Skykomish and Beyond!
Daily Account: Skykomish and Beyond
May 12, 2012
Temperature Changing throughout the day, high around 76 warmer to east
Today, we traversed highway 2, from the Skykomish River to Leavenworth, looking at the changes in plant life and ecosystems over a transition from west to east. There were lots of cool things to see, the weather was beautiful (no clouds, blue sky), and it was cool to see the complete contrast with the change in climate, seeing a large variety of plants, trees, lizards, and more.
Our first stop was just out of Gold Bar (Lat: 47.8537, Long: -121.697), on the edge of the Skykomish. I should start by saying this place is an example of a Riparian habitat, one which in parts has been eroded by floods, yet has a nice array of plants and trees, some of which I’d seen, others which are new to my schema for plant life in the pacific northwest/Washington state. The first thing we noticed stepping out of the cars was a tall cottonwood tree in the middle of the parking area. The last time someone mentioned this tree, I was so overwhelmed with information and a bit confused (there may not have been noticeable leaves either), that I didn’t see which tree out of the millions there seemed to be. This time however, the Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera) was abundant along the river and surrounding area, its beautiful shiny leaves almost silvery in the sun. Another particular cottonwood we saw had roots exposed above the surface of the ground. Apparently, it uses its roots to self-propagate, sending out new roots from the trunk of the tree. The exposed roots are a result of flooding, where the bank has been in the past. Other trees we saw include: Western flowering Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) at the opening by the road (didn’t notice anywhere else, and on a side note, the leaves are quite interesting in their papery nature and in the fact that they have a sort of spiraled sheath inside that allows one to pull them apart and not fully separate the whole..I wonder what the adaptive nature of this is), a few Red Alder (Alnus rubra), a couple Big leaf Maple, a Cherry tree, and a Crabapple tree (Malus domestica). We also saw many other tall shrubs such as Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) (apparently wind pollenated tree as recognized by catkins), Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), among others.
In one area, the understory was made up of flowering/berry producing shrubs, all around the same location, which I found interesting because I’m not used to seeing them all together at once. These shrubs were Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)which someone mentioned is in the rose family, although I’m not positive this is true since according to Pojar it doesn’t seem so; Trailing Blackberry (Rubus Ursinus)/(unlike the Himilayan Blackberry seen in Seattle, this crawls low to the ground instead of arching first), which wasn’t too abundant but lay scattered alongside the road; Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), which I recently discovered interacts with Salmon in some way, I think a naturalist mentioned the salmon used to fertilize it somehow; and Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), which I have yet to see produce fruit more extensive than flowers. It surprised me that these all grew together, especially the Salmonberry, since I thought it usually prefers more moist habitats than the one in which we found it. Maybe this is why there were only a small number of patches at this site.
We also found lots of Stinky Bob (Geranium robertianum), growing low in the understory, with lots of small pink flowers scattered about, although after smelling it, I personally didn’t find it to be all that stinky. Although it’s an invasive species, we encountered lots of Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius) as well, particularly on the banks of the river, we learned that it takes a special kind of insect to pollenate it…well maybe not too special, but if you find plump bumblebees special, then this is how the plant perpetuates itself. The pollen is protected inside the yellow flowers, until something heavy enough comes and interacts with the plants “popping” mechanism. I never knew this about Scotchbroom, and I also didn’t know that it grows in Riparian habitats like this one. I know this plant is nonnative and I’m wondering where it comes from. Also it seems pretty good at adapting to different situations, but where is it most common? I’ve often seen it on roadsides, but do bumblebees fly in these areas? Would they be even more affected by the pollution because of this?
Other invasive species we found were Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica), and Sweet Vernel Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), the second characterized by the fine white hairs on its flowers and stem. The grass interestingly is moving north and came from California. I wonder why this is; is this the way the wind tends to blow? I suppose it must be if it’s wind pollenated, but it’s amazing that it’s growing up here now; I wonder how long it’s taken to reach this part of the country, it seems like it would be a slow process.
