Hydrophyllum fendleri, July 12, 2021
Common & scientific name
Fendler’s waterleaf, Hydrophyllum fendleri
Family
Waterleaf, Hydrophyllaceae
Location
Roadside, 9,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found most often on the Pass in aspen groves, its stamens, like those of its more common, purple, alpine cousin, Sericia phacelia, protrude well beyond its petals, clamoring for attention.
Descurainia californica, July 12, 2021
D. californica, July 12, 2021
Common & scientific name
Sierra tansymustard, Descurainia californica
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Top Cut roadside, 11,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Almost every wildflower has something fun, weird, or otherwise interesting to say about it. However, when you get into the individual Descurainias, of which we have a handful on the Pass, it gets challenging They’re all a bit gangly, with small yellow cross-shaped flowers and skinny siliques (seed pods). These similarities make them trick to tell apart. This one happens to identify as D. californica owing to the size, shape, and stature of its siliques and the shape of its leaves. If you want more details, you are a worthy botanist!
Piperia unalescensis, July 12, 2021
P. unalescensis, July 12, 2021
Common & scientific name
Alaska rein orchid, Piperia unalescensis
Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae
Location
Roadside, 9,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
There are upwards of 30,000 species of orchids worldwide, making the Orchid family either the largest or second largest family of vascular plants (vying with the asters). This orchid, however, is uncommon, and easy to overlook as it is skinny and green (and therefore can be lost among other vegetation) and grows in aspen groves and other unlikely spots for orchids. I honestly had not expected to find this orchid on the Pass, which I didn’t do until 2021, on a random aspen grove wander. Note to self: NEVER deny random wanders!
Chionophila jamesii, July 12, 2021
C. jamesii, Grizzly ridge, 13,000’, July 22, 2021
Common & scientific name
Snowlover, Chionophila jamesii
Family
Snapdragon/Figwort, Scrophulariaceae
Location
NOT DISCLOSED TO PROTECT THIS RARE PLANT
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Classified as a rare plant of Colorado, the careful observer can find it with some regularity on the high peaks of Independence Pass. It stands 3” high, and its one-sided, cream-colored flowers are the opposite of showy. That being said, it is always a delight to find this snowlover, for three reasons: (1) it looks like no other wildflower, with a subtle, intricate beauty that requires a close-up viewing, (2) it is a rare plant, seen probably by 0.0001% of the world’s population, and you’re one of them!, and (3) if you’re finding it, you’re in the high alpine, which is the definition of delight.
Chamerion angustifolium, July 12, 2021
C. angustifolium, roadside 9,500’, July 20, 2021
Common & scientific name
Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium
Family
Evening primrose, Onagraceae
Location
Roadside, 9,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, is a native plant that grows head-high and produces dozens of lavish, magenta, four-petaled flowers. Each flower produces up to 500 seeds, resulting in tens of thousands of seeds per plant. Aided by a tuft of long hairs, each of those seeds can go airborne and establish rapidly.
One of the coolest things I learned about Fireweed from the US Forest Service’s fire studies is that Fireweed seed hairs, or “plumes,” respond to humidity. Increased humidity causes a decreased plume diameter, which results in reduced loft. This increases the chance that seeds get deposited in places with moisture adequate for germination—how smart is that?
By contrast, robustly-plumed seeds can stay airborne for 10 or more hours, allowing the seeds to travel over 100 miles during that time—even smarter!
In case that fails, Fireweed can reproduce not only by pollination, but by rhizomes, underground stems that put out lateral shoots. This is how it reproduces so well following major disturbance events like fires and avalanches. It can even survive volcanic eruptions: one year after the Mount St. Helens explosion, 81% of seeds collected in seed traps were Fireweed seeds.
Maybe, though, one of the loveliest things about fireweed is its modesty; its understanding of the role it plays. Namely, it tends to achieve peak dominance within a limited number of years after a disturbance. In spruce-fir forests like those in our area, Fireweed may be dominant for up to 10 years after a fire or avalanche, but it will decline in numbers in the face of competing vegetation, and as the forest canopy closes.
In other words, in time Fireweed will recede and allow the wildflowers you’ve grown to know and love in Grizzly, or on Basalt Mountain, or up Conundrum Creek, start to reemerge.
Cerastrium beeringianum, July 12, 2021
Common & scientific name
Alpine chickweed, Cerastium beeringianum
Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae
Location
Summit, 12,100
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
How to tell this flower apart from the more common (but similarly situated—read “high”) C. arvense var. strictum: the edges of this chickweed’s bract are NOT “scarious,” aka translucent, and its sepals are glandular.
Agoseris glauca, July 11, 2021
Common & scientific name
Pale agoseris, Agoseris glauca
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
No Name ridge, 12,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Can look at first glance like a dandelion, with its single yellow flower head on a leafless stalk. The big differences lie in the phyllaries and the basal leaves: the phyllaries do not curl over backwards like a dandelion’s, and are green with purple stripes; and the leaves are simple, not cut. It’s fruit, called a cypsela, has soft, white bristles resembling the puff ball of a dandelion (photo to come!)
Campanula uniflora, July 11, 2021
Common & scientific name
Arctic bellflower, Campanula uniflora
Family
Harebell, Campanulaceae
Location
No Name ridge, 12,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The following comes from a website called The Flora of Svalbard. Svalbard (in case you didn’t know, like I didn’t) is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it's known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.
