interesting bits

Showing 61–72 of 106 results

  • 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

  • Packera multilobata / lobeleaf groundsel

    • deeply lobed leaves, mostly at the base of the plant
    • bright yellow daisy-like flowers, 10-30 in a cluster per plant
    • orange-yellow disk florets
    • woodlands, foothills, and generally dry/ sandy/ rocky places.

  • Parnassia fimbriata / fringed grass of Parnassus

    • ca. 1" flower with obviously fringed, white petals
    • flowers look very "complicated"
    • thick, rounded basal leaves
    • usually in wet places, but also alpine on rocks

  • 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

  • Phacelia sericea / silky phacelia

    • deep purple flowers with really long stamens and orange anthers
    • many flowers arranged in a tight coil up to 2 feet long
    • silky, divided (fern-like) leaves
    • exposed, higher altitude, rocky places; often with sagebrush

  • Phalaris arundinacea / reed canarygrass

    • large, coarse, erect grass
    • long, flat blades with pointy tips...  from base
    • distinct ligule—membranous and long
    • large but compact inflorescences (panicles)
    • often in dense monocultures, e.g. on river banks

  • Phleum pratense / timothy

    • tight, cylindrical flower head
    • probably the most recognizable grass in the Valley
    • pink stamens with prodigious pollen production in summer
    • bulb at base of stem; brown leaf sheath bases

  • Picea engelmannii / Engelmann spruce

    • common, especially in mixed conifer forests
    • canopy a narrow spire in young trees, cylindrical in older trees
    • sharp, pointy needles, generally "swept" toward branch tips
    • needles attached to twigs with woody pegs (sterigmata)
    • pendant cones less than 2.5 inches long; thin scales, wavy margins

  • Pinus albicaulis / whitebark pine

    • high altitude - subalpine to alpine; cold, windy sites
    • five needles in tight fasicles
    • brown to purple cones at top of tree; cones don't open
    • scaly grayish bark

Showing 61–72 of 106 results