Mystery Flora + Cryptopod Double-Header: The Sweetest Little Things

Even the desert blooms in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, of course, all sorts of deserts bloom. The ones I grew up in did, but it was only for a few weeks. Here, you can find flowers just about any time, even in dry country. May is a great time to find yourself some blooms everywhere, because about twelve trillion plants have just gotten some nice spring rains and are feeling pretty perky. You also get baby insects, so sometimes you end up with wee bugs on wee blooms and it’s completely adorable.

When B and I visited Dry Falls, we walked a little ways out into the desert along the rim, and found an abundance of flowers. These little purplish-pink sprays were everywhere.

Image shows three pink stems growing along the rocky ground. Bell-shaped flowers with flaring pointed ends are clustered at the ends of the stems.
Mystery Flora I

They seemed to like stretching out just above the ground. A lot of things in this area stay low down so they can conserve water and not get whammed by the wind.

While B entertained himself along the rim (staying well back, never fear), I busied myself getting you all some good photos of these lovely little things.

Top view of one of the loose clusters, showing open blooms around the edges and buds in the middle.
Mystery Flora II

They’d make wonderful pixie skirts, wouldn’t they? I can’t look at things like this without remembering childhood fantasy stories. One of the girls in one of the FLDS memoirs I read actually used to make stick dolls and dress them in flowers. I could see doing that with these!

A close-up of one of the flowers, showing how the pointed petals sweep away in elegant curves from the base of the flower.
Mystery Flora III

How fantastic is that? Let’s have one more wonderful cluster here.

Image shows a side-view of a cluster that is almost fully in bloom.
Mystery Flora IV

B and I talked about maybe living out in the Grand Coulee area for a time whilst exploring eastern Washington and its surroundings. I would be absolutely delighted to have a yard full of these in the spring.

Now, go back to the top, and look at our first photo. You might spy with your little eye a very tiny

Image shows a very small gray grasshopper clinging to one of the blooms.
Cryptopod I

D’aw!

I rarely get to see grasshoppers so tiny. This one was less than an inch long. Those flowers are really small! You’ll see what size they are in relation to my skinny little hands here in a minute.

First, though, we’re going to enjoy our totes adorbs grasshopper.

Image is zoomed out to show the full cluster and the clinging grasshopper.
Cryptopod II

The cute, it burns! And it was a completely mellow little fellow – I had to put my hand behind it to show the camera what to focus on, and it was all like, “Sure, okay, I’ll just hang right here and let you do your thing.” Most grasshoppers I know are more skittish than that.

Here is my hand for scale:

Image shows my hand beside a cluster of the flowers. The individual flowers are smaller than my fingernails. The cluster is about as wide as three of my fingers together, about two and a half inches.
Mystery Flora and mah hand.

As you can see, my camera was confused by all the pinks and purples and the bright light, and also, this was a shot I took on a whim, as I was scrambling to catch up with B. But I’d realized y’all would probably need something for scale. Someday, this will become habit, I swear.

There ye are, the first of many May flowers we got to see in the Scablands, and the cutest grasshopper ever. I’m fully confident someone here can track down what they are. Enjoy!

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Mystery Flora + Cryptopod Double-Header: The Sweetest Little Things
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4 thoughts on “Mystery Flora + Cryptopod Double-Header: The Sweetest Little Things

  1. rq
    1

    Hooker’s Onion? I almost went the bluebells route, but I got fooled last time with that.
    So Allium it is. :)
    Scroll down this page for more flowers in your area (includes Mt Adams in the distance!), and it has a picture of a taper-tip onion, but that one’s a bit too… tapered, as it were, for the one in your pictures.

    Also, very very cute grasshopper. I like how they always look like they’re in armour (this one’s in full camo!). And boy, can they jump! *SPROING* Can’t do much with the ID, though – possibly a wrinkled grasshopper, though a juvenile (adults are more than an inch). But my confidence level on that is pretty low.

  2. 3

    I don’t know one grasshopper from another but I agree it’s probably a juvenile — the wings don’t look fully developed. Grasshoppers, IIRC, don’t go through a metamorphosis; the nymphs hatch out as tiny replicas of the adults.

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