Dagger Pod (Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides)

Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.

Named after its dagger-like seedpods, this plant’s range extends north to southeast Washington, east to western Idaho and south to northeastern California and western Nevada, but always east of the Cascades and Sierras.  We’ve seen the reddish flower stems sticking straight up like below, but more often they shoot out horizontally, forming a ring of pink balls around a cluster of furry olive-colored leaves.

Dalles Mountain Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2014.