Wednesday, April 12, 2017
19:54
I walked Drumheller
Springs Park
Many of my wildflower walks have had little purpose other
than to see what there is to see. But I formulated some questions about early
wildflowers that I hoped to answer, this time. Hmm. Answer, is a little strong.
I hoped to take steps in the direction of answers with my camera.
2017 is a very late spring. It has been a La Nina winter,
the prediction was that it would be wet and cold and so it was. Sometimes there
is no persistent snow cover in Spokane .
This year there was persistent snow cover from December into March. Occasionally
the downtown area cleared, temporarily but a few feet up the north and south
hills snow cover was complete and persistent. Drumheller Springs
Park
I looked at my record for walks for last year, 2016, and I
had observed 24 plants in bloom by March 8. On my walk, April 10th,
2017 I saw 8.
Lomatium Gormanii salt
and pepper
Ranunculus glaberrimus sagebrush
buttercup
Draba verna whitlow
grass
Olsynium douglasii grass
widow
Fritillaria pudica yellow
bell 1 only
Phlox caespitosa tufted
phlox a couple
Lomatium macrocarpum big
seed biscuit root few
Lomatium triternatum nine
leaf biscuit root one location
Disclaimer: I didn’t walk the whole park. I didn’t search
diligently even in areas I walked.
My main focus was on looking at and thinking about
deviations from the norm in Ranunculus glaberrimus, sagebrush buttercup.
I arrived at Lomatium gormanii rock and found several
deviations a few steps away from the car and spent a lot of time recording
them.
Lomatium gormanii rock is where Grant Cummings told me to
look for the first Lomatium gormanii of the year. It’s right on Euclid Avenue , not
far west of the monument for Chief Spokane Gary’s school.
I find the early L. gormanii on the east slope of the rock.
I discovered, last year that there are early Olsynium douglasii, grass widows,
just out of sight of my usual hunting ground on the west side of the rock.
There are also early Lomatium triternatum on the west side of the rock.
I suppose some plants are early, there, because the soil is
thin and the rock slopes to the south so the rock is warmed by the sun and
holds its heat. I also wonder if at least some of the plants, especially the R.
glaberrimus are undernourished in the thin soil, causing deviant specimens.
My other interest in coming there first was in checking the
height of the vernal ponds. My last outing was March 18th, over
three weeks before. The ponds were joined and full and overflowing. The level
of the pond water was reduced but only by inches. Later I saw that the ponds
were no long quite joined. There was a muddy pass between the ponds that is used
by the dog walkers.
The pond water was flooding the area where I expect to find
the earliest R. glaberrimus and the earliest Draba verna.
I made many photos of R. glaberrimus and a few of Lomatium
macrocarpum, big seed biscuitroot at L. gormanii rock then drove to the east
access of the main trail through the park.
I found a 15 petal R. glaberrimus, the most petals I have
heard of, and recorded it. I found a single Fritillaria pudica. I want a photo
of its green nectary. I pulled off the petals but failed to get an image that
made the green nectary explicit.
It was a day of typical April showers. Most were not at all
wetting. The one that might have been was complete with hail stones. It didn’t
last long enough to be wetting. I wanted a photo of south pond textured by hard
rain and hail but failed to get it.
I walked past the north pond willow and along the
north-south line of boulders hoping to find early Lithophragma glabrum,
woodland star in an area where I had
seen them in the past. I saw no sign of them.
I climbed the slope east of north pond to walk back to the
car. R. glaberrimus and O. douglasii were abundant, much more abundant than in
the area near L. gormanii rock. There were thousands of O. douglasii.
I saw what I thought was the only Phlox caespitosa. When I
process the photo I noticed that there was at least two plants in the photo,
one with blue flowers.
I saw the thickest patch of O. douglasii I have ever seen on
the way back to the car.
I had intended to do I lot of spectacular cloud photos but
it didn’t happen. I did make two images.
*-*-*-*
Here’s my wish-list for R. glaberrimus:
Ranunculus
glaberrimus
Deviance:
petals
glossy
more than five,
less than 5, none or rudimentary
leaves
elliptical
‘three fingered’
more than one pattern on the same
plant
flower stalk
long
branched
w cauline leaves
stamens and pistils
in balance
out of balance
either not present
Bud sepals
hairy
*-*-*
Do deviant
characteristics come together in one plant?
Are hairy buds always
associated with elliptical leaves?
*-*-*
Collect leaf patterns
for a photo plate
Count sepals on many
petaled plants. 5 only? Same number as petals?
Dig a very young
plant, check for visible swollen caudex.
Improve photos of
plants with rudimentary or no petals.
*-*-*
Only a few feet from my car I saw a tiny yellow ball that
made no sense. Next to it, a night crawler was lying in the tops of the grass.
It didn’t occur to me to photograph it in that position. I just wanted it out
of the way. I disturbed it with a twig. It pulled back into its burrow but not
all of the way.
