Therapeutic Plant Hunt

Day 237: By our very nature, human beings tend to dwell in their grief, and I am no exception. The full impact of losing Tippy hit me yesterday in late afternoon, and I said as much to a few select friends who almost all responded in the same way: You need to get out in the woods. I knew they were right, so today I went out on a therapeutic plant hunt, hoping that a little-known and seldom used trail would yield at least one of the species I've seen there and nowhere else. My first goal was Sanicula crassicaulis var. crassicaulis, and I am finally able to show it to you as a Penny Perspective, clusters of tiny yellow flowers gathered together in a space smaller than Lincoln's head. I first observed the foliage several years ago, and when I couldn't identify it, shipped the photos off to two botanist friends who helped me out. One of them said, "You must go back when it's in bloom." I had no idea what to expect (on-line images make it look much larger!) and was delightfully surprised to see its delicate inflorescences. It promptly went on my mental list of "favourite plants." Before I left this morning, I checked my records. Yes, I'd seen it in bloom in early June. Today's specimens were largely already in the seed-forming stage, although I was able to find a few with flowers. And, focused as I was on botany, some of the pain of the last few days lifted. Thank you, my friends, for kicking my butt out into the woods.

Filbert In Flower

Day 167: A few days ago, the Nisqually Land Trust posted a photo in social media of a flower which they described as one of their favourites and posed the question, "Do you know what it is?" I leapt on the chance to be first to identify it by responding, "Beaked Filbert (Corylus cornuta)!" But that set me to wondering why I had never featured the female flowers on my Contorted Filbert, aka Harry Lauder's Walking Stick in my blog. Well, folks, here you have it as a Penny Perspective! It's hard to imagine that teeny-tiny little flower giving rise to a hazelnut at maturity, but that's the way it goes...providing, of course, that the birds don't eat the sweet flower buds first. Juncos in particular are fond of them (they like blueberry buds, too), so my tree has produced very few nuts over thirty years, and those were either carried away by squirrels or holed and devoured by worms. I have never found one with a nut inside. In case you were wondering, the long, dangling catkins are the male flowers. They produce the pollen which fertilizes the female flower. Filberts are wind-pollinated, so given the gusty conditions we've had for the last few days, my chances of finding a hazelnut or two this fall might be pretty good.

Mushroom Hunting

Day 28: Even if I could identify this mushroom and it turned out to be "edible and choice," I would be hard pressed to find enough of them to fill a teaspoon. This has been without a doubt the worst mushrooming season in the fifty-plus years I've been gathering them. We've had heat, we've had dry...and when the rains finaly did come, they fell in a 'shroom-shattering torrent, had there been any 'shrooms to shatter. I have not seen a Shaggymane. I have not found a single Chanterelle. My yard should be full of  poisonous Stropharias, wormy green-staining Suilllus, antler-like "Blah Coral" and digestion-disturbing Russulas. There is nothing, save a dozen or so examples of this minuscule species. If, as I often hypothesize, fungus makes the world go 'round, we're in dire straits.

Dislodged Kidneys

Day 142: When the Park reopened after the storm damage was repaired and I could get back into Longmire, one of the things on my agenda was to check the campground for dislodged Kidneys. I have found Nephroma helveticum there in two locations. In both cases, it had dropped from the canopy far above my head and was attached to either a branch or twig from some tree I couldn't pinpoint. My most recent find (above) was about 100' from one of the customary drop-zones, but given the size of the twig (no more than four inches long) and its lightness, I concluded that it had probably been blown there on a gust of wind. Five species of Nephroma are known to occur in the Park. As shown here in a Penny Perspective, Fringed Kidneys (Nephroma helveticum) are easy to identify by the creamy white "ruffle" which borders the brown disks like a crocheted edging. The lower surface is smooth.

