Beautiful but twisted

Streptopus amplixifolius, July 9, 2023

In fruit, Weller Lake, 9,800’, August 15, 2023

Common & scientific name

Twisted stalk, Streptopus amplexifolius

Family

Lily, Liliaceae

Location

Grottos, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This is a rare find on the Pass that I was delighted to see in the popular Grottos day use area. From the US Forest Service’s wonderful “Plant of the Week” blog:

“To the public, scientific names of plants can sound silly, old-fashioned, or even a bit pretentious. Sometimes, however, the Latin name can be quite descriptive and even a bit mellifluous. One of my favorites to pronounce is Streptopus amplexifolius, also known by its less melodious common name of twisted stalk. Technically derived from Greek, “streptos” is twisted and “pous” is footed, referring to the diagnostic 90-degree twist in the flower stalk after it emerges from the base of the upper leaves. To complete the etymology, “amplexi” means clasping and “folius” is leaf in reference to the upper leaves that snuggly embrace the stem.”

When its red-orange berries come out, hanging from its kinked (a better descriptor than “twisted”) stalks (see photos left & below), it is even more glorious!

August 15

Ah, the spectable

Draba spectabilis, July 9, 2023

July 9

Common & scientific name

Showy draba, Draba spectabilis

Family

Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location

Outrageous Overhangs, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Ah, the wonderful yellow drabas! Time to get the microscope out to study the hairs on its leaves, the only way to tell the various species apart. This Draba’s hairs are LESS dense that those of D. aurea, giving it an overall greener look. I’ve also found its leaves to be somewhat wider and the plant often larger than D. aurea, especially at lower altitude like this one.

Fairly fuzzy

Erigeron simplex, July 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

One-stem daisy, Erigeron simplex

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Linkins Lake Trail, 11,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This common tundra plant ranges from lavender to pink to white, has hairy phyllaries (the whorl of bracts surrounding the flower (actually, flowers—as a member of the Sunflower family, the daisy has multiple ray flowers (the “petals”) surrounding multiple disk flowers that make up the yellow middle (the “button”)), and simple (undivided, smooth on the edge) leaves. Its phyllaries are NOT as fuzzy as those of Erigeron grandiflorus (compare photos).

Go ahead, be crass

Senecio crassulus, July 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

Thickleaf ragwort, Senecio crassulus

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Upper Lost Man, 11,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This hairless Senecio has thick leaves (“crass” means “thick” in Latin) with sharp teeth at least on its stem flowers 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.

Naturalizing nicely

Rumex crispus, July 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

Curly dock, Rumex crispus

Family

Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location

Roadside near Lincoln Creek turnoff, 9,700’

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.

The higher goldenrod

Solidago simplex, July 18, 2023

July 18

Common & scientific name

Dwarf goldenrod, Solidago simplex

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Linkins Lake area, 12,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

The only sure-fire method of distinguishing this from the similar-looking Solidago multiradiata is to look at the petioles (the leaf stems) on its lower leaves to see if they are strongly ciliate-margined (have hairs sticking straight out on their edges, and if their outer phyllaries are shorter than the inner (imbricate: overlapping like shingles on a roof. The answer to the first is no, the second yes, differentiating it from S. multiradiata. It CAN hybridize with S. multiradiata, though . . .

A (non) ray of sunshine

Arnica parryi, July 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

Parry’s arnica, Arnica parryi

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Linkins Lake Trail, 11,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Rayless and nodding, Parry’s arnica is easy to tell apart from our other arnicas, all of which have opposite and (mostly) fuzzy leaves. It was named after the eminent, mid-19th century botanist Charles Parry, for whom many of Colorado’s wildflowers are named.

Roadside wonder

Holodiscus discolor, July 18, 2023

Common & scientific name

Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Weller curve, 9,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This drought-tolerant, quickly-growing shrub loves the Pass’s lower roadside and other areas. And if you guessed it was in the rose family, you are a better botanist than me!

Another c-p

Potentilla hippiana, front side, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific names

Wooly cinquefoil, Potentilla hippiana

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Roadside, 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Distinguishable from other potentillas by the (slight) separation between leaflets; backside is much fuzzier than the front; and usually grows well below treeline.

