Anticlea elegans, July 28, 2021
Common & scientific name
Mountain death camas, Anticlea elegans
Family
False hellebore, Melanthiaceae
Location
Independence ghost town, 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.
Eriogonum umbellatum var. porteri, July 22, 2021
E. umbellatum var. porteri, Indy Ridge,12,400’, August 3,2021
Common & scientific name
Subalpine buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum var. porteri
Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae
Location
Grizzly Lake Trail, 10,900’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Widespread in habitat, elevation, and appearance, and according to Janis Huggins in Wild at Heart, its genus Eriogonum is “the largest genus endemic to North America, with more than 300 species, fifty of them occurring in the Rocky Mountains.”
E. umbellatum var. porteri, July 22, 2021