On a wildflower hike in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains last week I came across this lovely clump of Bead Lily next to the trail and under the canopy of a diverse old-growth forest. Like many wildflowers, this one is known by several names – bead lily, queen’s-cup, queen-cup, and bride’s-bonnet. Botanists call it Clintonia uniflora (at least for now – the botanical taxonomists like to switch up names once in a while).
This was a new flower for me, so I turned to Daniel Mathew’s excellent book Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains to identify the species. I love Mathew’s book because in addition to the usual scientific description he often includes a bit of backstory on each species. In this case, it was interesting to read that the native people of the Pacific Northwest sometimes used the bead-like blue berries of this plant as a stain (but not as a food source). If you are at all interested in the natural history of the Pacific Northwest and don’t already have this book, I highly recommend that you get it. Order it at your favorite indie bookstore, Powell’s, or Amazon.
Another great resource for identifying our local blossoms is www.pnwflowers.com, which is based on, and expands, the very thorough Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, also available at Powell’s and Amazon, or order it through your local bookstore.
Photo tech: Nikon Z7 in DX mode, 24-70/4 Nikkor Z lens at 49mm (full-frame equivalent: 73mm). 1/8 second exposure at ISO 125. I positioned my Sirui W-1204 tripod (with Acratech GP-SS ballhead) almost directly above the flowers to keep them in the same plane as much as possible. With that perspective, an aperture of f/11 gave me enough depth of field to render the flowers and leaves sharply in focus.
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