Nine of us took a very leisurely stroll up to Beaver Meadows this past Saturday, and, in fact, it was so leisurely that we barely made it there.  We just kept finding too many fun plants that grabbed our attention.  Fortunately, we did finally make it and we got to see such great flowers as Parry’s Harebell, Blue-eyed Grass, and Prairie Smoke, all species that like mountain meadows.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself and need to go back to our start at Camp Rock Campground, which is sometimes hard to get out of because of the variety of flowers present where open meadow and aspen, on one hand, meet mature spruce-fir forest on the other.  I like to begin there by exploring what I call “roadside riparian,” aka the ditch.  Water runs off these hard road surfaces causing more moisture to be available in the ditch and generally results in more flowers in that area e.g., Mountain Parsley, Yarrow, Black-eyed Susan, and Common Harebell.

Moving into the shade of the dense, tall spruce growing along a tiny creek, we found many wonderful flowers, including Tall Chiming Bells, Twisted-stalk, Wild Strawberry, and Canada Violet.  A real highlight was getting to see Green Pyrola and Pink Pyrola.  These members of the Pyrolaceae, or Wintergreen Family, are among my favorites.  Generally, they grow in deeply shaded forests, and because they are not very tall, and their blossoms hang downward, they can be easily missed.  A few flowering shrubs were profuse in this area, Red Elderberry, Twinberry, and Raspberry.

We then climbed up through a somewhat less flowered portion of the forest composed primarily of Lodgepole Pine with a few scattered Rock Cresses.  However, moving out on to a beautiful south-facing slope of scattered aspen and ponderosa we chanced upon another group of flowers including Nodding Onion, Black-eyed Susan, Pearly Everlasting, Western Wallflower, Alumroot, and One-sided Penstemon.  A favorite of mine here is Blue Mist Penstemon whose name captures the ambience created by a whole patch of these vividly blue flowers growing all together.  In some wet spots we found Shooting Star, Green Bog-orchid, and Little Red Elephant.

Good botanizing to you all,

Chuck

Equisetum arvense                          COMMON HORSETAIL

Juniperus communis                       COMMON JUNIPER

Pinus flexilis                                      LIMBER PINE

Pinus aristata                                    BRISTLECONE PINE

Pinus ponderosa                              PONDEROSA PINE

Pinus contorta                                  LODGEPOLE PINE

Picea engelmannii                           ENGELMANN SPRUCE

Abies lasiocarpa                               SUBALPINE FIR

Heracleum sphondylium                 COW PARSNIP

Pseudocymopterus montanus       MOUNTAIN PARSLEY

Achillea millefolium, lanulosa         YARROW

Antenaria parviflora                         ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUSSYTOES

Antennaria rosea                             PINK PUSSYTOES

Anaphalis margaritacea                  PEARLY EVERLASTING

Artemisia ludoviciana                      WESTERN MUGWORT

Arnica cordifolia                               HEART-LEAVED ARNICA

Erigeron flagellaris                           WHIPLASH DAISY

Rudbeckia hirta                                BLACK-EYED SUSAN

Senecio spp                                      SENECIO SPP

Tragopogon dubius                         YELLOW SALSIFY

Alnus tenuifolia                                 ALDER

Betula fontinalis                                RIVER BIRCH

Mertensia ciliata                               TALL CHIMING BELLS

Mertensia lanceolata                       LANCELEAF CHIMING BELLS

Draba spp                                         DRABA SPP

Erysimum asperum                         WESTERN WALLFLOWER

Arabis spp                                         ROCKCRESS

Sambucus racemose                      RED ELDERBERRY

Lonicera involucrata                         TWINBERRY

Campanula rotundifolia                   COMMON HAREBELL

Campanula parryi                            PARRY’S HAREBELL

Artostaphylos uva-ursi                    KINNIKINNICK

Cerastium strictum                           MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED

Amerosedum lanceolatum             YELLOW STONECROP

Astragalus spp                                 VETCH SPP

Thermopsis divaricarpa                  GOLDEN BANNER

Trifolium pratense                            RED CLOVER

Aquilegia coerulea                           COLORADO COLUMBINE

Delphinium barbeyi                          SUBALPINE LARKSPUR

Geranium caespitosum                   WILD GERANIUM

Geranium richardsonii                     RICHARDSON’S GERANIUM

Hydrophyllum fendleri                     WATERLEAF

Phacelia heterophylla                      SCORPIONWEED

Allium cernuum                                NODDING ONION

Streptopus fassettii                          TWISTEDSTALK

Chamerion danielsii                         FIREWEED

Limnorchis hyperborea                   GREEN BOG-ORCHID

Ipomopsis aggregate                       FAIRY TRUMPET

Dodecatheon pulchellum                SHOOTING STAR

Pyrola chlorantha                             GREEN PYROLA

Pyrola rotudifolia                              PINK PYROLA

Thalictrum fendleri                           FENDLER MEADOWRUE

Drymocallis fissa                              LEAFY POTENTILLA

Potentilla spp                                    CINQUEFOIL 

Fragaria virginiana                           WILD STRAWBERRY

Rubus idaeus                                   RASPBERRY

Ribes spp                                          GOOSEBERRY SPP

Jamesia americana                         WAXFLOWER

Pentaphylloides floribunda             SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL

Padus virginiana                              CHOKECHERRY

Populus tremuloides                        QUAKING ASPEN

Salix spp                                            WILLOW spp

Galium septentrionale                     NORTHERN BEDSTRAW

Heuchera parvifolia                         COMMON ALUMROOT

Castilleja miniate                              SCARLET PAINTBRUSH

Pedicularis bracteosa                      BRACTED LOUSEWORT

Pedicularis groenlandica                LITTLE RED ELEPHANT

Valeriana edulis                               VALERIAN

Penstemon virens                            BLUE MIST PENSTEMON

Penstemon virgatus                         ONE-SIDED PENSTEMON

Penstemon whippleanus                WHIPPLE PENSTEMON

Thalictrum fendleri                           MEADOWRUE

Viola scopulorum                             CANADA VIOLET

Viola nuttali                                       YELLOW VIOLET