Incredible plants: tiger lilies

Lilium columbianum, near Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier
National Park, July 2016.

Lilies are a stunning group of flowering plants, and many members of that family have a strong aesthetic appeal for me. The Liliaceae are monocots, thus the flower parts occur in multiples of three. A prototypical lily flower would have six petals, six stamens, and a single style protruding from the center of the flower. Several lilies such as some members of Calochortus and Lilium have a curved perianth (petals), so that the overall shape of the flower is like an orb.

“Tiger lily” is an informal common name which has been applied to a few species in the genus Lilium that have orange spotted petals. These include Lilium columbianum (the “small-flowered tiger lily”), two subspecies of L. paradalinum (“Vollmer’s tiger lily” and “Wiggins’ lily”), and L.parvum (“Sierra tiger lily”) (Turner and Gustafson 2006; Skinner 2016). Other similar species in the Pacific states include L. bolanderi and L.occidentale, each with reddish spotted petals. 

Characteristics and distribution of five "tiger lily" species in the Pacific states.
References: Turner and Gustafson (2006), Baldwin et al. (2012), Wenk (2015).

Shoots of these lilies are typically 1-3 meters in height, green (non-woody), and have whorls of leaves emerging from the stem at regular intervals. The flowers of some species including L. columbianum and L. paradalinum hang pendant, a humble posture unnecessary for such a glorious flower.

Lilium pardalinum. Left: Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, Big
Sur, CA, 2009. Right: Sucker Creek, Siskiyou National Forest, southern OR, July 2016.

Of the five species listed here, L. columbianum is most common, being distributed from British Columbia to northern California (Turner and Gustafson 2006). L. pardalinum occurs in California and southwest Oregon, while L. bolanderi and L. occidentale inhabit the Klamath mountains area in northwest CA and southwest OR (Turner and Gustafson 2002, Baldwin et al. 2012). L. parvum inhabits wetland or riparian areas at higher elevations in the Sierra range (Baldwin et al. 2012).

Lilium parvum, Tahoe National Forest, Sierra Nevada range,
CA, July 2009.

While visiting Oregon Caves National Monument earlier this summer, we camped along Sucker Creek, a quiet beautiful location where the shallow stream ran swiftly among rocks, close to the campsite. Riparian corridors seem to be excellent locations to find tiger lilies and I spotted some flowers along the far bank of the river. I crossed over to photograph them. The first flowers were somewhat on their way out, but farther upstream I found a cluster of several plants at the edge of the river near a rocky outcrop of serpentine, each bearing several flowers in their prime.

The green hues of serpentine rock and beautiful blooming lilies were exciting enough, but suddenly I also noticed a beautiful swallowtail butterfly visiting the flowers too. It was photographic bliss to have two such bright and magnificent organisms in the same place. The swallowtail was mostly undeterred by my close presence and spent some time visiting a few different flowers. It landed on the underside of each flower and then rhythmically bowed to the flower, each time inserting its long black proboscis deep into the flower to extract nectar.

Lilium pardalinum and a beautiful swallowtail visitor at Sucker
Creek, Siskiyou National Forest, southern OR, July 2016.

References

Baldwin BG et al. 2012. The Jepson Manual. Vascular Plants of California. 2^nd ed. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Skinner MW. 2016. Lilium parvum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu

Turner M, Gustafson P. 2006. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

US Geological Survey. 1996. Kerby Peak, OR. 1:24000 topographic map.

Wenk E. 2015. Wildflowers of the High Sierra and John Muir Trail. Wilderness Press, Birmingham, AL.

Butte Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park

View of Mt. Lassen from inside the crater of  Cinder Cone,
Aug 2016.

Except perhaps for Redwood National Park, I've been to Lassen more times than any park in the National Park System. Thursday the 25^th of August was the official one hundredth birthday of the NPS. Lassen too is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. But can a few trips alone do justice to any of the west’s marvelous parks? The weekend following the centennial birthday party, I visited a new corner of Lassen: the northeasterly Butte Lake.

Butte Lake lies east of Mt. Lassen, on the dryer side of the Cascades. The roads were dusty and pines dominated the landscape, a clue to the presence of a drier landscape on the eastern side of the park. The lake is at just over 6000 ft elevation and is presently sort of sickle shaped. It may have been larger at some point in the past. The southwest shore is comprised of heaps of jagged black lava rock that come right to the shore, part of the Fantastic Lava Beds. When this lava flow was deposited, it perhaps buried part of the more extensive lake. Only a few willows or other plants have been able to become established in the poorly developed soils among the dark unforgiving volcanic rubble.

Persicaria (left) and Sagittaria (right) in Butte Lake.

I kayaked around some of the northern end of the lake. Visibility wasn't great, and the water had a greenish hue probably due to plankton or other suspended particulates in the water. But it was refreshingly cool, which was very welcome given the dry and dusty surrounding landscape. Some of the shores supported tiny wetlands comprised of typical marsh plants such as Juncus (a rush) and Carex (a sedge). In the shallows at the edge of the lake there were also submerged aquatic plants, such as the floating Persicaria. A few of them displayed short spikes of pink flowers above the water surface. Intermixed, but in less abundance, were the floating arrowhead-shaped leaves of Sagittaria. At the tiny wetland near the boat launch, dragonflies and wasps were abundant. Water striders balanced on the surface tension of the water, distorting the surface and thereby leaving unusual shadows on the muddy bottom. 

To the south of Butte Lake, lies the conical Cinder Cone, one of the types of volcanoes contained in the park. It is a dark grey heap of barren gravel and rubble, set cleanly on the Lassen landscape like a pile of sugar dispensed from a heavenly hand. A hiking trail leads from Butte Lake to the east side of the mountain, rising quite steeply from the base up to the rim of the crater. Incredibly, a few trees have taken root on the outside of the cinder cone, where no real soil seems imaginable. A larger number of conifers can be found just inside the lip of the rim where water possibly collects and the wind may be less harsh. The base of the crater is perhaps a hundred meters below the rim, the interior shaped like a funnel inside the mountain.

The Milky Way, with a silhouette of Cinder Cone at bottom
center.

Saturday night after the darkening sky began to reveal an abundance of stars I ventured out to the rubble volcanic barrens next to the lake to photograph the sky. During about an hour and a half of photography, I noted some half dozen to a dozen shooting stars. The Milky Way spread in a luminous arc above, a wide ribbon stretching from south to north across the sky busy with so many stars.

References

US Geological Survey. 1995. Prospect Peak, CA. 1:24000 topographic map.

Lake Helen and Lassen Peak.

Shadow from a water strider on the bottom of Butte Lake.