Elliottia pyroliflora “Copperbush” Ericaceae
Mount Rainier National Park, WA
August 9, 2013
Robert Niese
Copperbush is a member of the blueberry family and is a PNW endemic (west of the Cascades). These deciduous shrubs tend to grow in wet, boggy regions around mountain streams and lakes.
Listera cordata “Heart-leaf Twayblade” Orchidaceae
Olympic National Park, WA
June 3, 2013
Robert Niese
This tiny orchid has a circumboreal distribution and is most often found in the moist forest understory hiding among the mosses. Twayblade orchids are fairly common in the Pacific Northwest but are usually overlooked due to their size (rarely more than a few inches tall) and unremarkable coloration. We have five species of Twayblade in the PNW – one of which is endangered.
Cymbalaria muralis "Ivy-leaved Toadflax" Plantaginaceae (Scrophulariaceae)
Tacoma, WA
May 2013
Robert Niese
A common garden creeper, introduced from Mediterranean Europe. Very cute and very tiny (~1cm).
This plant has an unusual method of propagation. The flower stalk is initially positively phototropic and moves towards the light—after fertilization it becomes negatively phototropic and moves away from the light. This results in seed being pushed into dark crevices of rock walls, where it is more likely to germinate and where it prefers to grow.
This individual flower has, in fact, been pollinated.
Mertensia longiflora “Small Bluebells” Boraginaceae
Missoula, MT
May 13, 2014
Robert Niese
A common wildflower found throughout the Northwest east of the cascades.
Sphecodes (arvensiformis) “Cuckoo Sweat Bee” Halictidae
on Lomatium “Biscuit Root” Apiaceae
Missoula, MT
May 13, 2014
Robert Niese
Sphecodes bees are cleptoparasitic, cuckoo-like bees that lay their eggs in the nests of other sweat bees.
Geum triflorum “Old Man’s Whiskers” Rosaceae
Missoula, MT
May 13, 2014
Robert Niese
This widespread member of the rose family is best known for its fruiting stage in which each flower transforms into a dense bunch of wispy, feather-like seeds earning it common names such as “Old Man’s Whiskers” and “Prairie Smoke."
Trifolium pratense “Red Clover” Fabaceae
Missoula, MT
October 18, 2013
Robert Niese
Dodecatheon pulchellum “Shooting star” Primulaceae
Missoula, MT
May 13, 2014
Robert Niese
The flowers of the Dodecatheon genus can only be pollinated by large native bees capable of “buzz pollination.” Small bees and the introduced, European Honeybees can not provide this service to the plants.
Calypso bulbosa “Calypso Orchid” or “Pink Fairy Slipper” Orchidaceae
Glacier National Park, MT
June 22, 2014
Robert Niese
The Calypso Orchid has an amazingly broad circumboreal distribution. From Japan to Mongolia, Scandinavia to Newfoundland, New Mexico to Alaska – this single species can be found in nearly every montane coniferous forest in the Northern Hemisphere. In spite of this C. bulbosa is considered endangered in Sweden, Finland, and several U.S. states due to its extreme sensitivity to even the slightest human disturbances.
Lewisiopsis tweedyi “Tweedy’s Lewisia” Portulacaceae (Montiaceae)
Pine Flats Campground, Mad River Valley, Wenatchee National Forest
Ardenvoir, WA
May 11, 2013
Robert Niese
Tweedy’s Lewisia is a unique flower native to the eastern slopes of the Wenatchee Mountains in Washington and British Colombia. It is the sole member of its genus and can be found nowhere else on Earth.
Northwest Naturalist 