Indian River Falls

Jeanne Stolberg and I went on our annual hike to Indian River falls. Typically we go during spring break, but weren't able to do so this year. I may opt to permanently move the traditional hike to June as today was especially nice.

We started out around 9:30 in somewhat cloudy, but warm weather. Made reasonable time to the first bridge, then started ambling a bit after that. We didn't see anyone else on the trail until 3/4 of the way to the falls.

The slide area about 5 minutes from the falls has had some recent activity. The relatively unvegetated area of the slide is about 60ft wide, full of snow and covered with dirt and some plant debris. Haven't been able to determine when the most recent slide occured, not that I've asked too many people.

There are more Polystichum andersonii along the trail than I remembered, but it has been awhile since I've been to the falls in the summer. Maybe I've only been to the falls once in the summer? Anyway, several of the P. andersonii had growing buds at the end of last year's fronds. Most of the bud fronds were less than an inch tall, did see one about 4 inches tall. Not sure if more than one bud will grow from each frond or if the first to grow excretes some sort of chemical to inhibit growth of the other buds. Could easily envision a population of P. andersonii colonizing an unoccupied space, each old frond producing a few new plants around itself. It would be interesting to see if one could start a colony from one or two plants. According to FNA, P. andersonii is an allotetraploid resulting from P. munitum and P. kwakuilti. There seems to be a certain amount of variation in the division of the pinnules of the fronds, but I haven't been able to conjure any of the local ferns into P. kwakuilti.
The Polystichum (at least braunii and andersonii) have an interesting way of developing. Like Lady ferns, they start as a fiddlehead, but go through a bit of a backbend phase before they become totally erect. That is the base of the fronds is erect and the tips are reflexed away from center and the tips are curled up in a fiddlehead.

The falls, like the river had alot of water. Where we have eaten lunch the last few years was under water. There was a debris dam across the river below the falls. Thought that a dipper was using the dam as a nest site, but didn't watch long enough to be certain. Also saw a winter wren and a Hermit thrush on the dam. The snow was gone around the falls, the Ribes bracteosum was blooming on the slopes around the debris dam.
Only looked briefly at the mosses near the gravel bar; lots of Hypnum dieckii, Codriphorus aciculare, C. ryszardii and Oligotrichum aligerum on the shady side of a rock.
Did find Nephroma bellum on an elderberry growing in the gravel bar where we ate lunch.

After lunch, we decided to explore the forest between the slide and the falls. This stand has escaped recent slides (at least a couple of hundred years?). There are blueberries (well chewed) and a variety of herbs in the understory. Memorable was the abundant blooming Streptopus streptopoides and Listera cordata. I haven't seen S. streptopoides blooming for a number of years. Probably just haven't bothered to turn over a leaf at the right time of year.

Collected Amphidium lapponicum from a boulder on the falls side of the slide on the way back. It is a small clump forming moss with capsules somewhat similar in form to the more familiar Orthotrichums and Ulotas. At maturity, this moss has a ribbed capsule that is flared at the mouth and lacks a peristome.
On the way down stopped at a small muskeg uphill from the trail. It was kind of an odd looking place. There were areas that looked like Trichophorum/Carex dominated muskeg and others had more grass (Calamagrostis), Viola, Chocolate lily and Shooting Star. There were a few alders and some Cow parsnip as well. The muskeg wasn't quite divided in half between meadow and muskeg, however there was a clear division between the areas. THe meadow areas had exposed ash in a few spots. Makes me wonder if depth to ash is controlling the water table. Yes, ash can be used (inapppropriately) to explain everything. Anyway, why on a similar slope is one area typical muskeg and the other areas more meadow like? Need to take the shovel next time and look at depths of organic matter.
The Shooting stars were blooming and the fragrance was rather pleasant. Okay, I couldn' t keep myself from sticking my nose in many flowers. It is one of my favorite fragrances, intense, but not cloying. Also was treated to bumblebees pollinating the flowers. Buzz pollen removal is kind of an interesting thing. Vibrating the pollen loose from the anthers makes a kind of a buzzier buzz sound than the usual bee noises.
The Violets are making me a little crazy. There are four species of blue violets included in Hall; langsdorfii, palustris, adunca and selkirkii. V. palustris has stolons, V. adunca has more oval-elongate leaves, V. selkirkii has hairy leaves and lacks hairs on the petals. Doesn't seem like V. selkirkii is an option for our area, so stolons and leaf shape seem to be the important characters to notice. Admittedly I could be missing the stolons, but the violets in the meadow look like V. langsdorfii or Alaska violet.
Also abundant and blooming in the meadow was Coptis trifoliata, Trichophorum caespitosum and a few Vaccinium caespitosum. There were Equisetum arvense fruiting as well.
There was a small rill running through the muskeg with Skunk Cabbage. In a few of the old leaf bases was a small ascomycete, Mitrula (elegans or borealis) or bog beacon. It is a very small (1.5-2 inch tall) stalked fungus. I'll discuss this one further in another entry on spring fungi.

