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...a week after leaving Boulder, CO., my wife and I arrived at our destination on the coast of Washington; the Long Beach peninsula to be exact. We discovered that very first day there aren't many choices as far as getting on or off the damn thing. Ultimately all roads lead to Route 101, whether you're coming up from Astoria, OR, along the northern side of the Columbia River on Route 4, or coming down from somewhere further north; it's a drive along Route 101 whether it's a few miles, or a few hundred.
If you're coming down from somewhere further north, chances are you're either going to cut across the western half of the state from I-5, either by way of Route 12, or Route 6. We took Route 6. At the end of our 8th day, nearing our destination, we were tired and road-weary and just wanted to get the heck to the end of our journey. Even the roadside wildflowers failed to stir much interest. There were a couple, however, that got the best of me, and in spite of my wife's weary protestations I pulled over a couple times. A bunch of pink, growing in among the damp, shady roadside foliage, proved too much for me to ignore. It was Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa). And as I was marveling at all of those flowers, I noticed there was another pink wildflower growing in bunches among all that wet, shady green. It was Scouler's Corydalis Corydalis scouleri). What a treat. Both are members of the Fumitory Family (Fumariaceae), which in turn is sometimes included in among the Poppy Family (Papaveraceae). Both species prefer moist, shaded environments; Western Bleeding Heart grows at low to middle elevations while Scouler's Corydalis grows only at low elevations. Scouler's Corydalis produces a spike of numerous pink, spurred, somewhat tubular flowers, which put on a show above the parsley-like leaves. The leaves of Western Bleeding Heart are fern-like, with clusters of 4 to 10 drooping pink heart-shaped flowers rising up out of those ferny leaves. Other species in these two genera include Golden Smoke (C. aurea), which is common east of the Cascades across the plains into Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Arkansas, Pale Corydalis (C. sempervirens), an eastern species which I found in northern Indiana, Steer's Head (D. uniflora), which grows from the Pacific Northwest into northern Utah and western Wyoming, Golden Ear-drops (D. chrysantha), which grows in the southern two-thirds of California (I found it in the southern Sierra Nevadas), and a couple of eastern species common in Ohio's woodlands, Dutchman's Breeches (D. cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis). Each and every one of these species produces small and delicate, yet beautifully shaped flowers. They are showy in a much more subtle, almost bashful sort of way. Go To Page: 1 2 |
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