Western Gorge Flowers - 4/14/13 and 4/18/13

Looking East towards Crown Point 

It was a grey and rainy day in the Western Gorge, but there were flowers to be found just down the road. 

Stream violet- Viola glabella - blooms early and for a long time, this ground cover can be found in some lawns.

Pacific Bleeding Heart  - Dicentra Formosa - one of the most common flowers in the Western Gorge.  Seeds of this plant attract ants, who distribute them underground.

Larkspur - Delphinium species on the Flower Frenzy list for 1 point.  Just starting to bloom in Corbett, soon shady roadsides will be covered in these violet blooms.

Scouler's Corydalis - Corydalis scouleri - likes shady riparian areas, can be found along the trail around Latourell Falls.

Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis -  also likes riparian areas.  
Sprouts and berries eaten by many native peoples.

Garlic Mustard, an invasive species just about to flower - pull it out! Leaves have a garlic-like taste and this plant was brought to North America as a garden plant.

Skunk Cabbage - Lysichiton americanum - large and smelly plant, attracts flies as pollinators - the flower head is the upright spike.  Skunk Cabbage is not a cabbage, but is in the Arum Lily family, as is the Easter Lily.

Hooker's Fairy Bells- Disporum hookeri - forms small orange-red fruits considered poisonous by most but were eaten by some native groups of Eastern British Columbia

False Solomon's Seal - Maianthemum racemosa - common ground cover in shaded forest areas.
Forms red berries that are edible, but not good tasting.  Resembles another plant that is the original "Solomon's seal".

Saskatoon also called June Berry - Amelanchier alnifolia -
highly regarded as a food and the wood also used for arrows, and digging sticks by native peoples East of the Cascades.

OSPREY!

Sitting in a Black Cottonwood next to the river, this osprey probably spent the winter in Mexico.  

Weisendanger Falls above Multnomah Falls