Queens For A Day

Day 129: When I am out hiking, I set goals for myself, whether it's to reach the top of the next rise, make it to a specific destination point, or simply to check on the status of a plant. That's not to say I could file a detailed flight plan and indeed, I often don't know where I'm headed until my car finds its way to a parking area seemingly independently of any particular thought process on my part, and sometimes even then, I have no specific goal in mind until my feet begin striking the earth. I left home yesterday with nothing more than a desire to be Out for as many miles as chilly temperatures would allow, and I wound up at Pack Forest with visions of Snow Queens dancing in my head. That would take me three miles (one way), leaving plenty of time to be down before the sun dipped low in the sky. I wasn't even sure Synthyris reniformis would be in bloom in February, but checking on them was all the motivation I required. Enter now a handful of circumstances designed to throw a monkey wrench into the proverbial works. Less than three-quarters of a mile in, I knelt down to examine a lichen and found my first Snow Queens in an unexpected spot. Suddenly, my proposed work here was done. I'd got what I came for, so now what? I hadn't even reached the first junction where I'd could choose from a variety of new destinations. Then a second factor intruded into the plan: trail repair and a reroute. Now I was curious about what else might have been done further up toward Hugo Peak. At Hugo, I found a new side trail which begged to be explored. Once done there, more choices offered themselves: go back the way I'd come, walk down the main road to Kirkland Pass, there to go either down the 1000 Rd. to parking or take a side trip to see if the Snow Queens were in bloom where I knew they occurred. I might have rambled even longer but for the fact that I spoke at length with another hiker and then again with an old friend, so that when I arrived at the Snow Queens, the sun was already slanting sharply through the trees and taking on the gold hue of late afternoon. It was time to go home, and I beat-feeted it down, hands in mittens inside my pockets, happy that I'd achieved all my goals, even the hastily developed ones. That's how I hike. I go until I'm "halfway," and then return. That's my Plan.

Beautiful Snow Queens

Day 160: I first encountered Snow Queens (Synthyris reniformis) in Pack Forest half a dozen years ago, and every year since, I've made a point to visit the same site as soon as I think they might have emerged. They flower in the early season, although their blooming period is fairly long and it's possible you'll find them in shady, cool spots later in the year. I've even seen them as late as August when conditions are ideal. While their colour can vary from white to a rich lavender, their most striking feature is a pair of purple anthers which peek out from the frame of petals, rather outsized for the diminutive blossoms. This little plant is easy to miss, the flower spike standing only a few inches above ground-level, kidney-shaped leaves tinged with red; so easy to miss, I might add, that on the way back to the car, I was surprised to find another patch of them less than a mile from the trailhead. I'd walked right past them in the morning.

Snow Queens

Day 149: And here's what inspired me to yesterday's hike: Snow Queens (Synthyris reniformis, aka Spring Queens). Snow Queens are one of the first flowers to emerge, and although they aren't particularly uncommon, I only know a couple of locations where they grow. They're easy to miss because their leaves are close to the ground and the flowering stems only stand a few inches high, plus they tend to prefer dappled light and appear beneath other taller plants (at least in Pack Forest). Each individual flower has two purple anthers, rather outsized for the white-lavender bell surrounding them. They look for all the world like two little purple eyes. The leaves are kidney-shaped ("reniformis" means "shaped like a kidney") and are lightly hairy. Who else do you know who'd hike 11 miles to take a picture of a three-inch tall flower?

Snow Queens, Synthyris Reniformis

Day 180: A wildflower of the low-elevation forest, Synthyris reniformis (Snow Queens) emerges in early to mid-Spring. Less than six inches tall, this plant's scalloped basal leaves and hairy stems are distinctive, as are its pale lavender flowers, each of which bears two purple-tipped stamens. In Pack Forest, it can be found growing in the disturbed soil at the edges of roads and trails.

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.