Right now the Lakes Basin is in the middle of an incredible wildflower bloom! The meadows are blooming, the forest is blooming, and the treeless rocky areas are blooming! Woody shrubs and delicate wildflowers are all in bloom! We don't remember it ever being in such profuse bloom before!
Sierra primroses - Primula suffrutescens
Sierra Primroses!
In the past three weeks, my friend Nancy and I went on hikes in the Lakes Basin to see some of our favorite wildflowers! The Sierra Primroses pictured above are one of our absolute favorites! Many years ago on a cross-country hike, we came across a shady, higher elevation, rock ledge garden with thousands of Sierra Primroses in it! Every year since then, Nancy and I have hiked up to this amazing garden. The bloom varies year to year. This year there weren't as many flowers as last year, but there were still hundreds of them!
Sierra primroses are technically classified as subshrubs (low-growing, woody-based shrubs). Their stems and base become woody over time, which helps them survive extreme high-altitude conditions, snowpack, and rock crevices. They are no more than 6" tall.
The "Primrose Path"
The path to the primroses doesn't look so steep in this photo, but it is, with a bit of boulder hopping included! The "garden" is at 7,100' in elevation.
Long-leaved Asters - Mountain Spirea
Aster ascendens - Spirea splendens
We saw a lot of other wildflowers in bloom in the Primrose Garden!
Hope you enjoy the photos!
Crimson Columbine - Primrose Monkeyflower
Aquilea formosa - Erythranthre pulsiferae
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Round Lake
In the afternoon, beautiful clouds came in and filled the landscape as we left the Primrose Garden and hiked, in a round-about way, back to our car.
Polyganum shastense - Sedum obtusatum
On a dryish open slope we found these fairly uncommon wildflowers!
Sierra Laurel - Western Labrador Tea
Leucothoe davisiae - Rhododendron columbianum
In the shady forests there were lots of blooming woody shrubs!
Hidden Lake
Sugarsticks and Drummond's Anemones!
The week before our hike to the Sierra Primroses, Nancy and I hiked part of the Mt. Elwell Trail to find two different wildflowers, Sugarsticks and Drummond's Anemones. Surprisingly BOTH were in bloom!! These flowers are quite uncommon, so we really lucked out on seeing them!!!
We found a good number of Sugarsticks that day in an old growth forest of Red Firs. This is the only place in the Lakes Basin that we have seen them! Some were just emerging. Others were over a foot tall with their characteristic red stripes. They are really unusual looking. They have no green parts, and don't produce any chlorophyl. They are myco-heterotrophs, organisms with the ability to parasitize fungi. They feed primarily on mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments/hyphae. Sugarsticks feed primarily on the mycelium of Matsutake mushrooms, which in turn tap into the roots of trees!
Sugarsticks - Allotropa virgata
Sugarsticks - Allotropa virgata
These Sugarsticks were more mature and producing their bright red seed pods, that contain tiny seeds! The seeds are incredibly small and contain almost no energy reserves, they cannot grow independently. To germinate, they must land in the soil and be infected by a specific underground fungal network. The seed tricks the fungus into providing the nutrients and sugars needed to sprout.
They also reproduce clonally through an extensive lateral root system, that is 2'-4' deep! Since they are underground, buds on the lateral roots can survive a fire if the trees supporting the fungus don't die. They are in the Ericacaea (Heath) Family, and are the only species in the genus Allotropa. They are related to Snow Plants, Pinedrops, and surprisingly Prince's Pine/Pipsissewa! Sugarsticks were declared a "sensitive" species in 1998. How lucky we were to find these unusual flowers in bloom!
Drummond's Anemone - Anemone drummondii
To my delight, we weren't too late to see the Drummond's Anemones in bloom! However we only found three blossoms! All around them were the dried seed heads and stalks of ones that had already bloomed! Every year we come here to see these beautiful wildflowers, as we've never seen them blooming anywhere else in the Lakes Basin! Such a lovely reason for a hike!
en.Wikipedia.org states: "Each Drummond's Anemone produces several showy flowers, each with five to eight petal-like sepals but no petals. The sepals are usually white (occasionally bright blue to purplish blue) with a distinct blue tint especially on the underside. The flower center is filled with many yellow-anthered stamens. Anemone drummondii is native to western North America from California to Alaska. It is found in mountainous environments such as the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and the Rocky Mountains extending from open coniferous forests to rocky slopes at alpine elevations."
Leopard Lilies - Monkshood
Lilium pardilinum - Aconitum columbianum
A Variety of Wildflowers and Meadows!
On another day, my husband and I drove around to several beautiful meadows to see what was blooming! Once again, I have no time to write. Enjoy the photos! Or better yet, go see them in person!!!
Little Elephant's Head - Pedicularis attolens
Little Elephant Heads are smaller in size than the Elephant's Head (Pedicularis groenlandica), with trunks that curve up, and ears that hang down! Both species are typically found in wet meadows.
Oregon Checker Mallow - Sidalcea oregana
The Lakes Basin has lots and lots of meadows. This one is off the first half-mile of the Forest Service 09 Road. It is a dryish meadow that is bursting with White Brodiaea, Bolander's Yampah, and Oregon Checker Mallow.
White Brodiaea -Triteleia hyacinthina
Tinker's Penny - Hipericum anagalloides
In the wet grassy areas on the edge of another meadow, I came across a tiny, yellow flower I hadn't seen in a few years! They were Tinker's Pennys and are in the St. John's Wort Family. They usually grow on the edge of lakes or ponds, and are semi-aquatic, capable of surviving long periods of submersion!
Slender Penstemon - Penstemon gracilentius
In the shady forest there a thousands of gorgeous Slender Penstemons!
Such beauty!
Mountain Spirea - Spirea densiflora
The Mountain Spirea is such a beautiful bright rosy-peppermint-pink! It's soft appearance is due to hundreds of tiny stamens!
Alpine Aster - Orostemma apligenum
Asters were growing by the thousands in the shady forests!
Alpine Aster - Orostemma apligenum
Unbelievably beautiful in the sun and shade!
Bridge's Gilia - Navarettia leptalea
Surrounding the big boulders at the edge of a wet meadow was a carpet of hundreds of lavender-pink Bridge's Gilias! These flowers are tiny, but definitely worth getting down on your knees to look at. Such Beauty!
What's happening in my neighborhood?
What birds have arrived?
What's happening on the river?
Check back for the answers to these questions and more, in two weeks,
on Sunday, July 19th!
Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated! Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!
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