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News and Events

In the Press

The Way Too Late Show. Interview of Dr. Stephen Meyers (17 minutes in). 24 May, 2023.

Glide Wildflower Show volunteers prepare for next weekend's annual event. The News-Review (Douglas County), 23 April, 2023 and on nrtoday.com.

Plant diversity across the state and in your garden: resources from OregonFlora. A Lane County Master Gardener webinar, 22 Feb, 2023.

Hike with a scientist: The glory of Oregon's Iron Mountain and Cone Peak wildflowers. Statesman Journal, 20 July, 2022, and on statesmanjournal.com.

In a labor of love, OregonFlora team creates an Oregon plant guide for the ages. The Oregonian, 30 April, 2022, and on OregonLive.com.

What pollinators need to know about Oregon plants. A PolliNation Podcast from Oregon State University Extension.

OregonFlora launches revamped Oregon plant species website. From the Oregon State University Newsroom.

Expanding biodiversity on working ag lands: some OregonFlora tools to help

a field of dry grasses, with oak trees and hills in the distance
Wet prairie, ash swales, and legacy oaks: these native habitat elements (here, on Oregon State University's Hill Farm) can be maximized for both biodiversity and farm activities.

When working to return native plant species to a habitat that is dominated by non-natives, understanding the plant diversity of the site is the essential first step. OregonFlora's information is a great resource that can be used to develop sustainable practices on working agricultural lands that can contribute to both economic and ecological successes.

Too often, "nature" is kept separate from managed ag lands such as rangeland, orchards, vineyards, and pastures. To blur the boundaries between wild and working land-to reclaim bits of the managed landscape and to reestablish the suite of native plants that thrive in varied habitats-expands ecosystem biodiversity. The benefits that robust ecosystems provide are both tangible and intangible: diverse plant communities that are adapted to a given place can extend a grazing season, support other native wildlife, hold water on a landscape through dry seasons, and improve water quality. Native habitats also impart a sense of place, and can be a both a refuge and a bridge between larger areas managed strictly for conservation.

Here we'll describe how some of the tools on this website can help land managers discover the plant diversity of their areas of interest and use this knowledge to make pastures and rangeland prosperous for both the financial bottom line and regional ecosystems. There are also tutorials for each tool here.

What plants are on my property? Open the mapping tool, and in the 'Define an Area' box, choose to draw either a circle or a polygon around your area of interest. Click or tap to select the shape-its outline will become thicker-and then hit the green "load records" button. The map will display dots of each plant occurrence record in the OregonFlora database; you can view and download lists of the plants organized by the record or the plant names.

Draw similar polygons around adjacent areas or parks and preserves that can serve as reference ecosystems to compare the species found there to your holdings.

How do I learn about a particular plant? Each of the plants featured on the OregonFlora website has a plant profile page, and for ~every instance of a scientific name that appears on our website, the name is a link to that plant's profile page. Profile pages have descriptions, maps, photos, and links to additional resources. You can also type any plant's common or scientific name into the search box, found at the top of every page, to access its profile page.

Which plants are Oregon natives? The native/exotic status of a species is listed on its profile page. Additionally, here is a list of all native plants.

How can I identify a plant? By placing your location on its map, the Identify Plants tool generates a list of all species documented within that region; you can then select the features you recognize on your unknown plant to narrow the choices down to an identification.

Where can I learn about species to plant on my property? The Grow Natives tool features 300 species used in restoration and gardening; you can filter on plant characteristics you're seeking to find species with those traits. You can also search on commercial availability to identify which of our participating nurseries sell that plant.

Work promoting the integration of native species in working ag lands was supported in part by an Oregon NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant.

12 February 2024

Kalapuya, homesteaders, and ranchers: Soap Creek land use through the lens of plant diversity

a large oak tree, with blooming mule's ears beneath, in an oak savanna landscape
Century-old oaks, with an understory including mule's ears, dot the oak savanna slopes at the Letitia Carson Homestead.

