Antelopebrush – Purshia tridentata – has fragrant pale yellow flowers and three-pointed leaves.

Snowberry – Symphiocarpus oreophilus – a 2-3 foot shrub with opposite oval leaves, is blooming in both shade and sun.  The pink flowers will produce white berries.

Sulphur Buckwheat – Eriogonum umbellatum – grows mats of small oval leaves which are overshadowed by clouds of creamy yellow flowers, often tinged with pink.  The flower clusters have a collar or whorl of leaves under the umbrella-like flower stalks.

Silky Lupine – Lupinus sericeous – is the typical lupine of sage flats.  It is related to our garden peas. The familiar looking flowers have a very hairy “banner”–back of upper petal–and hairy stems and leaves.  Later they will have very hairy pods–but don’t eat the seeds: they are poisonous. 

Silky Lupine – Lupinus sericeus – has fine silvery hairs covering most of the 2’-2.5’ plants.  All lupine leaves are “palmately divided”: several leaflets are connected in the center and then attached to the petiole –“palmate” like fingers off the palm of your hand. The hairs help keep the plants from drying out in the hot flats. They reflecting the light and maintain humidity close to the leaf surface to prevent too much transpiration of water from the leaves during the hot days.

Compared to silkly Lupine, meadow lupine – Lupinus polyphyllus – has larger flowers and the banner (the upper petal) is smooth on the back and reflexed at a wider angle to the lower two petals. This species tends to grow in moister open areas, such as along the cobbled creeks and river edges, but sometimes it is found in pockets of sage clad flats or hillside.

Hummingbirds are attracted to the red tubular flowers of Scarlet Gilia – Ipomopsis aggregata.  Seeing red (many insects can’t), the bird can hover, insert its long beak, and extend its tongue to lap (not suck) up nectar deep inside the tough tube of petals.  In the process, the bird’s head gets dusted with pollen grains which it carries onto the next flower.  There, its forehead gets bonked by the extended stigma of the ready flower.  Thus the flower is pollinated! Of course this happens at the lightning speed of the flying hummingbird.

Long-leaved phlox – Phlox longifolia – seems to peer up from the trail.  Unlike its cushiony early-spring relatives, this species has 10-12″-long stems and 2-3″ long narrow opposite leaves.  

The beguiling fragrance of Long-leaved Phlox – Phlox longifolia – attracts small flies, bee flies, and butterflies to the bluish to pink 5-petaled flowers. Only the insects with just the right length mouthparts can reach down the long tube to the nectar deep within, and in the meantime the flower is pollinated.

Mountain Dandelion – Agoseris glauca – looks very much like a dandelion, but look closely….The green bracts that surround the flower heads are different.  In the dandelion – Taraxacum officionale – the outer bracts bend backward (left below), vs. their standing up on the Mountain Dandelion (right below)

Also the seeds are different than the weedy dandelion as they do not have rough ribs with nubs on them.  The finely ribbed fruits of False Dandelion are carried off by white parachutes of bristles pappus. (Yes, very like dandelions!)  There are 3 subspecies of mountain dandelions, for those hard-core botanists who wish to pursue the differences.

Hawksbeards – Crepis sp. – are robust plants of the sageflats. The leaves bunch at the base but also grow up the branching 8-16+” stems (unlike mountain or common dandelions). The leaves are often sword-shaped and variably pinnately (branching like a feather), toothed, lobed, or dissected.  The flower heads can have a few to many many individual flowers.  It is easy to see 3-4 species blooming in the same area.

Unlike some of the complicated flowers shown above, Sticky Geranium – Geranium viscosissimum – is wide open to pollinators.  The five petals have lines directing insects into the center of the flower where the nectar lies hidden (nectar guides).  Geraniums seem to be flowering everywhere now — sage-covered hillsides to aspen woodlands.  Sticky geraniums are obviously adaptable and persistent.  

