Erigeron elatior, July 19, 2023
Common & scientific name
Tall fleabane, Erigeron elatior
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Despite its common name, what sets this daisy apart is its extremely fuzzy, purple phyllaries (see photo below). Can be found in subalpine aspen forests and wet alpine areas.
July 19
Pedicularis groenlandica, July 19, 2023
Common & scientific name
Elephanthead, Pedicularis groenlandica
Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae
Location
Roadside, 10,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Mother Nature at her most whimsical! Who could not love this faithful reproduction of an elephant’s head on a flower? Enjoy it for the next month in all high, wet places.
Oh, and FYI, this flower is NOT found in Greenland, its scientific name notwithstanding
Upper Lost Man, 12,100’, August 26, 2023
Erigeron coulteri, July 19, 2023
Common & scientific name
Coulter’s daisy, Erigeron coulteri
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This is one of our most common later-summer daisies, blooming from the montane to the alpine in meadows and moist woodlands. It is of medium height (usually less than a foot), has bright white, very thin ray florets (petals), and has white and black hairs on the underside of its flowerhead (on its phyllaries—see photo below left). If you see a giant version of this, standing several feet tall, with fewer but wider petals, you are seeing Engelmann’s aster, another late-summer bloomer.
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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 . . .
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.
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!
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
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
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
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
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