Visiting Colorado--Devil's Backbone, Loveland, Colorado in June

Devil's Backbone is a distinctive rock outcrop on the western side of Loveland, Colorado. 

Along the northern side, the land has been preserved as Devil's Backbone Open Space (link). The hiking trails lead west and north through Rocky Mountain Front Range grasslands. It is a favorite hike of mine.

Here is what you might see in June.

Big cottonwoods in the low spots

Wild roses (Rosa woodsii, rose family Rosaceae) in flower

Wild rose

The occassional prickly poppy (Argemone polyanthemos, poppy family Papaveraceae). Prickly poppy is a native annual. Some years they are very abundant, other years hard to find.

prickly poppy, Argemone polyanthemos

Rolling grasslands with small soapweed (Yucca glauca, asparagus family, Asparagaceae) in bloom. 

Small soapweed is a slow-growing native, the most northerly of the yuccas and agaves. Its very sharp fiberous leaves resist grazing but it is slow to seed in and grow to flowering size after plowing or similar disturbances, so the presence of so many in bloom suggests 20 or 30 years undisturbed here. (Devil's Backbone was mined for gypsum and hosted a plaster plant between the 1880s and 1965, though the disturbance to the field in the photo above might have been minor.)

small soapweed, Yucca glauca

Purple larkspurs (Delphinium, buttercup family, Ranunculaceae) among the mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus,  rose family, Rosaceae).

Larkspurs (Delphinium species) and mountain mahogany (Cercocapus montanus)

Blanket flowers (Gaillardia aristata, sunflower family, Asteraceae). These are native annuals, so you never know where they might pop up. 

blanket flower, Gaillardia aristata

The prickly pear cacti (Opuntia polyacantha, cactus family Cactaceae) flower in June. The flowers open in the sun, close if it is cool and gray. The bee noticed the flower was open. 

plains prickly pear, likely Opuntia polyacantha

There is a second species of prickly pear, big root prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza), which is very similar. Opuntia polyacantha is more common along Devil's Backbone.

The Foothills grassland looks much simpler than it is. There are multiple species of many native plants, some because the plains meets the mountains here, with lots of different microhabitats, others because they have relatives that grow in the same places.

Here, for example, is a white species of larkspur, the pale larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum). Devil's Backbone has not only two blue species of larkspur but various hybrids between them.

white larkspur, Delphinium

Wavy-leaf thistle (Cirsium undulatum, sunflower family, Asteraceae) looks like some of our weedy exotic thistles, but it is native and not very common.  The leaves are particularly deeply "wavy," silver on the underside, and quite spiny.

wavy-leaf thistle, Cirsium undulatum

And of course there are many more

western spiderwort, Tradescantia occidentalis 
(dayflower family, Commelinaceae)

Go! Take a hike!

Comments and corrections welcome.

Best plant ID book: Bilsing, L. editor. 2014. Wildflowers and other plants of the Larimer County Foothills Region. Larimer County Natural Resources. Specifically for the Front Range of Larimer County, 5,000-8,000'.

For more information on conspicuous plants: Keeler, K. H. 2017. NoCo Notables: Fifteen Northern Colorado Plants to Notice. WhatIf? Publications, Loveland, CO.

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist

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