Central Washington Native Plants

Although eastern Washington didn’t have much of a winter this year, with temperatures much milder in January and February than usual, spring has arrived. New seedlings are sprouting, and herbaceous plants are growing basal leaves. The buds of shrubs and trees, like sprinters in a race, are lined up at the starting line- buds swelling- ready to spring into action. In lower to middle elevations some early plants are already in bloom.

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Several places in Central Washington that are easily accessible for viewing early spring wildflowers are the Wenatchee Foothills Trails and Leavenworth Ski Hill.

Now blooming in the Wenatchee Foothills:

• Ranunculus glaberrimus
• Lomatium geyeri
• Mertensiana longiflora
• Fritillaria pudica
• Draba verna

At Leavenworth Ski Hill:

• Erythronium grandiflorum
• Claytonia lanceolata
• Lomatium geyeri
• Mertensiana longiflora
• Fritillaria pudica

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Time to get out the hiking shoes, but remember to be prepared, especially in spring weather when conditions can change rapidly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been thankful to have an extra jacket in my pack- though when I started out that day it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. A few necessities everyone should bring even on short day hikes: sturdy walking shoes, a backpack to carry water, a snack, a rain jacket, and a first aid kit containing an emergency blanket or sleeping bag. I have an emergency survival bag that reflects heat, only weighs 4 ounces, costs $10, and has never been used in the 10 years I’ve owned it. But you never know.

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Sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus) with its bright shiny yellow petals is now blooming in the Wenatchee foothills.

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Another early harbinger of spring are the Lomatiums, also called desert parsley and biscuit root. I’ve seen some Lomatiums in bloom even earlier than this in early February, only to be snowed on. So if you see a Lomatium in bloom, it doesn’t necessarily mean that spring is here yet. Early blooming species include Lomatium geyeri (can be seen at the Wenatchee Foothills), Lomatium canbyi (Quillomene and Columbia Basin), Lomatium farinosum var. hambleniae (Quillomene and Colockum), Lomatium gormanii (Columbia Basin) and Lomatium grayi. The Lomatiums all look fairly similar, and many bloom at the same time- it is easy to confuse the species. That is part of the fun of Lomatiums, because they are so difficult to identify.

Lomatium nudicaule, though not quite in bloom, is still putting on a show with its profusion of seedlings. This biscuitroot is very tolerant of disturbance- I’ve seen it along roadsides that have been bulldozed, as well as in heavily grazed areas. This photo of the seedlings was taken at the base of the Saddlerock trail where there is a lot of erosion because of off trail use by the public and horses. Nothing else may be growing, but the Lomatium nudicaule is doing just fine.

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The Ribes, or currants are the first shrubs to put on new leaves in spring. The Indians used them as a sign that spring was here. Golden currant (Ribes aureum) and wax currant (Ribes cereum) are both putting on new leaves and preparing to bloom.

Soon other plants will be in bloom…

Slider Puzzles

A sliding puzzle of Erythronium grandiflorum- yellow avalanche lily.

Calochortus lyallii- Lyall’s mariposa lily

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Hangman

The genus names of those confusing yellow composites (Asteraceae’s). Sunflower and dandelion-like genera.

Yellow composites (Asteraceae) part II-

A quiz I have been working on as an addition to my page on desert plant adaptations. Still in a state of revision, and I am trying to get some photos to show on it- which aren’t yet apparent.?….

Pseudoroegneria spicata, bluebunch wheatgrass

A common perennial grass found at lower to middle elevations, occurring in shrub steppe to Ponderosa pine forests, from Alaska to Mexico and as far east as New Mexico and Saskatchewan. This is a native bunchgrass- and unlike the grass we typically think of in our lawns (Kentucky bluegrass), it  grows from a single clump. Over time the clump becomes larger and can reproduce through tillers (leafy shoots with roots) but it doesn’t have rhizomes like lawn grass (Poa pratensis). Previously it was scientifically classified in the Agropyron genus and known to old range-cons and cowboys as “Ag Spic”.

An ecological function that bluebunch wheatgrass does is to prevent erosion and mud slides. The roots of the grass typically grow up to 5 ft. deep and 2ft. wide, helping to stabilize the soil and prevent loss by wind and water.

Because bluebunch wheatgrass grows in clumps, when fires occur there is not continuous fuel for the fire to spread. It helps to decrease fire frequency and intensity. Invasive non-native annual grasses such as cheatgrass provide a highly flamable and continuous fuel source for fire to spread.

