Iris Tenax, Oregon Flag

Day 210: Also known commonly as Oregon Flag or Toughleaf Iris, lovely little Iris tenax is native to Washington and is found primarily in the oak woodlands of the state's southwestern prairies. That's why I pulled up short yesterday when I found it alongside one of Pack Forest's less travelled roads. There were two fully open specimens and one bud, plus several clumps of stiff, short-bladed leaves spaced along a distance of roughly ten feet. None were in evidence anywhere else during my hike. I don't think there's a single oak tree anywhere in Pack, so the appearance of this plant raises the question of how it got there, especially since it is rhizomatous. Could a rhizome have been caught in the tread of some piece of machinery and dropped off at this site? That seems a bit of a stretch, although some means of transport must have brought seeds of my other find for the day: Spotted Jewelweed, a serious invasive. It was also alongside the road, and only covered about 25 square feet. For a brief second, I wondered if my own boots had been the medium until I remembered that I'm always in water sandals in Jewelweed country because I'm surveying by kayak. Malignant or benign, plants can be carried from one location to another when root fragments or seeds are introduced deliberately or accidentally.