A woolly one

Potentilla hippiana, front side of leaf, June 21, 2023

Back side of leaf

Common & scientific name

Woolly cinquefoil, Potentilla hippiana

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Twin Lakes, 9,250’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known facts

Here we go: welcome to the whacky world of Potentillas, or Cinquefoils, upwards of a dozen of which live on the Pass, all with similar looking yellow flowers (except the white P. arguta), all differentiated by their leaves.

Woolly cinquefoil can be distinguished from its many cousins by the white-woolly underside of its leaflets and greener but still hairy top side, and numerous, pinnate (ladder-like) leaflets, as shown clearly in these photos.

Carpe diem!

Linum lewisii, June 21, 2023

Common & scientific name

Blue flax, Linum lewisii

Family

Flax, Linaceae

Location

Winter gate, 8,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

“Pluck the day [for it is ripe], trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.” This is the more accurate and complete translation of the oft-cited “carpe diem,” which is usually reduced to “seize the day” and leaves out “quam minimum credula postero.” I prefer this translation because it captures perfectly, in botanical terms even, the lesson of the blue flax: it blooms for exactly one day. Its petals open in the morning, and fall off by afternoon. Blue flax knows no tomorrow. Would that we all could live that way!

Big daddy dandelions

Tragapogon dubius, June 21, 2023

Seedhead, Difficult, 8,100’, July 19, 2023

Common & scientific name

Yellow salsify, Tragapogon dubius & T. pratensis

Family

Sunflower, Asteraceae

Location

Roadside, 8,300’ and roadside, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Non-natives known mostly for their huge, dandelion-like seed heads, salsify was introduced from Europe owing to its edible roots. The pointy bracts exceeding its ray florets distinguish Tragapogon dubius from T. pratensis below.

Tragapogon pratensis, June 21, 2023

Smokin' soft

Geum triflorum, June 21, 2023

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Common & scientific name

Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

North Fork Lake Creek TH, 10,800’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This sublimely soft, rosy, nodding flower is always a delight to find, whether it’s a single plant or whether it fills a meadow. Its seed heads are reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss hair style (see bottom left). Interestingly, it is the plant’s rosy bracts and sepals, not its small, pale petals just protruding at the tip of the flower, that give prairie smoke its elegant color and shape.

East summit, 12,000’, July 2, 2023

Tobacco's waning appeal

Valeriana edulis, June 21, 2023

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.

Lower Lost Man, June 28, 2023

Your (lower) roadside companion

Heterothca villosa, June 21, 2023

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.

Friendly fire

Rubus idaeus, June 21, 2023

In fruit, Lincoln turnoff 9,800’, August 10, 2023

Common & scientific name

American red raspberry, Rubus idaeus

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Weller Curve, 9,500’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

The best place to find our delicious wild raspberries, which will bear fruit in August, is in disturbed places like roadside and below Shimer Peak (above Weller Lake), which burned in 1980.

According to a US Forest Service study, "American red raspberry allocates most of its energy to vegetative regeneration [as opposed to flowering and seed production] on recently disturbed sites with favorable growing conditions. With time, initially elevated nutrient levels decline, and shading increases. As growing conditions deteriorate, American red raspberry shifts its reproductive effort to the production of large numbers of seed.”

In other words, raspberry-eating time!

She just gets better

Sorbs scopulina, June 20, 2023

Common & scientific name

Mountain ash, Sorbus scopulina

Family

Rose, Rosaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

This small tree is more likely to capture your attention later in the summer, when it produces bright reddish-orange berries, and then again in the fall when its leaves turn lovely, soft shades of red, yellow, and orange.

Difficult, 8,200’, in fruit, August 31, 2023

A pointillist paintbrush

Castilleja linarifolia, June 20, 2023

Roadside, 8,350’, July 6, 2023

Common & scientific name

Wyoming paintbrush, Castilleja linarifolia

Family

Broomrape, Orobanchaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

One of five species of paintbrushes found on the Pass, Wyoming paintbrush (so named because it is the state flower of Wyoming) is found at the lowest elevations on the Pass. Typically this species is identified as a late summer flower, but not on the Pass. C. linarifolia is the tallest and skinniest paintbrush in appearance, due to its mostly linear leaves, and does not have the soft, fuzzy appearance of its red cousin, Castilleja miniata. It occasionally takes on varying shades of yellow and orange, likely through mutation.

O Tay, Buckwheat

Eriogonum umbellatum, June 20, 2023

Common & scientific name

Yellow buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum

Family

Buckwheat, Polygonaceae

Location

Difficult Trail, 8,200’

Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact

Widespread in habitat, elevation, and appearance, and according to Janis Huggins in Wild at Heart, its genus Eriogonum is “the largest genus endemic to North America, with more than 300 species, fifty of them occurring in the Rocky Mountains.”