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  • Gaillardia (or Blanket flower) is a genus of drought-tolerant annual and perennial plants from the sunflower family (Asteraceae). Photo from Baring Creek Valley, in Glacier National Park, in the Rocky Mountains, Montana, USA.
    10GLA-3532.jpg
  • The sticky purple geranium (Geranium viscosissimum) is a perennial in the Geraniaceae family of flowering plants. Apikuni Falls trail, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA.
    10GLA-2559.jpg
  • Gaillardia (or Blanket flower) is a genus of drought-tolerant annual and perennial plants from the sunflower family (Asteraceae). Photo from Baring Creek Valley, in Glacier National Park, in the Rocky Mountains, Montana, USA.
    10GLA-3537.jpg
  • Icy peaks and pond plants along Aletsch Panoramaweg above Riederalp in the Pennine/Valais Alps, Switzerland, Europe. The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch region is honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
    16SWI-6746.jpg
  • Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe, ghost plant, or corpse plant) flowers bloom in a cradle of ferns in Wallace Falls State Park, Gold Bar, Washington, USA. Unlike most plants, Indian pipe is white and does not contain chlorophyll. It is parasitic on fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, ultimately getting energy from the trees' photosynthesis. It can grow in the very dark understory of dense forest.
    1607WAL-046.jpg
  • A moth on a prairie sunflower (Helianthus petiolaris), also known as the lesser sunflower, in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. We walked up the eroded Saddle Pass Trail then east on the flatter Castle Trail (3 miles round trip) in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA.
    20.10US1-0573.jpg
  • A Datura flower blooms in Dry Fork Coyote Gulch at the entrance to Peekaboo Gulch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. The Datura genus is in the Potato (Solanaceae) Family, also known as the Deadly Nightshade Family. Its large, white, trumpet-shaped flowers bloom March through November. Corollas are up to 6 inches long, have 5 teeth and are often tinged with purple or lavender around the edges. The flower opens after dusk then usually closes by mid-morning.
    20.10US1-0068.jpg
  • Bixby Creek Bridge (1932), Big Sur coast, California, USA. 120 miles south of San Francisco and 13 miles south of Carmel in Monterey County along State Route 1. Completed in 1932 for just over $200,000, the concrete span, one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world, soars 260 feet above the bottom of a steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. Iceplant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool beside railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. Iceplant is bad for a number of reasons. It’s invasive and releases salt into the soil, raising the salt level high enough to inhibit other plant seeds, especially grasses.  It doesn't serve as a food source for animals and can out-compete the native plants for water, light, and space. It's actually bad for erosion control. Having weak root systems, these heavy plants can cause the hill to start sliding, taking existing topsoil from the slope. Although the soft succulent new growth has a high water content which doesn't burn, the slow-to-decompose dead leaves layered underneath create a fire hazard.
    2203CA-0799.jpg
  • A blue Indian Camas (Camassia quamash) flower blooms on Vendovi Island, Skagit County, Washington, USA. The Indian Camas (or Indian hyacinth or Wild hyacinth, Camassia quamash) is native to western North America and blooms in various shades of blue. DNA and biochemical studies by  the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group have reassigned Camassia from the Lily family to the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. The scientific species name "quamash" is from a Nez Perce term for the plant's bulb, which was gathered and used as a food source by tribes in the Pacific Northwest. On the San Juan Islands, native tribes burned forest to maintain sunny fields for growing this plant. The red flower is Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or Prairie-fire, a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, plus northeast Asia. Vendovi Island was named after a Fijian High Chief Ro Veidovi who was brought to North America by the 1841 Wilkes Expedition. The San Juan Preservation Trust, a land trust for conservation in the San Juan Islands, purchased the island in December 2010 from the family of John Fluke Sr. Vendovi Island lies across Samish Bay from mainland Skagit County, between Guemes Island and Lummi Island, in the Salish Sea.
    1205VE2-015_Vendovi-Island.jpg
  • Bloedel Conservatory is a domed lush paradise where you can experience the colors and scents of the tropics year-round, within Queen Elizabeth Park, atop the City of Vancouver’s highest point. Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 4600 Cambie St. From Little Mountain (501 feet), see panoramic views over the city crowned by the mountains of the North Shore. A former rock quarry has been converted into beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park with flower gardens, public art, grassy knolls. In Bloedel Conservatory, more than 200 free-flying exotic birds, 500 exotic plants and flowers thrive within a temperature-controlled environment. A donation from Prentice Bloedel built the domed structure, which was dedicated in 1969 "to a better appreciation and understanding of the world of plants," and is jointly operated by Vancouver Park Board and VanDusen Botanical Garden Association.
    1402VAN-133.jpg
  • Yellow flowers of Castilleja (Indian paintbrush or prairie-fire) bloom at North Kananaskis Pass in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada. Beatty Glacier is in the background. Castilleja is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas plus northeast Asia. These plants are classified in the family Orobanchaceae and are hemiparasitic on the roots of grasses and forbs.
    1807CAN-1189.jpg
  • Anthurium andraeanum (Flamingo Flower) is an ornamental garden plant and houseplant, native to shady, humid tropical forests of Colombia and Ecuador. Projecting from a bright red heart-shaped spathe (a type of bract), the spike of its long white spadix has a yellow tip. The plants are poisonous and contain calcium oxalate crystals, which can cause severe mouth irritation and swelling if ingested. The Volcano Inn has beautiful flower landscaping in a lush cloud forest, on the Big Island, Hawaii, USA. Address: 19-3820 Old Volcano Rd, Volcano, HI 96785
    1701HAW-2175.jpg
  • Dicranopteris linearis is commonly known as Old World forked fern, uluhe (Hawaiian), and dilim (Filipino), Climbing Fern, or False Staghorn. This fern is a keystone species in Hawaiian ecosystems and often forms deep thickets. Dicranopteris linearis is widely distributed in the wet Old World tropics, Polynesia and the Pacific. The stem grows from the rhizome, branches at a 45° angle, and forms fronds that continue to bud and branch at great length, 20+ feet. Being intolerant of shade, it climbs over other plants to reach direct sunlight. As a pioneer species in ecological succession, it can colonize bare lava flows, talus, and abandoned roads. Where humans eliminate the fern, invasive species of plants can move in. This fern photo is from Awaawapuhi Trail in Kokee State Park, Kauai, Hawaii, USA.
