A most inelegant name

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

Tobacco's waning appeal

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.

It's official: it's invasive and bees love it

Melilotus officinalis, June 16, 2022

Common & scientific name
Yellow sweetclover, Melilotus officinalis

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Roadside up to 9,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yes, this is the same yellow-flowered plant you see growing 3 feet high by the side of the road seemingly everywhere.  It stabilizes soil, fixes nitrogen, doesn’t mind roadsides or other disturbed places, and is loved by bees.  These are its positive traits.  It is also, as you can tell by its abundance, invasive and can potentially crowd out (or at least hide) native species.  Thankfully I have not seen it creep into the back country, beyond roadside, where the bees have plenty of other native species to choose from.

The shrinking snapdragons

Castilleja sulphurea, June 16, 2022

Common & scientific name
Sulfur indian paintbrush, Castilleja sulphurea

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
Between Lincoln Creek turnoff & Lost Man TH, 10,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

I always had a hard time understanding how the paintbrushes fit within the Snapdragon (Scrophularaceae) family, along with the penstemons and monkey flowers and louseworts.  Now I know they don’t (nor, it seems, do the aforementioned: more on that in those plants’ profiles!)  Some time in the last few years when I wasn’t paying attention, they got moved to the Broomrape (Orobanchaceae) family, not because of their physical characteristics, but because of their genetics and the fact that they are parasitic on other plants, like other broomrapes.

Your lower roadside companion

Heterotheca villosa, June 16, 2022

Common & scientific name
Hairy golden aster, Heterotheca villosa

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Roadside, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

While all guide books describe this plant as “highly variable” (in size, leaf shape, hairiness, etc.), it is easily identifiable by its strongly pungent smell, location (dry, exposed places, often roadside), and its numerous yellow flowers atop a mound of grayish-green leaves.  Its alpine cousin, H. pumila, looks similar (and they may interbreed), but it generally has larger yellow flowers and, well, grows higher. I tried for years to distinguish these two species, but have now decided not to make the perfect the enemy of the good: if it’s up high, it’s H. pumila, if it’s not, it’s H. villosa.

A work of art

Iris missourienses, June 16, 2022

I. missouriensis, Twin Lakes area, 9,400’ June 17, 2022

I. missouriensis, roadside 10,400’, July 12, 2022

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain iris, Iris missouriensis

Family
Iris, Iridaceae

Location
Grottos, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

More modest in size and coloring than its cultivated brethren, but always a thrill to find in the wild (and to this observer’s eye, more beautiful in its delicacy), this wild iris thrives in wet areas like Twin Lakes meadow and the Grottos.

I. missouriensis, roadside 10,400’, July 12, 2022

I. missouriensis seedpods, Twin Lakes, 9,200’, August 17, 2022

Pin cushion

Geum macrophyllum, June 16, 2022

G. macrophyllum, in fruit, Lost Man Reservoir, 10,600’, August 15, 2022

Common & scientific name
Large-leaved avens, Geum macrophyllum

Family
Rose, Rosaceae 

Location
Difficult Creek, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Can easily be confused at first glance with a cinquefoil (Potentilla), with its tall habit and yellow cinquefoil-like flowers, but can be distinguished by the three-parted stem leaves, its more maple-like basal leaves, and especially by its seedhead, seen in the photo at left below, which has a bristly, pin cushion look with pinkish styles that are curly-cue shaped at the end. This uncommon (on the Pass) plant grows near streams and in wet areas.

Rocky Mountain Regal

Penstemon strictus, June 16, 2022

P. strictus, roadside 8,700’, June 20, 2022

P. strictus. roadside, 10,400’, July 28, 2022

Common & scientific name
Rocky Mountain penstemon, Penstemon strictus

Family
Plantain, Plantaginaceae

Location
Roadside, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

In her fabulous local guide, Wild at Heart, Janis Huggins notes that “with more than 250 species . . . [penstemon] is the largest genus of flowering plants native to North America and one that is still actively evolving—closely related species in the same vicinity readily hybridize.”  This being said, it is impossible to mistake our regal Rocky Mountain penstemon for any other kind.  It grows only near the bottom of the Pass in sunny, dry areas, and is by far the tallest and lightest blue-lavender of the Pass’s half-dozen species.

