Mountain Plants of the Western Cascades

Posts Tagged ‘Romanzoffia’

California mistmaiden and fragile fern (Cystopteris fragilis) reappearing in late September.

The return of the autumn rains is a special time here in western Oregon. Fire danger is gone, the air is clear and cool, and the ground is once again moist. Many plants are as excited about this time of year as I am. My meadow is no longer brown and dead-looking, and a number of plants have reappeared on my small cliff.

Licorice ferns sending up new fronds in September

Because of our Mediterranean climate and long summer drought, surviving the summer usually requires some type of special adaptation. With climate change increasing the average summer temperatures as well as the extremes, lengthening the summer drought, adding more weeks of droughts in the spring, and generally making summer weather more erratic and unpredictable, these adaptations are going to be put to the test. Plants that are best adapted to drought will most likely have the greatest chance of surviving our changing conditions.

Plants have a number of ways of coping without water for months on end. Some have ways of conserving water. Conifers can close their stomata to reduce water loss from their needles. Stonecrops (Sedum spp.) have thick, succulent leaves that can store moisture. Other species have hairs on their leaves to trap moisture and protect them from erratic weather. Long taproots or extensive fibrous roots can reach deep into the ground to reach moisture. And, of course, some plants grow in wetlands or shallow lakes where there is year-round moisture. These adaptations can improve survival in the summer, but the plants are still exposed when there are extreme conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

Without a doubt, one of the stars of the day was the gorgeous great polemonium (Polemonium carneum). It grows profusely at both Mistmaiden Meadow and Nevergo Meadow. While many polemoniums (also known as Jacob’s ladder) are in shades of blue, this species shifts from pale yellow through peach and lavender to pinky purple. You can see the progression in this photo from the yellowish bud to the pale yellow flower in the upper right, still fresh with undehisced stamens, to the pale purple flower in the middle with dehiscing stamens, and finally to the darker flowest in the front.

Traversing Mistmaiden Meadow

After successfully reaching Mistmaiden Meadow and Elk Camp and Nevergo Meadow the previous weekend (see last post, Early Spring Bloom Begins at Elk Camp and Mistmaiden Meadow), I felt comfortable inviting people who said they were interested in seeing Mistmaiden Meadow. So on May 31st, I was joined by Linda Hardison, my boss at OregonFlora, Denny Albert, an ecologist who has contributed to the Flora of Oregon, Leela Hickman, botanist in the district, and Sol Ziegert and his partner Hattie.

It was a beautiful sunny but cool day—perfect for a day of botanizing. Since Mistmaiden Meadow was what people were most interested in exploring, we went there first. It was lovely as always. The Thompson’s mistmaiden (Romanzoffia thompsonii) was finishing, but there was still enough to show everyone this adorable Cascade endemic. Better still, its lookalike, Nuttall’s saxifrage (Cascadia nuttallii) was now blooming, so we were able to look at them side by side. The rosy plecritis (Plectritis congesta) was coming along and starting to form swaths of pink in the meadow. Along with the annuals, perennials including western waterleaf (Hydrophyllum occidentale), Hooker’s fairybells (Prosartes hookeri), and fern-leaved biscuitroot (Lomatium dissectum) and shrubs like Douglas’ hawthorn (Crataegus gaylussacia) were in bloom. There was still plenty of moisture fueling the lush vegetation. Read the rest of this entry »

Western springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata) and glacier lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) were following the melting snowbanks along the edge of the wetland at Elk Camp. Well worth the many miles of gravel road to see this gorgeous display!

On Saturday, May 24th, I finally got up into the mountains. So far this spring, I’d gone down to the Siskiyous, up to the Columbia Gorge, and made a few trips out to Rigdon. I had yet to get up high or drive on any real gravel roads. As dry as it has been in April and May, I really wanted to go somewhere fresh and moist. Elk Camp is only 4400′, but it feels higher and is level enough to retain lots of snow. I wasn’t sure I would make it there this early in the season, but Mistmaiden Meadow is right on the way, and if I couldn’t even get there, I figured I’d go to Tire Mountain—always a worthwhile trip. I knew that the roads would be clear up to Tire Mountain and Road 1912 as far as the intersection of Road 140 because mountain bikers can get on the extremely popular Alpine Trail there, and the outfit that drives shuttles of bikers up was advertising daily trips there. In fact, I think I saw 5 vans along the road. I normally would have avoided going up there on a weekend—and a holiday weekend at that—but the weather was gorgeous, and I didn’t want to wait any longer. Read the rest of this entry »

The steepest part of the 700′ climb up to the summit from the trail is when you’re almost at the top. But you want to go slowly to look at all the flowers anyway.

Sheila and I were intrigued by this dead tree. Pileated woodpeckers commonly make rectangular-shaped holes in dead trees, and there were some higher up, but I’ve never seen them carve up a tree so thoroughly. We thought it looked like a totem pole. You can see the huge pile of wood chips at the base. There was a smaller one on the other side of the trail.