    1701HAW-1751.jpg
  • Hibiscus brackenridgei (commonly called Ma'o Hau Hele, Brackenridge's Rosemallow, Native Yellow Hibiscus, or Pua Aloalo) is the official Hawaii state flower, a native shrub. The yellow flowers either have a solid red center or just small splotches of red at the base of each petal. Although it is cultivated in Hawaiian gardens, this legally-protected plant is endangered in the wild, where few plants remain due to overgrazing by non-native animals, competition with non-native weeds, fire, and land development.  Photographed in hotel landscaping in Princeville, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA.
    1701HAW-0872.jpg
  • Alpine yellow composite wildflowers bloom at Meglisalp near Bötzel pass in the Alpstein limestone range, Appenzell Alps, Switzerland, Europe. The aster, daisy or sunflower family (Asteraceae or Compositae) is the largest family of vascular plants. Appenzell Innerrhoden is Switzerland's most traditional and smallest-population canton (second smallest by area).
    16SWI-1521.jpg
  • A fly lands on an Alpine yellow composite wildflower blooming at Bötzel pass in the Alpstein limestone range, Appenzell Alps, Switzerland, Europe. Compared to bees, flies (as pictured) have just one set of wings (not two) which stay out when at rest (not folded), and their bodies just get dusted with pollen (not caked). The aster, daisy or sunflower family (Asteraceae or Compositae) is the largest family of vascular plants. Appenzell Innerrhoden is Switzerland's most traditional and smallest-population canton (second smallest by area).
    16SWI-1518.jpg
  • A venerable tree casts its shadow onto bright green grass by a park bench. Admire diverse plants and trees throughout the year in Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, Washington, USA. Washington Park Arboretum is a joint project of the University of Washington, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and the nonprofit Arboretum Foundation.
    1210ARB-016_park-green-grass.jpg
  • The Pinesap plant (Monotropa hypopithys) blooms with a cluster of 3-10 nodding pale yellow, tan, or sometime reddish flowers on a single stem. It has no chlorophyll, gets nutrients through parasitism on fungi, and can live in very dark forest. Hike along beautiful Thunder Creek to Fourth of July Pass from Colonial Creek Campground, in Ross Lake National Recreation Area, in the North Cascades, Washington, USA.
    1207CAS-S95_044_Pinesap_Monotropa-hy...jpg
  • Purple aster flowers along the Spires Trail to Conrad Kain Hut (6 miles round trip with 2400 ft gain), in Bugaboo Provincial Park, in the Purcell Range of the Columbia Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. The aster, daisy, or sunflower family (Asteraceae or Compositae) is the largest family of vascular plants.
    1807CAN-287.jpg
  • Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush or Prairie-fire) is a genus of about 200 species of plants native to the west of the Americas plus northeast Asia. McGee Creek Canyon makes an excellent moderate day hike through fields of summer wildflowers in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, Mammoth Lakes, California, USA. Swirling patterns of fractured red and gray metamorphic rocks rise impressively above this hike of 6 miles round trip with 1200 feet gain to the beaver pond on McGee Creek.
    1507CAL-1101.jpg
  • A bee gathers nectar and pollinates a purple knapweed flower (Centaurea genus), at Passo Cibiana, Dolomites, part of the Southern Limestone Alps, Italy, Europe. Centaurea is a genus of hundreds of species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants (commonly called knapweed, starthistle, centaury, or centory) in the family Asteraceae. Centaurea are found only north of the equator. UNESCO honored the Dolomites as a natural World Heritage Site in 2009.
    13ITA-50305_bee_Centaurea.jpg
  • Hawaii's native Hala tree is also known as Tahitian Screwpine, Pu Hala, Screw Pine, Textile Screwpine, Thatch Screwpine, Pandanus, Pandan, Tourist Pineapple or Pineapple Tree (Pandanus tectorius, or synonyms: P. chamissonis, P. douglasii, P. menziesii, P. odoratissimus; in the Screw-pine family, Pandanaceae). Some people mistake hala fruit heads for pineapples, which are unrelated plants. Cultivated varieties of Hala differing from the native version were brought to Hawaii by the ancient Polynesians in their canoes. Hala was useful for medicinal purposes, and the fruit was eaten and used to make leis. Its roots could make cordage. Hala leaves served as thatch and could be stripped of spiny edges to be woven or plaited into mats, pillows, sails, baskets, hats, sandals, and fans. A beautiful day hike along the slippery Kalalau Trail goes from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapiai Beach, with a rougher side trip to impressive Hanakapiai Falls, in Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA. To reach Hanakapiai Valley's waterfall, follow the signed clay trails for a moderately strenuous 8.8 miles round trip with 2200 feet cumulative gain (measured on my GPS)
    1701HAW-0884.jpg
  • Pathway through lush green tropical plants in Allerton Garden, on the south shore of Kauai, Hawaii, USA. Address: 4425 Lawai Rd, Koloa, HI 96756. Nestled in a valley transected by the Lawai Stream ending in Lawai Bay, Allerton Garden is one of five gardens of the non-profit National Tropical Botanical Garden (ntbg.org). This image was stitched from multiple overlapping images.
