Heuchera parviflora, June 21, 2022
Common & scientific name
Littleleaf or Common alumroot, Heuchera parvifolia var. nivalis
Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae
Location
Above Linkins Lake, 12,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Delicate, wonderful, if somewhat nondescript plant of the alpine. It is generally found tucked up against the leeward side of rocks, amongst lovely alpine gardens.
Antennaria rosea, June 20, 2022
A. rosea, roadside 11,700’, July 1, 2022
Common & scientific name
Rosy pussytoes, Antennaria rosea
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Grottos, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Called “pussytoes” because of their tightly packed flower head’s resemblance to the underside of a cat’s paw, Rosy pussytoes is our loveliest species owing to its bright rosy heads. Each colony of pussytoes is a clone with all the plants connected to one another by underground rhizomes, and their evergreen leaf mats cover the ground throughout the four seasons
A. rosea, roadside, 11,400’, August 5, 2022
Saxifraga bronchialis, June 20, 2022
S. bronchialis, Twining, 12,200’, July 1, 2022
Common & scientific name
Spotted saxifrage, Saxifraga bronchialis
Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae
Location
Grottos climbing wall, 9,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This delightfully dainty Saxifrage earns its name as a “rock breaker,” as it is usually found sprouting out of the side of a rock crevice or fracture. Saxifrages grow as far north as any species of wildflower in the world, and as such are quite at home in our high mountains.
S. bronchialis, Top Cut 12,100’, July 14, 2022
Dodecatheon pulchellem, June 18, 2022
D. pulchellem, June 18, 2022
Common & scientific name
Shooting star, Dodecatheon pulchellem
Family
Primrose, Primulaceae
Location
North Halfmoon Lakes Trail, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found only in consistently wet places, its elegant shape and delicate, contrasting colors make this a top find of the summer. Its name derives from “twelve gods” (genus) and “handsome” (species) (thank you, Janis Huggins!). This is the closest to the Pass I’ve found this flower: the Crested Butte-Marble area is better endowed.
Primula angustifolia, June 18, 2022
P. angustifolia, upper Lost Man, 12850’, June 21, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine primrose, Primula angustifolia
Family
Primrose, Primulaceae
Location
Halfmoon Lakes, 12,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Found only in Colorado and northern New Mexico, this diminutive version of its much taller cousin, the water-loving Parry’s primrose, is found on dry subalpine and alpine ridges, often in the protection of rocks. Its neon-magenta flowers, largely identical to those of Parry’s, light up the tundra under our feet.
Polemonium pulcherrimum, June 18, 2022
Common & scientific name
Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium pulcherrimum
Family
Phlox, Polemoniaceae
Location
North Halfmoon Trail, 10,600’
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!
Phlox congesta, June 18, 2022
Common & scientific name
Dwarf phlox, Phlox condensata
Family
Phlox, Polemoniaceae
Location
Halfmoon Lakes, 12,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
What a beauty! And found only on the east side of Independence Pass. These dense cushions can cover large swaths of rocky tundra, conjuring up small snowfields. Its flowers are the purest white: unmistakeable.
P. congesta, June 18, 2022
Primula parryi, June 18, 2022
P. parryi, Brooklyn Creek, 10,400’ June 28, 2022
Common & scientific name
Parry’s primrose, Primula parryi
Family
Primrose, Primulaceae
Location
North Halfmoon Trail, 10,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Known for its big, brilliant magenta flowers and stale-perfume-like smell, nothing lights up a high mountain stream like Parry’s primrose. Look for its smaller cousin, P. angustifolia, on drier alpine slopes.
P. parryi, Brooklyn Creek, 10,400’, June 28, 2022
Antennaria corymbosa, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Flat-top pussytoes, Antennari corymbosa
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
North Fork Lake Creek, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
In order to tell this pussytoe apart from its half-dozen cousins, look for white disk flowers with a dark spot near the base of the phyllaries. According to Flora of North America, “Antennaria corymbosa is a sexual progenitor of the A. rosea complex.” I.e., it’s Rosy pussytoes’ mom!
Ribes coloradense, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Colorado currant, Ribes coloradense
Family
Gooseberry, Grossulariaceae
Location
Blue Lake Trail, 11,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our half-dozen species of gooseberry, larger leaved than the others and spineless, found in wet forests, producing black berries with hairs (still edible).
R. coloradense leaves, June 17, 2022
Cerastium arvense ssp. strictum, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Field chickweed, Cerastium arvense ssp. strictum
Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae
Location
North Fork Lake Creek Trail, 10,800
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The foremost authority on Colorado flora, William Weber (at least prior to Jennifer Ackerfield’s arrival: the jury is still out), believes this flower is classified erroneously not only species-wise, but family-wise: “This family [which he identifies as Alsinaceae] is usually placed as a subfamily of Caryophyllaceae, but it differs obviously in having its flowers constructed differently, with separate instead of united sepals, and petals without narrow basal claws.”
