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MOUNT RAINIER NATURE NOTES
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Vol. VII |
December - 1929 |
No. 14 |
EVERGREEN PLANTS
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Washington is aptly termed the "Evergreen State" and ample proof of
the reason for such a term is contained in our woodlands here in the
Park. For, although our "fair weather" plants have long since
disappeared, there are many evergreen varieties that keep the woods
fresh and inviting. And they keep them so until the snow obscures them
from view and again take up their burden of brightening woodland trails
in the early spring when the snow disappears. The most abundant and
characteristic of these woodland evergreen plants is the Salal which we
have tried to illustrate on the cover. To anyone living in the
Northwest this is a familiar plant but oftentimes, because it is so
common, we are not as appreciative of it as we should be. It is a
member of the Heath family -- a large one that includes among its many
species such plants as the Heather, Manzinita, Rhododendron, etc. In
the spring it bears waxy, bell-shaped blossoms of a pinkish hue that are
almost withheld from view by the mass of glossy green leaves. Later, in
the fall, deep purple berries appear -- they are so purple that they
might be considered as black -- and we are told that the Indians used
them as an item of food.
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Oregon Grape, a member of the Barberry Family, is another well known
evergreen plant. It is very conspicuous because of the close
resemblence of its leaves to the well known Holly (see page one). Another
of the Heath clan is found on the slopes where its low, densely matted
evergreen foliage oftentimes covers large areas. This plant is known as
Kinnikinic and its technical term out does its common name by several
leaps and bounds for the botanist knows it as Arctostaphylos urva-ursi.
Perhaps you would rather call it Bearberry. It is just as acceptable a
common name as Kinnikinic and results from the fact that this plant, in
the fall of the year, bears numerous bright red berries. Its leaves are
rather small, of leathery texture, dark green and are not toothed.
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Another shrub found along the trails in the woods about Longmire is
the Mountain Box. It grows about two or three feet high forming bushy
clusters. Those of you who have visited the Park and have seen the
Twinflower -- a member of the Honeysuckle Family -- will remember its
fragrance. The small, pink, twin blossoms are, of course, a thing of
the past until next summer but when we see the manner in which the
densely matted evergreen foliage covers down timber along the trails and
beautifies otherwise unsightly places at this time we cannot help but
think that Linnè had its winter beauty in mind as well as the
fragrance of its flowers when he chose it has his namesake. The
Twinflower, by means of its botanical name -- Linnaea americana --
commemorates the memory of the great Swedish botanist who is regarded as
the father of our present system of botanical classification.
The Pipsissewa, too, strikes a welcome note with its evergreen
foliage. Now we see it still bearing aloft the dried remnants of the
waxy-pink flowers with which it decorated itself last summer.
These are a few of the evergreen plants that we encounter along the
trails in the woodlands of the lower elevations in the Park at this
time. There are others as well and with the forest which is, of course,
composed almost entirely of evergreen trees give rise to the term the
"Evergreen State".
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