Hoary, not hairy

Packera wernerifolia, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Hoary groundsel, Packera wernerifolia

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
N.E. of summit, 12,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
An apparently variable yellow senecio (not always “hoary”), but easy to identify in our area owing to its location (alpine), stature (short), reduced, bract-like stem leaves, and often (subtly) three-toothed leaves at the apex .  Named after another genus not found in the US—not Mr. Werner!

P. wernerifolis, Mountain Boy, 12,500’, July 8, 2021

I am not a parasite

Pedicularis parryi, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Parry’s lousewort, Pedicularis parryi

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
N.E, of summit, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
With characteristic beaked flowers and fern-like leaves, this highest growing and smallest of the fascinating Pedicularis genus whorls around on itself in delightful fashion.  It is hemiparasitic (hence its move from the Snapdragon family into the Broomrape family), meaning it produces chlorophyll and thus can survive on its own, but obtains additional nutrients from the roots of other plants.

Break on through

Saxifraga bronchialis, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Spotted saxifrage, Saxifraga bronchialis

Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae

Location
N.E. side of summit, 11,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This delightfully dainty Saxifrage earns its name as a “rock breaker,” as it is usually found sprouting out of the side of a rock crevice or fracture.  Saxifrages grow as far north as any species of wildflower in the world, and as such are quite at home in our high mountains. 

A (typically) late bloomer

Heliomerus multiflora, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Showy goldeneye, Heliomeris multiflora

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Grows from the foothills to the subalpine, and is most often seen roadside on the lower portion of Independence Pass.  The penultimate sunflower (“helios” means “sun”), it is a favorite of bees, both sweat and bumble.  It is considered a late summer flower—and is blooming in June!  (Hint: don’t wait to see the flower show this summer—it will end early.)

If this were your last summer in the mountains

Hymenoxis grandiflora, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Old-Man-of-the-Mountain, Hymenoxis grandiflora

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
N.E. of summit, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This common alpine resident stands out with its comparatively huge flower head and its wooly-hairy stem and leaves.  According to Dr. David Inouye, who for 4+ decades has studied alpine plants and their pollinators at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, just over the Elk Range in Gothic, H. grandiflora grows for 12-15 years without flowering, flowers once, and then dies.  So treat every Old-Man-of-the-Mountain you see with reverence, and imagine (if you can) your own last summer . . . .

Things are looking rosy

Castilleja rhexifolia, June 23, 2021

C. rhexifolia, Linkins Lake Trail, 11,800’, June 24, 2021

C. rhexifollia possibly crossing with C. occidentalis, Grizzly Lake Trail, 12,000’, July 22, 2021

Castilleja rhexifolia, June 27, 2020

Common & scientific name
Rosy paintbrush, Castilleja rhexifolia

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
Linkins Lake TH, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Whether “rosy” or bright magenta or soft lavender or striped with white or some combination of all of the above, Rosy paintbrush is by all accords one of our most stunning flowers.  Hybridization with other species, like the whitish-yellow C. occidentalis, is thought to be responsible for the variation. As with all members of the Castilleja genus, the colorful parts are actually modified leaves, or “bracts.”  Its flowers are small, tubular, greenish-yellow, and barely visible within its colorful bracts. Enjoy this summertime treat!

C. rhexifolia, NY Basin, 11,400’, June 27, 2021

Yet another pygmy

Ranunculus pygmaeus, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Pygmy buttercup, Ranunculus pygmaeus

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
N.E. of summit, 12,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Standing just a few inches tall, usually tucked up against a wet rock or cliff area for protection, this tiny buttercup is always a treat to find!  Its palmate, wider-than-tall leaves, with a single middle lobe and double side lobes, are diagnostic, as is its small size. 

R. pygmaeus, Jack Creek basin, 12,000’, July 4, 2021

Three heads are better than one

Arnica mollis, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Hairy arnica,  Arnica mollis

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
N.E. of summit, 11,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As its name suggests, this arnica is fuzzy on its stems and leaves, grows taller than our other high-elevation arnicas, A. cordifolia, A. latifolia, or A. rydbergii,  and usually has three flower heads growing at the top.  It emerges as the common A. cordifolia, Heart-leaved arnica, is receding. 

A. mollis, Linkins Lake Trail, 11,500’, July 22, 2021

These red berries won't kill you

Ribes montigenum, June 23, 2021

R. montigenum in fruit, Little Willis Gulch, 11,000’, September 18, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain gooseberry, Ribes montigenum

Family
Gooseberry, Grossulariaceae

Location
N.E. of summit, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our half-dozen species of gooseberry, producing arguably the tastiest of the group in late summer, Mountain gooseberry’s branches are covered in short prickles along with whorls of thicker, longer spines at the leaf nodes—so pick your berries carefully!  It can be distinguished from other gooseberries by its leaves, which are divided almost to the base into three coarsely toothed lobes, and are covered in sticky, glandular hairs. Its berries are bright red and covered in short, tasteless, and totally unharmful hairs.  Enjoy the bounty!