Bluebunch wheatgrass is a C₄ plant. There are three types of photosynthesis- C_3, C₄, and CAM photosynthesis. Most plants are C_3. C₄ plants have a special adaptation which allows them to photosynthesize and grow during extreme environmental conditions such as drought, high temperatures and nitrogen or CO₂ limitation. 97% of the water taken up by C₃ plants is lost through transpiration, compared to a much lower proportion in C₄ plants, extremely helpful in a dry environment. CO₂ is taken up by the plant quicker in C₄ plants, allowing for the plant to close its stomata and conserve water. C₄ plants can also photosynthesize quicker in high temperatures and light than C₃ plants.

Other adaptations that help bluebunch wheatgrass do well in hot arid environments is that it is a cool season grass- meaning it grows vigorously when it is cool in spring and fall and is dormant for much of the hottest part of the summer. There is also a special type of fungi which attaches to its roots and helps the grass roots to absorb nutrients- principally phosphate- from the soil and increases the plants’ drought tolerance. This type of fungi is called VAM or vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizas which never produce a mushroom, but live out their lifespan entirely beneath the soil. Most plants in the shrub-steppe are associated with VAM fungi and some are dependent on it and won’t germinate and/or grow without the fungi in the soil.

There are two subspecies of Pseudoroegneria spicata- ssp. spicata and P. s. ssp. inerme. The only difference between the typical subspecies of bluebunch wheatgrass and beardless bluebunch wheatgrass is the presence or absence of divergent awns. The two subspecies are occur together and hybridize making identification to subspecies difficult.

Also, it used to be thought there was another variety or subspecies- var. pubescens which is now just considered a hairier variant within ssp. spicata. Bluebunch wheatgrass also hybridizes with Elymus species, compounding identification problems at times.

Bluebunch wheatgrass is known as one of the better grasses for forage. In spring it has the highest nutrition because of new growth and is 20% protein and 45% carbohydrate. It cures well and makes for good standing winter feed for deer and elk, but also for grazing cattle- the absence of it is often an indicator of overgrazing. Heavy grazing causes lower energy to be stored by the plant in the stems and roots, and the grass can die in the winter without adequate energy reserves.

In southern Idaho the early pioneers and settlers were dependent on cattle ranching for subsistence, and it is still the main form of income for many living in rural areas. While I was in southwest Idaho recently, good patches of this bluebunch wheatgrass were exceedingly few and far between. There is a small protected area of BLM Land that was classified as an ACEC (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) near Murphy Idaho because it contained one of the few remaining healthy stands of bluebunch wheatgrass.

The Wenatchee area situation is different because the settlers and early farmers were orchardists instead of ranchers. This preserved the native landscape surrounding the towns and orchards, and for the most part- bluebunch wheatgrass is common in the foothills and mountains. Lack of grazing animals also meant that the herbaceous plants were preserved in this area, and today we enjoy riotous wildflowers covering the hillsides all thanks to a vibrant regional economy in fruit.

To the north and south of Wenatchee the situation is somewhat different and more ranching based, but there are also millions of acres of public lands that have escaped heavy grazing. To the east of Wenatchee is the Columbia Plateau which is also somewhat degraded from cattle grazing, but is mainly wheat fields, although there are gems of the shrub-steppe that have been spared there too.

A closely related species from Russia, Agropyron cristatum- crested wheatgrass, was widely used in rangeland plantings and to revegetate road cuts throughout the west. In much of the prior range of bluebunch wheatgrass, crested wheatgrass and desert wheatgrass are now the dominant grasses.

Links

• USDA Plants Profile for Pseudoroegneria spicata- bluebunch wheatgrass
• Photosynthesis- Wikipedia
• VAM- Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizas

If you are using Mozilla Firefox as a browser you can change what your browser looks like. There are thousands of personas or skins to choose from. These are some of the personas that I have created, freely available through Mozilla.

My name is Thayne Tuason and I originally started the cwnp.org website in 1999 while I was a student and first learning botany.  Since then it has grown to encompass more than 400 species of plants and numerous other articles relating to plants. I hope to use this blog to further educate and entertain, and hope that it will be a useful tool. There are some other topics that I would like to write about as well as revisit some others that I have already covered, and am excited to have a tool that also allows for comments. So please comment!

I have a B.S. degree in biology and have worked for over 10 years as a professional botanist. During that time I have worked for

The National Park Service:

The US Forest Service:

The University of Washington, and the BLM:

Today, I am working at starting my own business growing native plants and other crafts, and plan to be at the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market in 2010. I am also hoping to have time to update my website as well.

All photos at cwnp.org are available for non-commercial education purposes. Email me at flora@cwnp.org for higher quality photos than are on the site, I did finally get all of my older original photos organized- but I’m not promising much here- most of them were taken with a Sony Mavica at fairly low resolution.