Flower, 3 inches or more across, is formed of 6 brilliant white, paper-like petals, surrounding numerous golden stamens with, at the very center, a dark or even black stigma. Blossoms, in loose clusters opening over a long period, crowd each other slightly at the tops of the branching stems. Plant is 2 to 5 feet tall, with gray-green leaves divided into lobes, and with yellowish spines along the stems and leaf ribs. Grows in plains, foothills and lower montane zones. Blooms May-September.
These big coarse plants, which may be seen in small groups along our roads at culvert ends and in neglected fence rows, could be taken for some sort of thistle if it were not for the amazing flowers which they display in successive crops throughout the whole summer. The blossoms look like big circles of white crepe paper with a center of spun gold. As the season advances, the plants get ragged, but even in September a few fresh flowers will appear. Some resemblance can be seen between these blossoms and the Oriental poppies of our gardens, but only by study of their botanical structure can we find why they are put in the same family with golden smoke, Corydalis aurea, of our foothills, and the bleeding-heart of old-fashioned gardens.
Flowers, ½ inch in diameter, are formed of 4 petals arranged like a Maltese cross, yellow to orange in color. They are clustered into a round terminal head, the lower flowers of which open first so that usually tubular seed pods (siliques) have formed near the base by the time the top of the cluster is in bloom. Plants are 8 inches or more high, of several stems from one root crown. Grows in foothills, extending down to plains and up through montane zone. Blooms May-July.
The mustards are legion. Fields of them add a yellow note to many western hillsides. They range from weedy poor relations, like shepherd’s purse, to tall, showy spikes of prince’s plume, Stanleya apinnata. Wallflower—despite its name suggesting a colorless personality—is one of the handsome children of the family. Its flowers, larger than most mustards, range in color from pale yellow, through orange, to rich bronze shades. By no means all of the mustards are yellow. The flowers of many of them are white, some, like the cardamine that grows in abundance along sub-alpine water runs, being a very showy, brilliant white.
Individual flowers are ¼ inch or less across, each with 5 white petals, and are grouped in a compact, round-topped head about 1 inch in diameter which forms the top of a naked stem (scape). This scape rises to a height of 8 inches, or sometimes much less, from the center of a flat circle of oblong, leathery leaves. As the blossoms age, the flower cluster becomes loose and sprangly. Grows on moist slopes in sub-alpine and montane zones. Blooms May-July.
Saxifrage is another large family of quite varied sorts. Gooseberries and mock orange come within its membership. The numerous species of alum root, Heuchera, are also included, as are many little alpine and sub-alpine plants that grow out of rock crevices in our high mountains. Purple saxifrage, Saxifraga jamesii, with quite large red-purple flowers, and dotted saxifrage, Saxifraga austromontana, with tiny white flowers covered with pale dots, are among the best. All of these seem able to thrive on only a teaspoonful of soil in a rock crack, if only there is local moisture. The structural features that bring all these plants within one family are not obvious. The leaves of many of them are similar to the leaves of a gooseberry bush, though in some this resemblance is remote, and in others entirely absent.
Individual flowers, ¼ inch across, are formed of 4 or 5 bright rose petals; numerous flowers being congested in a round head an inch or more in diameter terminating a leafy shoot, several of which rise from a woody root crown. Plant is 6 to 10 inches high, with narrow, gray-green, fleshy leaves crowded along the succulent stems. Grows in wet places alpine and sub-alpine zones. Blooms June-August.
Along the cold, mountain stream trickling out from Lake Isabelle, or near any similar alpine lake or tarn, grows the Sedum, named queen’s crown for the rosy-pink crowns of blossoms. These plants like to have their feet in the water and often help to make the hillocky mounds on the lake’s edge. Nearby and tolerating drier ground, is the king’s crown, Sedum integrifolium, with its flatter head of deep maroon flowers resembling the old-fashioned Bohemian garnet jewelry. The stems and leaves of these sedums color brilliantly with the first frosts and add richness to the Persian carpets of timberline in late August and early September.
Flowers are an inch in diameter, of 5 broad, golden petals surrounding 20 or more stamens. Groups of several flowers are borne at the ends of the numerous short branches. Plant is a dense shrub about 3 to 4 feet high with many dark, woody, freely-branching stems. Leaves are pinnate, with usually 5 or 7 narrow linear leaflets. Grows in moist parts of the montane zone, also in the upper foothills and the lower sub-alpine zones. Blooms continuously May to September.
