‘Tis the season for fragrant evergreens. Fresh, woody, crisp, sharp or earthy–evergreen trees and boughs bring olfactory bliss to anyone who dares take a sniff. Each conifer has its own unique smell derived from chemical compounds in their needles and bark. Collectively these chemicals are called terpenes (based on 5-carbon units known as isoprenes) and are usually produced as part of the tree’s defense mechanism–warding off potential pests and disease–among a range of other functions. For humans, however, there is mounting evidence that forest scents may also have many potential therapeutic benefits; making a walk in the forest (a.k.a. forest bathing), just that much more appealing
As for me, the health benefits of terpenes is– like the frost on a cold winter morning– a welcome bonus! Thus, this winter I have set out to not only visually observe the many different species of conifer in my local forests, but smell them–crushing needles all the way. Today, I give you my findings thus far:
Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir can be identified by its soft, flat, 1-1.5 inch needles that spiral around each branch with two white bloom lines on the underside. When pinched or crushed, Douglas-fir needles have a mild sweet lemon and woody scent. Look for their distinct cones pointing downward with three-pronged bracts that stick out from beneath each scale or their dark pointed buds to help confirm identification.
Western redcedar
Tiny, flat-scale like leaves, often with a butterfly shaped bloom on the underside, arrange onto droopy sprays of foliage that fall opposite each other on each branch. This moisture-loving conifer’s leaves are delightfully sugary-sweet smelling with perhaps a hint of pineapple or pear. If you are lucky, you may find some of its rose-bud shaped cones hanging in clusters from the branches.
Western hemlock
Short, flat soft needles of variable length (no longer than ¾ an inch), arrange themselves irregularly around each branch, creating what I like to call the “bedhead” effect. This shade-tolerant conifer’s needles smell faintly like grapefruit when crushed. On a nice day, watch the sunrays scatter through the hemlock canopy; look up and find its drooping leader–a telltale hemlock trait.
Ponderosa pine
Very long, fairly stiff needles (5-10 inches) grow from the ponderosa in bundles of three. When crushed these needles smell woody and sharp, like turpentine (unsurprisingly). Notice the thick puzzle-piece shaped bark of the ponderosa pine–a helpful adaptation to low-intensity fire. If you find a mature tree, take a whiff of the bark, as well, as it is known to give off a sweet vanilla or caramel scent, especially when warmed by the sun.
Grand fir
Two-ranked shiny, dark green needles, with two-white stomatal bands below, splay out like the keys of a grand piano. As for the smell, well this one is a favorite–warm and citrusy, like tangerines. Their stiff branches give the grand fir a stately more structural appearance, similar to other firs, with cones that face upwards high in the branches.
So, go on a walk in your local forest and bask in the many sights and smells it offers. Enjoy the complexity that nature offers as you roam. Stop and smell an evergreen.
The Douglas-fir forests of Oregon’s Willamette Valley are a year-round delight. Mossy, forested hillsides with every shade of green imaginable—what’s not to love?
However, spring is my favorite season to visit the forest. Days are longer, it is warmer and sunnier (well, on occasion)—all good stuff.
But, then there are the flowers.
Like little gifts from mother nature, the forest breathes new life into the damp, dark woods with a symphony of blooms starting in March. To me, it feels like magic. Or possibility.
Though not typically as vibrant and profuse as some of the prairie or meadow flower displays, there is something special about finding a scattering of trillium shifting in the breeze, or spotting a pink fairy slipper out of the corner of your eye. Perhaps it is their often unassuming nature that is so charming.
So here it is! A list of some of my favorite early-blooming wildflowers of the Douglas-fir forests of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. I hope you enjoy!
Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis)
Delicate white flowers dangle like teardrops from the tips of each twig—Osoberry is one of the earliest flowering shrubs in the Pacific Northwest. A true sign of spring, I can’t help but smile when I see clusters of these 5-petaled somewhat bell-shaped flowers and their equally droopy thin lance-shaped leaves in late February to mid-March. Spring has sprung!
Fun Facts:
The flowers of osoberry often bloom even before the leaves emerge.
Osoberry fruits are edible drupes, though on the bitter side, and resemble small plums.
Snow Queen (Veronica regina-nivalis)
Another early favorite is this small forest-dwelling herb that emerges before the mountain snow begins to melt. A short raceme (cluster) of purple to lavender bell-shaped flowers bloom in March or early April. The interior of the flower is hairy with stripes on the petals. The overall plant generally doesn’t exceed 15 cm in height with a hairy stem. Wide heart-shaped leaves are shallowly lobed and hairy, growing as a rosette from stalks.
