Why ciliate-margined petioles matter

Solidago simplex, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Sticky goldenrod, Solidago simplex

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The only sure-fire method of distinguishing this from the other look-a-like goldenrod on the Pass, Solidago multiradiata, is to look at the petioles (the leaf stems) to see if they are ciliate-margined (have hairs sticking straight out on their edges): this plant does not. Below is its alpine variation, S. simplex var. nana.

Solidago simplex var. nana, Linkins Lake Trail, 12,000’, July 21, 2021

Triangles in nature

Senecio triangularis, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Arrowleaf ragwort, Senecio triangularis

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A tall (up to 5’), leafy senecio with unbranched stems that have numerous, triangle-shaped, toothed leaves, topped by yellow flower clusters of 10 to 30 heads.  It grows near bluebells, monkshood, and other tall, water-loving, subalpine species. Look for the triangle!

S. triangularis, August 6, 2021

Baby blues

Hackelia floribunda, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Many-flowered stickseed, Hackelia floribunda

Family
Borage, Boraginaceae

Location
Roadside near Weller, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Named after Josef Hackel, an early 19th century Czech botanist, Hackelia floribunda's endearing light-blue flowers become small, flattened nutlets with prickles along the edge, in typical Borage/velcro-like fashion.  This tall, lovely plant is unusual on the Pass—keep your eyes peeled!

Shrub pride

Potentilla/Dasiphora fruticosa, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Shrubby cinquefoil, Dasiphora fruticosa

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This plant has gone through more than a half-dozen name changes since Carl Linnaeus first stamped the binomial system onto it in the mid-1700s, beginning with “Potentilla fruticosa.”  Its flowers are very potentilla (or cinquefoil)-like, but not its essential shrub nature (a “shrub” being defined as a woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has persistent woody stems above the ground, unlike herbaceous plants).  It can be seen almost everywhere on the Pass.

Oy, vetch!

Coronilla varia, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Crownvetch, Coronilla varia

Family
Pea, Fabacaea

Location
Above the winter gate, 8,600

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Native to Africa, Asia, and Europe, but not here!  This cheery plant is often used to stabilize and beautify roadsides and to rehabilitate soil (as a pea, it is a nitrogen-fixer).  It is currently confined to one small location just above the winter gate, and as long as it stays there, we can all get along!

Seems a little early for yarrow, but . . .

Achillea millefolium, June 22, 2021

A. millefolium, close-up, lower Lost Man, 10,500’, July 20, 2021

Common & scientific name
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yarrow is a circumboreal species (distributed throughout the Northern hemisphere, including Europe and Asia).  In North America, it is found from the coast, or zero feet in elevation, to the alpine. The genus Achillea was named after Achilles, who used plant extracts to treat soldiers’ wounds in the battle of Troy, a nod to Yarrow’s many medicinal uses.  “Millefolium” means “a thousand leaves” in Latin, referring to its feathery, fern-like leaves.  

And once again, and you’ll probably get tired of reading this, but it feels awfully early to be seeing this on the Pass in mid-June . . . .

A. millefolium, Grottos, 9,700’, August 3, 2021

Red clover, red clover . . .

Trifolium pratense, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Red Clover, Trifolium pratense

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Above winter gate, 8,600

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Seen in every part of the valley, from backyards up to tree line, Red clover hails from Europe and Asia, has pretty pink heads, two-toned leaves, and grows tall if it needs to compete with other plants to reach the sun, staying lower if on bare ground.  Like all peas, it is a nitrogen-fixer (more on that later), therefore good for the soil and mostly endured by weed fanatics even though it is non-native.

See me!

Primula angustifolia, June 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine primrose, Primula angustifolia

Family
Primrose, Primulaceae

Location
Lackawanna Gulch, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found only in Colorado and northern New Mexico, this diminutive version of its much taller cousin, the water-loving Parry’s primrose, is found on dry subalpine and alpine ridges, often in the protection of rocks.  Its neon-magenta flowers, largely identical to those of Parry’s, light up the tundra under our feet.

Climate change bellwether

Dryas octopetala, June 18, 2021

D. octopetala, north of summit 12,700’, June 23, 2021

D. octopetala in fruit, above Petroleum Lake, 12,600’, September 12, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain avens, Dryas octopetala

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Lackawanna ridge, 12,500

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This white, eight-petaled, evergreen-leaved, mat-forming soil stabilizer is playing an important part in the study of climate and climate change. “Fossils of Dryas plants are important to paleo-ecologists studying past episodes of climate change and shifts in arctic-alpine vegetation. Late in the Pleistocene, the climate of the northern hemisphere began to gradually warm as the last great Ice Age went into retreat. On two occasions, the general pattern of warming was abruptly reversed for periods of 300-1000 years and arctic tundra vegetation returned to areas that had been changing to forest cover. Ecologists refer to these periods as the Older Dryas (approximately 13,800 years ago) and the Younger Dryas (11,500-12,800 years ago) because of the prevalence of Dryas fossils. The exact cause of the relatively rapid change in climate (estimated to have taken just a few decades) are still being debated, but may bear on research into contemporary climate change.”  

Info courtesy of the US Forest Service’s wonderful “Plant of the Week” website: go to https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/ to see more.

Another smelly beauty

Primula parryi, June 18, 2021

P. parryi, north of summit, 12,300’, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Parry’s primrose, Primula parryi

Family
Primrose, Primulaceae

Location
Lackawanna Gulch, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Known for its big, brilliant magenta flowers and stale-perfume-like smell, nothing lights up a high mountain stream like Parry’s primrose.  Look for its smaller cousin, P. angustifolia, on drier alpine slopes.

