drought tolerant

Showing 13–24 of 110 results

  • Artemisia tridentata / mountain big sagebrush

    • medium-sized grey-green shrub
    • highly aromatic
    • tall, spikey inflorescences with many clusters of invisible flowers
    • limited to drier habitats (not the Valley basin)

  • Artemisia tripartita / threetip sagebrush

    • evergreen shrub; branches in broom-like clusters
    • all parts covered with silvery/grey-green glandular hairs
    • leaves long and very deeply, very distinctly 3-lobed
    • flowers in spikes/racemes - all bits teeny, overall yellow-ish/reddish
    • often with mountain big sagebrush on nutrient poor soils

  • Astragalus purshii / woollypod milkvetch

    • low growing, silvery, compound leaves; no tendrils
    • magenta (or white) "pea-like" flowers with darker keel petal
    • "congested" inflorescence
    • found in very dry areas, not in shade

  • Balsamorhiza macrophylla / cutleaf balsamroot

    • large, yellow, sunflower-like blossom
    • large, dissected/lobed/compound-looking leaves
    • up to 40" tall
    • roadsides or hillsides with arrowleaf balsamroot and Wyethia

  • Balsamorhiza sagittata / arrowleaf balsamroot

    • large, bright yellow, sunflower-like blossoms in early spring
    • very large, more or less triangular basal leaves
    • leaves appear silvery, or grey-green due to leaf hairs
    • on open, fairly dry hillsides and ridges, often with sagebrush

  • Bassia scoparia / burningbush

    • large, annual herb (forb)
    • leaves long-ish and narrow
    • inflorescence a highly branched spike with teeny green/yellow flowers
    • may form huge, invasive colonies
    • whole plant turns red in fall
    • a tumbleweed
    • especially in disturbed areas and wastelands in the Valley

  • Beteroa incana / hoary alyssum

    • dense clusters of teeny white flowers
    • 4 petals, each with a notch
    • fruit is a short, fat-ish seed pod (silicle)
    • found in pastures and all manner of disturbed habitats
    • toxic to horses

  • Blitum nuttallianum / Nuttall’s povertyweed

    • ugly little creeping plant from a central stem
    • arrow-shaped leaves with two prominent lobes, especially on lower leaves
    • teeny clusters of teeny greenish flowers; no petals; in most leaf axils
    • widespread, but usually exposed and weed-like

  • Bromus inermis / smooth brome

    • clump forming grass but clonally spreading
    • erect, leafy
    • in winter, leaves curl up (like ribbon)
    • florescence is a nodding panicle, standing well above leaves
    • spikelets bronze/purple at maturity; anthers yellow

  • Campanula rotundifolia / American harebell

    • blue or blue-ish bell-shaped flower
    • fused petals with pointy ends make the bell
    • exudes white latex when wounded

  • Capsella bursa-pastoris / shepherd’s purse

    • small crucifer with terminal clusters of teeny white flowers
    • rosette of small, maybe toothed, leaves
    • very distinctive, notched, triangular fruits - like shepherd's "purses"
    • found pretty much anywhere that has/had bare soil

  • Castilleja spp. / two yellow paintbrushes

    • look like Indian paintbrushes (which they are), but yellow
    • inflorescence bracts possibly lobed
    • height ranges from less than 8" to about 15"
    • subalpine, alpine and tundra habitats, in clumps or spread out
    • linear leaves without lobes, 3 prominent veins
    • red to maroon, hairy stems

Showing 13–24 of 110 results