    1701HAW-1986-96-Pano.jpg
  • Hawaii's native Hala tree is also known as Tahitian Screwpine, Pu Hala, Screw Pine, Textile Screwpine, Thatch Screwpine, Pandanus, Pandan, Tourist Pineapple or Pineapple Tree (Pandanus tectorius, or synonyms: P. chamissonis, P. douglasii, P. menziesii, P. odoratissimus; in the Screw-pine family, Pandanaceae). Some people mistake hala fruit heads for pineapples, which are unrelated plants. Cultivated varieties of Hala differing from the native version were brought to Hawaii by the ancient Polynesians in their canoes. Hala was useful for medicinal purposes, and the fruit was eaten and used to make leis. Its roots could make cordage. Hala leaves served as thatch and could be stripped of spiny edges to be woven or plaited into mats, pillows, sails, baskets, hats, sandals, and fans. A beautiful day hike along the slippery Kalalau Trail goes from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapiai Beach, with a rougher side trip to impressive Hanakapiai Falls, in Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA. To reach Hanakapiai Valley's waterfall, follow the signed clay trails for a moderately strenuous 8.8 miles round trip with 2200 feet cumulative gain (measured on my GPS)
    1701HAW-0935.jpg
  • Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpure, in the Plantaginaceae family) flowers bloom on a tall spike in Washington state. The Latin meaning of "Digitalis" refers to the "finger-like" ease of fitting the flower over your fingertip. Digitalis also refers to cardiac glycoside drugs (such as digoxin) extracted from plants of genus Digitalis. Wallace Falls State Park offers good hiking and camping beneath mossy trees on the rushing Wallace River near the town of Gold Bar, Washington, USA.
    1607WAL-025.jpg
  • Ice on branches, Lower Emerald Pool waterfall, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1186.jpg
  • Spreading phlox / Phlox diffusa flowers glow with a pinkish lavender color on Sauk Mountain, Washington, USA. Phlox (pronounced "flocks," from the Greek word for "flame") is a genus of perennial and annual plants in the family Polemoniaceae. Phlox are found mostly in North America (one species in Siberia) in diverse habitats from alpine tundra to open woodland and prairie.
    05SAU_33-Spreading-Phlox-diffusa.jpg
  • Spring snow coats red sandstone and melts into a waterfall along West Rim Spring and the West Rim Trail, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2112-13pan_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Beneath Round Top Mountain blooms the common red flower of Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush or Prairie-fire; in the family Orobanchaceae), a genus of about 200 species of plants native to the west of the Americas plus northeast Asia. Off Highway 88 near Carson Pass, hike a varied loop through lush wildflower fields from Woods Lake Campground to Winnnemucca Lake then Round Top Lake, in Mokelumne Wilderness, Eldorado National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The excellent loop trail is 5.3 miles with 1250 feet gain (or 6.4 miles with 2170 feet gain if adding the scramble up Round Top).
    1507CAL-1026_Mokelumne-Wilderness-CA.jpg
  • Deer cross Kolob Terrace Road at entrance to Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1118.jpg
  • A yellow Potentilla flower blooms in wild alpine gardens of Graubünden canton, Grison Alps, Switzerland, Europe. Cinquefoil or Potentilla is a genus containing over 300 species of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae.
    05ALP_6077-yellow-Potentilla-flower-...jpg
  • The Princess Parrot is native Central and West Australia but today is rarely seen in the wild. It's also known as a Princess of Wales Parrot, Queen Alexandra parakeet, Spinifex parrot, Rose-Throated Parrot, or Splendor Parrot. Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 4600 Cambie St. Bloedel Conservatory is a domed lush paradise where you can experience the colors and scents of the tropics year-round, within Queen Elizabeth Park, atop the City of Vancouver’s highest point. A former rock quarry has been converted into beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park with flower gardens, public art, grassy knolls. In Bloedel Conservatory, more than 200 free-flying exotic birds, 500 exotic plants and flowers thrive within a temperature-controlled environment. A donation from Prentice Bloedel built the domed structure, which was dedicated in 1969 "to a better appreciation and understanding of the world of plants," and is jointly operated by Vancouver Park Board and VanDusen Botanical Garden Association.
    1402VAN-054.jpg
  • The sandstone cliffs of the Court of the Patriarchs tower over the Virgin River in Zion National Park, near Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet. (Panorama stitched from 6 photos.)
    11UT1-2007-12pan_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Painted Hills Unit, Overlook Trail, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago. The panorama was stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    1403OR-057-66pan_Painted-Hills_John-...jpg
  • A grizzly bear sow and cub (Ursus arctos horribilis, a subspecies of brown bear) forage in a field of Bear grass and other alpine plants. Grinnell Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The species Ursus arctos is found across northern Eurasia (including Russia and Scandinavia) and North America and is an omnivorous mammal of the order Carnivora.
    10GLA-3080.jpg
  • Kolob Terrace Road entrance to Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1121.jpg
  • The North Fork of the Virgin River cut Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone, in Zion National Park. Springdale, Utah, USA. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2173-77pan_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • The Blue and Gold Macaw is native to South America and is  in the Psittacidae family of true parrots. Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 4600 Cambie St. Bloedel Conservatory is a domed lush paradise where you can experience the colors and scents of the tropics year-round, within Queen Elizabeth Park, atop the City of Vancouver’s highest point. From Little Mountain (501 feet), see panoramic views over the city crowned by the mountains of the North Shore. A former rock quarry has been converted into beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park with flower gardens, public art, grassy knolls. In Bloedel Conservatory, more than 200 free-flying exotic birds, 500 exotic plants and flowers thrive within a temperature-controlled environment. A donation from Prentice Bloedel built the domed structure, which was dedicated in 1969 "to a better appreciation and understanding of the world of plants," and is jointly operated by Vancouver Park Board and VanDusen Botanical Garden Association.
    1402VAN-044.jpg
  • A composite flower with purple petals and yellow center, blooms in Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. The aster, daisy, or sunflower family (Asteraceae or Compositae) is the largest family of vascular plants. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    08CAN-1684_aster-flower.jpg
  • Air Plant or cathedral bells (Kalanchoe pinnata in the Stonecrop family, Crassulaceae) is an ornamental garden plant and medicinal herb native to Madagascar, and naturalized in Hawaii. The individual flowers are tubular, 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, enclosed in papery, inflated, green to reddish pink sepals, and have 4 red, narrowly triangular lobes. Starting in Koke'e State Park, the Awaawapuhi Trail descends through rainforest from 4120 feet elevation to drier landscapes at the spectacular valley rim of Nualolo and Awa'awapuhi valleys at 2500 feet. Kauai is in the Hawaiian Islands, USA. Hike 6.5 miles round trip accumulating 1800 feet gain, via lands managed by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). This air plant photo is from the remote Awaawapuhi Trail in Kokee State Park, Kauai, Hawaii, USA.
