Wisps of Smoke

 A few days ago, I noticed that a dry, exposed hillside above my house had taken on a new appearance. On closer inspection, I saw that the shrubs on the slope were covered with incredible whorled winged seeds. My naturalist neighbor informed me that this was mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus; Rosaceae), which gets its common name from the shrub's hard, dense wood. She said that the appearance of the whorled seeds was a sure sign that autumn had arrived on the mountain. A horticulture book I have (High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-Hardy Dryland Plants) says that the plumose seed-heads resemble wisps of smoke in the leaves.

Surely, the whorls help with dispersal.  However, I picked off one of the seeds and dropped it; it fell straight down.  I expected to see the seed spin like a maple samara back East. 

The mountain mahogany hillside on Mt. Moriah (shrubs in foreground)