Long story, but I ended up spending all of last week helping out with some bird surveys in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. The park (which as the visitor’s center t-shirts proclaim, doesn’t have whiskey or a town) is centered around Whiskeytown Lake, about 10 miles east of Redding, California. This puts it the southern foothills of the Klamath Mountains. While the science focused on birds and trees, I did make some time to point my camera downward. Most of the following flowers are only found in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Dichelostemma ida-maia (Firecracker Flower, Themidaceae)


Mimulus kelloggii (Kellog’s Monkeyflower, Phrymaceae). They’ve actually updated the taxonomy of Mimulus, so I probably should start using the new names. It’s now Diplacus kelloggii.


I don’t often photograph shrubs, but when I do they have showy flowers. Philadelphus lewisii (Lewis’s Mock Orange, Hydrangeaceae). This genus is called Mock Orange because the flowers look like those of distantly related citrus plants, although the later have five petals.


A couple plants named after their blue color–Penstemon azureus (Azure Beardtongue, Plantaginaceae)


and Calochortus coeruleus (Blue Star Tulip, Liliaceae), with a crab spider lying in wait for a pollinator


A couple more widely distributed annuals–Clarkia rhomboidea (Tongue Clarkia, Onagraceae)


and Navarretia intertexta (Interwoven Navarretia, Polemoniaceae)


A couple plants in monotypic genera with no close relatives–Odontostomum hartwegii (Hartweg’s Doll’s-lily, Tecophilaeceae)


and Cycladenia humilis (Waxydogbane, Apocynaceae)


Lastly, Iris tenuissima (Slender Iris, Iridaceae) an absolutely beautiful iris that was delightfully common in the area.