Very nice of you folks to comment on the photos, thank you. My wife and I are toiling away trying to photograph as many Saskatchewan forbs as we can, have about 400 species completed. A very fun hobby for us, lots of hiking outdoors, and when searching for rare plants it's rather like treasure hunting. But involves 1000s of km driving in the growing season, Saskatchewan is about the size of California + Oregon. For anyone reading this, would you care to comment on the inclusion of a ruler in the photographs. I think in general it's a good thing to get a sense of scale particularly for small plants. I got the idea to include a ruler from the photgraphic standards for the work-in-progress, Flora of Saskatchewan. I know the USDA states they do NOT want any ruler, coin, etc. included in photos donated for their image database: "Pictures with rulers (coins, knives, etc.) look artificial. We prefer natural-looking pictures since these are more versatile, and plant dimensions can be obtained from floras and other sources. If used, rulers should be limited to supplemental images such as those showing the size of a cone, rhizome, perigynia, or other plant part."

Yeah! Very cool. Never managed to find them in the wild before I left. Good find!

Symphyotrichum pilosum - Frost Aster?

Palafoxia callosa An annual that can self sow very well. http://w3.biosci.utexas.edu/prc/K12/pages/Palafoxia%20callosa.html