OregonFlora

Azure penstemon (Penstemon azureus var. azureus) is a pretty wildflower found in more or less moist woodlands and open forest in southwestern Oregon and the northern half of California. Penstermon flowers have 5 stamens, 4 of which are fertile. The shape of the anthers and how they open is often used to identify many penstemon species. The staminode (the long white tube resting on the lower opening of the flower tube) is the fifth and infertile stamen. Its tip is often hairy, but this one lacks any hairs, another characteristic used to distinguish penstemon species from one another. The style can be seen at top curving down between the anthers. A pollinating bee enters the flower tuber in search of nectar, rubbing its wings and abdomen on the anthers and releasing pollen. When it enters the next flower, the pollen can be transferred to that flowers stigma/style and pollination occurs.

Image by Gerald D. Carr from June 12, 2007 from about 2.6 miles northwest of O'Brien, OR.

To view additional images of azure penstemon along with a range map of its distribution, please visit OregonFlora at:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=14003

Even if you don't have appropriate space in your yard to plant native plants, you can still plant natives in pots, troughs and trays and place them along on a balcony, in a window trough or along the driveway to enjoy them during their bloom!

Here's one good plant to start with: Cardinal monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis) which should be available at many native plant nurseries. I'm not able to get this to survive in the ground, but boy does it like to grow like crazy in pots! And it self sows its seeds into nearby pots, too. These are 2 gallon pots with saucers placed under them. I water them every several days (if needed) in cool weather, but they get watered every day in +85F or on warm windy days. I make sure to water from the base of the plant in the pot and then let water collect in the saucer until it is full.

In this image from my driveway, there are the usual crimson color-forms for the flowers, but there is also an orange-flowered one as well as a pink-flowered form. This species of monkeyflower seems to be able to form hybrids with both common monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata) and Lewis' monkeyflower (Erythranthe lewisii) so one can get a variety of colors and flower and calyx shapes in the resulting offspring plants which grow either later in the year or during the next spring season.

Here's the link to the Gardening with Natives Fact Sheet for cardinal monkeyflower from the OregonFlora website if you are interested:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/garden.php?taxon=5044

Hairy-stemmed checkermallow (Sidalcea hirtipes) is a rare wildflower found in open spaces in the coastal mountains to bluffs along the ocean, but not on tideflats of northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington (where it's also rare). The species has also been found near the Columbia River as far upstream as the Portland/Vancouver area. The eye-catching inflorescence consists of dark pink flowers that are tightly spaced. Because it is fairly rare, it is probably best not to mention specific locations to help protect them from poaching.

The attached image was taken by Gerald D. Carr on June 17, 2013 somewhere in Clatsop County, OR.

To view additional images and range map for this stunning wildflower, please visit OregonFlora at:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=8383

There's a wildflower species blooming now in southern Oregon forests that you might swear to be arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) as you drive by. But if you stop the car to take a closer look, this 'balsamroot' begins to look a bit strange with a longer look. It' has silvery gray leaves and woolly bracts below the flower head, just like arrowleaf balsamroot, but the characteristic that makes this odd is that it has numerous large leaves up the stem. Balsamroots only have a pair or two of small leaves or bracts mid-stem and above. So what pray tell, is this showy arrowleaf balsamroot lookalike?

It turns out that it's woolly mule's ears (Wyethia mollis). It turns out that a quick way to distinguish all the mules ears from the balsamroots is the large stem leaves on the former, the nearly leafless stems of the latter.

Woolly mule's ears can be found on vernally moist, grassy forest openings, prairie or sagebrush desert in the southern half of Klamath and Lake Counties, OR. The species can then be found south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California to Inyo County. Note that the species name "mollis" means soft, which the plants are!

The attached image of woolly mule's ears was taken by Gerald D. Carr on June 2, 2019 on north side of OR Hwy 140, about 2.2 miles east of the junction with US Hwy 395, Lake County, OR.

To view additional images, pressed specimens, a range map and brief written description of woolly mule's ears, please visit OregonFlora at:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=9176

Here's a new blog post about the flora of one of the Cascade peaks from Tanya Harvey, who is layout editor for the Flora of Oregon as well as writing some floral treatments.

https://westerncascades.com/2026/06/03/a-very-early-spring-at-loletta-peak/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSOdi5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeL7pRemhDmqczBCvkLSuWnaFo1Y4Egz7YMpGAV_tIOm7YaPETFfri3kU2qVM_aem_tHdBhVds3DZfkieOjGXcCg

A Very Early Spring at Loletta Peak Looking southeast from the summit of “Loletta Peak,” there’s little evidence of fire. The sharp point of Mt. Thielsen can be seen 25 miles away. Nearby on the right side of the photo is north end of the Balm Mountain rdge. Spreading phlox is abundant all over the summit area.

Royal penstemon (Penstemon speciosus) is quite the showy wildflower with deep, electric blue flowers in a long one-sided inflorescence. It can be found from the eastern base of the Cascades eastward in both Oregon and Washington, with populations squeezing west of the Cascade Mountains in the Siskiyou region of Oregon.

If you can find the plants, they would make quite a show-stopping display in the middle of a sunny garden.

Here's the Garden Fact Sheet for royal penstemon as seen on the OregonFlora Grow Natives website:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/garden.php?taxon=7103 #

Image taken yesterday west of Wenas, WA, west of the junction of Audubon Rd and Wenas Rd.

Desert paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) is a colorful wildflower found from the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains eastward across much of central and eastern Oregon where it is currently to be found in bloom!

Image by Gerald D. Carr as seen May 23, 2012 along Harper-Westfall Road, about 6.2 mi. NW of Harper, OR.

I should point out for those of you that post images to iNaturalist, that this image is an excellent one that is useful for identifying paintbrushes as it gives a view of the inflorescence bracts, calyx lobes and tip of the corolla (all useful for paintbrush ID). The photographer also submitted full plant views as well as the stem leaves which are likewise handy for identification purposes.

To view additional images and a range map for desert paintbrush, please visit OregonFlora at:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=3846

Wagner's wild ginger (Asarum wagneri) as photographed by Gerald D. Carr on July 6, 2011 along the Moon Point Trail, off USFS Rd. 439, about13 air miles SSE of Oakridge, OR. This pretty wildflower is endemic to the southern Cascade Mountains of Oregon (from SE Lane County south to the mountains north of OR 66.)

To view additional images, a range map, and brief written description of this unique wildflower, please visit OregonFlora at:

https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=3014

The Cardwell's penstemons (Penstemon cardwellii) were blooming nicely today along the Surveyor's Ridge Trail, Mount Hood National Forest!

It's bitterroot time (Lewisia rediviva)!

Image taken by Tanya Harvey on June 14, 2011 at Fort Rock State Natural Area in Lake County, OR.