5/25/2016
15:49
Wildflower Walk 18, May 23, 2016
May 21 was to be 20% chance of precipitation. I started for the
Park. I had an errand at Staples. There was a long lasting downpour. It was
dark and wet all week.
Rain
May 24
West end of Drumheller
Springs Park
The Eriogonum with a round patch is in bloom [Eriogonum
umbellatum].
There is a small patch just east of it that I remembered as round. Maybe, maybe
not. There are several patches of this broad leaf Eriogonum in the area I call
‘Import Corner’, the northwest corner of the park.
I left the velour back sheet at home so I photographed plants on
my trousers. The camera problems continue. They seem worst in direct sun.
Eriogonum, round
patch
I check for developments in the bud of Opuntia fragilis, prickly
pear cactus. I thought for a moment a flower was opening, there was a spot of
yellow. But when I got down to photograph it seems that something had taken a
bite out of it.
Opuntia
fragilis, prickly pear cactus - bud
There is lots of snow buckwheat foliage, Eriogonum niveum,
in the area. I saw no buds but the buds would be very small and hard to see.
I thought for awhile that Lomatium triternatum, nine leaf
biscuitroot was through blooming but later I saw that there are a few sprinkled
around, here and there, probably on deeper soil.
I believe there are three Potentilla in the park but all I
can see today are Potentilla gracilis.
There are onions blooming here and there, and onions gone to
seed. I assume those in bloom are Allium acuminatum, taper tip onion and those
in fruit are Allium geyeri.
This is the second time I have returned to the area where I
found the Antennaria species in bud and failed to find them. Perhaps I’ll be
more diligent next time.
I walked across the park to an area where I have seen lots
of Gaillardia aristata, blanket flower in the past, west of long rock ridge,
near the mail trail. I detoured to check the Apocynum androsaemifolium, dog
bane. It is a native plant but most of the patch looks to have been poisoned.
Some plants were in bloom.
Apocynum
androsaemifolium, dog bane
West of the dog bane, fairly near the main trail and near its
junction with an access trail from the south I saw a couple of plas quite common in Eastern Washington .ants of Lupinus
sericeus, silky lupine. I’m not confident of the species but Burke has L.
sericeus
The lupine has been in bloom for awhile. There are lots of
fruit developing.
Lupinus sericeus,
silky lupine
Only a little to the west of the lupine I saw one/only
Gaillardia aristata, blanket flower in bloom.
Gaillardia aristata,
blanket flower
I’m not doing the camera experiments I need to do. I’m
shooting everything shutter preferred, 1/100th of a second, F. 8.
The bleaching is awful. I did experiment with doing photographs in shade and
the reduced light seems to be an improvement.
I remember a patch of Antennaria species south of the main
trail near long rock ridge but, once again, I find no sign of them. I watched
for them all day and found none.
The L triternatum in bloom seem to be somewhat protected
from the sun, in shade or in thick, tall foliage. And they seem to be shorter
than usual.
I’ve seen no Phlox caespitosa in bloom. The plants I’ve
noticed are quite dry. I do see occasional Phlox gracilis, slender phlox.
I saw an Eriogonum with what seemed to be very red flowers
and had an awful time trying to photograph them, I thought they were possibly a
different species but, later, when I walked back to the car I saw the flowers
on the plant I photographed last time had turned dark and was similarly red.
Eriogonum red
I experimented with shooting the Prunus virginiana, choke
cherry fruit, with purple leaves, and the Philadelphus lewisii mock orange
blossom both in sun and in shade of the camera or my hand. The sun went behind
a cloud and that light seemed to be the best. Need to verify in the computer,
if possible.
The Prunus virginiana, choke cherry, with the purple leaves
was past bloom, it was in fruit. I’m sorry I missed it’s blooming. I suppose
the timing was similar to the P. virginiana with green leaves. Maybe I’ll
remember to look next year.
Prunus virginiana,
choke cherry, purple leaves
There are several shrub species on the same hillock with the
purple leaf choke cherry. I suppose that’s indirect evidence, suggestive
evidence that the lady who brought in species native to Eastern
Washington steppe put them there.
