As I mentioned on my home page, most of my life as a botanist has been spent in Oregon and Washington. I actually grew up in New Hampshire, but due to “plant blindness” I didn’t really start to learn plants until I was in the midst of my Botany degree. Because of this, I consider the Pacific Northwest my botanical home.
Oregon is home to over 4,500 species of plants, with a huge amount of biodiversity packed into the southwestern corner of the state, which is part of the California Floristic Provence. The CFP is a global biodiversity hotspot- one of two found in the United States (the other is in the Southeastern USA). Many plants in southwestern Oregon are endemic, being found nowhere else in the world. One reason for this is the serpentine soils found in the area, which plants require specialized adaptations to thrive upon.
It’s very hard to pick favorites among so many fascinating and beautiful species, but on this page I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite observations from the last couple years. Many of these genera have representative species in Ohio, and it is really interesting to compare them and think about their evolutionary radiations across North America.
Spring in the Columbia River Gorge 
Sidalcea hirtipes,
bristlystem checkerbloom
Castilleja parviflora ssp. oreopola,
magenta paintbrush
Tolmiea menziesii, youth-on-age 
Delphinium distichum, meadow larkspur 
Erythranthe alsinoides,
wingstem monkeyflower
Camassia leichtlinii, great Camas 
Calochortus tolmiei, Tolmie star tulip 
Cypripedium montanum,
mountain lady’s slipper
Kopsiopsis hookeri, Hooker’s groundcone 
Collomia grandiflora,
large flowered Collomia
Castilleja elata, siskiyou paintbrush 
Calochortus howellii,
Howell’s mariposa lily
Kindbergia oregana,
oregon beaked moss
Drosera rotundifolia,
round leaved sundew
Corydalis scouleri, Scouler’s corydalis 
Prosartes hookeri, hooker’s fairy bells 
Corallorhiza maculata ssp. occidentalis,
spotted coralroot orchid
Fritillaria affinis, checker lily 
Erythronium montanum, avalanche lily 
Lonicera involucrata,
twinberry honeysucke
Xerophyllum tenax, beargrass (and Greta) 
Lilium columbianum, tiger lily 
Pulsatilla occidentalis, pasqueflower 
Chamaenerion angustifolium, fireweed 
Olsynium douglasii, grass widow 
Calypso bulbosa ssp. occidentalis,
fairy slipper orchid
Corallorhiza striata ssp. striata,
striped coralroot orchid
Lithophragma parviflorum, prairie star 
Trifolium macrocephalum,
big headed clover
Aphyllon uniflorum,
one flowered broomrape
Tellima grandiflora, fringecup 
Lupinus rivularis, riverbank lupine 
Erythronium revolutum, coast fawn lily 
Asarum caudatum, western wild ginger 
Thalictrum occidentale,
western meadow rue
Delphinium trolliifolium, cowpoison 
Frasera albicaulus, whitestem frasera 
Astragalus reventiformis,
Yakima milkvetch
Vancouveria hexandra, inside-out flower 
Platanthera elongata,
denseflower rein orchid
Neottia banksiana,
northwestern twayblade
Isomopsis aggregata, scarlet gilia 
Darlingtonia californica, cobra lily 
Silene laciniata 
Hydrophyllum capitatum, ballhead waterleaf 
Sedum oregonense, cream stonecrop