Taken in the same general spot as the Part 19 photo, and still facing southeastward. But I'm standing a few steps farther south (i.e., to the left).
If you look closely, you'll see the spilling, tannin-stained waters of Snake Pit Falls behind this sun-splashed clump of vegetation.
That vegetation, perched on the edge of the snake pit, so to speak, was growing in the reddish, duff-mantled soil profile that has developed atop the ledge of Chengwatana Volcanic Group Basalt.
I did not key out the grasses, which weren't at anthesis yet, but I instantly recognized an old friend in the colony of low foreground shrubs that had produced at least one fully opened flower. Its species is Rosa blanda, the Smooth Rose. This native plant's common name refers to the fact that it, in a most unroselike way, bears few if any prickles on its stem.
To my eye, the simple blooms of wild roses are much more beautiful than the polyploid monstrosities of cultivated hybrid tea roses. I'll feature a close-up of the pink blossom seen here at lower center in the next post of this series.
While I'm not sure what the shaded saplings on the far side of the falls are—young Balsam Firs (Abies balsamea)?—the fully illuminated evergreen boughs at upper left belong to an Arbor Vitae (Northern White Cedar, Thuja occidentalis).
You'll find the other photos and descriptions of this series in my Integrative Natural History of Amnicon Falls State Park album.
