Copperbush

This interesting flower was photographed on a hike to Lake Elizabeth in July of 2010. At that time the Forest Service road was washed out and access to the lake required a twelve mile round-trip hike. This is the flower of a bush that was growing along the road near the lake and I had never been able to find it my references and posted it hoping to find out what it was. I was told it was a Rhododendron and the leaves look like that family, but that had not helped me find it. Since posting it, however, I have found it in the University of Washington herbarium and it is related to Rhododendron, but is called Copperbush, Elliottia pyroliflora, a shrub that is native to the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to Oregon and that grows in moist areas from mid to high elevations. It is not, however, listed in my wildflower book for our area.

biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.ph...

ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/08/lake-elizab...