winter botany

Showing 13–24 of 30 results

  • 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

  • Linaria vulgaris / yellow toadflax

    • fine, threadlike leaves, plants up to 3 feet tall
    • flowers similar to snapdragon, pale yellow with orange lower lip, long spur
    • flowers in tight terminal clusters
    • plants typically in patches
    • "noxious" weed in Idaho

  • Linum lewisii / wild blue flax

    • intense blue, 5-petaled flowers
    • red-ish or darker blue veins in petals
    • buds, flowers and developing fruit present at same time
    • narrow, sessile, 1 inch (ish) leaves
    • especially on roadsides and in meadows in the Valley

  • Mahonia repens / creeping Oregon grape

    • pinnately compound with toothed, holly-like leaflets
    • clusters of yellow flowers in spring; blue berries in late summer
    • low, creeping shrub
    • evergreen - but winter leaves are reddish

  • Paxistima myrsinites / Oregon boxwood

    • low shrub
    • small, opposite leaves; lightly toothed, leathery, oval
    • very early spring flowering
    • teeny flowers with 4 red petals, 4 yellow stamens; in clusters
    • usually on open, dry, sunny sites or open forests

  • 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

  • Picea pungens / Colorado blue spruce

    • conical, layered crown; whorled branches
    • frequent epicormic branches; "woolly" look
    • stout, yellow-brown twigs with sterigmata (woody pegs)
    • cones greater than 2.5" long
    • cone scales stiff at base, diamond shaped, not wavy at tips
    • in mixed conifer forests

  • Pinus contorta / lodgepole pine

    • evergreen conifer
    • needles in groups (fascicles) of 2
    • lopsided cones, (mostly) remain on tree when mature
    • rounded crown; orangey-brown scaly bark

  • Pinus flexilis / limber pine

    • high elevation, rocky or talus, dry, high-stress habitat
    • often - stunted and deformed by wind
    • highly flexible branches
    • needles in bundles (fascicles) of 5
    • often - semi-rotted cones on ground below

  • Populus tremuloides / quaking aspen

    • white barked, often growing in large clones
    • leaves flat with long, flat petiole at 90˚
    • leaves quake in even light breezes
    • twigs and buds reddish, long and pointed
    • catkin flowers in very early spring
    • leaves turn yellow or reddish or orange-ish in fall

  • Potentilla fruticosa / shrubby cinquefoil

    • low, deciduous, shrub; wetlands and riparian zones
    • yellow buttercup-like flowers with 5 leaflets, often in clusters
    • blooms from June until frost
    • pinnately compound leaves, typically with 5 leaflets
    • fruit (achene) remains into winter

  • Pseudotsuga menziesii / Douglas fir

    • persistent cones with distinctive 3-pronged, "mouse tail", bracts
    • semi-pointy, but not stiff or sharp, single needles
    • needles attached to twigs by petioles (no pegs)
    • oval leaf scars
    • twig buds are pointy, "lustrous" brown

Showing 13–24 of 30 results