Next we transition to a much wetter place, off Index (rd), a temperate forest habitat with about two and a half times the rainfall of Seattle. This was probably my favorite, with the beautiful moss hanging on every tree and the greenness extending far into the forest. Here we saw many familiar things, and a few things in question, for example, there were two plants that both looked like fringecup such as Large-leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum), and another Geranium looking one I still can’t place. These, and Stinky Bob covered the side of the road until we walked past the edge of the forest, the first two not so surprising to me, yet Stinky Bob a bit suprising since I’ve always noticed in in slightly drier habitats, although it makes since, as apparently it is an introduced Eurasian weed. Salmonberry rinks this location as like the previous one, but farther in it gets much more interesting. Apparently a place of frequent rainfall like this is home to a lot of epiphytic plants such as licorice fern, a deciduous species, yet one that loses its leaves in the summer, the opposite the deciduous trees of the area. This is cool, as it means they will get more sunlight in the winter without the canopy of leaves blocking it out. These licorice ferns were on many of the trees in the area, growing not bigger than about a foot in length, and overwhelmingly sweet to the taste (in my opinion). We also saw lots of stumps providing stands for Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium Parviflorum), (Is this an epiphytic species?). False Lily of the Valley covered the forest floor (it seems to like the more moist shady climate everywhere I see it), along with a few stalks here and there of Hooker’s Fairybell (Disporum hookeri) with twin flowers growing beneath the leaves. Nearby a stump we found a small patch about three feet wide of Spiny Wood Fern (Dryopteris expansa), and a log about five feet away with a small black millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana) on its side. The millipede must be common in this area as I’ve seen ones alike before with the yellow stripe down the sides. Do we have many centipedes here? I think they like warmer climates, but I’m curious. Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) and Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridum) stalks popped up once or twice, the latter’s spiny stem a giveaway (although I mistook a plant by the greenhouse the other day with like stem for this and was far off).
And if I must talk about mushrooms which I am learning to avoid because I think the spores make my nose itchy, I will say we saw a few at this site, such as: Coprinellus nopsis, Polyporus Badius (with the hand lens you can see the tons of pores on the underside), and Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum), (also pretty cool because it actually acts as a tablet on its white underside, something I’ve seen in gifts but never live).
Wow, we did do a lot today. Next, we stopped at Money Creek campground (Lat: 47.72917, Long: -121.40694), and found Long-Tailed Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum)!..Among other things, this pleasant smelling plant I’ve wanted to find for a while now, and found it today growing with jug-like purple flowers, and waxy netlike veined leaves, those which were only waxy in the smaller leaves though I don’t know why. Also in the area were several other unfamiliar species. On the way into the campground, we saw lots of Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla), three leaflets per leaf and on many a bunch in the ground sprung tiny white flowers; Sweet Colts Foot (Petasites palmatus), Yellow Wood Violet (Viola glabella), with bright yellow flowers and heart shaped leaves growing low to the forest floor. There was also something from the carrot family, but I’m not sure what it is yet. At this site we also found some happy lichen, such as Genus Hypogymnia, black on its bottom and white on top, with inflated lobes that were hollow and white on the inside. It also had brown splotches in places, which I now know are called apothecia, a place where the lichen produces spores. I’m sure lichen is in fact happier here, as I recently learned they are largely sensitive to pollution, thus they are scarce around campus and in the city. Away from the pollution however you can find it in larger numbers, and we also saw Platismatia glauca, a very similar kind with a white top and black bottom, but more flat and without the hollow lobes. Down by the river, we also saw a Stonefly (order Plecoptera) at the water’s edge a (resting?) on a rock. It was larger than I imagined and I’m wondering what eats them, fish or birds or both? A rock doesn’t seem like the best place to hang out if the latter is the case. Nearby was a mayfly (Order Ephemeroptera), with claws at the ends of its feet for gripping rocks. Apparently, their adult lives a very short as their name suggests. About ten feet away from the bank was a Cherry tree, identified by its metallic leaves. Also at this stop we found Star Flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina Stellata), which looked similar to the Hooker’s Fairybells however, the flowers grew above the leaves instead of below. Lastly, there was a large stretch of Marsh Forget Me Nots (Myosotis scorpioides) along the roadside, growing a few inches off the ground and blooming in small blue flowers with white centers.
