not the northwest

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American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) Pelecanidae

Yellowstone River, Saugus, MT
13 May 1975
prep. Larry DePute; photo. Robert Niese

Unlike their brown counterparts, the American White Pelican is an overland migrant, spending its winters in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico before flying thousands of miles to breeding grounds in Canada and the northern United States. To facilitate this epic travel, these birds have an 8-10 foot wing span, the second-largest of any bird in North America. Now that we have fully articulated this massive specimen, we’re not entirely sure what to do with it… He can hardly fit through doorways!

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Balsamorhiza sagittata “Arrowleaf Balsamroot” Asteraceae

Tobacco Root Mountains, MT
June 3, 2016
Robert Niese

I recently acquired a new phone with a decent camera! This was especially fortuitous last week when I managed to accidentally stumble upon this huge late bloom of balsamroot without my DSLR handy. These hillsides were still completely blanketed in blooming B. sagittata, while Missoula’s hillsides have all faded in the past few weeks. And for the record, this phone camera has more megapixels than my first DSLR… Weird.

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Polypodium calirhiza “California Licorice Fern” Polypodiaceae

Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, CA
December 29, 2015
Robert Niese

P. calirhiza is a hybrid of the California Polypody (P. californicum) and Licorice Fern (P. glycyrrhiza) that was formally recognized as a separate species in 1991. These hybrids persist as a unique species because of their doubled chromosome number (2n=148 instead of 74) which produces sterile back-crosses (2n=111). Speciation by this sort of genome duplication event is surprisingly common among plants. In coastal California, all three species often occur side-by-side, but P. californicum does not grow on other plants (as seen here) and P. glycyrrhiza has rhizomes with a pleasant, sweet licorice flavor (P. calirhiza has a disappointingly sweet, even acrid taste). This hybrid polypody occurs throughout California, north to Oregon, west of the Cascades and Sierras.

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Myosotis latifolia “Broadleaf Forget-me-not” Boraginaceae

Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, CA
December 29, 2015
Robert Niese

This is not a species of Myosotis that we regularly encounter here in the PNW. It’s a common garden species, however, and some manage to occasionally escape cultivation. Coastal California is particularly rife with these escapees. They can be found in most moist, disturbed coastal habitats between Monterrey and Humboldt.

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Niebla spp. “Fog Lichen”

Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, CA
December 29, 2015
Robert Niese

So far in my brief foray into lichenology, I have yet to encounter a fungus so hotly debated as the “Niebla” fog lichens (members of a complex of “Ramalina-like” maritime lichens). Rather than venture an opinion as to the identity of these species (or just one species?), I’ll just leave the name at the genus level (although even THAT is debatable). For those of you interested, various parties claim everything from 1 to 42 to 100s of species of Niebla occur on Pacific Coasts of North America. Most agree, however, that diversity is much lower north of Baja California and the Channel Islands, and that the PNW is only home to one (N. cephalota) or, at most, three species. Although some sources state that no species occur north of Humboldt County, CA…

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Hypogymnia heterophylla “Seaside Bone Lichen”

Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, CA
December 29, 2015
Robert Niese

A true coastal species, H. heterophylla is regularly found along the Pacific from California’s North Coastal Redwood Forests through British Columbia. There are three species with a similar growth habit found west of the Cascades. H. heterophylla is characterized by having many dichotomous branches that occur at 45 degrees, forming a series of perpendicular branch patterns. Another species, H. imshaugii, rarely has a similar branching pattern but, when broken open, H. imshaugii has white interiors while H. heterophylla has black interiors. A third species, H. inactiva, also has a similar growth habit and dark interiors, but rarely exhibits perpendicular branches. While both H. imshaugii and H. inactiva are found east to Montana and Idaho, H. heterophylla is restricted to coastal forests only.

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Usnea intermedia

Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, CA
December 29, 2015
Robert Niese

The redwood and oak forests of Marin County are home to a vast and striking diversity of fungi. I originally hadn’t planned on posting photographs from the region (because it’s definitely not the northwest), but they’re just too beautiful to pass up! While the genus Usnea is particularly diverse back home in the PNW, this species is not found north of California. Unfortunately, our region is home to only one strikingly fertile species of Usnea (U. quasirigida) with abundant apothecia like this individual. U. quasirigida can be found uncommonly in northern Washington and British Columbia.