A saga of homesteading, legal inequities, archaeological digs, and botanical resources is unfolding in the Soap Creek Valley, 12 miles north of the Oregon State University (OSU) Corvallis campus. Land now managed as the OSU Beef Ranch was once the site of the Letitia Carson Homestead. Letitia, a formerly enslaved Black woman born in Kentucky, came to Oregon in 1845 with David Carson, an Irish emigrant and her presumed life partner. Their family settled on a 320 acre homestead claim in Soap Creek. After David's death in 1852 and in the absence of a will, neighbor Greenberry Smith was named administrator of their estate. Letitia's homestead, cattle, and property were seized and sold because Smith deemed the mixed-race couple was not legally married. In 1854 and 1855, Letitia Carson filed two lawsuits to reclaim her losses; though the courts awarded only a portion of her due compensation, Letitia's success in both suits was astonishing for the time. Letitia went on to successfully file a homestead claim for 154 acres in Douglas County-most likely the first claim in Oregon made by a Black woman.

The cultural history of the Letitia Carson Homestead is made all the richer when we consider the area's natural history. During Summer 2023, botanical surveys made by author Dennis Albert along Soap Creek within the OSU Beef Ranch and further to the west where the Beef Ranch meets OSU's Dunn Forest provide a rare glimpse into the botanical and ecological past of this special place.

When federal General Land Office surveyors mapped the region in 1852, they described a landscape still bearing the signature of centuries of fire management by the native Kalapuya peoples. Earlier, the botanist/explorer David Douglas described in his 1826 explorations of the Willamette Valley the open conditions as the result of frequent fires by the Kalapuya. Recent analysis of oak stumps documents that the fires recurred on an average of every 7 years, and tribal members indicated that fires improved habitat for hunting and the regeneration of food plants, including camas.

The 1852 surveyors mapped the area surrounding Soap Creek as prairie and, in the absence of trees, were forced to create permanent survey points with charred stakes surrounded by rocks. Scattered groves of Garry oak grew on the lower flanks of Forest Peak, and most of the peak itself was described as open oak opening or oak forest with scattered Douglas fir.

Situated next to Soap Creek, the Letitia Carson Homestead links the steep landscape of the Coast Range forest to the flat, poorly drained prairies flanking the rivers and creeks of the Willamette Valley. Traversing a quarter mile out from Soap Creek, the elevation rises gradually-60 to 100 feet over the first quarter mile- then rapidly another 600 feet over the same distance to the summit of Forest Peak to the west in Dunn Forest. During the spring months, the entire gently sloping area is broken by small rivulets and seeps.

In preparation for our 2023 botanical survey, the OregonFlora mapping tool was used to find all known plant occurrence records (herbarium specimens and unvouchered observations) from the area. While there are only 15 records representing 8 taxa (most were willows) collected along two miles of the Soap Creek channel and floodplain, there are almost 200 records along the oak slopes to the west, dating back to 1918. These early plant collections give us insights into the landscape of the prior century; they document the presence of a diverse oak savanna, remnants of which persist even though degraded by invasive species and planted pasture grasses.

Our surveys in mid-June 2023 documented large beds of blooming narrow-leaved mule's ears (Wyethia angustifolia), while equally abundant Tolmie's cat's ears (Calochortus tolmiei) were forming seed capsules. Other plants characteristic of oak savanna at the site include checkermallows (Sidalcea asprella ssp. virgata and S. campestris), Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), Kincaid's lupine (Lupinus oreganus), larkspur (Delphinium menziesii), slender cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis), ookow (Dichelostemma congestum), and elegant brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans).

Camassia quamash and C. leichtlinii) poison larkspur (Delphinium trollifolium), Hooker's onion (Allium acuminatum), monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata), common spikerush (Eleocharis palustris), and the typical wet prairie sedges Carex densa and C. athrostachya. Shrubs included osoberry (Oemleria cerasifolius), hardhack (Spiraea douglasii), Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus), oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), shining Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium), and snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus).

Of course, there were many weedy non-native species-about one-third of our observations-including the invasive reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea), Himalayan blackberry (Rubus bifrons), thistles (Cirsium vulgare and C. arvensis), and tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea). These were especially common in the pasture and at cattle crossings along the creek.

What we learned from comparing our species list generated in our botanical surveys to the historical records obtained from the OregonFlora database was that, though decades of heavy grazing and planting of pasture grasses has degraded much of the prairie and savanna plant communities, portions of the flood plain remain dominated by the native flora, as does the upper flank of the oak savanna. There are promising opportunities to restore the original oak savanna and wet prairie habitats, possibly with a combination of controlled burn management and early spring grazing.

