interesting bits

Showing 73–84 of 109 results

Pinus albicaulis / whitebark pine
- high altitude - subalpine to alpine; cold, windy sites
- five needles in tight fasicles
- brown to purple cones at top of tree; cones don't open
- scaly grayish bark
Pinus contorta / lodgepole pine
- evergreen conifer
- needles in groups (fascicles) of 2
- lopsided cones, (mostly) remain on tree when mature
- rounded crown; orangey-brown scaly bark
Pinus flexilis / limber pine
- high elevation, rocky or talus, dry, high-stress habitat
- often - stunted and deformed by wind
- highly flexible branches
- needles in bundles (fascicles) of 5
- often - semi-rotted cones on ground below
Plantanthera unalascensis / slender-spire orchid
- teeny, green flowers, well-separated, not spiraled
- a "tall, thin, green nothing"
- basal leaves prostrate, but not appressed to the ground
- leaves often wither before pollination occurs
- found in many different habitats
Platanthera huronensis / green bog orchid
- usually in bogs, fens, wetlands
- up to two feet tall, but often shorter
- thick, nearly vertical leaves with parallel veins (i.e. grass-like)
- up to 75 very small flowers per stem (raceme)
- flowers -light green to greenish-white; two petals, three sepals, a lip and club-like spur
- lip is not pouch-like
Poa bulbosa / bulbous meadow-grass
- short, tuft-forming grass
- funny-looking flower stalks... having bulblets instead of florets
- doesn't produce pollen or seeds
Polygonum aviculare / prostrate knotweed
- long, prostrate stems around a central point
- copious red-edged white flowers
- small green leaves
- along roadsides, parking lots and wherever trampling occurs
- an ugly weed you'll see on most of your walks around town
Populus angustifolia / narrow-leaf poplar
- a riparian tree also planted for landscaping
- long, narrow leaves with serrated edges
- furrowed, grey bark on mature trees; smooth and yellow-ish on young trees
- flowers are small, grey catkins in very early spring
- fruits are fluffy white cotton in early-mid summer
Populus trichocarpa / black cottonwood
- conical tree
- heart or arrow-head shaped leaves; pointy tips
- inflorescences are red or brownish catkins in early spring
- cotton-y fruits disperse in early summer
Potamogeton richardsonii / Richardson’s pondweed
- submerged aquatic with emergent inflorescence
- crinkly, broad-ish leaves which clasp the stem
- variable length internodes
- often tangled up with sago pondweed
Pteridium aquilinum / common bracken
- a fern with large, triangular fronds, up to 4 ft tall
- fronds subdivided into triangular leaflets
- herbaceous perennial
- deciduous with annual regrowth first appearing as fiddleheads in spring
- wide range of habitats, including full sun
Pterospora andromedea / woodland pinedrops
- sticky-haired, reddish brown plant; no chlorophyll
- nodding, yellow and pink flowers like upside-down urns
- unbranched stem with "invisible" scale-like leaves at base
- old, woody stalks with pumpkin-shaped capsules persist at least one season
- in pine or mixed conifer forests