Our best berry?

Rubus parviflorus, July 20, 2021

R. parviflorus, July 15, 2021

Common & scientific name
Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,300’

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.

How much trampling can a flower take?

Hieraceum albiflorum, July 15, 2021

Common & scientific name
White hawkweed, Hieraceum albiflorum

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Another dandelion-like flower (ray florets only), but white, rather spindly, and considered a “weedy” species in some places, as it readily recolonizes disturbed ground (e.g., post-fire or logging). On the Pass it occurs infrequently on dry, open soil.  

As a subject of the US Forest Service’s Fire Effects study, it was learned that “White hawkweed is susceptible to high levels of human trampling. A study from western Montana revealed that white hawkweed has low (<10% increase) resilience in terms of short- and long-term recovery of relative cover after being trampled. Its resistance is listed as moderate (200 to 400 passes/year required to reduce frequency). It can tolerate light (75 to 100 passes/year) trampling and still recover.” 

Please don’t trample the daisies!

How to wash a bear's mouth out with soap

Shepherdia canadensis, July 15, 2021

Common & scientific name
Canada buffaloberry or Soapberry, Shepherdia canadensis

Family
Oleaster, Elaeagnaceae

Location
Difficult Creek, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
I’m showing this plant in fruit, as opposed to in bloom, because I missed bloom time, which is easy to do: the flowers are tiny, greenish, and somewhat hidden in the plant’s leaf axils. By contrast, their July/August red berries (those pictured here are a bit orange, as they’re early in development) are so bright as to be impossible to miss, and are favorites of grouse and black bears.  They are also edible for humans: I tried one and found it pleasantly sweet, although every book says that that sweetness devolves into an unpleasant soapy flavor (hence its other common name, “soapberry”).  Try for yourself, then cleanse the palate with a neighboring thimbleberry, if necessary!

Good thistle

Cirsium parryi, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Parry’s thistle, Cirsium parryi

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As I’ve said before, not all thistles are “bad”—i.e., non-native  invasives—and indeed with a little time and attention paid can take on a certain charm (in addition to being pollinator favorites).  This thistle is uncommon on the Pass, mostly at mid-elevation (montane), and has distinctly yellow flowers.

Bring it on . . .

Holodiscus discolor, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Weller Curve, 9,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This drought-tolerant, quickly growing shrub loves the Pass’s lower roadside areas. And if you guessed it was in the rose family, you are a better botanist than me!

You GOT this one!

Potentilla arguta, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Tall cinquefoil, Potentilla/Drymocallis arguta

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,500’

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,” and WHEN its genus will be decided once and for all, are outstanding questions.

Lily of the aspens

Calochortus gunnisonii, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Sego lily, Calochortus gunnisonii

Family
Lily, Lilaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Named after the mid-19th century surveyor and explorer, Captain JW Gunnison, whose expedition discovered this lovely lily for science (and for whom the town to the south is named), it’s hard to think of another wildflower that brings such delight, with its delicate, intricately designed inner cup.  Look for it in aspen groves and open meadows on the Pass.

Feel the burn

Urtica gracilis, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Stinging nettle, Urtica dioica

Family
Nettle, Urticaceae

Location
Roadside near Lincoln Creek turnoff, 9,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A native plant found only occasionally on the Pass, usually at the base of rock cliffs or slopes where it can find water.  The hollow, stinging hairs on its leaves and stems act like hypodermic needles, injecting histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when touched.  Use water to alleviate the sting! 

Family feud

Orthilla secunda, July 14, 2021

O. sedunda, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
One-sided wintergreen, Orthilia secunda

Family
Wintergreen/Heath, Pyrolaceae/Ericaceae

Location
Grottos, 9,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The above two-family nomenclature reflects the current state of disagreement among botanists as to where this diminutive, dark- woods flower belongs.  It is probably the Pass’s most common wintergreen, er, heath . . . . 

A cut above

Senecio eremophilus, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Cutleaf groundsel, Senecio eremophilus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Weller Curve, 9,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Owing to its tall size, much-branched and leafy appearance, and deeply cut leaves, this Senecio is easy to tell apart from its many cousins.  It is rarely seen on the Pass, most commonly roadside. 

Fish food, toilet paper, and self-serving, all in one!

Verbascum thapsus, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Woolly mullein, Verbascum thapsus

Family
Evening primrose, Onograceae

Location
Weller Curve, 9,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
I always thought this roadside weed was good for emergency toilet paper and that was about it.  

Alas, the wonderfully rich and detailed USFS Fire Effects Information System taught me otherwise:  “Common mullein was likely introduced to the eastern United States more than 230 years ago. Before the Revolutionary War, common mullein seeds were brought and cultivated by early settlers for the easy collection of fish. . . . 

Given a seed source and a canopy opening, common mullein is a potential inhabitant of nearly any vegetation or community type. . . . 

Self and cross pollination of common mullein flowers are both possible. If by the end of the day an open flower has not been visited by a pollinator, it is self pollinated ("delayed selfing”).”

Cool beans!

Bashful, indeed!

Senecio pudicus, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Bashful ragwort, Senecio pudicus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Rayless ragwort, grows up against rocks, heads droop “bashfully,” I guess!

HELLO . . .

Hydrophyllum fendleri, July 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fendler’s waterleaf, Hydrophyllum fendleri

Family
Waterleaf, Hydrophyllaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found most often on the Pass in aspen groves, its stamens, like those of its more common, purple, alpine cousin, Sericia phacelia, protrude well beyond its petals, clamoring for attention.

