Tag Archives: native-plants

What’s in Fruit? – Late Summer 2025 – Part II: Dried Fruits:

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Not all fruits are brightly colored and juicy. (see “What’s in Fruit? – Late Summer 2025 – Part 1: Fleshy Fruits”). Seeds have different strategies for dispersal: Flying off on the wind, hitching a ride on fur and clothing, using gravity to settle down, and/or being ejected away from their parent plant. Luck is an essential component of seed dispersal and success.

Here are some examples of dispersal strategies. Enjoy looking at the details of how plants work.

Fruits that Stick:

Some fruits have little hooks like velcro – the notorious invasive Houndstongue – Cynoglossum officinale – is one such species.

Yet, another is the pesky native appropriately called Jessica Stickseed – Hackelia micrantha.

Sweet Cicely – Osmorhiza chiliensis – fruits are called schizocarps e.g. split fruits. This is typical of the Parsley Family. In this woodland species, fruits are sharply pointed and have stiff hairs to stab and grab you.

Fly on Wings:

Related to Sweet Cicely above, is the very large Cow Parsnip – Heracleum spondylium. It too has schizocarps held out in umbels – umbrella like structures. However, its schizocarps are flat and very thin so they skim off on the wind.

Upon a close look you can see how the two sides of the schizocarp are held together by a delicate filament. It is surprising how long these fruits will hang out there amidst the breezes. Also, note the darker seed inside inside each half. And to the upper right, you can see the left-over filaments–so very delicate looking, but sturdy.

Rocky Mountain Maples – Acer glabrum – have structures called samaras. The male flowers (below) are borne on separate tall shrubs (usually)

from those with female flowers. Below you can see the two-parted stigma of the female flower ready to receive pollen.

After the ovules are fertilized, the samara develops with two enclosed seeds, each with a wing derived from the ovary.

As children we used to watch the dried fruits break away from their branches and helicopter down to earth. Various birds particularly white-crowned sparrows and finches are known to eat the samaras, and moose, elk, mule deer browse heavily on maple shrubs.

In the Legume or Pea Family, Western Sweetvetch – Hedysarum occidentale – has flattened pods with segments called loments. When the loments dry, the segments break apart and are free to fly – like frisbees on the wind. You can see the silhouettes of the bean-shaped seeds within sections of the loment fruit.

Fly on Fluff

Spires of fireweed are spectacular at this time of year with their long seed pods splitting, curling, and releasing 100s of seeds upon the breeze. Each seed has a bit of fluff – non-technical term – at the tip.

You may perhaps come across the twining Western Blue Virgin’s Bower – Clematis occidentalis. Growing primarily in the shade, it is a woody vine with 3-parted leaves.

The individual fruits are derived from individual pistils/carpels typical of the Buttercup Family. Fruits – technically achenes – have one seed inside and are covered in long hairs. The wind will help pry the seeds form the tangle and fly off free.

The Aster Family, covered in the last “What’s in bloom – mid August 2025”, produces fruits termed cypselas (vs. achenes) that are formed from the inferior ovary of each tiny flower. Each flower produces only one seed. Many have a pappus of fine hairs (e.g. fluff) that carries the fruits off on the wind. 

Hairy False Golden Aster – Heterotheca villosa – has hairy cypselas each with a pappus of fine hairs at the top. Note there are many fruits on the platform, typical of the Aster/Composite Family.

Dandelions, asters, goldenrods, rabbitbrushes and many more have this method of dispersal, including the highly invasive Musk Thistle – Carduus nutans.

Habitat Heroes, trained and organized by the Teton County Weed and Pest – Meta Dittmer – and TC Conservation District – Morgan Graham, have in deed done heroic work clearing out thistles up Game Creek and other areas around the valley. More volunteers welcome! Contact Meta Dittmer.

Growing amidst mountain sagebrush and rabbitbushes in dry habitats, 1-2′ shrubs of Spineless Horsebrush – Tetradymia canescens – stand out at this time of year. They have silvery pubescent stems and leaves topped by plumose heads of

cypselas covered in fine long hairs. These fruits are dispersed on the wind.

It is fun to pull out the handlens and see the variation in the cypselas: look at the pappus and other coverings of the fruits of the Aster Family. These details help taxonomists determine the different species of this world-wide family–the largest plant family on Earth except perhaps the Orchid Family.

Birds and Gravity – (pluck and drop)

Other composite fruits have scale-like projections at the top of each cypsela. Its not clear whether this helps the cypsela hitchhike on passers-by or perhaps to deter marauders from getting to the tender fruits below. Five-nerved Little-sunflowers – Helianthella quinquenerva – is an interesting example.