    1701HAW-1792.jpg
  • Sundew carnivorous plant (Drosera genus) near Burnmoor Tarn in Lake District National Park. England Coast to Coast hike with Wilderness Travel, day 2 of 14: from Eskdale in Cumbria county, we walked to Boot for lunch at a local pub and a visit to a working medieval corn mill, in the United Kingdom, Europe. We then climbed to Burnmoor Tarn, then descended to the hamlet of Wasdale Head. Via minibus we returned to Irton Hall for the second night. [This image, commissioned by Wilderness Travel, is not available to any other agency providing group travel in the UK, but may otherwise be licensable from Tom Dempsey – please inquire at PhotoSeek.com.]
    17UK-0716_England.jpg
  • A sundew (Drosera genus) carnivorous plant grows in a sphagnum bog along the Wetland Walkway at Clinton Hut, Milford Track, Fiordland National Park, Southland region, South Island of New Zealand. In 1990, UNESCO honored Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand as a World Heritage Area.
    1901NZ2-0118.jpg
  • A green sotol plant (Dasylirion leiophyllum) emerges from a field of yellow grass on the McKittrick Canyon Trail in the Chihuahuan Desert. Hike some of the most scenic trails in Texas in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in the Chihuahuan Desert, near El Paso, USA. The park contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas (8749 feet/2667 m). The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Capitan Reef is one of the best-preserved exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park also features the landmark peak of El Capitan, along the historic Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line (1857-1861), which carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri, twice a week. Hiking the ecologically-diverse McKittrick Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains NP is best when fall foliage turns color.
    1404TX-1107_Guadalupe-Mountains_Texa...jpg
  • A rare silversword plant (Argyroxiphium genus) blooms in Haleakala National Park, Maui, State of Hawaii, USA. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    87HAW-12-14-silversword-flower-stalk.jpg
  • Blue Basin Overlook Trail hiker, Sheep Rock Unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago.
    1403OR-202_Blue-Basin_John-Day.jpg
  • The Mammoth Site is a fascinating museum and active paleontological site in the town of Hot Springs, in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. It is the largest collection of in-situ mammoth remains in the world. Sheltered within the building is an ongoing excavation of a prehistoric sinkhole filled with the remains of animals and plants preserved by entrapment and burial around 140,000 years ago, in the Late Pleistocene. Since mammoth bones were found here accidentally in 1974, the remains of 61 mammoths have been recovered (including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths as of 2021). Due to geological conditions after the animals were trapped, the excavated "fossil" bones are not petrified or turned to stone, so are very brittle, requiring professional handling. The Pleistocene, often referred to as the Ice Age, is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. The most recent glaciation period reached peak conditions some 18,000 years ago before yielding to the interglacial Holocene epoch 11,700 years ago.
    2109SD-015.jpg
  • Painted Hills Unit, Overlook Trail, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago. The panorama was stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    1403OR-136-140pan_Painted-Hills_John...jpg
  • Red & white striped rock pattern, Blue Basin Overlook Trail, Sheep Rock Unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago.
    1403OR-152.jpg
  • Originally built in the 1820s, the restored chapel at Fort Ross was the first Russian Orthodox structure in North America outside of Alaska. Fort Ross State Historic Park preserves a former Russian colony (1812-1842) on the west coast of North America, in what is now Sonoma County, California, USA. The 5.5-inch howitzer cannons are historical reproductions. Visit Fort Ross and dramatic coastal scenery 11 miles north of Jenner on California Highway One. For centuries before Europeans arrived, this site was called Metini and had been occupied by the Kashaya band of Pomo people who wove intricate baskets and harvested sea life, plants, acorns, deer, and small mammals. Sponsored by the Russian Empire, "Settlement Ross" was multicultural, built mostly by Alaskan Alutiiq natives and occupied by a few Russians plus 300-400 native Siberians, Alaskans, Hawaiians, Californians, and mixed Europeans. Initially, sea otter pelts funded Russian expansion, but by 1820, overhunting motivated the Russian-American Company to introduce moratoriums on hunting seals and otters, the first marine-mammal conservation laws in the Pacific. Russian voyages greatly expanded California's scientific knowledge. Renamed "Ross" in 1812 in honor of Imperial Russian (Rossiia), Fortress Ross was intended to grow wheat and other crops to feed Russians living in Alaska, but after 30 years was found to be unsustainable. Fort Ross was sold to John Sutter in 1841, and his trusted assistant John Bidwell transported its hardware and animals to Sutter's Fort in the Sacramento Valley. Fort Ross is a landmark in European imperialism, which brought Spanish expanding west across the Atlantic Ocean and Russians spreading east across Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. In the early 1800s, Russians coming from the north met Spanish coming from the south along the Pacific Coast of California, followed by the USA arriving from the east in 1846 for the Mexican-American War. Today, Fort Ross is a California Historical Landmar
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  • Lichen grows into polygons on sandstone polished by water, ice, and erosion in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT2-4006_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • The giant short-faced bear (Arctodus sumus) was the largest land carnivore in North America during the Ice Age. See this full-scale skeleton in the the Mammoth Site, a fascinating museum and active paleontological site in the town of Hot Springs, in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. Sheltered within the building is an ongoing excavation of a prehistoric sinkhole filled with the remains of animals and plants preserved by entrapment and burial around 140,000 years ago, in the Late Pleistocene. The Pleistocene, often referred to as the Ice Age, is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. The most recent glaciation period reached peak conditions some 18,000 years ago before yielding to the interglacial Holocene epoch 11,700 years ago.
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  • A full-sized skeleton diorama of the Agate waterhole 20 million years ago shows two entelodont mammals and a small beardog scavenging a chalicothere carcass (related to horse and rhino), at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Harrison, Nebraska, USA. The entelodont (Dinohyus hollandi) was a hoofed mammal 6-8 feet tall at the shoulder, with powerful jaws and teeth for eating both carrion and plants. The smaller skeleton in the foreground  is a beardog (Daphoenodon superbus, the most common carnivore at the Agate waterhole site), which preyed upon juvenile rhinos, camels, and oreodonts. The chalicothere (Moropus elatus) was related to the horse and rhino, standing 6 feet tall at the shoulder and having 3-toed, claw-like hooves. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument boasts some of the most well-preserved Miocene fossils in the world. The park is near Harrison, Nebraska, USA. Agate’s grass-covered plains and flat-top buttes represent 20 million years of natural history. This valley of the Niobrara River contains important fossils found on Carnegie Hill and University Hill.
