Along the edge of the woods, scrubby pines are showing these cute capsules. Passersby might not enjoy my releasing allergens in the park, so I only played with a couple of the capsules, but it was interesting to see how the lightest touch triggers them poof! to release a cloud of gold pollen.

These Martian-looking doodads have been on earth for oodles of years. According to one plant expert in town, Horsetail contains both silicon and gold, if only we could figure out how to get the gold out.

These are skunk plants below. Do not eat or drink skunk plant products! Their oxalate crystals are the same compound that cause severe pain for people suffering from gout. In winter the plant emerges as a “spathe,” a streaked oxblood-red beak. Then it blooms with showy yellow flowery thinglets (looked up the botanical parts; couldn’t make heads or tails of it) and then huge leaves. According to this website https://www.natlands.org/news/whats-so-cool-about-skunk-cabbage/ they generate their own heat, and flaunt a “skunk-like/decaying flesh smell.” These skunk plants are done flowering for the year.

Salal flowers in a shady cleft in rocks:

Salmonberry flowers!

And, in a nearby garden, some superfluous fancy tulips to end our stroll today.