The
photo at right shows a close-up of Watson's desert parsley (Lomatium watsonii)
as seen in the Columbia Hills......March 17, 2007.
The plant shown is only about 3 inches in diameter.GPS Coordinates:
Parking Area - N45 41.706' ---W121 05.553' +/- 25' --- Elevation: 2064'
Summit of Stacker Butte - N45 42.817' --- W121 06.090' +/-15' --- Elevation: 3203'
Weather: 12:30-4:00 pm, sunny but heavy haze in distance, temperature in the upper 60s, light winds at first, gusting to 40 mph by 4 pm. Patches of snow remain on the steeper north-facing banks and slopes.
* Yellow Bells: Fritillaria pudica - Very numerous.
* Grass Widow: Olsynium douglasii var. douglasii - Good bloom at the parking area to the Columbia Hills NAP but not blooming at higher elevations.
* Lanceleaf Spring Beauty: Claytonia lanceolata var. lanceolata -
* Unidentified memeber of pink family? (Holosteum umbellatum ?) -
* The Dalles Mt. Buttercup: Ranunculus triternatus - Numerous bloom, a yellow carpet in places when mixed with gold stars.
* Douglas' Draba: Cusickiella douglasii - A few plants beginning to bloom.See photo below!
* Spring Whitlow-grass: Draba verna - Numerous bloom.
* Smooth Prairie Star: Lithophragma glabrum - Several beginning to bloom.
Wax Currant: Ribes cereum var. cereum - Beginning to leaf out atop the ridge.
* Canby's Desert Parsley: Lomatium canbyi - Fairly numerous at higher elevation.
* Gorman's Desert Parsley: Lomatium gormanii - A few on the summit ridge.
* Butterfly-loving (Pungent) Desert Parsley: Lomatium papilioniferum - A few plants in bloom with pungent leaves just peeking out of the ground near the parking area to the Columbia Hills NAP).
Biscuitroot: Lomatium macrophyllum - A few within several days of beginning to bloom.
Barestem Desert Parsley: Lomatium nudicaule - Lower leaves emerging.
* Salt & Pepper or Piper's Desert Parsley: Lomatium piperi - Numerous bloom. The plants are attracting numerous species of flies, moths and small bees.
Nine-leaf Desert Parsley: Lomatium triternatum var. triternatum - Lower leaves emerging.
* Watson's Desert Parsley: Lomatium watsonii - A few very small plants beginning to bloom high atop the summit ridge.
* Desert Shooting Star: Dodecatheon conjugens - Many plants high atop the ridge within a few days of blooming.
* Midget Phlox: Microsteris gracilis - A few in bloom.
Ballhead Waterleaf: Hydrophyllum capitatum var. thompsonii - Leaves appearing high atop the ridge.
* Small-flowered Blue-eyed Mary: Collinsia parviflora - A few in bloom on open, south-facing exposures at higher altitudes.
* Gold Stars: Crocidium multicaule - Moderate bloom.
