Blue

Showing 13–24 of 33 results

  • Hackelia micrantha / Jessica sticktight

    • teeny blue flowers with yellow/white centers
    • flowers appear singly or in groups above developing fruit
    • inflorescence mostly on one side of the stem
    • lower leaves long and narrow; upper leaves fewer and sessile
    • fruit a pointy and tenacious nutlet

  • Hackelia spp. / stickseeds in general

    • very small blue flowers
    • inflorescence elongates with single flower at top
    • more and more branches through the season
    • nasty stickseed fruits mature below apex

  • Iris missouriensis / western blue flag iris

    • wetland monocot - long leaves, parallel veins
    • large blue flower with yellow "signal" stripe, purple veins
    • 3 petals, 3 sepals make up the flower
    • blooms in spring
    • "like a domestic iris on a diet"

  • Lactuca pulchella / blue lettuce

    • looks like prickly lettuce, but blue and without prickly stems or leaves
    • clonal from spreading roots

  • Linum lewisii / wild blue flax

    • intense blue, 5-petaled flowers
    • red-ish or darker blue veins in petals
    • buds, flowers and developing fruit present at same time
    • narrow, sessile, 1 inch (ish) leaves
    • especially on roadsides and in meadows in the Valley

  • Lupinus spp. / silvery and silky lupins

    • palmately compound, usually silvery-green leaves
    • 5-9 leaflets per leaf; long petioles
    • flowers on long, spikey racemes, blooming from bottom upward
    • numerous flowers, but all rather teeny; most purple or blue
    • flowers are above the leaves
    • seeds in short, hairy pods

  • Mertensia ciliata / mountain bluebells

    • taller than others bluebells - up to four feet
    • often forms dense stands by streams and seeps
    • flowers dark blue, bell-shaped, held on one side of stem
    • leaves blue-green, pointed, with prominent veins, marginal pointy hairs

  • 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

  • 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

  • Penstemon cyaneus / blue penstemon

    • two-toned totally tubular flower (blue and pink-ish)
    • early spring to at least mid-summer
    • widespread in low disturbance habitats - even when rocky and "bare"

  • Penstemon rydbergii / Rydberg’s penstemon

    • small, blue/purple tubular flowers in leafy whorls
    • flowers lack glands or hairs
    • basal rosette of bright green, spoon-shaped leaves without glands or hairs
    • stem leaves are lanceolate, around flower clusters
    • wetter areas, but also along Victor/Driggs bike path

  • Phlox diffusa / spreading phlox

    • low, spreading, moss-like (before blooming)
    • flowers 5-petaled, a variety of colors, and with a tube below the petals
    • many habitat types incl. mountain slopes, rocky terrain, dry forests or with sagebrush
    • blooms in early spring to early summer
    • confusable with P. hoodii

Showing 13–24 of 33 results