Posts Tagged ‘Gentianopsis’
Another Great Wildlife Day
I haven’t been posting much lately. Partly, that is due to my winding down my botanizing as the flowers are also finishing their season. The other reason is that I’ve been exploring some High Cascade wetlands. In the last few weeks I’ve visited Gold Lake Bog, Blue Lake, Hand and Scott lakes, and some interesting unnamed bogs near Little Cultus Lake, an area I’d never investigated before. On Friday (September 14), however, I went back to one of my favorite haunts, and the last one I posted about: Hills Peak. I’ve been wanting to show Molly Juillerat (Middle Fork District botanist) the wonderful lake on the east side of the peak because it is home to lesser bladderwort, one of the rare species the Forest Service monitors (see the previous post). Molly was finally free after fires near Oakridge pulled her away from her other duties, and Nancy was also able to join us.
The sphagnum moss on the mounds by the lake takes on a gorgeous copper color as the summer fades.
A Minor Thrill at Hills Peak
On Thursday (August 23), John Koenig and I spent a lovely day in the area by Hills Peak. I had been looking forward to showing John one of my favorite areas in the Calapooyas, a part of the Western Cascades that is special to him as well. He “adopted” the Dome Rock wilderness area for Oregon Wild (then ONRC) back in the late ’90s when they were trying to assess all the small unprotected wilderness areas in the state. The day was absolutely gorgeous with none of the heat of the previous week or so and no sign of smoke from any of the small fires in the area.
The shallow lake has many pond lilies (Nuphar polysepala) and is surrounded by bog-loving sedges.
We started out the day by walking down the old road to the shallow lake to the east of Hills Peak. I didn’t have time to check it out on my earlier trip this year (see Hills Creek to Hills Peak). Although the majority of flowers were finished, there was still plenty to see. Poking around a small wet meadow beside this old road, we found dozens of one-flowered gentians (Gentianopsis simplex), including a few plants whose petals were twice the normal length. There were also a great many starry ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes stellata). I’ve seen these both here before, but one of these days I’ll come back earlier enough to see what must be a lovely display of mountain shooting stars (Dodecatheon jeffreyi). Read the rest of this entry »
Something for Everyone at Warfield Bog and Hemlock Butte Wetlands
Nancy (in front), Sharon (behind her), John, and Barrett among the pretty Douglas’ spiraea (Spiraea douglasii) at Warfield Bog
On Friday, August 3, Molly Juillerat and I took a group up to see some wetlands in the Middle Fork District of the Willamette National Forest where she works as a botanist. All together, including Anna and Sharon who also work for the district and who kindly drove us, we had 13 participants. There was quite a variety of folks. Along with the Forest Service, we had people from the Native Plant Society, North American Butterfly Association, and the Middle Fork Watershed Council. Since there are no trails at either site, and we were staying fairly close to the roads, people were mostly able to focus on their own interests, looking at plants, butterflies, dragonflies, and a handsome Cascades frog. Read the rest of this entry »
Further Exploration in the Calapooyas
Brickellia blooming along Road 5851
I just can’t stay away from the Calapooya Mountains. There are so many interesting rocky areas and wetlands, and I want to see them all. So yesterday (September 4), I headed back along my usual route up Coal Creek Road 2133, but this time I went all the way past Bradley Lake to the end of Road 5451 where it deadends at the south trailhead for Bristow Prairie. When John Koenig and I went to Loletta Peak and Bradley Lake back in July (see Mystery Bedstraw Blooming in Calapooyas), we took a quick spin down the road at the very end of the day. Seeing another cliff and talus slope and several meadow and wetland areas, we decided it was definitely worth a return trip. Exploring this area was my main goal yesterday.
The seeds of rayless arnica (Arnica discoidea) have white pappus.
It’s tricky getting berries off the end of the branch!
The road to Bradley Lake is in fine shape except for one spot that is very wavy from being washed out. It is no problem as long as you drive really slowly. There is a nice rocky spot here with loads of Erigeron cascadensis (in seed right now). Going so slow, I noticed a patch of rayless yellow composites and pulled over. It was rayless arnica (Arnica discoidea) still in good bloom. Neither rayless arnica nor Parry’s arnica (A. parryi), the other rayless species, is common in the Western Cascades, but this one I’ve only seen a few times, so I was very pleased. After photographing it for a while, I poked around the roadside outcrop and small talus slope. I heard but did not see a pika, but I was able to watch several golden-mantled ground squirrels. It must be the time of year when the babies get curious because it seemed that several of them were pretty young and running around quite a bit. An adult was busy trying to get some of the red elderberries (Sambucus racemosa) on a large shrub growing out of the rock. At one point, when I wasn’t looking, I heard a crash of sorts. It appeared as though he or she had slipped off the branch. It was quite amusing watching all this activity. Read the rest of this entry »
Pikas, and a Coyote, and Monkeyflowers, Oh My!
