Wildflowers N-Z

Wyethia angustifolia is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names California compassplant and narrowleaf mule's ears. It is native to the west coast of the United States from Washington to California, where it grows in grassland, meadows, and other open habitat. It is a perennial herb growing from a tough taproot and caudex unit and producing a stem 30 to 90 centimeters tall. The leaves have lance-shaped blades up to 50 centimeters tall. The inflorescence produces one or more large sunflower-like flower heads at the top of the hairy stem. The head has narrow, hairy phyllaries at the base. It contains up to 21 yellow ray florets each up to 4.5 centimeters long and many yellow disc florets. The fruit is an achene which may be nearly 2 centimeters long including its pappus.

• Wyethia angustifolia (DC.) Nutt.
• California compassplant, California-compassplant, Narrowleaf mule ears
• Asteraceae (Aster Family)
• USDA Symbol: WYAN
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Glandular oceanspray or bush rockspirea is a low, intricately branched, spreading shrub, 1-7 ft. tall, with reddish twigs; aromatic, deciduous foliage; and feathery panicles of small, pinkish-white flowers.

Grows in lava, pumice, and volcanic ash soils.

Perideridia parishii is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name Parish's yampah. It is native to mountainous regions of the southwestern United States, where it grows in forests and other habitat. It is a perennial herb growing up to 90 centimeters tall, its slender green stem growing from a small tuber. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades 10 to 20 centimeters long divided into pairs of leaflets, which may be subdivided or lobed. The inflorescence is a compound umbel of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, round or oblong-shaped fruits each about half a centimeter long.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- Wikipedia

Plant Characteristics

• Duration: Perennial
• Habit: Herb
• Root Type: Tap
• Leaf Arrangement: Opposite
• Leaf Complexity: Simple
• Inflorescence: Cyme , Terminal
• Fruit Type: Capsule
• Size Notes: Mat-forming plant to about 8 inches in height.
• Leaf: Leaf needle-shaped to 3.5cm.
• Flower: White, five petals, rotate.
• Fruit: Capsule containing up to 15 yellowish to blackish seeds.
• Size Class: 0-1 ft.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/

Yellow creeping monkey-flower or primrose monkey-flower is a low, mat-forming perennial, the whole plant sometimes not more than an inch high. The little leaf rosettes are light green and crowded one against the next. Leaf edges are lined with white hairs. The yellow flowers are primrose-shaped and marked with red-brown spots. The flowers are borne at the ends of tiny, leafless stalks.

Cistanthe monosperma (formerly Calyptridium monospermum) is a perennial plant in the miner's lettuce family (Montiaceae), known by the common name one-seeded pussypaws.[1] It was formerly classified in the purslane family (Portulacaceae).

Sphenosciadium is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the carrot family containing the single species Sphenosciadium capitellatum, which is known by the common names ranger's buttons, woollyhead parsnip, button parsley, and swamp whiteheads.

The plant is native to western North America from Idaho through Nevada, Oregon, and California into Baja California. It grows in moist habitat types, such as creeksides and meadows. It is included in Toxic Plants of North America (Burrows & Tyrl, 2001).

Ranger's buttons plants are quite similar to the other large Umbelliferae that share similar habitats: Sierra angelica and cow parsnip, but each has a very differently shaped leaf, and the other two have umbellets with quite distinct flowers, in contrast to the tight balls on ranger's buttons.

It is a stout perennial herb growing from a tuberous root and producing an erect stem often exceeding 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall and sometimes approaching 1.2 meters (3.9 ft). The stem and leaves are usually green but sometimes nearly white in color, smooth below but with rough hairs on the inflorescence. The leaves are divided into several segments which bear widely spaced leaflets. The leaflets may also be intricately divided into small segments.

The inflorescence is a whitish compound umbel with many branches each up to 10 centimeters long. The nearly spherical, headlike terminal umbellets contain many tiny white or purple-tinged flowers, whose protruding stamens make them appear very fuzzy in full bloom.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- Wikipedia

Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rappi, rapaseed (and in the case of one particular group of cultivars, canola) is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family). The name derives from the Latin for turnip, napus, and is first recorded in English at the end of the 14th century. Older writers usually distinguished the turnip and rape by the adjectives round and long(-rooted) respectively.[2] See also Brassica napobrassica, which may be considered a variety of Brassica napus. Some botanists include the closely related Brassica campestris within B. napus. (See Triangle of U).