Learn more about the Letitia Carson Legacy Project and the associated 2023 archaeological work led by Cayla Hill here.

11 October 2023

Tips for Plant Photography

Tanya Harvey taking photo in a field of flowers
Wildflower photos can capture both the beauty and the complexity of plants.

Spring has just arrived and with it a growing excitement about the return of wildflowers and opportunities to photograph them. With the increasingly professional quality of smart phone cameras, more and more people are taking up wildflower photography. But getting the best photograph isn't all about the equipment (although a good macro lens sure helps!). Here are some tips:

What is the photo for? There are many reasons to take a photo. I may take photos to use as reference for a drawing, for identification when I get home, to record a precise location for a plant, or maybe just to remind myself to add it to my plant list. A picture taken to enter in a photo contest is going to look different than one to share as a photo-documented plant specimen or one to post on iNaturalist in hopes of getting help with identification. When you come to a really special plant, taking photos for different purposes-to show its beauty, to capture its habitat, or to highlight particular features-lets your photographic encounter fill different needs.

What's helpful for botanists? A great way to increase the value of the images you share with botanical audiences is to be aware of the characters used to identify that species or plant group. You can discover these traits by looking at the identification keys in the Flora of Oregon, or by browsing the descriptions of species in a genus or plant family. Pro tip: In our Identify Plants tool, look for the filter "Groups with specialized keys". Here you'll find distinguishing traits in plant groups that are hard to tell apart. For example, in the ferns, details about sporangia are useful for identification. Taking photos that show sporangia on the undersides of frond leaves will help confirm the identification of your subject and also share this knowledge with others where you've posted the image.

Composition I can't emphasize enough how important composition is for a high quality photograph. It's a natural tendency to center the image on what captured your attention-usually a blooming flower. But what about the rest of the picture? Think about the image as a whole. If you are taking a portrait of a tall plant, take a vertical image to fill the space better and show more of the plant. If there is some distracting object in the background like a telephone pole or fence post, try moving your camera or yourself a little to keep it out of the shot. Likewise, getting rid of a few bits of dead grass in the foreground won't hurt the environment and can do wonders for improving a photo. Slender grasses or plants that blend into their background are extra challenging to capture; adjusting your depth of field or even using a fabric background can help avoid visual clutter. A balanced shot is more interesting that one with the focus dead center. If there are two branches of flowers, look for a way to get both of them in the photo, perhaps one a little higher than the other to create an uneven but balanced composition.

Lighting Even light is best for getting clear pictures of botanical features. Try to get rid of troublesome shadows across your plant by pushing an offending branch out of the way with your foot (or with the help of a friend). Some people like to photograph in the shade. I prefer the more saturated colors you get in full sun and the better depth of field from more light. The trick to keep your white flowers from being washed out is to use exposure compensation (look for a symbol with "+/-" signs in a black and white square on your camera). It is also possible to manually set the exposure on many smart phone cameras.

Post production Do not be afraid to do a little work on the final photo (actually on a copy of your photo unless you're shooting in RAW format). Crop to improve the composition and to get rid of unnecessary elements. This is especially important if you plan to post your photo on the internet where it may be quite small. If you've taken your photo a bit too dark to avoid overexposure, this is the time to brighten it up.

Taking photos is a great way to help you learn about plants, to create digital memories of your special outings, and to contribute to citizen science. And if you get some good plant photos, check out OregonFlora's wish list of species needing images and consider sharing some to add to the resources we provide!

Tanya Harvey provides the design and layout of the Flora of Oregon books and is also a contributing editor, illustrator, and photographer.

22 March 2023

Making Friends with Flowers

August at Blair Lake
Sometimes the number of plants to learn seems overwhelming, so just take them one at a time. August at Blair Lake.

Getting to know plants is a passion for me. I want to learn everything I can about them. But since I'm not a formally trained scientist, my method may be a bit different than the typical botanist. I go about it much the way I would get to know people. The first time you take a class, join a new group, or go to a party with unfamiliar guests, it may seem overwhelming - so many names to learn. Usually, you come home remembering one or two people that stood out the most. They might be the most gregarious or were wearing an unusual outfit. The next time you hang out with this group, you focus on a few more, and you become a little more comfortable in the crowd. Some people you'll hit it off with right away. Others are harder to get to know, perhaps they are shy, but eventually, you'll find they can be just as interesting as the more flamboyant.

