Botany Challenge 49
Botany Challenge 49 participants. Photo by R.L. DeVelice.
The Falls Creek Trail stays within about 500 feet east of the creek.
Falls Creek Trail, Chugach State Park, Alaska
By Robert L. DeVelice
The Falls Creek area is immensely beautiful and includes verdant forests, species rich shrublands, and a lively stream. The trailhead is about 20 miles east of Anchorage on the Seward Highway.
On the evening of June 13, 2013, “Botany Challenge 49” was held. The hiking group sought to identify 49 species of native plants (Alaska being the 49th state) and to note the phenological state of each (vegetative, flowering, fruiting). There were eleven participants (9 people and 2 dogs) in the botany challenge event, which extended from sea level to about 1,200 feet elevation along the Falls Creek Trail in Chugach State Park.
- Guide to Fall Creek Trail in Chugach State Park (PDF, 1.9 MB)
The outing was educational, a lot of fun, and successful in documenting 50 native plant species (one bonus species over 49) within the two hour duration of the outing! If we had made it to the alpine tundra at about the 2,000 foot elevation we probably would have added another 40 species to our list. Something for a future outing!
Bunchberry and a bit of yarrow and common horsetail. Photo by Carol Howe.
Among the Sitka alder along Falls Creek. Photo by Carol Howe.
The following are the 50 plant species we identified.
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Betula kenaica | Kenai birch |
| Picea X lutzii | Lutz spruce |
| Populus trichocarpa | black cottonwood |
| Salix scouleriana | Scouler willow |
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Alnus crispa ssp. sinuata | Sitka alder |
| Amelanchier alnifolia | serviceberry |
| Echinopanax horridum | devil's club |
| Menziesia ferruginea | rusty menziesia |
| Ribes laxiflorum | trailing black current |
| Ribes triste | northern red current |
| Rosa acicularis | prickly rose |
| Rubus idaeus | raspberry |
| Sambucus racemosa | elderberry |
| Shepherdia canadensis | buffaloberry |
| Sorbus scopulina | western mountain-ash |
| Viburnum edule | highbush cranberry |
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Achillea borealis | yarrow |
| Aconitum delphiniifolium | monkshood |
| Actaea rubra | baneberry |
| Aquilegia formosa | western columbine |
| Arabis lyrata | lyreleaved rockcress |
| Aruncus sylvester | goatsbeard |
| Aster sibiricus | Siberian aster |
| Cornus canadensis | bunchberry |
| Epilobium angustifolium | tall fireweed |
| Galium triflorum | fragrant bedstraw |
| Geranium erianthum | northern geranium |
| Geum macrophyllum | large-leaf avens |
| Heracleum lanatum | cow parsnip |
| Heuchera glabra | alpine heuchera |
| Lathyrus maritimus | beach pea |
| Moehringia lateriflora | grove sandwort |
| Osmorhiza purpurea | Sitka sweet-cicely |
| Prenanthes alata | rattlesnake root |
| Pyrola asarifolia | liverleaf wintergreen |
| Pyrola secunda | one-sided wintergreen |
| Smilacina stellata | false Solomon's-seal |
| Streptopus amplexifolius | twistedstalk |
| Trientalis europaea | starflower |
| Urtica lyallii | stinging nettle |
| Viola sp. | violet |
| Zigadenus elegans | death camas |
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Calamagrostis canadensis | bluejoint reedgrass |
| Carex sp. | sedge |
| Carex deweyana | Dewey sedge |
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| Athyrium filix-femina | lady fern |
| Dryopteris dilatata | wood fern |
| Equisetum arvense | common horsetail |
| Equisetum pratense | meadow horsetail |
| Gymnocarpium dryopteris | oak fern |
For More Information
Robert L. DeVelice Vegetation Ecologist USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest 161 East 1st Avenue, Door 8 Anchorage, AK 99501-1639 Email: rdevelice@fs.fed.us Telephone: (907) 743-9437