In April, I reported on my Springtime visits to Kah Tai Prairie. Here’s an update with late spring flowers (April 30) and summer flowers (June 23).
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Snails, fish, insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
As explained previously, Kah Tai Preserve is a remnant of the PNW prairie landscape that emerged after the retreat of the ice age glaciers. This 1.4 acre piece survived development because of benign neglect, having been set aside as a "rough" in a golf course.
At my last visit, the poisonous Death Camas were just starting to bloom as the edible Common Camas (Camassia quamash) were fading. On April 30, the Death Camas were in full bloom and taking over the scene. This would have been the perfect time for the native people that traditionally nurtured the prairies to harvest the bulbs of the blue Common camas while they could still tell the blue and white flowering plants apart. Sometimes, the white camas plants would be weeded out of the blue camas fields to prevent accidental poisonings.
Let’s see what else was blooming!
The bulbs of the Chocolate lily (aka Checker lily or Mission bells) were also used by the Coast Salish as a food source although they are much less common than the camas in the prairie. The yellow flowers pictured below with the Chocolate lily are Barestem desert parsley. Another common name for this is the Indian Consumption Plant. The leaves and seeds were used in a variety of ways as food and it was used medicinally to treat “consumption” (tuberculosis).
Yellow salsify was introduced from Europe, but it is a spectacular flower to find amidst the grasses. I have not witnessed this, but apparently it will close up in cloudy weather or in the afternoon, earning it the name “Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.”
New patches of blue, replacing the Common camas, were Menzie’s Larkspur. This is one of the many regional plants named to honor Archibald Menzies (1754-1842), a Scottish naturalist who accompanied Captain George Vancouver on his HMS Discovery voyage (1791–1795) to the PNW.
I didn’t get back to the prairie with my camera in tow until June 23. What a difference! There are still a variety of wildflowers to be found among the now taller grasses, including the purple fleabane (at the top).
Yarrow was used for a variety of medicinal purposes by different PNW tribes, including as a poultice, cold and cough medicine, for childbirth, measles, and bronchitis, and as a general tonic.
The Harvest Brodiaea is another member of the lily family with bulbs that were harvested by the native people. It was described by Menzies in 1792 during the Discovery voyage, who then named the genus after Scottish botanist, James Brodie (1744-1824).
It’s about time for another visit with summer in full swing.
Your turn! All observations are welcome!
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