A Wandering Botanist: Middle Elevations in Rocky Mountains in late June

Summer moves steadily up the mountains. As you rise up above the plains of Colorado into the Rocky Mountains, the plants that are done flowering at 5,000 feet elevation are in full bloom at 8,000 feet, but are still in bud at 11,000 feet. Of course not all the plants are able grow from 5000' to 11000' elevation, but many do.

These photos were taken in a ramble around Lily Lake, at 8,931' elevation.

Lily Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Almost all the yellow in the photo below is sulphur flower (sulphurflower wild buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum, buckwheat family, Polygonaceae). It is one of many species of Eriogonum in the Rocky Mountains, but common and showy. A very attractive little plant, as the flower heads become seed heads, they stay yellow to orange, just as conspicuous as in flower.

yellow sulphur flowers, Eriogonum umbellatum

close up of sulphur flower flower head

Lots of other plants were flowering. Under this tree I see yellow shrubby cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa, rose family, Rosaceae), pink wild roses (Rosa woodsii rose family Rosaceae), in the lower left a blue larkspur (Penstemon, plantain family, Plantaginaceae), and at the base of the tree blue lupines (Lupinus, pea family, Fabaceae), without trying to identify leaves.

Wandering on, I found pink-flowered onions, genus Allium (amaryllus family, Amaryllidaceae). Colorado has 11 species of wild onions, most with pink to white flowers.

pink-flowered wild onions, genus Allium

A huge clone of pussytoes, Antennaria (sunflower family, Asteraceae), the white amid the green, below. I didn't put in anything for scale, but it is 4-5' long and more than 3' across, the plants, even with their seed heads sticking up, only standing about 3" tall.

big clone of pussytoes, Antennaria

A closer look at pussytoes: white seed heads and grayish leaves. At least 12 different species of Antennaria grow in this part of the mountains.

pussytoes, Antennaria

The western wallflower (Erysimum, mustard family Brassicaceae) was not very tall, about 4", but wonderfully bright. They sometimes grow much bigger. Colorado has five species of Erysimum but E. capitatum is the most common and the only one that is orange.

western wallflower, Erysimum captitatum

Dotting the open spots was spearleaf stonecrop, Sedum lanceolatum (stonecrop family, Crassulaceae), flowering abundantly this year. They were very small and wonderfully bright.

lanceleaf stonecrop, Sedum lanceolatum

Wild strawberries (woodland strawberry Fragaria vesca, rose family Rosaceae) had flowers but not yet fruit. The white flowers with their yellow centers make a nice contrast with the green leaves and red stems of the leaves and runners. The red runner leading off the photo to the lower right is a stem sent out to find a great spot to set down roots, spreading the strawberry clone. Clones of strawberries are much less dense than the clones of pussytoes.

woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca

Here and there were weedy European plants, for example this healthy-looking red clover (Trifolium repens, pea family, Fabaceae). Above it in the photo, the leaves are from aspen (Populus tremuloides, willow family Salicaceae, the most widespread tree in North America.)

red clover, Trifolium repens

Here is another plant from Eurasia, the reddish little plants of sheep's sorrel, Rumex acetosella (buckwheat family, Polygonaceae). It came from Europe, eaten, as the name indicates by sheep. It is also edible by humans, cooked as greens, or the whole little plants ground up and used as or added to flour. Its a bit tart for modern tastes, but some primitive instinct of mine always makes a note that, should I need to forage for food, this was where I saw sheep's sorrel.

sheep's sorrel, Rumex acetosella

Here's a slightly larger photo. It is so small, under 10", that I have many bad photos and few good ones. It looks very similar whether it is in flower or loaded with ripe tiny fruits (achenes, one-seeded fruits.)

sheep's sorrel, Rumex acetosella

Lily Lake through the trees

Birds. When I looked down at the water from the boardwalk through the marshy part of the lake, these ducks were sitting there. Botanists and zoologists make jokes about being blind to each-other's organisms. A zoologist would tell you what duck it is, I'll say, "look, I saw a pair of birds."

unidentified birds

A lovely time for an easy hike in the mountains. Sunny but not hot. Flowers. Lots of green leaves. Bees and butterflies, mostly moving too fast for my camera. And even some birds.