Meadow Mix

Many people strive to plant a meadow from a can. Unfortunately, this is not at all easy or quick.  Natural meadows can take centuries to become established.

We have a wonderful array of meadows around Jackson Hole not only because we have the right ecological conditions, but also because many places escaped grazing by sheep and cows.  Fortunately, you can go enjoy a meadow without having to plant, water, and weed.  

Meadows don’t come easily from a can but they can be easy to go see. In early July, we can see meadows beginning to bloom around Jackson Hole. The road to Two Ocean Lake, up Shadow Mountain, the hike to Ski Lake, and the trails south of Teton Pass to Mt. Elly all are relatively accessible, and as they vary in elevation, they keep blooming over the month.

Mountain meadows are also called “tall forb communities”. They are found where there is sun, moisture, and not too hot. Snow is deep and melts off late. Soils are relatively rich, deep, and often churned by pocket gophers. 

Plants are similar to the perennials in a well-nourished and watered garden border: tall and lush. It is impressive to see how much biomass is produced each year from bare ground—plants are often 3-4’ tall by mid-July.

Meadows are rich habitats. Plants sustain myriad insects: caterpillars who eat the leaves before transforming into moths or butterflies. Lepidoptera along with bees, beetles, and flies of all sorts serve as pollinators. Pocket gophers, Uinta ground squirrels, as well as bears eat the roots; and pika, moose, elk, and deer browse on the stalks and flowers. Birds rely on the nutritious insects and seeds. Looking close with a 10x hand lens shows all sorts of tiny insects crawling around.

The following plants are the mainstays of our mountain meadows.  Each meadow has its own combination, but the following species are typically part of the mix soon or later.

The truly tall meadow forbs:

Fernleaf Lovage – Ligusticum filicinum – is outstanding with its lacy skirt of very finely divided compound leaves and umbellate (remember umbrella) inflorescences of many tiny white flowers.

Fernleaf Lousewort – Pedicularis bracteosa – has erect 2-3′ stems full of yellow “irregular” flowers. Below the flower stalks are fern-like leaves, but not nearly as fine as the lovage above.

These flowers have co-evolved with different species of bumblebees who trigger the complicated apparatus of fused petals, hidden anthers, and single pistil to effect precise pollination. Bumblebees receive both pollen and nectar from this species.  Fernleaf Lousewort is fading in lower regions but flourishing in higher meadows.

The species is hemiparasites on the Arrow-leaf Lousewort which also intermingles in moist meadows (see below) and Engelmann spruce where it receives sugars but also the alkaloid pinnidol. Nature has all sorts of relationships seen and unseen.

Giant Lousewort – Pedicularis procera – are not nearly as common as Fernleaf Louseworts and come out a bit later.  As they name indicates, plants are much more robust growing to 4+’ and have reddish flowers with a definite long bract beneath.

I have seen them along trails at Munger Mountain, Brian Flat, and Game Creek

Mountain Bluebells – Mertensia ciliata – are dangling 2-4’ along mountain seeps and brooks. Their bluish green leaves have little stiff hairs along the edges: ciliate.  Flower buds are pink, and open and turn blue when ready for various pollinators. The tubular petals fall off soon afterwards.

Jessica’s Stickseed – Hackelia micrantha – competes with Mountain Bluebells in capturing the the blue of the summer sky, and indeed they can be growing in the same vicinity, as in the bowls above Ski Lake.

The barbed fruits quickly form, ready to be carried along the trail by your dog or your socks.

Five-nerved Little Sunflowers – Helianthella quinquenervis – grow to about 4 up to 5’ in height. They appear to stare straight at you with their 3-4”-wide composite flowers.

Their lower leaves have five strong veins: the central vein, and two on each side.  

One-flowered Little Sunflowers – Helianthella uniflora – can form colonies up slopes and across meadows. They are smaller in stature than their five-nerved cousin and have smaller flowers. The lower leaves have about 3 faint veins. 

Silvery Lupines – Lupinus argenteus – are common in high elevations and as well as in shade at lower elevations. Compared to Silky Lupines – L. sericeous – which often grow with sagebrush on drier sunny slopes, Silvery Lupines overall are less hairy, flowers are a bit smaller and tighter, and the back of the banner (the upper petal) is typically smooth. (For the avid botanist there are 4 local varieties of Silvery Lupines). And for all lupines, the leaves are palmately divided: leaflets coming out from the center like the fingers from your palm.

In the Pea or formerly Legume Family, lupines all produce pods with seeds inside, like your common pea; but lupine pods and seeds are much tougher and the plant is poisonous with alkaloids. Plants “fix” their own nitrogen with the help of bacteria that reside in root nodules. The bacteria take the plentiful nitrogen (N2) out of the air (soil has air spaces) and convert it to a form usable by the plant: ammonium (NH4) which can be directly used to form proteins. (Clovers, vetches, etc. can do the same thing.)

Furthermore, lupines can be a host plant for paintbrushes (see below) which siphon off the alkaloids which then help protect paintbrush flowers from hungry insects.

Mountain Mint – Agastache urticifolia – is clearly in the Mint Family. The stems are square, the leaves opposite, and the pinkish flowers are bilateral – the flowers have two sides to them like your face, with several anthers sticking out. The final ID feature is that plant leaves, stems, and flowers are very fragrant. Hummingbirds, attracted by the pink bracts, hover to lap nectar, thereby pollinating Mountain Mints.

Sulphur Paintbrush – Castilleja sulphurea – can range in color from an orange to salmon to yellow to cream. They hybridize with red paintbrushes or muddle their chromosome numbers through polyploidy to make ID difficult. They are hemi-parasitic on a variety of meadow species.

Red Paintbrushes – Castilleja miniata – are frequent at lower elevations under aspens, forest edges, and grassy slopes. They can be up to a foot or more and often branch.  They often hybridize with Pale Paintbrush (C. pallescens), if nearby.  Their bracts and calyx lobes are sharply pointed.

Rosy Paintbrush – Castilleja rhexifolia – is found at higher elevations than Red Paintbrush They too can hybridize and have a range of colors. Compared to Red Paintbrush, Rosy paintbrushes are more upright and rarely branched. Bracts are 1-3-lobed with the center lobe widest and often rounded, as are the other lobes. The calyx lobes are also rounded. As I say they can be tough to tell apart for paintbrushes.

