This is an absolutely beautiful meadow filled with wildflowers; never-the-less, prepare yourself to endure my airing of grievances: Unfortunately, this wonderful bog is right next to skiing and the town of Government Camp, which pose Immediate threats! There is a small horse stables new to the town directly next to the bog, imposing obvious pollutants. There is also a lot of construction and property sales going on. Why is the hymn of the eco-nut "Protect our forests"? The forests on the west coast were meant to BURN! Let them. Wildlife (and seedlings!) needs vast meadow and prairie, of which well less than 1% remain. The meadow itself needs to burn to remain healthy, which is being suppressed. Let it burn.
People drive up to the mountain to drive around on go-carts directly next to the bog, oblivious. Why has my mantra of late always been, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi"?
Enough of that. Here's some pretty pictures to make you forget the danger.
A fantastic field filled with thousands of Castilleja.
A first for me, if a bit bedraggled. Pedicularis groenlandica! I've seen some of the less impressive elephant flower species, but I've been looking for this one for years. There were hundreds in this meadow.
Interestingly enough (or not) both Pedicularis and Castilleja are hemi-parisitic on grasses.
Some Mimulus guttatus.
Some Platanthera dilatata. Probably the most of this species I've seen in one place! I liked the photos I took from this trip the best :-)
Triantha occidentalis ssp. brevistyla
So I wandered through acres of bog and didn't see a Single Drosera! The grass was all too high and I couldn't find much surface area in terms of mossy patches. I'm guessing that the plants were either seen around the periphery or have been inundated by grass. A good burn will fix that :-)
Crestfallen, I receded to a familiar site: Trillium Lake.
The Drosera rotundifolia were getting ready to bloom on twisted spires. Is this one of those plants whose infloresence is a panicle supported by a peduncle whose florets sit atop pedicels? I don't remember.
Nuphar polysepala. Reminds me of a lotus.
A Utricularia I put in my lunch warez for ease of viewing. Looks like U. macrorhiza to me, but the Oregon Plant Atlas puts only intermedia, minor and ochroleuca at this local. The only one it could be out of those is intermedia, but I don't think it is. For anyone unfamiliar, this is called and aquatic bladderwort (wort means plant), and is carnivorous by sucking tiny animals into the little sacks you see around the plant.
The day was absolutely beautiful, but I was forced to head back early because I started having back cramps (really random: it's been 10 years since my first and only other time) and the day wasn't fun anymore :-(
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