P. parryi, Brooklyn, 10,500’, June 27, 2021

The white in red, white & blue

Minuartia obtusiloba, June 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine sandwort, Minuartia obtusiloba

Family
Pink, Caryophyllacaea

Location
Lackawanna ridge, 12,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Reminiscent of Alpine forget-me-nots and Moss campion in its matted structure and (relatively) large flowers compared to its leaves, Alpine sandwort thrives, too, on dry, rocky, windy alpine ridges, and is always a treat to encounter.

M. obtusiloba, Sayres Ridge, 13,300’, July 2, 2021

Purple jewel of the alpine

Besseya alpina, June 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine besseya, Besseya alpina

Family
Plantain, Plantaginaceae

Location
Lackawanna ridge, 12,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This gem of an alpine flower is found only in the high mountains of the Four Corners states, and most abundantly in Colorado. A swift glance might mistake it for Silky phacelia, Phacelia sericea, but its leaves are dark green and thick, not feathery, and it lacks the gold-tipped anthers of Silky phacelia.  Standing just several inches tall, often nestled within rock gardens, Alpine besseya is always a worthy find!

B. alpina, Twining 13,300’, June 30, 2021

A higher brand of dandelion

Taraxacum scopulorum, June 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Dwarf alpine dandelion, Taraxacum scopulorum

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lackawanna, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Standing only a couple inches tall and with a small head and blackish bracts that don’t bend down and outward, this native subalpine to alpine dandelion can be distinguished from its lawn-loving (and everywhere-loving) cousin by these traits.

The leaves have it

Claytonia megarhiza, June 18, 2021

MEGA megarhiza (2’ in diameter), Sayres Ridge, 13,300’, July 2, 2021

C. megarhiza, multitudes, Grizzly ridge, 13,000’, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine springbeauty, Claytonia megarhiza

Family
Purslane, Portulaceae

Location
Lackawanna ridge, 13,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This totally unmistakeable plant can be found growing among rocks in the high alpine.  Its white flowers, colored with yellow centers and pink anthers, are found squeezed tight within a round rosette of succulent leaves that are deep purple at emergence, turn green during bloom, then bright red after. 

C. megarhiza, Difficult Peak, 12,600’, June 27, 2021

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

C. megarhiza, more multitudes, Grizzly ridge, 13,000’, July 22, 2021

Fireworks!

Phacelia sericea, June 19, 2021

P. sericea, ne of summit, 12,000’, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Silky phacelia, Phacelia sericea

Family
Waterleaf, Hydrophyllaceae

Location
North Fork Lake Creek, 10,800

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

With its thick stalks of purple flowers, long, gold-tipped anthers, and silvery-pubescent fern-like leaves, Silky phacelia is one of our handsomest alpine wildflowers, akin to miniature fireworks.  The genus Phacelia is found only in North and South America, primarily in desert areas.  Bees love Silky phacelia, as well!

P. sericia, summit, 12,100’, June 23, 2021

A little licorice, anyone?

Osmorhiza depauperata, June 16, 2021

O. depauperata, in fruit, Weller Trail, 9,600’, July 20, 2021

Common & scientific names
Blunt sweet cicely, Osmorhiza depauperata

Family
Parsley, Apiaceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts
This delicate parsley (“depauperata” translates as “diminutive”) produces blunt-ended seed pods (hence its common name). Its leaves are delightfully licorice-scented.

A pretty potentilla

Potentilla pulcherrima, June 16, 2021

P. pulcherrima, ne of summit, 12,300’, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific names
Beautiful cinquefoil, Potentilla pulcherrima

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Cinquefoils all have basically the same-looking flower (except P. arguta, which is white),  hence I am not including a flower photo here. With the cinquefoils, everything depends on their leaves and their location/elevation.

P. pulcherrima is abundant throughout our area at lower elevations (never alpine).  As you’ll see in the photo, P. pulcherrima’s leaflets extend out from a single point. They are green on the “front” side and fuzzy-white-hairy on the “back” (as seen in the bottom-left photo).

The most delicate Draba

Draba crassifolia, June 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Snowbed draba, Draba crassifolia

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Linkins Lake, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This tiniest of mustards is short-lived but abundant in our alpine and subalpine zones.  It stands a couple of inches tall, on the slenderest of leafless stalks, above a rosette of linear leaves, often in the protection of rocks or other plants.  Unlike many other Drabas, it is unmistakeable!

Pledge allegiance

A. coerulea, ne of summit, 11,900’, June 23, 2021

A. coerulea, possibly hybridizing with A. elegantula? Sayres Gulch, 11,400’, July 2, 2021

Common & scientific name
Colorado columbine, Aquilegia coerulea

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man, 11,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Our beloved state flower, equally at home in aspen groves and on rocky tundra, manifesting all kinds of color combinations, hybridizing with all other species of Aquilegia, occasionally with spurless variants: how lucky we are to call this endlessly interesting flower our own!

A. coerulea, ne of summit, 11,900’, June 23, 2021

Kinnikinnik spelled backwards

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, June 17, 2021

Common & scientific name
Kinnikinnik, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Family
Heath, Ericaceae

Location
Above Linkins Lake, 12300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Kinnikinnik, or Bearberry (see its scientific name), is a ground-hugging, evergreen shrub with thick, leathery, paddle-shaped leaves that are yellow-green in the spring, dark-green in the summer, and reddish-purple in the fall.  Its tiny, bell-shaped, pink-tipped, white flowers nod in clusters from red stems.  Bright-red berries succeed the flowers and persist into winter.  This wonderful alpine ground cover is equally at home at sea level back east. 

A. uva-ursi, in fruit, Wet Gulch 12,000’, August 18, 2021