Botanizing .....

Thimbleberry

Rubus parviflorus is one of the few plant species that grows both in Oregon and in Upper Michigan. USA Plants Database shows it growing across the upper midwest and Canada.

But I'm going to hypothesize that there are 2 subspecies. The typical thimbleberry of the Pacific Northwest is a woody sub-shrub.

But in the UP, I believe the plants I've looked at always appear to be perennials without overwintering above-ground parts.

Now I'm going to go see if I can find that confirmed online.

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Possible explanation: Rubus odoratus (purple flowering raspberry) is an Eastern species that is quite similar but seems to lack woody above-ground stems (according to one website but not others). It occurs in the UP and likely hybridizes with thimbleberry. Perhaps it's difficult to distinguish between these species and Yoopers call them both thimbleberry.

UGG. The whole genus is difficult. I'll look at it when I'm next in Michigan, and not before.

Snakeroot

I knew it was Apiaceae, but had to get home to look it up.

Sanicula bipinnatifida (Purple snakeroot) and Sanicula crassicaulis (Pacific snakeroot) have both been observed at Mt. Pisgah. So which is it?

I'm so grateful to have the Oregon Flora Project photos readily available. Since all the photos of purple snakeroot depict purple flowers, the plant I photographed must be Pacific snakeroot. Also Pacific sanicle. I tried to find out something of interest, but came up short: "Perhaps the most unusual thing about Pacific sanicle, is its absence from the botanical and ethnobotanical (and even medical) literature. It has not been the subject of scientific studies and its most useful indigenous application seems to have been as a good-luck charm for gambling."

Another member of the genus has seeds that stick to your socks and look like this:

So that will be a project for this summer and fall, to watch these little burrs develop.

Western Meadow Rue

Thalictrum occidentale  is in bloom at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, along with Camas and Trillium albidum and at least 2 species of Delphinium and Ranunculus.

I photographed these male flowers with dangling anthers, but looked everywhere for the female plants and didn't find them.

A quick internet search revealed no important uses of this plant. The foliage is lovely, lacy, and similar to other members of the buttercup family, and it seems that it would make a nice groundcover.

Trillium species

Our earliest and most common Trillium bears a white flower on a short stalk above the leaves: T. ovatum. Our other local Trillium (pictured here) is T. albidum, sometimes known as Sessile Trillium, because the flower lacks a stalk and sits directly above the leaves, which are often mottled. There are two subspecies, but they hybridize in our area.

 

Oregon has 3 other Trilliums, none of which are known from Lane County,