Good thistle

Cirsium scopulorum, September 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain thistle, Cirsium scopulorum

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Mt. Hope, 12,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
These dramatic, 3-D, drooping native thistles (yes—not all thistles are “bad” non-natives!) have thorny edged leaves and flowers (disk florets only) cushioned by a downy mass of fine hair.  You can be assured it’s a native species because you will never see it taking over a mountainside—it grows in balance with and amongst our several hundred other subalpine and alpine species of plants, and is loved by pollinators.

Groundsmoke!

Gayophytum diffusum, September 13, 2021

Common & scientific name
Spreading groundsmoke, Gayophytum diffusum

Family
Evening primrose, Onograceae

Location
Lincoln Gulch, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This spindly, much-branching plant stands up to a foot or so high, has thin, red stems and tiny, four-petaled white flowers. Easy to miss among other plants!

What's up, doc?

Ericameria parryi, September 13, 2021

Common & scientific name
Parry’s rabbitbrush, Ericameria parryi

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lincoln Gulch, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This fragrant, late-blooming, disc-flowers-only plant has a fine covering of white felt on its stem, differentiating it from snakeweeds, goldenrods, and rabbitbrushes in the Chrysothamnus family. It is uncommon on the Pass, usually growing at lower elevations in dryer climes.

Ah-choo!

Hymenoxis hoopesii, August 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Sneezeweed, Hymenoxis hoopesii

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This funky flower is always a surprise: in its characteristically droopy, bedraggled petals (ray florets), its orange-ish color, its tall stature, and its ability to grow at myriad elevations and times of year, like this plant which didn’t emerge until mid-late August.

Apparently its common name comes from the historic use of the crushed, dried leaves and flower heads to make a snuff that caused sneezing.  In any event, how can you not love a flower named “sneezeweed!”

#1 scourge, delightful as it is

Linaria vulgaris, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Yellow toadflax,  Linaria vulgaris

Family
Plantain, Plantaginaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yet another late-blooming invasive, yellow toadflax, aka butter-n-eggs, can take over vast meadows, up to 12,000’ in elevation, if not kept under control. Its extensive and deep underground root system make it largely impossible to pull. Chemical treatment or dogged year after year pulling before it blooms are ways to eradicate or at least keep it under control. There are approximately 7 patches of toadflax on the Pass, all roadside thus far. Many wilderness and other areas like Marble are not so lucky.

Pulling me softly

Matricaria perforata, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Scentless chamomile,  Matricaria perforata

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The best thing that can be said about this non-native, non-odorous weed is that it pulls easier than any other.

Smooth operator

Symphyotrichum laeve, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Smooth aster, Symphyotrichum laeve

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Another common, late-summer, roadside aster, distinguishable from S. ascendens by its more numerous and same-length stem leaves, bluish-green and hairless.

A bit of a stiff

Symphyotrichum ascendens, August 17, 2021

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.

A world beater

Medicago sativa, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alfalfa, Medicago sativa

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Roadside, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A quick history of this common roadside, and agriculturally cultivated, plant: 

“Alfalfa originated in southwestern Asia, was first cultivated in Iran, and now has a worldwide distribution due to its popularity as an agricultural species.  It was introduced into the United States in 1736 in Georgia, but it was not until around 1850 that it began to be more widely planted.  It is planted in all 50 states and is widely planted in Canada.  It is naturalized in many areas.”

USFS, FEIS website

Next round of daisies

Erigeron divergens, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Spreading fleabane or daisy, Erigeron divergens

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A densely hairy, late-blooming, highly-branching (hence the name) Erigeron seen low and late on the Pass. Its stem leaves are characteristically almost clasping the stem. Lots and lots of flowers, replacing its earlier-blooming cousin, Erigeron flagellaris.

E. divergens, August 17, 2021

Grin and bear it

Ligusticum tenuifolium, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Slender-leaf lovage, Ligusticum tenuifolium

Family
Parsley, Apiaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This plant is smaller and found in wetter places than its more common cousin, Ligusticum porteri, Porter’s lovage, also known as Osha. Osha is famous for its medicinal properties, as taught to Native Americans by grizzlies.

L. tenuifolium leaves

Twisted, in the best way

Streptopus amplexifolius in fruit, August 14, 2021

Close-up of stalk, August 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Twisted stalk, Streptopus amplexifolius

Family
Lily, Liliaceae

Location
Weller Lake, elevation 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our most delightful flowers, and while I missed it in bloom this year, I caught it at its arguably more charming stage, in fruit. Its berries, red or orange, hang from decidedly kinked stalks underneath their elegant, lily-like leaves. They are found in shaded, moist places, like lake inlets. There is some disagreement as to whether the berries are edible or not. Their twisted stalks feel too precious to break, anyway!

Black, bristly, and delicious

Ribes laxiflorum in fruit, August 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Colorado currant, Ribes laxiflorum

Family
Currant, Grossulariaceae

Location
Weller Lake, elevation 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The Ribes genus is native to western North America.  R. laxiflorim’s edible berries are black, with bristly, glandular hairs, but, believe it or not, they are delicious!

Maybe the worst thistle

Cirsium arvense, August 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Weller Lake, 9,800’

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!!!

Not afraid of the dark

Goodyera oblongifolia, August 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera oblongifolia

Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae

Location
Weller Lake Trail, 9,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A common forest orchid in our area, one of the few species of wildflowers (along with several other orchids and heaths) that is able to thrive in the limited sunshine and acidic soils of our lodgepole and spruce-fir forests. Its leaves have a distinctly wide, white vein down the middle.

The nerve! (all three of them)

Solidago velutina, August 11, 2021

Common & scientific name
Three-nerve goldenrod, Solidago velutina

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A common, late-blooming goldenrod seen roadside on the lower part of Independence Pass, its many flowers sit on one side of the stems, which arch gracefully. It is named for the three distinct nerves that run from the base of its leaves to almost the tip.

An invader in our midst

Centaurea stoebe, August 11, 2021

Common & scientific name
Spotted knapweed, Centaurea stoebe

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Spotted knapweed is native to eastern Europe, and was introduced to North America, “probably as a contaminant in alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seed and/or ship's ballast, in the late 1800s,” according to the US Forest Service. In 1920, the distribution of spotted knapweed in North America was limited to the San Juan Islands, but by 1998 it had spread to 326 counties in the western United States, including every county in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It is now on the march in Colorado. Ackerman’s Flora of Colorado does not document it in Pitkin County, but here it is.

What are you doing at 11,500'?

Capsella bursa-pastoris, August 10, 2021

Common & scientific name
Shepherd’s purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man berm, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Named for its siliques (seed pods), which are shaped like the purses used by European sheepherders, including the Basques who ran sheep in the Roaring Fork Valley in the early 1900s. It is a non-native species, and usually grows below 10,000’—never underestimate an invasive species combined with climate change!

Another tall, serrated yellow fellow

Senecio serra, August 10, 2021

Common & scientific name
Tall ragwort, Senecio serra

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Weller, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Could be confused with Senecio triangularis, but its edges are much more finely serrated, its leaves aren’t widest at the base (creating a “triangle” shape in S. triangularis), and its much less common on the Pass than S. triangularis. It also doesn’t need as much water as the other, and grows mostly in the montane zone.

Pineapple, anyone?

Matricaria discoides, August 10, 2021

Common & scientific name
Pineapple weed, Matricaria discoides

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A new non-native makes its appearance near the CDOT dump site and horse outfitters (along with, it must be admitted, IPF’s tool shop). It DOES give off a nice pineapple scent when crushed. This rayless flower is impossible to confuse with any other, and is a (blessedly) rare sight on the Pass.