Our next and last stop of the day was right at the entrance to Leavenworth, east of Steven’s pass (Lat: 47.589, Long: -120.676), where the climate is much warmer and drier. All the new species on this side of the pass were overwhelming, in a similar way I felt about trees in the beginning of the quarter. It was hard to keep up, yet in hindsight, this is interesting and makes sense, as I haven’t spent much time in the area, although I’m amazed by how different the flora was. Upon climbing a small slope we came upon an open stand of Ponderosa Pine trees (Pinus ponderosa), probably 20-30’ tall, with three needles in clusters. As someone else mentioned, from afar these have an interesting texture to them, although I’m not sure what word best describes it (plush…), and where we began they were definitely abundant and a dominant species of the canopy. In the understory we found many plants including: Indian Consumption Plant (Lomatium nudicaule), Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitata), Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia), with some Chocolate Lilies nearby (Fritillaria lanceolata), (on the subject of chocolate lilies, it was interesting to see how they grow, one or two here and there yet producing very large flowers. Are flowers similar to animals in the different strategies in which they pass on their genes? I mean, of course they all have different techniques and adaptations, but is it more costly but somehow more advantageous to produce larger but fewer flowers or the reverse, large numbers of smaller flowers? And how does this relate to the animals pollenating it? I know it’s all part of a larger picture, and I just can’t stop asking why. Next we found Western Peony (Paeonia brownii), Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor), Twolobe larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum), with purple/blue flowers blooming, Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Eriogonum sp., whose leaves looked a little like Swiss chard, and whose plant didn’t have as many flowers as pictures of the varieties I’ve seen on the internet. We saw Mouse ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) which I learned is in the mustard family and like the white rat of plant genetics. I find this pretty interesting, and discovered the reason for this is that it’s geographically widespread, and has a relatively short life cycle/reproductive cycle (?), which makes it ideal to study. In between some other rocks we found Death-Camas (Zygadenus venenosus), with white flowers and stamen with yellow anthers on the ends. The flower of this plant is supposedly pollinated by only one insect according to some, while someone else in the group mentioned they’d seen it pollinated by at least three or four. Also it’s interesting, the flowers on this look totally different than the purple camas, but I suppose when the Native Americans were farming the crops and trying to weed out the fatal kind, they might have looked similar as far as the rest of the plant goes.
One of the coolest things we saw was the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), the males of which have sapphire/deep blue undersides due to sexual selection, that change color depending on their mood. Also, interesting about these guys is the ticks behind their (ears?), and the idea I think someone mentioned of them being immune to Lyme disease. I’m not a hundred percent sold on this and would like to know more.
Other new creatures we ran into include: the Sara Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis sara), a Snakefly (Agulla sp.) with its long ova-depositor, a butterfly in the lycaenidae family, (blue in color, apparently has tips on bottom of wings to trick predators and protect themselves. All of these were found in or around a nearby Lewis's Mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii), a deciduous shrub this one about seven feet tall.
Other things learned at the end of the trip: I learned that Douglas Fir doesn’t self pruned itself, so when a fire comes around it’s in trouble, but when there are no fires, a forest such as the one we visited will gradually be taken over by Douglas firs, as opposed to all the Ponderosa Pines there now.
We also found a Bolete mushroom (Boletus edulis), back in the wooded area of Ponderosa pines, surrounded by rose bushes and Saskatoon, and some Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida), blooming bright fiery red/orange in spots along the trail (not super abundant however). Beside one tree, I think a Ponderosa Pine, we found a colony of Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex sp.).
Overall this was a good trip, although overwhelming at times with all the new species.
Species List:
Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera)
Western flowering Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)
Red Alder (Alnus rubra)
Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)
Trailing Blackberry (Rubus Ursinus)
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Stinky Bob (Geranium robertianum)
Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius)
Sweet Vernel Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum)
Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
Large-leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum)
Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium Parviflorum)
Hooker’s Fairybell (Disporum hookeri)
Spiny Wood Fern (Dryopteris expansa),
Millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana)
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridum)
Coprinellus nopsis
Polyporus Badius
Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum)
Long-Tailed Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum)
Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla)
Sweet Colts Foot (Petasites palmatus)
Yellow Wood Violet (Viola glabella)
Genus Hypogymnia
Platismatia glauca
Stonefly (order Plecoptera)
Mayfly (Order Ephemeroptera)
Star Flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina Stellata),
Marsh Forget Me Nots (Myosotis scorpioides)
Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
Indian Consumption Plant (Lomatium nudicaule)
Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitata)
Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata)
Western Peony (Paeonia brownii)
Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor)
Twolobe larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Eriogonum sp.,
Mouse ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Death-Camas (Zygadenus venenosus)
Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Sara Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis sara)
Snakefly (Agulla sp.)
Lewis's Mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
Bolete mushroom (Boletus edulis)
Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida)
Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex sp.)
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