Tall Western Larkspurs – Delphinium occidentale – look like they belong in an English garden, they are so tall (to 6’) and dignified.

Studies have found that yeast passed along by bees can ferment the sugar in nectar and make flowers more attractive for pollination.  Most parts of larkspurs are poisonous.

Monkshood – Aconitum columbianum – are also beginning to bloom mid-July in moist meadows and along streams. Their flowers are complicated with sepals forming the blue hooded framework over two stiff, arched nectaries which draw the insects inside.

Just below a mop of anthers forms first, and later they fizzle and the 3 female stigmas protrude.  You can see this if you look at the flowers closely. Note all parts of Aconitum are poisonous. 

In a study of a different species in Europe Aconitum napellus, scientists discovered that during those few days when the male anthers are fresh, plants exude more fragrance and more nectar to appeal to roaming bees. As it is not beneficial to the plant if the bee eats the pollen, the pollen is slightly poisonous.  The bee is rewarded by nectar but deterred from feeding on the plentiful pollen. In any case, the bee flies to another flower where the three female stigmas are now standing out waiting. When the bee covered with pollen goes for another sip of nectar up under the hood, the pollen sticks to the protruding stigmas and pollination is affected.  

Cow Parsnip – Heracleum spondylium var. lanatum – is the largest member of the Parsley Family – truly Herculean in stature – here in Teton County, growing up to 5 feet with broad compound leaves that can be 3’ across. The flowers welcome all sorts of insects, some who pollinate, some who just chow down on pollen and nectar. The hairs on the 1”-thick stems can cause a rash for those who brush against them, but not nearly as bad a reaction of blisters if you brushed against Giant Hog Peanut, an invasive taking over parts of the East. 

Lyall’s Angelica – Angelica arguta – are equal in stature but not in heft to its cousin Cow Parsnip. Its white umbels are beginning to bloom now and attract all sorts of pollinators.

Angelica is more typical of shady forests, but also is found in seeps in more open sites. The compound leaves are also large, but relatively finely divided.  

Three tall groundsels or ragworts – Senecio spp. – are blooming the 3^rd week of July 2022.  They can grow to 3-5’ high and have compound flower heads. The heads are surrounded by a protective row of smooth, equally sized bracts often tipped with black, (and some very short bracts),

and a pinwheel of a few to several yellow ray flowers. The leaves are similar in size, ranging 3-5”, as they alternate up the stems. The leaf shapes are different and, therefore, are helpful in ID. 

Saw-tooth Groundsel – Senecio serra – has oblong leaves with serrated (roughly toothed) leaves. 

Arrowleaf Groundsel – Senecio triangularis – has stalked triangular and serrated leaves

and grows near streams and seeps. They can be a host plant for Fern-leaf Lousewort (see above).

Thick-leaved Groundsel – Senecio crassulus – is at high elevations. The slightly succulent, thickish oblong leaves are larger at the base and become smaller and often more clasping as they go up the stem.  All is smooth.  Flower heads typically have 8 ray flowers. Plants are often only about 2’ tall.

A bit lower in stature:

Cinquefoils are common in a range of habitats. They were addressed in an earlier “What’s in bloom”.  However, we include them again here generally because they are so common.

Tall Cinquefoil – Potentilla arguta – is often seen arguing. The flower stalks stand stiffly up and the flowers are clustered, almost in each other’s faces.

The pale yellow to creamy yellow flowers are slightly larger than the very similar Sticky Cinquefoil – P. glandulosa whose flower clusters are more relaxed.  Both species have sticky glands and pinnately divided large leaves.  Without measurements, I find they can be very difficult to tell apart.

Other taxa include variants of P. gracilis, P. diversifolia, and P. ovina which are good botany puzzles.

Sticky Geranium – Geranium viscosissimum – is pervasive in many habitats from sage flats to meadows to forest openings.

In moister or higher, cooler sites it may be accompanied by the white Richardson’s Geranium – Geranium richardsonium.

Found mostly at higher elevations, Nuttall’s Linanthus – Leptosiphon nuttallii – looks a lot like its cousin Multiflora Phlox – Phlox multiflora – which may be blooming nearby. The tubular flowers with a flare at the top are similarly designed and fragrant. In both species, the leaves are opposite but Linanthus leaves are each divided into very narrow lobes that look frilly.

When in flower, both species look like remnant snow patches.

A side note: L. nuttallii used to be in the genus Linanthus, but the taxonomists determined that their pollen grains were distinct and so it belongs in the genus Leptosiphon).

Aster-like Plants

In the next month or so, we will be seeing many aster-like flowers, which are cousins or first-cousins-once-removed in the Aster or Composite Family.  All are similar in having “heads” of many small flowers: ray flowers that range from white to blue to pink ring around the disc flowers in the center. With close examination of bracts, leaves, and later fruits, one can begin to tell them apart.

Fleabanes typically have a row (or two) of equally long narrow bracts that protect a head of many narrow ray flowers surrounding the disc flowers.

There are many species, but here are two larger, more obvious ones blooming in meadows right now

Aspen or Showy Fleabane – Erigeron speciosus – is truly showy with its many narrow (.5-1.5 mm) blue-to-violet ray flowers setting off the yellow centers of the composite head. Egg-shaped, blunt leaves with stiff-hairy margins alternate up the sturdy 1.5’ stems.

Wandering Fleabane – Erigeron peregrinus – has oblong leaves; wider (1.5-3 mm) and fewer ray flowers, and is found in moist places at high elevations

Several species of Beards-tongues – Penstemon spp. – are blooming all around, some only a few inches tall and others up to 2’+ high, and therefore must be mentioned here. The genus is pretty easy to determine with its opposite leaves and (usually blue) tubular flowers which have two lobes above, and 3 lobes below. There are technically 5 stamens (penta- five, stemon – stamen) but one stamen is sterile (staminoid) and usually hairy and lies at the base of the tube. The other 4 stamens typically coil up within the tube. One straight stigma (seen below between two anthers) is at the center of all.

There are several different species to decipher using clues of hairiness of leaves, stickiness of inflorescence, stickiness and shape of sepals, hairs on the back of anthers, and arrangement and size of anthers….. Truly puzzles for the hardy botanist. The flowers are hard to photograph for ID purposes so above is only one example — not sure of ID.

Penstemons are now in the Plantain or Plantanginaceae Family.