P. strictus, Weller, 9,500’, July 11, 2022

Drilling down on reproduction

Geranium richardsonii, June 16, 2022

G. richardsonii, Weller, 9,100’, July 11, 2022

Common & scientific name
Richardson’s geranium, Geranium richardsonii

Family
Geranium, Geraniaceae

Location
Roadside, 10,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Distinguishable from its close relative, Geranium viscosissimum, by the sticky, red-ball-tipped (“glandular”) hairs on the stem below its flower, as opposed to the yellow-tipped hairs on G. viscosissimum.

Geraniums have evolved a wonderful method for successfully planting their own seeds.  Its seeds are attached to a reproductive part of the flower, the style, that coils like a spring.  Once it falls to the ground, it coils and uncoils in response to changes in atmospheric pressure, thereby drilling itself and its seeds into the ground.

Red clover, red clover . . .

Trifolium pratense, June 16, 2022

Common & scientific name
Red Clover, Trifolium pratense

Family
Pea, Fabaceae

Location
Roadside, 8,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Seen in every part of the valley, from backyards up to tree line, Red clover hails from Europe and Asia, has pretty pink heads, two-toned leaves, and grows tall if it needs to compete with other plants to reach the sun, staying lower if on bare ground.  Like all peas, it is a nitrogen-fixer (more on that later), therefore good for the soil and mostly endured by weed fanatics even though it is non-native.

The shrubby one

Potentilla fruticosa, June 16, 2022

Common & scientific name
Shrubby cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Difficult, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This plant has gone through more than a half-dozen name changes since Carl Linnaeus first stamped the binomial system onto it in the mid-1700s, beginning with “Potentilla fruticosa.”  Its flowers are very potentilla (or cinquefoil)-like, but not its essential shrub nature (a “shrub” being defined as a woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has persistent woody stems above the ground, unlike herbaceous plants).  It can be seen almost everywhere on the Pass.

Alpine cinquefoil

Potentilla nivea, June 14, 2022

P. nivea, Blue Lake area, 12,350’, June 17, 2022

Common & scientific names
Snow cinquefoil, Potentilla nivea

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Above Linkins Lake, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts
Our most common alpine cinquefoil, its three-parted leaves are densely white/hairy below, greener on top (but still hairy). There is substantial confusion/flux around a number of potentillas, including this one (does it include P. uniflora, for example?), and they do tend to hybridize. But for now most experts seem to agree this cinquefoil is properly classified. For now, anyway . . .

Down, girl

Draba lonchocarpa, June 14, 2022

D. lonchocarpa, Blue Lake area, 12,350’, June 17, 2022

Common & scientific name
Lancepod draba, Draba lonchocarpa

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Above Linkins Lake, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This draba is relatively easy to identify owing to its tiny (2”) stature, complex leaf hairs, and especially its white petals. This delicate alpine flower will only be found with careful looking.

D. lonchocarpa, Blue Lake area, 12,350’, June 17, 2022

A hairy beast

Draba aurea, June 14, 2022

D. aurea, Blue Lake area, 12,350’, June 17, 2022

D. aurea in fruit and flower, above Linkins Lake, July 7, 2022

Common & scientific name
Golden draba, Draba aurea

Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae

Location
Above Linkins Lake, 12,300’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Ah, the wonderful yellow alpine 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 dense, overlapping each other in a tangled mess of cruciform (4-forked) hairs on top of short stalks, giving the plant an overall grayish-green look.  This highly variable species can (sometimes, maybe) be distinguished from its close cousin, Draba helleriana, by (usually) the lack of teeth on the edge of its leaves, and its slightly smaller overall stature. Both are (possibly) common on the Pass, unless they’re not: Ackerman does not place D. helleriana in Pitkin or Lake Counties.

