Plants in the Valley

Showing 37–48 of 327 results

  • 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

  • Bassia scoparia / burningbush

    • large, annual herb (forb)
    • leaves long-ish and narrow
    • inflorescence a highly branched spike with teeny green/yellow flowers
    • may form huge, invasive colonies
    • whole plant turns red in fall
    • a tumbleweed
    • especially in disturbed areas and wastelands in the Valley

  • Beteroa incana / hoary alyssum

    • dense clusters of teeny white flowers
    • 4 petals, each with a notch
    • fruit is a short, fat-ish seed pod (silicle)
    • found in pastures and all manner of disturbed habitats
    • toxic to horses

  • Betula pumila / bog birch

    • limited to bogs/fens/swamps and wetlands
    • shrub to about 6 feet tall
    • reddish bark on twigs
    • leaves rounded-fan shaped, ca. 1 inch; coarsely toothed
    • inflorescences - catkins (cone-like); separate male and female

  • Bistorta bistortoides / American bistort

    • rocky areas, tundra/alpine
    • inflorescence a 2" dense cylinder with many teeny white flowers
    • notable protruding stamens
    • leaves basal, long/thin and leathery

  • Blitum nuttallianum / Nuttall’s povertyweed

    • ugly little creeping plant from a central stem
    • arrow-shaped leaves with two prominent lobes, especially on lower leaves
    • teeny clusters of teeny greenish flowers; no petals; in most leaf axils
    • widespread, but usually exposed and weed-like

  • Boechera pauciflora / elegant rockcress

    • small, insignificant brassica on rocky soils, with sagebrush
    • rosette of small, hairy, spatulate leaves
    • single flowering stalk, 6" or more tall, covered with clasping, hairy leaves
    • flowers 4-petals, purple (usually) flowers with yellow centers
    • may be seen after snowmelt parasitized with yellow pseudoflowers

  • Boechera retrofracta / reflexed rockcress

    • spring blooming crucifer (brassica)
    • white or lavender, pendent, bell-shaped flowers
    • many flowers on a single stalk (raceme)
    • hairy rosette and stem leaves
    • usually in rocky, sagebrush communities

  • Bromus inermis / smooth brome

    • clump forming grass but clonally spreading
    • erect, leafy
    • in winter, leaves curl up (like ribbon)
    • florescence is a nodding panicle, standing well above leaves
    • spikelets bronze/purple at maturity; anthers yellow

  • Bromus tectorum / cheatgrass

    • short bunchgrass, 2 to 30 in at floweirng
    • panicle with all florets to one side; long awns
    • early season growth, flowering, seed drop
    • florets green, turning purple as seeds mature
    • highly invasive!

  • Calochortus nuttallii / sego lily

    • 3 large white petals
    • purple spots that border yellow glands
    • tangle of hairs (a "beard") at the base of the petals
    • but... very variable arrangement of spots, hairs etc.
    • rocky, exposed sites

  • Calypso bulbosa / eastern fairy-slipper

    • pink/magenta/mauve/purple orchid
    • lighter lower lip highlighted with purple veins; star-like petals and sepals
    • pointy bract behind flower
    • single oval, wrinkled leaf at ground level
    • about 6 inches tall

Showing 37–48 of 327 results