understory

More or less under a forest canopy; not exposed

Showing 1–12 of 37 results

  • Acer glabrum / Rocky Mountain maple

    • understory shrub, small tree, multiple stems
    • opposite leaves; red twigs
    • maple-like leaves
    • teeny flowers; double-helicopter fruits

  • Actaea rubra / red baneberry

    • large, coarsely toothed, deeply lobed compound leaves
    • clusters of teeny white flowers that look feathery or fluffy (due to stamens)
    • green berries in late summer, maturing to red or white
    • black dot at tip of each berry
    • moist understory or shade

  • Aquilegia coerulea / Colorado blue columbine

    • blue to white to pink or yellow tinged
    • long spurs (tails) as long as the petals are large
    • blooms late spring and July (stragglers in August)

  • Arnica cordifolia / heartleaf arnica

    • yellow, daisy-like flowers; 1-2 per shoot
    • opposite, heart shaped leaves; long petioles; 2-4 pair per stem
    • large clonal colonies with many flowering and non-flowering shoots
    • the dominant ground cover  in moderate shade in many forests

  • Calypso bulbosa / eastern fairy-slipper

    • pink/magenta/mauve/purple orchid
    • lighter lower lip highlighted with purple veins; star-like petals and sepals
    • pointy bract behind flower
    • single oval, wrinkled leaf at ground level
    • about 6 inches tall

  • Chimaphila umbellata / pipsissewa

    • small herb/forb
    • shiny, toothed lance point leaves
    • half-inch, pink and white, upside down flowers
    • flowers in umbel like cluster
    • flowers with minimally visible style

  • Clematis occidentalis / purple clematis

    • grows as a vine with hairy stems - on ground, over logs or up trees
    • leaves are trifoliate
    • flowers have 4 "petals" and hang down (nodding)
    • thick central core of stamens and pistils

  • Corallorhiza maculata / spotted coralroot

    • short, brown/red leafless flowering stalk, often in clumps
    • intricate all brown/red-ish flowers except for a white lower lip, with reddish spots
    • in conifer or aspen forest understory

  • Corallorhiza striata / striped coralroot

    • short and purple - no green bits
    • forest understory
    • up to 35 flowers per stalk; often many stalks together
    • flowers have 5 pointy, purple striped "petals" and one darker lower lip petal

  • Crataegus douglasii / black hawthorn

    • slightly thorny shrub or small tree, to 30 feet
    • often forms thickets
    • broad leaves with toothed edges, clumped at ends of branches
    • clumps of white, globe-shaped flowers in spring; prominent black anthers
    • clumps of black "berries" in autumn

  • Doellingeria engelmannii / Engelmann’s aster

    • shade tolerant - in mountain woods and meadows
    • late summer/autumn blooming
    • each blossom/flower has only a few curly rays around a yellow disk
    • ray florets mostly white, but possibly pink or blue
    • ovate leaves, mostly hairless and sessile; prominent veins.

  • Erigeron speciosus / aspen fleabane

    • prolific purple-ish flowers with many "petals" and a yellow center
    • forest openings and edges, meadows
    • late blooming - a "fall aster"

Showing 1–12 of 37 results