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  • The rufous-bellied seedsnipe (Attagis gayi), below Piedra Negra in Rio Electrico Valley, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. Attagis gayi is a wading bird resident in the Andes of South America from Ecuador and southwards. Its most common food is the buds and leaf tips of cushion plants. Refugio and Campground Piedra del Fraile ("Stone of the Friar"; 14.5 km round trip) serves as a comfortable base for hiking and climbing in scenic Rio Electrico Valley.
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  • On the dock beside USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, "Embracing Peace" (by sculptor Seward Johnson) recalls the iconic Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph, "V-J Day in Times Square," of a US Navy sailor kissing a stranger in New York City's Times Square on Victory over Japan Day (August 14, 1945). The photo was published in Life magazine with the caption, "In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers." Ordered in 1940 and active in June 1944, the USS Missouri ("Mighty Mo") was the last battleship commissioned by the United States. She is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay. In the Pacific Theater of World War II, she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands. She fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. Decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), she was reactivated and modernized in 1984 and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January-February 1991. The ship was decommissioned in March 1992. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum at Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA. For this photo’s licensing options, please inquire.
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  • Red Scar Knoll Trail, Painted Hills Unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago.
    1403OR-133_Painted-Hills_John-Day.jpg
  • Walk the trail behind Lower Emerald Pool waterfall in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet. The panorama was stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    1303UT-1236-1240pan_Lower-Emerald-Fa...jpg
  • A seasonal waterfall plunges from Weeping Rock in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2277_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Multiple streams of the beautiful waterfall Veliki prstavac plunge 28 meters. Plitvice Lakes National Park (Nacionalni park Plitvicka jezera, in Croatia, Europe) was founded in 1949 and is honored by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. Waters flowing over limestone, dolomite, and chalk in this karstic landscape have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams, beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Warming conditions after the last Ice Age (less than 12,000 years ago) allowed the natural dams to form from tufa (calcium carbonate) and chalk depositing in layers, bound by plants. Plitvicka Jezera is a municipality of Lika-Senj County, in the Republic of Croatia.
    13CRO-064_Plitvice-Lakes-Croatia.jpg
  • Hikers walk a dog along a rock face near Northgate Peaks trail, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1053.jpg
  • Sinbad is a life-sized replica skeleton of a Columbian mammoth at the Mammoth Site, a fascinating museum and active paleontological site in the town of Hot Springs, in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. The Mammoth Site is the largest collection of in-situ mammoth remains in the world. Sheltered within the building is an ongoing excavation of a prehistoric sinkhole filled with the remains of animals and plants preserved by entrapment and burial around 140,000 years ago, in the Late Pleistocene. Since mammoth bones were found here accidentally in 1974, the remains of 61 mammoths have been recovered (including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths as of 2021). Due to geological conditions after the animals were trapped, the excavated "fossil" bones are not petrified or turned to stone, so are very brittle, requiring professional handling.
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  • Jefferson's Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersoni) was endemic to North America from 10 million–11,000 years ago, and became extinct in Yukon 75,000 years ago. Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, in Whitehorse, capital and largest city of the Yukon, Canada. During the ice ages, Beringia's climate alternated between warm interglacial and cold glacial periods. During glacial periods, sea levels dropped 120 meters, exposing a land bridge that was up to 1000 kilometers (620 miles) wide. Beringia, like most of Siberia and all of North and Northeast China, was a grassland steppe. Fossils found on both sides of the Bering Land Bridge show that since the time of the dinosaurs, it was a major route for the exchange of plants and animals between Asia and North America. Swedish botanist Eric Hultén coined the term Beringia in 1937. Beringia is the land and ocean area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It includes the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas in Russia plus Alaska in the United States.
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  • White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2008. This panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
    1404NM-6057-60pan_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2008.
    1404NM-6003_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • Painted Hills Unit, Overlook Trail, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago. The panorama was stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    1403OR-110-111pan_Painted-Hills_John...jpg
  • In the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, a reconstruction shows the famous Iceman at age 45. Ötzi dates from 3300 BC and is Europe's oldest natural human mummy. The Iceman was found in 1991 fully clothed, melted out from a glacier in the Ötzal Alps, Europe. The 5000-year-old Iceman was apparently murdered at age 45 by an arrowhead lodged in his left shoulder. His copper axe pushed back the Bronze Age by 1000 years. The Iceman's tools were a delight for archeologists: a copper axe with a yew handle, a flint-bladed knife with an ash handle, a quiver of 14 arrows (with viburnum and dogwood shafts, two with fletching fins and tipped with flint), an antler tool for sharpening arrow points, an unfinished yew longbow 1.82 meters (72 in) long, a bow string, berries, two birch bark baskets, two species of polypore mushrooms strung on leather (for medicinal and tinder use), and a complex firestarting kit (with pieces of a dozen different plants plus flint and pyrite to make sparks). His valuable 9.5-centimeter axe head is almost pure copper, made by casting, cold forging, polishing, and sharpening. His copper axe's handle (haft) is 60 centimetres (24 in) long and made from carefully worked yew. Anthropologists were surprised at the sophistication of Ötzi's clothes, including: a woven grass cloak, a coat, a belt with tool pouch (scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl and a dried fungus), a pair of leggings, a loincloth and shoes, all made of leather of different skins sewn together with sinew, plus a bearskin cap with a leather chin strap. His shoes were waterproof and wide for snow, made with bearskin soles, deer hide on top panels, plus netting made of tree bark. Soft grass cushioned the foot like modern socks. View the actual frozen mummy and possessions of Ötzi in Bolzano, the Dolomites, in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (South Tyrol) region of Italy, Europe.
