Small white flowers are common here and gives challenge to identification and notice. One white flower may look like another without careful examination. One such new flower I found this morning is the Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) . It is considered a common weed and gives milk a bitter taste when diary cows consume it. Some medicinal uses have been found including antibiotic uses. It was named for the penny-looking seed pods that appear later. It's leaves are alternating on a main stalk and are hooked or saw-tooth in appearance.


There are several shrubs or tree-like bushes that grow in meadow #1. One has bloomed today called the Western Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia). It's deep blue berries are edible though it is said that they have little taste to them. This is one of the plants collected by Lewis and Clark in north central Idaho in 1806. The men ate the berries as well. The leaves have small teeth edging them only on the top.


The most delightful surprise today was in finding my favorite flower of this region, the beautiful little Calypso orchid also known as the Fairyslipper or Venus' Slipper (Calypso bulbosa). In the upper meadow I was attracted to some fungi growing on a rock and suddenly spotted a small splotch of purple color low on the forest floor. I immediately recognized this beauty. It was a single specimen growing on a single stem out of the ground. The plant is extremely small, probably only 3" tall. One of the images here compares it to a AA battery I had in my pocket. I've never found it in this location and I was favorably surprised. I had been looking for it in all the normal places and it is not blooming in any of those places yet.

They require special conditions of shade, soil and moisture that cannot be duplicated outside of an old-growth forest. The single leaf has a very limited ability to photosynthesize and so cannot provide all the nutrients the plant needs. This orchid grows in an alliance with a fungus in the soil that shares nutrients taken from the roots of trees. The orchid is using the needles of the Douglas fir trees in the forest to provide the nourishment it needs through a fungus. They simply won't grow if dug up and taken home. There are so few in this area, I'd hate to see people try to transplant them.