South of Big Hole, west of Spring Creek (3)

Our weather has been cool and wet and cloudy; the dark kind, not so good for photography, but it appears to be clearing and I have high hopes that there will be partly clear skies for a hike tomorrow along a high ridge in the Cherry Peak roadless area. So, tonight I’ll post these photos that I almost forgot from a trip a couple of weeks ago: got carried away with some new wildflowers, critters, etc..

Great Mullein

Terrible plant in some places, but I have to admit, the blossoms are pretty.

Great Mullein, Verbascum thapsus

Yellow evening primrose

Yellow evening primrose, Oenothera villosa

A grass that isn’t a grass

There is a wildflower that I have admired for years, having seen it only in photos until about a month ago when I passed by Goat Lakes on the trail to Mount Silcox in the Cube Iron – Silcox roadless area and found it growing just by the edge of Goat Creek where the creek exits the lower lake.

Nearly two thousand years ago, a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist by the name of Pedanius Dioscorides described a grass-like plant he observed growing on Mount Parnassus. Later, when the Greek description was translated, someone made a mistake and gave the “Parnassia” name to a species that is not even remotely grass-like; Parnassia fimbriata, Fringed Grass-of-Parnassus. However, a beautiful wildflower by any other name is still a beautiful wildflower (my apologies to Mr. S.) and I think this one is a real beauty.

(A little later I will post a series of photos of the whole trek to Mount Silcox.)

Leafy spurge hawk moth caterpillar

I’ve seen the moth and it’s very pretty, but this is the first mature larva that I’ve encountered. I wondered at the strategy that produced those colors (but it worked today because the color caught my attention before I stepped on it – it was marching down the middle of the trail!).

It’s an interesting little individual. Here is some information about it.

Transition