Alberta Wanderings

Okay, back at it!
Leaving Abraham Lake, the highway continues on through the Kootenay Plains, into Banff National Park;
full album: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

A stop I've made before, by a small 'lake' where just a bit later the ground will be carpeted with tiny Primula mistassinica, dotted with Saxifraga aizoides, and others... This time, Primula only in bud, in small numbers, and Sax just emerging...

The lake, the grass giving way to woods beyond the water, and a closer view of the soil-- I believe this is what I see referred to in wildflower books when they say things like 'wet calcareous soil' as they do for P mistassinica.....

Full album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

This schoolbus was in front of us for a while, then pulled into a group campsite in the Kootenay Plains... after we'd continued on deep into the mountains and passed back through this area on the way home, we were on the trails at the nearby  Siffleur Falls Staging Area, when out of nowhere a pack of young teenagers on bicycles passed us! After, we saw them just up the road turning into the same campground--so that's who was on that bus!

This one is for Trond-- a very non-Norwegian highway!

Just because its one of the very few places on our route where we could stop for refreshments, we usually do stop at the Saskatchewan River Crossing, just at the junction of the David Thompson Highway and the Icefields Parkway, for some seriously overpriced (and under 'qualitied' ) cafeteria treats .... What a place to have a summer job though!

Continuing on and up--
full album: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

The fresh greens of emerging leaves.....

Best not to think about all that rock and gravel poised above the road, with signs that warn  "No Stopping, Avalanche Zone"..biggest risk is no doubt in winter, when I absolutely don't travel here ;)

Finally the road climbs up, and up, and up! and levels out more or less, not too far from the tree line, and up in the snow zone.. there is a viewpoint to look back down where you have come from - an impressive view, which I have photographed in the past- but of course I'm busier running around looking for plants! I've seen some nice things around here, but its a bit early-- just Salix, and the two plants in flower on this day from home all the way up here-- Taraxacum and Fragaria! only on the sunny side of some gravel banks, still snow around in shade...

Continuing on to the Icefields..
(same album) https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

The snow is close here!

I always like seeing this stripey zebra mountains, though there is a bit more to the white stripes at this time of year!

Another one for Trond- highway still is not bad up here, though much narrower than the earlier road, and not easy to pass when you get a slow bus or RV in front of you that has a hard time on the inclines! Just slow down and enjoy the view :)

And no ferries on the whole trip!

RickR wrote:

Cohan, there's LOTS to study, envy and think about in those photos.  Like the grass fields by the lake: you mention Primula mistassinica growing in calareous soil...so is the lake water up there basic?  I suppose.  I never really thought about it until now.  Down here I have only seen the primula in what is at least mildly acidic conditions.  There is one place I know of where the primula habitat is similarly bathed in water from Lake Superior. 

Rick, I have to confess my knowledge of the soils and waters is limited at best,  I need to try to find a good book on the geology of the province! Meanwhile if I make any egregious errors, Lori can set me straight (obviously she doesn't know this site, but the Alberta Rockies in general) ;)... I have not yet looked up these species in Flora of Alberta to see what they say, but I have an old book: "Rocky Mountain Wildflowers" (Porsild) which says- "in wet calcareous soil by pond margins or in wet meadows" so it doesn't seem the calcareous sites are obligate.. Again, I am no expert on these soils, but this site seemed to me like it would be calcareous-- the soil is very  light in colour, mixed with gravel, and very little humus.. I assume at least some of this soil is rock flour from the mountains around, which should be (predominantly? entirely?) limestone...

Okay, still on May 31!

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

We arrive at the Columbia Icefield, where the attraction is the glacier, with a massive tourist centre across the road (hotel, restaurants, gift shop, I think, I've never gone in, way too busy even on this weekday in late May (though doubtless much less busy than peak days), a trail that leads up to the glacier's edge ( the trail is kind of fun, great views, great rocks, and of course interesting to see the early colonising plants close to the glacier), but my interest is farther back, in among and on the moraines left behind by the gradual retreat of the glacier..
These plant communities seem to have arisen very slowly--despite being below the tree line, there are, at most, a few small stunted (spruce, fir?) and not even that in most of the area..
There are markers along the trail showing where the glacier was in which year, and I haven't worked it out exactly (nor do I know how evenly it retreated) but the century mark isn't too far from this area, and I think it must at least be many decades since this section was under the ice-- progress is slow!!

