Winged buckwheat (Pterogonum alatum)

Buckwheat basal rosette

Iris missouriensis

Field of iris

One of Saturday's unkonwn plants is winged buckwheat (Eriogonum alatum or Pterogonum alatum). The basal rosette of leaves and small, yellow flowers were the keys to figuring it out. We took a drive up to South Park to escape the heat in the city. We saw field after field of wild iris (Iris missouriensis), carpeting the wet meadows with purple.

Skunkbush sumac (Rhus aromatica)

Bushy eriogonum (Eriogonum effusum)

wild licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota)

musk thistle (Cardus nutans) with ladybugs

Saturday morning dog walk to Rattlesnake Ridge showed us Bushy eriogonum (Eriogonum effusum) with its tiny, white flowers-the first time I've caught this plant in bloom. We also saw wild licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) and musk thistle (Cardus nutans) in full flower. The thistle has a lot of ladybugs on its flowers. Prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza) is about to start blooming. Skunkbush sumac (Rhus aromatica trilobata) has set its fruit now. There were a couple of unknown flowers that I need to identify before posting.

American bistort (Bistorta bistortoides)

Shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)

Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea)

Last evening we took a drive up to Bailey and then made a stop at meyers Ranch on the way home. I saw some new bloomers in both places. Meyer's Ranch has shooting stars (Dodecatheon pulchellum), columbine (Aquilegia coerulea), and American bistort (Bistorta bistortoides) blooming now. You can see the leaf sheaths on the bistort, a characteristic of the Polygonaceae family to which it belongs.

The park in Bailey has meadow anemone (Anemonidium canadense), Phacelia alba, and scorpion weed (Phacelia heterophylla) sporting flowers.

Phacelia alba

Meadow anemone (Anemonidium canadense)

Scorpion weed (Phacelia heterophylla)



False indigo (Amorpha fruticosa)

Hoary alyssum (Berteroa incana)

Sunday afternoon trip to the Chatfield State Park dog ponds turned up false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) in bloom and attracting the attention of a lot of bees. Hoary alyssum (Berteroa incana) was also in full bloom. On the way home, I saw a couple of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia macrorhiza) blooming. I didn't get a picture today.


Rock cress (Boechera drummondii)

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum)

Skullcap (Scutellaria brittonii)

Miner's candle (Oreocarya virgata)

A Memorial Day visit to Reynolds Ranch Open Space yesterday afternoon resulted in a bunch of new flowers in bloom. Rock cress (Boechera drummondii), pussytoes (Antennaria sp.), Miner's candle (Oreocarya virgata), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum), skullcap (Scutellaria brittonii), paintbrush (Castilleja sp.),mountain parsley (Pseudocymopteris montanus), mouse-eared chickweed (cerastium strictum), candytuft (Noccaea montana), false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum stellatum), two different violets-one deep purple and one a light lavender color (Viola spp.), and one of my most favorite montane plants, blue-mist penstemon (Penstemon virens). One time, several years ago, I saw the east field at Reynolds covered in blue with this pretty little flower. It didn't take much imagination to see where the blue-mist common name originated.



Prickyl lettuce (Argemone polyanthemos)

Yucca glauca

We went to the Green Mountain dog park this morning. Nothing new from last time (May 12) except that the yucca (Yucca glauca) is flowering. I also saw prickly poppy (Argemone polyanthemos) in full bloom on a road cut, south facing, on the way home from the park.

Chiming bells (Mertensia longiflora)

Rock primrose (Androsace septentrionalis subumbellata)

 

Mountain parsley (Pseudocymopteris montanus)

Today we took a trip up over Hoosier Pass, elevation about 11,500'. I'm not 100% positive about most of the following bloonmers we saw, but here's my best guess: Potentilla (species unknown), candytuft (Noccaea montana), chiming bells (Mertensia longiflora), mountain parsley (Pseudocymopteris montanus), and rock primrose (Androsace septentrionalis subumbellata).