I'm a knee-bender

Veronica serpyllifolia, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Thymeleaf speedwell, Veronica serpyllifolia

Family
Figwort, Scrophulariaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This small veronica with its tiny, intricate, four-petaled, blue-white flowers is easily lost amidst other water-loving plants and grasses but merits a closer look. Look for it stream or ditch-side. Its tiny, flat seeds can cling to the feathers of birds, fur of mammals, and shoes of humans, helping spread the seeds into new areas.

V. serpyllifolia, June 25, 2021

Pin cushion plant

Common & scientific name
Large-leaved avens, Geum macrophyllum

Family
Rose, Rosaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Can easily be confused at first glance with a cinquefoil (Potentilla), with its tall habit and yellow cinquefoil-like flowers, but can be distinguished by the three-parted stem leaves, its more maple-like basal leaves, and especially by its seedhead, seen in the photo at left, which has a bristly, pin cushion look with pinkish styles that are curly-cue shaped at the end. This uncommon (on the Pass) plant grows near streams and in wet areas.

The cow's bane

Oxypolis fendleri, June 25, 2021

O. fendleri, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fendler’s cowbane, Oxypolis fendleri

Family
Parsley, Apiaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A most delicate parsley, usually found growing stream or ditch-side tucked in among larger plants. It can be distinguished from other parsleys by the sheaths at the base of its branches (often just one), its pinnate basal leaves, not carrot-like, small (3”) umbels of white flowers, and overall delicate appearance. Apparently poisonous to cattle, hence the name.

O. fendleri, Mountain Boy, 11,600’, July 8, 2021

Sucking not recommended

Lonicera involucrata, June 25, 2021

L. involuncrata, in fruit, Weller Lake, 9,800’, August 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Twinberry honeysuckle, Lonicera involucrata

Family
Honeysuckle, Caprifoliaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
An unusual-looking (for our parts), large, deciduous shrub, sporting twin tubular, yellow flowers that turn to (more noticeable) black and distinctly untasty berries, subtended by bright red bracts. It prefers moist forest edges, streams or roadsides. Impossible to confuse with any other plant in our region—one of the few!

L. involucrata in fruit, roadside, 10,500’, July 20, 2021

Satellite saxifrage

Mitella pentandra, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Five-stamened mitrewort, Mitella pentandra

Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek turnoff, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Oh how I love these miniature satellites, these most delicate, complex, and airy of wildflowers.  It feels like they shouldn’t even be called “flowers,” they are so totally unique. Look (HARD) for them now in moist woods, and be delighted!

M. pentandra in fruit, Grottos 9,700’, July 14, 2021

Whip's veneration

Penstemon whippleanus, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Whipple’s penstemon, Penstemon whippleanus

Family
Snapdragon/Figwort, Scrophulariaceae 

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Named for the leader of a transcontinental railroad survey team, this is one of our most unforgettable flowers, with its large, tightly-packed, and unusually colored flowers, ranging in our area from deep-purple to wine-colored to nearly white. 

Go ahead, be crass

Senecio crassulus, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Thickleaf ragwort, Senecio crassulus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lincoln Creekl, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This hairless Senecio has thick leaves (“crass” means “thick” in Latin) with sharp teeth and a bulging involucre below the ray flowers.  Its phyllaries are black-tipped.  This is a common Senecio of subalpine & alpine meadows on the Pass.

Welcome to the Royal Family

Sedum lanceolatum, June 25, 2021

Common & scientific name
Yellow Stonecrop, Sedum lanceolatum

Family
Stonecrop, Crassulaceae

Location
Lincoln Creek, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found from the bottom to the top of our valley on exposed, sunny places on rocks or gravelly soil, with yellow, star-like flowers, maroon stems, and succulent leaves.  In the same family as King’s and Queen’s Crown.

S. lanceolatum, S. Fork Lake Creek, 10,400’, July 2, 2021

Sage advice

Artemesia scopulorum, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain sage, Artemesia scopulorum

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This common alpine sage requires a good eye and patience to appreciate (a loop doesn’t hurt, either!). It is odd and intricate up close, and has Smelowskia-like, grayish leaves. Yes, this, too, is a “wildflower.” Viva la difference!

I'm my own buttercup

Anemone multifida, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Cutleaf anemone, Anemone multifida

Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location
Green Mountain, 10,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Sometimes open, sometimes closed; sometimes white; sometimes rose. This charming, fickle & fussy buttercup is a delight in all of its forms.

