To which kitten does this tail belong?

Besseya ritteriana/plantaganea, July 22, 2021

B. ritteriana/plantaginea, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Ritter’s kittentails, Besseya ritteriana OR White River kittentails, Besseya plantiginea

Family
Plantain, Plantaginaceae

Location
Grizzly ridge, 12,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
I found this plant post-bloom, making certain ID difficult. Using Jennifer Ackerfield's Flora of Colorado, the latest, comprehensive treatment of Colorado plants, as a reference, her description of the two (B. plantginea & B. ritteriana) identifies the only significant differences between the two as (1) their elevational ranges (former up to 11,000', latter up to 12,500', which is where I found this plant), (2) their locations (former recorded in Pitkin County, where I found this plant, latter not), and (3) the color of their corollas (the former white or pinkish to purplish tinged, the latter pale yellow). The plants also have differently-colored filaments (the stalk of the stamen, the male pollen-bearing organ), purple and white, but by the time I saw it the filament was brown. Looks like I'll need to return earlier next summer to see it in bloom!

With a name like curlycup gumweed . . .

Grindelia squarrosa, July 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Curlycup gumweed, Grindelia squarrosa

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
According to the US Forest Service’s fantastic “Plant of the Week” site, the grindelias are most commonly known for their copious amount of gummy resin found on their flower heads. The common Grindelia squarrosa is often found along roadsides in late summer, often following disturbances created by humans. It may be an annual, biennial or perennial plant and is readily recognized by the recurved (squarrose) bracts on the involucres (cups) that enclose the flower heads.

Circumboreal

Pyrola chlorantha, July 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Green-flowered wintergreen, Pyrola chlorantha

Family
Wintergreen, Pyrolaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This circumboreal wntergreen is much less common in our woods than P. asarifolia or Orthilla secunda. Grows in drier places, and its style is slightly curved.

P. chlorantha, July 23, 2021

The Independence Pass mascot

Senecio atratus, July 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Black-tipped senecio, Senecio atratus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 10,300’

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!

S. atratus, roadside, 11,700’, August 3, 2021

Deep purple

Gentianopsis thermalis, July 23, 2021

G. thermalis, Green Mountain, 11,000’, August 4, 2021

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain fringed gentian, Gentianopsis thermalis

Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,700’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This delightful, widespread gentian (think roadside ditches) has four spiraling, delicately-fringed, deep-bluish-purple petals. “Thermalis” refers to the thermal pools of Yellowstone, where this gentian is particularly abundant and has been designated the park’s official flower.

G. thermalis, July 23, 2021

G. thermalis with Bombas, August 6, 2021

Your roadside companion

Erigeron formossisimus, July 23, 2021

E. formosssisimus, July 23, 2021

Common & scientific name
Beautiful fleabane, Erigeron formossisimus

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Lower Lost Man roaside, 10,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
THIS is the purple daisy you see roadside, everywhere, around the middle of the Pass (9,500-10,500), standing 6-10” high.  To distinguish if from other Erigerons—of which we have MANY—look for  glandular, hairy, purplish phyllaries; stems with straight hairs, that usually support a single flower; and stem leaves progressively reduced in size and number as you move up the stem.

Poisonous, especially when masting

Veratrum californicum, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Corn lily, false hellebore, skunk cabbage, Veratrum californicum

Family
False hellebore, Melanthiaceae

Location
Lincoln Creek Roadl, 10,400’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
We’re masting! Enjoy this year’s incredible displays of hundreds to thousands of corn lilies, standing up to 6 feet tall with their hundreds of flowers, blooming in sync. Corn lilies bloom and seed little in most years—a few a year always, but usually just their elegant, swirling leaf rosetted are out— but in years like this they bloom and seed heavily, in synchrony. This 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. So . . . how was summer 2019, temp-wise? (I haven't yet had a chance to look at the data!)

A horny dude

Taraxacum ceratophorum, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Horned dandelion, Taraxacum ceratophorum

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Grizzly ridge, 12,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Standing less than 6 inches tall and with a hairy head of purple-tinged bracts, this native dandelion is purportedly the most widespread of our natives in North America.

As for the “horned” part . . . this description confused me for years: “horn-shaped swellings at the tips of the phyllaries,” Bill Weber says. What shape, exactly, is a “horn?” As it turns out, with a loop or better yet a microscope, you can make out a little curved, bulbous growth on the tip of the phyllary. Subtle, yes, horn-like, not hugely (or at all), but it does distinguish it from other native dandelions.