This thornless yellow rose is one of the most widespread and most ornamental shrubs of mountain areas. Individual clumps are rarely fully covered with bloom at any one time, tending rather to bring out a few fresh flowers each day of the season so that all summer long there are buds, fresh blossoms, groups of faded petals, and small, dry, fuzzy seeds (achenes) distributed over the plant. Other species of Potentilla grow also in our mountains. They are much smaller and most of them herb-like, but the resemblance to a yellow single rose, and the absence of thorns are common to them all. We have many wild roses in this same family, of the genus Rosa, that have plenty of thorns and closely resemble the red single roses of the garden.
Flowers, more than ½ inch across, are shaped like a cultivated sweet pea, with very showy red banner and paler lateral petals and keel. Plants, about 6 inches high, grow in irregular mats. The leaves are pinnate, formed by about 4 pairs of narrow linear leaflets. These and the stems are gray-green and, in most plains specimens, covered with rather silky down. Grows in sandy soil on plains. Blooms May-June.
This, and the quite different looking plants shown on the next three pages, give but a small sample of the pea family, which is one of the largest and most important of the plant groups. More than 150 species in this one family are native to Colorado, and additional ones have been introduced for ornament or food. They take every form and size from the little flat mats of deer clover, shown on the opposite page, to the rank growing clumps of sweet clover that spread themselves along our roads. Beans and alfalfa as well as sweet peas, lupines and even locust trees, all belong to this big family.
Individual flowers, pink-lavender to purple, formed along a keel, like those of the cultivated clovers, about ½ inch long and rather slender, grow singly or in twos or threes on short pedicels rising directly from the root crown. The plant is a dense mat, often a foot or more across, covered with small 3-foliate leaves. Grows on rocky flats or slopes in alpine zone. Blooms June-July.
For many, acquainted only with the cultivated clovers of lawn and meadow, it is a pleasure to know that the high pastures grazed by deer and elk have clovers as well. At least three species are familiar to observing travelers along Trail Ridge, or up Mt. Evans, or along any road that crosses the enchanted land where trees stop and dwarfed plant life takes over. The deer clover pictured here likes rocky places. Its flowers are packed close together, but not clustered in heads as are those of its alpine neighbor, Trifolium dasyphyllum, which closely resembles the white clover of our lawns, though with touches on its petals of red-brown. In the high places, extending down through the sub-alpine zone there is also a bright red clover, Trifolium parryi, smaller but otherwise much like the cultivated red clover.
Individual flowers, about ½ inch wide, are formed of 5 dissimilar petals, usually magenta red, sometimes other shades from rose to purple. The banner bends back slightly and carries markings of lighter color near its base; the 2 lateral petals are plain and angle forward; the 2 lower petals form a narrow keel. Numerous flowers, attached at the calyx base along the upper third of a naked stem, form a showy spike 10 inches or more tall, several of which rise from one root crown. Leaves, pinnate, with numerous green leaflets, rise also from the root crown and are about half the height of the flower spikes. Grows in foothills and higher parts of plains zone. Blooms May-July.
The many members of the pea family going by the names of loco, vetch, milk vetch, etc., are usually considered crass weeds and are in disrepute because some of them are poisonous to stock. They often grow in soil containing traces of selenium, and are doubly harmful in that case. Where other browze is good, animals usually leave the toxic ones alone, except the occasional horse that becomes “an addict” and is “locoed.” In spite of these obnoxious qualities, there are few plants that give more bright and decorative touches to the plains.
The individual flowers are about ¾ inch across, each formed of 5 dissimilar golden petals. The top petal is an upright banner, with a wing petal on each side and in the center the 2 keel petals folded together. A dozen or more flowers are attached by short pedicels to the upper part of the stem, forming a loose raceme. Plants, of one or several erect leafy stems from a root crown, are 1-2 feet tall. Grows in foothills and montane zones. Blooms April-July.
Several closely allied species share the name of golden banner, and among them cover a very wide range in all parts of Colorado from the plains well into the mountains. They spread both by seeds and by root-runners resulting in quite large colonies. They seem to be unpalatable to livestock so, in spite of their attractive looking leaves, they stay fresh while other plants around them look browzed. Everywhere they are gay and decorative. A bright field of them near the Platte River, bowing to the wind, banks of them in open glades of the Greenhorn Mountains, and pale yellow clumps along the trail to Lulu City, are prized flower memories.
