Bloomin Blues: Flower resembles popcorn

Published 6:21 am Friday, May 16, 2014

Name: Scoulers popcornflower

Scientific names: Plagiobothrys scouleri

Scoulers popcornflower is found across Canada, and the western and northern United States. It is a very small plant that probably few people see, and if they do see it they dont really pay attention to it. It grows mainly in poorly drained soil, including in spring pools of water that slowly dry up as the weather heats up around May.

The name popcornflower comes from the round-petalled white flowers when seen close up. There are 4 species of popcornflower in northeast Oregon, but many more to the south, with 36 species in California. The name plagiobothrys describes a scar on the very tiny nutlets as seen with a microscope; not too helpful if you dont happen to have the right equipment.

The Eastern Oregon variety of this species has stems that are usually prostrate or mostly flat on the ground. It blooms when it is anywhere from a half inch long to a foot long, though usually dries up before it gets very large. The plant in the photo was taken from above and was about 3 inches across. The flowers would look like blue forget-me-not flowers except they are white with yellow at the center and only 1-2 millimeters across.

Where to find: Large patches of the white-flowered plant can be seen from the road blooming in newly dried-up mud in Fox Prairie on the road to Mt. Emily from Interstate 84, but the timing varies widely from one year to the next.