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Welcome to the Natural Coalescence Blog
Here you will find botanical tales and planty fun of all kinds with botany nerding and ecology through a entertaining lens.


Stop and Smell the Irises: Does iris flower scent match their colors?
Irises aren't just in all the colors of the rainbow, they seem to also be every scent of the cornucopia- a nose rainbow. But do their colors match their smell? Sniff for yourself and read all about them.
7 min read
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Novel Melon Time
Summer time means melons. All sorts of melons these days, not just the classic "water" so many of us ate and spat from the patio on a...
3 min read
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Red Belted Conk: Cool PNW Medicinal Mushroom
medical traits and ID of wild shelf mushroom red belted conk (Fomitopsis pinicola)
3 min read
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Wet* Hot Wild Berry Summer in the PNW:
*(sweaty, even while standing still because… heat domes & such) It’s a berry Pacific Northwest kind of life in summer time here. The sun...
13 min read
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Black Locust Flower- Pancakes Plague?
I will never forget being puzzled by a large tree, trying to ID it during a plant monitoring project but the leaves were all too high up...
5 min read
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Random Roots to Weed-Out & EAT
What's the best way to get rid of weeds? Eat them, of course! And we are hitting prime dandelion season, so it's time to get digging. ...
7 min read
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My 'Currant' Vodka Infusion
There are dozens of flavors for vodkas on the liquor shelves, some fruity, some floral. As delightful as a toasted marshmallow vodka can...
6 min read
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Tale of Three Junipers and a Gin
Junipers are not the trees you think of associated with the drizzly Pacific Northwest. But they are old friends from home in the much...
13 min read
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Cottonwood: Cuddly, But Sticky
Cottonwood trees (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa, P. deltoides and B. fremontii) have a love-hate relationship with people. Some...
9 min read
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Why I can’t stop smelling this bush
On a trip to southern California, I was so pleasantly surprised to find myself among the silvery scent-sational low shrubs I recall from...
4 min read
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Peeking at Beaked Hazelnut – wild filberts
Roast them by an open campfire, if you can find them. Or stick to chestnuts. I challenge you to roast pine nuts though. So small. Not...
6 min read
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Acorn-y Take on Pancakes
Acorns aren’t just for squirrels. Or jays. Or bears. They take some work, but we too can chow down on them too. And they are very...
4 min read
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The Woman is a Tiger
tiger/Columbia lily- exotic looking lily native to various open areas in PNW from lowlands to alpine habitat.
3 min read
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Summer of Sumore S’mores:
Did you know the Girl Scouts “invented” the s’more? That’s a good claim to fame I think. I thought they were just about the cookies. ...
6 min read
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Liquid Gold Summer Taste Testing
Ever go a little overboard on unique edible items because you wanted to know how they all compared? I feel like that's a pretty good way...
5 min read
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