Shunda to Columbia Icefields, Alberta Rockies in July

[cohan]

Cohan, the bell shapes of flower such as Cassitetra and Phyllodglandus are very attractive CU and carpeting the ground - I also like the pea form in 090715

thanks, robin--the Phyllodoce and Cassiope are our mountain heathers..there is a purple flowered species too, but i haven't seen it; the P glandulosa is named for those little hairs on the flowers; thats the fun of macro, isn't it? to see these details we never would otherwise--unless we got down out there with a handlens

that light purple pea is one of my favourite of the Fabaceae flowers i have seen, the foliage is less interesting though than some of the other wooly ones..

[cohan]

a belated continuation of this trip, now nearing the end, some more views and one last small botanising site..
still july 15..
leaving site 7, which was more or less still at the altitude of the Columbia Icefield, the road soon takes a big drop again, and you travel along a narrow river valley, with walls of forest all around, pics 2,3 except for places where the river opens up the views on one side.
pic 4 Chamerion  (Epilobium) latifolium
a view of mountain fireweed, carpeting areas in the river flood plains..
gradually the valleys widen as the road moves farther south, and eventually we turn east again...

[Ragged Robin]

The mountain shapes are extraordinary, Cohan, and it's fascinating how the trees in your first photo follow the ridges down the slope....wonder why? 

[Lori S.]

Robin, in that photo, there are a few trees only on the ridges because the intervening slight valleys are drainages where the scree is unstable, and where water and snow come down in season.  There are a couple of minor avalanche tracks on the left side of the photo, where the slope above is steep enough for frequent snow slides that prevent trees from getting to any significant height (if they are able to get established there at all).  On the right side of the photo is a landslide/talus fan, where unstable debris would prevent trees from growing.  

[cohan]

site 8 is a great spot, where, at the end of May, on my last trip, i photographed Primula mistassinica, Dodecatheon, Anemone parviflora etc..

i'd hoped to maybe find seed of those, but no luck...
i did find some new treasures!
the site is a small lake/pond, right off the highway, farther east than Abraham Lake, west of Nordegg (if i am remembering correctly!) edit--boy oh boy, i could have sworn this site was farther east than Abraham Lake, but checking my unedited photos, it clearly is either west of the lake -and/or south, whatever the road is doing there- or parallel to part of the big lake, which goes on for quite a distance..
my impression is that it is rather alkaline, the plants growing in clayey, gravelly substrate in the areas around the shores, rather than anything mossy or peaty; i presume this habitat is sometimes flooded, and sometimes dryish..
pic 1 looking toward the lake, the area i have looked at (briefly!) is to the right of the view
pic 2 looking the opposite way, away from the lake; the forest starts just behind the low, wet area; the Lilium etc below were just in the edge of that wooded area
pic 3 the muddy shores--this is where the most interesting (all tiny!) plants are, in among low grasses and stunted woodies
pic 4 Primula mistassinica
just the plants, with a little friend that gives you an idea how tiny they are!
pic 5 Platanthera sp?
tiny bog orchid, even here size varies, this is only a few inches tall
pics 6,7 Arnica?
a delightful tiny sunflower, in any case...
pics 8,9 Pedicularis groenlandica?
nearly finished, and not tiny like most of the plants here, though it was growing a bit farther back from the water, and perhaps the most alkaline environment? or simply the coldest... stems and leaves in this population totally dark purple...
pic 10 Zigadenus (Toxicoscordion) elegans
of course its here too! at the edge of the wooded area

[cohan]

to add to lori's comments, much of this area, especially where you can see the valley the highway runs through is so narrow, has signs posted warning that its an avalanche area..not that i'm sure what good it does to know
 last of the flower pics and some more views later, now i have to  dash off to get ready for work!
thanks for looking and commenting..

[Lori S.]

Just curious... why do you think the pond was alkaline, Cohan?  (I've never seen the characteristic plants of alkaline sloughs in the mountains or foothills, and the occurrence of alkaline sloughs is much more a feature of the geology of the prairies.)  

[Ragged Robin]

Robin, in that photo, there are a few trees only on the ridges because the intervening slight valleys are drainages where the scree is unstable, and where water and snow come down in season.  There are a couple of minor avalanche tracks on the left side of the photo, where the slope above is steep enough for frequent snow slides that prevent trees from getting to any significant height (if they are able to get established there at all).  On the right side of the photo is a landslide, where unstable debris would prevent trees from growing.  