Backside

Bad hair day

Senecio amplectens var. amplectens, July 11, 2023

Mountain Boy, 11,300’, August 10, 2023

New York Peak, 11,700’, September 2, 2023

Common & scientific name

Showy alpine ragwort, Senecio amplectens var. amplectens

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Lower Lost Man, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

I so love this flower! Something about the way its petals bend and fold in different directions, in sometimes scraggly ways, as seen below, and the fact that it appears only occasionally in spruce/fir forests, or below along a steep streambank, makes this flower feel like a friend too rarely seen. A friend calls it the “bad hair day” flower.

Midway Trail, 11,500’, July 22, 2023

Telltale turions

Epilobium hornemannii, July 11, 2023

Gone to seed, upper Lost Man Trail, 11,600’, August 7, 2023

Common & scientific name

Hornemann’s willowherb, Epilobium hornemannii

Family

Evening primrose, Onagraceae

Location

Upper Lost Man Trail, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Willowherbs are notoriously difficult to identify, as they often interbreed, are individually variable, and just plain look alike. The only way one can be certain that this plant is indeed this species is by uprooting it and checking for turions, little fleshy bulbs attached to the base of the stem. Hornemann’s doesn’t have them. I have only done this once (sacrificed willowherbs for ID purposes), and won’t again. Narrowing it down to “willowherb” is close enough!

Three heads are better than one

Arnica mollis, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Hairy arnica, Arnica mollis

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Upper Lost Man trailhead, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

As its name suggests, this arnica is fuzzy on its stems and leaves, often has three flower heads growing (see buds midway up stem at right), and its pappas (bristly parts under the disk flowers/button) are tannish, not white. It emerges as the common A. cordifolia, Heart-leaved arnica, is receding.

Modesty in the name of the future

Chamerion danielsii, July 11, 2023

Ptarmigan area, 11,400’, August 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium

Family

Evening primrose, Onagraceae

Location

Difficult, 8,100’

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, to reemerge.

A most golden weed

Tonestus lyallii, July 11, 2023

Summit, 12,100’, July 25, 2023

Common & scientific name

Lyall’s goldenweed, Tonestus lyallii

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Below Geissler, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Distinguishable from its close cousin, T. pygmaeus, by the gland tipped, pinhead hairs on its leaves. Named after the early-19th century Scottish explorer, David Lyall.

Linkins Lake area, July 18, 2023

The big fuzzy wuzzy

Agoseris glauca var. dasycephala, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Pale agoseris, Agoseris glauca var. dasycephala

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Upper Lost Man, 11,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Much taller than A. glauca, much fuzzier, much bigger head, and found only in the high subalpine or alpine. I love this big fuzz head!

Beautiful but deadly

Zigadenus elegans, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Mountain death camas, Zigadenus elegans

Family

False hellebore, Melanthiaceae

Location

Upper Lost Man, 11,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Its name says it all: this lovely (former) member of the lily family is extremely poisonous. It was reportedly responsible for the deaths of early western settlers who mistook its bulbs for Alliums (wild onions) or other edibles.

July 11

Things are looking rosy

Castilleja rhexifolia, July 11, 2023

Upper Lost Man, 12,300’, July 21, 2023

Blue Lake area, 12,000’, July 30,2023

Cross, Green Mountain, 11,700’, August 2, 2023

Common & scientific name

Rosy paintbrush, Castilleja rhexifolia

Family

Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location

Upper Lost Man, 11,800’

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!

July 21

Green Mountain, 11,900’, August 2, 2023

Not just a pretty face

Bistorta bistortoides, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

American bistort, Bistorta bistortoides

Family

Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location

Linkins Lake Trail, 11,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

One of our most common subalpine and alpine flowers. Bistort has a long history of use by Native Americans as food and for medicinal purposes, and is also favored by many animals.

Upper Lost Man, 12,000’, August 26, 2023

Another lousy wort

Pedicularis bracteosa, July 12, 2023

Common & scientific name

Bracted lousewort, Pedicularis bracteosa

Family

Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location

Upper Lost Man TH, 11,600

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.

Ruby area, 11,700’, August 4, 2023

Arnica #2

Arnica rybergii, July 11, 2023

Common & scientific name

Rydberg’s arnica, Arnica rydbergii

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Linkins Lake Trail, 11,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This Arnica can be distinguished from the other half-dozen hard-to-tell-apart Arnicas by its location (likes treeline and dry slopes), single flower on top (unlike A. mollis which usually has three), usually smaller than A. latifolia, and as it ages, the tips of its petals whiten (see photo to come).