Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Northern Groundcone

Boschniakia rossica

Description:

Beautiful and unique pink and yellow flowers that I find on trails occasionally. I often find these past their prime when they are brown and really look like pinecones.

Habitat:

On a mountain trail next to a river. They popped up right in the middle of the trail

Notes:

They are holoparasites, meaning they require a host to complete their life cycle. Groundcones specialize on Alders, but can parasitize off of other trees and shrubs such as on Birch, Willow, Blueberry, Spruce, and Leatherleaf shrub. I have seen all of these, except Leatherleaf shrub in Kodiak.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

6 Comments

Machi
Machi 7 years ago

Thank you for the nomination!

AshleyT
AshleyT 7 years ago

Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!

Yes they are parasitic on salal mainly, which is very common where I go hiking and birding. Salal is very hard to see under, but I have not given up yet!

Apparently a favourite food of Grizzly Bears!

Machi
Machi 7 years ago

Thanks Kathleen! Have you tried targeting where they might be by looking for forests with their host plants?

Nice spotting Machi! I have often looked for the related Vancouver Groundcone - Boschniakia hookeri- but never found it yet! My sister saw some on Vancouver Island.

Machi
Spotted by
Machi

Alaska, USA

Spotted on Jun 13, 2016
Submitted on Jul 26, 2016

Related Spottings

Vancouver Groundcone Vancouver ground cone Broomrape Northern Groundcone

Nearby Spottings

Least Sandpiper Wandering Fleabane Tall Green Bog Orchid Arctic Starflower
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team