Two low white louseworts are intriguing to look at.  I often get them confused at first.

Leafy Lousewort – Pedicularlis racemosa- has elongate, finely toothed leaves. The white flowers are held between two sepals. These flowers are blooming in forests right now.

Coiled or Beaked Lousewort – Pedicularlis contorta – has a coil-like flower similar to Leafy Lousewort but grows at higher more open elevations. Coiled Louseworts have more pinnately divided leaves and their bracts are also divided. They are starting to bloom in open high elevations such as just south of Teton Pass.

These coiled, “beaked” flowers have co-evolved for “buzz” pollination by bumblebees. The vibration of the bee’s wing muscles starts the pollen grains—tucked way back in the flower — bouncing their way up and out of the long coil to shake out upon the bee. The bee tries to glean the pollen off its hairy back to feed to its young, but can’t reach between its head and thorax. When the bee lands on a flower while the female stigma is protruding, the stigma twists and fits between the bee’s head and thorax reaching the remaining pollen and is pollinated.

Louseworts are now known to be hemi-parasites and have been moved from the Snapdragon to the Orobanche Family.

Silky Phacelia – Phacelia sericea – sends up spires of deep-violet flowers above several divided leaves. It is truly a higher elevation plant of the West, often growing above timberline in rocky soils. It is showing up on slopes south of Teton Pass.

A USDA Forest Service report says that a study found that in alluvial soils around gold mines, Silky Phacelias retained more gold in their tissues than other surrounding plants—miniscule pots of gold. A very odd fact. Actually the pots of gold (for insects) are the pollen grains on the tips of the many purple anthers shown below.

These are the typical flowers of our high meadows found in July in Teton County. Summer goes fast so please take the time to enjoy them.

Frances Clark, Wilson, WY

July 22, 2022

And please let us know of any corrections. We strive to be accurate.

Aspen groves, spruce-fir forests, and lodge pole pine stands harbor a range of herbaceous wildflowers throughout Jackson Hole. Some kinds grow in dense shade, others find intermittent patches of sun to thrive. Bloom time is short as plants need to flower and then begin to form fruits quickly before fall comes all too soon. So best for curious flower folk to get out soon and if the flowers are fading at lower elevations, hike higher. Indeed, It is hard to keep up with what is in bloom at this time of year. 

The photos below help you to identify the plants at a glance and then in detail. The text will help you take a much closer look at the intriguing details of the flowers and life cycle. Also, there are a few extra “cool facts” to share with friends on your hikes. By having a “conversation” with the plant you can get to recognize it all the better on the next encounter. A 10x handlens, easy to buy by mail order, adds to the pleasure. 

First the Whites Flowers:

Red baneberry – Actea rubra – has a raceme of small flowers at the end of a long stem. Look closely at the delicate white flower parts into the center where you can see the thick ovary with a stigma on top. 

Attracted to the white array of flowers in the shade of the forest, several pollinators alight and clamber around thereby spreading pollen onto a stigma. Then the ovary will begin to expand into a bright red (or white) fruit. In the fall, the raceme bares shiny red, poisonous (to us) fruits. In olden times, “bane” indicated poison or misfortune. Fortunately, the fruits don’t taste good, so a child (or other curious person) is likely to spit the fruit out if tempted. Baneberries can be attractive landscape plants. 

Woodland Strawberry – Fragaria vesca –– grows here as well as Europe and Asia where the fruits have been eaten since the Stone Age. We have two strawberry species in Teton County.  To distinguish them, look closely: the three-parted leaves: the terminal toothof the leaflet is greater or equal to the side two teeth and the leaves are deeply veined. Later the seed-like fruits will sit atop the red flesh of the swollen stem.

Look out also for our Blue-leaf or Wild Strawberry – Fragaria virginiana – which is native only to North America.  It is one of two parents to our commercial strawberry. The terminal tooth is shorter than the two adjacent teeth and the leaves are usually blue-green. The fruits will be different as well…more later.  

Mitreworts – We have two species of Mitella which have particularly delicate looking flowers.  I often see them along a trail edge or slope where these small plants don’t have too much competition. They have a cluster of scalloped leaves at the base, and then wands of greenish to white flowers on 8-12” stalks. You have to get down low to see the details of the flower. They are in the Saxifrage Family.

Five-stamen Miterwort – Mitella pentandra – has a saucer-like cup of fused green sepals; the petals (not stamens as in the common name implies) are greenish and divided into 5-or-more linear parts like snowflakes. At their base are tiny white anthers with a stigma poking up in the center. Nectar glands fill the saucer and help cover the ovary.

Side-flowered Miterwort – Mitella stauropetala – flowers are held more or less on one side of the stalk, as the name indicates. The sepals are more pronounced: white and triangular. The petals are thread-like, barely branched and the center more of a cup.   

Our two False Solomon’s-seals can be a bit confusing. Both make attractive garden plants for the shade as their leaves are tidy and the rhizomes will slowly extend for the plants to fill in shady spots. White flowers are clustered at the end of the arching stems and later will bare colorful fruits.  Here are the technical differences to help close observation and memory:

Starry False Solomon’s Seal – Maianthemum stellatum – has narrower, often bluer-green leaves. The white flowers are in a raceme—single flowers are at the end of short stalks that come off a central stalk as if they are each racing way from the center line.

False Solomon’s Seal – Maianthemum racemosum – has broader, larger, more arching, greener leaves. 

The white flowers are more bunched and plentiful. Technically the inflorescence is a panicle. The flowers are at the end of a stalk that comes off a stalk from the center stalk, as if racing away in all directions as in panic.

Western Valerian – Valeriana occidentalis – has been flowering along shady trail edges and in open meadows since early spring. It has a bunch of flowers (thryse) at the end, with at least one pair of opposite, compound leaves on the stem,

and more mostly simple (undivided) leaves at the base.  

Many people know of valerian as a sleeping aide. Indeed, it is related to the European species V. officinalis which is a powerful nervine and sedative. Another local species Tobacco Root – V. edulis – will be blooming soon (more info in a later posting). Plant identification and research are very important in using any plant medicinally.

Cheerful Yellows:

Heart-leaved Arnica – Arnica cordifolia – is one of several arnicas here in Teton County.  Arnicas have opposite leaves and usually bright-yellow flower heads with rows of even-sized bracts protecting the many flowers inside. 

