A summer star

Swertia perennis, August 7, 2020

Common & scientific name
Star gentian, Swertia perennis

Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae

Location
Tabor Creek, 11,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
After the oh-so-different green gentian, which grows 3-6’ tall and blooms midsummer, this is often the first purple gentian to bloom, and marks the beginning of the end of wildflower season.  Always found in wet meadows, star gentian, with its soft-purple coloring and pointed petals, can be found as a singular treat or in the company of dozens.  It is a poignant reminder of the nearing end of summer—enjoy it fully!

S. perennis, August 24, 2020

Bee kind

Melilotus officinalis, July 30, 2020

Common & scientific name
Yellow sweetclover, Melilotus officinalis

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Roadside up to 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yes, this is the same yellow-flowered plant you see growing 3 feet high by the side of the road seemingly everywhere.  It stabilizes soil, fixes nitrogen, doesn’t mind roadsides or other disturbed places, and is loved by bees.  These are its positive traits.  It is also, as you can tell by its abundance, invasive and can potentially crowd out (or at least hide) native species.  Thankfully I have not seen it creep up or downslope beyond roadside, where the bees have plenty to choose from!

Lupine at last!

Lupinus parviflorus, July 30, 2020

Common & scientific name
Lodgepole lupine, Lupinus parviflorus

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Independence ghost town, 10,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
I kind of can’t believe I’m just writing about lupine now, at the end of July, after it’s been abundant throughout the Roaring  Fork Valley for months.  I probably just haven’t been in the right place at the right time, but this is honestly the first lupine I’ve seen this year, roadside, across from the ghost town.  Lodgepole lupine (hey—it was right below the lodgepole plantation!) has a narrow, densely-packed spike of small purple flowers, and skinny leaves that curl in on each other and are smooth on top and hairy (straight and appressed) on the back.  

Telltale turions

Epilobium hornemannii, July 30, 2020

Common & scientific name
Hornemann’s and Rocky Mountain willowherb, Epilobium hornemannii & saximontanum

Family
Evening primrose, Onagraceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Willowherbs are notoriously difficult to identify, as they often interbreed, are individually variable, and just plain look alike.  The only way I could be certain that the two plants in this post were distinct was by uprooting them and checking for turions, little fleshy bulbs attached to the base of the stem.  Rocky Mountain willowherb has them, Hornemann’s doesn’t.  I have only done this once (sacrificed these willowherbs for ID purposes), and won’t again.  Narrowing it down to “willowherb” is close enough!

E. saximontanum, July 30, 2020

The end is nigh . . .

Heliomerus multiflora, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Showy goldeneye, Heliomeris multiflora

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Grows from the foothills to the subalpine, and is most often seen roadside on the lower portion of Independence Pass.  The penultimate sunflower (“helios” means “sun”), it is a favorite of bees, both sweat and bumble.  It is considered a late summer flower—and is blooming in July!  (Hint: don’t wait to see the flower show this summer—it will end early.)

Name this flower and win!

Senecio/Ligularia pudica (maybe), July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Skinny little ragwort, Senecio/Ligularia pudica (?)

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
I cannot find this flower ANYWHERE except, potentially, Weber and Wittmann’s Colorado Flora, Western Slope, Third Edition, the single most authoritative treatment of Colorado flowering plants.  Because Bill and Ron don’t stoop to photos, or common names, I’m unsure of my ID, and have chosen to name it, in the absence of contrary (or any other) information, "Skinny little ragwort.”

Greenland's national flower

Chamerion latifolium, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Dwarf fireweed, Chamerion latifolium

Family
Evening primrose, Onagraceae

Location
Grottos, 9,700

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Smaller plant and larger flowers than its close cousin, Chamerion angustifolium, and won’t be found roadside but rather creekside.  It is the national flower of Greenland: good choice, Greenland!

Doh! (Descurainia duo)

Descurainia incisa, July 28, 2020

Descurainia incana, July 30, 2020

Common & scientific name
Mountain tansymustard, Descurainia incisa & D. incana

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,600

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Tansymustards try the patience of even the most careful botanists.  They are all gangly, weedy-looking, tiny-yellow-flowered plants (leading to difficulty caring too much) that not only look alike but vary so much within their own species that you can’t count on certain attributes to distinguish them.  As Flora of North America says about D. incisa:

“Plants glandular or eglandular, not canescent. Basal leaves: lateral lobes (3-)5-9 pairs, margins usually coarsely dentate to incised, rarely crenate or pinnatifid. Cauline leaves: lobes oblong to lanceolate, margins dentate to denticulate. Racemes glandular or eglandular. Fruiting pedicels ascending to divaricate, (3-)5-10(-12) mm. Fruits straight or curved inward.”

Clear as mud?  So I’m calling the first photo Descurainia incisa, but honestly, your guess is as good as mine!

As for the second, I’m going with D. incana owing to its closely appressed siliques (the seed pods are resting tight up against the stem).

