jhorthoss dagbok

Very similar, but S. ovalis has usually more rounded leaflets. Both have pubescent leaf petioles but only S. americana has spreading hairs near the base of the petiole.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195783491

part 1: http://mertzdigital.nybg.org/cdm/ref/collection/p9016coll16/id/1153
part 2: http://mertzdigital.nybg.org/cdm/ref/collection/p9016coll16/id/1764

Gymnocarpium disjunctum and G. dryopteris are very hard to distinguish reliably from photos. The only perfectly reliable guide is based on genotype (G. dryopteris is an allotetraploid with one of the parents being diploid G. disjunctum).

G. dryopteris leaves are generally smaller, but hard to distinguish from young G. disjunctum.

The pinnules (leaflets) of the second pinna are usually highly asymmetric in size in G. disjunctum but similar in size or only mildly asymmetric in G. dryopteris. See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176866915. According to Hitchcock and Cronquist, >1.5x length difference is G. disjunctum and less is G. dryopteris. I would say that if they are nearly equal in length call it G. dryopteris and if they are >2x in length call it G. disjunctum, otherwise leave ID at genus level.

The basal pinnae of mature G. disjunctum are often 3-pinnate or 2-pinnate with moderately to deeply lobed terminal leaflets (3-pinnatifid).

Both ferns usually present in the field as somewhat dispersed groups of single fronds, each arising from a long wandering rhizome. If you can observe the second pinna pair in multiple such fronds the distinction should be clearer but it is annoying to photograph lots of them.

There are other small differences listed in Hitchcock and Cronquist but they are even subtler or microscopic (spore size).

from https://www1.usgs.gov/csas/nvcs/unitDetails/860590

"Artemisia rigida is restricted to the Columbia Plateau scablands with shallow, poorly drained, lithic soil over fractured basalt that is often saturated in winter, but typically dries out completely to bedrock by midsummer. "

The main USDA soil-type designations are Argabak (the shallowest) and Bakeoven. Though the user interface is a little cranky, interactive soil type maps with a lot of associated information can be found at https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/. You have to zoom in far enough to make the boundaries visible.

The area can't be bounded by one rectangle, but this iNaturalist view includes a lot of scabland around Whiskey Dick ridge:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=47.056751100429274&nelng=-120.06335303653032&place_id=any&swlat=46.96357893443272&swlng=-120.28582618106157&view=species&iconic_taxa=Plantae

Another area that has lots of readily accessed (but under-observed) scabland on top of small benches is Babcock Bench, just to the east of the Columbia river:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?iconic_taxa=Plantae&nelat=47.19647291927723&nelng=-119.98099849093705&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=47.17214757595927&swlng=-120.00254199374467

The famous channeled scablands are south of Grand Coulee dam, in the old Columbia river drainage.

Scablands (as used here, not identical to channeled scablands) are common in Kittitas and Yakima Counties, and there are also many patches to the north in Chelan County and east and northeast in Douglas and Grant Counties on the east side of the Columbia River. They are defined here as shallow rocky soils (less than 40 cm deep) over basalt bedrock from the Columbia Plateau basalt flows. The easily recognized Pediocactus nigrispinus is a good indicator in some areas, but it is not always present or may be sparse and hard to find. With a little experience, Artemisia rigida (Scabland Sagebrush) is easier to pick out and it seems to be present in all but the rockiest spots. If you see a sizeable area with rocky soil and sparse vegetation but lots of a low winter-deciduous sagebrush (no more than 3 feet tall) it is very likely Artemisia rigida. They also almost always have abundant small bunch grass Poa secunda, but this isn't as easy to recognize and is found in other areas as well. The scabland areas are often nearly flat or on gentle slopes, making them easily accessible and most are on very poor farm/range land so they tend to be public and unfenced. In some places they sit on top of obvious basalt benches (rather like very short mesas with a basalt escarpment around the edges). The widespread much taller Artemisia tridentata (Big Sagebrush) does not grow on scabland soils but is usually present in adjacent deeper soils.