One of the species was Philadelphus lewisii, mock orange,
the state flower of Idaho .
Philadelphus lewisii,
mock orange
There was a Lewisia rediviva, bitterroot in full bloom maybe
12 feet away. I didn’t want to scramble over to get a good image. I attempted a
photograph with the macro feature turned on, making use of the telephoto
feature. The image isn’t awful but it isn’t good. I can’t find the plane of
focus. Perhaps camera shake destroyed the plane of focus.
Lewisia rediviva,
bitterroot
The Asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed, along the main trail
are in bud. There will be a huge patch running down to the area of north pond
later but there are only a few plants showing at the moment. Monarch
butterflies are said to require these plants on their migration but I have
never seen a monarch butterfly in the park. It would be interesting to know
when they come through this region on their migration between Canada and Mexico .
Asclepias speciosa,
showy milkweed
The Sambucus nigra, blue elderberry near north pond is in
bloom. I needed to be reminded of the
‘common name’. I asked Google and stumbled into this website, apparently
British.
Sacred Earth; Ethnobotany & Ecotravel
Elderberry
I only skimmed the article. Lots of interesting stuff … but
… later.
Their ‘plant profiles’ has a long list of plants few of
which are of local interest. Elderberry, rose and yarrow are there, hawthorn,
pine, maple, St. John’s
wort.
Sambucus nigra, blue
elderberry
I switched to aperture preferred in the last two or three
attempts at cloud photos. The clouds still look bleached. Some times an good
image ‘blinks’ in the monitor then goes away. Aperture preferred seems to make
the image look better on the monitor. I haven’t processed any of the cloud
photos. Too depressing.
There were a lot of tiny white flowers in the tall grasses
between the main trail and the elderberry in bloom. I don’t recognize it.
Unidentified tiny
white flower, flower, fruit
I’m sitting on a basalt outcrop due south of north pond. I
see a shrub in bloom east of me. Must be another P. lewisii.
I picked a sprig of Symphoricarpos albus, snowberry, plowing
through the deep foliage to get a specimen of S. nigra.
Symphoricarpos albus,
snowberry
I walked past the Holodiscus discolor, ocean spray, it’s
still in bud.
Back at the car, west end, 5:15. I drove to the east end of
the park to check for flowers on the poison ivy, Toxicodendron
radicans. Lots of foliage, no apparent flowers or buds. I’ve seen fruit
in the past and I think a flower stalk just rises above the foliage.
Yes. Ben Legler has a nice photo of a cone shaped spike
rising above the foliage in the Burke photos.
The area of T. radicans is dark and wet but there were no
mosquitoes. As I said that a mosquito attacked. She died.
There were tall beautiful plants on the north side of south
pond. They seem to have been poisoned.
The pond has water about 30 feet across from the recent
rains. It can only be inches deep. Some areas may have got 2 inches of rain in
the downpour day, the weather station only got a third of an inch. No telling
what feel here.
There were lots of patches of tiny white flower near the
pond, fairly surely Plagiobothrys scouleri, popcorn flower. My photographs fail
me again.
A few Geum triflorum, Prairie Smoke are still in bloom.
I check for the patch of Arnica species that I have seen in
the past north of the east-west line of boulders. No sign of them, no foliage.
I can’t find the giant Besseya rubra that I have seen in the past in this area,
or the large patch of Euphorbia cyparissias, cypress spurge.
There was a very bushy Matricaria discoidea, pineapple weed,
in the middle of the north access trail.
Matricaria discoidea,
pineapple weed
I picked a Galium aparine, bedstraw, beside the main trail,
near the east access to the park. I sat on the curb near my car to photograph
it. I have been meaning to check the foliage of the plant that I assumed was
yellow alfalfa to compare the foliage with the purple blossomed alfalfa. It was
handy so I photographed it too. It’s probably Trifolium aureum, golden clover,
not alfalfa.
I sat in the shade of tall trees, in evening light,
photographing them, shutter preferred 1/100th of a second, aperture
2.8.
Galium aparine, bedstraw
Trifolium aureum, golden clover
5:56 headed for home. 6:10 in my parking place.
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