Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • Poison oak in full flower outside of Medford, Oregon. While it is an important food source to several species of deer and squirrels, the slightest casual contact with leaves and flowers and the urushiol oil found within the plant can cause mild to severe reactions in humans in the form of blistered skin, swelling of limbs, seeping wounds and severe itching. Symptoms can become worse with proximity to the smoke of burning poison oak.
    Poison Oak in Bloom
  • Perhaps the most common and recognizable native hardwood tree in the Pacific Northwest, the bigleaf maple is the largest maple in the area, and the leaves are a prized food source for deer and elk. Pictured here are the winged seeds so commonly and widely recognized by most people. Called samaras, these twin seeds when dried and mature, will split and "whirlybird"  down to the forest floor, and with any luck will sprout. This one was found growing near the edge of Deep Lake, near Enumclaw, WA.
    Bigleaf Maple with Samaras (Seedpods)
  • One of my favorite trees to photograph at high elevations in the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest in the fall, the vine maple in the springtime is equally gorgeous with new leaves and flowers. This one was photographed by Gold Creek Pond high atop Washington's Snoqualmie pass on a late June afternoon.
    Vine Maple Flowers
  • The skunkbush sumac is a very attractive shrub found in all of the states west of the Mississippi River excluding Minnesota, Missouri and Louisiana and can be found in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and much of Northern Mexico. When crushed, the leaves emit a strong, unpleasant odor (hence the common name) but the sticky, edible fruit have a sharp, lime-like taste. These berries were found growing in rural Socorro County, about an hour south of Albuquerque, New Mexico on a chilly spring morning.
    Skunkbush Sumac
  • New vine maples leaves in the late afternoon sunlight at the top of the Cascade Mountains in Washington's Snoqualmie Pass.
    Vine Maple Leaves
  • This cluster of flower buds will soon open into a small spray of tiny yellow flowers, that will by next winter become a head of bright red berries. Just by the sheer number of sumac shrubs that can be found like this one just west of Yakima in Cowiche Canyon, crowded together on both sides of the creek that flows through it - it is a veritable feast for all the animals living in the area and will keep them all fed throughout the long winter.
    Smooth Sumac
  • Smooth sumac spreads rapidly once the first plant becomes established in an area. This native member of the cashew family produces very beautiful bright green leaves in the spring that turn to bright scarlet in the winter. Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest traditionally smoked these dried leaves for medicinal uses, such as treating ulcers.
    Smooth Sumac
  • A close relative of poison ivy, smooth sumac is a very widespread shrub across nearly all of North America (excluding the Arctic and Maritime provinces of Canada) that grows in a wide variety of habitats. The bright red berries (as seen here) follow nondescript green flowers and are not only edible, but provide a bountiful harvest for all kinds of wildlife. One thing particularly beautiful about this native plant are the alternate compound leaves that turn a bright waxy red in the fall.
    Smooth Sumac Berries
  • New vine maples leaves in the soft afternoon sunlight at the top of the Cascade Mountains in Washington's Snoqualmie Pass.
    Vine Maple Leaves
  • The familiar winged seedpods (or samaras) of the bigleaf maple, ripened and dries, ready to split and helicopter off into the wind. Unlike other maples, the fuzzy coating covering the main part of the seed is actually quite spiky and burr-like. I found that out the hard way. This one was photographed in the riparian forest near the Nisqually River Delta near Olympia, WA.
    Bigleaf Maple Samaras
  • Like any member of the maple family, the winged seeds of the vine maple develop in pairs, which will dry, split, and "helicopter" to the ground on the wind where some of them will take root as part of the next generation. These seeds were photographed on Larch Mountain in Northern Oregon.
    Vine Maple Seeds
  • Poison oak in full flower outside of Medford, Oregon. While it is an important food source to several species of deer and squirrels, the slightest casual contact with leaves and flowers and the urushiol oil found within the plant can cause mild to severe reactions in humans in the form of blistered skin, swelling of limbs, seeping wounds and severe itching. Symptoms can become worse with proximity to the smoke of burning poison oak.
    Poison Oak
  • This is how it all starts: tiny bright yellow-green flowers show before even the first hint of leaves in the massive bigleaf maples. As the spring progresses into summer, the seed pods begin to form, and as fall approaches, we see the first of the falling "whirlie-birds" we all know and love!
    Bigleaf Maple Flower Bud
  • A vine maple in gorgeous contrast against a conifer and rocky wall at low elevation on Mount Rainier's northern slope. Nothing like nature photography for color on a rainy, cold, autumn day!
    Autumn Red Vine Maple