Campanula rotundifolia, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia
Family
Bellflower, Campanulaceae
Location
Roadside, 10,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This IS the bluebell of Scotland (not our smaller Mertensia bluebells). The fact that this plant is sometimes found in areas inhabited by hares—rabbits—may explain its common name. It is commonly found on the Pass in the montane and subalpine zones.
Meadow 10,400’, August 2, 2023
Hymenoxis hoopesii, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Sneezeweed, Hymenoxis hoopesii
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This funky flower is always a surprise: in its characteristically droopy, bedraggled petals (ray florets), its orange-ish color, its tall stature, and its ability to grow at myriad elevations and times of year.
Apparently its common name comes from the historic use of the crushed, dried leaves and flower heads to make a snuff that caused sneezing. In any event, how can you not love a flower named “sneezeweed!”
Pyrola asarifolia, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Pink pyrola or wintergreen, Pyrola asarifolia
Family
Wintergreen, Pyrolaceae or Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Roadside, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Grows in wetter forests or shaded meadows, and owing to its color and shape can’t easily be confused with other wintergreens. Look for it when it starts to go to seed—it looks like an elephanthead!
Conioselinum scopulorum, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Hemlock parsley, Conioselinum scopulorum
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
Linkins Lake, 12,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The sheath on the single stem leave midway up the plant is the defining feature of this uncommon, water-loving parsley. I PRESUME it’s poisonous owing to its name, but can’t find info one way or the other (?)
Gentianopsis thermalis/detonsa, August 1, 2023
Roadside, 10,600’, August 7, 2023
Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain fringed gentian, Gentianopsis detonsa/thermalis
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Roadside, 11,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This delightful, widespread gentian (think roadside ditches, among other wet places) has four spiraling, delicately-fringed, deep-blue or deep-purple petals (compare the photos at left). “Thermalis” refers to the thermal pools of Yellowstone, where this gentian is particularly abundant and has been designated the park’s official flower.
Linkins Lake, 12,000’, August 7, 2023
Lost Man Reservoir, 10,600’, August 10, 2023
Senecio atratus, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Black-tipped senecio, Senecio atratus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
We LOVE this native flower at the Independence Pass Foundation because it doesn’t mind—maybe prefers—disturbed ground, like roadsides or rock retaining walls, where it stabilizes steep slopes where other flowers find it hard to grow. It is also tall, handsome, and an unusual shade of gray-green (owing to the thick hairs on its leaves), and grows in large colonies. And it’s well-named and easy to remember: its phyllaries have distinct black tips!
Gentiana parryi, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Bottle gentian, Gentiana parryi
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This bright, blue-purple goblet puts out one to a half-dozen blooms per plant (alpine plants tend to have single blooms, lower growing more), opening fully only in sunshine. This and its other purple gentian cousins are some of the last wildflowers to grace the Pass above treeline—enjoy!
August 1
Chamerion latifolium, August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Dwarf fireweed, Chamerion latifolium
Family
Evening primrose, Onagraceae
Location
Roadside, 11,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Smaller plant and larger flowers than its close cousin, Chamerion angustifolium, and won’t be found roadside but rather creekside or ditch-side!. It is the national flower of Greenland: good choice, Greenland!
Mountain Boy, 11,000’, August 10, 2023
Ranunculus pygmaeus, August 4, 2023
Mountain Boy, 11,800’, August 10, 2023
Common & scientific name
Pygmy buttercup, Ranunculus pygmaeus
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Above Ruby, 12,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Standing less than two inches tall, usually tucked up against a wet rock or cliff area for protection, this tiny buttercup is always a treat to find! Its palmate, wider-than-tall leaves, with a single middle lobe and double side lobes, are diagnostic, as is its small size.
Mountain Boy, 11,800’, August 10, 2023
Stellaria longipes, July 30, 2023
Common & scientific name
Long-stalked starwort, Stellaria longipes
Family
Pink, Capryophyllaceae
Location
North Fork Lost Creek trail, 10,900’
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 fremontii, July 30, 2023
Common & scientific name
Dwarf mountain ragwort, Senecio fremontii
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This mostly alpine plants grows up to a foot high in rounded clumps in and around rock fields and boulders. Its leaves are succulent and sharply toothed. It is always a joy and an encouragement, somehow, to see dwarf mountain ragwort on a high mountain climb!
