Pinedrops / Pterospora andromedea

Got home less than five hours ago from an amazing four day (three night) road trip down to SE Alberta with two friends. Our furthest destination was Elkwater in the Cypress Hills, but we did a lot of driving all over the SE part of the province. All new territory to me, so I was extremely lucky to get this chance. Too tired to add any info tonight, other than to say we were all thrilled to bits to be taken to see these Pinedrops, which none of us had ever seen before, by a delightful young woman. We had met her the previous day, on a trip with people from Medicine Hat College to see and monitor an area of Yucca plants growing in the wild. Normally, we don't get these plants growing in Alberta, so they were probably brought from the US and planted by Native Americans. The area we went to is called the Pinhorn Grazing Lease and it is very close to the Canada/US border. We were so lucky, as a couple of the plants were actually in second bloom, whereas all the others had seedpods in varying stages. Such a treat to get this rare opportunity.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterospora