August 18th alpines in Kananaskis Provincial Park, on dry, wind-swept Forget-Me-Not Ridge...
The Silene parryi are just finishing their bloom:
Late-season alpines... au naturel
The sights... Moose Mountain is the highest point off in this direction:
Saussurea nuda is done its bloom:
Townsendia spp.:
Castilleja spp.:
And I was under the impression that Dryas spp. were so competitive, to the point of excluding other species. The Castilleja sp. seems quite happy.
Well, I'll have to do some reading re. the competitiveness of dryads to the detriment of other species... I don't know anything about it, at present.
My observations, for what they're worth though, are as follows.
D. drummondii certainly does tend to form very large mats. However, I wonder if that may be in part because it adapts to hard conditions that are less favorable to the other species that occur at similar lower elevations (e.g. gravel river banks that are flooded during snowmelt, then quite dry and sun-baked the rest of the year, and gravel and soil banks and flats not associated with flowing water such as road cuts). I guess I'd summarize the conditions where the huge mats occur as free-draining (either through the gravel or across the slope), and dry.
D. octopetala is very widespread in the alpine zone, yet it seems to coexist with the range of other species that occur in the same conditions, in mixed communities. It doesn't seem to be so competitive as to physically exclude anything else.
I can't comment on our third dryad species, D. integrifolia, as I'm afraid I haven't been observant enough to recognize it yet, LOL!
Eriogonum umbellatum?
Edit: I've since figured out that it's Eriogonum androsaceum.
This message was edited Jan 26, 2013 10:23 PM
Campanula rotundifolia were still in vivid bloom in the meadows, along with a vast number of alpine bistort, Polygonum vivparum. I think this view looks toward Mount Cornwall, and Outlaw and Banded Peaks.
I love that part of Alberta! brings back memories!
C. rotundifolia is common in rock outcrops throughout Minnesota. But you spurred an interest of P. viviparum. Turns out it is (rarely) native to the Minnesota north shore Lake Superior area. Also interesting is that some web sources mention staminate flowers (but didn't seem to go into more detail). Olga Lakela's book, A Flora of Northeastern Minnesota, mentions staminate flowers being the topmost three, and no perfect flowers being present. Also the plant is "bulbiliferous". (Almost sounds tasty!)
Did you notice any bulbils on the flower raceme?
In Flora of Alberta (Moss, Packer), P. viviparum is described as having, "ocreae brown-scarious, open down one side; raceme solitary, spike-like, narrow-cylindric, 2-6 cm long, usually bearing ovoid bulblets below and sterile flowers above; calyx pink or white; stamens long exerted..."
Notwithstanding my new and improved camera, I only took this one, really lousy picture of the polygonum! However, it seems to fit - you can see the bulblets on the lower part of the flower spike. The ocreae (sheathing stipule, i.e. appendage at base of leaf petiole) are brown and scarious (thin, dry and transparent; not green), and open down one side, and the "flowers" are pink and white. (P. bistortoides is the other possibility, but it lacks the bulblets and the brown ocreae, re. the same source.)
Cool!
viviparum is native here too..here is a pic showing blooms and bulbils
There's a much better picture - thanks!