Collected a few aquatic mosses from the small waterways near the trail; Chiloscyphus polyanthos and Jungermannia (still haven't decided which one), and Hygrohypnum ochraceum. There may have been a bit of Campylium stellatum (very squarrose) in the mix, but I haven't relocated the strand to verify.
We did see/hear several Sapsuckers, Varied and Hermit Thrushes, Robins, Dippers, Winter wrens, and chickadees along the trail.

Found several of these beetles under the 3 5-gallon buckets of rotting herring eggs left at the head of the dock. The eggs were collected in the aftermath of the Crow Island adventure, so they have been decomposing for a few weeks. I'm sure that the neighbors enjoyed the smell.

When the buckets were moved, several of these distinctive beetles scurried away. I grabbed one and tossed it in a bucket for the trip home.

Relocating a dark beetle in a bucket of gooey eggs was kind of iffy, but I got lucky and found the beetle. It took several rounds of cooling off in the refrigerator to manage even this quality of photo. Let's say this guy was active.


Found a name for the beetle in " Bugs of Alberta";Creophilus maxillosus or Hairy Rove beetle. BugGuide, http://bugguide.net/node/view/15625 has a synopsis of its characteristics and distribution.
The yellow bands on its abdomen, short wing covers and visibly segmented abdomen seem like useful recognition characteristics.

I shouldn't be surprised to find interesting and unfamiliar places very close to trails that I have walked on many times. Surprised may not be the best verb to describe my reaction to this place, surprise kind of implies somthing completely unexpected. As I expect to find almost any place here interesting, it is more like having a curtain opened to a room that you had no idea was there.
Anyway, the toeslopes (between the Cross trail and the muskegs) of Gavan hill are rather interesting for a couple of reasons, one is the mixture of conifers that occur and the second is the density of the stand. There are Yellow cedar (X. nootkatensis), Western Hemlock (T.heterophylla), some Sitka Spruce (P.sitchensis) and most unusual, there are relatively large (40ft +?), straight trunked Shore pine (Pinus contorta var. contorta). I can't remember if there are any Mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana) in the stand. The sites I typically associate with such mixtures of species are poorly drained areas on flat terrain. Not so in this site. This stand seems to more the result of disturbance (logging, fire ?) and perhaps other site limitations (soil depth ?). This stand is dense and the trees are relatively small, but drainage doesn't seem to be the driving factor in stand characteristics. I need to take a shovel and a tree corer to get a better sense of this place.