Sheila Klest and I had planned to go to Cone Peak the previous week, but I had to cancel at the last moment after barely sleeping the night before. Even if I could have handled the long drive and hike, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it on two hours of sleep. It’s tough finding a time when Sheila can get away from her native plant nursery, Trillium Gardens, so I was relieved she was able to reschedule to go up there with me on Thursday, June 13. Coincidentally, that the was the exact date and day of our previous trip (see A Rainbow of Colors at Cone Peak and Iron Mountain), but we hadn’t made it to the summit that time, and the bloom season was a little farther ahead of this year.

I had wanted to get up there as early as possible to see the first flowers while there were still a few snow banks left. My early-season trip with Sabine Dutoit back in 2008 (see Top of Cone Peak Starting to Bloom) is still one of my favorite experiences. While it was later in June, that was an above-average snow year, so we walked over snow drifts with snowmelt species blooming in the newly bare spots to get to the top of Cone Peak where the bloom was gorgeous. What makes Cone Peak such a great place to see very early flowers is that you can hike from a paved road that is cleared of snow in June. Most of my other high-elevation spots require going up long gravel roads, so the earliest plants are often done before the roads are clear of snow and downed trees. Read the rest of this entry »

The rosy plectritis (Plectritis congesta) was kicking in but not quite at peak bloom yet. There was also lots of slender cryptantha (Cryptantha affinis) and coastal manroot (Marah oreganus). The great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) had just barely started.

Shooting stars have downward-pointing flowers with reflexed petals in order to accommodate buzz pollination by bumblebees. There were lots of bumblebees taking advantage of the abundance of beautiful shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum) throughout the meadow. I was disappointed by the relative lack of butterflies but happy to see some pollinators.

On June 7, I took my husband, Jim, to see “Mistmaiden Meadow” on the west edge of Sourgrass Mountain. Although he’s not particularly interested in plants, we both feel safer if he’s familiar with all the places I visit regularly, in case he ever does have to come to my rescue. There are nice rocks and a view, and it was a lovely day to get out. If he’d stayed home, he would have spent the day doing chores like wood-splitting, so at least it was a nice change of pace.

The slope was still quite moist and lush with lots of colorful flowers. We’d missed the very earliest bloom, but there was still lots of the sweet Thompson’s mistmaiden (Romanzoffia thompsonii) that I named the site after. The very similar Nuttall’s saxifrage (Cascadia nuttallii) was just starting but will soon take over the seepy slopes. It is worth visiting this lovely and quiet spot multiple times during the flowering season. I was able to confirm my mystery cherry from my last trip last year (see Late Season at Mistmaiden Meadow) as choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) and added four other new species to my growing plant list for the site, so it felt successful as well as relaxing. And seeing a bear run across the road in front of us on our way home was like the cherry on top of a sundae—and the most exciting part of the day for Jim! Here are some pretty pictures of our very pleasant day. Read the rest of this entry »

There weren’t as many butterflies as I would have expected on a warm, sunny day, but then most of the blooming flowers like monkey flowers weren’t good for nectaring butterflies. I did watch this California tortoiseshell visiting a number of the abundant rustyhair saxifrage (Micranthes rufidula). This surprised me because I rarely see tortioseshells nectaring at all, and I can’t remember seeing any butterflies on the saxifrage even though it seems like a good plant for a butterfly with lots of easily accessed small flowers.

On April 19, I spent a relaxing day looking at early blooming, low-elevation flowers along Deer Creek Road 2654 off the McKenzie Highway. The mile or two west of Fritz Creek is a wonderful place to see moisture-loving plants along the road as long as there is still moisture. Sweeps of various shades of yellow covered the road banks, including gold stars (Crocidium multicaule), seep monkeyflower (which used to be Mimulus guttatus but I’m pretty sure is now Erythranthe microphylla as E. guttata was kept for the larger perennial), chickweed monkeyflower (E. alsinoides), and Hall’s lomatium (Lomatium hallii). I didn’t check out the hidden meadows above the road, which peak a little later in spring—plus I was feeling too lazy for the steep climb.

I had heard that last year’s Lookout Fire had burned across Deer Creek, so I was concerned about possible damage along the road and up in the hidden meadows on the north side of Deer Creek. There was some evidence of burning on the ridge above the side south of Deer Creek as well as a little on the drive in, but I was relieved to see the north side—at least the low elevations—got spared. The fire probably jumped the creek higher up.

Here are some photographic highlights.

The first bank I came to was covered with gold stars. My timing was perfect as they were mostly in full bloom, but there were enough going to seed for me to collect plenty for my property. They’re still not really getting established at home, so I have to add more seed every year if I want to see their cheery flowers at home in early spring.

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While looking at the flowers on the cliffs, Lauren spotted a bald eagle sitting in a dead tree above us!

