Natural History Wanderings

Mt. Rainier National Park reports currently blooming  on August 7, 2015:

It is very dry in the park right now, but a few late season wildflowers are hanging in there. One common late blooming wildflower is Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea). Growing in clumps from spreading rootstock, this plant has narrow dark green leaves with white, woolly undersides. The pearly white “flowers” are actually a type of bract, or modified leaf, while the true flower is a dark yellow disc tucked among the white petal-like bracts. The bracts are papery in texture and retain their color and shape until the first snows, giving the appearance that this flower is “everlasting”.

Wildflower Reports

• Sunrise: (8/6) pearly everlasting, yarrow, few paintbrush, pasqueflower seedheads, cascade asters (late), mountain bog gentians
• SR410/SR123 (8/6): pearly everlasting, fireweed (late), common st. johnswort
• Paradise: (7/29) fireweed, pearly everlasting, corn lily/false hellebore, cascade aster, yarrow, paintbrush, sitka mountain ash berries
• Longmire: (7/23) yarrow, foamflower, wall lettuce, rattlesnake plantain, water parsley

See photos at Mt. Rainier National Park.