The scablands support a remarkable diversity of plants, but all the plants are low growing and often early plants have died back before later plants flower so they never appear lush. By midsummer all but the Artemisia rigida and the Eriogonum subshrubs and the cacti have died back, so they look even more barren. For a few precious weeks in early to mid spring the are lots of flowers. April and early May are peak flower times, but there are a few Lomatiums that flower in March as well, and a few plants still in flower through mid June. In some patches (mostly in Kittitas County), the endemic Lomatium quintuplex is abundant and produces a sparse carpet of small yellow flowers peaking usually in April and early May. Following warm winters (typically El Nino years) all of the flowering times are a few weeks earlier.

Common associates in Kittitas County scablands and less fully explored areas in Chelan and Douglas Counties to the north (associates in Yakima County just to the south are probably very similar but I have not visited them as much):
Allium acuminatum
Astragalus purshii
Antennaria dimorpha
Balsamorhiza hookeri
Castilleja thompsonii
Delphinium nuttallianum
[Draba verna, not native]
Eremogone franklinii
Erigeron linearis
Erigeron poliospermus
Eriogonum douglasii
Eriogonum thymoides
Lewisia rediviva
Lomatium canbyi
Lomatium farinosa
Lomatium gormanii
Lomatium macrocarpum
Lomatium quintuplex
Lupinus sp. (probably L. saxosus)
Neoholmgrenia hilgardii
Nestotus stenophyllus
Nothocalais troximoides
Pediocactus nigrispinus
Penstemon gairdneri
Phacelia linearis
Phlox douglasii
Phlox hoodii
Phlox longifolia
Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides
Poa secunda
Trifolium macrocephalum
Viola trinervata

There are less common associates, and be aware that this list does not include plants of deeper soils adjacent to many of the scabland expanses, which support a quite different plant community associated with Big Sagebrush. For scabland, look for areas that are rather barren looking and with obviously rocky soil, lacking any tall shrubs, and usually with lots of the low rather scraggly looking Artemisia rigida (which is also deciduous if you are there from about November to March). Often the Big Sagebrush will be in lower areas or mounds of deeper soil, with the scabland mostly on ridges, slopes (low rounded ridges, don't expect mountains), and benches. There may be interspersed talus slopes or rocky ridge tops, which tend to support even fewer plants.

The delineation between scabland and Big Sagebrush habitat is often rather abrupt but sometimes they are intergraded or occur in interspersed patches.

https://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis17/locklear.pdf

E. douglasii - very similar to E. sphaerocephalum sublineare. ID notes at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/160463297

E. elatum - late flowering, large ovate to arrowhead shaped basal leaves on petioles about leaf-length, very tall flower stems, usually highly branched, leafless, giving a rather sparse open look with small flowers.

E. heracleoides - widespread, larger and shaggier than sphaerocephalum with more open flower umbels and usually with large leafy mid-stem bract (often missing in certain areas of central WA), largish plant, flowers cream to pink infused. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165614783

E. niveum - low sprawling shrub when not in flower, with ovate to broadly lanceolate leaves on long petioles, densely wooly and usually held vertically. Late flowering freely branched sprays of small flowers, usually white often with narrow pink stripes. Leafy bract at each flower stem branching. Flower stems persist through the winter and are often dark reddish brown. Inner whorl petals (tepals) narrower than outer petals (dimorphic tepals, same as E. strictum). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/131109378 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/160462358

E. ovalifolium - very low silvery to greyish foliage (occasionally green) varying from small upright paddle-like leaves to densely packed curled leaves, often forming sizeable mats. One variety has brown margins on leaves. With close inspection three tepals are much narrower and longer than others (dimorphic tepals). Flowers can be candy-striped, or pale to bright yellow, or sometimes dark pink or even red. Flower bracts form a cluster of several conical bract sheaths, each bearing several flowers. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/171453389

E. sphaerocephalum - up to 40 cm (16 in) tall, intermediate growth form between thymoides/douglasii and heracleoides, except for south central WA (var sublineare) when lower growing much like douglasii but often with revolute leaf margins. Flowers are often compound umbels with a leafy bract around the base, red in bud opening bright yellow. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/163335630 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165614783. ID notes: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/160463297

E. strictum - similar to E. niveum, but with no leafy bract on flower stem, see below. Also often has much longer petioles (up to 4x leaf length) than E. niveum, though I think that character overlaps.Usually flowers somewhat earlier than niveum, starting in May in cool year, April in warm year (WA), latest flowers in August. If flowers are creamy to bright yellow, nearly always strictum. Burke comments also suggest this is the common one on rocks and lithosol, with E. niveum usually in deeper sandier soil. Leaf habit usually lower and sometimes looking more like a large E. ovalifolium with longer petioles. Flowers often more yellow than niveum. Usually less branched flower stems than niveum. Inner whorl petals (tepals) narrower than outer petals (same as E. niveum). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165599598

E. thymoides - easy to recognized from small neat rounded habit and thymelike leaves. sometimes old plants sprawl and have a larger woody base but the growing parts still have the neat habit. This and E. douglasii are often found in very rocky shallow soil (scabland).