Lori, thanks for your explanation - here trees seem to grow in the most bazaar fashion in the forest with roots hanging out from rocks and tree trunks at an angle but they still manage to be apparently stable and tough as old boots.  We frequently have rock slides and on occasions large rocks appear on the path (not ideal when walking!) I am always wary as I pass  

[Lori S.]

Robin, that happens here too - trees are very tenacious!  On the high slopes such as in the picture, most of the green area pictured is actually low vegetation - there are really relatively few trees left, larches and perhaps still a few alpine firs (compared with the lower slopes below and the dense tree growth there).  On avalanche paths, one usually sees only young limber trees (if any) that get wiped out every so often, depending on the avalanche frequency and severity... which depend on snowpack conditions and weather.  The usual avalanche paths contrast very clearly with the "protected" areas on either side (protected by some difference in topography that prevents snow-loading up top, or that diverts the avalanche around it).  The avalanche tracks in the photo are very small.  
There is always an element of unpredictability though.. on one of the trails that we hike, an avalanche came down some years ago through an area of very old, large trees... very much a freak event caused by unusual conditions... today, there are huge logs and boulders thrown around like matchsticks.  (Very unfortunately, a couple of skiers were killed when it happened... in an area that, according to experienced outdoorsfolk, should have been quite safe.   )

[cohan]

Just curious... why do you think the pond was alkaline, Cohan?  (I've never seen the characteristic plants of alkaline sloughs in the mountains or foothills, and the occurrence of alkaline sloughs is much more a feature of the geology of the prairies.)  

lori, it might well be that it was a mistaken impression, certainly its not the kind of mineral salt slough of the prairies, i was just thinking that the soil seemed more like clay (kind of gooey, light coloured, gritty at times,and fine, light coloured soil in parts, perhaps rock flour, seemed like limestone; but really it was more an offhand impression, i didnt really stop to think carefully  about it..)  rather than the sort of humusy, peaty wetlands we have around here, ...but that could just be because of a short season for organic buildup... (yeah, like the season is so long here

EDIT--i forgot to add that some of the species there--the Primula, Dodecatheon seem to have some association with alkaline sites, though i dont think its at all obligatory, and for both of these, it does seem the references are more to non-mountain sites/species; also there was Tofieldia, coming in the next post, and Royer/Dickinson  mention that it is associated with calcareous sites, so i guess that added to my vague impression...lol--i don't think thats obligatory either, though this is my first exposure to that genus..

[cohan]

ok, last flowers for this trip,
site 8
pics 1,2 Lilium philadelphicum
these were scattered through the open wooded area past the marsh pic 3, you can see the highway through the trees; some were very short stemmed, but not all..
visible in the foreground, Dasyphora floribunda (Potentilla), also common at the site, though i seem not to have photographed it..

pics 4-7 Tofieldia glutinosa
my first encounter with this species, my Royer/Dickinson say 10-50cm, all plants at this site were at the low end of that range, at the most!  named for the sticky flower stalk, which you can see in most of these pics; with a little iris-like fan of foliage, this is a total charmer... listed here as Liliaceae, but i bet it's been moved...lol

[cohan]

finally, an end to this trip
 a few views along the way, mostly along Abraham Lake, past site 8, as the elevation continues to drop and the valley's widen on thr route back to our lowland home, at 900+ metres

[Ragged Robin]

Two lovely flowers to mark the end of you trip, the lillum interior flower shot in the second photo lets the light right through showing the formation beautifully Cohan   Tofieldia glutinosa looks most intriguing - why so sticky?

in the last lot of mountain shots there looks like a plug of rock with a hole in it - looks very odd part way down the mountainside? (photo 3)
In photo 2 it's amazing to see the way the rock has been squeezed and compressed into a wavelike strata

[cohan]

Two lovely flowers to mark the end of you trip, the lillum interior flower shot in the second photo lets the light right through showing the formation beautifully Cohan   Tofieldia glutinosa looks most intriguing - why so sticky?

thanks, robin, i'm always interested in the play of light in images....
i'm not sure why Tofieldia has sticky stems, i didn't touch them, so i don't know just how sticky they are...
 the source i read doesn't speculate, and i haven't read anything elsewhere..maybe to discourage insects, such as ants from eating flowers or seeds? that's just off the top of my head; first i tried to think how it might enhance pollination, but i fail to see how...lol 

[Ragged Robin]

Thanks for reply, Cohan, was thining anyone with a glutin allergy should be cautious - don't know if it could affect one through the skin?

Made a couple of comments about the mountain scenes in my modified post above - we have quite a few plug of rock here on top of the mountains but I've never seen one on the side