Saturday, March 22, 2014

Snow Queens, Synthyris Reniformis


Day 171: Early emergers, the dainty and delicate Snow Queen favours the margins of lowland forest, its bell-shaped lavender flowers often paling to nearly white, bearing a pair of dark purple stamens. Its leaves (not shown in this image) are heart-shaped with lightly scalloped edges.

While walking the Yelm-Tenino Trail today, I discovered a streak (for lack of a better word) of Synthyris extending about twenty feet long by five feet wide between a narrow band of evergreens and a horse pasture. A patrol of ten yards beyond either end of the patch yielded up no other specimens of the plant, and I did not observe them anywhere else along the trail. I suspect the availability of natural fertilizer may have played a role in encouraging their growth in this area.

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