Obviously.
Furthermore: “C. arvense is a northern European tetraploid [having four sets of similarly structured chromosomes] occurring in America at low altitudes only as a weed. Our plants are diploid [two sets] and are related to, if not identical to, the diploid C. strictum of the high mountains of Eurasia.”
This plant is also called Mouse-ear chickweed. As in Mickey.
All joking aside, I am forever indebted to Dr. Weber for his meticulous work and complete devotion to Colorado’s flora, without which all Colorado wildflower lovers would be wildly impoverished.
Lloydia serotina, June 17, 2022
L. serotina, summit, 12,200’, June 27, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alp lily, Lloydia serotina
Family
Lily, Liliaceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A dainty lily with purple pencil markings on its white petals, grass-like leaves, and standing just 4 or 5” high, easily overlooked hiding among rocks or other alpine flowers and grasses. Worth seeking out!
Vaccinium scoparium, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Broom huckleberry, Vaccinium scoparium
Family
Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Blue Lake Trail, 11,300’
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!
Dryas octopetala, June 17, 2022
D. octopetala seed heads, Geissler ridge, 12,500’, August 24, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain avens, Dryas octopetala
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,500
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This white, eight-petaled, evergreen-leaved, mat-forming soil stabilizer is playing an important part in the study of climate and climate change. “Fossils of Dryas plants are important to paleo-ecologists studying past episodes of climate change and shifts in arctic-alpine vegetation. Late in the Pleistocene, the climate of the northern hemisphere began to gradually warm as the last great Ice Age went into retreat. On two occasions, the general pattern of warming was abruptly reversed for periods of 300-1000 years and arctic tundra vegetation returned to areas that had been changing to forest cover. Ecologists refer to these periods as the Older Dryas (approximately 13,800 years ago) and the Younger Dryas (11,500-12,800 years ago) because of the prevalence of Dryas fossils. The exact cause of the relatively rapid change in climate (estimated to have taken just a few decades) are still being debated, but may bear on research into contemporary climate change.”
Info courtesy of the US Forest Service’s wonderful “Plant of the Week” website: go to https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/ to see more.
Same
Ribes montigenum, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain gooseberry, Ribes montigenum
Family
Gooseberry, Grossulariaceae
Location
North Fork Lake Creek Trail, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
One of our half-dozen species of gooseberry, producing arguably the tastiest of the group in late summer, Mountain gooseberry’s branches are covered in short prickles along with whorls of thicker, longer spines at the leaf nodes—so pick your berries carefully! It can be distinguished from other gooseberries by its leaves, which are divided almost to the base into three coarsely toothed lobes, and are covered in sticky, glandular hairs. Its berries are bright red and covered in short, tasteless, and totally unharmful hairs. Enjoy the bounty!
Minuartia obtusiloba, June 17, 2022
M. obtusiloba, large-flowered version, above Linkins Lake, 12,300’, July 12, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine sandwort, Minuartia obtusiloba
Family
Pink, Caryophyllacaea
Location
Blue Lake, 12,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Reminiscent of Alpine forget-me-nots and Moss campion in its matted structure and (relatively) large flowers compared to its leaves, Alpine sandwort thrives, too, on dry, rocky, windy alpine ridges, and is always a treat to encounter.
M. obtusiloba, above Linkins Lake, 12,350’, June 21, 2022
Draba crassifolia, June 17, 2022
D. crassifolia, above Linkins Lake, 12,400’ 6.21.22
Common & scientific name
Snowbed draba, Draba crassifolia
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,350’
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!
D. crassifolia in fruit, summit 12,200’, July 13, 2022
Mertenisa lanceolata, June 17, 2022
M. lanceolata, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine bluebells, Mertensia lanceolata
Family
Borage, Boraginaceae
Location
Blue Lake area, 12,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
These are not the bluebells of Scottish fame (those are harebells, in their own Bellflower family), but our Mertensias grace our slopes from the valley floor in spring (M. fusiformis) to the alpine (here) and at all elevations near water in their largest form (M. ciliata).
M. lanceolata above Linkins Lake, 12,400’ 6.21.22
Lewisia pygmaea, June 17, 2022
L. pygmaea, early emerging, Blue Lake, 12,200’, June 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Pygmy bitterroot, Lewisia pygmaea
Family
Purslane, Portulaceae
Location
Blue Lake Trail, 11,700’
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!
Rare white version of L. pygmaea, Lower Lost Man, 10,900’, July 4, 2022
Valerian edulis, June 17, 2022
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.