Cardamine cordifolia, June 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Heartleaf bittercress, Cardamine cordifolia
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Roadside, 8,900’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Like all mustards, Heartleaf bittercress has four petals in the shape of a cross, and all its parts are edible (if bitter). It will bloom in profusion near streamsides all summer. When it has gone to seed, give its pods a squeeze and watch them burst!
Barberea orthoceras, June 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
American yellowrocket, Barberea orthoceras
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Winter gate, 8,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This is a circumpolar species, meaning it is distributed around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. If it looks like a “weed,” well . . . that brings up the interesting question of what a “weed” really is. This plant is native and has evolved over many thousands of years to share space with other natives. But it isn’t particularly attractive, and can grown in great numbers (not on the Pass, however). Probably the best definition of a weed is a plant that grows where people don’t want it to grow!
Erigeron leiomerus, June 3, 2022
E. leiomerus phyllaries, Top Cut 12,100’, July 14, 2022
E. leiomerus, white version, Top Cut 12,100’, July 14, 2022
Common & scientific name
Rockslide daisy, Erigeron leiomerus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Grottos climbing wall, 9,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This cheery lavender and occasionally white daisy has glandular, deep-purple phyllaries (see bottom left) and few, very small stem leaves (most of its leaves are at the base of the plant, i.e., “basal” leaves).
E. leiomerus, June 16, 2022
Cymopterus alpiina, June 3, 2022
Common & scientific name
Alpine parsley, Cymopterus alpina
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
Above Midway, 12,300’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
William Weber, the foremost authority on the flora of Colorado, describes Oreoxis alpina as “a common dwarf alpine on granitic mountains of the Continental Divide.” Bingo! This minute yellow flower is a common early summer companion on the high mountains and ridges of Independence Pass, where it stays low to the ground and protected from wind by surrounding rocks and vegetation.
Erigeron compositus, June 3, 2022
E. compositus, near summit, June 7, 202
E. compositus, Geissler, 13,200’, July 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Cutleaf daisy, Erigeron compositus
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Grottos wall, 9,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Cutleaf daisy’s petals—or more properly speaking, its ray flowers, as all individual daisy flowers are composed of multiple ray flowers (the petal-looking parts) and/or disk flowers (which together make up the button-looking part)—can be white, pink, or light blue. They can also be absent entirely, leaving a head with only yellow disk flowers (see photo below).
E. compositus, Geissler, 13,000’, July 7, 2022
Ribes cereum, June 3, 2022
Common & scientific name
Wax currant, Ribes cereum
Family
Currant, Grossulariaceae
Location
Grottos climbing wall, 9,750’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Ribes is native to western North America. R. cereum’s edible berries are soft and juicy, with a mild but fruity taste. Unlike other area species of Ribes, its berries are smooth—try one later in the summer!
Descurainia incisa, June 2, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain tansymustard, Descurainia incisa
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Aspen grove, 8,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Yes, it’s weedy looking, tall and stringy, but it’s native, it’s edible, and it’s part of the great floral melting pot!
Distinguish Descurainia species by their siliques (seed pods), as seen on the photo below, and their leaves, using a good key by Weber or Ackerman. I won’t bore you with how I arrived at D. incisa . . .
Lathyrus lanszwertii, June 2, 2022
L. lanszwertii, June 16, 2022
Common & scientific name
Lanszwert’s pea, Lathyrus lanszwertii
Family
Pea, Fabaceae
Location
Aspens roadside, 8,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
A common peavine found everyone on the Pass below treeline, especially in Aspen forests and open meadows. White with a hint of pink or purple guide lines, it turns rust-colored with age.
Potentilla glaucophylla, May 31, 2022
P. glaucophylla, leaf, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Blue-leaf cinquefoil, Potentilla glaucophylla
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Independence ghost town, 10,800’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Blue-leaf cinquefoil is very common in the subalpine and alpine on the Pass. It has 5 to 7 leaflets arranged palmately, like the fingers of a hand connected in the middle. The leaves are green, with a bluish tint, on both sides (with the backside a bit less blue-green, but neither side is hairy). Its leaflets are serrate, or toothed, but not for the whole length of the leaf (see photo of leaf bottom left).
Erysimum capitatum, May 31, 2022
E. capitatum, upper Lost Man, June 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Western wallflower, Erysimum capitatum
Family
Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location
Ghost town, 10,700’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This big, cheery mustard is as at home on the summit of Independence Pass as it is in the deserts of Utah. It is most commonly yellow, but on the east side of the Pass, especially up near treeline, it is a striking lavender-magenta: photo to come!
Lonicera involucrata, May 31, 2022
L. involucrata, Halfmoon Lakes trail, 10,600’ June 18, 2022
Common & scientific name
Twinberry, Lonicera involucrata
Family
Honeysuckle, Caprifoliaceae
Location
Difficult Campground, 8,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
From the USDA’s Plant Fact Sheet: “Reports on the fruit vary from poisonous, to mildly toxic, to bitter and unpalatable, to edible and useful as food, depending on tribe, region or publication.” Got it? In any event, its twin berries are eaten by bears, small mammals, quail, grouse, and songbirds such as thrushes. So be safe and leave it be!
