May 09 in the Rockies

[Sinchets]

Hi, Cohan. You are making me drool seeing these fanatastic plants in their natural surroundings. What is this area like in summertime?
Could plant 3 of the last post be an Asclepias?

[Paddy Tobin]

Cohan,

I have said on several occasions to forum members in the southern hemisphere that I find it fabulous to be able to view plants and habitats from right across the world here on the SRGC website. You have brought another alien (to me) landscape and selection of plants to me. It is simply tremendously enjoyable, an outstanding experience - next best thing to being there, I suppose.

Really enjoyed the photographs, your comments and explanations and seeing another beautiful part of the world.

Many thanks, Paddy

[Armin]

Cohan,
thanks for showing us your part of the world. Fascinating wilderness

[Kristl Walek]

Cohan:
The yellow pea on page 1 & 2 are the same---I believe this is the early locoweed: Oxytropis sericea.

My guess for the pretty white pea is probably Astragalus alpinus???

Tall Antennaria on page 1 is Antennaria neglecta.

Page 2 Mystery Plant in Bud is probably a very stressed Ascelpias speciosa???

I think Lori hit it right on the nose---and Commandra would also coincide with a much more correct flowering period.

I recall seeing incredibly huge mats of Silene acaulis in the Kootenays....
And the Physaria didymocarpa (seed from same area) survived many years in a trough here...

[Lori S.]

The mystery plant doesn't look as though it has opposite leaves (as Asclepias speciosa would)...  or did it? (I'm zooming in and they look alternate.)   Anyway, I'd suggest it's bastard toadflax, Comandra umbellata.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Comandra_umbellata_3.jpg

[Sinchets]

Mmm- I dunno- I still think the buds look very much like an Asclepias.   

[cohan]

thanks all for input and comments
simon--i dont think it really looks much different at any time of year, apart from leaf colouring and drop on the aspens in fall, and a bit of (probably shortlived) greening of grasses at some point..
i havent been there in mid summer, will try for another trip this summer, but it has not been a wet year, so i dont think it will be much greener, and probably this was the main flowering flush for many species, though there will be some zigadenus later, and probably some other things i dont know about-- kristls suggestion of silene is very interesting--i havent seen them, but out of flower might be missable if you dont know what you are looking for...

kristl--thanks for some id's--esp on the peas, i will be checking those out...
i'm hoping to find some physaria seed later in the year, i do love those plants all year..

paddy and aruby--glad you are enjoying--the kootenay plains is one of my very favourite spots, and along these trails there are very few people: there are usually a handful of cars in the parking area, and i think if you go toward the falls, more people--we have occasionally passed a few here and there; the side trails out into the plains--no one..

as for asclepias, i looked up the species found in alberta, and they dont feel right--not least is that this plant is just too small--i didnt measure, but i think under 25 cm, and some considerably less; also some mention of 'moist grasslands' for A speciosa,these were in the driest parts of a dry area...
Lori's suggeston of Comandra was interesting, the pic in my book wasnt that illuminating, but i did find a few online that make it seem like Lori hit it exactly, thanks, lori:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8802721@N04/3039155811/
and
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=COUM
interesting that there are two members of sandalwood family in alberta, and i have photographed both sounds so exotic...lol

[cohan]

a few more views, as i hurried along the trails...
as i've mentioned, various patchwork moisture zones--here you see an area with more spruce trees, which means there is a bit more moisture--i'm guessing it relates to where snow settles in winter, as much as anything--nearer the base of the mountains, its a bit less parched... also, once there ARE  some trees, they probably create drifts of snow, which enables the communities of arctostaphylos and juniper, which also grow in some very dry areas, but the biggest carpets of them are not in the very driest areas (where Physaria grows)..

[cohan]

the main trail heads up into the forest and up the mountain a bit toward some falls; i didnt go that way, as i thought it less likely there would be much blooming yet, and i was just about out of time, anyway (i'd said i'd be an hour, and i had just enough time to jog back to the car...lol)..
i just went into the beginning of the moister, wooded area at the base of the mountain..
oops--i left out
Zigadenus elegans
leaves only, flowers later; this was midway, in dry but not driest areas, with Arctostaphylos and juniper.
this species is also not uncommon here, mostly in ditches/roadsides, it seems..
then, as we get a bit moister, the
Arctostaphyos uva-ursi
forms large spreads, and lots of flowers...
Salix sp
these are shrubby species, at least up to a couple metres, though often pruned by wildlife..
a really nice
Sedgey thing
maybe 15-20cm tall (less?) with much fuller flower heads than the ones around here...
and  a nicely coloured
Plantago sp??

[cohan]

final for this area--
 a couple of unnamed tiny things (no more than a couple of inches high or across) clinging to rocky soil above the drop to the river, enduring drought and constant wind...

[cohan]

zipping right along, we continue on Highway 11--the same highway i take to work, incidentally, to its western limit, just past the entrance to Banff National Park (nowhere near the town of banff), and stop by Saskatchewan River Crossing, where there are some tourist facilities; i buy a couple little gifts, then one look at the line-up in the insanely overpriced cafeteria, and we are back on the road, heading south toward Lake Louise..the mountains, and the road, are getting higher...

[Paul T]

The mountains are just amazing, Cohan.  Thank you so much.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful show Cohan - keep 'em coming please !! 

[cohan]

thanks paul and luc--i think i am in the homestretch--at least 3 more sites, but nothing as extensive as the Kootenay Plains, that was the biggest stop...
i probably have another 1000 photos from around home to go through yet, and tomorrow we are off to southern alberta in search of cacti etc...

ok, next stop:
as i mentioned earlier, we went to Lake Louise, where i was pleased to find a nice little bakery cafe-line-up, but it moved fast, and prices ordinary compared to Saskatachewan Crossing (3-4x above normal)..
then we headed toward the lake, but seeing a parking lot absolutely crammed, we despaired of finding a tranquil spot for our lunch, and just went right back to the highway we came from!
just outside the village, there was a park checkpoint, and driving in, i saw some flowers right beside the road, and something so pink in the edge of the forest i thought maybe it was garbage!
so after clearing the checkpoint, we parked, and i hurried back to find the pink stuff was a fantastic stand of
Calypso bulbosa
we have these at home, but usually one or several at most at a time; of course here they would never have such a relatively vegetation free spot to grow--the open woods they favour are very competitive places here, we dont have these rather bare pine stands, our coniferous forests are spruce and in time become so dense and dark and dry that there isnt much growing, but too shady for Calypso;
the pics werent that great--you have some misses when you are in a rush this was almost in spitting distance from the checkpoint, and the nice log marking the spot makes me wonder if they have had a little human help;
the other, right on the roadside was a pea probably the same as from my very first site, this may be the one kristl suggested
Astragalus?
but i havent had time to look into that any more...the most exquisite flower colour, though plain green foliage not as exciting as the silvery Oxytropis...

[cohan]

we continued back on nortward to Hector Lake, where there is camping and picnic tables, and had our lunch there, in tranquility, far from the tourist hordes of Lake Louise!
this lake has a beautiful deep green colour, different from the sort of milky aqua common in mountain lakes;(i havent tried to look up the source...)..
very pretty, and a footpath around one end of the lake (maybe more, i wasnt there long!)