Bad (maybe the worst) thistle

Cirsium arvense, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Talk about a scourge!  Canada thistle is an A-1 noxious weed that will grow anywhere, including sadly on Indy Pass where it’s wet.  Canada thistle was accidentally introduced to North America in the 1600s, and has since been designated a noxious weed in almost every state in the country.  It can form dense stands that shade out and displace our beautiful native plants, changing the plant community structure and species composition and reducing biodiversity.  It spreads rapidly and is extremely difficult to remove.

I wish I could tell you to pull it when you see it, but pulling makes it come back twice as hardy.  Gah!!!

On the straight and narrow

Senecio serra, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Tall ragwort, Senecio serra

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Weller aspen grove, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Senecio serra’s long, narrow, serrated leaves distinguish it from the equally tall Senecio triangularis, whose leaves, you guessed it, are more triangle-shaped and have bigger teeth.  The latter seems also to require more water, and is often seen in the company of bluebells, larkspur, and monkshood.

A bit of a stiff

Symphyotrichum ascendens, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Western aster, Symphyotrichum ascendens

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Another common roadside aster, it grows tall and in abundance in late summer.  It can be distinguished from purple daisies, Erigerons, by its wider ray florets (petals), and from other purple asters by its several rows of overlapping, shingle-like, dark-green phyllaries that curl outward.  Owing to its hairiness and stiffness, it has a bit of a coarse look and feel.

The nerve (times three)

Solidago velutina, July 28, 2020

S. veluntina, August 4, 2020

Common & scientific name
Threenerve goldenrod, Solidago velutina

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As its name suggests, this Solidago’s leaves have three prominent veins, helping distinguish it from other goldenrods.  This plant grows primarily lower down and roadside on the Pass, brightening the drive with splashes of abundant color from its hundreds of flowers heads in late summer. 

Wet woods dweller

Pyrola asarifolia, July 28, 2020

Common & scientific name
Pink pyrola or wintergreen, Pyrola asarifolia

Family
Wintergreen, Pyrolaceae

Location
Grottos, 9,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Grows in wetter forests or shaded meadows, and owing to its color and shape can’t easily be confused with other wintergreens.  Look for it when it starts to go to seed—it looks like an elephanthead!

Another lousy wort

Pedicularis bracteosa, July 23, 2020

Common & scientific name
Bracted lousewort, Pedicularis bracteosa

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man, 12,400

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Smaller than towering lousewort, Pedicularis procera, but bigger than all the other Pedicularis species, this is commonly found in wetter meadows and forests from the montane to the alpine.  It has the typical fern/ladder-like leaves of the genus, this one with a spike of yellow flowers that begin growing from the bottom up. 

Viviparous, indeed!

Bistorta vivipara, August 7, 2020

Common & scientific name
Alpine bistort, Bistorta vivipara

Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location
Tabor Creek , 12,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
"Vivipara" is Latin for "brings forth alive.” A viviparous plant reproduces from buds that form plantlets while still attached to the parent plant.  In the case of Bistorta vivipara, little red bulblets (that can be seen on the left side of the plant in the photo) are produced below and next to its small, white flowers. 

Pygmy buttercup

Ranunculus pygmaeus, July 23, 2020

Common & scientific name
Pygmy buttercup, Ranunculus pygmaeus

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man, 12,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Standing just a few inches tall, usually tucked up against a wet rock or cliff area for protection, this tiny buttercup is always a treat to find!  Its palmate, wider-than-tall leaves, with a single middle lobe and double side lobes, are diagnostic, as is its small size. 

Fuzzy wuzzy #2

Erigeron elatior, July 23, 2020

Common & scientific name
Tall fleabane, Erigeron elatior

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Upper Lost Man trailhead, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Despite its common name, what sets this daisy apart is its extremely fuzzy, purple phyllaries.  Can be found in subalpine aspen forests and wet alpine areas.  

Beautiful and delicious

Oxyria digyna, June 30, 2020

Common & scientific name
Mountain sorrel, Oxyria digyna

Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location
Grizzly Lake & Upper Lost Man, 12,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Heart-shaped leaves and red and green flowers then seeds make this charming alpine plant unmistakeable.  The leaves are edible and have been enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike millennia.

O. digyna, July 23, 2020

Terrestrial dolphins

Delphinium barbeyi, July 23, 2020

Common & scientific name
Subalpine larkspur, Delphinium barbeyi

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man, 11,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A giant of the subalpine, look for it growing over six feet tall near monkshood, bluebells, cow parsnip, and triangle-leaved senecio.  “Delphinium” is from the Latin “delphinus” meaning dolphin.  With a little imagination its spike of purple flowers looks like a pod of swimming dolphins. 

Making the mountains whole

Solidago multiradiata, July 22, 2020

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain goldenrod, Solidago multiradiata

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lost Man trailhead, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This common, late-summer flower can be distinguished from its cousin, Solidago simplex, by the short, fine hairs on the edges of its lower leaf petioles (stems).  A loop or microscope may be needed to see them.  

From Wikipedia:  “The name solidago means "to make whole." Goldenrod has also been used to treat tuberculosis, diabetes, enlargement of the liver, gout, hemorrhoids, internal bleeding, asthma, and arthritis.”  With what kind of success, I’m not sure . . . .