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  • Mali Prstavac waterfall plunges 18 meters at the Upper Lakes (Gornja Jezera). Plitvice Lakes National Park (Nacionalni park Plitvicka jezera, in Croatia, Europe) was founded in 1949 and is honored by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. Waters flowing over limestone, dolomite, and chalk in this karstic landscape have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams, beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Warming conditions after the last Ice Age (less than 12,000 years ago) allowed the natural dams to form from tufa (calcium carbonate) and chalk depositing in layers, bound by plants. Plitvicka Jezera is a municipality of Lika-Senj County, in the Republic of Croatia. This panorama was stitched from 7 overlapping photos.
    13CRO-096-102pan_Plitvice-Lakes-Croa...jpg
  • Painted Hills Unit, Overlook Trail, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago.
    1403OR-122_Painted-Hills_John-Day.jpg
  • Painted Hills Unit, Overlook Trail, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, USA. John Day Fossil Beds preserves layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived between the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, and the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago.
    1403OR-068_Painted-Hills_John-Day.jpg
  • A privately owned Chincoteague Pony is displayed at a motel on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, USA. The Chincoteague Pony (or Assateague horse) is a breed of small horse (Equus ferus caballus) which lives wild on Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland, USA. The breed was made famous by the "Misty of Chincoteague" series written by Marguerite Henry starting in 1947. They can be any solid color, and are often found in attractive pinto patterns. Island Chincoteagues live on a poor diet of salt marsh plants and brush. Legend claims that Chincoteague ponies descend from wrecked Spanish galleons. They more likely descend from stock released by 1600s colonists escaping laws and taxes on mainland livestock. In 1835, pony penning began, with settlers rounding up and removing some ponies. In 1924 the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company held the first official "Pony Penning Day," where ponies were auctioned to raise money, as done ever since. The federal government owns Assateague Island, which is split by a fence at the Maryland/Virginia state line, with a herd of around 150 ponies living on each side of the fence managed separately. The Maryland herd of "Assateague horses" lives within Assateague Island National Seashore and is treated as wild, except for contraceptives given to prevent overpopulation. The Virginia herd of "Chincoteague ponies" lives within the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge but is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. The Virginia ponies get twice yearly veterinary inspections to cover possible auction sale into the outside world. Only about 300 ponies live on Assateague Island, but 1000 more live off-island, having been privately purchased or bred.
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  • Lichen grows into polygons on sandstone polished by water, ice, and erosion in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2126_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Indian Camas (Camassia quamash) blooms with a blue flower on Vendovi Island, Washington, USA. A hiker walks in the sunny background. Vendovi Island lies across Samish Bay from mainland Skagit County, between Guemes Island and Lummi Island, in the Salish Sea. The Indian Camas (or Indian hyacinth or Wild hyacinth, Camassia quamash) is native to western North America. Its flowers bloom in various shades of blue. DNA and biochemical studies by  the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group have reassigned Camassia from the Lily family to the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. The scientific species name "quamash" is from a Nez Perce term for the plant's bulb, which was gathered and used as a food source by tribes in the Pacific Northwest. On the San Juan Islands, native tribes burned forest to maintain sunny fields for growing this plant. Vendovi Island was named after a Fijian High Chief Ro Veidovi who was brought to North America by the 1841 Wilkes Expedition. The San Juan Preservation Trust, a land trust for conservation in the San Juan Islands, purchased the island in December 2010 from the family of John Fluke Sr.
    1205VE2-005_Vendovi-Island.jpg
  • Indian Camas (Camassia quamash) blooms with a blue flower on Vendovi Island, Skagit County, Washington, USA. A black ant forages on a colorful petal. The Indian Camas (or Indian hyacinth or Wild hyacinth, Camassia quamash) is native to western North America. Its flowers bloom in various shades of blue. DNA and biochemical studies by  the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group have reassigned Camassia from the Lily family to the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. The scientific species name "quamash" is from a Nez Perce term for the plant's bulb, which was gathered and used as a food source by tribes in the Pacific Northwest. On the San Juan Islands, native tribes burned forest to maintain sunny fields for growing this plant. Vendovi Island was named after a Fijian High Chief Ro Veidovi who was brought to North America by the 1841 Wilkes Expedition. The San Juan Preservation Trust, a land trust for conservation in the San Juan Islands, purchased the island in December 2010 from the family of John Fluke Sr.
    1205VE2-001_Vendovi-Island.jpg
  • Western Pasqueflower (Anemone occidentalis, or Pasque Flower) is an herbaceous plant species in the genus Anemone (or Pulsatilla) and family Ranunculaceae. This plant was photographed in Mount Baker Wilderness on the Chain Lakes Loop trail. Anemone occidentalis  is native to far western North America including British Columbia to California and Montana, found growing in gravelly soils on slopes and in moist meadows.
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  • Old farm equipment, wheels and gears rest in a field of lavender at Cedarbrook Lavender and Herb Farm, at the Sequim Lavender Festival held mid July on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, USA. Lavender is a flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae).
    0607LAV_0150-Cedarbrook.jpg
  • Western Pasqueflower (Anemone occidentalis, or Pasque Flower) is an herbaceous plant species in the genus Anemone (or Pulsatilla) and family Ranunculaceae. This seed head of an Anemone was photographed in Mount Baker Wilderness on the Chain Lakes Loop trail. Anemone occidentalis  is native to far western North America including British Columbia to California and Montana, found growing in gravelly soils on slopes and in moist meadows.
    0810CHA-077.jpg
  • Anemone seed heads blow in the wind along the Chain Lakes Loop trail, in Mount Baker Wilderness. Western Pasqueflower (Anemone occidentalis, or Pasque Flower) is an herbaceous plant species in the genus Anemone (or Pulsatilla) and family Ranunculaceae. In the background rises the icy peak of Mount Shuksan (9127 feet elevation), located in North Cascades National Park. Anemone occidentalis is native to far western North America including British Columbia to California and Montana, found growing in gravelly soils on slopes and in moist meadows.
    0810CHA-066.jpg
  • Non-native Calla lilies on Doud Creek, Garrapata State Park, California, USA. The park is 6.7 miles south of Carmel and 18 miles north of Big Sur Village on the Monterey coast. These non-native Doud Creek calla lilies bloom in late January through mid April (photographed March 8, 2022). The plant is originally from Malawi and South Africa.