Flowers, about 2 inches wide, are formed of 10 narrow, creamy, petals which spread wide and surround a radiating cluster of 100 or more pale stamens as long as the petals. Plant is 2 to 4 feet high of white shiny stems branching freely from one main stem, and rather sparsely covered with deeply indented, light green leaves of a peculiar rough texture. Grows on plains and low foothills. Blooms July-August.
The leaves of this plant are covered with minute barbed hairs which cling to cloth so firmly that a spray of several flowers placed upon a coat lapel will stay almost as dependably as if fastened with a pin. They have the feel of fine-grained sandpaper. The flowers are very responsive to light conditions. All through the morning and well into the afternoon they are tightly closed, then about four o’clock, or a half hour earlier if clouds reduce the light, they spread into full bloom. This opening proceeds so rapidly that the movement of the petals is quite easily seen. In a period of twenty minutes or less a colony of the plants will change its whole appearance from inconspicuous weeds to a gorgeous display of big pale stars. A related species, Mentzelia decapetala, has even larger flowers of deeper cream color. It waits until after sundown to open.
Flowers are brilliant scarlet, 2½ inches across, with a conspicuous group of green stigmas in the center. Plant is a single, erect, cylindrical, dark-green joint or stem about 5 inches high, several to many of which often group closely together forming a mound. The stems are strongly ridged and carry sharp spines in clusters. Grows in rocky or gravelly soil on plains and into foothills, southwestern Colorado. Blooms May.
This is related to some larger cacti that grow in Arizona, and there get the name of hedgehog. The name pincushion is broadly used for all the small round cacti of our area even though they are not too closely related to each other. The bright, strawberry-red flowers of the plant shown above quite set it apart from the pincushions of eastern Colorado plains. Among these are hen-and-chickens cactus, Echinocereus vividiflorus, with small, greenish-yellow flowers, also, spiny stars, Coryphantha vivipara, a round little cactus with shiny purple flowers. These plants are so like the prairie sod in color as to defy search when not in bloom. Ball cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii, of foothills and montane zones, is quite a perfect globe in shape, 3 to 6 inches in diameter, and has small pink flowers closely grouped at the top of the globe.
Flowers are 3 inches or more across, usually light-yellow with fine sheen, several of them erupting from the edge of a flat, oval joint. Plant spreads over a circular area, about 2 feet in diameter, and is made up of numerous connected flat joints, of light-green color, all heavily armored with pale, sharp spines, some of which, in old plants, may be flexible and hair-like. Grows on clay soil in foothills and plains of middle and western Colorado. Blooms June-early July.
Several species of Opuntia closely resemble each other. Some of them, including a few found in Colorado, bear soft, juicy fruits which are quite good eating when the prickles on the skins are removed, so all of them are called prickly pear. The one shown above grows freely on the high grassy flats of the San Luis Valley. It bears dry, hard fruits, as do most of our Colorado species. The prickly pears, like all the other cacti, accumulate moisture, when they get a chance, in the soft pulp of their round or jointed stems. Then, over periods of drought, this moisture is used to produce flowers, to mature seeds and to keep the plant alive. The whole plant shrinks visibly if the times between drinks are long. But for the defensive armor of their spines, few of them would survive, because in a thirsty land every hungry cow is looking for moisture too.
Flowers are cadmium-yellow, fading old-rose, 2½ inches across, of 4 wide petals. The 4 narrow sepals bend back and at their base merge into a hollow tubular stem. The style branches at its tip into 4 conspicuous slender stigmas. Plant has little or no main stem; leaves are dark-green, strap-shaped, 3 inches long. Grows in foothills, but only where soil is somewhat marly. Blooms May-June.
Look for this one of our numerous evening-primroses about Memorial Day. Soil formed from the disintegration of Niobrara shale such as we find along the Hogsback near Denver, or along the Boulder-Lyons road, is its preference. The plants are rather ragged, but the flowers draw all our attention to their soft, clear yellow as they spread open in the sunshine. They last but a day—fading into soft rosy colors. The white members of this family are much better known. Several such species common on the plains are so responsive to early summer rain that within days after a good shower all our roadsides and even vacant lots will be gay with their short-lived beauty.