E. umbellatum - highly asymmetric tepals, flowers usually yellow but sometimes cream or with some red. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120446928

E. niveum and E. strictum are similar but most reliably differentiated by the leafy bract at the flower branches in E. niveum (inconspicuous and threadlike in E. strictum).

Burke: "The leafy bracts below the flowers throughout the inflorescence separates E. niveum from the similar E. strictum, which has no leafy bracts." JHT adds - the bract leaves are smaller than the basal leaves but similarly hairy and silver in tone.
https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/photo.php?Photo=wtu041148&Taxon=Eriogonum%20niveum&SourcePage=taxon

Comments and links on iNat:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/724985

From jdjohnson:
"Dimorphic tepals means that three tepals are wide and three tepals are narrow. If you find a close-up photo of Eriogonum ovalifolium flowers, you can see the difference."

E. ovalifolium: apparent with a good close up of individual flowers that are well opened, and then dimorphic tepals are very clear, e.g. photo 3 of https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44852252), with the inner whorl much narrower than the outer.

The flat area near Ankeny Camp Area, just north of Dry Falls.

Main comments at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/160466117

Revisit to more fully map patterns. Especially closer to lake side where I haven't recorded as much, and after early May to catch the later flowering plants. Also visit in very early spring 2024 (~early April) to get the early flowering plants, which I missed in 2023.

Graphical species list should be gotten with:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=47.63771785380799&nelng=-119.31493231561035&place_id=any&swlat=47.630083194746575&swlng=-119.33209845330566&user_id=jhorthos&verifiable=any&view=species

Most common and widespread are P. conjugens and P. pauciflora.

One distinguishing trait is the way the flower tubes join near their top just below (distal to) the petals:
smoothly connected, appearing almost merged into a cylinder is P. pauciflora (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153265869)
clearly separated with deep clefts between them is P. conjugens (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153265811), which is also less common, or at least less often observed on iNat, and never on the west side (which sounds opposite, presumably conjugens doesn't refer to the tube joins)

B. hookeri - common, foxtail leaves, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115263062
B. sagittata - large, very common, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152379363

https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/11/Darrach-2017_Lomatium-%E2%80%93-WA-Botanical-Symposium.pdf

By molecular studies, Lomatium and Cymopteris (and a few Tauschia and others) are extensively interdigitated, which appears not to have fully penetrated to formal naming. George et al 2014 Phylogenetic Analysis Reveals Multiple Cases of Morphological Parallelism and Taxonomic Polyphyly in Lomatium .

Some identification guides suggest crushing some leaves, but all of the species I have tested seem to smell roughly the same of cedar and turpentine (on the other hand I do not have a discriminating nose).

Cymopterus terebinthinus - except when fruiting looks a lot like a medium to large leafy yellow Lomatium with highly dissected shiny leaves. In WA state often found in dry sandy (sometimes rocky) soils and slightly sticky/shiny leaves and stems may have sand grains stuck on them. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154124936

