late summer

  • Hypericum perforatum / St. John's wort

    Hypericum perforatum / St. John’s wort

    • bright yellow, 5-petaled flowers
    • many stamens sticking out every which way
    • sizable black and/or white glands on leaves and petals
    • waist high and grows in large colonies (invasive)
    • not (yet) seen west of the Tetons
  • Iliamna rivularis / streambank globemallow

    Iliamna rivularis / streambank globemallow

    • showy, pink flowers, sometimes rose or nearly white
    • tall, up to 6 feet
    • large, broadly "heart-shaped" leaves with big, triangular lobes
  • Lactuca serriola / prickly lettuce

    Lactuca serriola / prickly lettuce

    • numerous dime-sized yellow flowers in an "airy" panicle
    • buds droop or hang in a "shepherd's hook" before opening
    • seed heads are dandelion-like, but more delicate
    • highly divided, prickly leaves
    • mostly in "waste" areas
  • Ligusticum filicinum / fern-leaf licorice root

    Ligusticum filicinum / fern-leaf licorice root

    • found at higher altitudes in moister, forest areas
    • compound umbel with white flowers in comparatively widely spaced umbellets
    • large, very finely divided leaves; leaflets long and thin - "fern-like"
  • Linaria vulgaris / yellow toadflax

    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
  • Lupinus spp. / silvery and silky lupins

    Lupinus spp. / silvery and silky lupins

    • palmately compound, usually silvery-green leaves
    • 5-9 leaflets per leaf; long petioles
    • flowers on long, spikey racemes, blooming from bottom upward
    • numerous flowers, but all rather teeny; most purple or blue
    • flowers are above the leaves
    • seeds in short, hairy pods
  • Madia glomerata / mountain tarweed

    Madia glomerata / mountain tarweed

    • stems, leaves, flowers - strongly aromatic, like tar
    • sticky glandular hairs cover foliage and floral bracts
    • flowers in clusters with 1 to 3 yellow ray florets
    • disk florets retain visible petals; black stamens
  • Medicago lupulina / black medic

    Medicago lupulina / black medic

    • prostrate, long creeping stems
    • compound leaves with 3 small, rounded leaflets
    • teeny yellow flowers in very small button-like clusters
    • disturbed areas with compacted soil - roadsides & wastelands
  • Medicago sativa / alfalfa

    Medicago sativa / alfalfa

    • escaped forage plant
    • bright purple flowers in dense clusters
    • pea-like flowers with broad upper petal, 2 small laterals, keel
    • compound leaves with 3 leaflets, the central one extended on a short stalk
    • disturbed sites - roadsides, full sun
  • Melilotus spp / sweetclover

    Melilotus spp / sweetclover

    • yellow or white, floppy, tubular flowers in long-ish clusters (racemes)
    • 3 small, pointy leaflets with petioles
    • rangy, unkempt branching
    • roadsides, waste places and sometimes in fields, grasslands
  • Mentha canadensis / American cornmint

    Mentha canadensis / American cornmint

    • crushed leaves smell like peppermint
    • clusters of teeny white-blue-pink flowers in the axils of stem leaves
    • square stems, lance-shaped leaves
    • shaded, moist areas
    • may form large clones
  • Mertensia ciliata / mountain bluebells

    Mertensia ciliata / mountain bluebells

    • taller than others bluebells - up to four feet
    • often forms dense stands by streams and seeps
    • flowers dark blue, bell-shaped, held on one side of stem
    • leaves blue-green, pointed, with prominent veins, marginal pointy hairs