Individual flowers, 1 inch across, are formed of 4 wide-spreading, magenta petals, and are attached by longish pedicels to a central stem, so that the whole flower cluster (inflorescence) is a loose raceme forming the top foot or more of a tall leafy shoot, several of which rise from a woody root crown. Leaves are narrow, 2 inches or more in length. The entire plant is often 4 feet or more tall. Grows in sunny openings in montane zone. Blooms June-August.
Webster’s Dictionary describes fireweed as “any of several weeds, troublesome in clearings or burned districts.” To use “troublesome” in connection with this great “willow-herb” of the Rockies seems most unkind. We are grateful to have it rush into devastated areas to cover scars with its bright pink to magenta blossoms. The whole plant reddens as it ages. The flower matures into a long thin pod which splits and curls releasing feathery seed carriers. A less common low growing species with larger flowers and broader leaves, Epilobium latifolium, also grows in the area. It is a real find. A few grow not far below Loveland Pass.
Flower, ½ inch across, formed of 5 rose-pink petals that bend back and surround, at the center, a conspicuous bright green ovary which is tipped with a disc-like stigma. The 10 prominent stamens, spreading from near the base of the ovary, look like short claws. Plant is 8-12 inches tall, bearing a cluster of several flowers at its top. Leaves are shiny and evergreen with saw-toothed edges, arranged in whorls along the woody stems, but most numerous at the base of the plant. Grows in moist acid soil under pine or spruce trees in montane zone. Blooms late July-August.
The members of the heath family like shade, acid soil and moisture. These conditions they find in the woods of the Northwest, where a great variety of them, including rhododendrons and azaleas, grow in abundance. Colorado has its share of the smaller heaths for those who look for them in shady spots and along mossy trails near mountain streams. The trail to Calypso Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park is good hunting, not only for pipsissewa, but for the pyrolas and for the tiny white wood-nymph, Moneses uniflora, all of them heaths. Kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, is a heath of prostrate growth habit quite common on mountain slopes. Bright red berries remain among its evergreen leaves until Christmas.
Individual flowers, almost ½ inch across, are formed of 5 brilliant, crimson, spreading corolla lobes which join at their base into a narrow tube; dark shadings and yellow markings at the throat of the tube give the effect of a round eye. A dozen or more flowers, each on a nodding pedicel, are clustered at the top of a stout dark stem which rises from a whorl of deep-green, broad, lance-shaped leaves. Plant is about 10 to 20 inches tall. Grows in sub-alpine zone or slightly higher. Blooms June-early July.
This spectacular primrose grows at the edge of cold streams, or often on rocky-mossy hillocks right in mid-stream. One never forgets the picture of their beauty—the flower clusters so rich in color, the alpine background, the mat of moss and deep green leaves. Too bad for such a plant to spoil any part of it with a most disagreeable fragrance, yet that does remove any temptation to take them home. On the higher tundras, a charming find is the tiny fairy primrose, Primula angustifolia, similar in color, though not so vivid. A single short-stemmed flower is usually all that this plant carries.
Individual flowers, ¾ inch across, are formed of 5 crimson, rather narrow, petals or corolla lobes which flare outward and backward, but unite at their base into a short tube. From this tube 5 conspicuous anthers, over ¼ inch long, grouped together like a sharp straight beak, protrude forward. Ten or more flowers, each on a slender pedicel, nod in a cluster at the top of a stout scape which rises 10 to 15 inches high from a basal mat of dark-green, oblong leaves. Grows along streams and in wet meadows, in montane and sub-alpine zones. Blooms June-early July.
Both the coloring and the shape of this little flower are fancy indeed. It is small wonder that such names as shooting-star and bird-bill have been given it. The crimson of its petals contrasts strongly with its conspicuous almost black “bill,” and between these colors is a little circlet of white, often shaded with yellow markings. A whole meadow of such flowers is a sight well worth a trip to South Park, or to other of our high meadow areas, where shooting-stars can be found in profusion. In blooming season they follow the wild iris and, in turn, they are followed by the low, red lousewort, Pedicularis crenulata, all of which can in favorable seasons give fine mass color effects.
Flowers are 2 to 3 inches long, of 4 deep purple-blue petals, fitted together to form a square column for over half their length, then, in sunlight, flaring outward to exhibit fringed tops and upper edges. Each flower is at the end of a stem which bears several pairs of oblong, opposite leaves. Plants are about 12 inches high of several erect stems branching from near the base. Grows in sub-alpine wet meadows. Blooms August-September.
