exposed

Showing 13–24 of 127 results

  • 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

  • Betula pumila / bog birch

    • limited to bogs/fens/swamps and wetlands
    • shrub to about 6 feet tall
    • reddish bark on twigs
    • leaves rounded-fan shaped, ca. 1 inch; coarsely toothed
    • inflorescences - catkins (cone-like); separate male and female

  • 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

  • Boechera pauciflora / elegant rockcress

    • small, insignificant brassica on rocky soils, with sagebrush
    • rosette of small, hairy, spatulate leaves
    • single flowering stalk, 6" or more tall, covered with clasping, hairy leaves
    • flowers 4-petals, purple (usually) flowers with yellow centers
    • may be seen after snowmelt parasitized with yellow pseudoflowers

  • Boechera retrofracta / reflexed rockcress

    • spring blooming crucifer (brassica)
    • white or lavender, pendent, bell-shaped flowers
    • many flowers on a single stalk (raceme)
    • hairy rosette and stem leaves
    • usually in rocky, sagebrush communities

  • 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

  • Calochortus nuttallii / sego lily

    • 3 large white petals
    • purple spots that border yellow glands
    • tangle of hairs (a "beard") at the base of the petals
    • but... very variable arrangement of spots, hairs etc.
    • rocky, exposed sites

  • Carduus nutans / musk thistle

    • quite large, very purple flower heads
    • spiny everything... leaves, stems, bracts
    • biennial - large rosette of nasty leaves in first year
    • dandelion-like fruit that flies away like the down of a thistle
    • disturbed lands... pastures, wastelands, roadsides, construction sites

  • Carex spectabilis / showy sedge

    • roadsides or in wet and seasonally flooded meadows
    • showy inflorescences... yellow (stamens) above white (stigmas) on a purple background
    • grass/iris-like leaves up to 2 feet tall

  • 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

  • Ceanothus velutinus / snowbrush

    • waist-high, exposed evergreen shrub
    • aromatic in hot weather or when leaves are crushed
    • shiny (sticky) green leaves, ca. 3"; 3 prominent veins
    • 4" clusters of teeny white/cream flowers
    • in disturbed areas, particularly burned areas

  • Centaurea maculosa / spotted knapweed

    • "vibrant" pink flowers
    • dark tips on the sepals ("bud scales") - the "spotted" in the name
    • biennial - rosette of leaves in first year
    • officially a noxious weed

Showing 13–24 of 127 results