Sunday, April 30, 2017
22:11
120 photos
1600 hours to 1800 hours in the park.
9 days since my last wildflower walk.
I’m writing a transcription of a recording made during my
walk and adding notes as I write so there will be some time confusions. The present
of the transcription and the past of the additional notes.
15:35 out of my apartment.
15:54 I arrived at the south side of the park, near L.
gormanii rock, to check the flooding of the ponds. South pond is still up to
the foot of the Ribes aureum at the southeast corner of tall pine grove. The
water reaches around the outcrop in the meadow west of the south pond willows.
I can’t tell how near the main trail it is. I should have photographed it later
when I was over there but didn’t think of it. Maybe next time. The area where I
usually find the earliest Ranunculus glaberrimus is still under water.
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02
My recording is very noise with wind.
16:02 at the east parking lot. North pond is still part way
up the north access trail.
Lots of Lithophragma glabrum, in better shape than those I
saw last outing. Lots of Micranthes nidifica in bloom. It seems to be a very
good year for M. nidifica. There’s lots of it and much of it is quite tall.
There’s lots of Collinsia parviflora, blue eyed Mary. There’s a nice Erigeron
compositus, cutleaf daisy in front of me. The first new blossom, today, is
Lithophragma parviflora, prairie flower.
Lithophragma parviflora, prairie flower
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04
There’s lots of white and some blue Phlox caespitosa. There
is gusty wind. Fortunately it dies long enough to get photos.
Erigeron compositus, cutleaf daisy
05
My intention for the day was to walk west of north pond,
hoping to find a Fritillaria pudica to dissect in order to photography the
nectary. I was too late, none were found. The other objective was to photograph
leaf buds on the tall shrubs. I was too late for that, too. The tall shrubs
were all leafed out.
But I veered south, to walk the line of east-west boulders,
in case I could find a Microseris nutans that I find near the boulders and the
north access trail. I was too early for that. Actually I don’t remember if it’s
M. nutans or Agoseris glauca. Both are present and they are very similar except
for the basal leaves.
The scruffy little Ribes aureum, golden currant, east of the
north trail and south of the east-west boulder is perfuming the world.
The second new observation is the Antennaria with gold
colored buds, a single strand, rather short. Perhaps half as tall as one would
expect it to be.
I’ve surfed the 14 Antennaria in the Burke Herbarium website
and find no photos of the nice, tight flowerhead with the nice tight gold
colored buds, however, the leaves look most like those of Antennaria
luzuloides, woodrush pussy-toes, or silvery-brown everlasting. Silvery-brown
everlasting could describe what I call the gold buds.
The plant was maybe a foot and a half south of the 6th
boulder east of north access trail.
Antennaria luzuloides maybe
06
07
I’m still using the shutter preferred setting. 1/200th
of a second was too fast for the available light at the moment. The aperture
reading was at the bottom, 2.8. I reset the shutter speed to 120th
of a second. The sky is mostly overcast but the overcast is broken so the light
changes radically, rather quickly. The units of the overcast are medium to
large.
The early Balsamorhiza sagittata, arrow leaf balsamroot,
seems a bit stunted. I will compare this photo to last year.
Balsamorhiza sagittata April 30, 2017
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B. sagittata April 17, 2016, almost 2 weeks earlier
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It seems like the unknown Asteraceae had a another plant
this far north near the north access trail. No sign of it.
Draba verna is no longer the carpet it was, once, but they
are still in bloom.. The Montia linearis are still abundant along side the
patch of Rosa woodsii and elsewhere in damp
environments. Lithophragma parviflora are abundant, north and west of the early
B. sagittata.
I thought I saw the last buttercup, in quite good condition,
about 5 feet east of the east most point of the outcrop but I saw another,
later, in similar good condition, east of high point rock on the west side of
north pond.
Ranunculus glaberrimus, first of two, last of the year
10
Just east of the large outcrop north of the large willow of
north pond, I found a single Lithospermum arvensis.