True to its name, this arnica has 1-2 pairs of heart-shaped leaves on short stalks, and a few others at the base.  Arnica has been used successfully as a topical to help with bruising; however, ingestion can be toxic. 

Bracted Louseworts– Pedicularis bracteosa – are just sending up their 1’ flower stalks from a whorl of fern-like compound leaves. The whole plant will reach 2-3’.  Amazing how much biomass is produced in only a few weeks!

The flowers are bee pollinated: a bee lands on the lower lip of three fused petals. If it is the right bee species, it will vibrate its wings at a particular velocity, which causes the pollen hidden in the arching upper lip to fall upon the bee. The bee flies away, tries to glean the pollen off its back, but can’t reach the crevice between head and thorax. When the bee visits another flower in a later stage of growth, the flower stigma sticks out to reach between the crevice, thereby being smeared with pollen. Voilà, pollination!   

Some Blues:

Silvery Lupines – Lupinus argenteus – are beginning to bloom in pine forests, often amongst the yellow arnicas. 

This shade-loving species has less hairy leaves and smaller, more closed flowers than the Silky Lupine – L. sericeus – of open sunny areas. 

Vines of Western Clematis – Clematis occidentalis – have been wrapping themselves upon any woody stem in the forest and blooming profusely. The blue “petals” are actually sepals.

The sweet blue Dog Violets – Viola adunca – are occasionally seen along forest trails in sunny spots.  We have other blue violets, but this species has a long spur in the back that holds nectar for pollinators which are strong enough to push in and reach this reward. 

Wikepedia warns, “The leaves and flowers are edible and can be eaten in salads, as potherbs, or brewed as tea. These plant parts are high in vitamins A and C. However, the rhizomes, fruit, and seeds are poisonous to humans and can cause upset stomach, intestinal problems, respiratory and circulatory depression.” Maybe violets aren’t so “sweet”.

Green:

Sweet Cicely – Osmorhiza occidentalis – grows in moist shady places. It is easy to place it in the Carrot/Parsley or Apiaceae family, formerly the Umbelliferae. Very early on, the Greeks saw the similarities that now have become formal taxonomic identifiers for the family: the umbel arrangement of small flowers, e.g. the flower stalks coming from a central point like the ribs of an umbrella (umbel and umbrella have the same entymology) and typically compound leaves often with broad petioles. 

Plants in this family–dill, anise, coriander, celery seed, and notably poison hemlock – Circuta maculata–also contain many fragrant to deadly chemicals. Pinch the leaves of Sweet Cicely: they smell like licorice or anise. Likely the Greeks, appreciated the foods and medicines the family provides.

The sturdy structure of umbels enable pollinators to land and crawl around the tiny flowers which have glistening nectar glands.

No Color Needed for Wind:

Wind pollinated flowers are in abundance now: grasses and sedges, as well as conifers. Below is a picture of a poof of pollen in the valley, likely spruce pollen. Wind-distributed pollen has to be very light to fly upon the air. No wonder allergies are rampant right now. Pollen distributed by insects is relatively heavy–one reason why strong insects are needed.

Western Meadow-rue – Thalictrum occidentalis – Is a delicate looking plant with divided leaves. 

As it is wind pollinated, it does not have showy petals to attract pollinators. Instead, it depends on luck. Male plants produce small flowers with lots of dangling anthers that shed pollen upon the wind. 

Hopefully, nearby is a female plant with flowers that hold up sticky stigmas to catch the pollen. Lots of bets are placed…lots of pollen is released to increase the chances of reaching a female. 

If the pollen does happen to reach the stigma, the pollen grains grow down to form seeds within the ovaries below. So far, I have seen many more male plants than female plants. Having separate male and female plants helps increase genetic exchange for long-term survival of the species.

Elk Sedge – Carex geyeri – Also pollinated by wind, this species has a slightly different strategy. On the same spike, several male flowers produce anthers above and 1-3 female flowers produce long stigmas below. Often the flowers come out at different times to avoid self-fertilization.

With sedges, the fruits form within a vase-like structure called a perigynea and each flower has a scale at its base. Elk Sedges have very deep roots that help to hold the soil in place on slopes, and the evergreen leaves are indeed eaten by elk.  

Orchids:

Orchids have very tricky and involved life strategies—the family is one of the most diverse and evolutionarily advanced in the world. The flowers are intricately designed to attract and fit only specialized pollinators, which are often still unknown to researchers. Once they are pollinated, orchid plants produced very fine, dust-like seeds without extra food. (Think about the contrast with bean or pea seeds which have a little nub of an embryo and lots of starchy food around it). The tiny orchid seeds depend on mycorrhizal fungi being present in the soil to nourish the tiny embryo. In many cases, a “protocorm” slowly grows underground expanding with the aid of the fungus. Once a shoot reaches the sun to produce its own food, many orchids retain a relationship with the helpful fungi.  And some orchids have no chlorophyll and completely depend on fungi for their survival. For these reasons, never pick an orchid; just admire.   

Fairy Slipper – Calypso bulbosa – is truly a delight to find. It has a fancy array of sepals and petals and alternating fragrances to provide allure to young queen bumblebees. 

The bee lands on the flower, and unknowingly to her, a wad of pollen called a pollinia may become attached to her before she flies to the next flower…searching again for a reward. The next flower may have a protruding female stigma poised to receive the male pollinia. If so, hundreds of seeds can begin to form. Meanwhile the queen bee receives no reward of nectar or pollen and eventually learns not to bother to look for them.   

We have several species of coralroot in Teton County. The one I have seen currently in bloom is Spring Coralroot – Corallorhiza wisteriana. 

This species is particularly notable because the clusters of stems can be reddish or yellow, and they may grow right next to each other.  

Coralroot orchids have no chlorophyll and therefore depend on mycorrhizal fungi to provide carbon and other nutrients to keep them growing (myco-heterotrophic). The underground mycelial threads of the fungi attach to stubby root-like structures called haustoria, which look like coral, hence the common name.

An Ancient One:

Field Horsetail – Equisetum arvense – Horsetails are in an ancient “order” of plants that has persisted over 350 million years. Their ancestors grew 45’ tall and1.5’ in diameter and formed forests when the dinosaurs roamed. Those plants are now being mined for coal. This is a photo of the strobilus on top of a brown stem separate from the branching green horsetails we see.

