Thalictrum sparsiflorum, July 6, 2022
Common & scientific name
Few-flowered meadowrue, Thalictrum sparsiflorum
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Roadside, 9,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Unlike its more common cousin, Fendler’s meadowrue, Few-flowered’s flowers are perfect (both male and female), its leaves and overall size are smaller and more delicate, and it is much less common, preferring wet, protected areas like rivulets or seeping rock walls.
Stellaria longipes, July 6, 2022
Common & scientific name
Long-stalked starwort, Stellaria longipes
Family
Pink, Capryophyllaceae
Location
Lost Man, 10,900’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This oh-so-delicate wildflower, standing just a few inches tall on a hairless, slender stalk with widely-spaced, opposite, grass-like leaves, can be found throughout the subalpine and alpine but seems to favor rocky outcrops or meadows streamside. “Stellaria” means “star” and “longipes” means long-limbed. At last, an aptly named flower!
Sedum lanceolatum, July 6, 2022
S. lanceolatum, 11,500’, August 24, 2022
Common & scientific name
Yellow Stonecrop, Sedum lanceolatum
Family
Stonecrop, Crassulaceae
Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found from the bottom to the top of our valley on exposed, sunny places on rocks or gravelly soil, with yellow, star-like flowers, maroon stems, and succulent leaves. In the same family as King’s and Queen’s Crown.
Potentilla arguta, July 6, 2022
Common & scientific name
Tall cinquefoil, Potentilla arguta
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Roadside, 9,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
It’s white. Our only white potentilla, and therefore the easiest by far to identify! Now WHY it’s called “tall cinquefoil,” instead of “white,” remains to be answered!
Erigeron speciosus, July 5, 2022
Common & scientific name
Aspen fleabane/Showy fleabane , Erigeron speciosus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 8,600
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This red-stemmed, light lavender-to-purple daisy appears in large numbers throughout our area, usually in July. It can be found in montane meadows, roadsides, and to a lesser extent aspen groves—despite its name. According to a 1962 study at RMBL, Aspen fleabane was much more common (100% constancy and 5% average cover) in younger aspen woodlands with a Thurber’s fescue (grass) understory than in mature woodlands with a forb (wildflower)-dominated understory. In other words, it’s not the king of mature aspen groves. Maybe Showy fleabane’s a better fit!
Aconytum columbianum, July 5, 2022
Common & scientific name
Monkshood, Aconytum columbianum
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Upper Lost Man, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This large, water-loving plant is usually found packed in with other big boys like subalpine larkspur, triangle-leaved senecio, mountain bluebells, and willow, but its flowers will always distinguish it: miniature Darth Vader heads! Don’t let the summer go by without taking a moment to delight in nature’s quirky concoction.
Rubus idaeus, July 5, 2022
R. ideaus, in fruit, Weller, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
American red raspberry, Rubus idaeus
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Weller Curve, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The best place to find our delicious wild raspberries, which will bear fruit in August, is in disturbed places like roadside and below Shimer Peak (above Weller Lake), which burned in 1980.
According to a US Forest Service study, "American red raspberry allocates most of its energy to vegetative regeneration [as opposed to flowering and seed production] on recently disturbed sites with favorable growing conditions. With time, initially elevated nutrient levels decline, and shading increases. As growing conditions deteriorate, American red raspberry shifts its reproductive effort to the production of large numbers of seed.”
In other words, raspberry-eating time!
Veronica serpyllifolia, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Thymeleaf speedwell, Veronica serpyllifolia
Family
Figwort, Scrophulariaceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This small veronica with its tiny, intricate, four-petaled, blue-white flowers is easily lost amidst other water-loving plants and grasses but merits a closer look. Look for it stream or ditch-side. Its tiny, flat seeds can cling to the feathers of birds, fur of mammals, and shoes of humans, helping spread the seeds into new areas
Saxifraga rivularis, July 4, 2022
S. rivularis, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine brook saxifrage, Saxifraga rivularis
Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae
Location
Jack Creek area, 12,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This total jewel of a flower, also known as “pygmy saxifrage,” is almost always found tucked into wet caves and boulder-created crevasses. It stands just three inches high, is usually single-flowered, has adorably-lobed leaves, and is guaranteed to make your day. Never let rock gardens go unexplored: treasures await!