Fun facts:
The stamens of the snow queen (the male part of the flower) are epipetalous, meaning “attached to the petal.”
There are two stamens in each flower with large anthers that stick outside the petals’ outer edge, along with the extra-long style—giving the overall flower cluster a spiky look.
Snow queen is a member of the Plantain family.
Nuttall’s Toothwort (Cardamine nuttallii)
Simple and sweet are words that best describe this early-blooming native of western North America. Flowers cluster at the end of a thin, dark unbranching stem—each with four pale pink, purple, or white petals less than ½ an inch (8-55 cm). Stem leaves sit just below the simple bloom and are smooth and divided into a few thin-pointed leaflets, sometimes with angular lobes. Basal leaves are round to heart-shaped and sometimes shallowly lobed. Find the early blooming Nuttall’s toothwort growing in late March in the damp reaches of the forest.
Fun Facts:
Early blooming flowers like Nuttall’s toothwort provide an important source of nectar to early emerging pollinators like bumblebees.
Nuttall’s toothwort is a member of the Mustard family.
Giant White Fawn-Lily (Erythronium oregonum)
Like the spots on a young fawn, the giant white fawn-lily has a dark mottled pattern on its otherwise bright green rabbit-ear-shaped leaves. The nodding flower arises from a narrow stalk with six long white tepals (petals and sepals undifferentiated) that narrow and swoop upwards at the ends. Six long stamens hang downward from the yellow center of the petals. Usually flowering in late March or early April, look for Giant White Fawn-Lily in the open woodland and forests of the Willamette Valley, as well as meadows and rocky outcrops.
Fun Facts:
Giant white fawn lilies are considered an ephemeral species because they emerge, bloom, and then go into dormancy relatively quickly. Blink and you just miss them!
These lilies have unique below-ground structures consisting of a single bulb and a segmented corm (a swollen underground plant stem).
Pacific Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
This showy flower cannot be missed! A true showstopper, the Pacific trillium has three wide-lance-shaped leaves that whorl about the stem, with tips dipping toward the ground. The flower sits just a short distance above the leaves—three white (sometimes pink) triangular petals, with three green sepals below, open to the sky with a yellow staminate center and a pistil with three stigmas. Growing in droves (or drifts, if you ask the internet) in forest and riparian habitats, they are well-liked by many.
Fun Facts:
Trillium petals turn purple as they age.
Trilliums have a wide range in west-side forests and can be found blooming as late as July. I tend to see them in Willamette Valley forests in late March and April.
Also known as an “ant plant,” trillium seeds have an oil appendage that attracts ants. The ants feed the oil-rich food to their larvae, while “disposing” of the seed in a refuse pile—i.e., dispersing it.
Fairy Slipper (Calypso bulbosa)
I spy with my little eye, something small and bright pink. Despite its vibrant colors, I have seen many casual hikers walk right past a fairy slipper orchid on the trail. Borne on a single six-inch stem, with one oval leaf, the fairy slipper flower looks just as it sounds, like the ballet slipper of a small woodland nymph. The pink flowers flare out at the top with a mottled, fuzzy lip dipping below. A locally common favorite forest flower—look for it blooming in April.
Fun Facts:
Do not pick! A very sensitive species it is threatened or endangered in several U.S. states. Dependent on a mycorrhizal relationship with a fungus, it does not transplant well.
Fairy slippers are deceptive little orchids. They attract pollinators (like bumblebees) but do not reward them with any nectar. Known as pollination by deception, it is not surprising that visiting insects learn to avoid the flower over time.
Tall Oregon Grape (Berberis nervosa)
Tall Oregon-grape is an evergreen shrub that enjoys the sunny parts of the forest—preferring open woodlands or shrublands. A 3 ft to 5 ft tall shrub with holly-like leaves that alternate from the stem. The leaves are pinnately compound, with spiny leaflets that sit opposite each other from the central vein. But this blog is about flowers! Bright yellow, dense clusters (raceme) of flowers bloom in April and are a favorite among pollinators.
Fun Facts:
Tall Oregon grape was designated our state flower in 1899.
The fruits of the Oregon grape are edible but bitter. I do not recommend them for a trailside snack.
