Here are some more beautiful woodland wildflowers that can be found on our 5 acres lots out at the Paradise Vista sub-division in Grants Pass, OR. Nature is a wonder and these certainly reflect this!
Pacific Hound’s Tongue
In open woodlands, this plant bears loose clusters of showy purple or blue flowers above large leafy clumps. It’s Habitat is in dry shaded places; woodlands, chapparal; low to moderate elevations. The Height: 1-3 ft (30-90 cm) and the Leaf: mostly at base, large, lanceolate to oval, pointed, long-stalked, 3-16 in (7.5-40 cm) long, 1-4 in (2.5-10 cm) wide; becoming fewer, smaller above. The Flower: 5 bright blue to violet lobes around raised white center; 1-1.5 cm) wide; held in loose terminal cluster. This wildflower bears Fruit it is hard, slightly bristly, divided into 1-4 oval nutlets; 1/4 in (6 mm) long. The Flower blooms from March to June. The Range Native to western North America from British Columbia to Western Washington to southern California.
Fun Fact on the Pacific Hound’s Tongue: Native Americans used preparations from the root to treat burns and stomachaches.
Menzies’ Larkspur
Menzies Larkspurs are in the Delphinium family. The stems spreading, with un-branched leaves and long petioles, few basal, most on stem, 1–2 in. across, divided palmately, 5 segments each with 3 fine-haired lobes. Flowers 3–10, deep purple-blue with some pale blue or white, in cluster at stem top. Flower spur 1/2–3/4 in. long, straight. Grows on coastal bluffs, spring-wet grasslands, meadows, lower mountain slopes. Can be confused with D. nuttallianum, which is more widespread east of Cascades. The flowering time: Late Spring, Life Cycle: Perennial, Height: 8–20 inches, Habitat: Coastal, Meadow, Found In: West Gorge, Siskiyous, Olympic NP, N Cascades NP
Forktooth Ookow
This wildflower is part of the lily family the stem is erect. Leaves 3–4, 2–4 in., with deep channel down center. Flower cluster round and dense, fewer than 20 flowers above 4 purple to white bracts. Flowers light to very dark blue or purple, bell-shaped, with 3 fertile stamens, 3 lavender-blue, erect, forked, sharp, tooth-like projections. Blooms later than similar D. capitatum, blue dicks, in open woodlands, grasslands. The flowering time: Mid Summer, Life Cycle: Perennial, Height: 8–40 inches, Habitat: West-Side Forest, Meadow, Shrub-Steppe, Found In: Siskiyous, Olympic NP, East Gorge, Crater Lake NP.
Hooker’s Indian-Pink
Photo taken by Pat Etchells – current Paradise Vista resident
This wildflower is decumbent to upright from much-branched thickened root. Stems and leaves glandular or lightly covered with short soft hairs. Leaves egg-shaped, 1–3 in. long, green to gray, entire. Flower clusters atop stems. Calyx densely hairy, petals 5, pink, red, salmon, or white. Grows in open woods, among shrubs and conifers, at 1200–4000 ft. Subsp. bolanderi, with larger, deeply divided, white flowers, grows in northern California. Plants in Oregon are pink to red, occasionally white, with smaller, less deeply divided petals. The Flowering Time: Mid Spring, the Life Cycle: Perennial, Height: 2–8 inches, Habitat: West-Side Forest, Meadow, and found In: Siskiyous.