It was the mosses in this site that attracted my attention most recently. Or maybe the combination of mosses found on the cedars. Present were what seem to be the regular epiphytes; Isothecium cardotti, Metzgeria conjugata (and perhaps some M. temperata), Radula bolanderi, and Frullania nisquallensis.
What seemed a bit different was the occurence of Hookeria lucens at the base of most or at least many of the cedars. I tend to think of Hookeria as occuring in wet, shady sites, sometimes on mineral soil, never on rock. I hadn't previously seen it at the base of trees.
Apometzgeria pubescens was another species I hadn't previously noticed on cedar. It was apparently different even without my glasses. The distinctive characteristic of this liverwort is the hairs on the upper surface of the thallus. The hairs give it a dull green color and a fuzzy appearance. In Jean Paton's "Liverwort Flora of The British Isles", Apometzgeria pubescens is a calcicole which rarely spreads to the bases of trees. Yellow cedar seems to be habitat for a number of calcicole bryophytes, eg Tortella tortuosa.
Claopodium crispifolium was found on the same cedar (?). I may have overlooked this one as it looks kind of like a dull sort of Hypnum. However at first glance, it looked more like a Thuidium or Helodium to me. This species does like a bit different, even to a far-sighted woman, it seems a bit duller or fuzzier. Good characteristics are the strong costa (midrib) which is hyaline, serrate leaf margins and the papillose leaf cells. The plants are somewhat regularly pinnate, yellow green like many Hypnums and have leaves with long slender points. On a good day, I can see the hyaline costa and serrate margins with my hand lens. Schofield lists the habitat as epiphytic on maple, yew and cedars as well as on rock.
Hypnum callichroum was retrieved from a few cedars in the stand. Hypnums are so much fun...H. circinale is pretty straight forward to recognize, but some of the others stretch my feeble brain or at least my ability to be certain about an identification in the field.

The following is a synopsis produced in hope of keeping the species of Hypnum straight, no doubt I'll need to adjust this first try:

H. callichroum: leaves circinate, leaf margins entire, long slender tips, irregularly pinnate, hyaloderm, stems yellow or green, capsule not ribbed, arcuate

H. dieckii: leaves circinate, leaves with tiny teeth at the apex, regularly pinnate, hyaloderm, capsule not ribbed, inclined to horizontal or nodding, near streams

H. subimponens: plants large, regularly pinnate, leaves falcate, few distinctive inflated alar cells, hyaloderm, capsules erect to suberect, typically epiphytic on trees or rocks

H. lindbergii: leaves falcate, alar cells inflated, leaves not rounded to insertion, hyaloderm, stems red, capsule ribbed when dry

H. revolutum: leaves without acuminate points, leaf margins rolled under, irregularly pinnate, no hyaloderm, capsule erect

H. circinale: small plants, leaves strongly circinate, tips toothed, alar cells differentiated, often colored, no hyaloderm, small capsule horizontal, epiphytes on trees, logs

Neckera douglasii: found in the same stand. I'm starting to wonder how many times I've ignored this species. (Kind of makes me feel like I should admit that being an idiot is kind of like being high all of the time) Previously I've found it at the Experimental station and at the Baranof cemetary on decdiuous trees. I'll have to pay more attention to this one.

A minor thrill was had in the discovery of fruiting Tetrodontium brownianum on a moist vertical rock surface in a small creeklet or rill. They kind of looked like sparse hairs on the rock. I scraped off a few of the capsules, and happily didn't lose them in transport. Managed to obtain both capsules and the tiny leaves at the base. In the collection was four toothed older capsules and younger ones covered by the calyptra.

Still not satisfied with the identification of a small liverwort from the rill. I'll have to add that one in later.

The last few days have been sunny and warm.
I've managed to get a few more things planted in the garden.

Planted one long row (about 20ft) of snap peas in the middle bed on the lower slope. In front of the peas, put in carrots. This year the varieties included: Red samurai, Purple haze, Mokum hybrid, Nantaise, and Nelson Hybrid. I've grown all but the first and last in the list with good results. Hopefully, the carrots will be good again this year.

Started a bit of lettuce at the end of one bed: couldn't resist the mixture of Merlot, Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed and Buttercrunch. Tossed in a few Easter egg variety of radish seeds for a good salad.

Planted out celery and onions and transplanted the tomatoes. The Brussels are coming along slowly. There are a couple of asparagus shoots growing in the upper bed, maybe if I moved the pine tree they might do a bit better.