The cypselas are dark with a bit of a brush at the tips (technically a pappus of the non-fluff style). The lighter, flimsier, scale-like structures surrounding them are technically called paleae (palea singular), and are not part of the fruit itself. In this case, the paleae likely serve as barricades to insects wanting to eat the nutritious seeds.

Other cypselas nestle deep inside stiff, sharp paleae as seen in Arrowleaf Balsamroots – Balsamorhiza sagittata. Look closely in the center and you will see the squarish-shaped tops of the cypselas. The sharp dividers are the paleae.

Being able to separate the fruits from the paleae is helpful when collecting seeds for restoration projects, as do the Grand Teton National Park volunteers. These Seed Heroes, led by Jasmine Cutter, have been harvesting these and other seed this summer for habitat restoration. If you wish to volunteer, contact Jasmine Cutter:

These types of fruits are often plucked out by birds, shaken out by wind, or just dropped when the heads fall apart.  

Fruits of Western or Rayless Coneflower  – Rudbeckia occidentale – sit up on the cone-like central platform – receptacle – and are distributed by birds and gravity. Interestingly, it appears that the short, tough, paleae hold the fruits in place.

Shake Outs:

Some dried fruits split open and shake out the seeds, often over time. Landing at different intervals helps increase chances of success, depending on the seed’s germination needs regarding moisture and timing.

Look for Lewis’ flax –  Linum lewisii – where the capsules split apart.

Monkshood – Aconitum columbianum – have smooth follicles that gradually split open and shake out tiny rough seeds.

They look very similar to the fruits their relative Tall Delphinium/Larkspur – Delphinium occidentale – except Monkshood fruits are smooth on hairy stems. Larkspur fruits are finely hairy,

and the stems are smooth with a bluish-gray covering that can be rubbed off (glaucous) and the lobed leaves are stalked.

Also in the Buttercup Family, Colorado Columbine – Aquilegia coerulea – have three-parted dry fruits with seeds inside.

The mouth-like dried fruits of Louseworts – Pedicularis spp. – release seeds a few at a time. Below is Large Lousewort – P. procera – seen around Wally’s World and Game Creek. Look for other Lousewort fruits, as well.

Leopard Lily – Fritillaria atropurpurea – are clearly seed shakers.

Below is the globe-like, dry fruit of non-native White Campion – Silene latifolia. White Campions have separate male and female plants.

The dried petals and firm ovary form an elegant cup

that shakes out seeds.

As these plants are primarily annuals, they depend on these seeds for their future.

You can see the resemblance to its much smaller native relative Ballhead Sandwort – Eremogone congesta, also in the Pink or Caryophyllaceae Family. Both flowers and fruits provide details of family connections.

A couple more to look for:

Orchids, such as this Coralroot – Corallorhiza spp. – have dust like seeds easily scattered by the lightest breeze.

Orchid seeds rely on mycorrhizal fungi to nurture the the embryo. As this genus does not have chlorophyll, it also depends on different mycorrhizae to support adult plants.

Dried fruits of Pinedrops – Pterospora andromedea – slowly break apart and release

spectacular seeds – if you can see them. Each tiny seed is attached to a membranous wing to aid their flight to new ground. A 10x handlens reveals their delicate nature better than a camera.

As these 3-4′ plants have no chlorophyll they rely on mycorrhizal fungi to relay nutrients from various coniferous host plants.

Fruits that Fling:

Sticky geranium – Geranium viscossissimum – flowers each produce a total 5 or more seeds, usually 1-2 nestled in each of 5 separate compartments of the ovary at the base of the pistil. When the ovary begins to dry, tension builds up, the style splits apart, curls, and literally catapults the seeds several feet beyond.

Our native lupines – Lupinus spp. – are in the Pea or Legume Family/Fabaceae. As with our edible peas and beans, lupines have pods with several individual seeds inside. In lupines, these pods dry, twist, split, and eject the hard seeds beyond the parent plant.  Do not eat the seeds. Our species of lupine are poisonous – including its foliage and even more so the seeds. 

Over the next few weeks, see how many different fruits you can find, and try to figure the modes of seed dispersal.

Botanizing is fun in fall.

Frances Clark, September 1, 2025

As always, comments and corrections are most welcome.

What’s in bloom in late-June! 2025 – blossoms come and go fast!

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Everything appears to be in bloom!! The sagebrush steppe habitat and butte slopes are full of Sulphur Buckwheat, Sticky Geraniums, lupines, Scarlet Gilia, and yellow composites such as Little Sunflowers!  One may call it a superbloom spring!

