Another carnivorous plant

In the beaver pond, where yesterday's bluets were partying, I found two aquatic plants I'd not seen before.

Bladderwort, probably Utriucularia intermedia.

I found this at the edge of the pond, in shallow, muddy water, hedged by hardhack on the land side, by water lilies all around. It is a carnivorous plant.

All Utricularia are carnivorous and capture small organisms by means of bladder-like traps. ... Aquatic species ... can feed on more substantial prey such as water fleas (Daphnia), nematodes and even fish fry, mosquito larvae and young tadpoles. Despite their small size, the traps are extremely sophisticated. In the active traps of the aquatic species, prey brush against trigger hairs connected to the trapdoor. The bladder, when "set", is under negative pressure in relation to its environment so that when the trapdoor is mechanically triggered, the prey, along with the water surrounding it, is sucked into the bladder. Once the bladder is full of water, the door closes again, the whole process taking only ten to fifteen milliseconds. (Wikipedia)

And when I went back to get better photos, (not much luck), I found these, too. Also something I'd not seen before.

Bur-Reed, possibly Sparganium natans.

This is a small plant, with long, narrow floating leaves. I didn't see the leaves among all the other bits of vegetation in the water.

From E-Flora:  Inflorescence simple, of 1 to 3 female heads below and 1 male head above, the heads globe-shaped.

I'll have to go back this week, while the flowers are still blooming, to look at underwater leaves and see if I can find any of those carnivorous bladders. Wish me luck!

While I'm at it, these tiny Twinflowers, Linnaea borealis, were blooming on the trail into the pond.

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En la laguna de los castores, donde revoloteaban los caballitos del diablo del post de ayer, encontré dos plantas que nunca antes había visto.

1. Utricularia, probablemente U. intermedia, una planta carnívora.

Estaba junto a la orilla de la laguna, en agua de poca profundidad, algo lodosa, rodeada de Spiraea douglasii y de lirios acuáticos

Todas las especies de Utricularia son carnívoras y capturan organismos pequeños con sus trampas en forma de vejiga. ... Las especies acuáticas ... pueden alimentarse de presas más sustanciales, tales como pulgas acuáticas (Daphnia), nematodos y aun peces juveniles, las larvas de mosquitos y renacuajos nuevos. A pesar de su tamaño reducido, las trampas son extremadamente complejas. El las trampas activas de las especies acuáticas, la presa hace contacto con vellos disparadores ligados a la puerta de la trampa. La vejiga, cuando está armada,  está bajo presión negativa respeto a su medio ambiente, tal que cuando la puerta se abre, la presa, con el agua que le rodea, se introduce dentro de la vejiga. Una vez que esté llena de agua la vejiga, la puerta vuelve a cerrarse; el proceso entero toma solamente de diez a quince milisegundos. (Wikipedia)

2. Y cuando regresé a la laguna para sacar fotos más claras (con poca suerte) encontré  estas flores. Otra planta nunca antes vista. Sparganium natans.

Esta es una planta pequeña, y tiene hojas largas y angostas, flotantes. No vi estas hojas en el agua entre todas las partes de otras plantas.

De E-Flora:  Inflorescencia sencilla, con de 1 a 3 flores hembras abajo, arriba,  below and 1 flor macho; las inflorescencias tienen forma de globo.

Y tendré que regresar de nuevo esta semana, mientras todavía siguen en flor las plantas, para observar las hojas subacuáticas y tratar de encontrar alguna de esas vejigas carnívoras.

3. Ya que estaba en el rumbo, saqué esta foto de las pequeñitas flores gemelas, Linnaea borealis, que crecían al lado del camino.

So many flowers!

Here are some of the flowers I saw along the Rock Bay road:

One of the paintbrushes, probably Common red paintbrush, Castillelja sp.

Twinflowers, Linnaea borealis. Very tiny; two flowers on each Y stem.

Hardhack, Spiraea douglasii ssp douglasii.

Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor. Lake McCreight.

Penstemon, probably Penstemon serrulatus. 

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Algunas de las flores que vi por el camino hacia Rock Bay:

1. Castilleja sp., probablemente C. miniata. En inglés las llamamos "pinceles" (o brochas de pintor: en inglés es la misma palabra.
2. Flor gemela, Linnaea borealis. Una flor muy pequeña; cada tallo, en forma de "Y" lleva dos flores.
3. Spiraea douglasii ssp. douglasii. Muy común cerca de agua; hace masas de arbustos casi impenetrables.
4. Rocío oceánico, Holodiscus discolor.
5. Penstemon serrulatus.

Along the way

A few flowers along the Lupin Falls trail. Shade lovers, all.

Start of the trail.

Thimbleberry, flowers and unripe berry.

Honeysuckle, just getting started.

Another coral root orchid.