Rapeseed oil is used in the manufacture of biodiesel for powering motor vehicles. Biodiesel may be used in pure form in newer engines without engine damage, and is frequently combined with fossil-fuel diesel in ratios varying from 2% to 20% biodiesel. Formerly, owing to the costs of growing, crushing, and refining rapeseed biodiesel, rapeseed derived biodiesel cost more to produce than standard diesel fuel. Rapeseed oil is the preferred oil stock for biodiesel production in most of Europe, partly because rapeseed produces more oil per unit of land area compared to other oil sources, such as soy beans.

There is however concern over the use of rapeseed for use as biodiesel because rapeseed is currently grown with a high level of nitrogen-containing fertilisers, and the manufacture of these generates N2O, a potent greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of CO2. It has been estimated that 3-5% of nitrogen provided as fertilizer for rapeseed is converted to N2O.[9]

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common name Red Elderberry.

This often treelike shrub grows 2 to 6 meters tall. The stems are soft with a pithy center. Each individual leaf is composed of 5 to 7 leaflike leaflets, each of which is up to 16 centimeters long, lance-shaped to narrowly oval, and irregularly serrated along the edges. The leaflets have a strong disagreeable odor when crushed. The inflorescence is a vaguely cone-shaped panicle of several cymes of flowers blooming from the ends of stem branches. The flower buds are pink when closed, and the open flowers are white, cream, or yellowish. Each flower has small, recurved petals and a star-shaped axis of five white stamens tipped in yellow anthers. The flowers are fragrant and visited by hummingbirds and butterflies. The fruit is a bright red or sometimes purple drupe containing 3 to 5 seeds.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- Wikipedia

A low, clumped, mat-forming perennial with 2-6 in. creeping stems. A matted plant with a short creeping stem and, in upper leaf axils, deep pink flowers seemingly too large for plant and often hiding foliage. These stems, with willow-like leaves, are smothered with showy, four-petaled, rose-purple flowers from mid- to late-summer.

Most Epilobium species are tall, but this, like many other alpine plants, is low and compact, which protects it from the drying mountain winds and freezing temperatures.

• Epilobium obcordatum A. Gray
• Rockfringe
• Onagraceae (Evening-Primrose Family)
• Synonym(s):
• USDA Symbol: EPOB
• USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EPOB

Ipomopsis aggregata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family, Polemoniaceae. Its common names include scarlet gilia, scarlet trumpet, and skyrocket. It is native to western North America, growing mainly in the central to western regions and ranging from as far north as British Columbia to Mexico.

It has characteristic red, trumpet-shaped flowers and basal leaves stemming from a single erect stem. There are many subspecies.

Some Plateau Indian tribes boiled it as a drink for kidney health. [1]

• Ipomopsis aggregata (Pursh) V. Grant
• Scarlet gilia, Scarlet standing-cypress, Skyrocket
• Polemoniaceae (Phlox Family)
• USDA Symbol: IPAG
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Carex utriculata produces stems exceeding 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in maximum height from a thick network of long rhizomes. The inflorescence is a cylindrical mass of flowers up to about 40 cm (16 in) long with an accompanying leaf-like bract which is generally longer than the flower spike. Each inflorescence bears up to 200 developing fruits, each enclosed in a shiny green, golden, or brown perigynium.

An extremely variable, leafy plant ranging from spindly and tiny to large and bushy, with yellow bilaterally symmetrical flowers on slender stalks in upper leaf axils. Seep monkey-flower or golden monkey-flower grows as an annual or perennial and is known for its spikes of snapdragon-like flowers topping leafy, 2-3 ft. stems. The bright-yellow flowers, spotted with purple on the lower lip, appear against soft, light-green, broadly rounded and toothed leaves.

In this large genus of several look-alikes with yellow corollas, Common Monkeyflower is distinguished by the longer upper tooth on the angular calyx.

• Mimulus guttatus DC.
• Seep monkeyflower, Seep monkey-flower, Golden monkey-flower, Common monkeyflower
• Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)
• Synonyms: Mimulus nasutus
• USDA Symbol: MIGU
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Blooms: July - August
Habit: herb
Duration: perennial
Origin: Native
Conservation Status: Watch List ()

General: Perennial from long, naked, branched rhizomes, 1-3 dm. tall, glandular throughout, the stems often solitary.

Leaves: Cauline leaves 2-3 pairs, the lower larger and petiolate, the blade broadly ovate with rounded to sub-cordate base, 3-7 cm. long and 2-4 cm. wide; the long-petiolate basal leaves, similar to the lower leaves, often on separate short shoots.