01
My second impression of the yellow ball was that it was a
ball of R. glaberrimus stamens with no pistils, no petals and no sepals. There
were pistils, hidden away in the ball of stamens. There were sepals and rudimentary
petals below the ball.
02
Story telling is a bit of a problem because I got
information later that I did not have at this time. I was surprised by the
length of the flower stalk when I started the effort to collect the plant.
Later I read that the stems are often prostrate so casual observation would not
see that the stems were long.
The long stems, occasionally, but not frequently, stick up
in the air. I thought there were less long stemmed R. glaberrimus than there
are. I thought long stemmed R. glaberrimus were rare. They don’t seem to be.
I didn’t bring anything to dig with. I could pull away some
of the sod with my fingers but some sod was too tough. No, I don’t normally
carry a jack knife. I sawed away the tough sod with my car key … wondering if I
was screwing up its electrical capacities forever. I cleaned it carefully and
it works fine.
I had a very difficult time spreading the plant parts for a
photo. The best I could do was not nearly good enough. You can’t see, clearly,
which leaves are three fingered and can’t see the elliptical cauline leaf at
all. I’m ahead of my story.
It looks like there were three basal leaves, one broken off
and missing. The two remaining are more or less typical of Ranunculus
glaberrimus, variety glaberrimus.
The main flower stalk is branched. The branch has a three
fingered leaf, an elliptical cauline leaf and a bud clustered near the apex.
There are three cauline leaves on the main flower stalk, one
low, with a long petiole, rising from the same node as the branch. Another
three finger cauline leaf rises above the branch. The third is higher yet. It’s
elliptical and seems to be clasping.
04
The node from which the cauline leaf and the branch rise.
The low cauline leaf with its long petiole, the middle of the three fingers is
hidden by a fold.
05
A basal leaf. The notches are less than typical.
06
The three fingered middle cauline leaf.
07
The upper, elliptical cauline leaf, apparently clasping. The
point is folded toward the camera.
08
The apex of the branch. An elliptical leaf on the left. An
asymmetrical three finger leaf behind. A bud, presumably wrapped in yellow
sepals but perhaps showing yellow petals, before.
I guess, from looking at the main flower stalk, that the
stem would have lengthened, separating the two cauline leaves and the bud … if
it had lived. I did put it back in the ground but with little hope.
Memory and my digital recorder fail me. I think this must be
a nearby R. glaberrimus with more pronounced rudimentary petals.
09
The back of the flower showing what are probably sepals and
what seem to be rudimentary petals. Some of the stamens seem to have pollen on
them.
10
The image of the pistils isn’t good but I don’t believe
stigma have developed. Some anthers seem to have secreted pollen. This flower
apparently delivers pollen before it accepts pollen.
11
I don’t know what this is. I think it must be a sepal I pulled
away with a stamen underneath. It doesn’t look much like a petal.
12
Lomatium macrocarpum inflorescence
12.5
I see one nice set of five closed petals with 5 organs
sticking through the cracks but it is not clear what the organs are. Are they
stamens with the anthers turned inside out or styles with capitate stigma?
12.75
Maybe this is evidence that the organs are stamens with
anthers turned inside out. I’ve read, somewhere, before I was ready to
understand it, about the various names for the diverse ways the twin pods of an
anther can open. I need to find that information again.
13
L. macrocarpum umbelet its involucre showing long and short
fingers. Long to the outside of the inflorescence, shorter toward the inside. I
need to verify that the same is true of inner umbelets.
14
The back of the umbelet.
15
Another R. glaberrimus flower with rudimentary petals. Many
pistils are developing stigma. Most of the anthers are immature. Some are
shedding pollen.
16
The basal leaves of the R. glaberrimus in the previous photo
are definitely R. glaberrimus var. glaberrimus.
17
The two cauline leaves, slightly alternate, fit no
descriptions I have read. They seem to be elliptical with a single deep notch. [That
is an illusion caused by the angle of the photograph.]
18
My record keeping fails me again. I don’t know what plant
this leaf is from. A roundish leaf with two distal [away from the stem] notches
with three points, front.
19
The same leaf, back. The round character is clearer. It was
easier to flatten the leaf for the photograph this time.
20
I supposed this was three plants. Subsequent reading tells
me that several stems and leaves may rise from the same root system. I’ll have
to dig a cluster of this character next time.
The attraction, here, is that they are all glossy petal
flowers. All of the flowers have more than 5 petals. It may be that they were
all 7 petal flowers.
The basal leaves are diverse but all seem to have the
general character of var. glaberrimus.
Two stems are bare [are scapes] two stems have cauline
leaves.
The balance of stamens to styles and pistils favors pistils
in all three flowers. There are relatively few stamens.
So, do glossy petals, many-petals, cauline leaves, and few
stamens come together as characteristics?
21
The leaves.
22
I count nine on this flower, counting the short petal, upper
left.
