We met at 1:00pm in front of the Art Activity Center in Yosemite Valley......ready to gain knowledge of Yosemite's plants.....especially the wildflowers.... Naturalist Michael Ross led us on a most pleasant and interesting plant walk in the Yosemite Valley.....we met quite a few flowers who were in bloom today.
Michael is a gifted naturalist....his mentor was famous Ranger Naturalist Carl Sharsmith, who was stationed in Toulumne Meadows Yosemite's high-country for over 60 years....botantist extraordinaire....emeritus professor of Botany at San Jose State University.
Michael said...."when Carl would lead a walk, the name of the plant is not enough.....some interesting comments.....a story" Michael....is still a youngster...only 40 years in Yosemite!!!! First some Botany....parts of the plant... stamen, pistil, pollination, cross pollination, pollinators, sequence of wildflower blooming... ponderosa pine, incense cedar, dogwood tree.....but the flowers......
Today the bleeding heart...stole my heart...the first one I had ever seen in person !!! a wonderful surprise... as Michael described its features......notice this, notice that... a little "
Sharsmithesque".... it reminded me when....in 1985...Carl Sharsmith introduced me to Tuolumne Meadows's little elephant heads......get down on your knees, look into the face of the flower...look at the 2 big dumbo ears and the long elephant nose !!!!!!!
Bleeding heart....Dicentra formosa.... is a most attractive flower......the rose-purple flowers grow on stems a foot or more high, nodding gracefully above a cluster of leaves... ...the blossoms have four petals which combine to form an elongated
pink heart, with two small spurs at the base....
dicentra means two spurred and
formosa means
beautiful.
Its relative is the steer's head..Dicentra uniflora....resembles a white bleached steer's head......tiny...hard to find....an awesome flower...look for it in recent snow melts from 7000 to 10500. feet. As he sits among the flowers, Michael introduces us to the
Tincture flower....the blossom has two lips....as a bee lands on bottom lip...the lips part.....open up...allowing the bee to pollinate.
The tincture plant is creamy in color.....the blossoms are two lipped and whorled symmetrically around the stem...tincture....because when the plant is broken it emits a brown stain. Needing a specialized pollinator....such as orchids...puts a species at risk of distinction.
Mariposa Lily....its bull's eye bold pattern....attracts the longhorn beetles for pollination.
Columbine.....orange in color....up in its long tube is the nectar.......and its pollinator hummingbirds..... but up in the high country above tree line..... sphinx moths are the pollinators for the softly cream-colored columbine....its longer spurs point downward.
white violet!!!
native raspberry...no fruit yet
miner's lettuce...tiny pink flowers
cleavers...like velcro...as Michael throw some at the recent Cornell University graduate, who had climbed the Half Dome cable yesterday!!!!
Dandelions...weeds....have 100 flowers on its head....milky sap...are now unfortunately found on the Soda Springs road in Tuolumne Meadow.....road crew threw down gravel base....without sterilization. Michael happily and easily answered all our questions. He recommends
The Laws Field Guide To The Sierra Nevada by John Muir Laws and
Flora of the Yosemite Sierra by Dean Wm. Taylor.
Some beautiful Yosemite wildflowers, a few field guides and magnifying lens.....and a gifted naturalist.....a good group of park visitors....made for a wonderful plant walk....a thoroughly enjoyable day...highly recommended!!!
fun...fun...fun..
A wonderful time had by all !!!
I admired all the wildflowers today, but the one who stole my heart was the perfectly designed form of the Bleeding heart flower.....so delicate....so pink...so beautiful.....formosa!!!
Thank you, Michael, for sharing your love and knowledge of Yosemite's plants, especially the wildflowers....in the spirit of Carl Sharsmith.
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