Yarrow was growing all over the meadows in the open and shaded areas of Leavenworth. I saw it dispersed along the hills on the way towards Mt as well. It is a fuzzy plant, with many tiny tiny leaves. I wonder what the advantage of such deeply riveted leaves might be.
When researching plants of Eastern washington I found a few sources that called the species of Paintbrush found here Harsh Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispada). But this species isn't recognized by inaturalist.
This paintbrush was growing in a small clump in the wooded, shady area of the hill. We did not find many of these flowers, only this one stand on the entire trip.
I only found one patch of what I think is called Columbia puccoon or lemonweed. Growing in the taller grasse in the wooded, shady area above the meadow. It was not in full bloom, and therefore difficult to identify at first, but I think the spiny, dusty leaves are distinguishing enough.
I understood this plant to be called Western Serviceberry, but here it comes up as Sakatoon. This was perhaps the most present shrub in the area we explored. Many of these fill in the shaded area beneath trees. Most of the bushes were in full bloom, like the one pictured here.
Dispersed near the rocks and almost nearly in full bloom. Each plant had only one stem with a flower made of a series of very small blossoms.
Hidden amongst the grass a few of these violets were in full bloom in Leavenworth! I am not sure that this is precisely the correct species identification, however. It was the closest I could find for flowers in this region, but maybe rather than a violet it's more closely related to a columbine?
This curly wild pea-like plant winds all around the long grasses in the shady, lightly forested areas we tromped through.
I am not sure of the species, but this fire-work esque flower was growing all along the parking lot at our Leavenworth stop. The flowers emerge in a burst from one point on the stem, not unlike a queen anne's lace flower.
The species name lanceolata does not seem to exist within inaturalist, but according to Pojar, this is the flower native to the PNW. Many chocolate lilies were growing in the flat, meadow area with light shade. The flowers are dark purple, brownish about 4cm long.
Ocean spray is easy to identify for its plumed flowers that seem to be splashing off the plant like white ocean spray. Here photographed the flowers are old, so they are brown and dry rather than white. This shrub was about 2.5m tall with small, coarsely toothed leaves that look not unlike black hawthorn.
Darting around the dry rocks a few of these lizards could be spotted with a careful eye. Most that I saw were much smaller, but the one photographed was a full grown adult male, with a bright blue belly for attracting females.
These giants really dominated the over story here at the Skykomish. They offer a canopy that is not quite as dense as a conifer would, letting in soft light from between and through their big leaves. The maples here have been able to grow HUGE and are all completely covered in dense moss.
Growing in a patch of grasses at the center of the parking lot, these little flowers helped identify the grass as "sweet vernal." The leaves were palatable, a bit like spinach.
Growing all alone this little flower filled in a space near to the road. Only about 20 cm tall, this sweet flower is easy to pass by.
This invasive plant was growing in tight stands throughout the forest here. It seemed to prefer open areas with more sunlight. I am not sure how to identify which species of knotweed this could be. The shrub was around 1.5m tall with very large leaves.
I have seen a lot of snowberry around the sesattle area and beyond, but it was more distinguishable in the winter when very few other plants had leaves. In the spring, when everything else is leafed out, one must pay closer attention to the shape of the leaves. Though I identified the shrub based on its very round, toothed leaves, I noted that there were no berries on any of the shrubs. Perhaps the final one were plucked off at the end of winter. Or perhaps they fall off the shrub at a certain point?
I was surprised at the brilliant red on the flowers of this scotch broom plant. The plant itself was young and small, only about .5m, but the red flowers were striking.
Trailing blackberry dominated much of the under story here, perhaps finally more prevalent than its invasive competitor: Himalayan! It was in bloom with soft white flowers. The older leaves grow purplish at the edges, while the younger ones are bright green.
This tall dogwood was not in the main bit of the forest we explored, but instead tucked away at the side of the larger road. The tree is already beginning to lose many of its flowers. Prof. Tewksbury shows us how the spiraled veins inside a dogwood leaf will hold the leaf together even when the leaf itself is torn apart.
This beautiful, fully flowering apple tree was not more the 3.5m tall, with long branches swooping outward and downward into the road. If there were other crab apple trees in the area, they were certainly not as conspicuous as this one, which stood out whit against the green background.
After identifying these thick low growing leaves in Packwood and elsewhere, it was great to finally see one in bloom! There were a few tight patches of fringe cups with these tall flower stalks bordering the road down to the river. The stalks and leaves were very very fuzzy, perhaps to protect the plant from being eaten? Flowers are light pink cups- finally the name makes sense.
The vine maples here were fairly low growing, filling in the mid space beneath the tall deciduous trees and above the shrubs. They are almost more of a large woody shrub themselves, actually, the one photographed here was not over 5m tall. The branches and leaves were opposite, just like their Big-Leaf counterpart, which helps distinguish them even when the leaves aren't present in the winter.
These Hazelnut trees were frequent throughout this diverse deciduous forest. The leaves of the Hazelnut, though similar to alder, are distinguishable by their incredibly soft texture! The tree was in flower with catkins not unlike alder, but later in the season they will turn into the nuts that give name to this tree. The trees were about 5 m tall on average with leaves very coarsely toothed.
Close to the ground, three artist's conks were emerging from this log. I failed to note the species of the downed tree! I wonder if this species is more frequent on conifers or deciduous trees? We removed one of the bunch to look at it more closely- noting the distinct mushroom-y smell and it's designation as a "perennial polypore." Each year, this fungus produces a new spore layer on top of the previous ones- they can be aged the way that trees can!
Beside a decaying cedar log these little inky caps were emerging out of the spongey ground of leaves and bark. Beneath the cap was black, hence the name "inky cap." Just uncovering the tiniest bit of earth here revealed a huge network of hyphae.
Unfortunately we missed the flowers on this large trillium. Only their purple remnants remained on this trillium's huge leaves. The leaves photographed here were approx. 19 cm long. This trillium was found in beneath dark conifers, but in a relatively open area, surrounded by false lily of the valley.
These beautiful little flowers were blooming just along the road at index. The leaves are distinguishable even without flowers due to their being very divided and almost fern-like.
This fern dominated the moist forest under story at index. Each fern was around 1m tall and distinguishable from bracken fern by the way the fronds extend from the ground as opposed to from the stems.
This false lily of the valley was growing under a dense over story of conifers. The ground was thick and spongey with decaying material, many branches and downed trees at various stages of decay are ecosystems in and of themselves. This false lily of the valley had many buds, but none yet in bloom. A later bloomer in this deep shade.
This native peony was growing low to the ground in the grassy, rocky region behind Leavenworth. The plant was approx. 30cm tall. Thick petals surrounding flower appear to offer protection from the harsh sun and insects.