I wasn't sure if there would be much plant activity so early (there was still snow around, and other places where it had clearly melted recently) but I was hoping-- on a visit about a month later last year, there were things that had already finished flowering...
I was to be pleasantly surprised...

full album: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

The most conspicuous plant at this time was Arctostaphylos (Arctous) rubra visible for some distance on the nearly bare gravel (some things not yet leafed out, or barely emerging)...

This is very funny-- on previous visites, I had admired the good sized mats of this plant, admiring this stemless (or nearly) willow with the beautiful leaves! I was never early enough till now to see flowers, nor apparently was I ever there at the right time for berries! So when I saw the sweet little creamy urn flowers, I was quite stunned... Of course to see it at this season must be among its finest moments, the spring colour was glorious... I have not been there for fall colour ( though I saw some Arctous in fall colour once across the parking lot, must have been A alpina, much smaller leaves, and I had not realised there were two alpine species, so never thought to question this plant)..
I now really want to grow this!

Some plants were later, with only flowers, leaves not yet showing, or just starting...

Thanks, I do love it too :) even in summer green the leaves are beautiful, now that I have seen spring colour and flowers, its even more wonderful, and probably looks great in fall too.. I'll be looking for seed sure.. unfortunately ( for me, not the place or plants!) this site is in a National Park, so no seed collecting possible (I might take one or two berries if there were tons of them, but that's in the unlikely event I get there at the right time!) , if I am lucky I might find it in the mountains outside the park, but not so many spots to easy access alpine areas there, I have to look into Mount Baldy, as I mentioned earlier, by Nordegg, much closer, but also drier mountains, so might be a very different flora...
Apart from that, I will be watching for it on seedlists! As for cultivation, I guess no way to know without trying!

Technically, I don't know if you are allowed to eat berries or not! But I don't think anyone would be too upset if I ate one or two..lol.. still I may or may not get to that area in fall.. I will still try to find it somewhere else, its not an uncommon plant, I think, but all the other locations may also be in the parks or even farther away! lol

same site: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Another surprise from this site-- I must have been here when this was in fruit, or near it, but if I noticed it (possibly not, small and scattered) I don't remember, should dig through old trip photos and see if I shot it...
So, this sweet little Anemone sp (haven't dug much yet, and leaves not fully emerged to help id, but my only guess so far is A lithophila)..surely the flora of this site is well known, maybe I should check for a book in that big tourist centre across the road!!
All plants I saw at this stage were single, and all were in Arctostaphylos rubra mats (at another site up the road, to come, I saw it again, in Arctostaphylos uva-ursi--maybe these spp give it the soil chemistry it needs? didn't see them in Dryas or Salix, though the two sites I saw are hardly definitive)..

I think your anemone looks more like A. parviflora.  I like the Arctous rubra... it must be one I've been overlooking too.

Thanks, Lori, my impression was that parviflora should have less divided leaves? I did read both descriptions, but maybe I missed or mis-read something; this one seems like the leaves will be very divided.. I'll see if I can dig up pics of both online, and re-read the descrips.. and check whether I photographed these by chance later in the season..

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say your plant is A. parviflora, although, yes, A. parviflora does have the less divided leaves of the two.  What I see in your photo looks like the typical single-stem with the blunt-tipped, coarsely-divided ruff of stem leaves of A . parviflora; the relative size (small) and habit appear to fit.  (A. lithophila, in our area, have prominent bluish petal reverses - something to watch for.)
There are several photos of A. parviflora posted in this section of the forum, and also one or two of A. lithophila.

No, I wasn't meaning to suggest the bluish petal reverses on A. lithophila was a definitive difference (I remember you mentioning blue reverses on A. parviflora in your area, Todd), but just one of the differences - the two species are overall quite different (or at least I think they are  :)).

Thanks for the input, Lori and Todd, I also have photographs of an Anemone from farther up the road I'll post as well; I think I will dig back to another I photographed in the region last year in mid summer, and I think I was thinking of that as parviflora, which seemed very different from these--for one thing, it was in a little patch with flowers rising from basal leaves (full developed) but I may a) be remembering it wrong and b) not have identified it certainly-- but that's why I was thinking these had to be something very different.. I'll dig up those other photos for your comments, may or may not get them done tonight...lol
Oh yeah--more of this Anemone in another spot some metres--in a totally different zone- away, those will be coming up too...

Okay, so here are some more shots of the Anemone from nearby at the Columbia Icefield site-- a bit farther up slope, in an older plant community, still growing in Arctostaphylos rubra.. looking at them now, I see most of the emerging leaves do look quite rounded, and not linear divisions as I thought they were--good thing the camera records better than I remembered ;)

I think I had leaves more like this next one in mind-seems more linear, but will these still widen as they mature to look wider like the others, or is there variation in leaf division in parviflora?