Penny Perspectives - Baeomyces Rufus

Day 101: Although not as small as some lichens, the fruiting bodies of Baeomyces rufus (Brown Beret) are still tiny things, as this Penny Perspective demonstrates. The white stalks (podetia) and their tan caps (spore-producing apothecia) are only part of the lichen. The thallus (main body) is the pale green crust from which they arise. This species can be found growing on rock in shady locations. A similar species (Dibaes baeomyces) has a white thallus, and grows on soil.

When I set off on the Bud Blancher Trail a few days ago, my goal was a particular tree by the river which I knew to hold Graphis scripta, but as Crow plans are wont to do, this one began developing new legs almost as soon as my foot struck the ground. "Baeomyces!" I said to myself, thinking of potential material for a natural-history post, but I didn't think the "sucker hole" overhead was wide enough to allow me to reach the far end of the trail where I knew the species occurred. Then I remembered the second location, somewhat closer. When I got there, I was dismayed to find that the Baeomyces rock had been entirely overgrown with English Ivy in the space of a year. It took a bit of searching, but I finally found this last outpost of Brown Berets under a tangle of blackberry vines.

Penny Perspectives - Graphis Scripta

Day 99: Graphis scripta (Common Script Lichen) is as elegant as its scientific name sounds. The Latin words mean "inscribed" or "written," and it does indeed look like pencilled scribbles where it appears on bark. It is known to occur on a variety of trees (birch, beech and others), but here in the Pacific Northwest, it is most commonly found on Red Alder. As you can see, it is quite small, but when viewed under a hand lens, the unique elongated fruiting bodies reveal a longitudinal split. Where grain lines appear in the bark, these lirellae often follow the path of bark texture. What secret messages are hidden in Graphis scripta's code? Are they telling you to get outside and take a closer, much closer look at Nature?

Penny Perspectives - Brewer's Monkeyflower

Day 245: The cheery sight of pink or yellow Monkeyflowers will be familiar to anyone who has hiked more than a few times in the Pacific Northwest. They are often found lining moist streambanks, sometimes in glorious abundance. Less well-known and for a reason which should be made obvious by this Penny Perspective, Brewer's Monkeyflower (Erythranthe breweri) occurs in drier soils. Formerly classified as "Mimulus," all Monkeyflowers native to Mount Rainier National Park and western Washington have been shifted to genus Erythranthe, so if you prefer to use the scientific nomenclature, make appropriate corrections in your field guides.

Penny Perspectives - Anemone Lyallii

Day 208: Tiny Anemone lyallii (Lyall's Anemone) is relatively uncommon in Mount Rainier National Park, and it is often overlooked because of its size, which this Penny Perspective clearly demonstrates. It can be distinguished from similar A. deltoides by the leaf arrangement (three "threes" in the case of A. lyallii and only one set of three in A. deltoides). A third species (Anemone oregana) is larger, although small specimens can be confused with A. lyallii. The distinction between the two is most easily made when the plants are in bloom. Oregon Anemone has 35 or more stamens, Lyall's less than 35. Lyall's may also be listed as Western Wood Anemone in some field guides.

Penny Perspectives - Oregon Boxwood

Day 194: As some of you know, I write a regular feature on the Park's Facebook page which appears every Tuesday evening. For the most part, it deals with plants (no surprise there, right?) I try to avoid the more common species, but likewise, I also avoid rarities because rare species generate two stock questions: "Is it edible?" and "Where can I find it?" (with the unvoiced qualifier, "...because I want to dig it up and put it in my yard"). In other words, I like to introduce people to those things they may have missed due to limited observation skills. One way I do that is through "Penny Perspectives." I haven't published one in a while, so was pleased to find Oregon Boxwood in bloom yesterday.

As this Penny Perspective demonstrates, the flowers of Paxistima myrsinites are tiny. Each waxy red petal is only about one millimeter long. They nestle in the leaf axils and can easily be mistaken for foliage in bud. Known by a variety of common names in popular field guides, this short, woody shrub may be called Oregon Boxwood, Falsebox, Myrtle Boxwood, Boxleaf or (my favourite) Mountain-lover, and can be found at any elevation up to the subalpine zone. It is a valuable forage food for deer and elk.