In mostly dry locations, delicate Ballhead Sandwort – Eremogone congesta – is abundantly scattered in delicate clumps among more robust plants. Sandwort is in the same family as florist carnations and garden pinks, sporting opposite needle-like leaves joined together in a bit of a bump on the stem. ‘Congesta’ in the botanical name refers to several small white flowers grouped tightly together in a head at the top of each wiry stem.

The bright yellow, star-shaped flowers on 6″ stems of Lance-leaved Stonecrops are beginning to show up.  If pollinated, flowers will produce seed that can scatter widely from beneath the parent plant.  But what happens if the pollinator doesn’t visit….?

If knocked off the plant, the small 1/4-1/2″ succulent leaves, bundled at the base of flower stalks, can grow roots and start whole new plants, which is one way stonecrops can move around the neighborhood. Lance-leaved Stonecrop – Sedum lanceolatum – is related to hens and chicks, popular garden and house plants. 

Two members of the Parsley or Apiaceae Family, (previously the Umbelliferae family because of their characteristic arrangement of tiny flower on the tips of umbrella-like petioles) are in bloom.  One is a delicate, white, 2-foot tall relative of the Common Yampah – Boland Yampah – Perideridia bolanderi.  The other is plant growing below is the a sharp-yellow Wyeth Biscuitroot – Lomatium ambiguum.  This latter is forming tangy seeds.

The many pussytoes – Antennaria species — are confusing to ID.  Partly this is because they can set seeds without cross pollination, and in the process double the chromosome numbers in their off-spring.  Some species also just plain hybridize with close relatives.  These “complexes” create overlapping, confounding identification features.  Upon close examination, this species was clearly Antennaria luzuloides or Rush Pussytoes.

Besides the fairly large leaves going up the stem (vs only forming a close mat of tiny leaves at the base), the bracts around the flower heads of Rush Pussytoes — Antennaria luzuloides – are smooth, not fuzzy as is often the case in pussy-toes.  These bracts are also light green to white, with no black.  

Hiding under the colorful wildflowers of the moment, on 6″ stalks, these 1″ balls reminiscent of dandelions, might catch the eye.  Look closely….

These are heads of Nodding microseris – Microseris nutans.  Flower heads of yellow, dandelion- like flowers have formed fruits, one per former flower.  The pappus that will carry the fruit away is delicately formed.  The base of each pappus bristle broadens out, catching the sunlight like a drop of water.  Spring is fleeting.

Mulesears have large, dark yellow flowers, 12-18″ elongate, deep green leaves. It grows in heavier soils than Balsamroot. 

There are two look-alike species of spring buttercups.  This one is Utah Buttercup.  Can you tell why?

Utah Buttercup (Ranunculus jovis) has 3-5 parted, lobed to divided leaves.  These plants were found in a remnant patch of sagebrush in Wilson.

Sage Buttercup (Ranunuclus glaberrimus) has whole leaves.  Note the many yellow anthers surrounding a slightly conical set of pistils in the center.  These plants were nestled into the dry slopes of Blacktail Butte.

The flowers of Turkey Peas or Orogenia are truely tiny. Note the leaves are slender like grass.

The underground corms store food over winter – appealing to “turkeys” or– here in Jakcson Hole — sandhill cranes and other critters.  These are indeed pea size. (Corms are swollen stems – note the roots come out of the base of the bulge, a clue that all above is stem.  Crocus is a corm as well.)

This truly western flower — aptly named Steer’s head – nods just above its bluish-green, divided leaves (two leaves in this picture).  Pollinators push in from the sides. The plant is about 1-2″ tall.

The silvery tough leaves, which are shaped like a spade, are wholed into a rosette. The flowers are in clusters on longer stems.  Later they will form pairs of balloon-like fruits.  Hence the name Twin Bladderpod.

A somewhat weedy native mustard, Pale Alyssum (Alysum alyssoides) has tiny 4-petaled yellow flowers clustered at the top of 1-2″ stems.  As spring goes on, these annuals, perhaps biennials, grow a bit taller and can form colonies in disturbed places.  In fact, there are two close look- alikes determined only by their fruits (fruits are important in mustard ID!).  A. desertorum has smooth fruits, A. alyssoides hairy fruits.