23
Once again, the cauline leaves are pointed, like elliptical
leaves are, but with a single deep notch.
Both observation and record keeping are letting me down.
These may be conventional three finger cauline leaves from a side view. Hard to
believe, but probable.
24
I’ve wondered if the many-petaled flowers had sepals to
match. They don’t. All I have observed have 5 sepals no matter then number of
petals.
25
The interest here is the lowered petals exposing the
nectaries nicely … if only they were in better focus. The focus complaint
applies to the anthers. Are they or are they not covered with pollen. I don’t
think they are.
The focus succeeds, of course with the stigma on the
pistils. Many are out there, doing their job.
26
A cauline leaf, front. Yes, I can imagine being deceived,
seeing this from a side view.
27
Cauline leaf, back.
28
Pistils developing fruit. I have read that only a minority
of pistils develop fruit but lots of these seem to be doing well.
29
Pistils back view, showing the base of the globular
receptacle. The line of demarcation between receptacle and stem is more
distinct than I expect it to be. I expect the stem to simply expand into the
receptacle, if expansion is an aspect of its development.
The clouds were spectacular all afternoon. I thought I would
collect some great photos but I was distracted.
30
West, from the east access trailhead.
31
South, over south pond from the main trail.
32
I found a 15 petals R. glaberrimus, glossy petals, 5 sepals,
few stamen. Damn. No record of basal or cauline leaves, if present.
33
Side view. Notice the obvious layering of the petals. There
are relatively few stamens.
34
It, too, had 5 sepals. I lowered the mid tones and the high
tones to bring out texture because the exposure was inadequate. The front of
the petals are glossy, the back of the petals are not.
35
I saw only one Fritillaria pudica, yellow bell, on the walk.
You can see from the leaves that it was not in good shape.
36
I pulled petals off hoping to photograph its green nectary.
I failed. However, I got good images of its immature anthers and a fair image
of its style and probable developing stigma. One might suppose the stigma will
be doing its work of gathering pollen before the anthers are providing pollen.
Once again, the mid tones and high tones are reduced to
increase detail.
37
F. pudica petal. The raw photo was even more green. I dinked
with it but couldn’t make it look ‘right’. The amount of green is something to
think about.
38
Weather report. Showers came and went all the time I was in
the park. A major shower with hail beat interesting patterns on the pond. I put
off making the photograph and, of course, when I was ready, it wasn’t. This is
my black velour back cloth. The petal is a nice yellow at this distance, the
green showing up very little.
39
This is photograph of ducks. I know you can’t see them. The
telephoto view didn’t work either.
The normal water level of north pond is far below the line
of boulders you see in the water, left center.
40
The early Balsamorhiza sagittata near the north pond willow
are just emerging. You can see the north access path on the right edge of the
photo. Last year the plants were over a foot high and chock full of blossoms
before this time.
40.5
Balsamorhiza sagittata in bloom. Today is April 10, 2017.
The photo below is from April 8, 2016.
41
The hillside east of north pond is loaded with Phlox
caespitosa, tufted phlox. I saw only one in bloom, by eye. I see two blue
petaled flowers on the right side, one top and one bottom that suggests I could
have overlooked more.
I saw a lot of Saxifraga nidifica in bud. None in bloom.
There was a lot more R. glaberrimus and O. douglasii on the
slope down to north pond than there were near L. gormanii rock. There must be
real thousands of O. douglasii.
42
I don’t remember ever seeing a patch of O. douglasii as
thick as the one in the photo below.
*-*-*
It’s too easy to ask the wrong question and wonder why there
is no answer.
Wrong question here, is: How does each apparent Ranunculus
glaberrimus in Drumheller
Springs Park
The right question is: How well does the world wide system
for categorizing plants serve the person trying to categorize the plants of Drumheller Springs Park
In the case of Ranunculus glaberrimus the answer seems to
be: Not very well.
The problem seems to lie with uncoordinated authority at the
local level, that is, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America , and the
Pacific Southwest of Canada.
The lack of coordinated authority is definitely one problem.
However, actual regional differences in the plant may be significant. There are
a lot of miles between Vancouver , B. C. and
south central Montana .
A question I have not sufficiently addressed is: How much
difference does it make that I am not able to fit a particular plant neatly
into a pigeonhole provided by a world wide system of plant identification?
Another phrasing of that question is: What in the hell am I
doing, anyway?
Is the answer simply: Having fun with cameras?
I thought that I was learning and teaching about the floral
environment of a 12 acre space in my home city, Drumheller
Springs Park
on the north hill of Spokane, Washington , USA .
The plants are real. The system of categories is not, not in
the same way. It’s a device for talking about plants. It is an intellectual
machine.
In my opinion, the machine doesn’t work very well.
But I can’t develop an intellectual machine that works
better. I have to make use of the rusty, rickety, pile of junk that is
available, the best way I can.
*
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