L. involucrata in fruit, Weller Lake, 9,600’, July 20, 2022
Mainthemum stellatum, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Starry false lily of the valley, Maianthemum stellatum
Family
??? (see below)
Location
Between the winter gate and Weller, 8,750’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Loves aspen groves above all, more delicate in its flower than its close relative, Maianthemum racemosum, False Solomon’s seal, and searching for a loving home. Different authorities place it in no less than four families or subfamilies: (1) Liliaceae, Lily, (2) Convallariaceae, Mayflower, (3) Asparagaceae, Asparagus, and (4) Ruscaceae, also Asparagus. Confused yet? Give it ten years and the experts will land on one!
Castilleja miniata, May 31, 2022
C. miniata, upper Lost Man, 11,600’, July 7, 2022
Common & scientific name
Red paintbrush, Castilleja miniata
Family
Broomrape, Orobanchaceae
Location
Roadside, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Paintbrushes owe their lovely coloring not to their flowers, but to their bracts, specialized leaves which in this case are red (or orange, or deep red, or . . . ). This species of paintbrush is thought to be the second most widely distributed paintbrush in the world
C. miniata, Top Cut 12,100’, July 14, 2022
Microseris nutans, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Nodding microseris, Microseris nutans
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Difficult Trail, 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This short-lived, early-blooming sun lover can be distinguished from Taraxacum officinale, Dandelion, by its phyllaries—the bracts, or much-reduced leaves, subtending the flower head of members of the sunflower family. Nodding microseris’s phyllaries cup the flower head tightly, while Dandelion’s curl outward at the tips. Nodding microseris’s phyllaries also distinguish it from its lookalike, Agoseris glauca, the former having tiny black hairs on them.
Ribes wolfii, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Wolf’s currant, Ribes wolfii
Family
Gooseberry, Grossulariaceae
Location
Difficult Campground, 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This common currant is the only Ribes in our area without spines. Unfortunately, its berries are small, spiny-hairy, and bitter—no need for protection!
Aquilegia elegantula, May 31, 2022
A. elegantula, Halfmoon Lakes trail, 10,600’, June 18, 2022
Common & scientific name
Western red columbine, Aquilegia elegantula
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Difficult Trail , 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Nothing lights up a speckled woods like these dazzling red rockets. They are often found in large groups, and in the same location as fairy slippers. Look for both in early summer before they’re gone!
Maianthemum racemosum, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Large false Solomon’s seal, Maianthemum racemosum
Family
??? (see below)
Location
Difficult Campground, 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
Loves aspen groves above all, less delicate in its flower than its close relative, Maianthemum stellatum, False Solomon’s seal, and searching for a loving home. Different authorities place it in no less than four families or subfamilies: (1) Liliaceae, Lily, (2) Convallariaceae, Mayflower, (3) Asparagaceae, Asparagus, and (4) Ruscaceae, Butcher’s Broom. Confused yet? Give it ten years and the experts will land on one!
Pseudocymopterus montanus, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Mountain parsley, Pseudocymopterus montanus
Family
Parsley, Apiaceae
Location
Lower Lost Man, 10,500’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This common parsley, seen at every elevation on the Pass, gives scientists fits because of its morphological variability and differences of opinion as to how it should be classified, both genus and species-wise. But it’s one of our easier plants to identify: it has carrot-like leaves and it’s yellow, unlike any other parsleys on the Pass, which are all white (EXCEPT Alpine parsley, Oreoxis alpina, which is mat-forming and much tinier in all aspects than Mountain parsley, and Eastwood’s woodroot, Podistera eastwoodiae ).
Ranunculus glaberrimus, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific name
Sage buttercup, Ranunculus glaberrimus
Family
Buttercup, Ranunculaceae
Location
Grottos, 9,600’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
The genus “Ranunculus” comes from the Latin for “little frog,” since buttercups are often found in wet habitats (this one, not so much). Sage buttercup is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring, and often has a scraggly, de-petaled appearance, possibly owing to foraging by hungry spring critters, possibly to every-changing spring weather, or . . . other theories welcome!
Boechera lignifera, May 31, 2022
Common & scientific names
Desert rockress, Boechera lignifera
Family: Mustard, Brassicaceae
Location: Weller Curve, 9,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
”The taxonomic complexity of the Boechera genus is legendary,” proclaims the Flora of North America. Truer words have never been spoken. Telling the different species apart requires examining the plant’s hairs under a microscope, along with the shape and length of its silique (seed pod). “A rare confluence of hybridization, apomixis, and polyploidy makes Boechera one of the most difficult genera in the North American flora.” Having examined all parts of this delightful, delicate spring flower, I am putting my money for the moment on B. lignifera. However, I will need to wait until it goes to seed to examine its silique for certainty. And even then . . .