rocky areas

Lichen covered large rocks or rocky outcrops, balds etc.

Showing 1–12 of 53 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

  • Allium acuminatum – tapertip onion

    • umbels with 10-40 flowers atop a tall scape
    • 6 magenta (or white) tepals per flower
    • few leaves and all withered prior to flowering
    • dry hillsides, sun-exposed rocky meadows and slope, volcanic areas

  • Allium geyeri / Geyer’s onion

    • smells like onions
    • magenta (occasionally white) flowers on ca. 15 inch stem
    • each flower urn-shaped with flared, pointy tips; yellow anthers
    • leaves persistent during flowering
    • rocky slopes in brush and pines, sometimes in dense stands

  • 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

  • Antennaria spp. / pussytoes

    • small clusters of white flowers, often fringed with red
    • flowers look like a cat's toes, sort of
    • newest leaves silvery/hairy
    • exposed, in many different habitats

  • Anticlea elegans / mountain death camas

    • cream to greenish-white flowers; overall hexagonal appearance
    • branched flowering stem with multiple flowers not tightly packed
    • 6 tepals (petals + sepals), greenish-yellow nectar glands
    • grass/lily-like leaves
    • blooms in summer (July/August)

  • Artemisia rigida / stiff sagebrush

    • low growing deciduous shrub
    • short, 3-5 lobed, grey leaves (hairy)
    • mild to pungently aromatic leaves
    • brittle branches up to 16 inches long

  • Artemisia tripartita / threetip sagebrush

    • evergreen shrub; branches in broom-like clusters
    • all parts covered with silvery/grey-green glandular hairs
    • leaves long and very deeply, very distinctly 3-lobed
    • flowers in spikes/racemes - all bits teeny, overall yellow-ish/reddish
    • often with mountain big sagebrush on nutrient poor soils

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

Showing 1–12 of 53 results