The lush hay meadows of Colorado’s upland parks are bright through the summer with a succession of flowers. Late in the season come the gentians. There are several species of these (we have counted a dozen on a single trip), some of them quite uninteresting, weedy plants. The queen of them is the fringed gentian, growing in abundance along the edge of these high hay meadows, and even persisting in the stubble after haying is past. A few of them last into late September. The flowers close up under cloudy skies, but to find masses of them full-open on a sunny day, when they display their fringed petals and large golden stamens, is a heart-warming experience to be treasured for flowerless days ahead.
Individual flower is a rosy, 5-point, star about ⅜ inch across, at the center of which is a group of 5 small appendages curving inward and forming a crown around the style and stamens. Numerous flowers cluster together into a ball about 3 inches in diameter. Plants are about 3 feet tall with thick broad leaves, the flower clusters borne at the top of the stem and in axils of upper leaves. Grows on plains, especially along ditch banks. Blooms June-July.
The common weeds are too often taken for granted and not appraised for their real beauty. This milkweed is in such a group—a coarse-growing plant along country roads, often dust covered, yet with flowers of fine delicate color and real charm whether we examine them singly or fix our attention on the compact cluster in which they grow. As autumn comes the dry leaves do not drop, but cling to the stem, rattling in the wind. The rough seed pods, often four inches long, turn a rich brown, and finally split open revealing a filling of lustrous, silky, down from which is gradually released the seeds—brown-clad paratroopers with the most airy-fairy parachutes in the world.
The flowers, shaped like pink trumpets with maroon striations, 3 inches long and 2 inches across the mouth, are scattered freely along the outer third of the stout yellowish stems which form a thick bush 2 feet or more high. New buds coming out each day keep the plant in bloom for the morning hours of several weeks. Leaves are narrow and linear, 2 inches long; the root is large and spongy. Grows in sandy soil on plains. Blooms July.
This morning-glory is no clinging vine, even though its flowers—like those of its cultivated relative on the back yard fence—do open only in the coolness of dawn and wither in the heat of noon. For all the sturdiness of individual plants, with their roots going “clear to China,” they do not seem to multiply rapidly and colonies of them may be miles apart. There are some fine bushes on the sandy hills along the Denver-Parker road, but the colony is becoming smaller rather than expanding. The common bindweed, Convolvulus arvenis, is a member of this same family. Its ability to spread rapidly along roads and into cultivated fields makes it a serious pest.
Numerous purple flowers, each ¼ inch in diameter, crowd at and near the top of an erect hairy stem, making a cylindrical flower spike 3 inches or more in length. The 5 stamens of each flower are tipped with bright golden anthers and stick out farther than the petals, giving the effect of gold-headed pins radiating from a purple cushion. Plant is 6 to 12 inches tall of several leafy stems from a woody crown, the leaves divided into numerous narrow lobes. Grows in rather dry soil, montane to sub-alpine zones. Blooms May-July.
Many other species of Phacelia live in desert places where we have learned to know and admire them, but our first acquaintance—and last love—is this purple fringe of the montane zone. Its color is deeper, more velvety, and the pollen of its anthers brighter gold than most of its desert brethren can boast. It keeps, however, considerable tolerance for dry places, so that fresh road-fills are gay with it. The mountaineer who views his flowers only from a car has no excuse for not knowing this one.
Flowers, ⅜ inch in diameter, are formed of deep-blue (occasionally white) petals, spreading into a little flat disc and joining at their base into a short tube. Minute golden crests in the throat of this corolla tube, often bordered by white, give the effect of a central eye. Plant is formed of a tough woody root crown bearing several very short leafy shoots with flower clusters at the top. Entire plant is compact, covered with short silky hairs, and rarely 3 inches high. Grows on flat spots between rocks in alpine zone extending clear to peak summits. Blooms late June-early July.
The plant “association” pictured above is such as we find on Trail Ridge. It has bright lichen, sedum, polemonium and alpine forget-me-not—the kind of miniature garden that makes high altitude flower hunting so much fun. The woody base of the forget-me-not is built to stand the cold of long winters. The flowers—tiny and delicate for so rugged a habitat—are of heaven’s own blue. Their exquisite perfume is elusive. Only once have we found them in such abundance that the fragrance called out to tell us where they were hiding. Their range is wide, however, and in the short blossoming season there is a good chance of finding a few on the slopes of any of our high peaks.
