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  • Mahonia repens / creeping Oregon grape

    Mahonia repens / creeping Oregon grape

    • pinnately compound with toothed, holly-like leaflets
    • clusters of yellow flowers in spring; blue berries in late summer
    • low, creeping shrub
    • evergreen - but winter leaves are reddish
  • Malva neglecta / cheeseweed

    Malva neglecta / cheeseweed

    • leaves look like grocery store geraniums (Pelargonium)
    • flowers are small, pink-ish and often buried in the foliage
    • fruits are small (ca. 1/2 in) and round
  • Medicago sativa / alfalfa

    Medicago sativa / alfalfa

    • escaped forage plant
    • bright purple flowers in dense clusters
    • pea-like flowers with broad upper petal, 2 small laterals, keel
    • compound leaves with 3 leaflets, the central one extended on a short stalk
    • disturbed sites - roadsides, full sun
  • Mertensia oblongifolia / sagebrush bluebell

    Mertensia oblongifolia / sagebrush bluebell

    • bright blue-to-purplish flowers, hanging and downward facing
    • narrow tube that flares abruptly to bell
    • blooms in very early spring, soon after snow-melt
    • usually associated with sagebrush
  • Micranthes odontoloma / brook saxifrage

    Micranthes odontoloma / brook saxifrage

    • streamsides (or in the streams) especially at higher elevations
    • white petals with beautiful red center
    • yellow/green spots on the petals
    • multiple drooping flowers on foot-long, leafless stems
  • Myosotis asiatica / forget-me-not

    Myosotis asiatica / forget-me-not

    • azure blue to violet to white flowers - very small
    • yellow ring around the center of each flower, like a doughnut
    • usually many flowers in an inflorescence
    • flowers initially in compact clusters, more spread out later in season
    • leaves and stems a bit hairy
  • Nasturtium officinale / watercress

    Nasturtium officinale / watercress

    • emergent aquatic in slow-ish flowing steams
    • four petaled white flowers in clusters
    • thick, shiny leaves
    • often in dense colonies
  • Noccea fendleri ssp. idahoensis / wild candytuft

    Noccea fendleri ssp. idahoensis / wild candytuft

    • white crucifer, four petals in two parallel rows
    • flowers in terminal clusters
    • basal rosette leaves with a few on the stalks
    • wetter areas
  • Onobrychis viciifolia / sainfoin

    Onobrychis viciifolia / sainfoin

    • forage legume, taller than alfalfa
    • pink pea-like flowers with striped banner petal and darker keel
    • spiky inflorescence (a raceme) blooming from bottom up - up to 50 flowers
    • pinnately compound leaves with single terminal leaflet
    • naturalized with sagebrush and mountain shrubs, but also in the central Valley
  • Oxytropis sericea / white-point vetch

    Oxytropis sericea / white-point vetch

    • white "pea" flowers in clusters of up to 25
    • banner petal white with purple/blue veins
    • hairy, pinnately compound leaves, all basal
    • disturbed areas, especially exposed to cold, drought, high light etc.
    • pretty, but toxic to grazing animals
  • Pedicularis bracteosa / towering lousewort

    Pedicularis bracteosa / towering lousewort

    • dense, narrow inflorescence on upper half of stem
    • yellow, beak-like flowers with upper and lower lips
    • flowers from bottom to top
    • conspicuous, fern-like leaves
    • old flowers become light brown but remain on stalk
  • Pedicularis groenlandica / elephant head

    Pedicularis groenlandica / elephant head

    • flowers range from pink to purple or white
    • flowers each have a long, pointed, upward curving beak like an elephant's trunk and lateral lobes that look like elephant's ears
    • sharply-toothed fernlike leaves
    • wet environments in late June, early July