Herbarium Research

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Richard Ramsden, Megan Jensen, Dan Paquette, and Vicki Weafer pressing plants at camp

Photo: David Giblin

WTU volunteers Dan Paquette, Richard Ramsden, and Vicki Weafer joined WTU’s David Giblin and Megan Jensen for two days of collecting at MORA.

On the first day we hiked into the Crystal Lakes area at the northeast corner of the Park. We intended to collect in and around the lake shore, but a remarkably diverse, north-facing cliff a few hundred meters above the lake kept us busy for the entire day.

The following day we split into two groups out of the Sunrise Visitor Center, with one scouring the terrain leading up to and around the Burroughs Mt. Lookout, and the other descending to Huckleberry Basin. Highlights from this day of collecting included alpine collomia (Collomia debilis var. larsenii) and the seldom-collected forked sagewort (Artemisia furcata). Our timing was perfect for seeing good displays of alpine aster (now Oreostemma alpigenum) and we caught the beginning of the bloom period for mountain bog gentian (Gentiana calycosa).

MORA Botanist Pete Del Zotto coordinated our camping and collecting activities in the Park, and MORA seasonals Judy Runge and Jessica Waite joined us for the second day of collecting.

Yellow dots represent collection sites. Click on a site to view a list of collections.

Map created with TOPO!. © 2006 National Geographic.

New Park Records:
The following taxa were not previously documented from within the MORA park complex with a voucher specimen at the MORA Herbarium:

Draba lonchocarpa var. lonchocarpa
Osmorhiza chilensis