Horsethief Butte, May 29, 2024
Horsethief Butte is part of Columbia Hills State Park in Washington, east of Dallesport. It is a favorite for rock climbers and rock explorers. It has a few petroglyphs that have been there for roughly 350 years. These are protected but are still being vandalized. I hiked around the front of the Butte, the highway side, and found many clustered broomrapes, which are what I was hoping to find. Interestingly, when I hiked around to the river side, there were no clustered broomrapes. But I did find quite a few flowers blooming: lots of yarrow, threadleaf fleabane, slender clarkias and lots of rabbit-foot clover. I didn’t get into the rocks due to my back issues, but it was a beautiful day on the dry side of the mountains.
Clustered Broomrape, an unusual plant that has no green parts, is parasitic, feeding off the root systems of other plants. This is a heterotrophic plant, getting its food from it’s host plant, in our area, usually artemisia plants such as sagebrush.
Horsethief Butte
Rabbit-foot Clover
Threadleaf Fleabane
Yarrow
Slender Clarkia
