Study Weekend 2019 -Bays, Bogs, and Balds – Fidalgo Island, WA

Hosted by the Salal Chapter

Study Weekend was hosted at the Fidalgo Bay Resort on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes, WA on May 17- 19, 2019 by the Salal Chapter. Committee champions created a wonderful event, with very fun socializing events, wonderful food, and excellence in Field Trip location and leadership.

Special shout outs to the Salal Committee for their hard work and organization, including:

Kathy Murray – The Field Trip guru for this event! Excellent organizing skills and a wonderful eye for strong teaching skills and leadership provided for 15 field trips on Saturday 14 on Sunday. These trips were very diverse, including a charter boat trip to a Cypress Island in the San Juans, kayaking on lake in Anacortes to a Bog, hiking in old growth forest, beach walks, and geology on PNW Balds.

Jean Birdsall – Our event facility and food provided perfectly for one of the largest Study Weekend events on record. Dinners were incredible, with tribal salmon baked dinner on Friday, and delicious catering by Giradelli Caters in Anacortes. Jean’s organization for the meals, and for the money really made this a fun and profitable event.

Viva Worthington – The social and bar organizer! A waterfront location on Fidalgo Bay provided for a fun social event with beer and wine. All the beer was consumed and a good time was had.

Brenda Cunningham – The Chapter Chair who supported her leaders with strong support, trip leadership, and certainty that enough volunteers were recruited to support all the parts, like parking, and event set up, check in hosts and more.

Margaret Toth – Margaret is new to WNPS, but she jumped right in and put her skills in data management and processing to work, and assisted Kathy with Packet production and packing. It was Margaret that was at the front door, holding down the check in, and getting folks organized for the event.

Friday Night Speaker: Samish Tribal member Saturday Night Speaker: Joe Rocchio – PNW Bogs

Saturday Field Trips

Trip 101 – Admiralty Inlet Natural Area and Smith Prairie, Whidbey Island – led by Joe Arnett Photo story, submitted by Bill Brookreson – “tens of thousands of Castilleja”

Trip 102 – Cypress Island Balds and Bays – led by Dave Wilderman, DNR

Trip 103 – Cranberry Lake Bog – Led by Joe Rocchio and Vicki Jackson

Stay tuned for more story including the plant list.

Trip 104 – Ebey’s Bluff and Perego’s Lagoon - Clay Antieau

Trip 105 – Private Garry Oak Woodland – Jim Duemmel

Trip 106 – Sugarloaf Mountain Wildflowers to Heart Lake Forest – Denise Crowe coming soon

Trip 107 – Intro: Revised Flora of Pacific NW & Washington Park Walk – David Giblin

We started the day with a discussion about the number of and reasons for changes between the 1st and 2nd edition Flora of the Pacific Northwest. We then made our way, slowly, to Weaverling Spit. Along the way we used a simplified key to 29 Common Plant Families (email David Giblin for a copy) to learn the diagnostic characters of several families. The exercise gave the group the opportunity to see good in plants often loathed (e.g., Scots broom is a great plant for learning Fabaceae). After lunch on the Resort Center porch we made our way to Washington Park for the afternoon. We continued our mix of keying plants to family with the simplified key and then to genus or species in Flora of the Pacific Northwest. We covered maybe 400 yards before ending on an open meadow with spectacular views of the San Juan Islands in front of us and diminutive Triphysaria pusilla (dwarf owl-clover) at our feet. It was a great day, and the group's excellent questions and suggestions led to further improvements to the plant family key. – David Giblin, PhD

Trip 109 – Wildflowers of Rosario and Bowman Bays (DPSP) – Fayla Schwartz and Lucie Johns

Trip 110 – Reservation Head, Lottie Bay, Goose Rock (DPSP) – Jeff Walker

Trip 111 – Exploring Lichen Species at Goose Rock (DPSP) – Katherine Glew

Trip 112 – Flora of Skagit Tidal Wetlands: Freshwater to Saltwater – Roger Fuller

Trip 113 – Devil’s Mountain Bog and Tree Farm – Brenda Cunningham

Trip 114 – Washington Park Wildfowers – Walter Fertig

Trip 115 – Orchids of Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands – Ron Hanko

Sunday Trip 201 – Cumberland Creek Restoration, oxbow pond and hardwood Floodplain – Regina Wandler

Trip 202 – Guemes Mountain Flora and History – Anthony Allison and Karen Lamphere Photos by Bill Brookreson

Trip 203 Kukutali Preserve, Washington’s newest State Park – Denise Crowe Anacortes Study Weekend 2019 – Kukutali State Park

