Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) near Crescent Harbor.

Late season flowers on a European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia).

While walking home one day last week, I noticed some light-green new looking growth on a Mt. Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) along the Lincoln Street green belt adjacent to Crescent Harbor. A little further along, I noticed a tree that had a few flowers. This struck me as a bit odd, since I’ve been noticing how much it already seems like fall is coming on. The temperatures haven’t really dropped yet, but the leaves are starting to, and most of the flowers are long gone.

This year I have been trying to pay more attention to blooming times, and something that has been interesting to me lately is how few things seem to be blooming even though it will be a fair while yet before we are likely to have a good freeze. The plants that are still blooming seem to fall into three categories. There are the species that don’t start blooming until late summer, there are plants with an extended blooming period, and finally the plants that seem to putting out a second, much less abundant, set of blooms well after the primary blooming period has ended.

There are only a few species that I associate with a late summer primary blooming period including Kneeling Angelica (Angelica genuflexa) and Douglas Aster (Symphiotrichum subspicatum), Rattlebox (Rhinanthus minor), and the introduced Hairy Cat’s Ears (Hypochaeris radicata).

Species with a blooming period that has a long tail include, Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Cleavers (Galium aparine), Pacific Water-Parsley (Conioselinum gmelinii), and the introduced (and invasive) Spreading Buttercup (Ranunculus repens), and Common Ragwort (Senecio vulgaris). This last deserves special mention, as last fall I noticed it blooming until at least the second week of November, and the first plant I saw blooming this spring was in March (though it was May before I started noticing in commonly).

Finally, the group of species that are blooming well after their primary blooming period include Dandelion (Taraxacum officianale), European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and in other years I’ve also seen Giant Vetch (Vicia nigricans ssp. gigantea), and . This group seems to consist of two sub-groups, those plants that consistently do it and those where the blooming seems to be more accidental. The vetch and mountain ash definitely seem to be in the latter category, though I am not sure what might cause such an accidental flowering to occur. Dandelions (and probably the miner’s lettuce, though I’ve not noticed it specifically) do seem to have a late season push of flowers, though not nearly as abundant as in the early summer primary blooming period.

Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) near Crescent Harbor.

Late season new growth on a European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia).

Other Posts in the series:
Bear Mountain Flora (part 1)
Bear Mountain Flora (part 2 – Saxifrages)
Bear Mountain Flora (part 3 – Aster Family)

This is (finally) the last post about the plants I found on a hike up Bear Mountain earlier this month. This will be sort of a catch-all of plants that I thought were interesting but didn’t make it into one of the previous posts.

Unidentified Pea Family

When I first saw this plant, it looked like a plant in the pea family, but I was totally sure about that. I looked for seedpods, but did not see any until I looked carefully at my photos when I got home. I did not look closer at the actual plant because I only saw them growing on a very steep (almost cliff) slope with loose rocks and a long drop. I opted to just take photos from a distance rather than risk the fall.

Yellow Monkey-flower (Mimulus guttatus)?

These plants were growing in a moist area. At the time I thought the leaves looked a little bit like Enchanter’s Nightshade. Looking at the photos and comparing with Enchanter’s Nightshade leaves, it’s pretty clear they are not. I’m now leaning toward Yellow Monkey-flower (Mimulus guttatus)

Holly-fern (Polystichumm lonchitis)

This does not seem to be an especially common fern around Sitka, though I have seen it a few places.

Unidentified Cinquefoil (Potentilla sp)

If I saw this plant growing on rocks along a beach, I probably would not question it as a Villous Cinquefoil (P. villosa). However, I have never seen it at upper elevations before, though it apparently does grow in the alpine. I would not be surprised if it is Villous Cinquefoil, but there are other alpine potentillas that I am not sure about. One particular difference I notice is that the leaves seem much coursely toothed than I am used to seeing on the beach. I only found it on the summit ridge at around 4000 feet, or so.

Unidentified Pearlwort (Sagina sp.)

It seems most likely that this is Snow Pearlwort (S. intermdedia) or Arctic Pearlwort (S. saginoides). Habitat seems to fit better with Snow Pearlwort.

Roseroot (Sedum roseum)

This was a new-to-me plant that seemed restricted to the alpine areas. I’ll have to try to get up again a little earlier next year to get photos of the flowers.

Sibbaldia (Sibbaldia procumens)

Another new-to-me alpine plant that I only saw in the alpine areas. In this case I managed to find some flowers, though they are fairly inconspicuous.