Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: south of Highway 40

A number of us spent the day yesterday finding and recording all flora and fauna that we came across on our walk - I hesitate to use the word "hike" as we walk slowly most of the time, lol. Plateau Mountain is way south of Calgary, taking maybe two and a half hours to drive there.

HAPPY 4th JULY to all Americans around the world! Oops, not as sharp as it should have been! Looks worse than it did around 1:00 this morning, ha. This is Alpine Forget-me-not, seen on the long walk up to Plateau Mountain on July 2nd. Always a treat to see such vibrant blue. Just wish it wasn't so very windy up there on the mountain side.

A view taken while on a hike on Plateau Mountain on July 2nd. We were scouring the alpine meadows to record all plants found.

I love coming across Rust Fungus on mustard plants of the Arabis genus. This very small (macro shot) pseudoflower was growing on Silver Rockcress/Alpine Smelowskia at Plateau Mountain, Kananaskis, way south of Highway 40, on July 2nd. "Puccinia monoica is a rust fungus of the genus Puccinia that inhibits flowering in its host plants (those of the Arabis genus) and transforms host behavior in order to facilitate sexual reproduction to pass on its genes. Infection occurs when the fungus sends its throughout the stem of the mustard plant, siphoning off some of the nutrients of its host. However, to reproduce, Puccinia monoica must exchange genes with the Puccinia inside another mustard plant. The fungus sterilizes the plant, preventing it from sending up its own flowers. Instead, the fungus forces the infected plant to turn clusters of its leaves into brilliant "flowers" (pseudoflowers)." From Wikipedia. Something must be up with Flickr today - hardly any activity going on.

Bronzebells, Stenanthium occidentale, sometimes called Western Featherbells, is a native wildflower that grows in moist, wooded areas. Stems are 30-50 cm tall and the flowers are purple green to brownish red, nodding, cup-shaped, 10-15 mm long. Three sepals, three petals, and bracts that are lance-shaped. Flowers June-July. Saw these ones growing on Plateau Mountain, way south of the city on 31st July. As often happens, this is a macro shot - these flowers really are just tiny. So pretty, I always think. Got home about half an hour ago after a long day east of the city, in the amazing Alberta Badlands area. Six of us climbed down into Horseshoe Canyon to do another botanizing day of the hillsides and canyon floor. This area is about an hour and forty-five minutes' drive from the city. A really pleasant day, warming up later on. I prefer the cooler temperatures, though, especially when walking/hiking. The smoke haze from BC wasn't really noticeable down in the canyon, but on the drive from and back to the city, visibility was greatly reduced. Thanks so much, Stephen, for driving today - I appreciate it so much. And now, as usual, I feel dead beat and oh, so tired, LOL.

Rather a strange photo of this very tiny wildflower - not sure why, but to me it looks almost as if it's a painting. Sorry again about all the wildflower photos I'm posting - it's just that time of the year. Our short growing season will soon be over. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silene_acaulis