What I found fascinating is how this other-worldly place’s treatment of this plant we enjoy in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado applies here equally:
“The plant flowers from mid July to mid August. Flowers potentially pollinated by insects but self pollination is probably common. We have no information on germination rate of seeds of the Svalbard populations; however, the plant must recruit regularly as populations of this relatively short-lived plant sustain in the same locations for a long time. . . . Local seed dispersal is facilitated by the stiff stems and the capsules with apical pores, resulting in ballistic dispersal during strong winds or when touched by animals (reindeer).”
Presumably elk, mountain goats, marmots & pika would perform the same role here!
Angelica grayii, July 11, 2021
Common & scientific name
Gray’s angelica, Angelica grayi
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
No Name ridge, 12,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This alpine carrot is unmistakeable, with its large umbel of greenish flowers and overall stocky demeanor. It is usually found high on the Pass near water in the company of many other flowers and grasses.
Erigeron humilis, July 8, 2021
E. humilis, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Arctic alpine daisy, Erigeron humilis
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
NOT DISCLOSED TO PROTECT THIS RARE PLANT
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This flower, while widespread in the far north, is rare here and found in only a handful of alpine locations in central/south central Colorado, its furthest south location in the world. The photo above-left shows E. humilis beginning to grow right out of a mossy, snow-melt rivulet, where it is usually found. The photo below-left, very poorly in focus, captures the flower after fully-grown (I will strive for a better photo!). The hairs on its phyllaries have dark-purple “cross walls,” which look like occasional purple-to-black spots along a white/clear hair under the microscope. In Iceland it is known as “Snaekobbi.”
Penstemon harbourii, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Harbour’s penstemon, Penstemon harbourii
Family
Plantain, Plantaginaceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This one must be earned! Found only in Colorado, only in high talus fields, and only in a few spots on the Pass, this beautiful beardtongue is worth the climb and the search.
P. harbourii, July 8, 2021
Saxifraga cernua, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Nodding saxifrage, Saxifraga cernua
Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A first for me! Hard to believe I’ve missed this previously, with its tall stature (compared to other, delicate, wet rock-hiding saxifrages), conspicuous red bulblets (by which it generally reproduces), and fuzzy/glandular kidney-shaped leaves that somehow, to me anyway, make me think “teddy bear.” Alas, one is never too old to be surprised and delighted, thank goodness!
Townsendia rothrockii, July 8, 2021
T. rothrockii, July 22, 2021
Common & scientific name
Rothrock’s townsendia, Townsendia rothrockii
Family
Aster, Asteraceae
Location
NOT DISCLOSED TO PROTECT THIS RARE PLANT
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This rare Colorado endemic is ranked G2, “imperiled globally,” by the Global Heritag Program and S2, “imperiled in state,” by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. It has been documented in only a few dozen places in central and southwest Colorado. It is a life honor and privilege to find Rothrock’s townsendia, and should be treated as such. The good news: the specimens I found on July 22 numbered in the hundreds, in a very small area at almost 13,000’.
T. rothrockii, July 22, 2021
Senecio soldanella, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Colorado ragwort, Senecio soldanella
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our only flowers with (often) all-purple leaves, this unmistakeable oddity grows only in alpine scree and only in Colorado, save one high area of New Mexico near Taos. Take pride in this Colorado native!
Convolvulus arvensis, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis
Family
Morning glory, Convolvulaceae
Location
Weller curve, 9,500
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A non-native, perennial vine, it will grow up to three feet high. While a bear to beat back, the good news is, it requires disturbed ground (like roadsides) and can’t tolerate being shaded out by trees or shrubs. For these reasons, its impact as an invasive species on the Pass is minimal.
Chaenactis douglasii var. alpina, July 8, 2021
C. alpina, in fruit, Indy Ridge, 12,500’, August 5, 2021
Common & scientific name
Alpine dusty maiden, Chaenactis douglasii var. alpina
Family
Aster, Asteraceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 11,600
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Rayless, with pistils and stamens protruding around and beyond the white disk flowers, this decidedly odd, unmistakeable, and uncommon plant is always a delight to find.
C. douglasii var. alpina, July 8, 2021
Vaccinium scoparium, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Broom huckleberry, Vaccinium scoparium
Family
Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,200
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found mostly above treeline, tightly packed with leaves widest at or below the middle, distinguishing it from its (sometimes) neighbor Vaccinium cespitosum, but likes its neighbor, producing sweet little berries come August!
Hieraceum gracile, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Slender hawkweed, Hieracium gracile
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 11,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This strange, spindly flower is notable largely for the silver and black hairs covering its flower head, which consists solely of ray flowers (“petals”). As with many sunflowers, after fertilization its flowers create a dandelion-like head of seed-carrying hairs that are disbursed by the wind.
Stellaria longipes, July 8, 2021
S. longipes, summit, 12,200’, July 12, 2021
Common & scientific name
Long-stalked starwort, Stellaria longipes
Family
Pink, Capryophyllaceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This oh-so-delicate wildflower, standing just a few inches tall on a hairless, slender stalk with widely-spaced, opposite, grass-like leaves, can be found throughout the subalpine and alpine but seems to favor rocky outcrops or meadows streamside. “Stellaria” means “star” and “longipes” means long-limbed. At last, an aptly named flower!
Senecio amplectens var. holmii, July 8, 2021
Common & scientific name
Holm’s ragwort, Senecio amplectens var. holmii
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 12,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Prediction: this singular alpine wildflower will be given separate species status soon, as Bill Weber has done (possibly along with a new genus, Ligularia holmii). It is quite distinct from its close cousin, Senecio amplectens var. amplectens, in that it grows only above tree line (not in forests like S. amplectens), usually in rocky places like passes, sits low to the ground (naturally), and has red-edged, succulent leaves. It DOES, however, have yellow flowers!