Sunday, August 1, 2010

A Weekend Off and a New Flower

We took the weekend off from hiking for two reasons:  We are training for a metric century (100 km or 62 miles) bike ride that is happening in a couple of weeks and I strained a muscle in my calf, so I am giving it a chance to heal.  That doesn't mean we didn't get outside.  We did a 52 mile bike ride yesterday in western Montgomery County. It was a great ride.  The weather was perfect and we encountered very little traffic on most of the roads. 

Today, we went for a short walk in Rock Creek Park, where I saw a flower I had never seen before:  Mimulus alatus (Winged Monkey Flower).  M. alatus is a member of the Figwort family that blooms in late summer in damp places.  It is very similar to Mimulus ringens (Monkey Flower)M. alatus has leaves with short stalks, while M. ringens' leaves are stalkless.

We'll be back out there next weekend.


M. alatus in Rock Creek Park.

No comments:

Post a Comment