striking

Showing 1–12 of 46 results

  • Abies lasiocarpa / subalpine fir

    • narrow, tall, sharply tipped trees
    • cones purple and erect; disintegrate in the fall
    • needles flattened, soft and blunt tipped, brushed upward
    • needles sessile - no petioles or pegs
    • leaf (needle) scars round

  • Aconitum columbianum / monkshood

    • brilliant blue/purple - ish; mixed colors or white
    • petal-like sepals form the hood
    • palmate, deeply-lobed & toothed leaves

  • Amelanchier alnifolia / serviceberry

    • erect shrub (3-18 ft), common in the Valley
    • usually several trunks
    • compact, fragrant white flower clusters
    • star-like flowers
    • smallish, light-green, oval leaves
    • small, edible blue "berries" by July
    • red/orange fall leaf color

  • Anemone multifida / cutleaf windflower

    • usually 5 bi-colored "petals" - esp. pink or white; many stamens
    • leaves deeply cut and re-cut in 3s with rounded or pointed tips
    • stems and lower leaf surfaces usually hairy
    • gone to seed, fruits have a troll-doll look
    • on calcareous ledges, in shallow crevices or rocky outcrops; dry mountain tops or near water

  • 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)

  • 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

  • Barbarea vulgaris / yellow rocket

    • showy yellow brassica with relatively large flowers
    • leaves deeply lobed with larger terminal lobe, smaller toward top of stems
    • common on roadsides and waste places in spring
    • siliques about an inch long and curving upward, with beaks and pedicels

  • Castilleja covilleana / Rocky Mountain paintbrush

    • clearly, one of the "Indian paintbrushes"
    • early bloomer in the spring, even when quite short
    • bright red, orange (sometimes yellow) bracts
    • bracts and leaves have 3-7 deep lobes with long, soft hairs
    • often grows in clusters

  • 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

  • Chamerion angustifolium / fireweed

    • bright pink flowers on tall inflorescence (raceme)
    • flowers mature from bottom to top
    • four petals
    • spiral leaf arrangement - lance-shaped leaves have smooth edges
    • pod-like seed capsule releases seeds to the wind

  • Claytonia lanceolata / lanceleaf spring beauty

    • small, very early spring, ephemeral
    • 5 white or pink-ish petals with pink/purple stripes
    • pair of opposite leaves at mid-stem; lanceolate

Showing 1–12 of 46 results