Day 248: Although not actually "rare," Mountainbells is a noteworthy find in Mount Rainier National Park, and sufficiently scarce to set me racing into my colleagues' offices with a shout of, "Rare plant alert! Rare plant alert!" For the last month, I've been watching a site where I had observed them previously, waiting for the flowers to emerge above the plant's two or three long, strappy leaves. The leaf blades are what you will notice first. The inflorescence is harder to spot, the delicate bells held on the upper third of the stem. If you crouch down and sight along a line a foot above moist forest floor, you may discover dozens where you thought there were only leaves. The individual flowers are beautifully coloured as this Penny Perspective demonstrates, but are rather inconspicuous in a broad overview.
In checking these off on your botanical "Life List," you may find them listed as Stenanthium occidentale in your field guides. The correct nomenclature, recently updated by phylogenetic research, is Anticlea occidentalis.
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