Kananaskis preview, July 4/11

[Lori S.]

We took a drive out to Kananaskis yesterday to take a look... we didn't hike but only scaled up a roadside slope to check things out, bloom-wise, and were pleased to find a nice selection of  foothills/prairie plants in bloom...
The brilliant blue of Penstemon nitidus on the clay slope was what caught my eye while driving...
     

Along with a huge Phacelia sericea, evidently enjoying extra moisture from the road ditch right below...


Arnica cordifolia; Pyrola sp. in the trees; Castilleja miniata, just starting to bloom.
 

Scenery.
  

[Lori S.]

Antennaria in abundance on the dry, south-facing hillside; patches here and there of Sedum lanceolatum (x2); Habenaria viridis (x2) at the forest edge;
     

Out on the slope, Packera (Senecio) cana; lots of Erigeron compositus (x3)
     

Another view of the forested hillsides:

[Lori S.]

Heuchera cylindrica :
 

 Delphinum bicolor, concentrated in a couple of little clearings:
   

Saxifraga bronchialis, in the ground, and also in a nice little sandstone outcrop:
 

[Lori S.]

In the lodgepole pine forest, Clematis occidentalis - some showing the usual 4 sepals, and one with 6... the same variability as one sees on cultivated plants, it seems!
 

In the dry forest, a few scattered, single-stem Calypso bulbosa... always nice to see:
   

And a strange leafless little orchid that I don't know and haven't figured out yet... any ideas?  Edit: Pale coral-root orchid, Corallorhiza trifida


Back out in the sun, Geum triflorum with Habenaria viridis; Polemonium pulcherrimum:
 

These are very literally "rock garden" ferns...
 

[RickR]

Could your orchid be a Corallorhiza sp.?  When I was very young and didn't know any better, I dug one up in the woods of northern Minnesota to see the "root" structure.  Very interesting indeed!

[Lori S.]

Good call, Rick.  I think it's Corallorhiza trifida, pale coral-root.  Thanks.