Pseudo-flower — looks like this rockcress is in bloom….but not. Look closely.

A rust fungus (Puccinia sp.) causes the mustard to look like it is in flower, deceiving pollinators into spreading spores to other plants.  The fungus gets its nutrients from the young plant.

Rockcress  (Boechera sp) is often a host plant of the rust fungus.  Here the plant is blooming without infection.

Hood’s Phlox (Phlox hoodii) just beginning to bloom on Blacktail Butte 4.13.17.

Spring Beauty – Claytonia lanceolata – has 5-petaled, pinkish to white flowers in clusters atop stems with two, opposite, oval leaves.

A Spring Parsely 

Yellowbells is a member of the Lily Family: count the 6 tepals and 6 anthers.

Wetlands such as those found along Moose-Wilson Road are habitat for two wind-pollinated species in flower now.

At first rusty brown, then stretching to yellow, male catkins of alder (Alnus incana var. tenuifolia) dangle in breezes near wetlands. Each dangle or “catkin” includes dozens of flowers.

A bit back on the same branch, separate, stouter female catkins cluster in 3-4s.  The female stigmas stick out beyond scales which protect them.

Later these structures will harden into brown “cones” which will open to relsease seeds in the fall. They persist into the next year, helping to identify this wetland shrub as an alder.

Some willows rely on wind to carry pollen to a nearby female plant–a chancy bet.  Others feature nectar glands and colorful stigmas and anthers to attract pollinators to do the job.

Female aspen catkins.  Note the silvery white hairs which are attached to the greenish scales.  The marroon protrusions within are female stigmas.  Each scale protects the delicate fertile parts. There are dozens of flowers in each elongated catkin.

Shadows lengthen as days shorten upon the montane meadows of Ski Lake Trail, Bridger Teton National Park.

A bee digs deep into the elongate violet-blue flowers surrounded by the armor of thick bracts.

Nearby, wind teases out tuffs of fluff, which carry seeds of Musk Thistle into unknown adventures…likely to become pests on nearby lands.

The bracts are loose, leaf-like shingles encircling the head, hence the name Leafybract Aster. (Note these larger outer bracts may or may not be there.  Look at several flowers to see).

The elongate leaves of Leafybract Aster cling more  and more closely while alternating up the 16”-30” stems. Note the many pale ray flowers and the relatively wide leaves which are typically <7 times as long as wide.

Pacific Aster is overall a smaller and bushier plant than Leafybract Aster (above) with the upper part of the 1-2’ stems covered with pale lavender flowers.  The leaves are long and narrow >7x as long as wide.

The bracts of Pacific Aster are narrow, sharp pointed, and tightly held against the heads.  The lower, outer bracts are much shorter than the inner upper bracts.

In Thickstem Aster the relatively few ray flowers are an unusual intense violet-blue. The inner disc flowers begin yellowish turning purple. Looking closely, you can see that the flower heads and stems have many sticky glandular hairs, a very helpful ID feature. Often these parts turn deep purple. The upper leaves clasp the thick, slightly zigzag stems. Overall the plants are heftier (and certainly stickier) than the two aster species described above.

The violet blue flowers of Hoary Spiny Aster catch the eye along Granite Canyon Trail.  Tiny silvery hairs on stem and leaves reflect back intense light, reduce wind velocity, and shade the surface of the plants, thereby keeping the plants from transpiring too much water on hot windy days.     

The spines on the tips of the slightly toothed 1-2” leaves and at the tips of the outward curved flower bracts give the plant its name: Hoary Spiny Aster

Showy Goldeneye – Viqueria multiflora – continues to stare at you along portions of Ski Lake and History Trails near Teton Pass, as well as, roadsides of Grand Teton National Park. The 2-3” leaves are opposite and have pinnately veined leaves. The golden ray flowers pale towards their tips. The wiry plants average about 2’ tall.