It has been hard to keep up (some of the info below is now dated)–the show keeps on changing! Some flowers in the south end of Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park may be fading while the same species are fresh in the north-end of the park up through Rockefeller Parkway. Yellowstone National Park roadsides are also flourishing. Below are the most common species seen right now.

This has been an exceptional year for Arrowleaf Balsamroot – Balsamorhiza sagittata – which has been going strong these past couple of weeks on Signal Mountain, around Antelope Flats, and along Grand Teton park road, everywhere! They have arrow-shaped, grayish hairy leaves and flower heads arise from the base of the plants.

In some areas the flowers are already producing seeds that will feed birds, small mammals, and insects. The heads themselves may be alive with different grubs.

Its less common cousin, Mule’s-ears – Wyethia amplexicaulis – is coming into even bolder bloom with deeper orange-yellow flowers and dark green, oval smooth leaves near the northwest end of Blacktail Butte near the bike path, and in spots by the Oxbow Bend, and slopes elsewhere. Flowers and leaves alternate up stems and the surrounding protective bracts of the heads are greener and smooth compared to balsamroot.

Single-flowered Little Sunflower – Helianthella unfilfora – is filling in where balsamroot is fading. The truly “sunflower” looking heads are borne singly on top of 2-3′-high stems with alternating-to-opposite leaves, usually with 3 clear nerves.

It is fascinating to see the individual flowers (remember “composite” flowers have many, many little flowers on a platform forming a “head”) start blooming from the outside edge and spiral toward the center over time. Look up “fibonacci sequence”.

Tucked down under the taller yellow composites are 6-8″ Woolly Sunflowers – Eriophyllum lantatum.

The bracts surrounding the head of both broad ray flowers and smaller disc flowers – are indeed woolly.

Common associates at their peak right include creamy heads of Sulphur Buckwheat – Eriogonum umbellatum. Note the more-or-less oval leaves form mats at the base, Their top surface is green, the underside pale hairy.

A ring or collar of leaves subtends the whorls of flowers arranged in an umbel. There are several other buckwheats in the valley, but these are the most common.

Blue-to-pink Sticky Geraniums – Geranium viscossissimum – are especially abundant this spring! The wide-open flowers attract generalist pollinators: its easy for different sizes and types of flying insects to land on the broad platform formed by the petals. Fine “nectar guides” or lines direct pollinators to the center where the nectar lies.

When nudging into the center, the insect may get pollen dumped upon it from the 10 over-arching male anthers (upper right flower). Going on to a more mature flower, the insect may rub against one of the 5 sticky female stigmas (left flower) at the top the female pistils, thereby pollinating the flower. The pollen grain will be stimulated to grow by the chemistry of the stigma, grow a tube down the style to the base where the sperm will fertilize the egg inside the ovary.

Once fertilized, the seed will begin to form, later to be catapulted by the dried fruit into the beyond.

Elsewhere, there are bunches of white-to-blue-to pinkish Longleaf Phlox – Phlox longifolia – with 6-8″ stems and narrow opposite leaves. All phlox species are extremely fragrant, attracting pollinators.

Our three common lupines are extending their spires of pea-like blue flowers in different habitats. 

Meadow Lupine – Lupinus polyphyllus var. humicola – grows most often on relatively rocky, well-drained sites. The leaves may have 7-12 leaflets and the flowers are wide open with bold white spots at their base to guide in pollinators. As with other lupines, once pollinated the spot may become purple to signal to the pollinator to pass-it by–the nectar is gone or dried up.

Note this is our native species, not the cultivated hybrid cousin Lupinus polyphyllus var. polyphyllus – which has become invasive not only in the U.S., but also into Europe and Asia. 

The invasive flowers are larger, the palmate leaves have 9-17 leaflets, and the flowers have no fragrance.  

Silky Lupine – Lupinus sericeus – has silvery, hairy leaves and also hairs on the back of the upright “banner” petal. 

The silvery hairs help to reflect intense light and reduce water loss, an adaptation for growing out on the sunny sageflats. 

Silvery Lupine  – Lupinus argenteus – often forms an understory in lodgepole pine forests, such as seen along Moose-Wilson Road and Signal Mountain. Its leaves are much less hairy and the back of the banner is hairless.

Low Larkspur – Delphinum nuttalianum – has been blooming strong over the past few weeks.  Early-arriving hummingbirds hover in front of the flowers, extend their tongues deep into the back of the petal spurs to get nectar that fuels their flight. So doing, the birds get a shower of male pollen on their heads.  When going on to a more mature flower, the hummingbird may reach again into the long tube for nectar, thereby, dropping off the pollen upon three protruding female stigmas. Once the flower is pollinated, it is ready to form seeds inside three maturing capsules! Large bumblebees with long probosci are active pollinators as well.

