Wildflowers Showing Now at Mt. Rainier

A Sunrise area wildflower update from Mt. Rainier National Park's Ranger Steve: 

Birds Beak Lousewort
Pedicularis ornithorhyncha

Here is what I have observed at Sunrise (having put in 18 miles to Dick's Lakes, then back to Sunrise along Sourdough Ridge, then back to Dick's and back out to Sunrise Point last weekend, I must say that if one imagined a place where Switzerland, Alaska, & the Rocky Mts. were combined you would end up with Sunrise at Mt Rainier & it could easily be argued that it is the most beautiful place in the Entire United States including Alaska & Hawaii!), Paradise, Mt Wow, Backbone Ridge and William O. Douglas Wilderness at Soda Springs. in late July and up to this point in August.

Besides the regulars, I try to focus on new observations and rarer plants. Sunrise is certainly in full bloom, Paradise is still in early bloom, prime will take another week or more at Parad.  Lower Valley Loop Road at Paradis going nuts/is outstanding.

"I would sit for an hour or a day and ask this plant or that rock where it had come from, how it had gotten here and where it was going."-------John Muir

Golden Fleabane
Erigeron aureus

1.  Western Meadow Rue - Thalictrum occidentale (William O.)

2.  Great Burne - Sanguisorba officinalis microcephala (William O.)

3.  Running Clubmoss - Lycopodium clavatum (Soda Springs)

4.  White-flowered willowherb - Epilobium anagallidifolium var. alpinum (Paradise)

5.  Tall Potentilla - Potentilla diversifolia (Mt. Wow)

6.  Shade Phacelia - Phacelia nemoralis (Mt. Wow at Goat Creek)

7.  Kneleling Angelica - Angelica genuflexa (Mt. Wow)

8.  Pinedrops - Pterospora andromedea (Mt. Wow)

9.  Pinesap - Hypopitys monotropa (throughout)

10. Gnomeplant - Hemitomes gongestum (Cougar Rock)

Pink Pyrola
Pyrola asarifolia

11. Small Flowered Wood Rush - Luzula parvifolia (dominant and replacing of Avalanche Lily's role in subalpine ecosystem at Dick's Lake (Sunrise)

12. Engleman Spruce - Picea engelmannii (Sunrise)

13.  Whitebark Pine - Pinus albicaulis (Sunrise)

14.  Grouseberry - Vaccinium scoparium (Sunrise & Cougar Rock)

15.  Yellow Mt Heather - Phyllodoce glanduliflora (Sunrise)

16.  Early Blue Violet - Viola adunca (Sunrise & William O.)

17.  Western Bog Laurel - Kalmia microphylla ssp. occidentalis 

(Clover Lake, Sunrise)

18.  Western Mt Ash - Sorbus scopulina (certaily different from

Elephant's Head Lousewort
Pedicularis groenlandica

Sitka Mt Ash (Sunrise)

19.  Ladies Tresses Orchid - Spiranthes romanoffiana (Grove of Patriarchs trailhead)

20.  Fleeceflower - Polygonum newberryi (Sunrise)

21.  Alpine Buckwheat - Erigeron pyrolifolium (Sunrise)

22.  Mountain Sorrel - Oxyria digyna (Sunrise)

23.  Small-flowered Montia - Montia parvifolia (Red spider plant on cliffs throughout)

24.  Western Spring Beauty - Claytonia lanceolata var. lanceolata (Sunrise & Paradise)

25.  Boreal Sandwort - Minuarta rubella/Arenaria capillaris (Sunrise)

26.  Lavender Rockcress - Arabis lyalii (Sunrise)

27.  Short-beaked Agoseris - Agoseris glauca (Sunrise)

Western Spring Beauty
Claytonia lanceolata

28.  Yellow Agoseris - Agoseris grandiflora (Sunrise & Paradise)

29.  Northern Goldernrod - Solidago multiradiata (Sunrise)

30.  Dwarf Alumroot - Heuchera species (microfolia) (Dick's Lake-Sunrise)

31.  Large-flowered Cryptantha - Cryptantha intermedia var. grandiflora (Sunrise & Mt. Wow)

32.  Pedicularis racemosa, bracteosa, groenlandica, ornithoryncha, contorta & rainierensis  (Sunrise / All except Elephant head & a couple of those may be missing from Paradise. Some hybridizing seems to be going on too)

33.  Redstem Ceanothus - Ceanothus sanguineus (Backbone Ridge or "BBR")

34.  Manzanita-Kinnikinnick - Arctostaphalos X media (BBR)

35.  Dwarf penstemon - Penstemon procerus var. microfolia (Sunrise)

36.  Golden Fleabane - Erigeron aureus (Sunrise)

37.  Heartleaf Arnica - Arnica cordifolia (Sunrise & Paradise)

38.  Hairy Arnica - A. mollis (Sunrise)

Mt. Rainier Lousewort
Pedicularis rainierensis

39.  Parry's Arnica - A. parryii (Sunrise & Paradise)

40.  Lyall's Goldenweed - Haplopappus lyallii (Sunrise - looks like a dwarf Arnica)

41.  Western Groundsel - Senecio integerrimus (Sunrise)

42.  Sticky False Asphodel - Tofieldia glutinosa (Paradise)

43.  Spiked Trisetum Grass - Trisetum spicatum (Paradise)

44.  Drummond's Anemone - Anemone drummondii (Sunrise)

45.  Green Fescue - Festuca viridula (Sunrise - dominant on Sourdough Ridge)

46.  Pussytoes (All species) - Antennaria species (Sunrise)

47.  Tongue-leaf Rainera - Rainieria stricta (Sunrise)

48.  Pink Pyrola - Pyrola asarifolia (mid-elevation throughout)

49.  Few-flowered Desert Parsley - Lomatium martindalei var. albaflora (Sunrise)

So, that is my story & I'm stick'n to it.  Happy botanizing folks...  Keep that Sense of Wonder Forever Alive and have a glorious adventure!!!

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