Curly Cup Gumweed—Grindellia squarrosa – is easy to recognize. Resinous bracts curl back and stick together to form spiny cups which beam brilliant rays of sunshine.  They thrive along dry, disturbed edges of the inner park road.

It is easy to overlook the fact that the Big Sagebrush – Artemesia tridentata var. vaseyana – is in full flower right now in parts of Jackson Hole.

With Big Sagebrush, only a few individual flowers form the tiny flower heads, which are easily overlooked. Look carefully for the arching stigmas that will capture windblown pollen.

While individually inconspicuous, the tiny flowers arranged all along the slender stalks add up to quite a show. They disperse millions of tiny pollen grains upon the wind. Such light and plentiful pollen is a source of allergies in humans.

Also, observe Big Sagebrush leaves. The larger ones produced when water was plentiful in spring are dying off, but the smaller leaves of early summer will remain throughout the winter.  The shrub is evergreen.  These leaves are essential to the survival of Sage Grouse.

Often only six inches high, Tarweed – Madia glomerata – is easily crushed underfoot, releasing an intense smell reminding some people of tar. The glandular hairs containing the scent are a defense mechanism to deter grazing animals large and small. It is interesting that some people like the fragrance while others find it pretty stinky. In fact plants vary in their chemical arsenal. While many grazers avoid the plants, honeybees use the pollen and ground squirrels eat the protein-rich seeds. Tarweed is a native annual that is used in habitat restoration efforts.

A. Look closely: the two sides of the horizontally splitting fruits are each flat with 3 ridges on the back and wings to the sides.

A. The umbels of fruits stand 5-6′ feet high on smooth stems in moist locations.

B. These plants bloomed late this summer predominantly in the sage flats. Fruits are almost round and relatively smooth. (see closeup below),

B. Another hint: the roots of this plant are favored by bears. Note the splitting of the individual fruits. Also the stylopodiums: the swollen, persistent bases of the stigmas.

C. Two to three-foot plants of forest edges and meadows hold up elongate smooth, purple black fruits.  Note the beige central stalks (lower left) that held the two sided fruits which were flavorful when younger.

D. These slightly curved, ridged schizocarps are more or less oblong.  The large compound leaves are finely dissected.

E. These fruits are very flat with two to three decorative lines.  The plants are very large, coarsely hairy, and grow in moist areas.

Mountain Ash – Sorbus scopulina – decorates the beginning of Ski Lake Trail and various canyons. Note the shiny compound leaves, as well as the heavy clusters of orange fruits.

Hawthorn trees – Crataegus douglasii – are filled with bunches of dark fruits protected (supposedly) by 1-2” long thorns. No wonder people are seeing black bears along the Moose-Wilson Road where this plant is particularly abundant. Do be careful hiking around berries of any kind right now.

Fruits of Chokecherry – Prunus virginiana – are arranged in a raceme, e.g. fruits dangle on short stems from a long central stalk. If ingested by humans or livestock, chemicals in the pits and leaves convert to hydrocyanic acid which inhibits cellular respiration and the ability to use oxygen: in short they are poisonous. On the other hand, the fruits, are relished by many animals (which excrete the pits) and numerous insect species overcome the defense systems. Plants may or may not be poisonous to different species, and in different life stages.  This plant is very important for sustaining biodiversity.

Serviceberries – Amelanchier alnifolia – still retain some red-blue-purple fruits, although many birds such as American robins, cedar waxwings, and western tanagers, have already consumed them to fuel their migration south.

Wood’s Rose – Rosa woodsii – holds several fruits at the tips of twigs. Rose hips are particularly high in vitamin C, perhaps as much as 60x as much as lemons….but who really eats lemons?
These fruits will last on the plants through much of the winter, providing food when other resources are scarce.

Fireweed is almost finished blooming, with bumblebees garnering the last bits of pollen and nectar.

