Tuesday, March 25, 2014

snow plant ~ 03/25/14 ~ Lewis Creek


posted 04/03/14 - Hey, here's something different!  I vaguely remember always seeing these coming up out of the snow back when I used to ski twenty years ago.  They made me think of Snow White's red lips.  The reported bloom time is May - July, even from local Yosemite Hikes site.  Hmm?  I guess these are early? Maybe plant people generally aren't out looking for blooms when there's enough snow on the ground for skiing?  In the week since I took these pictures, it snowed quite a bit in the area.  These were the only ones I found next to a slow moving side creek.  The middle picture is a snow plant seed stalk that was laying nearby.  I also spotted plenty of upright seed stalks, but I was mistaken and they ended up being the similarly odd-looking pine drops (Pterospora andromedea).  I keep wanting to call these snow drops, but that's not correct.  Snow plant, snow plant.  For more information on this flaming red parasitic plant, the USDA Forest Service and Botanical Society of America have good pages.

5 comments:

Orchids and Nature said...

How very unusual,I've never heard or seen this plant,they seem to be confined to the American states and don't occur in Europe.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Oh, it figures this would have caught your eye, David. I'm surprised you don't have anything similar over there.

Jennifer said...

How unusual. Never seen anything like it!

Brent said...

One of my favorites, and I'm pleased to see the matured plant as well.

In my experience it's odd to see these except as the snow melts back in spring, but given our off normal winter perhaps this early bloom is not so surprising.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Hi Brent. I vaguely recall a year where skiing in the Sierras was still going after college classes ended as late as June, but these pictures are from the end of March. I'm totally mixed up this year as to timing of things.

Oh! I haven't been able to comment on Breathing Treatment, because I haven't joined google+. Sorry.