Calypso In White

Day 220: In between overseeing three volunteers on a campground project, I took time out for some botanical exploration and was rewarded with finding two snow-white specimens of Calypso bulbosa, Calypso Orchid. Calypsos' upper petals are normally magenta-pink, and the lower petal is marked with dark red lines in the heart and deep pink spots on the lip. In the white form, the interior lines are fainter and the spots are yellow. There is usually a slight hint of creamy pink in the upper petals. These two were by far the whitest I have ever seen. I had left my GPSr in the car (almost guaranteeing that I'd find something I wanted to record), so I found an easier way out, and assigned mental waypoints to several patches of lichen which could have been identical twins for every other patch of lichen in the area. On the return, I went unerringly to the Calypsos and took a reading. Now I know I can find them again when I come back with Team Biota. The white form is not a separate sub-species; it is a normal colour variation, although it is seen with much less frequency. Certain areas contain a higher percentage of white to pink, but whether that is due to genetics or habitat is something I don't know.

Rockslide Larkspur, Delphinium Glareosum

Day 280: Another vibrantly blue flower you may encounter in the high country, Larkspur is a smaller cousin to the towering Delphiniums of your grandmother's garden. Like those Delphiniums, a pink or lavender colour variation can be found occasionally. Of the hundreds of plants we observed on Chinook Pass two days ago, only one pink specimen was noted. Delphinium glareosum grows to a height of approximately twelve inches, and bears several blossoms on each stem.

Pale Male

Day 233: Somebody bleached one of my Goldfinches! I'm kidding, of course, but although there is some degree of variation as these birds pass from drab winter colours to their yellow summer finery, I have never seen one quite as white as this guy.

Scholars will disagree on whether this variation should be referred to as "partially leucistic" or "dilute." David Allen Sibley says, "The term leucistic has a confused history. In the introductions of the Sibley Guides I said the term leucistic is synonymous with dilute plumage. That usage was fairly common among birders at the time, and I was unaware that it contradicted several scholarly publications (e.g. Buckley 1982, van Grouw 2006) which define leucistic as the total lack of melanin from some or all feathers (what I called partial albino in the guides). It does make sense to distinguish birds that are unable to deposit melanin (my partial albino, their leucistic) from birds that are able to deposit melanin but only in low concentrations (my leucistic, their dilute)...I’ve used the term leucistic (not partial albino) for birds which cannot deposit melanin, which helps to distinguish these birds from the narrowly-defined true albino, and allows use of the term 'partial albino' as a general category for any bird showing any form of reduced melanin."

If you find this confusing, don't fret. It is a good example of how plastic the sciences are. While good scientists like Sibley try to stay abreast of research, it sometimes gallops ahead so rapidly that it's hard to keep up. For now, it seems safer to refer to my washed-out Goldfinch as a "pale male."

Bloomin' Broom

Day 212: Invasive and pervasive, western Washington counties have all but given up on trying to eradicate Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) from public lands. The best "weed warriors" can hope to do is control any further spread into areas not already infested. I won't claim it's easy to pull. Even small plants have a taproot extending to China, but with a weed wrench, it's possible to remove an established plant with a stem as thick as a child's wrist. Ideally, this should be done in the spring before the seed pods have had a chance to dry. Like many other weeds, Broom's pods burst explosively, discharging seeds over a radius of several yards.

I have to admit I think this pest is pretty when viewed en masse as a rolling sea of yellow, and there are a couple of colour variations less often seen, most commonly the red and yellow petal arrangement shown on the left. Rarely, you may find a plant with purplish-mahogany lower petals and creamy upper ones, but these are invariably smaller blossoms and are a hybrid. The scent arising from a broom-covered embankment is unmistakable; not quite sweet, a little pungent, pleasant to some and offensive to others. In the '60s and early '70s, dwarf hybrids were commonly planted along the freeways. Many people objected to the use of the plant in this manner, citing allergies to the pollen until eventually, the practice was stopped. Drivers on I-5 may still see examples of the dwarf varieties here and there.