Penny Peridioles

Day 49: Nidula candida is arguably the most common bird's-nest fungus in Pacific Northwest forests. Its cups are persistent, i.e., you can find them year-'round, although the "eggs" may be absent. The tiny lentil-shaped structures shown in this Penny Perspective are called peridioles ("peh-RIH-dee-uhls") and contain the spores of the fungus. In the case of N. candida, a viscous substance holds the peridioles in the cups until rain washes them free. If you look carefully at the photo, you can see a few "eggs" outside the cups on the wood. In some other species of bird's-nests, the peridioles are attached to the cups by tiny threads. In either instance, the spores seldom fall more than a few inches from the parent fungus, a factor which generally allows bird's-nests to colonize in compact "family groups."

Penny Perspectives - Lotus Micranthus

Day 249: Even little plants can be invasive. Lotus Micranthus is a teeny-tiny pea with ambitions of world conquest. It occurs profusely in disturbed soils in Mount Rainier National Park, particularly along roadsides and in the traffic islands at Longmire. Also known as Small-Flowered Lotus, it is a legume and bears multiple tiny "peas" in each of its seed pods. When ripe and dry, the pods may burst with a sharp snap, launching an explosion of seeds into the surrounding areas.

Baomyces Rufus

Day 141: First let me say that I'm reserving the right to be wrong about this one. I don't have the reagents required to perform certain chemical tests which would confirm the identification, but careful macroscopic analysis would seem to indicate that it is Baomyces rufus rather than Dibaeis baomyces. Additionally, Dibaeis is far less common in the Pacific Northwest than Baomyces, and generally occurs on soil in sunlight whereas this specimen is growing on a shaded boulder. I have observed this particular colony in all seasons now, and have witnessed the apothecia change colour over the months from a translucent pale pink upon initial eruption to a pinkish-brown later in the year. If I could observe the asci under the microscope (a process I haven't really mastered), I might be able to cinch the ID, but that requires remembering to stick a test tube in my pocket so I can take a sample. Maybe another hike is in order.

Blue-Eyed Mary

Day 244: Collinsia parviflora (Blue-Eyed Mary) is not an uncommon plant, but it is very easily overlooked because of its diminutive size, as demonstrated when put in a "Penny Perspective." A closer look at the corolla reveals four white and blue lobes smiling up cheerfully from the tip of a downward-pointing tube. Mary is a lover of moist places and seeps, and can be found in both the forest and subalpine zones.

Penny Perspectives - Drosera Rotundifolia

Day 364: Several of my readers have requested a Penny Perspective featuring the Sundews of Lake St. Clair. I'm more than happy to oblige because they have been one of the best finds of my botanical career. It was only by chance that I spotted them. I had gone looking for a "paddle cache" (a geocache which can only be accessed by water) and decided to explore the lake a little further with no real purpose in mind. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a hint of red on a log some 50-60 feet away from my 'yak and, like a character in a cartoon, I did the classic double-take. "Waitaminit...are those SUNDEWS?" They were one of the top three plants on my Bucket List, and I'd never expected to find them in Washington. As you can see, Drosera rotundifolia colonies are not large. This image shows a very healthy and vigorous specimen.

Collinsia Parviflora - A Penny Perspective

Day 242: The flowers of Blue-Eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora) are not easy to spot, but they are worth a closer look when you find them. The tubular corolla is bent at an angle to the stem and terminates in four lobes, the upper two white or pale blue and the lower two a cheerful sky-blue. The foliage consists of slender, opposite leaves on the lower portion of the stem, but often appears in a whorl on the upper part. Flowers emerge at the tips and at leaf axils. Shown here in a Penny Perspective, Blue-Eyed Mary is a tiny treasure waiting to brighten your next hike...if you can find her.