On a calm, mild, sunny day we explored our newest state park, Kukutali Preserve, under the expert guidance of Denise Crowe, our enthusiastic and knowledgeable leader. The 93 acre preserve is managed jointly by the Swinomish Tribal Community and Washington State Parks. The “place of cattail mats” radiated the essence of hundreds of years of tribal use and included a large shell midden on the first island. After crossing the first tombolo to Kiket Island, we entered an interesting forest of nice diversity, entirely yellow banana slugs, and an herbaceous groundcover of mostly Sanicula crassicaulis. Other highlights included large multi- stemmed Douglas maple, Taxus brevifolia, and Vaccinium ovatum. The dappled leaves of Erythronium oregonum indicated an earlier spring bloom and a Platanthera species was in bud. The last tiny Flagstaf Island, reached by the second tombolo, led to a prairie bluff community that is not open to the public. From behind the fence we could see Toxicoscordion venenosum, fading Camas, Armeria maritima in the rocks, and tiny Spergularia macrotheca in full bloom. We walked back in the saltmarsh edge and saw Triglochin, Plantago maritima, Distichlis spicata, and Salicornia. All in all, a varied environment full of tribal history, spectacular views, interesting plants, and a lovely place to steward and preserve for the enjoyment of all. -Patricia Otto

Trip 207 - Marine Plants, Algae, Lichens, and Invertebrates of Washington Park

Trip 209 - Geology and Flora of Fidalgo Island – Scott Petersen and Terry Slotemaker

Trip 210 – Ethnobotanically Significant Plants along Coastal Shores (DPSP) – with Abe T. Lloyd

Trip 214 – Lichens with Fred Rhoades

WNPS Field Trip 214. Cyrptogams and Flora of Hoypus Point, Deception Pass State Park, Leader Dr. Fred Rhoades. By Laura Potash

About 11 people with a penchant for “low life” were lucky enough to tag along with Fred Rhoades on this gentle trail through an old-growth Douglas fir forest. Altogether we investigated 17 mosses, 13 fungi, 13 lichens, one algae, and a number of vascular plants. Rather than impress you with a comprehensive species list (available through WNPS) or identification tips, this summary gives a sample of a few things I was delighted to learn.

The only people that walk slower than vascular plant botanists are lichenologists, who sometimes never make it beyond the parking lot, but in our case in between the parking lot and trailhead we saw, growing on a Nootka rose bush, these brilliant orange little blobs about 1cm long, attached to the stems of the rose. This is a rust in the genus Gymnocarpium, named for the host upon which it lives, but it is benign and does not kill its host. Then we found one of the very common foliose lichens that grow on branches of hardwood trees, Evernia prunastri, which contains evernic acid. You know how someone wearing perfume can leave a room and the scent still lingers? Evidently evernic acid may be to blame – it acts as a chelator which enables it to stick to minerals. Also, it somehow binds to the ester molecules used by the perfume industry to help make the scent of their product more persistent.

As we walked past the large diameter Douglas fir trees we saw the bark was covered with a dull yellow color, almost as if it was lightly spray-painted all the way up the trunk. This is a crustose lichen found in shady woods with descriptive common names “Mustard powder” or “Gold dust lichen” (Chrysothrix candelaris).

We took a good look at Bryoria fremontii (formerly known as B. torutosa). There are many Bryoria on the east side of the crest but this one must live in very close proximity to salt water. Until very recently everyone thought that a lichen was a mutually beneficial partnership between a fungus, usually an ascomycete (and the lichen was named for the particular fungal partner), and a photosynthetic green algae, or in some species a blue green algae. But recent research on B. fremontii revealed a third partner, a basidiomycete that is classified within a group of yeasts. See the June 2017 issue of Scientific American “Naturalist Trevor Goward Helps to Overturn a 150-Year-Old Truth of Science…How a naturalist’s observations in the wilds of British Columbia inspired a scientist to discover hidden symbioses—overturning 150 years of accepted scientific wisdom”.

We also looked at some bracket or shelf fungi, otherwise known as conks. Some species only grow on dead trees but we saw the “red ring rot” fungus (Porodaedalea pini , formerly Phelinus pini) growing on a living Douglas fir, and if you happen to be a timber cruiser evaluating the economic value of that stand you better downgrade the quality of that tree because the fungus enters the heartwood and ruins it. We looked at a couple of other species of conks, sometimes called artist’s conks because you can scrawl graffiti on the underside if you are predisposed to bad behavior. Apparently there is an Asian species called “reishi” that has well documented medicinal properties. But like most ethnobotanical things, don’t go munching on something you are unfamiliar with – if you want to learn more, Fred recommends “The Fungal Pharmacy” by Roberts.