When I'm in a new area or an unusual habitat, I approach learning the flora as though I am the new kid in school. Some of the flowers are so showy or interesting, it is as though they come to greet me. How could you not want to get to know a gentian or a lily? Next time I see them all, I try to learn a few more. I look at them carefully, see where they are growing, which insects befriend them, which other plants they like to hang out with. Unlike with people, if I can get a name, I can check a book or the internet and find out what someone else knows about the plant. But I don't take it all for granted. If someone told you something disparaging about a person you'd just met, you'd want to find out for yourself before you believed something unpleasant about them. But there are a few I'd just as soon avoid (poison oak - I'm looking at you!).

The longer I hang out with these plants, the more comfortable I am with them. Eventually, I want to get to know the shy ones. They take a lot more effort but often prove to be some of my favorites. It seems the more you put into a relationship, the greater the reward. I used to avoid willows; they just seemed so perplexing. Now I can't wait to see the first willow flowers of early spring. When I first started leading hikes, people would stop me to ask about some tiny, white-flowered belly plant. Why, with all the paintbrushes and penstemon, would anyone care about something that insignificant? Now I find myself seeking out these littlest of plants. I get down on my hands and knees to check out annual knotweeds (Polygonum spp.), look under shady thickets for Stellaria obtusa, and take out the handlens to get a better look at the itsy-bitsy flowers of groundsmokes (Gayophytum spp.). Then there are those cliques that are very select, and it takes a lot of work before they let you in. I'm still not sure what the secret handshake is that will let me into the willowherb (Epilobium spp.) club, but the exclusivity only increases my determination to befriend them.

Now that I've spent so much time in the Western Cascades, I feel like I'm among friends when I'm up there. With spring around the corner, I can hardly wait to get back up into the mountains to see the first snowmelt species again. Getting to know the plants takes time, but it is so rewarding. So next time you're out on a hike, be brave, and introduce yourself to a wildflower you haven't met before. You may find it's willing to share some of its secrets with you. And before you know it, you'll have a new BFFF (best flower friend forever!).

Tanya Harvey provides the design and layout of the Flora of Oregon books and is also a contributing editor and illustrator.

22 April 2022

Bees and the baby blue eyes

Baby blue eyes and monkeyflowers
Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata) on a wet seep along the Siuslaw River

In the plant-insect interactions chapter in Flora of Oregon Volume 2, Andy Moldenke tells the story of Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes) and its specialist pollinator, the solitary bee Andrena nigripes. The male bee emerges several days before the female bee, so large sites with ecological and temperature variability are important to sustain both the flowers and the bees. Oak woodlands and savannas provided this habitat variability, and a Nature Conservancy Reserve north of Eugene was one of the only remaining sites Andy was familiar with that currently had the ecological diversity needed. This reminded me of one of my favorite sites for observing early spring wildflowers: on the cliffs along Richardson Road west of Walton in Oregon's Coast Range. The moist, moss-covered cliffs and rounded knobs of sandstone along the Siuslaw River faced to the south, southeast, and southwest and warmed up early, supporting an ever-changing display of wildflowers in the thick, spongy moss. I had encountered baby blue eyes as early as the first week in January and as late as May, so these warm, moist rock faces with a scattered overstory of dwarf white oak seemed like it might meet the needs of Andrena nigripes.

Baby blue eyes was not the only showy spring wildflower on the seeps. Delicate tubular Cascadia nuttallii (Nuttall's saxifrage) carpeted the moist rock, broken by scattered clumps of Romanzoffia californica (California mistmaiden). Where organic soil collected in cracks, there were dense clumps of Micranthes marshallii (Marshall's saxifrage), which was also common in moist depressions at the base of the cliffs, along with Erythranthe guttata (monkeyflower). Plants of the tiny Erythranthe alsinoides (chickweed monkeyflower), yellow with a red spot on the lower lip, also grew in moist cracks and the dense, seepy moss. Bright green Selaginella wallacei (Wallace's selaginellla) clung to the bare rock, detaching from the cliff face in dense mats following heavy rains. As the summer progressed, Plectritis congesta (rosy plectritis) and Montia parvifolia (littleleaf miners lettuce) appeared on the moss-covered cliffs, and as the mosses dried out, Clarkia purpurea ssp. viminea (purple godetia) blanketed the slope in purple.