Damn. Another name change problem. Burke doesn’t list
Lithospermum arvensis. And it’s common name search is so weak it doesn’t list
gromwell. Apparently this nasty weed is now Buglossoides arvensis, corn
gromwell.
Buglossoides arvensis, corn gromwell
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Later in the walk, down past the stand of fir trees, there
will be thick patches of B. arvensis.
In the damp area on the north shore of north pond there is a
lot more Draba verna, some very tall. There’s some Erodium cicutarium, stork’s
bill. The Muscari sp, grape hyacinth is still flourishing.
The tulip ten feet or so west of the Muscari sp has yellow
buds
Tulipa sp.
13
A lone crow is making noise. Last walk, there were flocks of
crows and they were silent.
The Lamium purpureum, purple dead nettle is way too
abundant.
Lamium purpureum, purple dead nettle patch
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Buglossoides arvensis, corn gromwell patch
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It seems like these patches would be good candidates for
poisoning.
My one handed camera work causes problems. I turned on the
flash by accident. It didn’t seem to affect the image.
The north pond was surrounding the mound of the north-most
tall shrub, west of north pond, the one with the huge patch of Symphoricarpos
albus, snowberry around it. The water has receded east of the mound, now. There
is a patch of camas in bud in the seep north of the mound.
I see a second ‘last buttercup’ also in good condition, at
the east foot of high point
rock. The basal leaves on the first one were elliptical, so, R. glaberrimus
var. ellipticus. The basal leaves on this one are the roundish leaves with two
distal notches typical of Var. glaberrimus. This one looks to be in prime
condition.
Ranunculus glaberrimus, second of two, last of the year
With C. quamash bud and A. geyeri buds
16
The north-most tall shrub has leaves with a toothed margin
and a distal point. It has flower buds with the long slender ‘bunch of grapes’
look. So it is Prunus virginiana, choke cherry. I verified the look by checking
the two P. virginiana near the main trail.
I walked part way up the east face of highpoint rock to
verify that the plant I saw was Erigeron compositus, cutleaf fleabane. I
believe it is a plant that I have observed in bloom first in past years. It
looks somewhat scraggly this year.
Erigeron compositus, cutleaf fleabane.
17
The east face of highpoint rock is abundant with E.
compositus. For some reason they like it here. I see in the distance, a
scraggly, Amelanchier alnifolia, saskatoon, down near the west shore of north
pond that seems to be in bloom. A. alnifolia is the first of the tall shrubs to
bloom each year. I saw later that the flowers were not yet open.
I’ve noted before that the smaller plants of a shrub species
seem to bloom before the taller ones.
In the foot of the seep on the south side of highpoint rock
there are lots of camas in bud, very few in bloom. Farther up the seep there
are many in bloom. It seems strange that a few feet of altitude makes that much
difference but it could be the amount of moisture at different points in the
seep.
I did my one handed camera thing trying to capture Allium
geyeri, onion buds, earlier.
I’m on the west face of highpoint rock, facing yellow bell
hill. It’s hard to find a comfortable rock for my bony butt in this area but I
lucked out. I photographed an A. geyeri bud. The leaves and buds of P. virginiana,
C. quamash in bloom and the flower of Geum triflorum, prairie smoke. I saw only
one G. triflorum in bloom in the seep south of highpoint rock.
Allium geyeri, onion
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Prunus virginiana, choke cherry
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P. Virginiana first bud opening at the base of the
inflorescence, note the woody branch at the bottom of the image.
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Camassia quamash
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The sheathes that protect the buds of C. quamash can be seen
in this photo just freeing a bud in the top of the inflorescence to a sheath on
a sterile node at the bottom.
C. quamash, bud sheathes
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C. quamash opening anthers
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C. quamash flower w anthers
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C. quamash ovary
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Geum triflorum, prairie smoke, inflorescence
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28.5 Geum triflorum flower
Geum triflorum, bud
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Geum triflorum leaf, front and back
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The good thing about the wind is that it keeps the bugs
down. The mosquitoes and gnats can’t fly in this wind, not under control. There
were a few out 9 days ago. I’ve seen none, today.
