Botany Photo of the Day

Very nice. Is that a real deer in the background?

Yes, that's a real deer. We have tons of them in that area of California. At dusk and in the morning, you can see them all over the grassy hills as you drive along the highway. In wooded areas, you can see them any time of day if you are quiet.

Great picture. The deer in the background is the crowning touch.

I hadn't noticed the deer in this photograph, but I imagined an elk antler sticking out from behind a tree in the distance in Dale's image of Crocker Grove (2/3 from the left of the image, half-way down).

Excellent photo!

Calamagrostis nutkaensis is a coastal species, distributed all the way from Alaska to southern California. It generally doesn't occur too far inland (I wonder how far from the coast Crocker Groive is?). This species is one of eleven species of Calamagrostis in California.

Always thought that the life of David Douglas,(Douglas Fir) a botanical explorer from Scotland would make a fantastic movie...he explored western Canada, Paciic USA down to Santa Barbara then went to Hawaii where he fell into a pit used to impale cattle but was impaled himself, died, working for the Royal Botanical Society, London when both Americans and Brits had claims for Pacific Canada....(about 1805-1820?)

Also curious to a source for the lives of botanical explores, people like Sargent, David, Jesuits in China, etc. Any sources?

David, a great place to start is another Vancouver-based web site: Plant Explorers. After that, though, I think you'll find you need to look up individual explorers online, or try to track down some books. We have an extensive collection of books on plant explorers here at UBC, but lack of time prevents me from compiling a list and getting it online.

Daniel,
nope, not an elk in the other Crocker Grove pic, just a broken branch. To the best of my knowledge, elk have not been reintroduced to the area (if they were ever there). I'm not sure how the folks in Pebble Beach, on the Monterey Penninsula, where Crocker Grove is located (Jeff), would react to such a large beastie in their midst. The Roosevelt elk, the "coastal" elk in California, is, after all, the second largest member of the deer family after the moose.

Eric, I was only using my imagination - I knew that it wasn't, but I think it's alright to have the occasional flight of fancy. Thanks for the enlightening commentary on elks of California; I didn't know that about the Roosevelt elk.

Since it is doubtful I'll have another opportunity to link to it, some of you might be interested to read The Case of the Irish Elk.

Washington was supposed to be the world leader in elk concentrations before they were killed off during settlement. Local areas now full of shrubs and low trees probably weren't in the past, apart from the effects of lumbering and fire suppression possibly there were elk everywhere keeping things opened up as well, as can be seen in the Olympic National Park portion of the Hoh Valley.