Wildflowers, White Pg11

Mouse click a thumbnail to see a larger image and informational details below the photos. Most thumbnails have three clickable views; flower, plant, and foliage. The selected image will stay visible until another slide is clicked.

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Alfalfa subspecies (Medicago sativa), family Fabaceae (Pea/Bean). Originally published as an unknown Vicia (yellow) back in 2008, we have since learned more about this plant.

There are 5 subspecies of sativa. Two of the 5 are shown in the United States. One, falcata, is called yellow alfalfa and is one of those 2 found in the United States according to the USDA Plant Database. Images of it that we have seen, however, show blue-purple flowers and it's fruits differ from our specimen. Of the remaining subspecies, sativa (also known as varia), is the only other shown in the United States. Little information is available, not enough for us to be comfortable making a declaration that our specimen is in fact that subspecies. Our specimen remains something of a mystery. Check out the plant slide to see the wild looking fruit/seed pods of this plant.

FUN FACT: Also on the site is a purple-blue -and- yellow example of this species. ALL THREE colors came from the SAME PLANT!
Plant location:Photographed July 27, 2007 when Mark was dual sport motorcycle riding in Twisp Washington. Bloom season: Probably similiar to sativa which is May through September.
Plant location: Bloom season:
Mountain Candytuft -or- Wild Candytuft -or- Alpine Pennycress (Noccaea montana), family Brassicaceae (Mustard). Per Weber, the only species in the genus Noccaea in Colorado. Plant location: Two sightings. Flower and foliage views, photographed in the Cache La Poudre Canyon, Colorado, on April 9, 2009. The plant shot was photographed from a sighting at Hwy72 and Plainview Road on April 15, 2010. Bloom season: March through May. Foothills to Alpine dwellers. Clasping leaves often diagnostic in the mustard family.
Plant location: Bloom season:
Rocky Mountain Pussytoes -or- Alpine Pussytoes (Antennaria media), family Asteraceae (Aster/Sunflower). Thank you, Mike Foley (USDA Forest Service), for your assistance with the identification of this species. Plant location: Photographed in the Goliath Natural Area, Mt. Evans, Colorado on June 28, 2011. GPS coordinates: N39°38.559 W105°35.567 - Elevation: 11,528'. Bloom season: June through August.
Plant location: Bloom season:
Small-leaf Pussytoes -or- Dwarf Pussytoes -or- Sun-loving Catspaw (Antennaria parvifolia), family Asteraceae (Aster/Sunflower). The clear flower in the foreground is a male plant. The hazy one, right side of background, is female. Plant location: Photographed at Hwy 72 and Plainview road on April 19, 2010. Bloom season: April through July.
Plant location: Bloom season:
Bruneau Mariposa Lily (Calochortus bruneaunis), family Liliaceae (Lily).

Thanks to Barbara Senter-Timmons for submitting her photos of another beautiful lily for Wildflowers West to share. Barbara, who runs the Maple Grove Hot Springs near Thatcher Idaho, found the plants in bloom while roaming her 35 acres. She was quite pleased since they have not always bloomed each year.

Ironically, we Dixon's ran into this species, in Wyoming, within a few scant days of receiving Barbara's eMail and photos! Stay tuned for a specific page with more photographs of these lovely flowers. Plant location: Photographed in two locations - Flower and plants shots, at the Maple Grove Hot Springs in Thatcher Idaho, July 2011. The stem and leaf close-up off Wyoming 70 just outside of Baggs Wyoming: GPS coordinates: N41°01.352 W107°34.588 - Elevation: 6407'. The date was July 6, 2011. Bloom season: May through August.
Plant location: Bloom season:
White Marsh Marigold -or- Elkslip (Caltha leptosepala), family Helleboraceae (Hellebore).

Was in the Ranunculaceae (Buttercup) family until reclassified based on the type of fruit that the plants produce. Per Weber and Wittmann, this is the only Caltha species in Colorado.

See the species of Caltha that we photographed in Washington, here. Plant location: Photographed on Guanella Pass (Colorado), on June 9, 2009. Found in most of the western United States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY. Bloom season: June through August.
Plant location: Bloom season: