Native Talk Tuesday # 11

The plant featured in today's Native Talk Tuesday is Synthyris reniformis, commonly known as the Spring Queen. Belonging to the Figwort family, the Spring Queen is one of the first flowers to bloom, often just after snowfall, giving it another common name, the Snow Queen. The blue-violet flowers form in a terminal cluster. This type of plant is found at lower elevations from the Olympic Peninsula south into California, and from the Oregon Coast to the Cascade Range foothills.

The pictures here were taken at Silver Falls State Park within days after a snowfall in mid-February. As you can see, the flowers are violet with pink stamens.