Early blooms from the Elk River trail

Here are a note and photos from Alison M., distributed to the Botany Group on May 19.

These photos of three exquisite flowers are from the lower elevations of Strathcona Provincial Park in the Buttle Lake area taken at the very end of April. [Click a photo to enlarge it.]

The Asarum caudatum (wild ginger) and the Calypso bulbosa (ladyslipper) can be found in woodlands around  the Comox Valley,  although where there used to be lots of the latter at the entrance to the Comox Bluffs Ecological Reserve they are sadly not visible this year.

The Coptis aspleniifolia (spleenwort-leaved goldthread) will be visible up in Paradise Meadows along the boardwalk as the snow recedes (not yet).