The cone it is releasing spores with elaters, appendages that will help the spores move on the wind. The spores will form an alternate generation of barely visible green sexual plants: gametophytes which produce either eggs or sperm. With rain, the sperm swims to eggs, and the plants we know as horsetails then sprout up. It takes these “alternating generations” to complete the very primitive, but clearly time-tested, life cycle of a horsetail. Ferns reproduce in essentially the same way.

Time to Get Out Botanizing

There are more flowers to bloom in forest openings and trailsides in the months to come. Trails up Cache and Trail Creeks, around String and Jenny Lakes, around Munger Mountain, and a bit later up to Ski Lake are readily accessible forest habitats. Myriad native insects depend on our native flora and they cannot survive on non-native species. Native insects provide critical proteins for baby birds. And the fruits will also nourish adult birds and mammals. If you have a garden, growing native plants is one way to steward our remarkable ecosystem. In any case, wildflowers are fun to observe and understand. Enjoy.

Frances Clark, Teton Plants, Wilson, WY

June 22, 2022

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Aspens are turning yellow and orange, canyons are flaming with colors, and fruits provide feasts for wildlife. It’s a great time to get out and observe the final flings of fall.

The Rose Family is one of the most beautiful and productive families in our temperate climes. 

In the grocery store we see a cornucopia cultivated apples, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, and raspberries. On sunny slopes and forest openings birds and mammals find a similar feast of fruits provided by the Rose Family at this time of year. The background leaf color helps accentuate the display of luscious berries. This is a great year for fruits which is good because our migrating birds, small mammals including coyote and fox, and big mammals including bears, moose, and deer all relish them.

Fruits of Black Hawthorn – Crataegus douglasii – are dripping along Moose-Wilson Road, around Trail Creek, and elsewhere. Despite their inch-long thorns, these 20-25’ large shrubs or small trees appeal to bears which will climb into the crowns and scarf up the fruits. Larger bears will use their weight to bend over the branches.  “Crataegus” means strong and sharp—descriptive for sure. Leaves are oval with shallow lobes and many teeth and they turn maroon or scarlet in October.  Fruits are deep-red to mostly black.  Another species Red Hawthorn – C. rivularis – is scarcer to find and harder to identify – slightly redder fruits and leaves are less lobed. It grows in moister sites. They are unusual to find in Wyoming.

Serviceberries – Amelanchier alnifolia – are being picked off by flocks of robins, cedar waxwings, Swainson’s thrushes, and more as they migrate south.  Purple poop is apparent in coyote or fox scat – could be chokecherry as well.  

Oval leaves with teeth at the end often turn a mottled maroon. After a frost the slightly wizened pomes are particularly delicious—like raisins with a touch of almond. Note the round fruits are in cymes (the stalks are variable in length) and have 5 dried sepal tips sticking out the top.

Chokecherry – Prunus virginiana – has more elongate, toothed leaves which turn a shiny orange to red. Fruits are held in racemes—on equal-length stalks off a central axis. The round berries (drupes) do not have sepals at their ends.  It is important to know the difference from Serviceberries, especially as the leaves fall off, as cherry pits can be poisonous. Also the twigs have a distinctive strong odor of prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid), a precursor to cyanide which can be poisonous under certain circumstances. However, the wildlife enjoy them equally to serviceberries.

Rose hips of Nootka vs. Woods Rose stay on the thorny shrubs all winter.  As with other roses, the leaves are pinnately compound—several leaflets coming off a central rachis. Hips are swollen hypanthiums—the merged bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens that swell over the pistils that turn into seed-like fruits (achenes) inside. The hypanthium is a tough, nutritious casing with lots of vitamin C.  The five dry extensions from the top of the hip are actually the dried sepals that surrounded the flower petals. 

Nootka Roses – R. nutkatensis – usually have only 1 (2) hip on a stalk which is 2-3x larger than the hips of Woods Rose and they have longer sepals. Rose hips are most favored by deer in the winter. 

Woods Rose – R. woodsii – has several hips together. I remember the name by thinking that many trees are in the woods. 

Mountain Ash – Sorbus scoparia – fruits are abundant this year. Here again the leaves are pinnately “compound” and arranged alternately up the stem. The fruits and foliage colors are some of the most dramatic out there. 

The berries may not be eaten right away, leaving good sustenance for wildlife into winter. 

Shrubs with Opposite leaves:

Red Elderberry – Sambucus racemosa – at first may look similar to Mountain Ash with big bunches of red fruits and compound leaves. However, elderberry is overall coarser in appearance.  Stems are finger-thick, the leaves heftier and arranged opposite on the stem, and the plant stinks.  Different plants have different concentrations of hydrocyanic acid that makes individuals more or less appealing to wildlife and can cause diarrhea in humans if fruits are not prepared properly for wine and jellies, etc.

European Black Elderberry – S. nigra – has been used to make whistles—the core of the stems (pith) is very soft.  People used to hollow out the cavity, add a few holes along the stem—and voilá a whistle!  Sambucol, an over-the-counter medicine, has been proven efficacy as an anti-viral flu medication. We have two varieties of Elderberry: S. r. var. racemosa has red berries and smooth leaves, S. r. var. melanocarpa has black fruit and slightly downy vestiture on the leaves.

Red-stemmed Dogwood – Cornus stolonifera – is a favorite and readily available landscape shrub. It has tidy, opposite oval leaves with parallel veins that turn a beautiful maroon on red stems.

The white flowers form bunches of white berries which are high in lipids—concentrated energy for migrating birds: They soon disappear.  Moose also love to munch – prune – the red stems. In Montana they say dogwood is “moose ice cream!” Dogwoods grow mostly along streams.

Snowberries – Symphoricarpus spp. – are sporting soft white berries. The Greek root of the botanical name means “to bear together…fruit”. Which indeed it does – like piglets to my eye. Some flowers were clearly pollinated, other flowers were not.

Sometimes the foliage—opposite oval leaves–turns a bright yellow under aspens, but this seems a bit spotty this year.  

The slightly mushy berries – soft like marshmallows – are not for us humans to eat. The berries contain an alkaloid chelidonine which can cause “mild symptoms of vomiting, dizziness, and slight sedation in children.”  Sources vary on the level of toxicity—my thought is to not yield to temptation. That being said, Snowberries are hardy landscape shrubs and are good wildlife food with early leaves in spring and berries that grouse and others will eat. Our two Teton County species – S. oreophilus and S. albus – are hard to tell apart except in flower.