A patch of twin flowers. Deep shade.

Most of the flowers along this dry, dark, acid-soiled trail, except the thimbleberries, were small to tiny. Even the native wild roses were miniatures.

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Algunas flores encontradas en el sendero a las cataratas Lupin.

1. El letrero a la entrada al sendero.
2. Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus. Flores y frutas todavía verdes. Maduras, son rojas y muy dulces.
3. Madreselva, Lonicera sp., nueva planta, apenas tiene la primera rama.
4. La orquídea Corallorhiza sp.
5. Y un grupo de flores gemelas, en sombra densa.

La mayoría de las flores en este bosque seco, oscuro y con suelo ácido, aparte de los thimbleberry, tenían flores pequeñas o muy pequeñas. Hasta las rosas nativas, normalmente del tamaño de los thimbleberry, eran miniaturas.

Twinflowers, again

 Good thing I was looking for orchids. Otherwise, I probably would have missed these.

Twinflowers, Linnaea borealis.

The flowers grow up about 1 cm. long, two on a Y-shaped stalk.

Compare to the size of the moss behind them.

I knew I'd seen them before; searching the blog, I realized that it was in about the same spot on the Elk Falls trail, two years ago, in June.

They say the flowers are fragrant; I didn't notice, even though I was down nose to nose with them. Maybe next time.

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Suerte que estaba buscando orquídeas en la sombra; si no, creo que no habría visto estas florecitas. Son flor gemela, Linnaea borealis. Las flores miden alrededor de 1 cm. de largo, y la planta las lleva, dos gemelitas en un tallo en forma de "Y", apenas alzadas sobre el musgo.

Me recordaba haberlas visto antes; rebusqué en el blog, y me di cuenta que fue en aproximadamente el mismo sitio en el sendero hacia Elk Falls, en junio del año antepasado.

Dicen que las flores llevan un dulce perfume; yo no lo noté, aunque estaba en el suelo cara a cara con las flores. Tal vez la próxima vez.

Pink fairy skirts

"Shrubs are woody plants less than 10 m tall when mature ..." So says my guide, Plants of Coastal British Columbia, in the section, "Shrubs and Small Trees."

Here I find our common salal, huckle-, thimble-, and salmon-berries, honeysuckle, Oregon grape, elderberries (clocking in at 6 m. tall); most of our understory plants. And twinflowers.

Twinflower, Linnaea borealis

Quoting the guide again: "Trailing, slender, semi-woody, evergreen, short (less than 10 cm tall ...) These were less than half that; 2 inches tall at the most, with the leaves down in the moss. The flowers are 2-5 mm long; 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

But the runners are long, which makes them eligible, I guess, for inclusion alongside the rhododendrons and devil's club.

The flowers look like miniature dolls with pink skirts.

These ones are growing all along the upper trail at Elk Falls. I noticed them only because I was walking slowly, with gravel stuck in my sandals. At a normal pace, getting from here (the parking lot) to there, (the important stuff, the bridge and the Falls) I would have missed them entirely.

On shrubs and subs

In the cities, we plant floral borders to our walkways. Alongside our human paths in the deep forests, where we've cleared away the duff and rotting branches, the borders plant themselves. Seen this trip; lichens and mosses, wild strawberries and the tiny native trailing blackberry, vanilla leaf and wild columbine. And the tiny twinflowers and tidy bunchberries.

Twinflower, Linnaea borealis

These little flowers stand less than 4 inches tall. I went through my guide to wildflowers twice, page by page, from lilies to broomrape; the twinflowers weren't there. I checked the index, which I should have done first, but never do, and there they were, among the shrubs.

I always think of shrubs as being larger plants, smaller than trees, but at least knee-high. And the twinflower doesn't look shrub-like. But a shrub is defined as a woody plant, usually multi-stemmed, usually under 20 ft. tall. No lower limit.

The twinflower has woody stems, but they trail along the ground, sending the short flower stalks up into the light above. Each stalk ends in a Y, and bears two bell-like flowers. Look at the photo above; a half-dozen or so "clappers" dangle below their "bells". The leaves are evergreen, to match the forest above.

Bunchberry, Cornus canadensis, aka Dwarf dogwood. With twinflower for size comparison.

If the twinflower is a shrub, why isn't the bunchberry? It has trailing, somewhat woody stems, is in the same genus as the Pacific dogwood, a tree, and the red-osier dogwood, another shrub. Maybe it's that the stems are only somewhat woody. Wikipedia calls it a subshrub.

The actual flowers are small, greenish yellow, with purplish centres; four bluish white bracts at the centre of the leaf whorl upstage them, at least to our eyes. The bees aren't fooled.

The leaves are semi-evergreen, and the fruit is a red berry, edible, they say. I haven't tried them. Yet.