Joys and Frustrations

I only recently discovered an awesome show on PBS called Outdoor Idaho. It's a half-hour segment that picks an area of Idaho to focus on. This week was Craters of the Moon. It was so AWESOME to see plants and butterflies that I recognized, especially when I knew what they were before the narrator or anyone else identified them. Larkspur. The black and white Admiral butterfly. Several others. However, one major moment of frustration when they showed that not-fern that I've seen in Hell's Half Acre without identifying it. Aaaaagghh. They did say that the needle-like leaves were an adapatation to conserve water, and that if you rubbed the leaves on your skin they acted as a natural insect repellant. If you've forgotten what it looks like, here are links to the pictures from last summer:

Pre-Blooming.
In Bloom.

And while I'm at it, I came across some yesterday as well:

A bit browner, and you can (fuzzily) see the remnants of last year's flowers.

ADDENDUM: There are some photos on the show's web-site. Not, unfortunately, of the plant I'm interested in.

RE-ADDENDUM: HA! I've got you now! I searched for "Craters of the Moon" plants on Google Image Search and here is the culprit! Chamaebatiaria millefolium. Wow. I think my picture is actually better than theirs. *shrugs* Okay, looking for information on the suspect... Seems to also be known as the "fernbush," which fits my initial confusion. Lots of pictures of it here, but not much info. And this abstract isn't really the kind of detail I was after... Now this one is interesting. It doesn't mention the asserted use as as insect repellent, which is what I was hoping to confirm. Ah well. Done for tonight.