Common and little

Heuchera parviflora var. nivalis, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Littleleaf or Common alumroot, Heuchera parvifolia var. nivalis

Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae 

Location
N.E. of summitl, 12,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Delicate, wonderful, if somewhat nondescript plant of the alpine.  Further words escape me!

Elderberry wine, anyone?

Sambucus racemosa, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa

Family
Honeysuckle, Caprifoliaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

The berries of its eastern cousin are used to make wine and for myriad medicinal purposes.  Our berries are safe to eat only after being cooked, and are only marginally palatable.  Leave them for the wildlife!

In the cross-hairs

Wyethia x. magna, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mules ears, Wyethia amplexicaulis x. arizonica, aka Wyethia x. magna

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Our local Mules ears are unusual in that their leaves have a rough-hairy texture, while most W. amplexicaulis plants are smooth and hair-free.  William Weber, the foremost authority on Colorado wildflowers, says ours is “a stable hybrid population stemming from a time when the Pleistocene climate compressed the range, bringing this species into close contact with W. arizonica.”

What's new, pussytoe?

Antennaria pulcherrima, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Showy pussytoes, Antennaria pulcherrima

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Northeast of summit, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This species of pussytoe, which has a taller stem and larger head than our other local species, doesn’t look much like a sunflower because it only has disk flowers (the flowers that usually make up the button of a sunflower), and no ray flowers (the “petals”). 

Yet another Senecio

Senecio wootonii, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Wooton’s ragwort, Senecio wootonii

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Green Mountain, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As Senecios go, this one is relatively easy to identify, owing to its  smooth, hairless, almost blueish leaves.  It is often found in dry meadows or forests (like lodgepoles).  Give yourself a round of applause for learning (yet another) Senecio!

One in a million (or at least 30,000)

Platanthera dilatata, June 23, 2021

P. dilatata, Mountain Boy, 11,600’, July 8, 2021

Common & scientific name
White bog orchid, Platanthera dilatata

Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
There may be as many as 35,000 species of orchids worldwide, making the Orchid family the largest family of vascular plants.  With 33 species, Platanthera is the largest genus of orchids found in North America.  

White bog orchid, one of our area’s most common, is found streamside, in ditches, and all manner of wet places.  It has nectar-secreting glands that line the spur (the projection on the backside of the flower) that produce an aromatic, sugary reward to attract pollinators (and that creates a beautiful smell for us, as well).  The shape and length of the spur varies from species to species and is co-adapted to fit the tongue-length of pollinating moths or butterflies.

Here, kitty, kitty

Antennaria rosea, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Rosy pussytoes, Antennaria rosea

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Called “pussytoes” because of their tightly packed flower head’s resemblance to the underside of a cat’s paw, Rosy pussytoes is our loveliest species owing to its bright rosy heads.  Each colony of pussytoes is a clone with all the plants connected to one another by underground rhizomes, and their evergreen leaf mats cover the ground throughout the four seasons.

Boggling Boecheras

Boechera fendleri, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fendler’s rockcress, Boechera fendleri

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As I’ve stated before, the Boechera genus is notoriously difficult to narrow down to species. This rockcress commonly seen on the lower part of the Pass can be identified by its tall stature (60cm), long, drooping, double-seeded siliques, and the hairs on the lowest part of its stem and basal leaves.

What a clown

Mimulus tilingii, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Subalpine monkeyflower, Mimulus tilingii

Family
Snapdragon/Figwort, Scrophulariaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This cheery yellow wildflower can be found along streams, seeps, or ditches from the montane to the alpine. “Mimulus” comes from “mimus,” meaning “buffoon," for the clownish appearance of its flower.

M. tilingii, Grizzly Creek Trail, 11,500’, July 22, 2021

Friendly fire

Rubus idaeus, June 25, 2021

R. idaeus, Shimer, 10,000’, June 27, 2021

Common & scientific name
American red raspberry, Rubus idaeus

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The best place to find our delicious wild raspberries, which will bear fruit in August, is in disturbed places like roadside and below Shimer Peak (above Weller Lake), which burned in 1980. 

According to a US Forest Service study, "American red raspberry allocates most of its energy to vegetative regeneration [as opposed to flowering and seed production] on recently disturbed sites with favorable growing conditions.  With time, initially elevated nutrient levels decline, and shading increases.  As growing conditions deteriorate, American red raspberry shifts its reproductive effort to the production of large numbers of seed.”  

In other words, raspberry-eating time!

R. ideaus, in fruit, Grottos, 9,700’, August 3, 2021

Naturalizing nicely

Rumex crispus, June 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Curly dock, Rumex crispus

Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location
Roadside, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A Eurasian non-native, long-lived (50 years!), wind-pollinated so it has no scent.  It makes only an occasional appearance on the Pass, generally roadside, and therefore is not a weed of great concern.

R. crispus, roadside, 9,700’, June 23, 2021