Green Mountain, 11,800’, August 2, 2023
Symphyotrichum foliaceum, July 30, 2023
August 1, 2023
Common & scientific name
Leafy aster, Symphyotrichum foliaceum (Aster foliaceus)
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
North Fork Lost Creek trail, 11,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
What an incredibly variable plant this late-summer aster is! Its wider “petals” (ray florets) and broader, layered, leaf-like phyllaries distinguish it from the earlier-blooming Erigerons. In subalpine and alpine meadows, it commonly grows just 6” high, with few flower heads, and is often a deep purple/lavender. Roadside it grows up to 3’ high with many (lighter-colored) flowered heads and noticeably red stems (photo to come).
I just wish they had come up with a more memorable, or pronounceable, or spell-able, name to replace “Aster” with . . . .
Pedicularis racemosa, July 30, 2023
Green Mountain, 11,000’, August 2, 2023
Common & scientific name
Sickletop lousewort, Pedicularis racemosa
Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae
Location
North Fork Lake Creekl, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Look for this wonderfully-shaped wildflower en masse under spruce and fir trees in the subalpine zone. From the US Forest Service’s wonderful “Plant of the Week” post:
“Traditionally, Pedicularis has been included in the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae). Louseworts have green leaves and produce their own food through photosynthesis but also have roots capable of capturing nutrients and water from adjacent plants, making them partially parasitic. Recent genetic studies have shown that Pedicularis and other hemiparasitic genera in the Scrophulariaceae (including the Indian paintbrushes, Castilleja) are better placed in the broomrape family (Orobanchaceae), with species that are true parasites that lack green chlorophyll.
Another recent discovery implicates Leafy [Sickletop] lousewort as an alternate host for White pine blister rust. An introduced fungus called Cronartium ribicola causes this infectious disease of five-needled pines [including Limber and Bristlecone pines]. . . . It remains unknown whether Leafy [Sickletop] lousewort has served as an alternate host for blister rust for decades, or if this relationship has evolved only recently.”
Gentiana algida, July 30, 2023
Upper Lost Man, 12,000’, August 26, 2023
August 26
Common & scientific name
Arctic gentian, Gentiana algida
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our loveliest and latest-blooming alpine flowers. Its delicate, whitish, almost see-through petals are decorated with purple or green lines and tiny spots. Its thick rosette of long, green leaves comes out a month or more before the flower. It can be found on dry alpine ground where only a few hearty flowers remain, as well as in wet areas. See this jewel of a gentian and kiss summer on the tundra goodbye! (2023 seems to be a banner year for this lovely.)
August 26
Cirsium eatonii, July 25, 2023
Common & scientific name
Eaton’s thistle, Cirsium eatonii
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Summit, 12,100’
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!
Descurainia californica, July 25, 2023
Common & scientific name
Sierra tansymustard, Descurainia californica
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Summit, 12,100’
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 tricky 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!
Rhodiola rhodantha, July 25, 2023
From above, Blue Lake area, 12,000’, July 30, 2023
Common & scientific name
Queen’s crown, Rhodiola rhodantha
Family
Stonecrop, Crassulaceae
Location
Summit, 12,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This succulent beauty always grows in wet places and has a taller, rounder top of pink and red flowers than King’s crown, which has a flatter top of dark-wine, sometimes almost black flowers, and which can grow in dryer locations. Queen’s crowns leave turn an electric-red in the late summer, as seen below.
Blue Lake area, 12,000’, July 30, 2023
Above Linkins Lake, fall leaves, 12,400’, September 11, 2023
Bistorta vivipara, July 25, 2023
Common & scientific name
Alpine bistort, Bistorta vivipara
Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae
Location
Summit, 12,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
"Vivipara" is Latin for "brings forth alive.” A viviparous plant reproduces from buds that form plantlets while still attached to the parent plant. In the case of Bistorta vivipara, little red bulblets are produced below and next to its small, white flowers.
Blue Lake area, 12,500’, July 30, 2023
Cirsium parryi, July 24, 2023
Common & scientific name
Parry’s thistle, Cirsium parryi
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 9,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
As I’ve said before, 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 uncommon on the Pass, found mostly at mid-elevation (montane), and has distinctly yellow flowers (which don’t show up well in these photos due to extremely-dry conditions/flowers wilting)
July 24
Erigeron divergens, July 24, 2023
Common & scientific name
Spreading fleabane or daisy, Erigeron divergens
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 9,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A densely hairy, late-blooming, highly-branching (hence the name) Erigeron seen low and late on the Pass. Its stem leaves are characteristically almost clasping the stem. Lots and lots of flowers, replacing its earlier-blooming cousin, Erigeron flagellaris.