Then, some distance up the road --maybe a half hour to drive? Similar altitude, but a much more mature site, with trees on part of it, and some exposed ridges (the main part of that to come another day)
Would these be the same species, or more than one species?

I was digging to see if I happened to get those Anemones with mature leaves when I was at that site (Columbia Icefield) in late June, last year..
no luck, but I thought I'd show what the Arctostaphylos rubra (files corrected to not say 'salix' anymore..lol) a bit later in the year.. still great colour...

They all look like A. parviflora to me... the last two photos looks like the plant has been distorted by something?

Skulski wrote:

the last two photos looks like the plant has been distorted by something?

Who knows--snow? frost? stepped on by wildlife?..lol Though in person, the flower looked a little abused, the plant just seemed much 'bushier' .. I gather some parviflora can have  more divided leaves such as this.. I think my first view of the species was three toothed lobes without the deeper divisions.. I'm going to dig for those photos, watch them have more divisions too...lol

Here are two shots from 2010, another site again, presumably this is also parviflora, though flowering with leaves fully developed, in a cluster rather than the exclusively single plants I saw at the Columbia Icefield later in the year, but in May this year, the spot these plants were growing in June last year, behind some trees overlooking a waterfall, still had some deep snowbanks!

They look like A. parviflora to me too.
Here are some photos of A. drummondii var. lithophila ("A. lithophila"):
http://www.rmrp.com/Photo%20Pages/AA/Anemone%20drummondii%20var%20lithop...
http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/ShowDBImage/gallery.aspx?page=0&specrep=0&code...

The plants above--maybe 15-20cm tall? are the largest of those I've shown, the others no more than 10cm, though not fully developed; here is the first I saw, in 2009, much lower elevation (same site mentioned earlier, near the roadside 'lake' with Primula mistassinica and Dodectheon etc).here it was, if anything, even smaller, maybe under 10cm..I see the stem leaves look about the same as the others, I've had in mind all this time the basal leaves, which you can't see much in these pictures, but I have a couple of tiny seedlings (and staying that way..lol), and clearly lost track of the reality of the adult plants!

While we are on Anemones, from that same 2009 trip, what would you call this? I'd said Pulsatilla occidentalis at the time, but that can't be right, this is from a dryish foothill/montane slope, not the moist alpine slopes they are supposed to inhabit, and probably leaves aren't dense enough, either... just a sparse, small Anemone multifida? (single stem)

Skulski wrote:

They look like A. parviflora to me too.
Here are some photos of A. drummondii var. lithophila ("A. lithophila"):
http://www.rmrp.com/Photo%20Pages/AA/Anemone%20drummondii%20var%20lithop...
http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/ShowDBImage/gallery.aspx?page=0&specrep=0&code...

Thanks, yes I've seen those/similar photos, I looked them up when I was first looking.... the plants I photographed with developed leaves I assumed were parviflora, but some of those with undeveloped leaves seemed more divided to me, and I was thinking of parviflora as lobed and toothed, not divided as well, as I mentioned above.. no doubt variation in such a widespread plant (parviflora)...

Okay, still at the Columbia Icefield, a bit farther away from the glacier (where a few metres could mean many years--the retreat is around 1.5km in the last 125 years), across an internal roadway; the plant communities are similar but with some plants not seen at the first section...

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

One plant I'd been hoping to see was a small pea I'd seen just finished flowering last year.. I was in luck, and it was in full bloom this year..
Maybe Oxytropis podocarpa? I could claim even less knowledge of these various peas than the Anemones, so please, any comments/corrections are very welcome :)
PS-- I'll see if I can find a pic of a seedpod from last year (later, off to work now!)
At first I only saw one or two plants in low spots between mounds of till (Lori, I was calling these linear mounds moraines--is that correct, or does that term only apply to the major landscape features as opposed to these smaller mounds which could be several metres high and some tens of metres long (maybe more, but not the major things I saw in aerial views while looking at melt rates!)? But then found more of them some metres away.... Great to see this miniature, no more than a couple of inches high in flower..

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

This little cress (Draba sp?) I doubt I recorded enough detail to make much of an id, unless its a common/recognisable plant) was not common at this site-- I saw this  patch in the barren gravel near a signpost, then another later, a bit upslope laterally, in an older plant community..

same album still: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Near the Oxytropis (?) above, I was hoping to find another plant I saw finished flowering last year, which I thought was Sax oppositifolia, a plant I have never seen in person... No such luck, I'd just found the pea when someone started to vociferously protest my presence in that area, and I had to hurry up and shoot the pea and get out!

