Today’s “Curious About” post is designed to momentary take your mind away from pandemics, and instead introduce you to an endemic beauty with fushia-colored flowers – snow Douglasii – that is blooming now. Endemic plants and animals are those that are unique to a specific geographic region, found nowhere else in the world. In our lower elevation foothills, snow Douglasii blooms in March, right at the edge of snowmelt on rocky outcrops, on windswept ridges, or on dry talus slopes.
Snow Douglasii (Douglasii nivalis) is a hardy local native perennial plant in the Primrose Family. Its worldwide distribution is restricted to the Wenatchee Mountains in Kittitas and Chelan counties, with a few scattered at locations in Douglas and Okanogan counties.
In Washington, the Wenatchee Mountains have a high concentration of endemic plants, many of which are rare and are inventoried and monitored by Washington DNR’s Natural Heritage Program. Some endemic species like snow Douglasii are relatively commonly found in the “right habitat” within their small range. Snow Douglasii is relatively common, but like all species with restricted ranges, it is susceptible to habitat loss. It is a conservation best practice to use your camera or sketchbook to “collect” a native wildflower, and leave it undisturbed where you find it.
Many plants in our area have a set of adaptations that allow them to thrive in dry windy habitats that experience large daily and seasonal temperature extremes. By growing in a low tightly packed mounded shape, both heat and water are conserved by the plant. Like other long-lived perennials, it stores food in large roots and uses this energy to grow flowers as soon as snow cover is gone. When pollinating insects have few other choices, the strategy of blooming early ups the chance for a flower to be successfully pollinated.
Your own yard and neighborhood is a great place to observe ways plants are adapted to where they grows. Check out this elementary school wildflower adaptation field lesson . This Conserve Our Western Roots mini-poster shows how many of our region’s shrub-steppe plants have roots adaptations that enable them to thrive in arid climates. Kids and adults alike like this low-cost phone app, Washington Wildflowers, that will help you identify wildflowers by making a series of observations. Check out my bibliography of wildflower field guides here. This USFS website is good place to start exploring pollinator species.
