Category Archives: Wildflowers

Native wildflowers encountered while exploring the hills of the Southern Interior.

Blazing Star

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Blazing-Star (Mentzelia laevicaulis) is a biennial (or short-lived perennial) which grows from a long taproot.    The stems grow vertically and are hairy (slightly barbed).    Basal leaves are linear in shape and slightly lobed.    The stem is a whitish-green color and usually has branches.  Stem leaves are alternate, with a sawtooth shape.   Numerous terminal flowers develop in early summer.  

A showy bright shiny yellow flower with 5 petals blooms in summer.    Sepals grow between the petals.    In the center are a number of yellow stamens.  

After flowering capsules form with winged seeds for dispersal later in summer.   

We observe blazing star in dry, rocky areas, often with no other plants nearby in summer.    It is also called giant blazing-star.    We look forward to seeing it each summer and we know a few spots where we can hike to find it in bloom.   

Balsamroot

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Arrow-leaved balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) is a perennial in the Asteracaea (sunflower) family.    It has a long, woody taproot and a branched base.  The basal stems are glandular and slightly hairy.  the basal eaves are triangular (arrow-leaved) at the ends of long stems.    They start with a silvery color and turn green as they mature.    Fine hairs  cover … Continue reading →

Northern Bedstraw

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Northern bedstraw (Galium boreale) is a perennial which grows from creeping rhizomes, with squarish stems in clusters.   Narrow lanceolate veined and pointed leaves in groups of 4 are on evenly-spaced whorls around the stems.   Small white flowers emerge in panicles at the tops of the stems.   Each flower has 4 pointed white sections “folded-back”  around a fused “tube”.  Stems with … Continue reading →

Desert Yellow Fleabane

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Desert yellow fleabane (Erigeron linearis) is a perennial with a thick base and a branching base.   It is sometimes called fine-leaved daisy or linear-leaved daisy.   Straight stems range from short to 30 cm tall.    Leaves are mostly basal, linear, often close to the stems, and hairy.   Terminal flowers are ray-and-disk pattern with bright yellow petals from a involucre bracts.  … Continue reading →

Showy Jacob’s-Ladder

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Showy Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum sp.) is a perennial herb growing from a taproot and a branched stem.  Clustered leaves are mostly basal and hairy.    The leaves are pinnately compound (featherlike in leaflets).    If handle leaves we will not a “skunky” odor.     The common name arises from the ladder-like shape of the leaves, a Biblical reference. Clusters of … Continue reading →

Western Spring Beauty

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Western spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) is a perennial that grows from a corm.    Several short stems (some underground) will have a few fleshy basal lanceolate leaves.  Whitish-pinkish flowers with deep pink veins emerge in spring with 2 sepals and 5 petals each in clusters.   After flowering, capsules with seeds develop in late spring and the leaves die back in … Continue reading →

Showy Milkweed

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Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is an upright perennial which grows from rhizomes, 0.5 to 1 m in height with a stout stem.    The plant is hairy on the stems and leaves.     The central stem is somewhat hollow, but with a milky juice inside.    The leaves are mostly lanceolate with a point and have a central lighter-colored vein.    … Continue reading →

Parsnipflower Buckwheat

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Parsnip-flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum heracleoides) is a perennial herb that often grows in clumps in open areas.  Branches diverge from a woody base.  Leaves are usually greyish and woolly in a basal whorl.    Bracts may be present on stems below the inflorescence.  In an umbel shape, many small white-yellow emerge in clusters.   Some will appear reddish – rose as they … Continue reading →

Thompson’s Paintbrush

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Thompson’s Paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii) is a perennial which can be found in the dry lower-elevation grasslands in mid-spring.   From a woody base branched stems rise to about 40 cm.   Linear leaves are green on the stem.    The upper leaves are in pairs and are lobed.   The inflorescence has the paintbrush shape with yellow (pale) bracts.    The flowers are … Continue reading →

Small-flowered Penstemon

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Small-flowered Penstemon (Penstemon procerus) is a perennial in the figwort family.    It grows from a woody base and often forms clumps.    The green leaves are oval to lanceolate, growing oppositely and a few leaves grow around the bae on short stems.   Small purple-blue flowers grow in whorls around the stem. After flowering, capsules form with many seeds.   They … Continue reading →