More Plant Photos and Identification

Last Wednesday (July 5th) I took another walk by the Tanana River and got more nice photos.

I revisited the one highbush cranberry plant I found earlier. The fruit is still green, but I'm glad to see the plant has been undisturbed.

highbush cranberry photo A

highbush cranberry photo B

Here are some rose hips:

rose hips

I found a side trail that was nice looking, although the mosquitos were pretty bad, since it is right next to a slow moving section of water.

trail

And here is a nice photo of the scenery:

scenery

The following week (July 10th) I took another walk in the same area, and spent some time practicing plant identification on this willow:

willow photo A

willow photo B

I used the summer identification key in the book "Williows of Interior Alaska" by Collet (2004), and decided that is most likely "Park Willow" (Salix pseudomonticola). Some of the key features were:

- taller than 30cm

- lightly toothed margin

- reddish, slightly hairy main vein and petiole

- leaf has rounded base and pointed tip

- white film on bottom of leaf that can be scraped off with fingernail

- reddish tint in new leaves

I took another photo of this low bush berry plant, which I noticed a few weeks ago.

bush

So, I'm thankful for some nice walks, good summer weather, and some more opportunities to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.