Yellow Flowers near Table Mountain

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Stevefromdodge
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Yellow Flowers near Table Mountain

Post by Stevefromdodge » October 28th, 2008, 9:21 am

I'm trying to figure out what these are. The pictures were taken on the trail to Greenleaf Falls (also called the Two Chiefs Trail) in the rocky Table Mountain slide area. These are from last June. At the time, I assumed that they were more Broadleaf Arnica, so I only took two pictures. After taking another look at the pictures though, I think I have something different.

The flowers look very "Arnica-ish", but the leaves are wrong. The flower stems seem to have no leaves and the other foliage has leaves that are very narrowly segmented. The leaves remind me of a Woolly Sunflower without the wool.

Ideas??


Image

Image

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meana39
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Re: Yellow Flowers near Table Mountain

Post by meana39 » October 28th, 2008, 6:24 pm

in my Washington wildflower book it looks most like the
Rocky Mountain Helianthella or Helianthella Uniflora...but I haven't been able to find any good "online" photos to confirm this guess.
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

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Jabali
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Re: Yellow Flowers near Table Mountain

Post by Jabali » November 22nd, 2008, 10:43 pm

This is Oregon sunshine, Eriophyllum lanatum, also known as woolly sunflower. It often isn't at all woolly, but just grayish. The habitat shown in your pictures is perfect for it, and the foliage looks just like it.

It's definitely not Helianthella, which has much larger, uncut foliage and is mostly east of the Cascades Crest.

Here is a good picture of the Helianthella for comparison:
Image
....where does that trail go?

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