Catherine Creek - Wildflower Hotspot

4/20/13 - Started the day with lunch at the Solstice Wood Fire Cafe in Bingen, Washington (on WA Hwy 14) where we had a fabulous pizza with  morels, stinging nettle pesto, and goat cheese.  Stinging Nettles are edible if you smash them up or cook them, which destroys the stinging needles.  It was a mild tasting pesto, but good, and supposed to be full of vitamins.

 A few miles East of Bingen and
less than 1 mile West of Catherine Creek, we found these Artic Lupins Lupinus latifolius - by the side of the road. One (1) point.

And Barrett's Penstemon growing on a cliff face. This plant is endemic to the Gorge.  Any Penstemon is worth one (1) point.

At Catherine Creek, I walked through the lower area, which was carpeted with flowers.  Here is bicolored lupine - Lupinus bicolor.

I think this is Tomcat Clover - Trifolium willdenowii - rhizomes of native clovers were an food source for native peoples, dug out in the fall, after leaves had died back.

Camas (Camassia species - blue flower) and Meadow Death Camas (larger white flowers - Zigadenus venonosus)

Camas was an important food staple for native peoples, and Meadow Death Camas was to be avoided.  Camas  is worth 2 (two) points.






Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon species), pictured at left, were starting to fade, but still visible and worth 2 (two) points - I now have 28 points!