Tricky tansymustards

Descurainia californica, July 12, 2021

D. californica, July 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Sierra tansymustard, Descurainia californica

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Top Cut roadside, 11,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Almost every wildflower has something fun, weird, or otherwise interesting to say about it.  However, when you get into the individual Descurainias, of which we have a handful on the Pass, it gets challenging  They’re all a bit gangly, with small yellow cross-shaped flowers and skinny siliques (seed pods).  These similarities make them trick to tell apart. This one happens to identify as D. californica owing to the size, shape, and stature of its siliques and the shape of its leaves.  If you want more details, you are a worthy botanist!

What a random wander can reveal

Piperia unalescensis, July 12, 2021

P. unalescensis, July 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alaska rein orchid, Piperia unalescensis

Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
There are upwards of 30,000 species of orchids worldwide, making the Orchid family either the largest or second largest family of vascular plants (vying with the asters). This orchid, however, is uncommon, and easy to overlook as it is skinny and green (and therefore can be lost among other vegetation) and grows in aspen groves and other unlikely spots for orchids. I honestly had not expected to find this orchid on the Pass, which I didn’t do until 2021, on a random aspen grove wander. Note to self: NEVER deny random wanders!

A rarity

Chionophila jamesii, July 12, 2021

C. jamesii, Grizzly ridge, 13,000’, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Snowlover, Chionophila jamesii

Family
Snapdragon/Figwort, Scrophulariaceae

Location
NOT DISCLOSED TO PROTECT THIS RARE PLANT

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Classified as a rare plant of Colorado, the careful observer can find it with some regularity on the high peaks of Independence Pass.  It stands 3” high, and its one-sided, cream-colored flowers are the opposite of showy.  That being said, it is always a delight to find this snowlover, for three reasons: (1) it looks like no other wildflower, with a subtle, intricate beauty that requires a close-up viewing, (2) it is a rare plant, seen probably by  0.0001% of the world’s population, and you’re one of them!, and (3) if you’re finding it, you’re in the high alpine, which is the definition of delight.

Modesty in the name of the future

Chamerion angustifolium, July 12, 2021

C. angustifolium, roadside 9,500’, July 20, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium

Family
Evening primrose, Onagraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, is a native plant that grows head-high and produces dozens of lavish, magenta, four-petaled flowers. Each flower produces up to 500 seeds, resulting in tens of thousands of seeds per plant. Aided by a tuft of long hairs, each of those seeds can go airborne and establish rapidly.

One of the coolest things I learned about Fireweed from the US Forest Service’s fire studies is that Fireweed seed hairs, or “plumes,” respond to humidity.  Increased humidity causes a decreased plume diameter, which results in reduced loft. This increases the chance that seeds get deposited in places with moisture adequate for germination—how smart is that?

By contrast, robustly-plumed seeds can stay airborne for 10 or more hours, allowing the seeds to travel over 100 miles during that time—even smarter!

In case that fails, Fireweed can reproduce not only by pollination, but by rhizomes, underground stems that put out lateral shoots. This is how it reproduces so well following major disturbance events like fires and avalanches. It can even survive volcanic eruptions: one year after the Mount St. Helens explosion, 81% of seeds collected in seed traps were Fireweed seeds.

Maybe, though, one of the loveliest things about fireweed is its modesty; its understanding of the role it plays. Namely, it tends to achieve peak dominance within a limited number of years after a disturbance. In spruce-fir forests like those in our area, Fireweed may be dominant for up to 10 years after a fire or avalanche, but it will decline in numbers in the face of competing vegetation, and as the forest canopy closes.

In other words, in time Fireweed will recede and allow the wildflowers you’ve grown to know and love in Grizzly, or on Basalt Mountain, or up Conundrum Creek, start to reemerge.

Mickey #2

Cerastrium beeringianum, July 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine chickweed, Cerastium beeringianum

Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae

Location
Summit, 12,100

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
How to tell this flower apart from the more common (but similarly situated—read “high”) C. arvense var. strictum: the edges of this chickweed’s bract are NOT “scarious,” aka translucent, and its sepals are glandular.

Dandelion lookalike

Agoseris glauca, July 11, 2021

Common & scientific name
Pale agoseris, Agoseris glauca

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
No Name ridge, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Can look at first glance like a dandelion, with its single yellow flower head on a leafless stalk.  The big differences lie in the phyllaries and the basal leaves: the phyllaries do not curl over backwards like a dandelion’s, and are green with purple stripes; and the leaves are simple, not cut.  It’s fruit, called a cypsela, has soft, white bristles resembling the puff ball of a dandelion (photo to come!)

Reindeer pollination

Campanula uniflora, July 11, 2021

Common & scientific name
Arctic bellflower, Campanula uniflora

Family
Harebell, Campanulaceae

Location
No Name ridge, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The following comes from a website called The Flora of Svalbard.  Svalbard (in case you didn’t know, like I didn’t) is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it's known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

What I found fascinating is how this other-worldly place’s treatment of this plant we enjoy in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado applies here equally:

“The plant flowers from mid July to mid August. Flowers potentially pollinated by insects but self pollination is probably common. We have no information on germination rate of seeds of the Svalbard populations; however, the plant must recruit regularly as populations of this relatively short-lived plant sustain in the same locations for a long time. . . . Local seed dispersal is facilitated by the stiff stems and the capsules with apical pores, resulting in ballistic dispersal during strong winds or when touched by animals (reindeer).”

Presumably elk, mountain goats, marmots & pika would perform the same role here!