Plants of Alberta 4

For some weird reason, I labelled this "Yellow Lettuce" when I sent it around via e-mail. I remember seeing these very small, yellow flowers growing at Jim Coutts' amazing homestead, just north east of Nanton (south of Calgary) and immediately thought they were Yellow Lettuce. However, the flowers are not like this - this looks more like an Annual Sowthistle flower to me, even though it was very small. Anyone happen to know? Here comes the sun, FINALLY, after an overcast, cold, wet "summer - yay!!!!!! Enjoy it, everyone. I have a volunteer shift to go to, so will be indoors : (

All my life, when I thought of "grass", I pictured a long green blade. If you've never taken a really close look at grass when it's in flower, you might get quite a surprise. This macro shot shows you the VERY tiny flowers of Soft-leaf Muhly grass, seen growing in Horseshoe Canyon, in the Badlands of Alberta, near Drumheller. Taken on 21st August.

I came across three or four of these quite large flowers a few days ago, totally unexpectedly. I had just spent some time down on my hands and knees photographing tiny Bird's-nest Fungi and then came across these very beautiful "weeds" on the way back to my car. They are my favourite thistle, so I always love seeing them (rarely). "Biennial or winter annual that reproduces by seed only. A native of Europe, nodding thistle has a long history as a rangeland pest. The invasive nature of this aggressive plant can lead to severe degradation of native grasslands and meadows because grazing animals focus on native vegetation giving the thistles a competitive advantage." www.invasiveplants.ab.ca/Downloads/FS-NoddingThistle.pdf

An introduced, invasive weed - and beautiful, as so many of our "weeds" are. Seen growing at Malllard Point, east end of Fish Creek Park. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linaria_vulgaris

A pretty little flower that tends to look like "just another daisy". Found on a walk at Clearwater Park on 4th September. "Native to Europe, it was introduced as an ornamental and/or a contaminant in crop seed. This is not the chamomile used for tea as it is scent-less.... Scentless Chamomile and Oxeye daisy are often mistaken for each other as the flowers are nearly identical, but the leaves are very different. Both plants are weeds - there are no native white-flowered daisies in Alberta." www.invasiveplants.ab.ca/Downloads/FS-ScentlessChamomile.pdf

"Just" Common Burdock , an invasive, noxious weed, but I always love seeing those spike-covered burrs. The fall colours in the distance make this image different from other Burdock photos I've taken in the past. Seen on the east side of the Bow River at Mallard Point while we were on a bird walk. My eyes are always darting here, there and everywhere, LOL, so a bird walk is never just a bird walk for me - love to see and photograph everything, from insects to plants, but usually the birds are much too far to photograph on bird walks. That leaves me with everything else : ) This plant, by the way, was the inspiration for the invention of Velcro. www.invasiveplants.ab.ca/Downloads/FS-CommonBurdock.pdf

We don't usually see Scabious flowers growing in the wild - in fact, I think I've only ever seen one flower once a few years ago. This one and several others were growing at the edge of the forest on Rod Handfield's property, south of the city and near Millarville. The field on the other side of the barbed-wire fence was one mass of these colourful flowers!

Photographed this native Hooker's Thistle out in Kananaskis, near the parking lot, when we went on the Picklejar Lakes hike on August 6th. Also known as White Thistle, it grows in meadows and open woods, July-September. The species name comes from Sir William J. Hooker (1785-1865), director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in England.

Raise your hand if you've ever taken a close look at an ordinary Clover flower when it's in seed, LOL! What, no-one? Actually, I think it's quite attractive. Photographed this two days ago when I went to Bow Valley Provincial Park for the day with two Lichen-lovers/experts, who are searching for and recording every different species of Lichen they come across.