In late February 2020, scattered plants of Nemophila menziesii were flowering on the lower cliff, but not yet at its moist base. When I returned late in the afternoon of March 10, Nemophila was flowering from the rounded top of the cliff, at the bases of the scattered dwarf white oak, down the entire cliff face to the ditch at the base of the cliff. Large parts of the cliff were in shade, but in a localized patch of sun, I spotted a pair of solitary bees with the back of the thorax covered with red hair, characteristic of Andrena nigripes.

One week later, late on a sunny afternoon, I visited the site with Andy Moldenke. Many bees were flying, including several species of Andrena, bumblebees, and a diversity of other bee families. It only took Andy a few minutes to find both male and female Andrena nigripes pollinating the flowers of the baby blue eyes. Andy commented that if Andrena nigripes were here, we should also find the bee's parasite, a vespid wasp--within a few minutes Andy sighted the parasite as well. The loose, sandy soil at the base of the cliff and along the road edge provide an abundance of nesting sites for the ground nesting Andrena bee, but we didn't locate any nests during this short trip. However, we did see individuals pollinating baby blue eyes along two sections of cliff over two miles apart, so there are likely additional populations along the 7 miles of scattered cliff bordering Richardson Road. Exploring similar open savanna-like cliff faces along the Siuslaw and other nearby rivers may reveal more occurrences of Andrena nigripes and the baby blue eyes they depend on.

Read more about this plant-insect pair and others in the chapter Insects as Plant Taxonomists by Jeffrey Miller, Andy Moldenke, & Dennis Albert in Flora of Oregon Volume 2.

25 February 2021

Biodiversity in managed landscapes

Grazers are restoration tools
Grazers from Community Cow are one of the tools used to restore biodiversity and sustainably manage OSU's ag lands.

Within walking distance from the Oregon State University Corvallis campus, just beyond its idyllic dairy farm, lies the University's diamond in the rough: hundreds of acres of the University's managed and unmanaged agricultural lands. A wire fence away from neighborhoods and commercial developments, these properties host meadows, wetlands, rolling hills and woodlands. Here you can find remnants of the vast prairie that once covered two million acres in the Willamette Valley. Sheltered in their wilder places are a handful of plant species--Nelson's checkermallow, Hall's aster--that survive only in the vestiges of the valley habitats that are not plowed under or sprayed with herbicides.

OregonFlora is being joined by farmers, community groups, OSU's Department of Animal & Rangeland Sciences, and a diverse group of Oregon State University researchers to help develop and promote a vision for these agricultural lands. It is an opportunity for OSU to fulfill its land grant mission to pioneer, demonstrate, and teach sustainable ways of achieving both agricultural production and biological diversity.

Such a sustainable vision faces real challenges: local food systems have been lost, and farm employment, already historically low, continues to decline. Despite the bulk of Oregon's population being situated in or near the fertile Willamette Valley, the majority of meat consumed here comes from environmentally disastrous Midwestern feedlots, and produce is trucked from California.

But challenges also present opportunities. OregonFlora and its local ranching partner Brant Cothern, owner of Community Cow, have begun the process of managing portions of OSU's Hill Farm for biodiversity and grass-fed beef production. We have mowed non-native brush and done fence repair and clearing. Targeted grazing is improving the pastures dominated by non-native forage and creating niches for native species we have seeded there. Local markets are being supplied with healthy, local beef products.

Land management techniques that balance the support of biodiverse habitats and food production needs are nothing new--the Kalapuya and other indigenous people who lived in the Willamette Valley prior to relocation sustainably worked the land for centuries. OregonFlora and its partners are pursuing traditional practices, experimental techniques, and documented research to re-learn how to be part of this gem of a place we call home.

4 Dec 2020

Sat-Sun 27-28 April 2024, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Glide Wildflower Show

Enjoy the Pacific Northwest's largest wildflower show and visit with OregonFlora staff at our informational table. More event information here.
Glide Community Center, 20062 North Umpqua Hwy, Glide, OR

Sun 19 May 2024, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Mt. Pisgah Arboretum Wildflower Festival

OregonFlora will have an informational table at this event, which features a wildflower show, music, food, and vendors. Click here for more information and tickets.
34901 Frank Parrish Rd, Eugene, OR