There's silver in them hills

Phacelia hastata, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Silverleaf phacelia, Phacelia hastata

Family
Waterleaf, Hydrophyllaceae

Location
Green Mountain, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Silverleaf phacelia has dense, tightly coiled clusters of purple flowers with long, conspicuous stamens and leaves covered in short, silvery hairs. Uncommon on the Pass, but always a treat to find.

P. hastata, June 24, 2021

You needn't get bogged down

Saxifraga oregana, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Bog saxifrage,  Saxifraga oregana

Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Distinguishable from Snowball saxifrage by blooming later, being taller, having multi-flowered stems (not just one ball of flowers at the top), always growing in wet places, AND erupting in huge numbers about now in the subalpine & alpine wherever water is found!

S. oregana, Mountain Boy, 11,600’,July 8, 2021

You won't find this in your lawn

Agoseris aurantiaca, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Orange agoseris, Agoseris aurantiaca

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Linkins Lake trail, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
There aren’t many true orange flowers in the wild, which may be the reason why this otherwise very dandelion-like flower grabs ones attention.  Like dandelions, Orange agoseris is composed exclusively of ray flowers, and produces a similar seed head.  Unlike dandelions, though, you will not see it lining the roadside or invading your lawn.  It modestly limits itself, in sparing numbers, to dry meadows from the montane to the alpine on the Pass. 

What's not to love about thistles?

Cirsium eatonii, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Eaton’s thistle, Cirsium eatonii

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Linkins Lake trail, 11,800

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
First, importantly, 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 common (but not TOO common) on the Pass, from the montane to the alpine in meadows and forest openings.  It has white, pink, or purple flowers protruding up from its cobwebby head.  Its stem is often dark red (below) and its leaves are spiny.  It has learned well how to protect itself!

Lady of the evening

Oenothera villosa, June 24, 2021

Common & scientific name
Hairy evening primrose, Oenothera villosa

Family
Evening primrose, Onograceae

Location
Winter gate,8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This tall, striking primrose, often showing its yellow petals wilted during the day as orange, has a red, hairy stem and hairy leaves.  It can be seen roadside from the bottom of the Pass to about 9,700’ in elevation.  One of the only other families of flowers to have four petals (like the mustards), its flowers open in the evening to invite long-tongued moths in. 

O. villosa, roadside 9,500’ July 8, 2021

Mad for fours!

Galium boreale, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Northern bedstraw, Galium boreale

Family
Madder, Rubiaceae

Location
Difficult, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The Madder family is one of the few local families (along with mustards and evening primroses) to sport flowers with just four petals. Northern bedstraw is unmistakeable thanks to its whorls of four leaves, spaced far apart along a square stem: everything’s in fours!

Rocky, sandy soil wanted

Arenaria/Eremogone fendleri, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fender’s sandwort, Arenaria/Eremogone fendleri

Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae

Location
Northeast of summit, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This charming pink likes loose rock and dirt, and delights with its dainty structure and magenta anthers, in such contrast to its preferred habitat. The anthers and its glandular habit (dots of sticky secretions, which often collect dirt) distinguish this from Arenaria/Eremogone congesta.

Don't take umber-age

Antennaria umbrinella, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Umber pussytoes, Antennaria umbrinella

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This species of pussytoes has brownish coloring at the base of its “paws,” that is, on the lower portion of its phyllaries. A. rosea has phyllaries that are distinctly red, A. media black, A. corymbosa a dark spot, and A. parviflora white or pinkish. Get out the loop and good luck!

Green with envy

Platanthera huronensis, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Huron bog orchid, Platanthera huronensis

Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Huron bog orchid, one of our area’s most common, is found streamside, in ditches, and all manner of wet places, often alongside White bog orchid. It can be difficult to tell this apart from our other green bog orchid, Platanthera hyperborea, also green/greenish-white, also hanging out in similar areas. I’m calling this one P. huronensis based on the shape of the lip (the lower petal sticking straight out), which is wider at the base and tapers toward the end, while P. hyperborea’s lip is wider for longer, then tapers more quickly to a point. Or something like that: good luck and just enjoy the orchid! (Also, the smell is generally not as strong as that of White bog orchid.)

Another lousy wort

Pedicularis bracteosa, June 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Bracted lousewort, Pedicularis bracteosa

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
Upper Lost Man TH, 11,400

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Smaller than towering lousewort, Pedicularis procera, but bigger than all the other Pedicularis species, this is commonly found in wetter meadows and forests from the montane to the alpine.  It has the typical fern/ladder-like leaves of the genus, this one with a spike of yellow flowers that begin growing from the bottom up.