Twinflower, Linnaea borealis
June 21, 2012
40 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Montana Outdoors
What on earth is that?! Some kind of zombie flower?! Love the twinflowers though – really delicate.
LikeLike
Comment by Jo Woolf — June 22, 2012 @ 12:10 am
I have no idea what it is and it’s the first one I’ve seen. (There were several fairly close together.) They felt soft, like a living plant, not crisp like one that had finished blooming and had died.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 12:20 am
Amazing. Do you think it might be an orchid? I’d be interested to know if or when you find out.
LikeLike
Comment by Jo Woolf — June 22, 2012 @ 12:21 am
I will post something about it if I ever find out what it is. In the mean time I may come across more of them and perhaps get a better look at the whole plant.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 12:39 am
Your unknown looks like a bronze sculpture. Is there a botany professor at a Montana college that you could ask, or a guide to Montana plants that you could consult?
Hold the presses—I just found out there’s a Montana Native Plant Society:
http://www.mtnativeplants.org/Home
When I was getting started with native plants in Austin, the people in the local chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas were (and still are) helpful in identifying species for me.
LikeLike
Comment by Steve Schwartzman — June 22, 2012 @ 4:46 am
The Montana plant guides are sorely inadequate and incomplete. Perhaps someone at the plant society, although I wasn’t much impressed by their website. First though I need to look much closer at it (if I can find it again).
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 9:47 pm
Could that second one be some type of heal all (Prunella vulgaris) bracts after the flowers have gone by? Did it have a square stem like mint?
LikeLike
Comment by New Hampshire Gardener — June 22, 2012 @ 6:24 am
I thought about Prunella, but I haven’t seen them turn out like that (we have some in our yard). The stem may have been square but I don’t remember it being that way. I could not find leaves for it either.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
You’re right, they look a little big for Prunella.
LikeLike
Comment by New Hampshire Gardener — June 23, 2012 @ 4:44 pm
I love the whazzit?! It looks so much like the artificial flowers my grandmother had – the petals were made from thin sheets of mica. Steve posted one earlier that had some of the same qualities, though it reminded me more of mayflies. I did a quick search but can’t find it – I’ll look later. Someone knows what it is, that’s for sure – and if they don’t, you’ll be famous!
LikeLike
Comment by shoreacres — June 22, 2012 @ 7:46 am
I will go back there in about a week and investigate them a little more and maybe as the summer unfolds I can see what it does or if more of them will pop up. Sometimes I tend to give up on ID’s, but I don’t think I will do that on this one.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:04 pm
Wow the twin flowers are very pretty. THe second unknown alien plant is very cool looking. I’d be curious to know what it is.
LikeLike
Comment by dhphotosite — June 22, 2012 @ 8:40 am
Twinflowers are tiny, but in some places they serve as a ground cover, covering several square yards. Very pretty!
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:05 pm
Looks a bit like a cone flower. I like the orchid concept. We’re on the hunt.
LikeLike
Comment by badwalker — June 22, 2012 @ 8:47 am
I’ve looked at a lot of photos of our local orchids but nothing comes even close.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:06 pm
I looked through man google images, books and can’t find it. My 1st guess meant to be ‘ground cone’ – the only brown flower I know. – but that’s not it. Hmmm.
LikeLike
Comment by badwalker — June 22, 2012 @ 10:19 pm
I looked at all the images I could find of the saprophytes that grow in this area because they have no chlorophyl, but I saw nothing with this kind of shape. I plan to visit that area every week or so for awhile anyway and I’ll do more investigating to see of more grow or if these turn hard and brittle or bear fruit or whatever they will do.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:32 pm
That last photo…wow…whatever it is, it is so unusual looking. Looks like it belongs ON a vase as decoration not in one.
LikeLike
Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — June 22, 2012 @ 8:51 am
It does! On an Oriental vase!
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:06 pm
I am jealous of your twinflower. Years ago, I found some in our woods, but have NEVER been able to find them again, and it is not for lack of looking.
That second thing may have been planted by aliens. I sure hope someone identifies it.
LikeLike
Comment by sandy — June 22, 2012 @ 10:59 am
As with a lot of wildflowers, I think your timing has to be right on to find them. Last summer I found a wealth of bitterroots and this year I searched the same location and found none, although it was only one week later than last year.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:09 pm
Nice twinflower. As for those fake looking leaves, I don’t have a clue. They look like something that’s been frozen into a brown/bronze color.
Malcolm
LikeLike
Comment by knightofswords — June 22, 2012 @ 11:32 am
The leaves were soft and I see just a hint of green in them I think. Still, that could be the remaining structure after blooming.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 22, 2012 @ 10:11 pm
Maybe you’ve discovered a new species!
LikeLike
Comment by Tammy — June 23, 2012 @ 9:59 am
I looked for awhile last evening in the same area and found more like that one, but in much worse condition. I’m hypothesizing now that it is the remains after whatever it was has bloomed.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 24, 2012 @ 4:16 pm
Man, that second one is pretty bizarro. Maybe it’s true that you’ve discovered a new species, that would be so cool.
LikeLike
Comment by Candace — June 23, 2012 @ 11:52 am
It would be cool, but unlikely. Last night while checking for these I did see another blossoms new to me though. And a cool toad.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 24, 2012 @ 4:17 pm
interesting. and how exciting that you are coming across plants that are new to you!
LikeLike
Comment by skouba — June 23, 2012 @ 3:31 pm
I think it’s exciting! Also very interesting to see what all lives around here!
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 24, 2012 @ 4:18 pm
If I had to make up a name for that one, I’d call it goblinwort. You could check with Mr Smarty Plants at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. They are very good. http://www.wildflower.org/expert/
LikeLike
Comment by jomegat — June 24, 2012 @ 10:33 am
Oooh. Coppery green plant — very interesting, Montucky. it even looks soft in the photo, and quite fuzzy!
LikeLike
Comment by Bo Mackison — June 24, 2012 @ 8:06 pm
It’s a strange plant. No leaves. I’m starting to think that it is the remains of last year’s bloom and it was soft because of the rain, but I’m not so sure.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 24, 2012 @ 8:33 pm
If I had to make up a name for this one, I would go with goblinwort. You should check with Mr Smarty Plants at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. They have been very helpful to me in the past.
LikeLike
Comment by jomegat — June 24, 2012 @ 9:23 pm
I like that name! I will try the LBJWC. I’m putting together a collection of wildflower photos for them too.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 24, 2012 @ 9:45 pm
The ? looks like it has little places where the blooms have fallen off, so what we are seeing are probably brown bracts, not petals. But as to what it is? Not a clue. Though I did like some of the guesses. Keep us posted, Montucky.
LikeLike
Comment by Kim — June 25, 2012 @ 5:16 pm
I think that’s what it is too. I’ll keep watching for some new growth near these.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 25, 2012 @ 10:26 pm
Now that is really cool…whatever it is! 🙂
LikeLike
Comment by Watching Seasons — June 28, 2012 @ 2:08 pm
If they were larger, they would be very popular in dried flower arrangements.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 28, 2012 @ 10:22 pm
The last photo is nice “mystery”. I have not seen it here.
LikeLike
Comment by Sartenada — June 28, 2012 @ 10:55 pm
It’s a fun mystery, a little thing to keep working on.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — June 29, 2012 @ 8:43 pm