A tiny pine growing on the bank of Stoney Creek across the street from the Stoney Creek Inn.
Columbine, also on the bank of Stoney Creek.
These little yellow bells were hiding
under their leaves in Katmai.
Elegant Paintbrush
Monkshood. This is very poisonous.
Fireweed
Arctic Sandwort
Larkspur
Barren Ground Willow
Red Birch
Twinflower: Unusual in that is has two blooms on each stalk.
Bearflower (left) and willow (right).
Bearflower is called this because bears like to snack on it.
Butterweed
We saw this Tundra Rose on our rainy way down the mountain on our Ridge Hike at Camp Denali.
Not too surprisingly, the Death Camas (pr. kay-mus) is poisonous.
The Eskimo Potato is not poisonous.
We saw some of the most amazing lichen.
Tumbleweed lichen
This stick must have been there a while, because the lichen had grown everywhere but in its shadow.
The many varieties of lichen on the rocks gave them a dalmation look, especially when viewed at a distance. Close up, you can see much more than just the light and dark that is visible from far away.
Milk Vetch.
These are Alpine Azalea.
Jan stuck a meat thermometer into the ground to see how deep the permafrost was. Since the thermometer stabilized at 40F, the permafrost must have been lower down than the 5" length of the thermometer.
Lingonberries (or Low Bush Cranberry or Mountain Cranberry). We tasted some and they were tart but delicious!
This is most likely some sort of saxifrage.
Stiff Stem Saxifrage
Spider Plant
We never figured out what this was called, but it was so cool looking because the tips were bright white against the purple edges of the green leaves. The tallest stalk here is less than 3" high.
Arctic Willow (with Jan's hand for scale).
Purple Oxytrope seedpods. They look like beans on the outside, and inside, they have what looks like tiny oblong peas.
Pink Plumes
Frigid Shooting Star with Rosewort
This mushroom is aptly called a Puff Ball and is supposedly edible, although we didn't test that.
The balls on the plants leaves are like cocoons. Inside each one is a tiny worm. The worms use the plant's natural healing/defense mechanism, to create this tiny house.
Aster buds
Aster starting to bloom
The seed pods of the Mountain Avens reminded us of truffular trees (from Dr. Seuss's the Lorax)
Mountain Avens in bloom
The Moss Campion serves as a platform for other plants.
Closer view of a smaller Moss Campion.
Dan particularly liked the Glaucous Gentian (pr. jen-shin), not only for its unusual bright turquoise color, but also because he had hear of gentian before: gentian root is the first ingredient in Angostura Bitters.
We were surprised to see a bee on this Narrow Leaf Labrador Tea way up on high on our Ridge Hike. This was the only bee we saw the entire trip, and in fact we learned that in the tundra, mosquitos often pollenate plants.
Blue Anemone
A field of Arnica (yellow) and Eskimo Potato (pink).
Tall Jacob's Ladder
Alpine Forget-Me-Not (with buds of Monkshood in the background). Forget-Me-Nots are Alaska's state flower.
Fern Leaf Lousewort
Capitate Lousewort
another Lousewort, probably Arctic or Fern Leaf
Whorled-leaf Lousewort
Blue bell buds
Blue bells in bloom. The flowers are edible and taste like cucumber.