The first time I went to Hills Peak (see First Trip to Hills Peak) in northeastern Douglas County, I took a look at the top of the peak and three nearby wetlands. But there were several interesting looking spots that I did not have time for, so I decided it deserved a return trip. Boy, was I right! What a wonderful day I had Thursday (August 26), with great weather, interesting and unusual plants (even though most flowers were finished), and some great wildlife experiences, including a terrific hour spent hanging out with pikas.
Pika checking out its hay cache
Unexpected Find at Warfield Creek Bog
Beautiful hardhack (Spiraea douglasii) rings the lake.
Tiny but bright Gentianopsis simplex growing among the leaves of Pedicularis groenlandica and Ranunculus gormanii
Yesterday (August 15), I finally got around to returning to the wetland area just west of Wolf Mountain in southeastern Lane County. I’m calling the apparently unnamed area Warfield Creek wetlands since it is the headwaters of Warfield Creek. I discovered this cool spot last September by looking for wetlands with Google Earth (see Warfield Creek Bog report). While it was only a couple of weeks earlier than my trip last year, I hoped to see some earlier bloomers at the bog and possibly to explore the wetland area upstream of the bog. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by a number of butterflies and loads of blooming hardhack (Spiraea douglasii). I probably spent almost an hour and a half happily wandering around near the car and nearby lake before I even put my rubber boots on and headed into the bog.
Last year, I was surprised to find some beautiful Gentianopsis simplex blooming along the edge of the lake. It is quite uncommon in Lane County. It was blooming even better this year, and I spotted as many as 100 in bloom or still in bud. Most were where I’d seen them last year, along the north shore of the small lake. There were also quite a few at the northwest edge of the bog. Also near the lakeshore were some lovely stands of peach-colored Collomia grandiflora in very good bloom. I spent quite a while trying to get good photographs of these unusually tall specimens blowing around in a pretty stiff but thankfully intermittent breeze. Another wonderful plant at the peak of its bloom was hooded ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana). I’d found the less common starry ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes stellata) in the bog last year, and relocated some of these more delicate ladies’ tresses as well. I’ve seen several spots where they grow together, so apparently this isn’t unusual. Read the rest of this entry »
Calapooya Report
I’ve been waiting all summer to get back to exploring the Calapooyas, so yesterday I went up Coal Creek Road to Bradley Lake and Loletta Lakes. Most of this is in Douglas County, but it is all on the north side of the Calapooya crest and in the Willamette National Forest (just barely). They really ought to have run the county line along the Calapooya Divide.
Western boneset (Ageratina occidentalis) is a lovely late-blooming composite with a woody base.
I made a couple of quick detours on my way up to check on the Piperias. Youngs Flat Picnic Area was filled with people camping, but luckily they seem to be leaving the woods on the north side alone. The Piperia elongata are still blooming pretty well, although past peak. I also checked the woods across from Mutton Meadow where I’d seen about 30 Piperia plants in the spring. I managed to find 5 flower stalks. Only 2 had any flowers left. I’m pretty sure they’re P. transversa as they looked white with straight spurs. It also makes sense because they start blooming a bit earlier than elongata, so should be farther along than the P. elongata at nearby Youngs Flat.
When John and I went up Coal Creek Rd in early July, the road was a bit of a mess, lots of branches and rocks. Looks like the road has been cleaned up and even graded. I was thrilled about this until I got up to the base of the cliffs where the Epilobium luteum was in full bloom. It looks like they pushed some of the gravel right into the wet ditch and scraped some of the ditch as well. There were slashed branches. There’s still a lot of good habitat, but this is really upsetting. I don’t know what the official status of Epilobium luteum is, but this is probably the biggest population I’ve seen, and there are loads of other pretty things like Claytonia cordifolia in there. I hate to see them buried in dirt. I’m also concerned about messing with the water flow all these plants depend upon.