The Erythroniums are in full glory, it took several attempts, but perhaps the included photo does them some justice. The newts are hiding under most of the boards around the garden beds. The one in the photo was on its own in the lower garden. Most of the other newts I found were in groups of 3 to 7.

New bloomers include the early columbines, dwarf and one flabellata, Claytonia (both pink and white forms) and the vine maple. A few of the Streptopus roseus are blooming in the garden. The Viola glabella is a bit past its prime.

There is one elderberry with flowers opening near the dock as well as one Ribes bracteosum.

Enjoying the songs of Orange-crowned and Townsends warblers, Hermit and Varied thrushes, Robins and pine siskins in the garden. The hummers are quite busy, I'm fairly certain that there is a nest in the bushes/trees between the wood shed and the burn pile, but I haven't searched for it yet. The winter wrens and chickadees are still around, but seem to have moved back into the forested parts of the lot.

Kayaked around the park Friday evening (5/23). It was a beautiful evening on the water or probably anywhere around Sitka Sound. Drifting past several whimbrels (7-8 ?) and a pretty flashy Caspian Tern near the point of the park was an added treat.

The commute has been relatively quiet lately. A few marbled murrelets, a pigeon guillemot, and mew and glaucous-winged gulls and many sea lions. The sea lion population in the channel increases with the charter fleet activity, lots of fish cleaning going on outside of the harbor.

Sunny with light, but determined northwest winds. In other words inspirational weather after the rain of the previous week.

Decided it was about time to take the skin on frame kayak out for a paddle. It was breezy enough that I decided against going around the airport, and instead headed for the rocks off the north shore of the Twins and Ball Islets (I hadn't previously noticed the name on the chart). I was curious if any of the shorebirds were using the rocks as they had been the last time I kayaked. No luck, so headed toward the park. It was convenient to travel southeast of the anchored cruise ship in order to avoid most of the shore boat traffic. I wasn't interested in negotiating their relatively large wake.

Paddled up the river just to the flats, then back around the battleground beach. I'm not sure I would have seen the 7-9 whimbrels if it wasn't for a couple of people walking down the beach. The birds flew up, around in a small circle then landed again. It was a bit difficult staying still in the wind and looking through the binoculars was problematic, but I was close enough to get a nice look.

Spent the afternoon and part of the evening working in the garden. Cleared out a few beds (didn't cook any of the weeds this time, I was mostly pulling up Mainanthemum). Dug up the bearded iris and divided them in some what more manageable chunks. They were crowded enough that they didn't flower last year. Also started Cauliflower (Panther and Cheddar) and Rubine Brussel Sprouts. The snap peas are soaking overnight, I'll plant them tomorrow.

The Erythroniums and Drumstick Primroses are at peak bloom. The Daffodils are pretty nice as well.

Gardening was much more interesting because of the birds; saw Golden crowned (2), Fox, Song, and Savannah Sparrow, Townsends and Orange-crowned warblers, Robins, Varied Thrush, and Hermit thrushes. The Rufous hummers were chasing each other around the garden, there was an almost constant hummer chatter/noise. One was investigating last year's Fireweed capsules, I couldn't see if the bird collected any of the remaining white fibers.

Also checked 3 of the red Ceratodons in the garden with KOH, on the off chance that I had overlooked a Bryoerythronphylllum. None turned red, so I'm sticking with Ceratodon.

I've been home for 15 + days, spent a reasonable amount of time looking at birds and plants, but haven't done quite so well at recording my observations. The week I was gone, and the warmer, sunny weather, made a noticable change in the birds observed and in the state of the vegetation.

Earlier this spring I had thoughts of doing a 1-3 day count of birds, similar to the Backyard Bird count. I didn't quite work out that way. Might have had something to do with it being the end of the semester.