'Look at me!' she said,  dancing and flapping, 'Follow me!' 'Come away!'

Not wanting to cause her (?) stress, much less accidentally tread on her eggs, I hurried up and left, much as I wanted to spend more time in the more mature plant community in that section.. my only reward was finding more of the Oxytropis on the bank as I left.
I'm familiar with birds/behaviour of this sort from fields and shores near home, but haven't looked up a species for this one; I saw a couple more elsewhere on the site, but not close enough to get them so worked up....

I'm sure not good at Oxytropis/Astragalus but I don't think your plant is Oxytropis podocarpa... the proportion of flower size to leaf size seems off. 
O. podocarpa has very fine, almost feathery leaves (that I hope I'd recognize on sight by now  :rolleyes:) and smaller flowers than that plant.  (I wish I could pull up some photos for comparison but, in the recent computer problems I had that resulted in the emergency purchase of a new one, I didn't lose my pix but they all lost their labels, if you can believe it! So I have some 16000 anonymous pictures... grrrr.)  Is it definitely an Oxytropis rather than an Astragalus?  I'll post some pix of the difference in the keels that is supposed to be the determining factor.  It's very nice, whatever it is!

The little Brassicaceae is pretty showy for its size, especially against that stark background.

The bird is a killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)... Yup, almost impossible to find their nests except by accident... buffy, speckled eggs in a shallow scoop, no nesting material at all... although they certainly let you know you're in the area!

Great photos Cohan, and I love the killdeer, yes, birds of all stripes and sorts certainly do let you know when you've invaded their "personal space", of eggs and babies. ** We have a couple of mother "hens" that must have nested very close to the front of the house and apparently they would rather we didn't step out on the front porch at all! Much racket until we get a few steps away...

Faith

Thanks, Lori and Faith, I thought the bird looked and acted  like a Killdeer, which we have around here, but I'm used to just seeing them with the naked eye, not in zoon shots, so I had not checked markings and had no idea if they nest way up there!

And  certainly am not certain of anything about that pea, Lori; in fact I had originally called it Astragalus for no good reason, but I was going through a very old book I have, Rocky Mountain Wildflowers by A.E. Porsild with paintings by Dagny Tande Lid, and came across the Oxy which looked just like this plant to me (well aware that 'looks like' may not be helpful when there can be numerous similar..lol).. they mention flowers at 2cm which sounds about right.. the plants were tiny, flat and leaves very small and divided.. when it came time to post, I realised I didn't get any really good close shots, probably partly because the bird wanted me to leave, though I'm usually hurrying on these trips, anyway...lol
here's another couple of crops, though they may not add any useful information...sharpened and added contrast

here's one web reference--

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/detail_PDFAB2X0K0.aspx

again, looks about right to me--esp the first view with purple flowers ( I expect some variation on those, hard shades for some digital cameras), though I may be overlooking some important floral characters? Also, leaves may not be fully emerged on my shots.. I'm going to dig for last year's seed pod views, if they exist....
(BTW, losing labels on your photos would be awful! I'm trying to do a double back-up- external hard drive and DVD, though I'm way behind on the second; and picasa, so 3, I guess, though that's not all photos, and smaller versions)

Here it is from last year, in fruit, not a close shot, unfortunately, and a couple more of mature foliage--

and couldn't resist this view with Hedysarum boreale

full album (one of many from that day!) from June 26, 2010:
https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune26201...

Schier wrote:

Great photos Cohan, and I love the killdeer, yes, birds of all stripes and sorts certainly do let you know when you've invaded their "personal space", of eggs and babies. ** We have a couple of mother "hens" that must have nested very close to the front of the house and apparently they would rather we didn't step out on the front porch at all! Much racket until we get a few steps away...

Faith

Are they killdeers in your front yard? We have wrens which also make a fuss if you get too close, and they are right between the two houses...lol
There's a spot in the bush on the farm where I sometimes walk where crows were presumably nesting, and they would set up a racket if I was within--not sure, 50 metres or more?..lol

last for this album: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Another pea of uncertain name-- foliage looked like the high altitude Hedysarum boreale common at this site--rather fleshy leaves, but only some plants had these tumble-weed like structures of last year's stems.. Looking at last year's pics, I was reminded that there was another pea--possibly an Astragalus, with pale flowers and similar semi-prostrate stems and similar leaves.  Looking at the old pics, I cannot tell for sure which plant would have had these dried stems, but it seems like the Hedysarum show more dried stems in the photos.. not sure why only some plants have this, if its not a different species.. also a view of the typical miniature forest- a couple of Dryas spp, a couple of Arctostaphylos, various peas, etc...