L. ambiguum - yellow tall lanky glabrous Lomatium with highly divided leaves mostly on floral stem and looking somehow ill-formed with irregular sized rounded lobes (like moose antlers? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/119621448). Flowers mid spring, no involucre or involucel (umbel bracts), umbels usually multiple and well separated when mature. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/156334613 [unclear correct https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/156334613]
L. brandegeei - montane, medium to largish, deeply divided leaves, medium to narrow width leaflets with highly visible veination, yellow flowers, very common in developed serpentine soil in Wenatchees and more widely in Cascades despite being listed as vulnerable. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127119593 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167719744
L. canbyi - often on shallow lithosol, small early flowering white with distinctive widish leaflets, usually glaucous/grayish/bluish and held close to flat, often quinate division, often with cusped leaflet tip. flower stems usually brownish red. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/203170409 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154148039
L. columbianum - large and bushy rose flowers, unmistakable when in flower and even after, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149290580 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149326711
L. cuspidatum - serpentine, distinctive leaves, https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/jhorthos/68301-lomatium-cuspidatum-non-technical
L. dissectum (Fernleaf) - large bushy, dark red or yellow flowers, wider leaflets than L. multifidum, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153198930
L. farinosum - often on shallow lithosol, very small yellow (or white) glabrous Lomatium with narrow branched leaves. Distinctive linear leaves with each side branch in three parts (biternate), folded V- to U-shaped cross-section, sometimes flattened out some when older. All the ones I have seen are on scabland. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200672186 (early) ; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201935288 (late)
L. geyeri - medium small, white flowers with fairly narrow leaflets, larger and more leaves than L. gormanii and usually growing in deeper soil. Has a distinctive double root bulge (https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Lomatium%20geyeri). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200674165
L. gormanii - tiny white flowered glabrous, very early flowering, with no flower stem leaves (unlike piperi) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149332671
L. hallii - small to medium, yellow flowers, found in Oregon including Siskiyous, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152053418
L. howellii - uncommon, distinctive wide toothed leaflets, mostly on Klamath serpentine, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122515620
L. klickitatense - large puffy finely dissected, leaflets longer than L. papilioniferm, yellow flowers, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149327085 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149328613
L. laevigatum - very narrow range mostly Columbia Transect, large yellow with long leaflets, involucel nearly absent, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154127684
L. leptocarpum (L. bicolor leptocarpum) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122894913
L. linearifolium - very similar to L. gormanii, main obvious difference is elongated flower head.
L. lithosolamans - on shallow lithosol, uncommon, small white/purple early, usually with very few leaves that are V-shaped in cross section unlike other early salt and peppers. Endemic to Kittitas/Yakima Counties. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36510243
L. macrocarpum - often on shallow lithosol, medium sized, ground hugging when in flower (later more erect), green-white flowers with long white anthers (often yellow further south), hairy floral stalks and bracts, cusped leaflet tips, sometimes has quinate leaf division, ASYMMETRIC secondary umbel bracts (involucels) longer on outer hemisphere. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153200598
L. martindalei - montane, small, usually prostrate, wide leaflets, yellow flowers, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/128448751
L. multifidum (Carrotleaf) - large bushy highly dissected leaf, dark red or yellow flowers, very similar to L. dissectum but narrower leaf segments, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155156511
L. nevadense - central to southern Oregon and further east and south, somewhat similar to canbyi.
L. nudicaule - sometimes montane, medium to large, unmistakeable broad leaves, yellow flowers, large swollen base where umbels branch, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/117401560
L. papilioniferum - large showy yellow flowered, distinctive highly dissected leaves with short terminal leaflets, one of few on rock cliffs, extremely common in Columbia transect, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154112604
L. piperi - see L. gormanii.
L. quintuplex - on shallow lithosol, small yellow flowered with highly dissected leaves in a strongly 3-D shape and slightly cusped nearly cylindrical leaflets (https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/277673040), in marginal rocky sites. (convergent on or related to cuspidatum?) - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/158648966
L. roneurum - distinctive leaves, narrow range on Chumstick and adjacent gneiss rocks, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155090697 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/207315461
L. simplex - hard to distinguish from narrow-leaved forms of L. triternatum. lanky medium sized yellow, two to three times ternate narrow leaflets, often very long leaflets. Velvet-like hairy. Does NOT have stem leaves (unlike many triternatum). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154127265
L. triternatum - hard to distinguish from L. simplex. small to medium, yellow to pale yellow, narrow leaflets (narrowly lanceolate, except broader in var. brevifolium), dense short hairs on rachis and flower stem, sometimes has reduced leaf on flower stem (unlike simplex), sometimes disorganized looking leaves. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115265515
L. tuberosum - on coarse basalt scree/talus, rare adorable plant, very distinctive terete foliage, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154108537, fruits at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115128062
L. utriculatum - small lowland coastal, yellow flowers early spring, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152889731 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200238973 for umbel details.