Erythranthe Breweri - A Penny Perspective

Day 233: I barely know where to begin. Yesterday, I went on a botanizing expedition with my friend Joe. He'd baited me with a report of an insectivore I'd never seen in the wild, but by the time the day was over, we had recorded half a dozen rare/uncommon species. The prize was won by Erythranthe breweri, formerly called Mimulus breweri and known commonly as Brewer's Monkeyflower. It has only been recorded in a few locations in Mount Rainier National Park, and the site at which we observed it was not one of them.

Upon referring our find to the Park's Plant Ecologist, we were dispatched on another mission: to collect a single specimen for inclusion in the Burke Museum's herbarium. I am of two minds with respect to taking herbarium specimens, one side of my head arguing that if it's rare, it should be left in place, even as the scientific part of my brain protests that being able to profile the DNA or otherwise study a rarity has great and growing value. Since we were able to count at least 36 individual specimens at this site, I carefully removed one, cleaned its hair-like roots of soil and pressed it temporarily between the pages of a notebook, laying it out as naturally as possible. Spreading the petals was no easy task since even in the space of a few minutes, they had begun to curl. Immediately upon returning home, I transferred it to acid-free paper and weighted it for drying. Once the process is completed, I will return it to the Park where it will be catalogued and archived.

Penny Perspectives - Anemone Lyallii

Day 207: When visitors to Mount Rainier National Park hear the word "anemone," the most likely image to spring to mind will be that of the "mop-heads" so common in sub-alpine meadows. Less frequently, people may recall floppy white flowers with yellow centers and lacy leaves. Those icons of the high country are Western Pasqueflower (Anemone occidentalis). However, they are not the only anemones to be found in the Park. Anemone lyallii (Western Wood Anemone) is much less common and much more elusive. Its colour is variable, ranging from white to pink or pale lavender. It can be distinguished from its close cousin Anemone oregana by the number of stamens and its somewhat smaller size. Shown here in a Penny Perspective, Anemone lyallii is truly a tiny treasure!

Penny Perspectives - Listera Cordata, Heartleaf Twayblade

Day 194: Another little green thing found while belly-crawling through the woods...

A member of the Orchid family, Heartleaf Twayblade (Listera cordata) is somewhat uncommon, and not easy to spot due to its green color and diminutive size. A pair of heart-shaped leaves appear at the midpoint of the stem, topped by a spike bearing up to15 individual blossoms. Seen in a Penny Perspective, the flowers reveal the logic behind its common name. The lower petal is strongly divided, forming two blade-shaped lobes, "tway" reflecting an archaic form of the word "two." This elegant yet inconspicuous dainty is most likely to be found in damp, shady areas, in bogs or beside streams.

Penny Perspectives - Corallorhiza Trifida, Northern Coralroot

Day 193: One of the most rare species of Coralroot to be found in Mount Rainier National Park, Corallorhiza trifida is elusive not only for its scarcity, but for its size and colour. As you can see in this Penny Perspective, its greenish flowers are quite tiny, making it easy to miss in the shady locations it prefers. It appears in the spring, generally before the more common Coralroots. The Corallorhizas are partial mycoheterotrophs, i.e., they only exist where certain fungi are present in the soil. In years when those fungi are abundant, the plants emerge in greater numbers.

Needle In A Haystack

Day 134: Given the size of Graphis scripta, I knew that trying to document its occurrence in the Park was going to be a challenge. The only thing I had working in my favour was the knowledge that it likes to grow on alder (Alnus rubra). Kevin and I had spent some time examining alders up Kautz Creek last week with no success, so today, I hiked up the Westside Road to another location I thought might yield up my "target species." A deer was my only companion as I wove my way among Devil's Club and salmonberry vines, and I was just about to throw in the towel and was working my way back to the road when I thought to check the other side of a three-inch tree I'd already examined. There, threatened by concealment by bryophytes, was my prize!

These photos are the first I've taken since being given the go-ahead for a research project to document lichen species in the Park, and I don't have to tell you how jazzed I am at the prospect. But Graphis scripta was not my only find for today. Stay tuned! You'll see more in coming posts.