365Caws is now in its 16th year of publication. If I am unable to post daily, I hope readers who love the natural world and fiberarts will seize those days to read the older material. Remember that this has been my journey as well, so you may find errors in my identifications of plants. I have tried to correct them as I discover them. Likewise, I have refined fiberarts techniques and have adjusted recipes, so search by tags to find the most current information. And thank you for following me!
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Suksdorfia Ranunculifolia, Buttercup Suksdorfia
Day 240: Buttercup Suksdorfia takes both its common name and the second half of its taxonomic binomial from the shape of its leaves, i.e., the fact that they resemble those of buttercups (a different family). Its range within Mount Rainier National Park is broad, but nowhere does it occur abundantly. Freshly open flowers exhibit a yellow eye which changes to red with age, both often evident in the same panicle. After finding a few rain-battered examples in one location, I returned under better weather a few days later, only to discover that the flowers had already withered. Thus began the Great Suksdorfia Hunt of 2016, a process which covered a substantial number of hours and miles on foot before I found a satisfactory specimen in bloom, never mind that it was several feet above my head and required some minor scrambling up a rock wall. In my attempt to hold the camera steady, my left arm and leg were perforce positioned in a small trickle of unpleasantly cold water, and by the time I'd gotten the shot, I was soaked on one side, dry on the other. Suffice to say, botanizing isn't for wimps!
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