Syncing with the cinquefoils

Potentilla glaucophylla, front side of leaf, June 13, 2023

Back side of leaf

Common & scientific name

Blue-leaf cinquefoil, Potentilla glaucophylla

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Upper Lost Man, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Blue-leaf cinquefoil is very common in the subalpine and alpine on the Pass. It has 5 to 7 leaflets arranged palmately, like the fingers of a hand connected in the middle. The leaves are green, with a bluish tint, on both sides (with the backside a bit less blue-green, but neither side is hairy). Its leaflets are serrate, or toothed, but not for the whole length of the leaf (see leaves in photos).

Kinnikinnik spelled backwards . . .

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, June 13, 2023

June 16, Discovery area, 10,400’

Common & scientific name

Kinnikinnik, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Family

Heath, Ericaceae

Location

Ridge above Turkey Rock, 10,700’

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.

September 23, in fruit, Willis Gulch, 11,000’

Lucky us

Trifolium dasyphyllum, June 13, 2023

June 23, Mt. Champion, 11,500’

Common & scientific name

Alpine clover, Trifolium dasyphyllum

Family

Pea, Fabiaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

One of our three throughly delightful alpine clovers, this early bloomer can be distinguished from its similarly shaped but (usually) later blooming cousin, T. parryi, by its lighter overall color (often white or light pink) and darker, contrasting (here magenta) keel, where T. parryi is a darker magenta or purple overall, without the boldly contrasting keel

The most delicate of drabas

Draba crassifolia, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Snowbed draba, Draba crassifolia

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Lower Lost Man, 10,600’

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!

First wild blueberry

Vaccinium scoparium, June 13, 2023

Linkins Lake trail, 11,700’, June 27, 2023

Common & scientific name

Broom huckleberry, Vaccinium scoparium

Family

Heath, Ericaceae

Location

Ridge above Turkey Rock, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Found mostly near 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!

In fruit, Ptarmigan area, 11,000’, August 12, 2023

Be careful where you step

Trifolium nanum, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Dwarf clover, Trifolium nanum

Family

Pea, Fabaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This exclusively alpine pea hugs the ground, coming in at just an inch or so high (“nanum” is Greek for “dwarf.”) It’s hard to miss, though, as it forms densely-packed mats of elegant pin-striped flowers ranging from whiteish-pink, to lavender, magenta, and purple.

Yellow genetically mutated version, Mt. Massive, 12,500’, July 4, 2023

It's all about the leaves

Potentilla subjuga, June 13, 2023

Front side of leaf

Common & scientific names

Colorado cinquefoil, Potentilla subjuga

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Cinquefoils all have basically the same-looking flower (except P. arguta, which is white), so everything depends on their leaves and their location/elevation.

P. subjuga is common in the alpine in our area. It has palmate leaves often with two or a pair of two, smaller leaflets separated slightly on the stem from the “hand” above. The teeth of the leaves are deep, the surface of the “front” side of the leaves are green but with hairs, the back side white and very hairy (see photos below)

Back side

Look for me high and low (and always low)

Androsace septentrionalis, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Pygmyflower rockjasmine, Androsace septentrionalis

Family

Primrose, Primulaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This delightfully delicate primrose has a huge elevational range and a variety of forms to go with it: more compact in the alpine (as in the first photo), taller, lankier in the foothills, and florally abundant when conditions are right.

Yellow to the west, lavender to the east

Erysimum capitatum, June 13, 2023

Lavender version, Mt. Massive, 13,500’, July 4, 2023

Common & scientific name

Western wallflower, Erysimum capitatum

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This big, cheery mustard is as at home on the summit of Independence Pass as it is in the deserts of Utah. It is most commonly yellow, but on the east side of the Pass, especially up near treeline, it is a striking lavender-magenta, as seen here.

What makes a wildflower a weed?

Barberea orthoceras, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

American yellowrocket, Barberea orthoceras

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This is a circumpolar species, meaning it is distributed around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. If it looks like a “weed,” well . . . that brings up the interesting question of what a “weed” really is. This plant is native and has evolved over many thousands of years to share space with other natives. But it isn’t particularly attractive, and can grown in great numbers (not on the Pass, however). Probably the best definition of a weed is a plant that grows where people don’t want it to grow!

Bursting with abundance

Cardamine cordifolia, June 13, 2023

Blue Lake area, 12,000’, July 30, 2023

Common & scientific name

Heartleaf bittercress, Cardamine cordifolia

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Roadside, 8,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Like all mustards, Heartleaf bittercress has four petals in the shape of a cross, and all its parts are edible (if bitter). It will bloom in profusion near streamsides all summer. When it has gone to seed, give its pods a squeeze and watch them burst!

