05-29-14 Botany Field Note

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05-29-14 Botany Field Note

May 29, 2014

Prairie Wolfe's Botany Field Note shows blooms of glacier lilies, wholeleaf saxifrage, and arrowleaf balsamroot.

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Lilies, Balsamroot, Cheatgrass MPG Ranch Prairie Wolfe May 29, 2014

Botany study areas

Glacier lilies bud and bloom at high elevation sites (Erythronium grandiflorum, Baldy).

Arrowleaf balsamroot sag under the cold of a late spring snowstorm (Balsamorhiza sagittata, Native). Juniper-hawthorn rust likely infects this juniper (Juniperus scopulorum, Corral). The rust requires hawthorn or mountain ash as an alternate host to reproduce.

Cylindric bulbs warm in the sun, ripening shooting star seeds within (Dodecatheon conjugens, Corral).

An immature female cone of a Douglas fir breaks through its papery covering during a recent sunny day. Once open, scarlet hues attract the eye (Pseudotsuga menziesii, Native).

Shriveled and desiccated, a large portion of the black bindweed (Polygonum convolvulus, Center Pivot) seedlings died en masse in the recent warm and dry weather. The iconic awns of cheatgrass appear soft and flowing in their immature state (Bromus tectorum, Center Pivot).

Above, the delicate blooms of a wholeleaf saxifrage cluster high above a basal rosette (Saxifraga integrifolia). Below, the last of the shooting stars flower in dappled light, Dodcatheon conjugens, Native).

A ponderosa pine exploits every available resource (Pinus ponderosa, Native).