April 27, 2015. Bugs and Miner's Lettuce

The closest plants to the trail. The pods are huge!

I found a miner's lettuce stash on the way up.

Tasty edible, miner's lettuce. 

Small bug found on pod.

Another plant growing close by. Looks to be like a ranunculus.

April 19, 2015. Seed Pod Predation and Herbivory.

"I apologize for my lack of updates lately. Between the end of semester, finals and starting my new job, I have fallen a bit behind on staying on top of this. I have still been making my weekly checkups on A. kelseyae and have some pics and information. However, there haven't been much changes lately. I went up last week, and the pods still haven't begun to open up. I did find evidence of both herbivory and seed pod predation, though and there are pictures attached. I have some other ideas and info I will follow up with later this weekend."

Pods are getting bigger!

A bug is eating this flower.

A view of the rhizome, looks like it goes down deep.

The life of A. kelseyae is a tough one.

Grasshopper.

April 11, 2015. Seed Pod Finds.

"The biggest find was big seed pods on a lot of the plants. They were not there last week. I also saw two pollinators, a brown moth and a brownish/gray, larger bee. I was not able to get pictures of them in time. There is a plant on the newer population that has a strange color. I'm not sure if it was growing under a rock, but it is pale and yellow compared to the other plants."

Plant that is closest to trail. What a trooper!

Competing plants

Giant pods!

View of the valley from the trail.

More pods!

These plants were a little earlier down on the trail than the major population.

Close by plant, Delphinium nutallii.

Seed development.

The "scraggly oak".

March 29, 2015. Hike Epiphanies and Trail Conditions

The following in an email I sent to Mike at the Forest Service with whom I had been volunteering. 

"I made an important discovery on my hike yesterday. I think we've been looking at the wrong plant. The original one we looked at together, I kept seeing it everywhere, but I thought maybe the difference would be minute or in the flower or fruit. So, after consulting Doc's key, A. keleseyae does not have sheathing stipules. The plant that we have been looking at does, which could possibly be A. canadensis or A. miser. 

On Sunday, after I made this discovery, I looked around and right away I saw it and noticed that it was very distinct. It is lighter in color and has distinct stipules. It is also in flower right now! A bit earlier than I made note of in the key, but that could be due to this year's weather. For whatever reason, I have not seen this plant until yesterday and I still need to take a hand lens to the hairs on it, but I think this new one is the actual A. keleseyae. 

I have attached photos of both plants and their stipules. I saw some potential pollinators while hiking, big bumble bees with a red stripes, smaller dark bees, dark bumble bee, and a white butterfly. On this hike, I went to the top of the trail. On my way back down I saw a guy shuffling his way through some potential habitat, higher up in elevation. I also saw what might be goat fur lower down on the trail before the Hidden Canyon turnoff. 

I was able to find some photos online, surprisingly. No literature though."

A. keleseyae

Flowers

Trail is beginning to look green. 

Possible goat fur?

View of habitat from above population.

A. keleseyae stipules.

Other Astragalus species stipules. 

Lucy, my trusty research assistant.

View from the top of the trail. Beauty!

March 20, 2015. First Research Post.

This post is the beginning date of my research of Astragalus kelseyae. The plant's only known occurrence is the Ophir Shale in the mountains of Ogden, Utah.

A view of the habitat from across the canyon. 

This is the first Astragalus species we had originally looked at. Being so early in the season, during the initial growth period the two species can look similar. On the next post I discovered the actual plant and how distinct it looked. I also consulted Doc's plant key which is always an excellent resource. 

A view of my pack next to a plant.

The habitat has a lot of disturbance from wildlife, people and erosion. 

Welcome!

Hello. My name is Heather Gardner and I'm a botany and GIS student at Weber State University. Here you will find out about my research on the rare plant Astragalus kelseyae. You will probably also see some pictures from my job working as a weed mapper and field technician. I'm a big plant nerd, so you will probably see pictures of a lot of cool plants.