Among the camas...

Camas flowers in the sunset...

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Every year I get the same pictures, but I love these plants. It always makes me happy to see them again after a cold winter. 

Lomatium Macrocarpum

Lately, I have been curious if anyone still eats lomatium macrocarpum. I apologize that I don't know any of the traditional names for this plant, but many of our ethnobotany books claim that it's edible. Please let me know if you know anything about this root. 

Before the Stroke

This afternoon, my daughter and I took some pictures, and we found a few shots that I took a few days before the stroke. This is a photograph of the sun shining through the dried branches of cow parsnip. 

Yarrow Sprouts

It has been several weeks since I blogged, mostly because I have been so sick. I'm slowly improving, just in time to notice the yarrow sprouting from the ground in my back yard. It encourages me greatly to see new life in spring. 

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Brote de Milnerama

He pasado varias semenas sin escribir en mi blog, mayormente porque he estado enfermo. Ahora estoy mejorando, justo a tiempo para notar que las plantas de milenrama están brotando de la tierra en mi jardín. Me anima mucho ver la vida nueva en primavera. 

Little Spokane River

A Sunday afternoon hike by the Little Spokane River...

...with fall colors.

...and golden leaves.

The sun shining through a leaf. 

The river...

I found a cache of clam shells on the banks of the river. 

A freshwater clam shell...

Does anyone know this plant?

This plant has red berries.

And unusual leaves.

The blue sky reflected in the water. 

Mystery

One of the curiosities at Spokane Community College is the collection of strange and unexpected plants growing in the various corners of the campus. I sometimes imagine that the horticulture department decided to introduce unusual species over the years and thus create a unique diversity of vegetation.

This tree was something I had never seen before. It had clusters of orange colored fruit, each one in the shape of a bean that was seemingly cut in half. The orange 'beans' grew inside red pods with a flower-like shell.  

What is the identity of this plant, and what is the origin of this tree? For now, the answer is kind of a mystery. 

Strawberries

When my brother and I were kids, we stayed with our dad for a few summers on the Spokane Reservation. We played for countless hours in the forests, fields, and ponds surrounding our dad's house. One day in June, we discovered a massive patch of wild strawberries growing nearby. We spent hours sitting on the ground and eating the strawberries until our hands and faces were covered with strawberry juice. This was one of my favorite childhood memories.    

A few days ago, I related this story to Patrick and Tim during our search for black moss. Perhaps an hour later, we stopped by the roadside and found a large patch of strawberries - just like my story. The wild strawberries were just as magical as I remember them. 

Foam Berries

Three of us set out to find black moss for pit baking, 

and in the process, we found some amazing foam berries. 

These berries are the source of "Indian ice cream." 

Second Day of Camas

We went back to the camas fields near Spangle for a second day of digging. 

As I was digging, a song sparrow fluttered away from my peceʔ and perched on a nearby fence-line. She scolded us, which alerted us to the presence of her nest. We looked down and found five miniature eggs hidden beneath a cluster of leaves. I took a few pictures and returned the nest to the mother bird. 

My auntie Iva arrived part way through the day and shared a hundred stories of the old days - of digging camas as a young girl, preparing the baking pits, and visiting with her grandparents. I could have listened to her all day and more. 

Sunset near Spangle.

 

The first batch of camas cleaned.

Onions

My friend and I dug wild onions by the Spokane River. 

Some of the flowers were still pink, 

but most had already dried.

The onions were growing in the sand 

on the shore of the river.

A view of the Spokane River from above.

Turnbull

After living in the Spokane area for most of my life - and attending classes at EWU in Cheney for three years - I never visited Turnbull Wildlife Refuge until this afternoon. 

My friend Carole introduced me to the park. This coyote greeted us at the entrance as we arrived. 

Turnbull is considered a riparian zone, which refers to an ecologically sensitive area situated between water and land, often characterized by water-loving plants like cattails or tule. The landscape is remarkably diverse, ranging from basalt scab-lands, to small lakes and pine forests. The vegetation is equally beautiful and diverse. 

We spent several hours at Turnbull photographing the plants and wildlife. It's truly an amazing place - well worth the visit. 

Tall grasses surround the many ponds and lakes. 

Ponderosa pines stand in the distance. 

This porcupine walked only ten feet away from us, apparently undisturbed by our presence. It was difficult to photograph because of the movement. However, I called out and said, "Stop moving so I can take your picture!" In that exact moment, it stood completely still and seemed to wait for my camera. It was quite funny. 

A lone pine on an island. 

Pink and purple flowers. 

A whitetail deer in velvet and a red summer coat. 

Ponderosa pines. 

Does anyone know these birds? 

Click on the image to get a better view. 

Lupine in the sunset. 

These little flowers were soft like feathers. 

Does anyone know their name? 

I believe these are naturalized or invasive flowers. 

Persistence

St. John's wort is a naturalized species in North America that has shown remarkable persistence in its ability to establish itself in unlikely places. This specimen is growing at full strength in the parking lot of the Hillyard Center. 

Confluence

The confluence of the Spokane and the Little Spokane Rivers was the site of a major Spokane village, and later the site of Spokane House - a fur trading outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company. Nowadays, I always see fishermen on the point between the two rivers. 

As I drove home from Suncrest today, I had some extra time to see the rivers. I parked my car at the trail head and hiked to the confluence. A group of Nepali immigrants was fishing at the point. 

The trail between the parking lot and the point is almost like a separate mini-ecosystem. The plants are green and lush. As an aside, some folks haven't seen my beard. It's kind of an experiment. 

The dried stalks of cattails 

stand among the new growth. 

Does anyone know the name 

of these little blue flowers? 

According to Wikipedia, the yellow iris is considered an aquatic invasive species in many jurisdictions. They tend to push out other species and become nearly impossible to eradicate. However, they are quite beautiful, and they reportedly remove heavy metals from the water. That might not be so bad in the Spokane River. 

Red osier dogwood flowers. 

The yellow iris formed a barrier 

between the water and the shore, 

followed by a secondary layer of buttercups. 

Buttercups. 

Cow parsnip.