snowmelt

soon after snowmelt exposes an area… May to early June

Showing 1–12 of 38 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Castilleja spp. / paintbrushes

    • vibrant, red (or yellow) inflorescence (bracts)
    • widespread, but confusing... five or more species in the area

  • 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

  • Collinsia parviflora / maiden blue-eyed Mary

    • inconspicuous
    • teeny blue and white flowers, singly or in small clusters
    • reddish stems and buds more visible than the flowers
    • wide variety of habitats, bare rocks to marshy fens

  • Delphinium bicolor / low larkspur

    • short plant with a spike of purple flowers
    • individual flowers have a pronounced spur out the back
    • leaves are few, round, deeply lobed, about the size of a quarter
    • widespread throughout the valley and on the hills
    • appears and blooms soon after snowmelt

  • Dicentra uniflora / steer’s head

    • looks like a very small, peach-colored long-horned steer's skull
    • leaves are 3-fold compound; leaflets deeply divided
    • leaves and flowers appear to be separate plants
    • on rocky, vernally-moist slopes right at snowmelt
    • considered hard to find but not rare

  • Dodecatheon pulchellum / shooting star

    • five pink to lavender lobes projecting backwards
    • white or yellow petal bases above a squiggly purple ring
    • anthers joined into a projecting point; stigma projecting past the point
    • snowmelt to early spring
    • wet meadows to sagebrush communities

  • Draba nemorosa / yellow whitlow-grass

    • teeny, often silvery plant with teeny yellow 4-petal flowers
    • rosette leaves have trichomes even when not really silvery
    • annual ephemeral seen soon after snowmelt
    • usually exposed near or on rocks, dry slopes
    • flat, elliptical seed capsules

  • Equisetum arvense / field horsetail

    • segmented brown stems with spore-bearing "cone" at the tip
    • or - segmented green stem with thin green branches radiating from nodes
    • distinctly visible nodes along the stems
    • no leaves or flowers
    • found in many different habitats

Showing 1–12 of 38 results