Related to snowberries – both are in the Honeysuckle family – Utah Honeysuckle – Lonicera utahensis – also has bright yellow oval opposite leaves.The twin red fruits are long gone. 

When leaves fall off, the oval buds with 4-6 scales on relatively thick stems (compared to the thin twiggy stems of snowberries) help differentiate the two cousins during dormancy.

Mountain Maple – Acer glabrum – is a very shrubby plant that can grow to 15 feet tall. Winged samaras await the wind to break them loose so that the winged seeds can helicopter to new lands. The rather skimpy, lobed leaves turn variable colors along our mountain trails and slopes here in Teton County.

Much more brilliant and barely in the county is Big-tooth Maple – Acer grandidentatum. Joyce Batson took this picture last week along Rte 26 near the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. 

The leaves are arger with bigger teeth than Mountain Maple and the samaras are broader. 

An Odd Ball:

Silverberries – Eleagnus commutata – are dangling among silvery leaves in the Snake River floodplain and elsewhere. Right now the fruits and leaves are similar in color—the fruits are hard to see. 

Birds eat the berries and moose particularly like the plants. Otherwise, it has moderate wildlife value. The 10-15′ tall rhizomatous shrubs can fix their own nitrogen, enhancing their own growth and that of other plants nearby.  Where our floodplains are used for pasture, cattle tend to graze other species leaving alone the less palatable (to cattle) silverberries, which remain standing tall.   

For Pure Color:

Mountain Huckleberries – Vaccinium membraceum – color up along forest paths and openings. Foliage is more intense with more sun. The delicious fruits are gone, but the leaves bring delight to the late season hiker. 

Often overlooked (at least by this botanist), False Huckleberry – Menzeisii ferruginea – turns a clear yellow in large patches along canyon trails such as Cascade Canyon. Below it is mixed in with the much larger leaves of Thimbleberry.

False Huckleberry leaves are oval, hairy, slightly sticky, and usually larger than its relative Mountain Huckleberry. And it can have a slightly skunky odor. The fruits are dry capsules, similar to its other relative azalea. For this reason it is also called False Azalea.

Birch-leaf Spiraea – Spiraea betulifolia – lines many woodland trails with a sweep of yellow. The oval, toothed leaves alternating up thin, rhizomatous stems contain salycidic acid – the same ingredient found in willows. Salicylic acid is the original source of aspirin, now synthesized as acetylsalicylic acid.

Of note, Spiraea is in the Rose Family, but does not have the luscious fruit of its many relatives. Instead, 5 dry fruits sit in each tiny cup of a hypanthium.

Found along streamsides or up canyon trails, Thimbleberry – Rubus parviflora – has the largest “simple” (vs. compound) leaves in the valley for shrubs.  Lobed like a maple, these solar collectors are expansive, and turn bright yellow as they slowly go limp.

As shorter days and cooler temperatures trigger dormancy, the vessel system to the leaves is slowly sealed off, reducing available water and nutrients. Green chlorophyll dies revealing yellow pigments that have been there all summer long capturing different light spectrums. And then these too fade as their purpose is extinguished and leaves crinkle brown and drop. Buds remain the hope for the next year.

Different plant species have different arrays of yellow to orange pigments (carotenoids), and some manufacture additional red to purple anthocyanins in the fall if warm days are followed by cool, but not freezing nights. This temperature combination enables plants to produce more sugars to fuel formation of these extra pigments. Moisture can also affect the amount of color. So each species, each plant, and each year the foliage display is unique.

The season is very short. Enjoy getting out for the fall extravaganza!

Frances Clark, Wilson, WY

As always we appreciate corrections and suggestions. To get on our email list for program announcements, please contact us at tetonplants@org.

Spring sun is warming south-facing slopes of buttes and hillsides.  Snow along Grand Teton National Park roads is finally retreating. Wetlands are warming. Bugs and birds are flying about. The delight is in the details of small flowers; no big show yet.

Along roads and low openings in the valley:  

Patches of yellow buttercups are the first to draw the eye.

Buttercup – Ranunculus spp. – flowers gleam, and uniquely so. The outer layer of the petals – epidermis – is only one-cell thick and the cells are particularly thin and flat.  They hold pigments that absorb blue-green wave lengths of light. Thus yellow wavelengths can keep going through the outer cell layer, penetrate a thin air layer, and then reach a starch layer of cells that scatters the yellow light back up through the pigments again. Furthermore, the thin outer layer with air layer just beneath has the physical properties of a thin-film, creating the shiny look to the flowers. The combination os pigmentation and unique structural qualities of the flower cells provide the bright glossy yellow found only in buttercups and a few cousins.  At certain angles, flowers actually flash a signal to passing pollinators to come visit. (For much more to this complex story see references below.)

Look closely at our two similar species of buttercups:

The lowest leaf of Sagebrush Buttercup – Ranunculus glaberrimus – is unlobed, the upper leaves are 3-lobed. It is a denizen of sage flats.

Some individual Sagebrush Buttercups don’t have petals, only sepals. I dont’ know why the flashy petals aren’t there.

In Utah Buttercup – R. jovis – both the lower and upper leaves are lobed into three parts. Note buttercups have many separate anthers and stigmas—a common characteristic of this family. It is found in relatively moist locations, including woodland edges and openings.

Springbeauties – Claytonia lanceolata — grow in scattered in patches. Some blooms exhibit obvious pinkish veins that direct pollinators to yellow nectaries in the center. Pollinators bump against the anthers and get dusted with pollen.

It is easy to step on Turkey Peas – Orogenia lineariifolia. The plants look like bits of lichen or stone, nothing to think about.

However, Turkey Peas are more interesting if you take a close look at their tiny white flower with maroon centers that together form clusters barely an inch long. Think about what tiny insects must pollinate them–likey small flies and bees.

Sandhill cranes, bears, and rodents seek out the thumb-sized bulbs (“peas”) for food.  (Turkeys would likely eat the bulbs if they lived in Jackson.)

The quintessential western plant Steer’s-head – Dicentra uniflora – requires some belly botany. Scan an area for divided leaves and then get down to stare at the steer-like flowers. This is the larval host plant for the Parnassian butterfly Parnassius clodius, which Dr. Debrinski from MSU is researching in Grant Teton National Park (more info on her research below).

