Plants in the Valley

Showing 13–24 of 335 results

  • Allium schoenoprasum / chives

    • globe-shaped umbels of pink flowers with darker midveins (stripes)
    • hollow, tubular leaves and flower stalks
    • smells like onions
    • grows from bulbs in clumps or sometimes individually
    • wild in wetlands, fens, meadows; cultivated in gardens

  • Alyssum desertorum / desert madwort

    • short crucifer with teeny leaves, no basal rosettes
    • short inflorescence with numerous teeny yellow flowers... short-lived
    • seed capsules mature by mid-July, ca. 40/stalk
    • disturbed sites of any kind
    • often in dense populations

  • Amaranthus retroflexus / pigweed

    • green bottle-brush inflorescence
    • accomplished weed on disturbed sites (including road & driveway cracks)
    • often in gardens, farm fields (edges), roadsides

  • 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

  • Anaphalis margaritacea / pearly everlasting

    • hairy leaves and stems, often in dense colonies
    • inflorescences dominated by white involucral bracts
    • actual flowers are small, yellow and in the center
    • commonly on dry soils
    • great for dried flower arrangements

  • 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

  • Angelica arguta / Lyall’s angelica

    • white to yellow to pink-ish
    • compound umbel with teeny individual flowers
    • many-toothed compound leaves with sheath surrounding petiole
    • leaflets egg-shaped to narrowly oval
    • pungent parsley/celery/anise scent when leaves crushed

  • Antennaria spp. / pussytoes

    • small clusters of white flowers, often fringed with red
    • flowers look like a cat's toes, sort of
    • newest leaves silvery/hairy
    • exposed, in many different habitats

  • Anticlea elegans / mountain death camas

    • cream to greenish-white flowers; overall hexagonal appearance
    • branched flowering stem with multiple flowers not tightly packed
    • 6 tepals (petals + sepals), greenish-yellow nectar glands
    • grass/lily-like leaves
    • blooms in summer (July/August)

  • Aphyllon franciscanum / yellow-clustered broomrape

    • tubular yellow, 5 petalled flowers
    • short (6")
    • no leaves at all, ever
    • very hairy stems and flowers
    • parasitic, especially on buckwheats

  • Apocynum androsaemifolium / spreading dogbane

    • short and spreading perennial
    • oval leaves with pointed tips, prominent veins
    • clusters of teeny, pink, bell-shaped flowers with recurved petals
    • conspicuous darker pink stripes on inner surface of corolla
    • exudes milky sap when stems or leaves are broken

  • Apocynum cannabinum / common dogbane

    • herbaceous perennial with red stems and long/narrow leaves
    • leaves have prominent veins
    • leaves and stems exude white latex if broken
    • white, bell-shaped flowers held erect in stalked clusters
    • seedpods long, thin and brownish; in pairs
    • often near streams or in moist places

Showing 13–24 of 335 results