Sadly, the population of shining geranium (Geranium lucidum) at the base of the cliffs near milepost 7 is starting to spread up onto the rocks despite attempts to remove it. Here you can see how similar the geranium leaves (bottom) are to the lovely native California mistmaiden (Romanzoffia californica, top) that grows abundantly there. I tried to at least pull out the ones on the cliff so no one else would accidentally pull the mistmaiden. We looked carefully at the leaves and noted good distinguishing marks are the small tips on the lobes of the glabrous mistmaiden leaves vs. rounded lobes on the slightly hairy leaves of the geranium.

As is my tradition, my first botanizing of the year was to Hills Creek Reservoir south of Oakridge on March 17th. It’s such a relaxing way to start the year. I was joined by fellow Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO) members Nancy Bray and Lauren Meyer. We made a number of stops along Road 21 as far as Big Pine Opening across from the bridge that leads to Coal Creek and Staley Creek roads. It didn’t seem worth going any farther as there were still patches of snow in the ditches. Lots of snow up higher as well. It was a lovely warm day, however, and we enjoyed the beautiful gold stars (Crocidium multicaule) and other early flowers. And while not abundant, we did see four species of butterflies: California tortoiseshells, unidentified blues, an anglewing, and a mourning cloak. Seeing butterflies always starts my spring fever. Here are some photos of our (mostly) pleasant day. Read the rest of this entry »

The population of the seep-loving beautiful shooting star was more gorgeous than I had imagined in “Mistmaiden Meadow.”

Did it just snow? Nuttall’s saxifrage coats the rocks at “Mistmaiden Meadow.”

I was really anxious to get back to the steep meadow on the east side of Sourgrass Mountain after my first trip of the season (see Early Look at Meadow on Sourgrass Mountain). Exactly two weeks after the first trip, on June 13, Sheila Klest and I went to see what was in bloom. We weren’t disappointed. It was even prettier than we expected. As soon as we stepped out into the upper part of the slope, we were greeted with a sweep of pink rosy plectritis (Plectritis congesta). There was much more moisture than there had been at nearby Tire Mountain the week before (see NPSO Annual Meeting Trip to Tire Mountain). Tire Mountain is known for similar drifts of color in wetter springs, but this year was rather disappointing. Here, however, the moisture from the above-normal snowpack on Sourgrass was trickling down to the meadow and keeping it fresh in spite of a month with little or no rain. Read the rest of this entry »

Thompson’s mistmaiden was abundant on the seepy parts of the slope (which is most of it!).

I was surprised to find this checkerspot caterpillar wandering around some wholeleaf saxifrage (Micranthes integrifolia), which is definitely not a host food plant. Neither is Thompson’s mistmaiden, the little flowers popping up among the saxifrage leaves. There must have been some paintbrush nearby.

My last report of 2022 was about two late-season trips to hidden meadows in the area near Saddleblanket and Sourgrass mountains (see Exploring Two New Meadows). I was really excited about getting to see the meadows in bloom this year, especially the large one off of Road 140 on the west flank of Sourgrass Mountain. Having already been to nearby Tire Mountain (see Early Season at Tire Mountain), I had seen the lush green meadow from the north side of the ridge, and I knew the road was clear to Windy Pass. On May 30, Nancy Bray accompanied me, hoping for a first look at the early spring flowers in the big meadow. We had also planned to try to get to the other meadow and nearby Elk Camp and Nevergo Meadow, just a few more miles to the north, but we were stopped by a single patch of snow blocking Road 140. Luckily, we were only half a mile from the first meadow, so we walked the rest of the way up the road, which was clear of snow except in some ditches. There were still some glacier lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) and fresh western trilliums (Trillium ovatum) in the freshly melted-out ditches and road banks on our way up. Read the rest of this entry »

A very early look at the wet meadow near the Lone Wolf Shelter. Snow lingered on the far side of the meadow and behind the thicket of Douglas’ hawthorns (Crataegus gaylussacia). John and I only walked over as far as where the meltwater was flowing across the meadow. No drying out here yet!

Crab spiders regularly hide on flowers (can you spot it?) awaiting unsuspecting pollinators, but I’ve never seen one on skunk cabbage before!

John Koenig will be leading a trip to Patterson Mountain for the Native Plant Society of Oregon Annual Meeting the first weekend of June, so I joined him and his wife, Deborah, for a look at the trail on May 25. We were very relieved to find the road open, although there was a large snowbank just past the trailhead parking, so we probably couldn’t have even gotten to the trail much earlier. We had to cross a couple of large mounds of snow, and there were still some patches in the meadows, so the flowering season had only just begun. While the deep snow pack was melting fast from the hot, dry May we’ve been having, I’m guessing that—unlike Tire Mountain (see Early Season at Tire Mountain)—the plants here were all protected from the heat waves by the snow. Not only is Patterson Mountain several hundred feet higher in elevation than Tire Mountain, but its more level areas are able to collect far more snow than the steep slopes of Tire.

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