Numerous violet-blue flowers, each about ½ inch across, of 5 rounded corolla lobes joining in a funnel-like tube, are clustered into a head about 2½ inches in diameter, which nods slightly on its erect stem. Plants are about 8 inches high, with numerous bright-green, pinnate leaves cut into many narrow leaflets. The leaves may be erect or may interweave somewhat at the base of a close group of several plants. Grows in rocky places, alpine zone. Blooms late June-early July.
The sky pilot, growing among rocks up where the sky seems very near, reflects its blue and so is supposed to direct our thoughts upward. This same feeling is embodied in the name of another species of Polemonium, Jacobs ladder, Polemonium pulcherrimum, the staggered leaves of which may represent the steps by which we climb. Sky pilot seems very much affected by the particular season. In a dry summer, it is straggly and manages to produce only a few blooms of faded blue. In a good year, large clumps of sturdy erect plants make patches of deep color, accented by their golden stamens. The leaves have a strong, offensive odor, but the flowers are honey sweet.
Individual flower, 1½ inches long, is formed of a slender trumpet-like, bright-scarlet (sometimes coral pink) corolla flaring at the mouth into 5 narrow lobes. Numerous flowers attached by short pedicels, are carried in small groups along one side of the green stem. Plant is about 18-24 inches tall, usually of one main stem, with sometimes a few branches. Leaves are deeply cut into thin linear subdivisions, usually curved. Grows in plains and foothills zones. Blooms June-August.
In many otherwise barren areas, the red gilia or sky rocket plant spreads its blaze of color in large patches or hangs, a single wand of bloom, over the edge of the trail. It keeps blooming through the summer, a few stragglers holding on till Labor Day. In early September we have found them in the Wet Mountain Valley brightening the brown of the autumn grasses. A white species, Gilia attenuata, tends to grow at lower elevations—the red higher in the foothills. The pale pink and coral plants are probably hybrids.
The true flowers are slender, two-lipped tubes of pale or greenish color about 1 inch long. They are surrounded and often completely hidden by the conspicuous, brick-red, modified leaves (bracts) which form a flower-like cluster at the upper ends of the stems. The bract colors in this species vary considerably through several shades of red. Plant is 8-15 inches tall composed of several leafy stems, very tough and woody at their lower ends, rising from a woody root crown. Grows in foothills and higher plains, extending upward through montane zone. Blooms June-July.
In the early summer, this spectacular plant may be seen in the prairie stretches along the highway between Denver and Colorado Springs—or a bit later in the season—literally carpeting the drier areas of South Park. In higher altitudes, particularly in the well-watered vales of Engelmann Spruce, there are other species with bracts of brilliant shades of rose and maroon. In those same high gardens and on above timberline there is a yellow paintbrush. The fortunate flower hunter may even be rewarded by a yellow one tipped with red—or red edged with yellow.
Individual flower is about ½ inch wide and somewhat longer, formed of a bell-shaped, lavender-blue corolla which flares at its mouth into 5 lobes separated into two groups. Numerous flowers, in groups of 3 or more, are closely arranged along one side of the top half of each stem, several stems rising from a root crown. Plant is 2 feet or more tall, with narrow tapering leaves, opposite each other in pairs. Grows in foothills and montane zones. Blooms late June-July.
This is but one of twenty or more species of Penstemon found in Colorado. Some, such as Penstemon angustifolius, with its azure blue flowers, grow on the plains. A few are dwarf species of the sub-alpine zone such as Penstemon harbourii. Every zone and every section has its quota, and they range in color through all shades of lavender, blue, purple, and even red. In details of flower structure, as well as in size, they vary considerably. All of them, however, have a tubular corolla of some shape, terminating in five lobes, divided into two groups, giving them a two-lipped appearance. From this their relationship to garden snapdragons is apparent. In the penstemons, also, the topmost of their five stamens is sterile and often tipped with a little brush of hairs. This gives them the name of beardstongue.
Flower head, 3 inches or more across, is formed of a central red disk made up of many minute tubular flowers (florets), surrounded by an outer circle of long flat golden rays cleft at tips into 3 teeth. Plants are 2 feet or more high of several rough stems usually erect, but sometimes contorted. The dark green leaves are lance-shaped and rough. Grows in foothills. Blooms June-July.
