What a week I had last week! It started with orchids and ended with multiple RTE sightings. I re-found Scutellaria nervosa (S1S2/highly state rare; endangered) on the same day I pulled weeds from a stand of Valeriana pauciflora (S1/highly state rare/endangered). And not long after that, I came across the largest stand of Phacelia purshii (Miami mist, fringed phacelia) that I have ever seen.

That stand had literally dozens of star-of-Bethlehem plants all through it, so before taking pictures I weeded that patch. [important note in case you missed my previous post: I have authority to do so in that area] Actually I rather regret not taking a picture of the whole patch first, but oh well. They’ll be back…

P. purshii is listed S3/watchlist in Maryland.

Not long after that, I found a lovely and mostly weed-free patch of Phacelia dubia (small-flower phacelia), which is also S3/watchlist.

I wrote about the two species (and a third, P. covillei) in April of 2017, so won’t repeat myself. I just wanted to post these pictures.