In the second photo I have mucronata on the left and bridgesii on the right.
The Red-footed Booby who has been entertaining hundreds of birders for over two weeks has started spending more time on the rigging of the large sailboat, the Hawaiian Chieftain. This is my fifth viewing of this bird since August 4. A bird photographer from another county lamented that it spent hours just preening.
This may actually be the sterile triploid hybrid P. braunii x P. munitum. The plant had very large fronds with the color and texture of P. munitum. Both P. munitum and P. braunii were present in the area. The degree of pinna dissection in this plant is not all that different from P. braunii but I attribute this to the particularly large size of the fronds. The fact that the basal acroscopic pinnues are significantly larger that the adjacent pinnules suggests that this is P. setigerum rather than P. braunii.
Growing on a dry rocky outcrop. This is a very unusual site, with Pellaea andromedifolia (mostly a California species) growing nearby.
See previous observation from this site:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197196212
This site is at high risk of getting destroyed in quarry operations in the near future.
with bird's foot in the background for comparison
Growing on a north-facing basalt outcrop. Over a dozen plants here. This site is threatened by quarry operations.
@jamesgrasstoucher @brucen @eralverson
No more than a dozen plants here. Growing on a west-facing basalt outcrop. This seems to be a fairly isolated population.
30+ plants here. The population seems to occur only in one small area of north-facing basalt. Habitat in this area is typically very dry and rocky, with meadows, oak woodland, and basalt outcrops being the primary features.
Plants growing in similar habitat to the summit area of Spencer Butte, where this species is also found.
This population is one of few known in the Willamette Valley.
@jamesgrasstoucher @eralverson @brucen
See also DOI: 10.2307/1547397
Only one tree found at this site. Growing in the shade of abundant Pseudotsuga menziesii and Arbutus menziesii. Nearby, and observed on the same day, coincidentally: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202721413
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202745456
Growing at about 3200 ft. elevation in the Oregon Coast Range
West slope of Skinner Butte. This population has not been observed in recent years and may have been extirpated by trampling from hikers.
HBRA, Meadowlark E MU. In rocky soil in an open woodland of stunted Quercus garryana.
Photos of Phacelia lenta at the time and place of its rediscovery in 1981. The species was described by CV Piper in 1901, on the basis of a single collection by TS Brandegee from 1883 (see https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.gh00093407). The type specimen is just labeled "bare hills of the Columbia", so no one really knew where to look for it. Phacelia lenta turns out to be a very local endemic, with a total geographic range spanning only about 10 or 15 miles.
I spoke with the owner of this truck, he was very proud of his epivehicular fern colony. Apparently at one time it had been larger but someone stole a portion of the plant.
Rare but highly distinctive endemic of the understory of pine forests south of El Salto, Durango. This is a rarely documented species, but it should be looked for in this area of Durango. This observation is also documented with an herbarium collection, M. Egger 1287, WTU.
First photo-documented specimens from this site.
Lane County OR, the farthest north known site of this species by about 70 miles. Collected in 1934, again in 1969 and 1982. Population previously presumed extinct, currently appears to be stable. This population had not been recorded in 41 years. Growing in rocky, south facing open habitat near Jasper, Oregon. @eralverson @brucen @jamesgrasstoucher @frondsinhighplaces @tanyaharvey
Near Jasper
This is the very northern-most known locality for this species and the only known locality from the Willamette Basin. First collected at this site in 1934, and subsequently in 1969 and 1982, but not seen again until this year despite searching. About 24 plants were observed in this patch, including a range of plant sizes, suggesting that the population is healthy. See also https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189415390.
On the rocky, south-facing side of Spencer Butte summit.
I'd like to think it is still growing there...
This was a very lucky shot!
This is a high elevation site (5100 ft/ 1555 m) located well in to the western Cascades. While this is a high elevation site that receives a large amount of winter snowfall (Tsuga mertensiana and Abies lasiocarpa grow close by), the site is a warm microsite sheltered by a south-facing cliff. I am a bit perplexed because these higher elevation oaks often have the bud shape characters of vars. breweri and semota as per FNA (http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501033), but I don't believe these plants are actually var. breweri or var. semota as they are outside the known ranges of those vars.
This is the var. vancouveria, the lineage that occurs west of the Cascades. Here is is growing around the margins of a seasonal pond/wetland, which was originally scoured by the Missoula floods.
Somewhere in the wild reaches of the Willamette Floodplain RNA