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..
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.)
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.