Astragalus cicer, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Chickpea milkvetch, Astragalus cicer
Family
Pea, Fabaceae
Location
Twin Lakes area, 9,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Another invasive, used in soil stabilization and reclamation projects thanks to its extensive rhizomes. Found in a few locations on the lower part of both sides of the Pass. ”Cicer” is Latin for “chickpea.”
Same
Silene latifolia, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
White campion, Silene latifolia
Family
Pink, Caryophyllaceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Exclusively male or female flowers grow on tall stems, with an inflated calyx either 10-veined in staminate (male) flowers and 20-veined in pistillate (female) flowers, both with five white, deeply-notched petals. This charming plant is non-native, alas, and in some places considered an invasive/noxious weed. It is very uncommon on the Pass.
Cirsium arvense, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Talk about a scourge! Canada thistle is an A-1 noxious weed that will grow anywhere, including sadly on Indy Pass, so long as it’s wet. Canada thistle was accidentally introduced to North America in the 1600s, and has since been designated a noxious weed in almost every state in the country. It can form dense stands that shade out and displace our beautiful native plants, changing the plant community structure and species composition and reducing biodiversity. It spreads rapidly and is extremely difficult to remove.
I wish I could tell you to pull it when you see it, but pulling makes it come back twice as hardy. Gah!!!
Vaccinium myrtillus, in fruit, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Bilberry or Wild blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus
Family
Heath, Ericaceae
Location
Forest near Midway, 11,200’
Fun/weird/little known fact
This wild blueberry is the most common of our three Vaccinium species below treeline. Although it often produces less flowers (sweet little whitish-pink bells not shown here), and therefore less huckleberries, as they’re often called, this year has been a banner year for these delicious berries!
V. myrtillus, 11,000’, August 24, 2022
Oxytropis sericea, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
White locoweed, Oxytropis sericea
Family
Pea, Fabaceae
Location
Twin Lakes, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Locoweed gets its name from the numerous problems it has caused in domestic livestock. Locoweeds contain an alkaloid that disrupts cellular function in these animals. According to Montana Plant Life, “locoism causes depression, incoordination, and nervousness under stress. Death can result. The cellular problems occur most readily in tissues of the nervous system. Pregnant animals often abort or give birth to young with congenital deformities. Congestive right heart disease occurs at high altitudes.”
Geranium caespitosum, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Purple geranium, Geranium caespitosum
Family
Geranium, Geraniaceae
Location
Twin Lakes area, 9,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This species of geranium I have only seen on the east side of the Pass, and per Ackerfield is not found in Pitkin County. It sprawls closer to the ground than our other two, more common species (G. richardsonii and G. viscossissimum), and the lobes of its leaves are more rounded. Please let me know if you’ve seen this on the west side!
Hymenoxis richardsonii, August 17, 2022
Same
Common & scientific name
Richardson’s bitterweed, Hymenoxis richardsonii
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Twin Lakes area, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This plant, found only on the lower east side of the Pass near Twin Lakes, can be identified by us west-siders by a close examination of its “petals” (ray florets). They have three teeth, or lobes, just like Old Man of the Mountain. Luckily, the Hymenoxis genus has only six species!
Same
Lepidium montanum, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain pepperweed, Lepidium montanum
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Twin Lakes area, 9,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This white-flowered (and thus four-petaled) mustard has a small, oval silique with a portion of the style sticking out: and that is about where the commonalities among varieties of this species, none settled amongst botanists, end. This variety of mountain pepperweed is found solely on the east side of the Pass.
Gentiana affinis, August 17, 2022
Same
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 these purple flowers, which are often just slightly open, 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.
Lupinus argenteus var. argenteus, August 16, 2022
L. argenteus var. argenteus, Twin Lakes area, 9,300’, August 17, 2022
Common & scientific name
Silvery lupine, Lupinus argenteus var. argenteus
Family
Pea, Fabaceae
Location
Near Independence ghost town, 10,900’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This is the first lupine I’ve seen this year on the Pass. This variety of silvery lupine has a narrow, densely-packed spike of small purple flowers, and skinny leaves that curl in on each other that are smooth on top with short, straight, appressed hairs on the back.
