Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: west of Nanton

LOL, as I walked near this plant, I noticed that one of the small "seedpods" looked a little different. Stopped to take a look, and sure enough, this absolutely gorgeous (small!) spider was curled up under the pod cluster (before it started climbing down the stem). Have searched on Google, but the closest I've come to an ID is a possible Western Spotted Orbweaver. The pattern isn't quite right, so I need to keep searching : ) Found on Howard Hornecker's beautiful prairie grassland, west of Nanton, Alberta, on 27th August. Thanks to Lynette, for the ID. Much appreciated!

Castilleja lutescens is native to western Canada and USA. Uncommon, and semi-parasitic, probably on the roots of grasses. Yellow bracts surround each tiny, greenish flower. These were seen on Rob Blades' grassland hilltop, west of Nanton, southern Alberta, on 27th August.

This is a supermacro of the very tiny seeds of the Western Stoneseed plant, also called Western Gromwell and Woolly Gromwell. I like the shape and shine of these seeds. This plant is a species of flowering plant in the Borage family. It is native to western Canada and the western United States, where it can be found in many types of habitat. The 4-6 mm long nutlets are white or brownish and are as hard as stone. Four nutlets form per flower. Photographed on 27th August on Howard Hornecker's land, west of Nanton, Alberta.

Lomatium dissectum, Fern-leaved Biscuit-root, which we have been calling Burgundy Prairie Parsley. Have only seen this twice before. The plant in my photo was seen growing high up on the slope of a butte, west of Nanton, south of Calgary. It can have yellow flowers or these wonderful burgundy ones. "Lomatium dissectum is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name fernleaf biscuitroot. It is native to much of western North America, where it grows in varied habitat. It is a perennial herb reaching up to 1.4 meters tall, growing from a thick taproot. The leaves are mostly attached near the base of the plant, spreading with petioles up to 30 centimeters long and large blades divided into many small, narrow segments. The inflorescence is an umbel of many small yellow or reddish flowers, each cluster on a ray up to 10 centimeters long. The fruits resemble pumpkin seeds." From Wikipedia.

This zoomed in and cropped photo of a tiny Yellowbell wildflower (Fritillaria pudica) was taken in extreme wind conditions, LOL. Also known as Yellow Fritillary. A few of us were very fortunate to have Anna Cairns guide us up and down rolling hills covered in natural prairie grassland, to look for these delicate little flowers. Sure enough, after quite a lot of searching, we found several hiding amongst the grasses. This area was west of Nanton (south west of Calgary) and this location is the furthest north recording of this species. A first time for all of us. We found several other new plants, too, which is always great.

This small wildflower is Townsendia (hookerii?), seen west of Nanton nearly a week ago. I had only ever seen seedheads once before and I always chuckle at the thought. A friend had just knelt down to photograph that particular one and when she got up, she stood right on the delicate little seedhead, so I never got the chance for a shot : )

A zoomed and cropped image of a little wild Yellow Prairie Violet. A lovely splash of bright yellow when you happen to spot one hiding in the grasses. Found this one west of Nanton, Alberta, recently.

This looks a little strange to me - maybe I should have cropped a bit off the bottom? This was taken from inside one of the wonderful little buildings on Jim Coutts' incredible homestead, south of Calgary and west of Nanton. Each year now, he invites us down there for a few hours and I enjoy every moment I'm there. His gardens are amazing, including a carefully laid out Natural Grasses section - a few feet square for each of many different grass species. His flower gardens leave me breathless : ) Jim is very interested in returning his homestead land back to native grassland. He is very knowledgeable about nature and certainly does his "homework". After visiting his homestead, he took us for a long hike on someone's private property to botanize the area - wonderful rolling hills in the Porcupine Hills area, of which I posted a photo two days ago.

The countryside south west of Calgary is so beautiful - rolling, endless hills with a backdrop of the distant Rocky Mountains! No doubt they are now covered with a blanket of snow, but I loved the mix of sunlight and shadows when we did this hike on 5th September. We were very lucky to be given this chance to botanize a brand new area, as this was on private property, west of Nanton.

This was a new plant for us, seen in a small canyon on a hike west of Nanton three days ago. Also known as Fern-leaf Desert-Parsley as well as Burgundy Prairie Parsley, Lomatium dissectum, this plant has purple to maroon flowers. It belongs to the Carrot family, Apiaceae.

This was a new plant for me, seen growing from the rocky wall in a small canyon, southwest of the city. We hiked up and down rolling hills to Loree Canyon, Nanton. The flowers are 15-20 mm across, 5 petals, 5 sepals. Grows June-July on moist banks in alpine to montane forests. "Nodding Saxifrage produces small, reddish purple bulblets in the axils of the upper leaves. These bulblets, a form of vegetative reproduction, are shed and grow into new plants." From "Plants of Alberta" by France Royer and Richard Dickinson.

A beautiful Swallowtail butterfly that a friend pointed out to me when we were on a day-long hike yesterday. I was on the edge of a hill and so had to watch my footing. Wasn't room for me to move any further round in order to avoid the leaf that covers part of the wing. What a hike we had, in such an amazing place. Up and down hills and then through a spectacular, small canyon. I could barely move by the time I finally got home and this morning wasn't much better, LOL, but it was surely worth every minute of agony!