The elongated fruits of Fireweed have burst into a whirlwind dance of seeds dispersing.

The crimson leaves provide an encore before hard frost.

Aspen groves on Munger Mountain are full of fall treats.

Some cultures revere the beauty of aging. Here is a dignified, grizzled head of the statuesque Five-nerved Helianthella – Helianthella quinquenervis.  

Seeds of Snowbrush Ceonothus – Ceonothus velutinus – can remain dormant in soil for decades, ready to sprout after a fire.  Mature plants cover the moraine by String Lake, Grand Teton National Park.

Snowbrush Ceonothus has elegant clusters of white flowers and 3-4″ leaves with three strong veins and a glossy texture on the surface. Buds and leaves can be sticky with resin, which provides a different fragrance.

Mulesear Wyethia – Wyethia amplexicaulis – has large, dark yellow flowers and 12-18″ elongate, deep green leaves (the size and shape of mule’s ears!). It grows in heavier soils than the look-alike Balsamroot.

Cliff Creek drainage in the Bridger-Teton National Forest south of Hoback was magnificent last week. These mountains consist of sedimentary rock which breaks down into clay particles, forming heavier soils.  Note in the distance the mist of pine pollen wafted on the wind.

Wally’s World trail off Fall Creek Road near Munger Mountain was full of wildflowers June 20.

Sulphur Buckwheat – Eriogonum umbellatum – forms mats of small oval leaves and clouds of creamy yellow flowers which are often tinged with pink. Sulphur Buckwheat is  blooming throughout the valley. Note the whorl of leaves just below the inflorescence or flower cluster.

Sulphur Buckwheat and Lance-leaved Stonecrop are overtopped by many grasses at the beginning of the Bradley-Taggart Trail.  Grasses seem more abundant this year compared to 2014.

Several species of grasses are in full bloom, although the flowers are naturally inconspicuous. Grasses count on the wind for pollination and the wind cannot see or smell, so no fancy colors , patterns, or  scents are necessary.  Even so, close up, Melicgrass –Melica spectabilis – has elegant, dangling spikelets of individual flowers.  Light, wind-dispersed pollen is causing hay-fever (hay comes from grasses!) in many people right now.

Lance-leaved Stonecrop – Sedum lanceolatum – is tucked below the taller plants.  They have succulent 1/2″ leaves on 6-8″ stems and bouquets of 5-parted, star-shaped yellow flowers. Members of this desert-adapted plant family have a very different metabolism than most other plants.  Look up “CAM- Crassulacean acid metabolism” on the internet to find out more!

Scarlet Gilia – Ipomopsis aggregata – attracts hummingbirds. Birds see red (insects don’t) and the stiffly arrayed tubular flowers enable hummingbirds to hover while lapping up nectar deep within.  In the process of drinking the high-test nectar, the forehead of the bird bumps the protruding yellow anthers, collecting pollen.  Upon the bird’s next visit, the next flower may have a long stigma to which the pollen will stick.  With luck, the pollen tube grows and fertilizes the egg deep inside the plant….fertile seeds then form!

The south end of the Park Road includes tall accents of Scarlet Gilia, as well as plumes of creamy Sulphur Buckwheat.  

Silky Lupine – Lupinus sericeus – is typical of sage flats and dry hillsides.  It has hairs on the backside of the “banner” of the pea-like flowers and very hairy palmate leaves.  As of this posting, I have seen few plants flowering compared to last year. Are you finding it?

Sheep-sorrrel – Rumex acetosella – adds another color to the tapestry. A plant of disturbed soils, it is a non-native species. Plants have tiny either males or female flowers . Take a close look to find anthers (male) or stigmas and ovaries (female). Sheep-sorrel happens to be in the same family – Polygonaceae – as Sulphur Buckwheat – Eriognoum spp.

Bright yellow Rocky Mountain Groundsel – Packera (formerly Senecio) streptanthifolia – pops up in odd corners of the sage flats, such as Lupine Meadows. The leaves vary greatly in their shape and incisions.  The “flowers” typically have only 8-10 “petals” or ray flowers, per head.

