The SUMMER flower thread

[nartreb]

Took lots of photos today, here are just a few to start with...

First off, can anybody identify this?? (EDIT: I can. see my next post.)
Reddish stems, no leaves, growing in a cluster in mostly-shaded, damp soil. Flowers quite small: about the size of a wasp's head.

Plenty of these (C. Acaule) still around, though some are now past prime

Oh, and when was the last time you saw this {A. Caerulea?} in New England?

(I'm pulling your legs on the last one - it's from the front garden!)

 

[Danielle]

Alpine Garden

I drove up to the top of Mt. Washington yesterday to cheer on Snowman and the other 800+ runners in the Mt. Washington Road Race. It was a great day for it! No rain. No wind. A bit of cloud cover, but nice. Before the race started I got in a quick hike down to the Alpine Garden.

I saw the following...

Diapensia

Labrador Tea

Alpine Azalea

I thought this was Marsh Marigold... Can anyone confirm? I saw it a bunch through the Alpine Garden, mostly by the little streams that were flowing through.

Also saw this plant... No idea what it is. Does anyone know?

Other than that, there was a fair amount of bluets and bunchberries.

All in all, a fun little jaunt!

 

[w7xman]

Nice shots from the gardens.

Your two shots in question are:
1) Not marsh marigold, but instead a mountain avens. Common in the Presidential Range, rare in the rest of the world. Only two other areas in subarctic canada host these flowers.

2) Bearberry Willow catkins...

 

[Danielle]

w7xman, thanks! I must admit I've never heard of either of those flowers before, so I guess you learn something every day!

 

[nartreb]

I think my first one is corallorhiza maculata, "summer coralroot". How appropriate.

It's a chlorophyll-less, heterotrophic orchid.
Here's a brighter photo:

A little less unusual: everybody knows Jack (Arisaema Triphylum)

 

[JohnL]

Spent the weekend in Waterville Valley and took these. Some identification help is required on some.

JohnL

 

[hikingnclimbing]

I posted over in the Photo forum with this one already, but here are my alpine garden shots from the big rock pile.

http://snipurl.com/2ni8d

This one is my favorite:

 

[arghman]

Phyllodoce caerulea (mountain heath) -- for the most part, found only above 5000' in steep sheltered rocky areas where snow collects & provides a more moist habitat. Leaves are similar to fir leaves & form a whorl roughly 1/2" wide around a woody stem. In flower roughly from mid-June to early July. This plant is not too difficult to recognize when not in flower (although from a distance it is hard to tell from fir or crowberry) by looking for the 5-parted seed capsules from this year or last year. Found in arctic-alpine environments of the northern hemisphere; aside from Alaska, in the US it is found only in the Presidential and Franconia ranges of NH and around Mt Katahdin in Maine. It is considered rare ("threatened") by both states.


Huperzia appalachiana (a club moss) -- often overlooked. The sesame-seed-like spore cases along the upper part of the stem are characteristic in alpine environments. Most clubmosses have a spore capsule that sticks up above the clubmoss. This one seems to grow in exposed subalpine or alpine environments; if you see it on or near a summit in NH, please report to NH Natural Heritage Bureau -- for historical/taxonomic reasons it wasn't placed on the state's tracking list until relatively recently, so there isn't as much recent field data for it as other species, and in quite a few towns in the state it is "historic" (not documented in the last 20 years -- though probably still around).

 

[forestgnome]

great thread!

The following were taken on or near Livermore Trail, June 21st.

European Columbine

Blue Flag Iris

an excellent trail for pink and white Lady's Slippers...

happy trails

 

[nartreb]

I'm SURE somebody posted a pic of this on VFTT recently and identified it, but now I can't find it. It's close to two feet tall, with two tiers of leaves: the first tier is a rosette of six or seven narrow leaves that looks a lot like starflower (if starflower grew just a little taller), the upper tier is three broad leaves whose arrangement reminds me of trillium. As you can see, flowers droop from stems which start above the upper tier. Check out those stigmas baby! Stem starts dark and hairy, and becomes increasingly narrow, green and smooth with height.

Edit: on closer inspection, the vein pattern in the lower leaves is different from starflower. This one has parallel longitudinal ribs, like lilies do; starflower has a central rib with shorter veins branching off oppositely at about 45 degrees.



(click for bigger)

same species

 

[carole]

.



(click for bigger)

Indian cucumber (or indian cucumber root) (lily family / medeola virginiana)
Berries are inedible but the root is quite tasty.

 

[RickB.]

From June 25 and 26 in Rangeleys:

Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) with fly, Bigelow Firewardens Trail

Ragged Robin at 2000' on Sugarloaf

 

[arghman]

Silene acaulis (moss campion) -- found on a few gravelly sites in the Presidential Range. "acaulis" = lacking a stem (another example: pink lady's slipper = Cypripedium acaule). Plants in the carnation family = Caryophyllaceae almost always have linear leaves and 5 notched petals that are pink or white.

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Found some pale laurel near the top of Howker Ridge on Saturday. Don't think I've ever noticed it before.

 

[carole]

I am happy to be seeing more of these.

Wood Lily

 

[carole]

This was a new one for me:

Cow wheat

 

[MattC]

Pretty common, but here's some flowering raspberry:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2762012000079943768KETaww

Also from yesterday, while off-trail in the Catskills, I came across these:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2617636470079943768hZeYXJ

Later at home, I used the Peterson guide to determine that they are Monkshood.

Matt

 

[MattC]

Some more from a paddle I did today on the Basha Kill wetland in Sullivan County, NY.

Swamp Honeysuckle, a lovely white azalea:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2209949080079943768KaBXDT

Wild Rose:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2794845300079943768ONwOZC

And I don't know what these are:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2172162050079943768fGrZGM

Matt

 

[carole]

And I don't know what these are:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2172162050079943768fGrZGM

They look like 'forget-me-not'.

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Forget me nots

I concur.

KDT