interesting bits

Showing 49–60 of 100 results

  • 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"

  • Juniperus scopulorum / Rocky Mountain juniper

    • small, rounded evergreen tree (or shrub)
    • fibrous, red to grey, shredded bark
    • pollen and seed cones at branch tips on separate plants
    • female cones blue berries with a waxy, whitish bloom
    • leaves on mature plants scale-like
    • leaves on young plants are prickly, needle-like

  • Lithophragma parviflorum / smallflower woodland star

    • small, white (or mauve) flowers with 5 highly disected petals
    • up to 14 flowers per stalk, usually much less
    • deeply lobed, glandularly pubescent leaves at stem bases
    • spring bloomer in a wide variety of habitats

  • Lomatium dissectum / fernleaf biscuitroot

    • blooms soon after snowmelt
    • yellow or purple-ish flowers in compound umbels
    • highly divided, fern-like leaves
    • rocks, rocky soils, sagebrush communities

  • Mentha canadensis / American cornmint

    • crushed leaves smell like peppermint
    • clusters of teeny white-blue-pink flowers in the axils of stem leaves
    • square stems, lance-shaped leaves
    • shaded, moist areas
    • may form large clones

  • 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

  • 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

  • Oenothera villosa / hairy evening primrose

    • yellow flowers on tall stalks, several flowers in a cluster
    • 4 petals; 8 stamens; large, 4 part stigma
    • hairy - often reddish -  stems; hairy leaves
    • lance-shaped leaves, larger on stem than basal
    • disturbed areas and stream banks

  • 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

  • Orthilia secunda / sidebell wintergreen

    • evergreen herb or sub-shrub
    • boggy understory and forest stream banks
    • basal, egg-shaped leaves with prominent veins
    • very small to teeny creamy or green-ish flowers all on one side of stem

  • 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

  • Ozomelis stauropetala / side-flowered mitrewort

    • teeny, white, star-like flowers spaced out on one side of a leafless stem
    • basal leaves, slightly lobed
    • understory in moist woods

Showing 49–60 of 100 results