Lewis’ Flax‘s – Linum lewisii – sky-blue flowers wave about on thin but particularly strong 1-1.5′ stems. Its European relative – Linum usitatissimum (translated as “most useful”) – was one of the first fiber plants. It was used by the Phoenicians to make canvas sails and Egyptians to wrap mummies before burials in pyramids. Later peoples created a more refined linen and manufactured day-to-day linoleum and linseed oil. North American natives used Lewis’ Flax also for cordage and the seeds for health purposes. Bees and flies are common pollinators.

Scarlet Gilia – Ipomopsis aggregata –  is remarkably abundant this year. The bright-red tubular flowers are particularly alluring to hummingbirds who readily see red, unlike many insects.  Again, the acrobatic hummingbird hovers, extends its tongue way back into the tube, laps up nectar, and concurrently bonks its head gathering up pollen grains which at another flower the bird bumps off onto an extended stigma.

Later flowers may be paler in an appeal to moths which also can hover and have long probosci – mouth parts – to reach deep into the tubes. After flowering, plants may or may not survive another year, but the seeds will form rosettes that can survive over winter and increase in size over a couple of years.

Members of the Parsley Family continue to spread their umbels. Bright-yellow sprays of Spring Parsley – Lomatium ambiguum – still lace the flats and slopes to the north.

Also, look for the the pale-yellow Nine-leaf Biscuitroot – Lomatium simplex.

Lomatium seeds are flattened “schizocarps”–they will split and the two halves held out on a little hanger until they fly off on the wind.

Delicate white umbels of Bolander’s Yampah – Perideridia bolanderi – are thick along the north end of Moose-Wilson Road.

They differ from the later blooming, more common Mountain or Gairdner’s Yampah – P. montana/gairdneriii  – in their leaf-shape—more dissected, swollen petiole, and relatively elongate fruits. 

The swollen roots of yampah and biscuit-roots are important forage for ground squirrels, pocket gophers, bears, and more.

Hawksbeards – Crepis sp. – are shooting up bunches of “liguate” flower heads above groups of mostly basal groups of deeply lobed, grayish leaves. Tapertip Hawksbeard – Crepis acuminata – is one of several local species.

Shrubs are also coming and going:

Utah Snowberry – Symphiocarpus oreophilus var. utahensis is blooming in the sage flats and up on Munger Mountain.  

Other shrubs have attracted the attention of pollinators, but are fading fast: The highly fragrant yellow flowers of Antelopebrush – Purshia tridentata – attract dozens of bees. Note the leaves are dark green on top and hairy and lighter on the underside of the .5-1” -long, three-lobed leaves. (compare with sagebrush).

The fruits will be dry capsules that will split open to release seeds in the fall–critters from ants to small rodents thrive on these seeds and help plant them. Moose heavily browse plants in fall and winter. It also provides for many other insects and larger wildlife.

Surprisingly to this botanist, Antelopebrush “fixes nitrogen”–I think of the Pea Family as excelling at such, whereas the Rose Family is known for producing many of the fruits we and the wildlife eat, However, a few members of the large Rose Family in Teton County – our alpine Mountain Avens – Dryas octopetala – and our cliffhanger Mountain Mahogony – Cercocarpus lediflfolius – also fix nitrogen. So much to learn about plans!

Antelopebrush plants (dark green) often mingle with silvery Mountain Big Sagebrushes – Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana, which won’t extend their wind-pollinated flower stalks until fall. However, at this time, look for galls growing on the fresh, fragrant silvery leaves—galls are made from plant cells that are stimulated by the deposit of the eggs of gall midges. (Two good references – WenatcheeNaturalist and BodieHills.)

The insect chews or injects compounds similar to the plant’s hormones. In this case, the plant cells are redirected to form a globular safe-haven for the tiny gall larvae growing slowly inside. Over 32 midge and aphid species can stimulate sagebrush to form galls in our region. The one above looks like the sponge gall midge – Rhopalomyia pomum.

This has also been an abundant flowering year for Serviceberry – Amelanchier alnifolia, and

more recently Chokecherry – Prunus virginiana. This bodes well for an abundance of berries for bears come August and September. 

While all seems overwhelming now, there are yet more flowers to come. Enjoy being outside as much as you can!

Frances Clark

Wilson, Wyoming

As always, questions and corrections are welcome. Email tetonplants@gmail.com, and we will respond when we aren’t out looking at plants!

(Original posting on 7.26.26 was corrected on 7.28.26)