Senecio sunshine

S. amplectens, Lower Lost Man, 10,500’, July 14, 2021

Common & scientific name
Showy alpine ragwort, Senecio amplectens var. amplectens

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Grizzly Creek basin, 11,500’

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. 

S. amplectens var. amplectens, North Fork Lake Creek, 11,000’, July 27, 2021

A ragwort never looked so good

Senecio fremontii, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Dwarf mountain ragwort, Senecio fremontii

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Grizzly Ridge, 12,500’

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!

Three families want this one

Parnassia fimbriata, July 22, 2021

P. fimbriata, August 6, 2021

Common & scientific name
Fringed Grass of Parnassus, Parnassia fimbriata

Family
Saxifrage, Saxifragaceae, Staff Tree, Celastraceae, or Parnassus, Parnassiaceae

Location
Grizzly Creek valley, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This bright white, late-blooming, water-loving flower is always a delight to find, often in roadside ditches where orchids and elephanthead bloomed earlier.  Its petals are fringed at the base, and its leaves heart-shaped.  While the family it belongs to is in dispute (or in transition may be a better way to put it), its delicate beauty is not!  

P. fimbriata, July 22, 2021

A Rocky Mountain namesake

Antennaria media, July 22, 2021

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain pussytoes, Antennaria media

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Grizzly Ridge, 12,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This species of pussytoes has black or blackish-green, phyllaries, is usually found above treeline, and is quite small, like this 3” specimen.

The monarch's staple

Asclepias speciosus, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosus

Family
Showy milkweed, Asclepiadaceae 

Location
Roadside, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A newcomer to Independence Pass, and perhaps a sign of plants moving up in response to climate change, this large, dramatic plant is best known for its association with monarch butterflies, who depend on it for food and for making it unappealing to predators (the sap in showy milkweed is poisonous).

A phlox on you!

Collomia linearis, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Narrowleaf collomia, Collomia linearis

Family
Phlox, Polemoniaceae 

Location
Lower Lost Man Trail, 10,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This tiny pink trumpet is one of a handful of annuals found on the Pass, this one particularly high compared to its common, earlier-summer montane locale. The Phlox family, which includes sky pilot, scarlet gilia, and dwarf phlox, among others, is without doubt one of our most delightful, and diverse, families of wildflowers.

What a ballhead

Arenaria congesta, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Ballhead sandwort, Arenaria congesta

Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae 

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,900’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Ballhead sandwort (poorly named, it seems to me, in light of its hardly “ball-like” clusters of flowers—usually only a few) lines the trails in dry, rocky, sandy soils.  Its spindly appearance makes it easy to overlook, but a close-up viewing of its intricate, lovely flowers, like many in the Pink family, will inspire new appreciation!

An unpronounceable, nodding beauty

Epilobium anagallidifolium, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine willowherb, Epilobium anagallidifolium

Family
Evening primrose, Onograceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trailhead, 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 flowers are always nodding, as seen in the photo, 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 mossy areas like those below, and often in the company of the next, equally lovely and delicate plant, Micranthes odontoloma, Brook saxifrage.  

A late summer star

Swertia perennis, Jun 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Star gentian, Swertia perennis

Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
After the oh-so-different green gentian, which grows 3-6’ tall and blooms midsummer, this is often the first purple gentian to bloom, and marks the beginning of the end of wildflower season.  Always found in wet meadows, star gentian, with its soft-purple coloring and pointed petals, can be found as a singular treat or in the company of dozens.  It is a poignant reminder of the nearing end of summer—enjoy it fully!

Beautiful and delicious

Oxyria digyna, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Mountain sorrel, Oxyria digyna

Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,600’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Heart-shaped leaves and red and green flowers then seeds make this charming alpine plant unmistakeable.  The leaves are edible and have been enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike for millennia.

O. digyna, turning fall colors, above Linkins Lake, 12,300’, August 18, 2021

Viviparous, indeed!

Bistorta vivipara, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Alpine bistort, Bistorta vivipara

Family
Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location
Linkins Lake , 12,000

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 (that can be seen on the left side of the plant in the photo) are produced below and next to its small, white flowers. 

B. vivipara, Champion, 12,500’, July 27, 2021

Bottom of the ninth

Gentiana parryi, July 21, 2021

Common & scientific name
Bottle gentian, Gentiana parryi

Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae

Location
Linkins Lake Trail, 11,600’

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), opening fully only in sunshine.  This is and its other purple gentian cousins are some of the last wildflowers to grace the Pass above treeline—enjoy!