D. aurea in fruit and flower, above Linkins Lake, 12,300’, July 7, 2022

In the cross hairs

Wyethia amplexicaulis x. arizonica, June 14, 2022

Common & scientific name
Mules ears, Wyethia amplexicaulis x. arizonica, aka Wyethia x. magna

Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location
Difficult road, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Our local Mules ears are unusual in that their leaves have a rough-hairy texture, while most W. amplexicaulis plants are smooth and hair-free.  William Weber, the foremost authority on Colorado wildflowers, says ours is “a stable hybrid population stemming from a time when the Pleistocene climate compressed the range, bringing this species into close contact with W. arizonica.”

A pretty potentilla

Potentilla pulcherrima, June 14, 2022

Common & scientific names
Beautiful cinquefoil, Potentilla pulcherrima

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Cinquefoils all have basically the same-looking flower (except P. arguta, which is white),  hence I am not including a flower photo here. With the cinquefoils, everything depends on their leaves and their location/elevation.

P. pulcherrima is abundant throughout our area at lower elevations (never alpine).  As you’ll see in the photo, P. pulcherrima’s leaflets extend out from a single point. They are green on the “front” side and fuzzy-white-hairy on the “back” (photo of back to come!)

Meet me by the lake

Kalmia microphyllla, June 14, 2022

K. microphylla, Halfmoon Lake, 12,000’, June 18, 2022

Common & scientific name
Alpine laurel, Kalmia microphylla

Family
Heath, Ericaceae

Location
Linkins Lake, 12,000’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Is there any more delightful sight than coming upon a high alpine lake or stream lined with Kalmia?  Its bright pink petals are fused into a shallow, saucer-shaped bowl, with anthers that are held under spring-like tension until a large-bodied pollinator (like a bumblebee) triggers the stamen and is showered by pollen.  Kalmia was named after one of the star pupils of Carl Linnaeus (the inventor of the binomial system and botanist extraordinaire), Peter Kalm, who collected 60 new species for Linnaeus in North America in 1748, including Alpine laurel.

K. microphylla, Halfmoon Lake, 12,000’, June 18, 2022

Fuzzy, wasn't he?

Castilleja occidentalis, June 15, 2022

C. occidentalis, summit, 12,000’, July 13, 2022

C. occidentalis, summit, 12,000’, July 13, 2022

Common & scientific name
Western Indian paintbrush, Castilleja occidentalis

Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location
Summit, 12,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
What a wonderful alpine fuzzball this is!  Especially when it hybridizes with other paintbrushes like the magenta C. rhexifolia to create tie-dyed, striped wonders.  

While there is much discussion among botanists about the proper classification of paintbrushes, including the genetic difference (if any) between C. occidentalis and the similarly yellowish-white C. sulphurea (also called C. septentrionalis), the two are readily distinguishable in the field by their elevation (C. occidentalis is an alpine plant, C. sulphurea is found lower), their size (C. occidentalis is shorter), and their fuzziness factor (C. occidentalis wins!) It also crosses with other high-elevation Castillejas like C. rhexifolia and C. miniata to create colorful, striped versions, like those below.

C. occidentalis x. rhexifolia, Scott Lake area, 12,200’, July 4, 2022

Another cross, valley below Top Cut, 11,400’, August 9, 2022

Looks good, smells good, tastes . . . well . . .

Rosa woodsii, June 14, 2022

R. woodsii, avalanche path, 10,200’, July 9, 2022

Common & scientific name
Wood’s rose, Rosa woodsii

Family
Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Difficult Campground, 8,100’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

There are few flowers that cry for attention like Wood’s rose, between its swoony smell and showy flowers ranging in color from light pink to deep magenta. Found most often on the Pass in Aspen groves or roadside, its fruits (“rose hips”) are known for their nutritional value and high vitamin c content, but I’ve generally found them to have a mealy texture and bland taste. I am grateful to the Southwest Colorado Wildflowers website for suggesting they are best eaten after several frosts!

A culinary delight

Cornus sericea, June 14, 2022

Common & scientific name
Redosier Dogwood, Cornus sericea

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.