rocky areas

Showing 25–36 of 53 results

  • 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

  • Huechera cylindrica / coral bells

    • oval-shaped leaves growing in clumps/tufts - all basal
    • leaf edges with small lobes or teeth
    • teeny pale yellow, creamy, green or pink flowers on a leafless stem
    • flowers more dense at top of spike than lower down
    • in woods, on cliff-side ledges, rocky slopes and subalpine meadows

  • Hydrophyllum capitatum / ballhead waterleaf

    • leaves to 10" tall, deeply lobed (7-11 lobes)
    • globe of purple-blue-white flowers below the leaves or at ground level
    • flowers are fuzzy while still in bud
    • rocky, shady, seasonally moist sites

  • Ipomopsis aggregata / scarlet gilia

    • bright red (usually), elongated, trumpet-like flowers; 5 petals
    • late season (July, August) flowers may be white
    • highly divided, comb-like leaves
    • pollination by hummingbirds (red forms) and moths (white, late forms)
    • smells bad but tastes good

  • Juniperus scopulorum / Rocky Mountain juniper

    • small, rounded evergreen tree (or shrub)
    • fibrous, red to grey, shredded bark
    • pollen and seed cones at branch tips on separate plants
    • female cones blue berries with a waxy, whitish bloom
    • leaves on mature plants scale-like
    • leaves on young plants are prickly, needle-like

  • Lomatium dissectum / fernleaf biscuitroot

    • blooms soon after snowmelt
    • yellow or purple-ish flowers in compound umbels
    • highly divided, fern-like leaves
    • rocks, rocky soils, sagebrush communities

  • Lomatium triternatum / nineleaf biscuitroot

    • flowers soon after snowmelt
    • yellow compound umbel on leafless stem
    • leaves are three-fold compound; leaflets grass-like
    • may be tall with wide umbels on good soil
    • may be very short with small umbels on rocky, sandy, low nutrient soil

  • Microsteris gracilis / slender phlox

    • everything about it is teeny
    • white or pink, 5-petal flowers ca. 2 mm diameter
    • exposed, in early spring (ephemeral)

  • Opuntia polyacantha / starvation cactus

    • yellow or peach, complex, many-petaled flowers
    • large globose, pointed buds with reddish scales
    • cactus pads with long or short spines and nasty glochids

  • Orogenia linearifolia / Indian potato

    • spring ephemeral, found only at snowmelt
    • very small plant, teeny flowers and teeny umbels
    • white flowers with purple dots (stamens)
    • grass-like leaves

  • Oxytropis sericea / white-point vetch

    • white "pea" flowers in clusters of up to 25
    • banner petal white with purple/blue veins
    • hairy, pinnately compound leaves, all basal
    • disturbed areas, especially exposed to cold, drought, high light etc.
    • pretty, but toxic to grazing animals

  • Packera cana / woolly groundsel

    • yellow, daisy-like blossoms with 8-13 ray florets ("petals")
    • golden, central disks
    • blossoms in flat-topped clusters of up to 15
    • mostly basal leaves - unlobed, hairy, ovate, up to 2 inches long
    • overall silvery appearance

Showing 25–36 of 53 results