Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria camschatcensis)
We came to Juneau expecting rain. The weather for the last few weeks has been rain for about six days out of every seven. We woke up this morning to a clear, blue sky. After breakfast, we headed out with Brian, Lisa, and the dogs to the airport flats. This is the delta of the Mendenhall River, which has basically silted up most of the channel separating Douglas Island from the mainland. There is still a small channel that’s still got water in it, even at low tide, although an annual ‘Mud Run’ crosses the channel, so it’s not terribly deep. The flats are a good place to walk the dogs and we enjoyed being out. I got a nice photo of a savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) and we saw lots of lupine as well as many chocolate lilies (Fritillaria camschatcensis). They are pretty, in a brown sort of way, although I can’t recommend their fragrance, in particular. They are native to eastern Asia, Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia and the far northwestern contiguous United States.