Another quick visit

The weather was so beautiful on Friday afternoon, that I decided to visit Lone Pine again even though I had just been there the day before.  I checked on all the special spots and didn't see a whole lot of change except for a lovely meadow full of shooting stars that were further along.

I went past an old stump and the sun was hitting it just right that I noticed quite a bloom of new growth on the clump of moss there.  The wonderful thing about a macro setting on one's camera, is the amazing close-up view you get of the plants when you get back home and see it enlarged on the computer.  I'm not sure you notice these details when you see it the first time.

I'm still learning to differentiate some plants as a non-botanist.  Reference books don't always agree either.  So here is an example. On previous posts I put photos of biscuitroot (white) and a yellow parsley.  As I dug a little more, the yellow one was also referred to as biscuitroot, so I got confused.  As I photographed the blossom up close, I saw a similar structure, and sure enough they are both forms of lomatium and are in the parsley family.  The name biscuitroot came from the Native Americans digging up the large tap root, drying it, and pounding it into flour for a thin bread.  See what you think.  The white lomatium has a ferny leaf, and the yellow has a smooth slender leaf.

One more plant is getting started, Low Oregon Grape.  These little buds will become a yellow blossom cluster, and then berries in the fall.  These leaves carpet a lot of the woods at Lone Pine and it's an evergreen.  Our version is not much of a shrub like it is elsewhere; it's very low on the ground.