365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Oregon Boxwood, Paxistima Myrsinites
Day 226: This shrub has been a puzzlement to me for many (many!) years. I first observed it growing along Skate Creek Road and thought that it was an admirable foliage plant with its toothed leaves. I had never observed it flowering until a few days ago when I was wandering through Longmire Campground. It is quite small, and I took the flowers to be buds in tight clusters, and it was only when I took a sample in to ask our Plant Ecologist for an identification that I got a better look. He identified it immediately as Paxistima myrsinites (Oregon Boxwood), although he was somewhat surprised by its location. I had not gotten a good picture of the flower (not realizing it was in full bloom), so made a second sally over the bridge for a better shot, grateful that I had finally been able to lay to rest a botanical mystery which had been troubling me for ages.
Labels:
botanical mystery,
Longmire,
MORA,
Oregon Boxwood,
Paxistima myrsinites,
shrub
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