 

Yellowbells – Fritillaria pudica – are always cheerful! The 6-8”-high plants sprout from miniature scaly bulbs. The base of the 6 yellow tepals is said to change from red to green depending on pollination, but I can’t see any consistent difference happening to the outside flower color or anthers and pistil on the inside. Maybe you can.

Violets are flowering here and there:

Goosefoot Violet – Viola purpurea var. venosa – has leaves shaped like goose feet with a few more toes. The back of the leaves and yellow petals are often purple, hence “purpurea” in its botanical name. Note the dark center of the flower and the convenient landing pad of petals for pollinators.

Several yellow violets intergrade in leaf features which confuse me and other botanists trying to sort out the names.  This cheerful specimen is one of three look-alike species – V. vallicola, V. praemorsa, or V. nuttalii.  Leaf ratios, shapes, and hairiness, as well as ultimately seed-capsule sizes, determine identification.

Dry slopes and knolls:  Rambles up the south side of Blacktail Butte and rocky knolls around Kelly Warm Springs yield treasures tucked into the rocky soils. Many of the plants are silvery and/or hairy and grow very slowly into low mounds or mats—adaptations to limited water and nutrients and intense light and wind.

Please watch you step…these small plants can be hard to see and some are very old.

Hood’s Phlox – Phlox hoodii – is often the first out, with its white to bluish flowers. Bees and flies pick up on the sweet fragrance. They come in and land on the flared petal tips and dip their long tongues deep down the center tube for nectar. They then carry the orange pollen off to other flowers nearby. The leaves of Hood’s Phlox are opposite, very small and tight on very slow growing stems that collectively form a cushion shape.  Plants inches wide can be decades old.

Nearby, Twinpods – Physaria didymocarpa – feature bright-yellow, 4-petalled flowers at the end of sprawling 3-4” stems. Spade-shaped, silvery leaves help identify this member of the Mustard Family. Mustards usually have 4 petals, 6 anthers (2 short, 4 long), and one 2-parted pistil.

The first pussytoes to bloom is Low Pussytoes – Antennaria dimorpha.  The tiny gray, finely hairy leaves form mats on the ground. Look closely for the flowers.

Note female and male flowers are on separate plants. This separation helps encourage cross-pollination, but if there are no pollinators present, females can set seeds on their own. Female plants often outnumber male plants in a population.

Sprawling Cymopteris – Cymopteris longipes – is spreading its whorl of dissected silvery leaves low to the ground.  As a member of the Carrot Family, plants have umbels, in this case with yellow flowers.

Later, the underground stem will stretch up lifting the leaves higher to the light above growing competition. The stalk of the umbel will extend, too, elevating the winged fruits into the wind mid-summer.

Pursh’s Milkvetch – Astragalus purshii – is also just beginning to flower on dry knolls.  The pea-like flowers are slightly yellow to white with a blue bow to the keel (lower two petals). Some flowers open wide for pollinator business. Note the pinnately divided leaves are silvery hairy.

The brilliant red of paintbrush – Castilleja chromosa – is provided by the leaf-like  bracts. Soon tubular flowers will emerge from their axils. I am not sure why there is so much color without the presence of any flowers yet. Maybe the plants are announcing to pollinators: opening for business soon!

Our local Townsendias belong to a beautiful but often confusing genus. This plant has all the features of T. leptotes: narrow leaves, whitish petals, a whorl of 4-5 rows of pointed bracts tinged with color. Apparently this species and T. montana can hybridize or self-fertilize to the point that some experts say separating the two species appears “arbitrary.” I say, let’s just enjoy the flowers if you can find them. They are pretty rare.

Wetlands with catkins:

Shrub swamps throughout the valley are warming up. Ducks, moose, and beaver are moving through the waters under dangling catkins of alders and amidst thickets of pussywillows.

Male catkins of mountain alders – Alnus incana var. occidentalis – elongate: their pollen is released upon the wind to meet up – purely by chance – with the stigmas of female flowers (above left in photo) in separate, stout “cones.”

Later in May, its relative Bog Birch – Betula glandulosa – will bloom after its leaves have filled out.

Willows (Salix spp.) of various kinds (and there are many) are bursting their buds and producing male or female “pussies”.  In willows, female fruits (capsules) are the definitive for identification, but are often elusive. Bees pollinate many willows—they seek out nectar at the base of tiny, petal-less flowers.

Cottonwood and its congener aspen (both are in the genus Populus) also have catkins, again males and females on separate plants.  It is fascinating to investigate the differences.

We are seeing just the first flurry of flowers.  We will try to keep you posted on new arrivals.

Enjoy your adventures into spring!

Frances Clark, Teton Plants 5.7.19

P.S. We always appreciate comments and corrections.  Please send an email to tetonplants@gmail.com

References:

“How Buttercups Get Their Gloss” by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor – link: https://www.livescience.com/57964-how-buttercups-get-their-yellow-gloss.html

“Scientists Discover why buttercups reflect yellow on chins”. By University of Cambridge, Phys.org.  December 2011. https://phys.org/news/2011-12-scientists-buttercups-yellow-chins.html

“Functional optics of glossy buttercup flowers” by CJ van der Kooi, et al.  Journal of Royal Society Interface 14.  Fascinating details including photos of the physics. Available on line at  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.2016.0933

Dr. Diane Debinski is studying Clodius Parnassia butterfly populations in Grand Teton National Park. Here are a few links to her research:

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/nrem_pubs/274/

https://repository.uwyo.edu/uwnpsrc_reports/vol38/iss1/12/

Forest fires can appear devastating at first, but for the most part nature has its systems for resilience. Depending on how hot the fire was and what plants were present both above and below ground and nearby, vegetation will return in its own due course. In some cases, plants sprout that have not been noticed in years, and indeed are triggered to flower after the heat of the moment. Others take advantage of the open ground and fly in with fresh seeds. Still others have stored seed until the magic moment. Wildlife also takes advantage of the changes.

