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Tag Archives: Alberta

Pink Wintergreen

Pink wintergreen, Pyrola asarifolia, is a tiny pinkish treasure of the forest understory. The USDA calls the subspecies of this region, ssp. asarifolia, the liverleaf wintergreen, yet again ruining the poetic beauty of a wildflower with a horrible name.

These nodding flowers emerge in a cluster on a long stalk from shiny, evergreen (hence the name wintergreen), basal leaves.

Also called bog wintergreen or Pyrola rotundifolia, these wildflowers often grow almost hidden by tall grasses or tucked underneath the trees of moist, shaded, mid-elevation forests, but they are quite charming when found!

I have seen this species in numerous western states (and in Alberta, Canada), but never very often. You really have to keep your eyes open for this one!

Blanketflower (Brown-eyed Susan)

16 Jun

Another cheerful yellow bloom of Wyoming and Northern Colorado open spaces is the blanketflower, Gallardia aristata. In some areas, this flower can be found with bright red accents on the petals, but on my local hikes, the red tends to be only a subdued tinge on the bright yellow blossoms.

This species can bloom any time from June through October at a range of elevations throughout the west and north of the U.S. I have found beautiful patches of this flower as far north as Alberta, Canada, as shown in the next picture.

This is another native wildflower that was collected on the Lewis and Clark expedition, in this case in Montana. Also known as common gaillardia, this species can sometimes be called brown-eyed susan as well, although that designation can also refer to the coneflower Rudbeckia triloba, which does not occur in Wyoming or in places to the north.

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Tag Archives: Alberta

Pink Wintergreen

Blanketflower (Brown-eyed Susan)

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