higher altitudes

Showing 1–12 of 25 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

  • 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

  • Astragalus purshii / woollypod milkvetch

    • low growing, silvery, compound leaves; no tendrils
    • magenta (or white) "pea-like" flowers with darker keel petal
    • "congested" inflorescence
    • found in very dry areas, not in shade

  • 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

  • Castilleja spp. / two yellow paintbrushes

    • look like Indian paintbrushes (which they are), but yellow
    • inflorescence bracts possibly lobed
    • height ranges from less than 8" to about 15"
    • subalpine, alpine and tundra habitats, in clumps or spread out
    • linear leaves without lobes, 3 prominent veins
    • red to maroon, hairy stems

  • Cercocarpus ledifolius / curl-leaf mountain mahogany

  • Chaenactis douglasii / Douglas dusty maiden

    • leaves "woolly" or hairy; intricately divided
    • leaf and lobe tips curled or twisted
    • flowering stems coated with "cobwebby" hairs
    • flower heads of white/pinkish tubular disk florets in a glandular cup
    • forked styles protrude past tubes
    • often in rocky areas and crevices

  • Eremogene kingii / King’s sandwort

    • low-growing herb with long, thin basal leaf clusters
    • white, 5-petaled flowers, ca. 1/2 in across, in terminal clusters
    • 10 stamens, sometimes dark, sometimes white
    • at higher elevations on shallow soil

  • Eremogone capillaris / fescue sandwort

    • five petals, white, in clusters of ca. 3 flowers per stalk
    • prominent stamens with large anthers
    • grass-like (fescue-like) opposite leaves
    • in clumps or mats, in rock cracks and rocky meadows
    • alpine and subalpine

  • Gentiana calycosa / explorer’s gentian

    • opposite, sessile leaves on unbranched stems; clonal
    • deep blue funnel-shaped flowers with white throats and yellow spots
    • 5 pointed petals with fringed pleats between them
    • in wetter areas at higher elevations

  • Hedysarum occidentale / western sweetvetch

    • tall legume with hot pink flowers
    • inflorescence several inches long; up to 80 flowers
    • pinnately compound leaves with 9-21, inch-long leaflets
    • higher elevations on drier, more rocky soils

  • Ivesia gordonii / Gordon’s mousetail

    • subalpine to alpine
    • low, on shallow, rocky soils
    • individual stalks are leaves with ~20 overlapping lobes
    • clusters of teeny yellow flowers on naked stems

Showing 1–12 of 25 results