The birds on the following list were mostly observed in Totem park and in the alders on Galankin Island from May 4 through May 17. There were other birds around that I didn't see (Whimbrels, Ruddy Turnstone, Eurasian Widgeon, Snow Goose, Semi-palmated plover, Townsend's and Orange Crowned warblers). The list of birds (in no particular order) I saw in the last couple of weeks includes:

Golden crowned sparrows
Fox sparrows
Song sparrows (including one without a tail, nor any trace of ever having one)
Savannah sparrows (mostly at the beach at Totem Park)
Varied Thrushes
Robins
Hermit Thrush (first singer in the garden on the 4th)
American Pipit (finally) several on the beach at Totem park
Pine siskins
Northern Flicker
Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier (at the park, May?, the white patch just above the tail was helpful)
Rufous Hummingbird
Winter wren
Golden Crowned Kinglets
Ruby Crowned Kinglets
Great Blue Heron
Kingfisher
Rock Dove
Oystercatchers (? at the park afternoon May 7th, 2 on the 17th)
Dunlin
Western Sandppiper
Rock Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper (5/17)
Greater Yellowlegs
Pacific Golden Plovers
Black bellied Plover
Dowitchers
Black Turnstones (hundreds at Totem park at low tide May 7th)
Surfbirds
Brant (park)
Canada Geese (park)
Swans (Swan Lake)
Common merganser
Buffleheads
Barrow's Goldeneye
Northern Shovelers (at the park, about 50 or so 5/ and for a week or so after this)
Pintails ( at the park)
American Widgeon
Green -winged teal
Mallards
Ring-necked duck (swan lake)
scaup
White-winged scoter
Pacific loon
Common loon
Red-necked Grebe (near Galankin dock)
Marbled murrelets
Pelagic cormorants
Mew gull
Glaucous winged gull
Thayers gulls
Herring gulls
Heard Western Screech owls

Decided to try a hummingbird feeder again. Found a window stick-on variety and decided to put it in the window next to the table. Haven't seen any activity as yet. One hummingbird ignored it and hit the window with some speed. I found it between the deck boards, clinging to the side of the board, beak down. I tried to pick it up (one finger on each side), but my attempt failed. It fell then flew off before it hit the ground below. Guess I should stick with botany.

In bloom: salmonberries, Ribes laxiflorum, Osmorhiza purpurea, Viola glabella, Coptis asplenifolia, Salix sitchensis, both species of alder are shedding pollen.

Had a meal of ladyfern fiddleheads, Chamerion angustifolium (from the garden), and Violets. I'm not as fond of the fireweed as I am of either of other plants. The fireweed had a bit of a lemony flavor that was good, but the lasting taste wasn't as good as the others.

Captured 2 mink and transported them to town. I decided to spray paint the back side of one of the two. I doubt if they make the trip back to the island, and one mink won't really answer the question, but might as well try.

resolving to do much better posting...

April 24-26

The other unofficial piece of the Bryophyte workshop was birds. In both of bryophyte workshops that I've indulged in, there has been at least one avid birder. In this class, it was Tim Rodenkirk of Coos Bay that was supplying the local expertise.

On the field trip to the West Fir area: White crowned sparrows, Hermit Thrush, dippers, Townsend's Solitaire (first for me), Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed hawk, and a Rufous hummingbird or two.

Friday and Saturday, Tim and I met at 6:20am and drove to Skinner's Butte which is just the other side of downtown Eugene. We parked below the gate and walked up, most of the crowd showed up just after 7:30 when the gate opened.

Friday: 6:30-7:50am
Nashville, Black-throated grey, Orange-crowned, Wilson's, Townsends, Myrtle and Audubon Warblers
Robin, Hermit Thrush, Bushtits, Brown Creeper, Pine Siskins, Spotted Towhee, Nuthatch, Golden crowned, and Song sparrows, Bewick's Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker, Steller's and Scrub Jays and an Osprey

Saturday: many of the same birds with a few additions:
Merlin, Osprey (with nesting material), Acorn Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture
Vaux's swift, Violet green swallow, House finches, and an alleged cross between an Anna's and a Rufous hummingbird.
I couldn't really grasp the nuances of the potential hybrid myself. It sure didn't display or look like any rufous that I had seen around here, but I'll defer to the local experts.


