Tapertip Onion, Allium Acuminatum

Day 241: Any day I "collect" a new plant is a good day, regardless of whether or not it's particularly rare. Consequently, a trip to the dry side of the state necessitated a minimum of one "botany break" along the way. The stop was occasioned by a yellow composite I had never photographed successfully (my camera really doesn't like yellow), a plant whose common name had been instilled in my mind since childhood as "Wapato," but quite inaccurately so. In fact, it was a Balsamroot, and my photos of it were no improvement on earlier ones, but the site proved fruitful nevertheless when it provided an even more interesting specimen for my catalogue. I recognized it as Hooker's Onion, aka Tapertip Onion (Allium acuminatum) and confirmed the identification when I got home. The flowers often appear in shades of pink, vivid to pale, and are distinguished by their unusual shape. The inner three petals are smaller than the outer ones. By the time the plant blooms, its slender basal leaves will have disappeared, leaving only a slim stalk topped by a terminal umbel.

Pygmy Short-Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma Douglasii

Day 239: I don't often get to explore Washington's dry-side ecology, so on the way home from manning the Park's booth at Treaty Day in Yakima, I requested a "botany break" at the next occurrence of yellow "daisies." A few minutes later, Maureen pulled over next to a mailbox and I started to scramble up a little rise to get a photo, but Kosette cut me short. "Stop! Look over here!" My first thought was that she'd spotted a rattlesnake. My eyes scanned the ground and passed over this fellow at least once before perceiving him against the rocky soil. He wasn't particularly disturbed by our presence and posed nicely for his "field-guide" portrait.

I make no claims to being a herpetologist, and misidentified the little feller. I am grateful to the Park colleague who corrected me (as I always say, "better to be embarrassed than to continue on in error"). This is a Pygmy Short-Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma douglasii), often referred to by locals as a "horny toad" or "horned toad."