Notes and photos by Alison M. distributed by email to the Botany Group on June 18. Click a photo to enlarge it.
The main Boardwalk loop in Paradise Meadows is now clear of snow.
The abnormally hot weather in May caused the rapid melt of the subalpine snowpack which was shallower than that of 2022. Over the past two weeks the early spring flowers are emerging in Paradise Meadows 4-6 weeks earlier than last year.
The white marsh-marigolds (Caltha leptosepala) which always appear as the snow receded now lie in runnels devoid of snow (photo #2).
By June 10 the pinks of western bog-laurel (Kalmia macrophylla) and the shooting stars (Primula jeffreyi, formerly Dodecatheon jeffreyi) were to be seen in that warm corner on the north side of the Boardwalk below Nordic Drive.
Lots of yellow stream violets (Viola glabella) are to be seen, and even a few of the pale purple marsh violets (Viola palustris).
And the patch of fern-leafed goldthread (Coptis asplenifolia) has numerous blooms. Appearing as it does just after the snow melts, its short-lived blooms are often missed (location: along the boardwalk, keeping right at the junction, about half way between there and the trail to Lake Helen Mackenzie, on the left-hand side). It was already in bloom at lower elevations on the Elk River Trail at the end of April.
