Slatsz Wildflower Walks 2012: January 01, 2012

The botanists say the Lomatium gormanii is the first wildflower in our area.

Last year we saw both Lomatium gormanii and Ranunculus glaberrimus on our first outing, January 16th so we didn’t establish that L. gormanii came first.

New Year’s Day was a good time to look for foliage this year.

I saw a lot of R. glaberrimus foliage and a little L. gormanii foliage. L. gormanii foliage is a lot harder to see. I saw L. gormanii only in one location. I can’t remember just now if I saw R. glaberrimus elsewhere but I’m sure I did.

I checked other basalt outcrops with shallow soil and southern exposure nearby but saw no more L. Gormanii. There are outcrops elsewhere in the park to be checked for L. gormanii. They were everywhere later in the year, last year.

I was only walking, photographing for 45 minutes so I saw only a small portion of the park. Starting with the outcrop west of the fireplug on Euclid where we saw the first L. gormanii last year, I passed over the outcrop due north of the fireplug where we saw the first buttercups then crossed the park to get a photograph of the willow in the north pond.

I see that someone has torn out shrubbery on the north side of the pine grove northwest of the fireplug removing one of the unique species we saw last year. I can’t summon up the name of the plant at the moment.

I found what I cam to find. A nice branch of Lomatium gormanii near where
we found them first last year.

There was lots of Ranunculus glaberrimus foliage near L. gormanii.

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I suppose that a dandelion on the right. There's somethng of interest at the top of the photo.

These are domsetic rose hips on a huge bush at the 'corner' of the pine grove northwest of the fireplug on Euclid.
What are the masses of brown matter?