This species of Hawksbeard – Crepis aggregata – is common along the Gros Ventre Road. Note the sword-shaped, deeply lobed leaves at the base of the plant.  The dozens of flower heads have only a few ray flowers each.

One-flower Sunflowers  or Helianthellas – Helianthella uniflora – are 2- to 3-foot tall bright spots in the sage flats along Gros Ventre Road.  They also are found along dry river benches and lower slopes of the buttes. It’s more robust relative – Five-nerved Helianthella – H. quinquenervis – blooms here and there. Look for the 5 strong nerves on the large lower leaves to help distinguish the two.

Stands of Aspen – Populus tremuloides – feature a rich array of flowers and birds. The mix of species varies from place to place. This shot is taken on the west slope of Munger Mountain. Aspen are easily seen at Cascade Canyon Trail Head, Oxbow Bend, and Two-Ocean Lake Road in GTNP.

Sticky Geranium – Geranium viscossissimum – is common throughout the valley. Its wide open petals with obvious nectar guides form landing pads available to many types of pollinators. 

Fernleaf Lovage – Ligusticum filicinum – is a tall – 3- to 5-foot plant with ferny, greatly dissected leaves.  The white flowers held on wide umbels are equally as delicate.

Related to Fernleaf Lovage, Western Sweetroot, Wild Licorice – Osmorhiza occidentalis – has delicate yellow-green flowers in umbels.  The compound leaves are much less divided and have the fragrance of anise or licorice, as does the root.  True licorice comes from a member of the Pea Family, not the Parsley Family.

Note the elongate, ribbed, smooth fruit.  Western Sweetroot or Wild Licorice – Osmorhiza occidentalis – is a member of the Carrot or Parsley Family.  As with many members of this family – anise, caraway, dill – the seeds are filled with flavor. Try a taste!

Spotted Coralroot – Corallorhiza maculata – is variable in its decoration. However, a lobe on each side of the base of the lowest petal (lip) and a bump (spur) under the throat of the flower help confirm ID.

Striped Coralroot – Corrallorhiza striata – is the largest of 5 species of Coralroot in Teton County.  This reddish plant has no chlorophyll, but rather depends on a fungus to relay nutrients from other plants nearby.

Woods Rose – Rosa woodsii – flowers in abundance along roadsides. Many pink flowers are clustered together at the tips of twigs.  Another rose species with sparsely prickly branches bares flowers individually: Nootka Rose – R. nutkana.

Mountain Snowberry – Symphiocarpus oreophilos – a 2-3 foot shrub with opposite oval leaves is blooming in both shade and sun throughout the valley.

Red-stemmed Dogwood – Cornus stolonifera – is a favorite food of browsing moose, as my ornamental plantings attest. This wetland shrub is easy to identify with its opposite oval leaves with parallel veins and clusters of 4-petaled white flowers.

White Bog Orchid – Platanthera dilatata – is found in wet spots. The small white flowers have a lip or lower petal that is expanded near the base, and a spur extending underneath.  The lovely fragrance clinches its identity as White Bog Orchid.

Clasping Twisted Stalk – Streptopus amplixifolius – graces the edges of streams. The kinked stalk to the flower gives it its name.

Prickly Pear – Opuntia fragilis – is in bloom on the ledges by Kelly Warm Springs.  The flower is gorgeous. The pad-like stems break off easily (fragile) to help in dispersal. They will attach readily to you: do not touch!

One-flowered Broomrape, Ghost Plant – Orobanche uniflora – is a mysterious species of an odd family. Scientists don’t even know if it is an annual or perennial. Perhaps it lives more than one year, but after it flowers it dies. It is unclear what pollinates it, or if it pollinates itself.  Without chlorophyll, the plant attaches to other species for its food. Apparently it is not picky as to its host plants. It is a rare species in several states.