June 30, 2023

Never to be forgotten

Eritrichium nanum, June 13, 2023

June 13, 2023

Mt. Massive, 14,400’, July 4, 2023

Common & scientific name

Alpine forget-me-nots, Eritrichium nanum

Family

Borage, Boraginaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This ground-hugging alpine jewel is many people’s favorite wildflower, period. Its Kodachrome-blue petals and golden eyes are unique in our region, and its favorite habitat—rocky, windswept, highly inhospitable mountain tops and ridges—makes its beauty and sheer existence all the more jaw-dropping. Because this flower blooms early and won’t stick around too long, it is worth dropping everything to get up high and bow down to this wonder of creation.

June 16, above Linkins Lake, 12,400’

Best name ever

Smelowskia calycina, June 13, 2023

June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Alpine smelowskia, Smelowskia calycina

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

I love this flower so very, very much. In part because it is one of the first flowers of the season to emerge in the high alpine, so it is always a welcome sight. In part because it can range dramatically in size depending on how protected it is—there is a bouquet on Treasure Mountain tucked into a large marble boulder that is three times the size of the plants, both stems and flowers, seen in these photos. In part because its usually white petals sometimes emerge a lovely soft lavender. But mostly because of its name, in honor of the 18th century Russian botanist T. Smelovskii. This is one botanical name that is a joy to learn and say.

June 16, above Linkins Lake 12,400’

Ugly? Not!

Ranunculus inamoenus, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Graceful buttercup, Ranunculus inamoenus

Family

Buttercup, Ranunculaceae

Location

Lower Lost Man, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Wonderful that this flower’s common name, Graceful buttercup, has effectively, by popular vote, overruled its scientific name, which translates as “unattractive” or “ugly” buttercup.” With its shiny, sunny flowers and interesting leaves—basal leaves rounded, stem leaves deeply cut—it definitely deserves better!

A slender fella

Boechera lignifera, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific names

Desert rockress, Boechera lignifera

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Weller Curve, 9,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

”The taxonomic complexity of the Boechera genus is legendary,” proclaims the Flora of North America. Truer words have never been spoken. Telling the different species apart requires examining the plant’s hairs under a microscope, along with the shape and length of its silique (seed pod). “A rare confluence of hybridization, apomixis, and polyploidy makes Boechera one of the most difficult genera in the North American flora.” Having examined all parts of this delightful, delicate spring flower, I am putting my money for the moment on B. lignifera. However, I will need to wait until it goes to seed to examine its silique for certainty. And even then . . .

Word of the day: "cleistogamous"

Viola adunca, June 13, 2023

Common & scientific name

Blue violet, Viola adunca

Family

Violet, Violaceae

Location

Ridge above Turkey, 11,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

As lovely as violets are, they do not rely on pollinators as their primary means of reproduction. Rather, certain of a violet plant’s flowers don’t develop pollinator-attracting attributes, never open, and stay underground or emerge only after their seeds mature into fruits. Such self-fertilizing flowers are “cleistogamous.

June 16, Linkins Lake Trail, 11,700’

The choke's on you

Prunus virginiana, June 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Grottos, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

So named because of its berries’ bitter flavor—and indeed their seeds contain cyanide—Chokecherry is popularly used to make jam, and was a staple of Native American diets, as cooking rids the fruit of its cyanide and bitter taste.

A work of art

Iris missouriensis, June 11, 2023

Twin Lakes, 9,100’, seedpods, August 31, 2023

Common & scientific name

Rocky Mountain iris, Iris missouriensis

Family

Iris, Iridaceae

Location

Twin Lakes, 9,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

More modest in size and coloring than its cultivated brethren, but always a thrill to find in the wild (and to this observer’s eye, more beautiful in its delicacy), this wild iris thrives in wet areas like Twin Lakes meadow and the Grottos

June 20

A beary important berry

Amelanchier alnifolia, June 6, 2023

Common & scientific name

Serviceberry, Amelanchier alnifolia

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Difficult Traill, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Like all members of the Rose family, the flowers of Serviceberry shrubs have five petals. Its berries are eaten by wildlife including birds, rodents, and bears, and the larva of the distinctive, yellow and black Swallowtail butterfly is frequently found here.

Elderberry wine, anyone?

Sambucus racemosa, June 6, 2023

June 13, 2023

In fruit, above Grottos, 10,500’, September 2, 2023

Common & scientific name

Red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa var. microbotrys

Family

Moschatel, Adoxaceae

Location

Weller Campground, 9,250’

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—in lovely red or orange—are safe to eat only after being cooked, and are only marginally palatable. Leave them for the wildlife!

In fruit, above Grottos, 10,500’, September 2, 2023