looking for monotropes

Back on June 9th, while hiking the Rhododendron Trail and CREA Trail, I spotted a couple of plants that could, if one stretched one's imagination enough, be the starts of some snow plant. It's not always perfectly red, after all. I also found these curious apparent tangles of white roots all over the place. I was excited to get home and find out what they were. That the two sprouts were in fact relatives of Sarcodes sanguinea was not so surprising, but that the strange tangles were too was. I had found Pleuricospora fimbriolata, Hemitomes congestum, and Monotropa uniflora.

I returned about three weeks later to hike the Rhododendron Trail and CREA Trails again, but in the opposite direction, to see what these might have sprouted into. Unfortunately, I arrogantly supposed I would remember the exact location of the two sprouts and I did not see them again. The Monotropa uniflora was still all over, but most had not got very far along. I was able to see a few very fresh flowers.

So I tried again, this time prepared with locations, to see these blooms. Since I have a bit of a hang up about hiking the same trail too often, I was happy to find locations for these plants on other trails. Hope Creek looked particularly strong as a candidate for spotting some blooms, so I started with a hike around the Ten Taypo and Hope Creek loop. I found the Pleuricospoa fimbriolata I was looking for and Pityopus californicus for a bonus. I still had one left.

I wasn't sure where to go from there, but tried hiking a loop including the south end of the West Ridge. There I found a blooming Hemitomes congestum to finish the set that was my goal.

Victory all around! Although there is one more that grows in the area that I've not spotted. Monotropa hypopitys... but I'm feeling pretty good about what I did find. I'd still like to see them at later stages. As I have, at times, been an avid geocacher, I liken preparing and searching like this to geocaching for plants. As expected, the coordinates are often pretty bad. Worse than they claim, even. (Mine are pretty bad too. I'm matching up a track to the photographs and the correct time offset seems to float around a little.) However, these observations made from trails are all visible from the trail. I didn't get hung up on the exact locations, so didn't go stomping into the forest all over. Coordinates are close enough that if someone is wanting to be out there and looking, they'll find it. There's no fast grab the picture and go around here, though.

Posted on July 23, 2021 04:20 PM by