Anaphalis margaritacea (Western pearly everlasting)

There are over 100 species of Anaphalis but only Anaphalis margaritacea is native to North America. It is widespread across most of Canada, the United States and Northwestern Mexico. This species also has native, wild populations throughout Europe and the the Far East. This healthy specimen was found growing on an empty building site. Just what this plant loves: full sun and poor soil.

Western pearly everlasting is dioecious, meaning that the pollen-producing (male) and seed-producing (female) flowers are borne on separate plants. The flowers are either entirely staminate (producing pollen) or functionally pistillate (mostly producing just seed, but with a few staminate flowers present). Thus the female flowers have a brilliant 'back-up plan' which ensures that, even if there are no male plants in the vicinity, there is still a way to produce the next generation of Western pearly everlasting.

Color Burst

(c) gif by riverwindphotography, August 2023

“Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” ~ Emily Dickinson

The pearly everlasting flowers last so long that they have become a symbol of Immortality, and the plant has several other suggestive names including Live-ever, Life-everlasting, and Immortelle. It was traditionally used to decorate the graves of departed loved ones.

Many wildflower plants are making the shift from blooms to seedheads or berries in the subalpine meadows, but some late-season wildflowers can still be found. Mountain bog gentian (Gentiana calycosa) is having a big year in subalpine meadows around Paradise as well as at Mowich Lake. Other common late-season wildflowers include pearly everlasting and fireweed.

Remember to please stay on trail! It doesn’t take many steps to trample the wildflowers you are coming to see. Many trails offer great opportunities for that perfect mountain + wildflower photo. Where are you finding wildflowers?

For updates on what’s blooming where visit https://go.nps.gov/RainierWildflower

Unfamiliar with Mount Rainier’s wildflower species? Check out the wildflower guide at https://go.nps.gov/RainierWildflowerGuide

NPS Photos of mountain bog gentian at Paradise, 8/16/23, and gray’s lovage and pearly everlasting at Mowich Lake, 8/17/23.

Pearly everlasting living up to its name by still being in bloom mid-october

Grace Burn Wand by: Lit Rituals

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Part 1. Had Allegheny Power gotten its way 40 years ago, the land included as part of this idyllic refuge would today be the muddy bottom of a lake formed by damming the Blackwater River. The power company proposed turning the largest and most botanically-diverse high-elevation wetlands complex east of the Rocky Mountains into a “recreation destination” (e.g., overpriced tourist trap similar to nearby Deep Creek, Maryland) so it could execute a sketchy pump and release hydroelectric scheme. Thankfully, the US Army Corps of Engineers refused to issue a permit, and the nation has been since been rewarded with its 500th national wildlife refuge. 

From top: beechdrops (Epifagus virginiana), a really unusual parasitic plant that draws its nutrients from the roots of the American beech tree; golden spindles (Clavulinopsis fusiformis), also known as spindle-shaped fairy club, a glorious late summer coral fungus; great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele), a common and lovely member of the Nymphalidae family that practically begs to be photographed; common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which blooms late into August at the higher elevation of the valley; Monarch larvae (Danaus plexippus), in their fifth instars; pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), a fabulously-beautiful late summer aster much beloved by the dried flower industry; and the stingbean-like seed pods of Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), one of the bittersweet bellwethers of summer’s end.

Pearly

Anaphalis margaritacea (Pearly Everlasting)

©2022 Ken Oliver

Self Portrait 2022 - with Pearly Everlasting

Pearly Everlasting

Anaphalis margaritacea (Pearly everlasting) and Apis mellifera (Western honey bee)

The Waggle Dance

In 1927, Karl von Frisch published a book called “The Dancing Bees”. In 1973, he won the Nobel Prize for deciphering the meaning of the Western honey bee’s ‘waggle dance’. When a honey bee finds a rich source of nectar, it returns to the hive and gives a little taste to a group of worker bees. Once it has assembled a crowd it does the ‘waggle dance’. The other bees then fly directly to the food source. 

Frisch figured out that the direction of the dance indicates the direction of the food source and the duration of the dance shows the distance. He went on to discover that bees see in color and can understand simple geometric shapes. It is likely that this information is also communicated. Of the 16,000 known species of bees, only the Western honey bee demonstrates this behavior.

Portland Landscape Mulch Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary shade backyard mulch landscaping in summer.

Four fritillary and two skipper butterflies have been added to the BUTTERFLIES folder at developingnaturegallery.com. These five photographs were taken in the western landscape; on trails and in a garden.

𝟷𝟾𝟽𝟷 𝙵𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎

Anaphalis margaritacea was prettier in the wild than the pictures i had seen led me to believe!!!

I am a plagiarized autobiography, a wreckage A shipwreck in sheep’s clothes

It’s been a year since I joined @cliffsidewarriors-rp with my Whistlefox! Happy birthday, you ridiculous creature.