    2203CA-0880.jpg
  • Non-native Calla lilies on Doud Creek, Garrapata State Park, California, USA. The park is 6.7 miles south of Carmel and 18 miles north of Big Sur Village on the Monterey coast. These non-native Doud Creek calla lilies bloom in late January through mid April (photographed March 8, 2022). The plant is originally from Malawi and South Africa.
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  • Nonnative Russell lupin flowers bloom in early January 2019 at Lake Tekapo, in the Southern Alps, South Island, New Zealand. The plant's widespread diaspora began with David Douglas bringing the herbaceous lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) from North America to Britain in the 1820s. In the early 1900s, George Russell, a horticulturist from York, UK, spent two decades breeding the Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). First naturalized to New Zealand by local farmers wanting to beautify their landscape in the 1950s, Russell lupins have invaded large areas of roadsides, pastures, and riverbeds. This alien plant most threatens indigenous species in the braided river beds of Canterbury region. Russell lupin is classed as an invasive species in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1901NZ1-0338-41-Pano.jpg
  • Nonnative Russell lupin flowers explode in color along Fairlie-Tekapo Road in early January 2019, in Canterbury region, South Island of New Zealand. The plant's diaspora began with David Douglas bringing the herbaceous lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) from North America to Britain in the 1820s. In the early 1900s, George Russell, a horticulturist from York, UK, spent two decades breeding the Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). First naturalized to New Zealand by local farmers wanting to beautify their landscape in the 1950s, Russell lupins have invaded large areas of roadsides, pastures, and riverbeds. This alien plant most threatens indigenous species in the braided river beds of Canterbury region. Russell lupin is classed as an invasive species in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1901NZ1-0135-138-Pano.jpg
  • Amaryllis belladonna flowers (native to South Africa) bloom on Tasmania, Australia. The plant is commonly called a Naked Lady because blooms appear after the leaves have died down. The flower is usually white with crimson veins, but pink or purple also occur naturally. Each bulb grows one or two leafless stems 30–60 cm tall bearing a cluster of 2 to 12 funnel-shaped flowers. Each flower is 6–10 cm diameter with six tepals (three outer sepals and three inner petals with similar appearance). Amaryllis belladonna has several strap-shaped, green leaves, 30–50 cm long and 2–3 cm broad, arranged in two rows. The leaves grow in autumn or early spring in warm climates depending on the onset of rain, and die down by late spring. The bulb remains dormant until late summer flowering. The plant is neither frost-tolerant nor tropical-tolerant, since it requires a dry resting period between leaf growth and flower spike production.
    04AUS-30057_Amaryllis-Belladonna-flo...jpg
  • Nonnative Russell lupin flowers bloom in early January 2019 on Mount John above Lake Tekapo, in the Southern Alps, South Island, New Zealand. The plant's widespread diaspora began with David Douglas bringing the herbaceous lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) from North America to Britain in the 1820s. In the early 1900s, George Russell, a horticulturist from York, UK, spent two decades breeding the Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). First naturalized to New Zealand by local farmers wanting to beautify their landscape in the 1950s, Russell lupins have invaded large areas of roadsides, pastures, and riverbeds. This alien plant most threatens indigenous species in the braided river beds of Canterbury region. Russell lupin is classed as an invasive species in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1901NZ1-0453-465-Pano.jpg
  • Nonnative Russell lupin flowers explode in color along Fairlie-Tekapo Road in early January 2019, in Canterbury region, South Island of New Zealand. The plant's diaspora began with David Douglas bringing the herbaceous lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) from North America to Britain in the 1820s. In the early 1900s, George Russell, a horticulturist from York, UK, spent two decades breeding the Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). First naturalized to New Zealand by local farmers wanting to beautify their landscape in the 1950s, Russell lupins have invaded large areas of roadsides, pastures, and riverbeds. This alien plant most threatens indigenous species in the braided river beds of Canterbury region. Russell lupin is classed as an invasive species in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. To license this Copyright photo, please inquire at PhotoSeek.com .
    1901NZ1-0131.jpg
  • Darwin's Slipper (Calceolaria uniflora; syn. Calceolaria darwinii) is a perennial plant of the genus Calceolaria, known as the slipperworts. This mountain plant grows up to 10 cm (4 in) tall. The flowers have areas of orange-yellow, white, and brownish red. Location: near Mirador "Loma del Pliegue Tumbado" ("hill of the collapsed fold"), which we hiked 19 km (11.9 mi) round trip with 1170 meters (3860 ft) cumulative gain, in Los Glaciares National Park. El Chalten is in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. Los Glaciares National Park and Reserve are honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. hat day.
    2002PAT-9186.jpg
  • Chuquiraga is a genus of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family. Quilotoa, in the highlands of Ecuador, South America.
    09EQUCIMG_3070_Ecuador.jpg
  • Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms yellow on the Iron Creek to Teanaway Ridge Trail, in Wenatchee National Forest, near Blewett Pass, Washington, USA. Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata, in the aster/daisy family, Asteraceae/Compositae) is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to California to the Dakotas, growing in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. All of the plant can be eaten, albeit bitter and pine-like in taste. Hike Teanaway Ridge Trail 6-7 miles with 2400 feet cumulative gain.
    1605TEA-041.jpg
  • A white and pink orchid pops in contrast with green background. The exquisite Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden near Hilo is my favorite garden in the Hawaiian Islands. Delightful paths and boardwalks take you through a soothing green tropical wonderland endowed with streams (Alakahi Stream, Boulder Creek), waterfalls (Onomea Falls) and oceanfront vistas across Onomea Bay. Purchased in 1977 and transformed over 8 backbreaking years by Dan and Pauline Lutkenhouse, the garden opened to the public in 1984 and was donated to a nonprofit trust in 1995. On the Big Island, a few minutes north of Hilo off of Route 19, take the narrow four-mile Pepe'ekeo Scenic Drive which winds along coastal cliffs, across one-lane wooden bridges over picturesque waterfalls, to reach this peaceful oasis. The garden grows over 2000 plant species, representing more than 125 families and 750 genera, with diverse palms (nearly 200 species), heliconias (80+ species) and bromeliads (80+ species). Address: 27-717 Old Mamalahoa Highway, Papaikou, HI 96781, USA.