Lastly, three more items of interest: All day we were treated to the distinctive lovely song of the olive- sided flycatcher. The bird books describe the song as “quick three beers” which is fine but IMHO that’s some funky ploy to get non-birders interested in birds. Also several of my cohorts had this free app on their phone called “Maglight”, a lighted handlens – very impressive! Vascular plant-wise, I was happy to see the Henderson’s sedge (Carex hendersonii) lining the trail – it is a giant species that doesn’t even require the use of your new Maglight.

Lichen field trip with WNPS Comments leader Fred Rhoades, May 19, by Fred 2019, at Deception Pass State Park near Coronet Bay

Chrono Botanical names Common Type Comment -logy Name

7 Trentepohlia sp. Orange tree A This is a free-living green alga scrum ? which happens to be orange 44 Brachythecium Green silk or B asperrimum feather moss 34 Buckiella Waced silk B Formerly known as undulata or worm Plagiothecium undulatum moss 19 Dicranum Broom moss B scoparium 9 Frullania Hanging B nisquallensis millipede liverwort 15 Hylocomium Stairstep B splendens moss 36 Kindbergia Oregon B oregana beaked moss 42 Lepidozia Little hands B reptans liverwort 16 Leucolepsis Menzie's B basket acanthoneuron tree moss yellow dye 41 Lophoclea Bifid B bidentata crestwort 46 Pellia neesiana Ring pellia B 26 Plagiomnium Badge or B insgne thyme moss 37 Rhizomnium Fan moss B glabrescens 23 Fissidens Lesser B I had called this bryoides pocket moss Schistostega pennata 45 Agaricus sp. Mushroom F 35 Amanita Panther cap, F pantherina Flase blusher 17 Fomitopsis Red-belt F The other two species of conks that used to be mounceae conk lumped under the European species, F. pinicola 14 Fomitopsis Non-red- F This is one of two species of conks that used to ochracea belt conk be lumped under the European species, F. pinicola 47 Galerina sp. Little brown F mushrooms 10 Ganoderma Artist's conk F applanatum

11 Ganoderma American F oregonense Reishi funugus 25 Geopyxis Vulcan pixie F vulcanalis cup 2 Phragmidium sp. Rose rust F 39 Pleurotus Oyster F Seen in a pulmonarius mushroom passerby's grocery or Lung bag oyster 29 Porodaedalea Red ring rot F AKA Phelinus pini pini 40 Tricaptum Purple pore F It wasn't clear that there were actually abietinum ? bracket fungal fruitiing bodies on these knobs fungus 24 Trichopezizella Tiny, hairy F This is the closest I could get. sp. cup fungus Further microscopic examination needed. 32 Bryoria fremontii Wila, Black L The form we saw was tree lichen, previously known as Bryoria Edible tortuosa horsehair lichen 8 Chrysothrix Mustard L candelaris powder or Gold dust lichen 22 Cladonia Red- L bellidiflora flowered Cladonia 21 Cladonia Lipstick L macilenta lichen 5 Evernia prunastri Oak moss or L Staghorn moss 38 Lepraria pacifica Pacific dust L AKA Lepraria pacifica and once know as lichen Lepraria incana, another European species 33 Parmelia sulcata Powdery L shield lichen 4 Peltigera Membranou L membranacea s pelt 20 Peltigera Horizontal L I had called this Peltigera horizontalis pelt neopolydactyla 30 Platismatia Rag bag L glauca

31 Platismatia Tattered rag L herrei 12 Usnea dasypoga Fishbone L Previously beard lichen filipendula 6 Usnea sp. Beard moss L or Beard lichen 18 Abies grandis Grand Fir P 13 Carex Henderson's P hendersonii sedge 27 Corallorhiza Spotted P maculata coral root 28 Corallorhiza Merten's P mertensiana coral root 49 Equisetum Common P arvense Horsetail 48 Lysichiton Western P Huge leaves americanus skunk cabbage 43 Monotropa Indian pipes P uniflora 1 Rosa nutkana Nootka Rose P 50 Struthiopteris Deer fern P Previously known spicant as Blechnum spicant 3 Tellima Fringe cup P grandiflora

A = Alga B = Bryophyte F = Fungus L = Lichen P = vascular plant

Trip 215 and 216 Bonhoeffer Gardens – David Thomsen Photo Story by Bill Brookreson.