Location: Riverside Walk Prior Weather: Hot and Dry the previous 4 weeks Paticipants: Tom Jones Time of Day: Late Afternoon Species Seen: Hoary Zionaster, Varileaf Phacelia, Springdale Rockdaisy, Datura, Broom groundsel, Columbines, Catnip

Went off for a wildflower walk, starting at the Temple of Sinawava and ending at The Veranda, where the 'trail' enters the river. The official name for this trail is the "Riverside Walk", though it is also known as the "Gateway to the Narrows" trail. First up, the ubiquitous Hoary Goldenaster - Heterotheca villosa (pursh) shinn, from the Sunflower Family. This time I had a ruler along, and measured the height of a typical healthy-looking plant as 18" tall. The leaves and stems were indeed Hoary, having hairs on them and being rough. This was the dominant plant for much of the walk. There were also smaller versions of the same, including some that were half-size in all ways.

Out of focus, but we can see the blossoms are 7/8" wide.

Here we can see the Hoary Leaves are a bit more than an inch long.

My new friend, Varileaf Phacelia aka Caterpillar Plant - Phacelia heterophylla (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae) was also in abundance, in its non-descript way.

Here's a bad picture of what the plant looks like. Lots of this stuff around.

Last Rave, I had originally mis-identified this as "Yellowhead". It's not. Derrick in Phoenix id'd it as: Springdale Rockdaisy - Perityle tenella (Asteraceae)

Ah, finally a decent shot with the ruler and the leaves.

What I expected to find were Columbines Columbines Columbines. But surprisingly few were showing themselves - just a few in one place on the hanging gardens next to the trail. I am not convinced that my speciation of the Columbines is accurate. Welsh indicates that the TWO species found in Zion also hybridize, so forms between the two are likely to appear. Other sources indicate the possibility of more than TWO species in Zion. it will require some more research on my part. In the meantime, here's a couple of pics: Golden Columbine - Aquilegia chrysantha... maybe...

This flower was lying on the sidewalk, thus available for measurement.

Coloration tends to indicate... Western Columbine - Aquilegia formosa fisch in dc.... maybe...

The the leaf would tend to... well, actually, it is not clear the leaf and the blossom are related, so let's not put too much stock in that. Guess I should have made notes...