Flowers: Heads 1-3; involucre 10-15 mm. high, densely covered with short-stalked glands; pappus white to straw-colored, strongly barbellate.

Fruits: Achenes uniformly glandular or short hairy or both.

Distinguishing Characteristics: The similar Arnica cordifolia has copius long, white hairs on the involucre, while A. nevadensis is only glandular; also, A. nevadensis has entire leaves, while A. cordifolia usually has toothed leaves.

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Arnica&Species=nevadensis

Chamerion angustifolium, commonly known as fireweed (mainly in North America), great willow-herb (some parts of Canada), or rosebay willowherb (mainly in Britain), is a perennial herbaceous plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests.

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, 0.5–2.5 m (1½–8 feet) high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are entire, lanceolate, and pinnately veined. A related species, dwarf fireweed (Chamerion latifolium), grows to 0.3–0.6 m tall.

This herb is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands; the name Fireweed derives from the species' abundance as a coloniser on burnt sites after forest fires. Its tendency to quickly colonize open areas with little competition, such as sites of forest fires and forest clearings, makes it a clear example of a pioneer species. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space and plenty of light. As trees and brush grow larger the plants die out, but the seeds remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years; when a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again, the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil can, after burning, be covered with pure dense stands of this species and when in flower the landscape is turned into fields of color.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- Wikipedia

Lilium kelleyanum is a perennial herb known to exceed two meters in height. It originates from a scaly, elongated bulb up to about 8 centimeters long. The oval leaves are located in several whorls about the stem, each up to 15 centimeters in length and drooping at the tip. The inflorescence bears up to 25 large, nodding lily flowers. The flower is bell-shaped with 6 strongly recurved yellow to orange tepals up to 6 centimeters in length. There are 6 stamens with large red anthers and a pistil which may be over 3 centimeters in length. The flowers are pollinated by swallowtails.

Found in central and southern Sierra above 6000'

• Lilium kelleyanum Lemmon
• Kelley's lily
• Liliaceae (Lily Family)
• Synonym(s): Lilium fresnense, Lilium nevadense, Lilium nevadense var. shastense
• USDA Symbol: LIKE
• USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- Wikipedia

Penstemon heterodoxus is a species of penstemon known by the common name Sierra beardtongue. It is native to California and western Nevada where it grows in several of the mountain ranges from the Klamath Mountains to the Sierra Nevada - and the slopes and plateaus to the east. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates in mountain forests, meadows and talus.

Penstemon heterodoxus is a perennial herb growing stems upright 65 centimeters in maximum height or in a low, spreading mat. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong, the upper pairs sometimes clasping the stem.

The glandular inflorescence is made up of 1 to 6 separate clusters of dark purple-blue tubular flowers each just over a centimeter long. The outer surface of the flower generally has glandular hairs, and on the inside there are hairs on the floor of the flower mouth and on the staminode.

• Wetlands: Occurs usually in non wetlands, occasionally in wetlands
• Habitat: meadows, slopes
• Communities: Lodgepole Forest, Subalpine Forest, Alpine Fell-fields, Bristle-cone Pine Forest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penstemon_heterodoxus
https://www.calflora.org//cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Penstemon+heterodoxus

Sierra pincushion, Nevada dustymaidens

Perennials, 2–10(–12) cm (cespitose or ± matted); proximal indument ± thinning with age, whitish, lanuginose. Stems mostly 10–20+, decumbent to ± erect. Leaves ± basal, 2.5–5 cm; largest blades ovate to deltate, ± plane, (1–)2-pinnately lobed; primary lobes mostly 2–4 pairs, ± congested, ultimate lobes ± plane. Heads 1(–2) per stem. Peduncles mostly ascending to erect, (0.5–)3–11 cm. Involucres obconic to ± cylindric. Phyllaries: longest 9–12(–14) mm; outer stipitate-glandular, apices erect, ± rigid. Corollas 5.5–8 mm. Cypselae 5.5–7.5 mm; pappi: longest scales 3–5 mm. 2n = 12.

Flowering Jul–mid Sep. Loose sandy or gravelly, mainly volcanic soils or scree (rarely on serpentine), openings in or above subalpine conifer forests; 1900–3200 m; Calif., Nev.

