bit later this year than we would have liked, but it was our first chance to get away. We missed the early Spring flowers this year, but we certainly didn’t suffer from any lack of wildflowers to enjoy on the hike. We photographed 50 different species of plants in bloom plus a bunch of critters (which I’ll save for another bucket). Between Mr. Watt (who just got a new camera) and myself, we took almost 500 photos on our 3.7 mile walk.
Indian Paintbrush with Yarrow and Wooly daisy in the backgroundThe Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
In 2009, I started an informal “project” to record the blooming times of wildflowers on the Hurricane Hill trail. We try to get up there several times each year, hike this same trail, and take pictures of every flower we see. We’ve collected “data” (i.e. date stamped photos) from 12 hikes so far. Every year, I learn more and discover new wildflowers that I simply missed before. So the data from my early years are incomplete. For example, in July 2011, I recorded only 13 species compared to 50 this year! Previous buckets report on hikes on August 6, 2013, June 11, 2014, July 24, 2014, May 22 and June 22, 2015, and August 20, 2015. In this bucket, I’ll try to feature some flowers I haven’t shown before.
Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) amid Dwarf brambles (Rubus lasiococcus) underneath the Rhodies along the trail to overflow parkingSummertime (even on a Thursday) means crowds up at Hurricane Ridge. We had to park at the overflow parking area at the picnic area up the road from the trailhead. This adds .5 mi to the hike, but it is actually worth it. The trail between the picnic area and the trailhead goes through a distinctly different habitat than the actual trail offers. The trail winds through a forest with White rhododendron bushes (Rhododendron albiflorum) as the understory before opening up to the subalpine meadows beyond the official Hurricane Hill trailhead. The picture at the top shows the meadows and the mountains along the trail.
The first section of the trail gently climbs, following the ridge. Here are some of the flowers in the meadows along the trail. The Cow Parsnip is a very large plant (~1 m tall) and hard to miss. This photo illustrates another “theme” of the hike: butterflies — they were everywhere!
Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum) and butterfly Alaska Rein Orchid (Piperia unalascensis)A special treat was the Alaska Rein Orchid. This seems to be rare since I have never seen more than one specimen on a hike. This is a closeup of part of a stalk that stands less than a foot tall.
Another unusual and often overlooked group of flowers is from the genus Silene. According to Pojar & MacKinnon, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast:
Silene comes from the Latin sialon for ‘saliva’ in reference to the gladular hairs on the stem. These sticky (glutinous) hairs act like flypaper, giving rise to the common name ‘catchfly’ for many members of this genus.
This hike included a veritable Who’s Who of catchflies named for 19th century botanists — David Douglas, Archibald Menzies, and Charles Parry. Here’s Parry’s Catchfly.
Parry’s Catchfly (Silene parryi)One more lovely flower from the lower part of the trail was the short Showy Jacob’s Ladder. This is a more compact plant compared to the taller Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium californicum) that can also be found here.
Showy Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum)Eventually, the trail becomes a series of switchbacks that climb more steeply to the top of Hurricane Hill. There are some flowers that I have only found at the higher elevations along this section of trail.
Looking down from the upper portion of the trail at lingering snow and incoming fog. Old man's whiskers (Geum triflorum) in seed form (a favorite, so I can’t resist showing it again) Cut-Leaved Daisy (Erigeron compositus) growing out of a clump of Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea) Partridgefoot (Luetkea pectinata)Here’s the list of all flowers I was able to ID from July 14, 2016:
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Orange agoseris (Agoseris aurantiaca) Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) Olympic onion (Allium crenulatum) Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) Wooly pussytoes (Antennaria lanata) Rosy pussytoes (Antennaria rosea) Sandwort - mountain or threadleaved (Arenaria capillaris) Heartleaf Arnica (Arnica cordifolia) Western mugwort (Artemisia ludoviciana) Leafybract Aster (Aster foliaceus) Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) Harsh indianpaintbrush (Castilleja hispida) Indian Thistle (Cirsium edule) Rockslide larkspur (Delphinium glareosum) Alpine willowherb (Epilobium anagallidifolium) Hornemann's willowherb (Epilobium hornemannii) Cut-Leaved Daisy (Erigeron compositus)
Wooly daisy or Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) Western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) Old man's whiskers or Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) Oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor) Columbia lily (Lilium columbianum) Martindales desert parsley (Lomatium martindalei) Barestem desert parsley (Lomatium nudicaule) Partridgefoot (Luetkea pectinata) Broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius) Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) Mountain owl clover (Orthocarpus imbricatus) Mtn Oxytropis or locoweed (Oxytropis monticola) Parrotbeak (Pedicularis racemosa) Narrow-sepaled Phacelia (Phacelia leptosepalia) Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea) Spreading Phylox (Phlox diffusa) Pink mountain heather (Phyllodoce empetriformis) Alaska rein orchid (Piperia unalascensis) Short Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) Western Bistort (Polygonum bistortoides) Fan-leaf cinquefoil (Potentilla flabellifolia) White rhododenron (Rhododendron albiflorum) Baldhip Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa) Dwarf bramble (Rubus lasiococcus) Lance leaf stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum) Douglas's catchfly (Silene douglasii) Parry's catchfly (Silene parryi) Menzies' Campion (Silene menziesii) Sitka mountain ash (Sorbus sitchensis) Cow clover (Trifolium microcephalum) Cusick's speedwell (Veronica cusickii) American vetch (Vicia americana)
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Now It's Your Turn! What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.