Natural History Wanderings

 Mount Rainier National Park has a new wildflower report for what is through  June 18, 2015

While blooming wildflowers fill your eyes with color, they can also tickle your nose with perfume. One flower noted for it’s sweet, heavy scent is Sitka Valerian (Valeriana sitchensis). A tall plant with square stems, Sitka Valerian flowers bob above the other meadow wildflowers, the breeze easily carrying their scent. Common is subalpine regions, they are currently blooming across the park.

Wildflower Reports

Tipsoo: (6/17) sitka valerian, arnica, magenta paintbrush, lupine, pasqueflower seedheads, sitka mountain ash, bistort, subalpine daisy, cinquefoil, buttercup, alpine speedwell, cusick’s speedwell, avalanche lily, glacier lily, smooth stem willowherb

Sunrise: (6/17) magenta paintbrush, phlox, cusick’s speedwell, cinquefoil, pasqueflower seedheads, slow jacob’s ladder, bluebell, pink mountain heather, lupine, harsh paintbrush, subalpine daisy, arnica

Sunrise Road: (6/17) thimbleberry, lupine, penstemon, paintbrush, sitka valerian, arnica, sitka mountain ash, yarrow, pink mountain heather, phlox, cinquefoil, columbine

White River: (6/17) vanilla leaf, bunchberry, columbine, asters, thimbleberry, thistle, sitka mountain ash, lupine

SR410: (6/17) lupine, sitka valerian, paintbrush, arnica, bear grass, cow parsley, goat’s beard, columbine, thimbleberry, rosy spirea, sitka mountain ash, cow parsley, goat’s beard, penstemon, thistle

SR123: (6/17) arnica, tiger lily, columbine!, thimbleberry, goat’s beard, paintbrush, sitka valerian, lupine, subalpine daisy

Grove of the Patriarchs: (6/17) foam flower, pathfinder, starflower, thimbleberry, candyflower, self-heal, columbine, cow parsley, vanilla leaf, devil’s club, bunchberry

Ohanapecosh: (6/17) devil’s club, goat’s beard, foam flower, thimbleberry, twin flower

Stevens Canyon: (6/17) arnica, goat’s beard, paintbrush, tiger lily, columbine, fireweed, penstemon, thimbleberry, lupine, cow parsley, sitka valerian, rosy spirea, bear grass, subalpine daisy

Paradise-Longmire Road: (6/17) jeffrey’s shooting star, sitka valerian, lupine, thistle, cow parsley, bog orchid!, arnica, paintbrush, penstemon, goat’s beard

Paradise: (6/14) lupine, bistort, cusick’s speedwell, sitka valerian, sitka mountain ash, pink mountain heather, harsh paintbrush, subalpine daisy, cinquefoil, bear grass, jeffrey’s shooting star

Comet Falls/Mildred Point/Van Trump: (6/9) colubine, bluebells, queen’s cup, arnica, candyflower, sitka valerian, sitka mountain ash, elderberry, false solomon’s seal, star-flowered false solomon’s seal, violets; peak: avalanche lilies – very dense!

Reflection Lakes/High Lakes: (6/9) avalanche lily, shooting star, cinquefoil, lupine, columbine, bistort; early: pink mountain heather, sitka valerian, cliff penstemon, elephant head