Day 288: I find the Louseworts to be intriguing for the wide range of flower shapes exhibited within the genus. Some are vaguely reminiscent of snapdragons. Some are beaked, including one which takes it so far to the extreme that the flower resembles a tiny purple elephant face, the trunk curving gently upward. Sickletop puts me in mind of a poem from my childhood: "There was a little girl / Who had a little curl / Right in the middle of her forehead. / When she was good / She was very, very good / But when she was bad / She was horrid." Sweet Sickletop, of course, is the good girl in the verse, and I've never seen her naughty. In fact, she's rather shy, nodding beneath her leaves when other Louseworts show off their flowers on a spike. Eight species of Pedicularis can be found in Mount Rainier National Park. Look for them in subalpine meadows.
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