Inelegantly named

Lewisia pygmaea, June 23, 2023

White version, Geissler, 12,100’, July 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Pygmy bitterroot, Lewisia pygmaea

Family

Miner’s Lettuce, Montiaceae

Location

Mt. Champion, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

The much tinier cousin of the state flower of Montana, the Bitterroot, this light pink to lavender to magenta (when it first comes out) beauty sits tight on the tundra among its long, fleshy leaves, protecting itself from the cold temps and desiccating winds. Add it to your list of miniature alpine wonders!

Twining, 12,500’, June 29, 2023

White draba

Draba cana, June 23, 2023

Common & scientific name

Cushion draba, Draba cana

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Above Linkins Lake, 12,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Another white alpine draba, this one quite a bit taller and fuller than D. lonchocarpa, standing 6+ inches high when fully grown, with leaves on its stem, some leaves with teeth, complex hairs on all parts, and with siliques standing straight up (photo to come).

Above Linkins Lake, June 27, 2023

Skunks are beautiful!

Polemonium pulcherrimum, June 23, 2023

Common & scientific name

Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium pulcherrimum

Family

Phlox, Polemoniaceae

Location

Lackawanna Gulch, 11,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

“Pulcherrimum” means “very beautiful.” Indeed. These low-lying, soft-blue, light-purple flowers light up the brown understories of dry lodgepole and spruce/fir forests. And like their alpine cousin, P. viscosum, Sky pilot, they emit a less-than-beautiful skunk-like odor in the wind. Enjoy the paradox!

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Lodgepole lupine

Lupinus parviflorus, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Lodgepole lupine, Lupinus parviflorus

Family

Pea, Fabaceae

Location

Twin Lake, 9,250

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

While abundant in the mid valley and in the Elk Mountains, lupine is surprisingly sparse on the Pass. This lupine, Lodgepole lupine, has a narrow, densely-packed spike of small purple flowers, and skinny leaves that curl in on each other and are smooth on top and hairy (straight and appressed) on the back.

Ain't no stinkin' senecio

Hymenoxis richardsonii, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Richardson’s bitterweed, Hymenoxis richardsonii

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Twin Lakes, 9,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This plant, new to me and only found on the lower east side of the Pass near Twin Lakes as far as I know, I previously misidentified as a Senecio, based on a superficial resemblance (yellow flowers and similar “habit,” pretty much). Upon closer examination of its “petals” (ray florets), I noticed they have three teeth, or lobes, just like Old Man of the Mountain. Once the genus was identified, getting to the species was easy. With as many genera of Aster as we have, that is the tricky part, and a reminder that ALL parts of the plant must be closely observed to make a positive ID.

Mind the sheep

Oxytropis sericea, June 21, 2023

June 21

Common & scientific name

White locoweed, Oxytropis sericea

Family

Pea, Fabaceae

Location

Twin Lakes, 9,250’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Locoweed gets its name from the numerous problems it has caused in domestic livestock. Locoweeds contain an alkaloid that disrupts cellular function in these animals. According to Montana Plant Life, “locoism causes depression, incoordination, and nervousness under stress. Death can result. The cellular problems occur most readily in tissues of the nervous system. Pregnant animals often abort or give birth to young with congenital deformities. Congestive right heart disease occurs at high altitudes.”

June 21

A woolly one

Potentilla hippiana, front side of leaf, June 21, 2023

Back side of leaf

Common & scientific name

Woolly cinquefoil, Potentilla hippiana

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Twin Lakes, 9,250’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Here we go: welcome to the whacky world of Potentillas, or Cinquefoils, upwards of a dozen of which live on the Pass, all with similar looking yellow flowers (except the white P. arguta), all differentiated by their leaves.

Woolly cinquefoil can be distinguished from its many cousins by the white-woolly underside of its leaflets and greener but still hairy top side, and numerous, pinnate (ladder-like) leaflets, as shown clearly in these photos.

Carpe diem!

Linum lewisii, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Blue flax, Linum lewisii

Family

Flax, Linaceae

Location

Winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

“Pluck the day [for it is ripe], trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.” This is the more accurate and complete translation of the oft-cited “carpe diem,” which is usually reduced to “seize the day” and leaves out “quam minimum credula postero.” I prefer this translation because it captures perfectly, in botanical terms even, the lesson of the blue flax: it blooms for exactly one day. Its petals open in the morning, and fall off by afternoon. Blue flax knows no tomorrow. Would that we all could live that way!

Big daddy dandelions

Tragapogon dubius, June 21, 2023

Seedhead, Difficult, 8,100’, July 19, 2023

Common & scientific name

Yellow salsify, Tragapogon dubius & T. pratensis

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Roadside, 8,300’ and roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Non-natives known mostly for their huge, dandelion-like seed head. Salsify was introduced from Europe owing to its edible roots. The pointy phyllaries exceeding its ray florets distinguish Tragapogon dubius from T. pratensis below.