Several views and some rock garden arrangement tips....

I take it back... it's definitely Oxytropis podocarpa. 

Thanks for the confirmation :) I know its hard to tell from photos taken at a particular time and place and angle etc!

Your wonderful vista and plant shots are making me very restless Cohan.  :D

I feel an urge to get out in the 'field' again down here although it will have to be coastal as snow is forecast to lower to 600mtrs in the next day or so and it depends on how soon my foot mends after badly rolling the right ankle 10 days ago  :'(---a sign of the aging process is that it's taking longer than i hoped for ...... >:(

Thanks for posting.

Cheers Dave

Thanks Dave--that's one of the great benefits of the forums--we can see great stuff when we can't get out there.. I'm always thrilled with the amazing NZ flora!

Earlier I mentioned going a little upslope, laterally. Most of the area I've been exploring has been low ground below the glacier, and area of mounds and ridges of glacial till, with varying plant communities from isolated pioneers on gravel, to locally dense mats of subshrubs in older spots sheltered between mounds, but everywhere, lots of rock and gravel exposed..
Just slightly upslope seems to have been longer out of the ice as there is a full surface coverage of plants, including lichens not seen below, and lots of grasses, as well as most of the species seen below..The effect was a beautiful patchwork, even without significant flowering...
I only spent a few minutes on this surface--there was not a lot in flower yet anyway, and I didn't feel comfortable crunching around on the  seemingly fragile lichen surface just to satisfy my curiosity..

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

The same Anemone parviflora we talked about above, showing other common plants in the second shot - Antennaria sp (a sp with shorter, wider leaves than seen on many other sites) and Hedysarum boreale

The same  Draba sp seen below? Not common here.. And a view out of the valley...

Beautiful bird, Trond! Here in the summer, the shrubs and trees are full of birds, they make a lot of sound, but hard to see them, except for some bold ones like robins and wrens, and yesterday the magpies were suddenly very loud and visible on the acreage..

You know, I'm just not much of a shoes off guy,( out of the question at home--the 'grass' is full of sticks that fall from trees, spruce cones and lots of other hard/prickly things--not to mention bees and many kinds and sizes of ants on the ground, besides you try not to have much bare skin at all because of mosquitoes, definitely not skin you cant keep an eye on ;))and my feet would not be tough enough for that place--it may be delicate, but that does not mean soft..lol

I'll watch for Hedysarum b. for sure, but so far have never been in the right place at the right time for seed- neither for the regular form that grows into the foothills and beyond, nor for the high altitude form which is lower and fleshier.. Foolishly, I think I was possibly at Abraham Lake at a time I could have found seed last year, but I was collecting composite seed, and photographing Eriogonum, and didn't think to look for the Hedysarum seed! Of course I thought of it later...lol

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Mostly I'd been staying farther from the glacier, since that's where most of the plants are! We did drive up a bit closer for a quick look, since there is a floodplain that has a lot of Chamerion (Epilobium) latifolium in summer, and Saxifraga aizoides.. as it turned out, both species were just emerging..

The views were still impressive... and some little inukshuks someone built down by the water (which looked more like ice/slush-- I didn't go very close)

RickR wrote:

I used to go bare foot everywhere in the woods in my teens.  Then one day when I was out exploring I cut my toe rather deeply on a piece of glass. I didn't even know it until I waded through a creek and saw pink water...

Now I am a tenderfoot, too.

True, that would be another risk here too--glass, nails, wire, metal, plastic....lol  One would hope up by the glacier might be garbage free, but not sure I'd trust tourists that far ;)

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Dryas (probably drummondii) colonises well into the floodplain area, not sure if it still floods regularly or not.. these seedheads from last year.. note the scraping on the rock from the glacier in third pic...

A bit farther back were some willows, Salix sp -maybe around a metre tall, and I was interested to see Pyrola sp for the first time up here, under the Salix at the lip of  the flood plain ......

https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011...

Final shots at this site; We drove across the highway, to the end of the vast parking area (not too busy on this cool spring day, except near the major tourist buildings far away at the other end of the parking area) to use the outhouse before leaving.. Watching from some concrete parking barriers was this little person.. I believe its a Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis.. I didn't have any snacks for it...

Some last views...