Matricaria perforata, September 4, 2023
Common & scientific name
Scentless chamomile, Matricaria perforata
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lower Lost Man TH, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The best thing that can be said about this non-native, non-odorous weed is that it pulls easier than any other.
Cornus alba, in fruit, August 31, 2023
Common & scientific name
Redosier Dogwood, Cornus alba ssp. stolonifera
Family
Dogwood, Cornaceae
Location
Difficult, 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This lovely, water-loving shrub is enjoyed by dozens of our local animals: its stems and shoots are browsed by moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, beavers, and smaller rodents, and its berries are eaten in the fall by bear, rabbits, squirrels, and many birds, including woodpeckers.
Erigeron eximius, August 31, 2023
Common & scientific name
Splendid daisy, Erigeron eximius
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This late-blooming daisy has hairy stems, hairy/glandular phyllaries of roughly the same length curving downward at the tips (like many Erigerons), long-petioled basal leaves, well-reduced stem leaves, and stems that curve below the flowers (see photos). Hooray for the late-bloomers!
August 31
Gentiana affinis, August 31, 2023
Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain gentian, Gentiana affinis
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Each of this lovely gentian’s purple flowers has 5 lobes, somewhat pointed, with tiny pointed projections between the lobes. Its stems are reddish, with opposite leaves that are narrower up top, becoming wider near the bottom. It is a beauty, and best seen in the wet meadows of Twin Lakes.
August 31
Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, August 31, 2023
Common & scientific name
Viscid rabbitbrush, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This five-foot-high behemoth of a shrub looks and acts like an invasive, but is in fact native to and found throughout North America. It rapidly establishes in disturbed habitat (hence its weed-like feel), but is useful for revegetating lands damaged by human activities and natural disasters.
Gentianella tenella, August 26, 2023
Common & scientific name
Lapland gentian, Gentianella tenella
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Upper Lost Man, 12,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This one is easy to miss! Standing just several inches high, usually a single, white/blue/soft purple, 4-petaled flower with fringed scales at its base sits atop a leafless stem. Look for it along tarn edges and in wet areas. Lapland gentian makes for a great, late-summer treasure hunt!
August 26
Rorippa alpina, August 23, 2023
Common & scientific name
Alpine yellowcress, Rorippa alpina
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Linkins Lake TH, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Alpine yellowcress is a low-growing plant found in wet places, including roadside ditches here. It is weedy looking, but not a weed (it is native), and like all mustards, is edible.
Chaenactis douglasii var. alpina, August 23, 2023
Common & scientific name
Alpine dusty maiden, Chaenactis douglasii var. alpina
Family
Aster, Asteraceae
Location
Indy-Mountain Boy ridge, 12,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Rayless, with pistils and stamens protruding around and beyond the white disk flowers (not visible here as flowers had begun to close), this decidedly odd, unmistakeable, and uncommon plant is always a delight to find.
Agoseris glauca, August 23, 2023
Common & scientific name
Pale agoseris, Agoseris glauca
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Independence Ridge, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This flower can look at first glance like a dandelion, with its single yellow flower head on a leafless stalk. The big differences lie in the phyllaries and the basal leaves: the phyllaries do not curl over backwards like a dandelion’s, and are green with purple stripes; and the leaves are simple, not cut. It’s fruit, called a cypsela, has soft, white bristles resembling the puff ball of a dandelion (photo to come!)
Spiranthes romanzoffiana, August 21, 2023
Upper Lost Man, 11,600’ August 26, 2023
Common & scientific name
Hooded ladies-tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana
Family
Orchid, Orchidaceae
Location
Lost Man Reservoirr, 10,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
We don’t see this one very often on the Pass, so it is an exciting find. Its braid-like design of white flowers ascending in a geometric spiral distinguishes it from other orchids like white bog orchid. It grows in wet, often sheltered or shady places, and is a singular delight!
August 21
Chimaphila umbellata, August 15, 2023
Common & scientific name
Pipsessawa, Chimaphila umbellata
Family
Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Weller Lake, 10,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Look for this treasure in healthy, somewhat moist conifer forests. Pipsessewa, or prince’s pine, features several, intricate, pink-white-magenta flowers turned shyly downward over a whorl of dark, evergreen, sharply-toothed leaves.
Veratrum californicum, August 15, 2023
Common & scientific name
Corn lily, false hellebore, skunk cabbage, Veratrum californicum
Family
False hellebore, Melanthiaceae
Location
Ptarmigan area, 11,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This year, as in many (most?), corn lilies bloom and seed little: we usually just see their architecturally elegant leaves. When they bloom en masse (aka “masting”), it improves their chances of cross-pollination, although they also reproduce through underground shoots, like aspen trees. Scientists at RMBL believe they mast two years after a “cool” summer. 2021 “cool”? Not so much.
Oreochrysum parryi, August 15, 2023
Common & scientific name
Parry’s goldenrod, Oreochrysum parryi
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Weller Lake, 9,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
For many years this flower was in the Solidago (goldenrod) genus, and it certainly looks a great deal like our Solidago multiradiata or S. simplex—just bigger. The flower heads are bigger, its leaves are wider and longer, and its phyllaries and bracts are leaf-like (aka bigger!)
Galium aparine, August 15, 2023
Common & scientific name
Cleavers, Galium aparine
Family
Madder, Rubiaceae
Location
Weller Trail, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The name cleavers means "to cling," in this case by hooked hairs on both this plant’s leaves and seeds. This is one of the rare annuals found on the Pass.
Epilobium anagallidifolium, August 11, 2023
Common & scientific name
Alpine willowherb, Epilobium anagallidifolium
Family
Evening primrose, Onograceae
Location
Ptarmigan area, 11,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Epilobiums are notoriously difficult to tell apart, as they often are found in the same areas (near water in the subalpine and alpine), but this ones buds nod, as seen especially in the photo below, and its leaves don’t have teeth. Like all members of the Evening primrose family (and the Mustard family), it has four petals, here rosy.
A lovely, delicate plant almost always found streamside or in wet or mossy areas.
Vaccinium myrtilus, August 11, 2023
Common & scientific name
Bilberry or Wild blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus
Family
Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Ptarmigan area, 11,200’
Fun/weird/little known fact
This wild blueberry is the most common of our three Vaccinium species below treeline. With large-ish green leaves (compared to our other two Vacciniums), green twigs, and dark blue-purple berries, I somehow missed photographing this earlier in the summer in flower. More fun to find it now, though: its berries are delicious!
Ranunculus eschscholtzii, August 10, 2023
Common & scientific name
Eschscholtz’s buttercup, Ranunculus eschscholtzii
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Mountain Boy, 11,000’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Distinguishable from other buttercups by its 3 basal leaves, which are divided into 3 main lobes, and its location, wet subalpine forests like Mountain Boy basin or near snowmelt or wet areas in the alpine (but with its leaves not nearly as finely-cut as R. adoneus).
Blue Lake area, 12,000’, July 20, 2023
Orthilia secunda, August 10, 2023
Common & scientific name
One-sided wintergreen, Orthilia secunda
Family
Wintergreen/Heath, Pyrolaceae/Ericaceae
Location
Weller Lake trail, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The above two-family nomenclature reflects the current state of disagreement among botanists as to where this diminutive, dark- woods flower belongs. It is probably the Pass’s most common wintergreen, er, heath . . . .