Define "beauty"

Descurainia incisa, May 28, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain tansymustard, Descurainia incisa

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Weller Campground area, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yes, it’s weedy looking, tall and stringy, but it’s native, it’s edible, and it’s part of the great floral melting pot!

Distinguish Descurainia species by their siliques (seed pods), as seen on the photo below, and their leaves, using a good key by Weber or Ackerman. I won’t bore you with how I arrived at D. incisa . . .

D. incisa, roadside 9,200’, June 22, 2021

Word of the day: "cleistogamous"

Viola adunca, May 27, 2021

Common & scientific name
Blue violet & Alpine violet Viola adunca & V. adunca var. bellidifolia

Family
Violet, Violaceae

Location
Twin Lakes, 9,700’ & Linkins Lake, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

As lovely as violets are, they do not rely on pollinators as their primary means of reproduction.  Rather, certain of a violet plant’s flowers don’t develop pollinator-attracting attributes, never open, and stay underground or emerge only after their seeds mature into fruits.  Such self-fertilizing flowers are “cleistogamous.”

Viola adunca var. bellidifolia or V. labradorica, Linkins Lake, June 16, 2021

Shiny, beautiful things

Ranunculus macounii, May 27, 2021

Common & scientific name
Macoun’s buttercup, Ranunculus macounii

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Twin Lakes, 9,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Many of us can recall holding a buttercup up to a friend’s chin and seeing its yellow reflection.  This glossy-reflective property on the outside (but not innermost part) of the buttercup’s petals is water repellent, causing dew or rain to drain off and leave pollen floating just at the level of the stigmas and thus aiding pollination.  Most beautiful adaptations are, indeed, useful, as well!

Number two of three wild blueberries

Vaccinium cespitosum, May 26, 2021

V. cespitosum in fruit, Lake Hope, 11,800’, September 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Dwarf bilberry,  Vaccinium cespitosum

Family
Heath, Ericaceae

Location
Forest/riverside, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Leaves widest above the middle, distinguishing it from its (sometimes) neighbor Vaccinium scoparium or V. myrtillus, but likes its neighbors, producing sweet little blueberries come August!

Bursting with abundance

Cardamine cordifolia, May 26, 2021

Common & scientific name
Heartleaf bittercress, Cardamine cordifolia

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Riverside, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Like all mustards, Heartleaf bittercress has four petals in the shape of a cross, and all its parts are edible (if bitter).  It will bloom in profusion near streamsides all summer.  When it has gone to seed, give its pods a squeeze and watch them burst!

C. cordifolia, June 2, 2021

I am not a sham

Pseudocymooterus montanus, May 26, 2021

P. cymopterus, June 8, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain parsley, Pseudocymopterus montanus

Family
Parsley, Apiaceae

Location
Forest/riverside, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This common parsley, seen at every elevation on the Pass, gives scientists fits because of its morphological variability and differences of opinion as to how it should be classified, both genus and species-wise.  But it’s one of our easier plants to identify: it has carrot-like leaves and it’s yellow, unlike any other parsleys on the Pass, which are all white (EXCEPT Alpine parsley, Oreoxis alpina, which is mat-forming and much tinier in all aspects than Mountain parsley).

Precious few wild blueberries

Vaccinium myrtillus, May 30, 2021

Common & scientific name
Bilberry or Wild blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus

Family
Heath, Ericaceae

Location
Forest/riverside, 8,800’

Fun/weird/little known fact
This wild blueberry is the most common of our three Vaccinium species below treeline.  It also produces less flowers (the sweet little whitish-pink bells shown here), therefore less huckleberries, as they’re often called.  Later in the summer if you can find some, though, they are delicious!

V. myrtillus in fruit, August 6, 2021

Visualize whirled peas

Lathyrus lanszwertii, May 26, 2021

L. lanszwertii, June 2, 2021

Common & scientific name
Lanszwert’s pea, Lathyrus lanszwertii

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Aspens roadside, 8,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

A common peavine found everyone on the Pass below treeline, especially in Aspen forests and open meadows.  White with a hint of pink or purple guide lines, it turns rust-colored with age.

Pussytoe vs. Pussytoe

Antennaria parviflora, May 26, 2021

A. parviflora, May 26, 2021

Common & scientific name
Small-leaf pussytoes, Antennaria parviflora

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Forest/riverside, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

It can be difficult to tell our half-dozen-plus pussytoe species apart.  The flowers of Small-leaf pussytoes are white or pinkish (see both photos), and its leaves, fuzzy on both sides, are thin on the stem and wide at the base, where they are either rounded or obtuse at the apex. They spread by stolons—slender stems running along the top of the ground—like strawberries.

Packing in the Packeras

Packera streptantifolia, May 24, 2021

Common & scientific names

Rocky Mountain groundsel, Packera streptanthifolia

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This early-season groundsel is native to, widespread, and variable throughout the Western Cordillera. Its hairiness depends on the particular plant and its age. It can be distinguished from the other low-elevation Pass groundsel, Packera neomexicana x tridenticulata, by its height (taller), more extensively toothed leaves, and greener (less gray/hairy) appearance.