Do you have one just like this in your garden? Cultivation has changed the gaillardia less than it has most native plants. It was born a handsome, showy flower. There is charm in its notched rays and in the way the red of the central disk flowers runs outward into the gold of the rays, as though the painter had been careless with his brush and lavish with his colors. It grows far beyond the limits of Colorado. In the rough breaks of the Montana hills several separate plants will spread out and interweave as a colorful mass, giving it there the name “blanket-flower.”
Individual flower heads are about ¼ inch across and double that in length, each formed of a dozen or more tubular bright gold florets closely compressed at their bases into a green involucre. Numerous such heads are clustered loosely together into round-topped groups (cymes) at the ends of stems and branches. Plant is a wide-branching, woody shrub 2-4 feet high with small, green-gray, linear leaves. Grows on dry plains and lower foothills, especially common in western Colorado. Blooms September-October.
Most of the better known composites have spreading rays—each of which is really a flower, though usually sterile—surrounding a disc of less conspicuous tubular flowers, these latter being normally the fertile ones. Sunflowers are familiar examples. Throughout some genera of this great family, and in various species of additional genera, the rays are totally absent. Rabbit brush is one of the composites whose flower heads have no rays. They are showy only because so many of them cluster together, and because each small flower contributes a speck of bright gold. They are distinctly plants of desert lands, and in the fall season each big clump is a perfect mound of color. As winter nears, the color pales and fades, though flowers hang on a long time. Rabbit brush is not a sagebrush, even though both grow on the same dry plains and both are members of the composite family.
Flower heads, 2 inches across, are formed of about 30 white rays, slightly striated and indented at the tips, surrounding a disc, about ¾ inch in diameter, of numerous tubular gold-colored florets. Plant is about 3 inches high and carries one or several flower heads right on the top of a spreading tough root crown from which also rise numerous, narrow, linear leaves about 2-3 inches long. Grows on grassy plains, and foothills. Blooms April-May.
These are among the very earliest of the plains flowers. Their typical occurrence is as isolated plants, one here and one there between grass turfs in areas of rather tight prairie sod. They are so low and compact that they are not easy to find, even though their beauty well justifies the search. Spring has come when Easter daisies are out, even though the plains are still clad in winter gray with only a faint suggestion that in time the range will be green. Several other members of this daisylike genus are found in the foothills and plains. One of the commoner of these, Townsendia eximia, is easily distinguished by its short spreading branches which carry a few leaves.
Flower head, 1½ inches across, is composed of about 200 narrow rays of brilliant lavender color, surrounding a button-like center ½ inch in diameter, of numerous, bright-gold, tubular florets packed closely together. Plant is 1½ to 3 feet high, freely branching, with numerous flower heads; leaves oblong or oval 2-3 inches long. Grows in shady places, rich moist soil, montane and sub-alpine zones. Blooms late July-September.
As the season advances, these aster-like flowers become the most conspicuous color notes in our high-altitude aspen groves. They come after early flowers are gone and bloom with a profusion unknown to most shade-loving plants. Before they too are gone a leaf here and there on the geranium plants in these same places will have turned bright red; on the ground, ivory colored puff-balls will be ready to discharge their clouds of brown spores, and the very first of the aspen leaves will have turned yellow and be drifting down. Showy fleabanes may linger to catch the first fall snows. Another of the many members of this genus, Erigeron trifidus, grows on the plains and brings out its small white blossoms in late April when it may catch the last spring snows.
Flower head is 3 to 4 inches across, the central disk, an inch in diameter, made up of over a hundred tiny, tubular, golden florets, surrounded by about 30 bright yellow rays which are flat and notched at the outer end. Plant is 5 to 15 inches tall of one or several woolly stems, with leaves divided into several narrow lobes. Grows on alpine slopes. June-July.
This woolly-stemmed, dwarf sunflower, sometimes called old-man-of-the-mountains, or sun-god, is a startling surprise for the newcomer to our above-timberline tundras. One expects smaller more timid flowers here, and so at first the big bright faces of these plants seem out of place. Then we come to love them for their gay defiance of tough growing conditions and think of them as the proper guardians of high windy places. Whole colonies of them will be found with all the flower heads faced in the same direction. This will be a direction from which they receive strong light, and is a form of heliotropism. The stems, however, do not twist through a full half circle each day to follow the sun.