I loaded my pockets for this trip, at home, but didn’t
manage a nose blower. I had a bit of drip last outing and I have a little more
this time. Can it be grass pollen?
I didn’t find a sign of Fritillaria pudica, flower, fruit or
even leaves on yellow bell hill, or anywhere else. The leaves would be hard to
pick out. The hill is covered with Lomatium triternatum, nine leave
biscuitroot, lots of yellow flowers that are the wrong ones.
The L. triternatum are all over the park and they will
persist for a long time.
17:13. I chatted with a nice lady, elderly. I have her two
of my calling cards with the address of my blog. I gave away the last of them.
Too bad. I needed one later.
I walked past a Micranthes nidifica, peak saxifrage, that
was almost up to my knee. There are lots of M. nidifica everywhere I’ve walked
in the park and they seem to be unusually tall. It must be a good year for
them. Perhaps they like a wet, cold spring.
Micranthes nidifica, peak saxifrage patch
31
I’m sitting on less comfortable rock right beside a nice cluster
of Dodecatheon pulchellum, shooting stars, with both the lavender and the white
flowers. I walked over here because I have found early D. pulchellum here in
the past. I’m near the first Pinus ponderosa, yellow pine, a small one, west of
north pond. At its foot is one of the ‘rivers of broken rock’ that are seen
around the park. I took locator photos of the pine and the rock.
If I remember correctly, the lavender flowered D. pulchellum
are a bit earlier and the white persist a bit later. The wind makes
photographing the plants in situ difficult.
Dodecatheon pulchellum, shooting star, lavender and white
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A locator landscape. The early D. pulchellum are to the
right of the small Pinus Ponderosa.
33
1715 hours. There is a large patch of Ribes aureum about
fifty feet west and the sweet odor persists, even in this strong wind.
I forgot to bring the 5 gallon bucket. The good thing is
that I didn’t have to carry it. The bad thing is that I don’t have it to help
me get up off the ground. Getting up becomes quite difficult as fatigue
accumulates.
I chatted with a young man that lives a couple of blocks
from the park. He tries to get here every week. He has native plants in his
yard. I didn’t have a card with my blog address on it. I did have one with slatsz
on it and told him to Google slatsz. I didn’t think to recruit him to watch for
early blooming and last blooming flowers. Darn.
I chatted more briefly with a young woman with two ugly dogs
… nice dogs. She was not that young, just young to me.
One of my intentions was to photograph the central umbelets
of Lomatium macrocarpum. I noticed one that looked dark, with few basal leaves
and picked it. I picked a whiter looking inflorescence with many basal leaves
and a green looking inflorescence with abundant flowers and leaves. I spent a
long time trying to make sense of them.
3 Lomatium Macrocarpum
Few leaves, dark inflorescence
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Inflorescence lighter to the eye, more foliage
35
Inflorescence greenish, more foliage
36
Lomatium macrocarpum inflorescences compared
The plant with the greenish inflorescence looks more
vigorous in every respect. The dark inflorescence looks diseased in closeups.
37
I tried to demonstrate my idea of what the pattern of the L.
macrocarpum inflorescence was an outer ring of umbelets, an inner ring of
umbelets and a central umbelet. I failed.
There seem to be two central umbelets.
The inner umbelets don’t seem to have much of an involucel.
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An L. macrocarpum flower, with incurving petals.
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An L. macrocarpum flower with undeveloped petals.
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L. macrocarpum anthers
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I doubled back to verify that the scrawny Amelanchier was in
bloom. It was almost in bloom, not quite. The flower buds were opening.
43
I was concerned that I would have to deal with muddy feet,
crossing what was the arm of water connecting the two ponds but it was solid
even though it was still mud-dark.
I saw a flying insect brushed away by the young man I talked
to. That’s the only one I saw. I wondered if I have a bite on a finger of my
left hand. Apparently not. Some itching at the time. Nothing at typing time.
1800 hours back at the car.
Yellow willows of north pond. The willows are turning green.
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Yellow willows south pond with the north-south row of
boulders
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