    1701HAW-2465.jpg
  • Grasswidow flowers bloom on Table Mountain Trail #1209, near Blewett Pass, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, USA. Grasswidows have the scientific name Olsynium douglasii, with synonyms Sisyrinchium douglasii or Sisyrinchium grandiflorum, in the genus Olsynium, native to western North America from southern British Columbia south to northern California, and east to northwest Utah. This perennial herbaceous bulbiferous plant grows 10-40 cm tall with flowers having six purple tepals.
    1405WA-533.jpg
  • Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms yellow on the Iron Creek to Teanaway Ridge Trail, in Wenatchee National Forest, near Blewett Pass, Washington, USA. Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata, in the aster/daisy family, Asteraceae/Compositae) is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to California to the Dakotas, growing in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. All of the plant can be eaten, albeit bitter and pine-like in taste.
    1405WA-363.jpg
  • The pleasant stone Philosopher's Path follows a canal lined with cherry trees through Higashiyama district in Kyoto, Japan. The 2-kilometer path begins at Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and ends in Nanzenji neighborhood. A famous Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro was said to meditate while walking this route to Kyoto University. This is part of Lake Biwa Canal which tunnels 20 kilometers through the mountains to Lake Biwa in nearby Shiga Prefecture. Built during the Meiji Period to revitalize the stagnating local economy, the canal powered Japan's first hydroelectric power plant.
    1810JPN-8126.jpg
  • Flowers of purple Grasswidow and yellow Glacier Lily bloom together on Table Mountain Trail #1209, near Blewett Pass, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, USA. Erythronium grandiflorum is commonly known as glacier lily, yellow avalanche lily, and dogtooth fawn lily. Grasswidows have the scientific name Olsynium douglasii, with synonyms Sisyrinchium douglasii or Sisyrinchium grandiflorum, in the genus Olsynium, native to western North America from southern British Columbia south to northern California, and east to northwest Utah. Grasswidow is a perennial herbaceous bulbiferous plant which grows 10-40 cm tall with flowers having six purple tepals.
    1405WA-561.jpg
  • Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms yellow on the Iron Creek to Teanaway Ridge Trail, in Wenatchee National Forest, near Blewett Pass, Washington, USA. Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata, in the aster/daisy family, Asteraceae/Compositae) is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to California to the Dakotas, growing in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. All of the plant can be eaten, albeit bitter and pine-like in taste. This image was stitched from 2 overlapping photos to increase depth of focus.
    1405WA-319-20pan.jpg
  • Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms yellow on the Iron Creek to Teanaway Ridge Trail, in Wenatchee National Forest, near Blewett Pass, Washington, USA. Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata, in the aster/daisy family, Asteraceae/Compositae) is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to California to the Dakotas, growing in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. All of the plant can be eaten, albeit bitter and pine-like in taste.
    1405WA-334.jpg
  • Erythronium californicum (common name California fawn lily) is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, endemic to moist woodland habitats in the mountains of Northern California. Hike in Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area, on Federal BLM land, California, USA. Directions from Chico: drive northeast on State Highway 32, 20 miles to Forest Ranch, then southeast on Garland Road (graded dirt road), then left on Doe Mill Road. It is about 4.75 miles to Butte Creek trailhead from Highway 32.
    1404CA-37_Erythronium-californicum.jpg
  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Panorama stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    0911CA-026-30pan_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • In the Andes, the Lupinus weberbaueri plant has a giant flower stalk that can grow nearly 2 meters high. Lupinus (common name lupin or lupine) is a genus in the pea family (also called the legume, bean, or pulse family, Latin name Fabaceae or Leguminosae). As a day trip by car and foot from Huaraz, hike to Lake 69 (4600 meters elevation, 8 miles round trip with 800 meters gain) in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, South America.
    14PER-0384_Lupinus-weberbaueri.jpg
  • The Lupinus weberbaueri plant in the Andes has a giant flower stalk that can grow nearly 2 meters high. Lupinus (common name lupin or lupine) is a genus in the pea family (also called the legume, bean, or pulse family, Latin name Fabaceae or Leguminosae). As a day trip by car and foot from Huaraz, hike to Lake 69 (4600 meters elevation, 8 miles round trip with 800 meters gain) in the Cordillera Blanca, Andes Mountains, Peru, South America.
    14PER-0373_Lupinus-weberbaueri.jpg
  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
    0911CA-020_hiker-oaks_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • A bright orange flower of genus Mutisia blooms at Pasarela Rio Arrayanes, Lago Verde, Los Alerces National Park (honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List), in Chubut Province, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. Mutisia is a genus of flowering plant in the Mutisieae tribe within the sunflower family (Asteraceae). Mutisia comprises about sixty species which can be found along the entire length of the Andes and in southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina.
    2002PAT-9096.jpg
  • Face in giant tropical leaf. The exquisite Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden near Hilo is my favorite garden in the Hawaiian Islands! Delightful paths and boardwalks take you through a soothing green tropical wonderland endowed with streams (Alakahi Stream, Boulder Creek), waterfalls (Onomea Falls) and oceanfront vistas across Onomea Bay. Purchased in 1977 and transformed over 8 backbreaking years by Dan and Pauline Lutkenhouse, the garden opened to the public in 1984 and was donated to a nonprofit trust in 1995. On the Big Island, a few minutes north of Hilo off of Route 19, take the narrow four-mile Pepe'ekeo Scenic Drive which winds along coastal cliffs, across one-lane wooden bridges over picturesque waterfalls, to reach this peaceful oasis. The garden grows over 2000 plant species, representing more than 125 families and 750 genera, with diverse palms (nearly 200 species), heliconias (80+ species) and bromeliads (80+ species). Address: 27-717 Old Mamalahoa Highway, Papaikou, HI 96781, USA. For this photo’s licensing options, please inquire.
    1701HAW-2480.jpg
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