forest gaps and roadsides

Showing 1–12 of 26 results

  • 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

  • Artemisia ludoviciana / white sage

    • low, spreading perennial - up to 3 feet tall
    • silvery leaves and stems (hairy)
    • leaves lance shaped, but sometimes lobed
    • shoots die back in winter
    • aromatic

  • Balsamorhiza macrophylla / cutleaf balsamroot

    • large, yellow, sunflower-like blossom
    • large, dissected/lobed/compound-looking leaves
    • up to 40" tall
    • roadsides or hillsides with arrowleaf balsamroot and Wyethia

  • Cirsium vulgare / bull thistle

    • very nasty spines all over, including stems
    • purple flower head over pear/egg-shaped narrow, spiny bracts
    • fruits are thistle-downy
    • disturbed areas, but also forest gaps, stream sides and seeps

  • 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

  • Dactylis glomerata / orchardgrass

    • perennial bunchgrass
    • branched inflorescence with lowest branch well below the others
    • spikelets wedge-shaped, flattened in tight clusters
    • florets green to red/purple tinged; grey-brown when seeds mature
    • introduced and widespread, but not in wet areas

  • 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

  • Hackelia micrantha / Jessica sticktight

    • teeny blue flowers with yellow/white centers
    • flowers appear singly or in groups above developing fruit
    • inflorescence mostly on one side of the stem
    • lower leaves long and narrow; upper leaves fewer and sessile
    • fruit a pointy and tenacious nutlet

  • Hackelia patens / spotted stickseed

    • small (but not teeny) white, 5-petaled flowers with delicate blue stripes at bases
    • stamens arising from a "hole" in the middle of the flowers where petals are fused
    • usually around sage, in early spring
    • fruits are obnoxious - but small - burs (nutlets) that stick to everything

  • Heracleum maximum / cow parsnip

    • very tall - stands above most other herbs and forbs
    • huge leaves with clasping sheaths at the stem junction
    • leaves lobed and like a very large maple
    • huge flat umbels with white flowers
    • grooved, woolly, stout stem

  • Hesperostipa comata / needle and thread

    • widely spaced bunchgrass
    • glossy leaves, smooth stem
    • narrow inflorescence with long awns (hairs)
    • sharp, needle-like seed retaining the awn
    • drought tolerant

  • Leucanthemum vulgare / oxeye daisy

    • bright, white "petals", 2-3" across; yellow centers
    • s/he loves me, s/he loves me not
    • glossy green, spoon-shaped leaves in a 2 foot dome
    • may form large colonies
    • potentially wide spread

Showing 1–12 of 26 results