Natural History Photographs


After revisiting the Grand Prismatic Spring, we continued with another highlight of Yellowstone, the Lone star geyser. This is a cone geyser, which erupts roughly once every three hours, and eruptions last for roughly half an hour. While many geysers in Yellowstone occur in close proximity of each other, this one is somewhat isolated -hence its name-, and one has to walk for an hour or so along the Firehole River to get there. The advantage of this is twofold: I found various interesting plants during the one hour hike, and, importantly, it's much quieter here than at many other sites which have a parking lot closer by.

When we arrived at the Lone star geyser, we had to wait for quite some time for its eruption; this gave me the opportunity to quietly explore the area around the geyser. Among other plants, I found the Irish Lady's-tresses, a small-flowered orchid with its flowers arranged in spirals. This orchid seemed to grow especially in the runoff water from the geyser.


Anaphalis margaritacea
Authority:(L.) Benth. & Hook. f. 1873
Synonyms:Gnaphalium margaritaceum Linnaeus, 1753
Nederlands:Prachtrozenkransje
English:Pearly Everlasting
Deutsch:Perlkraut
Svenska:Pärleternell
Français:Anaphalis perlé
Italiano:sempreviva bianca
Pterospora andromedea
Authority:Nuttall, 1818
English:woodland pinedrops, Albany beechdrops, giant bird's nest

Mimulus moschatus
Authority:Douglas ex Lindl. 1828
Synonyms:Erythranthe moschata (Douglas ex Lindl.) G.L.Nesom, 2012
Nederlands:Muskusplantje
English:Musk
Deutsch:Moschus-Gauklerblume
Français:Mimule musqué
Italiano:mimolo, mimolo moscato
Español:almizcle
Spiranthes romanzoffiana
Authority:Cham., 1828
Nederlands:Groene schroeforchis
English:Irish Lady's-tresses
Hippuris vulgaris
Authority:Linnaeus, 1753
Nederlands:Lidsteng
English:common mare's-tail
Deutsch:gemeiner Tannenwedel, Seetanne
Norsk:hesterumpe
Svenska:hästsvans
Français:pesse commune, pesse d'eau, pesse vulgaire
Italiano:coda di cavallo acquatica
Español:caballo de ninfa, cola de anguila, cola de yegua, corregüela hembra,
pinillo de balsas

Lone Star Geyser eruption