Cultivating appreciation

Paxistima myrsinites, May 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Oregon boxwood, Paxistima myrsinites

Family
Stafftree, Celastraceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Easy to miss as Oregon boxwood’s tiny, cross-shaped flowers hide within the axils of its evergreen leaves.  It’s worth taking note of these rosy gems, though, because this common shrub will be a constant companion on the lower stretches of the Pass.

P. myrsinites, June 2, 2021

Bigger ain't alway better

Fragaria virginiana, May 24, 2021

F. virginiana, in fruit, July 15, 2021

Common & scientific name
Virginia strawberry, Fragaria virginiana

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Roadside, 8,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This wild strawberry concentrates all the flavor of the much larger store-bought version into a tiny berry to produce an intense tasting experience. Indeed, it was this species that was originally crossed with F. chiloensis to create the strawberries you buy at the store today. Wild strawberries will likely be found in early July in 2021—early!

Berry yummy!

Ribes cereum, May 28, 2021

Common & scientific name
Wax currant, Ribes cereum

Family
Currant, Grossulariaceae

Location
Weller Curve, 9,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Ribes is native to western North America.  R. cereum’s edible berries are soft and juicy, with a mild but fruity taste.  Unlike other area species of Ribes, its berries are smooth—try one later in the summer!

R. cereum, 5.28.21

What's in a weed?

Barberea orthoceras, May 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
American yellowrocket, Barberea orthoceras

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This is a circumpolar species, meaning it is distributed around the world in the Northern Hemisphere.  If it looks like a “weed,” well . . . that brings up the interesting question of what a “weed” really is.  This plant is native and has evolved over many thousands of years to share space with other natives.  But it isn’t particularly attractive, and can grown in great numbers (not on the Pass, however).  Probably the best definition of a weed is a plant that grows where people don’t want it to grow!

A slender fella

Boechera gracilente, May 24, 2021

Common & scientific names
Selby’s Rockress, Boechera gracilenta

Family: Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location: Weller Curve, 9,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

”The taxonomic complexity of the Boechera genus is legendary,” proclaims the Flora of North America. Truer words have never been spoken. Telling the different species apart requires examining the plant’s hairs under a microscope, along with the shape and length of its silique (seed pod). “A rare confluence of hybridization, apomixis, and polyploidy makes Boechera one of the most difficult genera in the North American flora.” Having examined all parts of this delightful, delicate spring flower in all its stages of growth, I am putting my money on B. gracilenta (called by some B. selbyi). Don’t hold me to it, though!

A beary important berry

Amelanchier alnifolia, May 25, 2021

A. alnifolia in fruit, roadside 8,200’, August 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Serviceberry, Amelanchier alnifolia

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Difficult, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Like all members of the Rose family, the flowers of Serviceberry shrubs have five petals.  Its berries are eaten by wildlife including birds, rodents, and bears, and the larva of the distinctive, yellow and black Swallowtail butterfly is frequently found here.

A. alnifolia, June 2, 2021

With a name like "ragwort" . . .

Senecio integerrimus, May 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Lambstongue ragwort, Senecio integerrimus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This is one Senecio of a thousand throughout the world, and one of two dozen in our region.  They are all yellow, occasionally interbreed, and for all these reasons can be a bear to tell apart!  This Senecio is tall, has just a couple leaves on its stem, and its middle “flower”  has a shorter, thicker stalk than the flowers surrounding it. It loves the Pass!

First daisy of the year

Erigeron flagellaris, May 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Whiplash daisy, Erigeron flagellaris

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Just above winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This delightful early-blooming daisy reproduces in part through runners (hence the name “whiplash”) that put down roots and enable it to spread along roadsides and in meadows throughout our valley.

A purple, white, sometimes lavender harlequin

Delphinium nuttallianum, May 21, 2021

D. nuttallianum, lavender, June 2, 2021

Common & scientific name

Nuttall’s larkspur, Delphinium nuttallianum

Family

Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Nuttall’s larkspur often occurs in white form (see photo below), the result of a genetic mutation that forces the switching on and off of certain genes that cause parts of a plant to grow without pigmentation. In the case of Nuttall’s larkspur, it doesn’t appear to affect its survivability.

D. nuttallianum, albino, May 25, 2021

Frog-inspired

Ranunculus glaberrimus, May 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Sage buttercup, Ranunculus glaberrimus

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’ and Grottos, 9,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The genus “Ranunculus” comes from the Latin for “little frog,” since buttercups are often found in wet habitats (this one, not so much). Sage buttercup is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring, and often has a scraggly, de-petaled appearance, possibly owing to foraging by hungry spring critters, possibly to every-changing spring weather, or . . . other theories welcome!

R. glaberrimus, May 27, 2021