Lodgepole Pine – Pinus contorta – is a fire-adapted species. While the thin-barked trees are killed, thick “serotinous” cones have held seeds for years.Their cones have thick scales with spine tips which protect the seeds inside from mauraders and weather for years.  When a fire comes through, the resin that has sealed the scales shut melts, and cone scales open wide, releasing winged seeds upon the wind. The delicate embryos fall onto newly exposed soil, which may be enhanced by ash, and quickly germinate. Ash often contains recycled nutrients and retains warmth which helps the seeds grow.  Seeds germinate quickly, giving them a headstart among competing plants.  Pines in fact need sun to grow well. A truly fire adapated species!

Mountain Mallow – Illiamna rivularis – often appears in great numbers after a burn.  Affected by extreme heat, their thick seed coats crack, enabling seeds to imbibe water and sprout. These seeds may have lain buried for decades in the soil waiting for such a moment. Due to a prescribed burn south of Hoback, the slopes along the trail up Palmer Creek are now covered with 4-5’ flowering Mountain Mallow plants (photo above taken 7.13.18). Soon fruits, which look like peeled hairy tangerines, will split to release seeds for the next generation decades in the future (photo below).Note: In mountain mallow the seedbank is in the soil, in lodgepole pine, the seedbank is in the air.

Another plant that responds uniquely to fire is Snowbrush – Ceonothus velutinus. Hikers can see a profusion of Snowbrush along String Lake (below) and on the way to Taggart Lake in Teton National Park.This evergreen, resinous, sprawling shrub will shoot up new branches from old roots after a light fire. After heavy burns, it can also sprout from “Rip-van-Winkle” seeds.

Flowers blooming almost a century ago produced seeds that have been lying in wait until heat and sun stimulated them to germinate. 

Others report a profusion of White Spiraea – Spiraea betulifolia – blooming (photo below) within the 34,000-acre area of the Cliff Creek Fire, also of 2016.  This appears to be another species is “released” after a fire.

The results of the 20,000+ acre Berry Fire are visible from the Rockefeller Memorial Parkway (photo below) and Grassy Lake Road. The 2016 fire burned fast and hot in some areas forming a mosaic of impact.Notably, in some areas it burned through lodgepole stands that were recolonizing from a fire only a few years before. Ecologists and foresters are concerned that this unusual short “return” interval will be the pattern of future fires in this era of climate disruption.

Pinegrass – Calamagrostis rubescens – is a tufted, long-leaved grass that rarely blooms. While a common groundcover in the shade of a forest, it usually goes unnoticed by hikers because it is “just a grass.” However, with the stimulus of fire and sun, 2-3’ stalks of delicate flowers shoot up and flourish (photo below).  Deep fibrous roots of Pinegrass are important for holding soils, especially when soils are vulnerable to erosion after fires. Plants are blooming in profusion near the parkway.

Fireweed – Epilobium/Chamerion angustifolia – is well known for showing up after fires. In the insulating soil, rhizomatous (underground creeping) stems growing 4-6” deep may have survived the above-ground heat to sprout again. Even one surviving plant can shed 1000s of seeds that can catch upon the wind, land, and germinate quickly on exposed ground. (Photo above shows both Fireweed and Pinegrass.)

Other plants flowering among blackend trunks include several members of the Aster Family which have deep roots and seeds dispersed by wind.Cheerful patches of Broadleaf Arnica – Arnica latifolia – and a strange hybrid, likely Arnica X diversifolia – a cross between Heartleaf and Broadleaf arnica, are growing in charred soils (photo above).Large clumps of yellow Missouri Goldenrod – Solidago missouriensis – was dense along Grassy Lake Road, brightening the dark scene (photo above).A mix of Yarrow – Achillea millefolium – and Thickstem Aster – Eurybia integrifolia – are common in fields right now, but they are also flourishing in the sun under dead lodgepole pine trees along Grassy Lake Road (photo above).

Silvery Lupine – Lupinus argenteus – seeds are “scarified” by the heat of fire, enabling  buried seeds to germinate relatively quickly.  As a legume, lupines have a mutually beneficial relationship with bacteria in their root nodules that can “fix” nitrogen. This provides lupines an advantage in colonizing poor soils (photo above). Their heavy seeds pop out of their pea-pod like fruits.A robust member of the Mint Family – Dragonhead – Dracocephalum parviflorum – (photo above) was a new species to this botanist. Apparently it thrives in disturbed soils.Patches of other common meadow flowers have retained a niche as well, including Oregon Daisy – Erigeron speciosus – (photo above) with its many narrow, lavender ray flowers (ray flowers look like petals). Many perennials have deep storage roots that are often insulated by soils to heat of fire (or the cold of winter.)

It is unclear to this writer how much of the open areas between forest patches of the Berry Fire actually burned, if at all.  (Do you know?) Often meadows don’t provide enough fuel to carry a fire. However, embers often fly across roads, wetlands, and meadow, igniting trees despite the intevening “fire breaks.” In any case, this is what is growing in the meadows.

Common Yampa – Perideridia montana – has created a tapestry of white. Upon a walk through the area, one can see that many late-summer flowers which are common elsewhere as here as well: a hidden layer of Sticky Geranium – Geranium viscossimum, blue spires of Tall Delphinium – Delphinium occidentale, yellow sprays of Cinquefoil – Potentilla spp., orange-yellow Rocky Mountain Golendrod – Solidago multiradiata, and spikes of blue Silvery Lupine mix in.

Common grasses include: stiff spikes of Timothy – Phleum pratensis (photo below), Mountain Brome – Bromus carinatus (photo below),and elegant spikelets of Oniongrass – Melica spectabilis (photo below):(Note all the grasses pictured above are in bloom)

These grasses have dense deep roots or bulbs, as in the aptly named Oniongrass (below).Grasses have evolved to sprout from buds at the base of their leaves – an adaptation to both browsing and fire.

As for wildlife, signs of elk are frequent–they enjoy nutritious grasses. Bears will enjoy the storage roots of yampa come spring—or perhaps pocket gophers, which also eat yampa roots. A week ago, a pair of Sandhill Cranes was walking through the downed trunks, feeding on insects. Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers seek out burned-over forests as long as the bark remains. Using their chisel-like bills, these woodpeckers feast on insects feeding and breeding under peeling, split bark of weakened or dead trees.

Despite the stark appearance, all is not lost after a wildfire.

Much is being researched and understood about fire ecology.  It is facinating to conduct your own observations.  We have a wonderful opportunity to see the variations in progression at the Berry and Cliff Creek Fires, both of which were started by lightning two years ago.

Frances Clark, Wilson, WY