Galium boreale, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
Northern bedstraw, Galium boreale
Family
Madder, Rubiaceae
Location
Roadside, 10,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Northern bedstraw’s four-petaled leaves, square stems, and groups of four leaves attached directly to the stem, evenly spaced like a spoke of wheels (“whorled”), make it unmistakeable. It is sweet-smelling and edible.
Pyrola minor, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
Green-flowered wintergreen, Pyrola minor
Family
Wintergreen, Pyrolaceae
Location
Lost Man, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This wntergreen is less common in our woods than its cousins P. chlorantha (also yellow/white) or P. asarifolia (magenta/pink). Its style is straight and shorter than that of P. chlorantha. It grows in moist, shaded woods. And I just learned that, like all Pyrolas, it does not have a true “stem”: just a stalk that its raceme of flowers grow on.
Ligusticum porteri, August 15, 2022
Leaf
Common & scientific name
Osha, Ligusticum porteri
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
Lost Man Reservoir, 10,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This famous plant, famous for its medicinal properties, is native to the Rocky Mountain West. Because it can be confused with poison hemlock, which is deadly, and because it depends on mycorrhizal fungi, and so can’t be transplanted successfully, and because it is not overly abundant in our area, it is best to leave it alone.
Carduus acanthoides, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
Plumeless thistle, Carduus acanthoides
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 9,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This invasive plant needs no introduction. It hails from Europe, and is a scourge across all 50 states. Spreading through its seeds, it’s important to de-head it before it goes to seed: each plant produces upward of 1,000 (and by some estimates 10,000) seeds! With a reported 90% germination rate, this one bears controlling. It appears in a few spots on the lower roadside of the Pass.
Symphyotrichum spathulatum, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
Western mountain aster, Symphyotrichum spathulatum
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Lost Man Reservoir, 10,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Can be distinguished from S. foliaceum by its skinnier, pointier phyllaries, and skinner, longer leaves. That being said, this is known to hybridize with S. foliaceum, so if you find something that has characteristics of both, or lies somewhere in between, well, in a sense you’ve found both!
Matricaria perforata, August 15, 2022
Common & scientific name
Scentless chamomile, Matricaria perforata
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Weller, 9,400’
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.
Ranunculus aqualitis, August 9, 2022
Common & scientific name
Water crowfoot, Ranunculus aqualitis
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Meanders below top cut, 12,400’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This unusual, white-petaled buttercup is a true aquatic, meaning it is found submerged in ponds, and can be found in several locations on the Pass. Interestingly, Ackerfield identifies this plant as being found throughout Western Colorado EXCEPT in Pitkin County.
Solidago velutina, August 8, 2022
Common & scientific name
Three-nerve goldenrod, Solidago velutina
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 8,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A common, late-blooming goldenrod seen roadside on the lower part of Independence Pass, its many flowers sit on one side of the stems, which arch gracefully. It is named for the three distinct nerves that run from the base of its leaves to almost the tip.
S. velutina, roadside, 9,100’, August 15, 2022
Centaurea stoebe, August 9, 2022
Common & scientific name
Spotted knapweed, Centaurea stoebe
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Roadside, 8,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Spotted knapweed is native to eastern Europe, and was introduced to North America, “probably as a contaminant in alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seed and/or ship's ballast, in the late 1800s,” according to the US Forest Service. In 1920, the distribution of spotted knapweed in North America was limited to the San Juan Islands, but by 1998 it had spread to 326 counties in the western United States, including every county in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It is now on the march in Colorado. Ackerman’s Flora of Colorado does not document it in Pitkin County, but here it is.
Gentiana tenella, August 5, 2022
Same
Common & scientific name
Lapland gentian, Gentiana tenella
Family
Gentian, Gentianaceae
Location
Wet Gulch, 12,300’
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!