The Black throated grey was another new species for me. It was a very striking bird, Sibley almost does it justice.

Cierra and I stopped by Minto Park before I went down to Eugene. It was nice to spend a little time with her, and hopefully infect her with some enthusiasm for natural history. Fat chance, but might as well try.
Enjoyed listening to the Red-wing blackbirds. We also found Wood ducks and I'm pretty sure observed a very brief mating of two Northern Flickers.

April 23-26
This year for the annual or perhaps semi-annual nerd vacation, I was able to attend Dave Wagner's Bryophyte II workshop at University of Oregon.
The class met at the University, but was not associated with it, except that they supply the space at some unknown cost. There were 10 students attending, most of whom were federal employees, there was also a graduate student from Northern Arizona, a private consultant, a retired lawyer and myself. 4 of the BLM employees had taken the class at least once, but three of the students were taking this class because the level I class had been cancelled.
Dr. Wagner has focused his attention on knowing the flora of Oregon with a lesser emphasis on the surrounding Pacific Northwest. The most helpful shove for me was the emphasis on use of microscopic characters to initially identify the species, then developing a set of field characters from that base. This is definately a goal of mine, not sure how long it will take to be as confident as he is. I might have to focus a bit more to achieve it in the nearer future. The class was also quite useful for checking my interpretation of characterisitcs and getting some species verified.
The first day we focused on hornworts and liverworts which was very helpful. I hadn't looked at hornworts since Dr. Lawton's class and not much then, so it was useful to get a good look at both Anthoceros and Phaeoceros. I'm fairly convinced that I haven't seen either genus here, but now I'll have a better search image to work with. The two genera are pretty easily seperated; Anthoceros has lamellae on the thallus and Phaeoceros does not. The latter genus also has interesting dumbell shaped chloroplasts. We found both genera on our field trip growing on banks of exposed mineral soil (clay texture). I'll have to find the right habitat before I get too worried about finding hornworts around here.
We did a nice survey of the less familiar (to me) genera of thalloid liverworts, Asterella, Sphaerocarpos, Targionia, Riella, etc. Learned that epidermal peels was the best way to see the pore structures and how to easily find the scales & associated appendages on the underside.
Moved on the the leafy liverworts, focused a bit on the importance of oil bodies. Guess I'll have to look at things when fresh to get accurate counts of them in the future. In most liverworts, the oil bodies break down rather fast.
I have some useful drawings of the interpretation of decurrent leaves of Scapania, but no way as yet to transfer those to the computer. The attachment was easier to see by peeling back the leaves on one side of the stem.

We also spent some time on Porella species. P. roelli tastes very peppery (we tried it on the field trip), whereas P. cordeana and navicularis don't. P. navicularis can also be recognized by the wide lobules that diverge from the stem and the revolute margins. P. cordeana has round tips and is somewhat bluish. Bulging trigones is not a good character in this genus.

The second day was spent up Goodman Creek and near West Fir. We parked at the covered bridge picnic area and walked up the trail a ways. What struck me was that the forest floor was dominated by Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, we saw very little Hylocomium splendens, no R. loreus or Mniaceae. We did see Leucolepis along a forested road, and a few Rhizomnium glabrescens on a log. The big thrill for me was finding Buxbaumia piperi. I said something aobut never seeing before and Tim, Kurt and Jennie started searching. In about 5 minutes Jennie found one right beside the trail. It was growing in a small crevice on a rotten stump without any other mosses. I wonder if it grows up here, given how densely most wood is covered with other mosses, it may not have a chance.
Learned a field character to try on H. dieckii and H. subimponens. The latter is yellow green and away from streams and the former is slightly reddish brown and streamside. Not feeling too certain about this working here, but will have to try.
The other field character that I want to try is for Radula bolanderi vs. R. complanata. The former has leaves that are somewhat seperate and with imagination looks like drops of rain. R. complanata has overlapping leaves.
One of the two Frullania species that I learned to field identify, doesn't seem to grow here, alas. F. bolanderi can be recognized by the small branches that arise from the plants. They are easiest to see from the side. This species also prefers hardwoods.

