Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: Portland/Vancouver. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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All that greenery is composed of thousands of plant species inhabiting dozens of different environments. Professional botanists recognize a wide range of plant communities throughout our area. The average hiker, however, won’t notice most of these because the same species are predominant throughout the region. Once you learn to recognize these relatively few species, you are well on your way to feeling like an expert and getting more enjoyment from your travels.

Bunchberry blossoms

As all of us umbrella-toting Portlanders already know, we live in a virtual rain forest. That forest is made up of a canopy of big trees with several layers of understory species.

Douglas fir is by far the most abundant species on the forest’s top floor. Point at any random conifer on most of the trails in this book and there is roughly a 75 percent chance that the tree is a Douglas fir. At lower elevations the second most common species is the western hemlock, a beautiful evergreen with tiny needles and drooping limbs. At the highest elevations of the Cascade Mountains, the hemlock family banner is taken up by a close relative, the mountain hemlock. A similar thing happens with cedars. At lower elevations look for western red cedar, while in the high country Alaska yellow cedar takes over. With the true firs you should recognize grand fir down low, Pacific silver fir and noble fir at mid-elevations, and subalpine fir up high. Other evergreen species of note include Engelmann spruce, western white pine, and lodgepole pine.