Tragapogon pratensis, June 21, 2023

Smokin' soft

Geum triflorum, June 21, 2023

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Common & scientific name

Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

North Fork Lake Creek TH, 10,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This sublimely soft, rosy, nodding flower is always a delight to find, whether it’s a single plant or whether it fills a meadow. Its seed heads are reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss hair style (see bottom left). Interestingly, it is the plant’s rosy bracts and sepals, not its small, pale petals just protruding at the tip of the flower, that give Prairie smoke its elegant color and shape.

East summit, 12,000’, July 2, 2023

Tobacco's waning appeal

Valeriana edulis, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Edible valerian, Valeriana edulis

Family

Valerian, Valerianaceae

Location

North Fork Lake Creek Trail, 10,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Valerian is famous in part for its roots, which when cooked are appealing in the way that tobacco is (it is also commonly known as “Tobacco root”): that is, very appealing to some, almost nauseating to others. It’s really just as fun to look at.

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Your (lower) roadside companion

Heterothca villosa, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Hairy golden aster, Heterotheca villosa

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Roadside, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

While all guide books describe this plant as “highly variable” (in size, leaf shape, hairiness, etc.), it is easily identifiable by its strongly pungent smell, location (dry, exposed places, often roadside), and its numerous yellow flowers atop a mound of grayish-green leaves. Its alpine cousin, H. pumila, looks similar (and they may interbreed), but it generally has larger yellow flowers and, well, grows higher. I tried for years to distinguish these two species, but have now decided not to make the perfect the enemy of the good: if it’s up high, it’s H. pumila, if it’s not, it’s H. villosa.

Friendly fire

Rubus idaeus, June 21, 2023

In fruit, Lincoln turnoff 9,800’, August 10, 2023

Common & scientific name

American red raspberry, Rubus idaeus

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Weller Curve, 9,500’

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!

She just gets better

Sorbs scopulina, June 20, 2023

Common & scientific name

Mountain ash, Sorbus scopulina

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This small tree is more likely to capture your attention later in the summer, when it produces bright reddish-orange berries, and then again in the fall when its leaves turn lovely, soft shades of red, yellow, and orange.

Difficult, 8,200’, in fruit, August 31, 2023

A pointillist paintbrush

Castilleja linarifolia, June 20, 2023

Roadside, 8,350’, July 6, 2023

Common & scientific name

Wyoming paintbrush, Castilleja linarifolia

Family

Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

One of five species of paintbrushes found on the Pass, Wyoming paintbrush (so named because it is the state flower of Wyoming) is found at the lowest elevations on the Pass. Typically this species is identified as a late summer flower, but not on the Pass. C. linarifolia is the tallest and skinniest paintbrush in appearance, due to its mostly linear leaves, and does not have the soft, fuzzy appearance of its red cousin, Castilleja miniata. It occasionally takes on varying shades of yellow and orange, likely through mutation.

A pretty potentilla

Potentilla pulcherrima, June 20, 2023

Backside of leaf

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 yellow flowers (except P. arguta, which is white). 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. As seen in these photos, they are green on the “front” side and fuzzy-white-hairy on the “back”

Fairy time

Calypso bulbosa, June 20, 2023

Common & scientific name

Fairy slipper, Calypso bulbosa

Family

Orchid, Orchidaceae

Location

Difficult Creek, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This early-blooming, circumboreal orchid was named after the sea nymph Calypso of Homer’s Odyssey. Like Calypso, this delicate beauty prefers secluded forest haunts, where she brings delight to the observant hiker.

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Pioneer pea

Astragalus alpinus, June 18, 2023

Summit, 12,100’, July 25, 2023

Common & scientific name

Alpine milkvetch, Astragalus alpinus

Family

Pea, Fabaceae

Location

Star Mountain, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This circumpolar, pioneer plant may be the most widely distributed and common Astragalus in the world. While it is rarely found above treeline in our area, despite its name, and is more common on the east side of the Pass than the west, it is always a delight to find, in subalpine woods, meadows, and even (especially!) roadside, with its dainty purple-and-white flowers set among its sprawling ladder-like leaves. It is also enjoyed by caribou, arctic hares, and greater snow geese (as food, that is), and grizzly bears forage its underground parts.

O Tay, Buckwheat

Eriogonum umbellatum, June 20, 2023

Common & scientific name

Yellow buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum

Family

Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Widespread in habitat, elevation, and appearance, and according to Janis Huggins in Wild at Heart, its genus Eriogonum is “the largest genus endemic to North America, with more than 300 species, fifty of them occurring in the Rocky Mountains.”

Lookin' sharp

Valerian acutiloba, June 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

Sharpleaf valerian, Valerian acutiloba

Family

Valerian, Valerianaceae

Location

South Fork Lake Creek, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Valerian is famous in part for its roots, which when cooked are appealing in the way that tobacco is (it is also commonly known as “Tobacco root”): that is, very appealing to some, almost nauseating to others. It’s really just as fun to look at. Sharpleaf valerian is a smallish plant with soft-pink flowers that can be found into the alpine. It is less common in our area than its taller, smellier cousin, V. edulis.

June 18