Plagiochila satoi= P. porelloides according to Dave.

We found a large patch of Climacium dendroides growing beside a lake among the grasses. The plants were so closely packed together that the dendroid habit was not apparent. I'm a little worried that I've ignored it or just looked in the wrong places. Sounds like lakes is one place I should be looking around here. It is reported to be rare except in the northern part of the region, one site is in Sitka Sound. Something to look into or search for.

It was nice to see some old friends blooming: Asarum caudatum, Dicentra formosa, Calypso bulbosa, Viola sempervirens, Petatisties frigidus, Ribes sanguineum, Valeriana sitchensis and Trillium ovatum. I don't remember Valerian growing in the forest, I must have replaced that memory with my local map. The Calypso was larger (about 3 inches or so) than I've seen around here. Saw elk along the Willamette river on the drive back.

Spent the next day focusing on the former genus Racomitrium and its segregates. I think I might have a better handle on the genera or at least the species of the genera.
Section in upper part of leaf!
* = locally found

Bucklandiella
*B. heterosticha: 2 rows of cells in costa, some bulging cells, usually without pseudopapilla
S-twist seta, leaves pointing upwards

*B. sudetica: 1 row of bistratose cells on margins, dentate hair point

*B. brevipes: dentate hair point, strong pseudo-papillae (bumps over cross wall not lumen)

B. affine: 3+ stratose costa, hair point flat, not as long decurrent as lawtoniae

B. lawtoniae: z-twist seta, decurrent hair points

Codriophorus leaf sections have cells that look like the bumpy surface of a molar, Ron called them saddle-backed, but I'll stick with molars.

C. ryszardii: boulders, leaves irregularly bluntly erose-dentate at tips. The Indian river valley samples had pointier leaf tips than typical.

Niphotrichum: identified the sample from the beach at Pt. Brown as canescens ssp canescens. The papillose cells and weakly serrate hair points were useful characters

Racomitrium lanuginosum: papillose and branched dentate hair points are diagnostic. Had a sample from the muskeg at Kruzof.

Wagner confirmed my identification of the pesky Pohlia from the rock banks of Indian River. The red stems and metallic luster help identify it as P. cruda.
Managed to work through a variety of Alaska collections, but unfortunately didn't get anywhere with the mosses from the cliff/rocks on Kruzof. Mostly eliminated taxa.

To sum up, the class was excellent. It was very nice to spend time learning from someone who has spent years focusing both on the bryoflora and the natural history of western Oregon.

Although it isn't the usual natural history that I usually record, consider this a special topic in this blog; human grooming behavior.

I met up with two friends that were a significant part of my life from age 11 through 17 (graduation for me) last week in Portland. Maureen and Gail decided that we should do something on the silly side of fun before we went to eat Indian food (my request).

Pedicures seem a little on the bizarre side to me, but sound like they are a relatively regular thing for my friends. The other threesome in the place seemed to agree with my assessment of the practice, but were quite willing to be indulge themselves. Three guys from Kentucky, fortified with alcohol had decided to see what was so good about pedicures that women would pay for the service on a regular basis.
Gail, Maureeen and I were enjoying the incongruity of at the sight of the guys in what is generally thought of as a woman's activity. We were laughing enough that we thought it appropriate to tell the guys that only real men would get pedicures.

This was the second pedicure in my life and they both happened within a month of each other. Not sure what brought about this change in behavior, but I can't imagine that it will become a regular thing. Although I have to admit that soaking my feet in a hot bath, followed by a massage and the most strange of all, dipping my feet in hot wax could be somewhat relaxing. Don't think that I need to have bright red toenails to feel well groomed. I don't think it made me feel particularly girly either, just a bit silly. The sandals Gail provided were some how quite appropriate.