Day 9: Called "Common Centaury," Centaurium umbellatum is, in my experience, rather uncommon. In fact, I have only observed it in two locations previously: the Windy Ridge Trail in Pack Forest, and on the west shore of Alder Lake, a site to or from which it may have been transported. A member of the Gentian family, it blooms late into the season, but I did not expect to find its pink stars in the grassy, weedy strip between tire ruts on the road to Pack's Peak. It seems to be quite hardy, arising from a basal rosette rooted in hard-packed, sandy, dry soil which supports little else, a spot of delicate beauty in an unkind environment. It is generally a lowland plant, a factor which may account for its infrequent presence in my area.
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