late summer

  • Chamerion angustifolium / fireweed

    Chamerion angustifolium / fireweed

    • bright pink flowers on tall inflorescence (raceme)
    • flowers mature from bottom to top
    • four petals
    • spiral leaf arrangement - lance-shaped leaves have smooth edges
    • pod-like seed capsule releases seeds to the wind
  • Chenopodium album / lamb's quarters

    Chenopodium album / lamb’s quarters

    • green, nobbly inflorescence - many nob-like flowers
    • leaves grey-green, more or less triangular
    • leaves may feel cool to the touch
    • widespread weed, especially in disturbed habitats
  • Chimaphila umbellata / pipsissewa

    Chimaphila umbellata / pipsissewa

    • small herb/forb
    • shiny, toothed lance point leaves
    • half-inch, pink and white, upside down flowers
    • flowers in umbel like cluster
    • flowers with minimally visible style
  • Cicuta douglasii / water hemlock

    Cicuta douglasii / water hemlock

    • HIGHLY TOXIC
    • primarily on continuously wet soils, e.g. ditches, stream banks, pond margins, marshes.
    • white compound umbel inflorescence typical of the Apiaceae/Umbelliferae
    • multiply compound leaves with prominent veins ending in notches between lobes
  • Cirsium arvense / Canada thistle

    Cirsium arvense / Canada thistle

    • purple or lavender clearly-thistle flower heads
    • multiple small flower heads per stem
    • deeply lobed, spiny leaves, but stems not spiny
    • clonal and perennial
    • in clumps or along roads, sometimes quite large/long
  • Cirsium hookerianum / Hooker's thistle

    Cirsium hookerianum / Hooker’s thistle

    • clearly a thistle, but with white flowers
    • native but not plentiful
    • seen at Mahogany Creek in mid-August
  • Cirsium vulgare / bull thistle

    Cirsium vulgare / bull thistle

    • very nasty spines all over, including stems
    • purple flower head over pear/egg-shaped narrow, spiny bracts
    • fruits are thistle-downy
    • disturbed areas, but also forest gaps, stream sides and seeps
  • Clematis ligusticifolia / western white clematis

    Clematis ligusticifolia / western white clematis

    • climbing vine... makes dense canopy
    • in canyons and streamside thickets
    • compound leaves with 5-15 leaflets, often widely spaced
    • white flowers with 4 "petals", many pistils and stamens — late summer
    • fruit is fluffy white cluster in Sept/Oct
  • Cynoglossum officinale / houndstongue

    Cynoglossum officinale / houndstongue

    • reddish-purple flowers in upper leaf axils
    • forms basal rosette with hairy leaves in first year
    • stem leaves lance shaped, hairy, rough
    • fruit - small nutlets with barbs or hooks
  • Dactylis glomerata / orchardgrass

    Dactylis glomerata / orchardgrass

    • perennial bunchgrass
    • branched inflorescence with lowest branch well below the others
    • spikelets wedge-shaped, flattened in tight clusters
    • florets green to red/purple tinged; grey-brown when seeds mature
    • introduced and widespread, but not in wet areas
  • Delphinium x occidentale / tall larkspur

    Delphinium x occidentale / tall larkspur

    • white with blue center, long white spur (tail) out the back
    • flowers on tall racemes, up to 6 feet - more than 50 per stalk
    • highly divided/lobed leaves
    • flowers look a lot like garden larkspurs
  • Descurainia pinnata / western tansy mustard

    Descurainia pinnata / western tansy mustard

    • another stupid yellow crucifer
    • erect stem, up to 30 inches
    • deeply lobed leaves, without petioles up-stem
    • often near or under sagebrush, otherwise dry, disturbed and crappy soils