S. rivularis, above Linkins Lake, 12,800’, August 5, 2022
Corallorhiza maculata, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Spotted corralroot, Corallorhiza maculata
Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Like other members of its genus, this orchid has no chlorophyll, so it obtains its nutrients not from photosynthesis but through mycorrhizal fungi. It is found in our dry, spruce/fir woods. This nifty orchid must be viewed up close to be appreciated!
Saxifrage flagellaris, July 4, 2022
S. flagellaris, Geissler, 13,200’, July 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Whiplash saxifrage, Saxifraga flagellaris
Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae
Location
Near Scott Lake, 1,2,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Covered in sticky, red-tipped hairs, and sending red runners like wild strawberries across the tundra, this is a favorite alpine find that could be missed among the more common yellow alpine flowers (like Alpine avens or any number of Cinquefoils). Just one more reason to move VERY SLOWLY in the high alpine!
Agoseris glauca var. dasycephala, July 4, 2022
A. glauca var. dasycephala, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Pale agoseris, Agoseris glauca var. dasycephala
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Much taller than A. glauca, much fuzzier, much bigger head, and found only in the high subalpine or alpine. I love this big fuzz head!
Anticlea elegans, July 4, 2022
A. elegans, Linkins Lake Trail, 11,500’, July 5, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain death camas, Anticlea elegans
Family
False hellebore, Melanthiaceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Its name says it all: this lovely (former) member of the lily family is extremely poisonous, responsible for the death of early western settlers who mistook its bulbs for Alliums (wild onions) or other edibles.
A. elegans, Linkins Lake Trail 11,800’, July 19, 2022
Senecio crassulus, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Thickleaf ragwort, Senecio crassulus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This hairless Senecio has thick leaves (“crass” means “thick” in Latin) with sharp teeth at least on its stem flowers and a bulging involucre below the ray flowers. Its phyllaries are black-tipped. This is a common Senecio of subalpine & alpine meadows on the Pass.
Osmorhiza depauperata, July 4, 2022
O. depaurperata in fruit, Weller Trail, 9,500’, July 20, 2022
Common & scientific names
Blunt sweet cicely, Osmorhiza depauperata
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,900’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts
This delicate parsley (“depauperata” translates as “diminutive”) produces blunt-ended seed pods (hence its common name). Its leaves are delightfully licorice-scented.
Calypso bulbosa, July 4, 2022
C. bulbosa, July 4, 2022
Common & scientific name
Fairy slipper, Calypso bulbosa
Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae
Location
Jack Creek, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This (usually!) early-blooming, circumboreal orchid was named after the sea nymph Calypso of Homer’s Odyssey. Like Calypso, this delicate beauty prefers secluded forest haunts, where she brings delight to the observant hiker.
Draba ventosa, July 1, 2022
Common & scientific name
Wind River draba, Draba ventosa
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Twining, 13,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A rare alpine draba, standing an inch or two high, densely pubescent with many-forked hairs covering the stem and leaves (all basal). Weber describes the hairs as “stalked”: I would say short-stalked.
Draba crassa, July 1, 2022
D. crassa, Geissler, 13,200’, July 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Thickleaf draba, Draba crassa
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Twining, 13,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of many, difficult-to-distinguish alpine Drabas, this one has smooth, green, relatively large leaves and yellow flowers, with simple hairs only on the edges of the leaves. It likes to sequester itself among rocks and other plants for maximum protection from the elements. This photo shows how much mustard flowers—four petals, always—even of different genera look alike.
Claytonia megarhiza, July 1, 2022
C. megarhiza, July 1, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine springbeauty, Claytonia megarhiza
Family
Purslane, Portulaceae
Location
Twining, 13,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This totally unmistakeable plant can be found growing among rocks in the high alpine. Its white flowers, colored with yellow centers and pink anthers, are found squeezed tight within a round rosette of succulent leaves that are deep purple at emergence, turn green during bloom, then bright red after
C. megarhiza, above Linkins Lake, 12,800’, August 5, 2022
Rubus parviflorus, July 1, 2022
Common & scientific name
Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Weller, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This rather sad-looking bloom represents the last of the flowers, before it drops its petals and becomes a berry. And just as I denigrate the fruit of its cousin, Woods rose, as “mealy,” I am here to defend to the death the thimbleberry, often accused of same. When the berry of this lovely shrub is discretely chosen—it should be bright red, plump, and soft—it is hands down, in this writer’s opinion, our tastiest berry, a perfect blend of sweet and tart, and readily available trailside to boot: look for it in late July & early August.