Chaenactis nevadensis is known mainly from the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range (Shasta to Placer counties, California; Washoe County, Nevada). It was recently discovered disjunct on ultramafic rocks of Bully Choop Mountain west of Redding, California, where it approaches small forms of C. suffrutescens in habit (see discussion there). It is sometimes cultivated in rock-gardens and may be found beyond its native range. Chaenactis nevadensis and C. suffrutescens appear to be sister or ancestor-derivative species. I have seen no evidence to support reports that C. nevadensis intergrades with C. alpigena (P. Stockwell 1940, as C. nevadensis var. mainsiana), with C. douglasii var. alpina (M. Graf 1999), or with any other taxon.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250066313

Pale yellow flowers in branched clusters atop reddish stalks growing from dense basal rosettes of succulent, often reddish-tinged leaves.

Sedum, from the Latin sedere (to sit), here refers to the tendency of many species to grow low to the ground. In all plants, open pores in the leaves let in carbon dioxide, to be used in photosynthesis. However, this allows stored water to escape, a critical problem in arid environments. In many succulents, including members of Sedum, water loss is reduced because their pores are open only at night; the carbon dioxide that enters is stored for use in daylight, when the pores are closed.

A dandelion-like rosette of jagged-edged leaves and bright yellow flowers with 4 broad petals.

This is representative of several low, yellow-flowered evening primroses without stems. The root of this plant branches beneath the ground, and the plants form patches on the surface. It was previously placed in the big genus Oenothera, but the knob at the end of the style indicates it belongs in Camissonia.

• Symbol: CASI9
• Group: Dicot
• Family: Onagraceae
• Duration: Annual
• Growth Habit: Forb/herb
• Native Status: L48 N

Sourced from: USDA Plant Database & http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/img_query?rel-taxon=begins+with&where-taxon=Camissonia+sierrae

Lupinus obtusilobus is a species of lupine known by the common name bluntlobe lupine. It is native to high mountains of northern California, including the North Coast Ranges, the Klamath Mountains, and the northernmost Sierra Nevada. It grows in various types of mountain habitat, sometimes carpeting meadows with its purple blooms in the spring. It is a perennial herb growing erect or decumbent along the ground, its stem 15–30 centimetres (5.9–11.8 in) long. Each palmate leaf is made up of 6 to 7 leaflets up to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long. The herbage is coated in silvery silky hairs. The inflorescence is a small raceme with a few whorls of flowers each just over a centimeter long. The flower is blue to purple with a yellowish patch on its banner. The fruit is a silky-haired legume pod up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long.

Toxicity: MAJOR
Habitat: ridges
Communities: Red Fir Forest, Lodgepole Forest, Subalpine Forest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_obtusilobus

Senecio integerrimus is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names lambstongue ragwort[1] and tall western groundsel. It is native to western and central North America, where it grows in grassland, forest, and other habitat. It is a biennial or perennial herb producing a single erect stem 20 to 70 centimeters tall from a caudex with a fleshy root. The linear to lance-shaped or triangular leaves have blades up to 25 centimeters long. The herbage is slightly hairy to woolly or cobwebby. The inflorescence bears several flower heads in a cluster, the middle, terminal head often largest and held on a shorter peduncle, making the cluster look flat. The heads contain many disc florets and usually 8 or 13 ray florets which may be yellow to cream to white in color. Some heads lack ray florets.

Diplacus mephiticus is a species of monkeyflower known by the common names skunky monkeyflower and foul odor monkeyflower. It was formerly known as Mimulus mephiticus

Mimulus nanus var. mephiticus is a diminutive summer annual growing to a height of 15 cm (usually much smaller, especially at high elevation). The oppositely arranged leaves are linear or lance-shaped and up to 3 centimeters in length. The leaves emit an unpleasant scent when crushed, the characteristic that earned the plant its name.[7] The trumpet-shaped flower may be up to 2 centimeters long and has an upper lip with two lobes and a lower lip with three. The flower is magenta or yellow, and populations occasionally have plants with both colors. The lower lip of the flower is marked with purplish lines and spots

Distribution
The species is native to the Sierra Nevada and western Great Basin of California and Nevada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplacus_mephiticus

This perennial herb is variable in morphology, growing erect stems up to a meter tall from a branching caudex and rhizome unit. The leaves are palmate and compound[2], each divided into five to seven wide lance-shaped leaflets with toothed edges. The leaflets are hairy, with many more hairs on the undersides, making them lighter in color than the top surfaces. The basal leaves are borne on very long petioles. Leaves higher on the stem are smaller and reduced. The inflorescence is a cyme of several flowers, each with usually five yellow petals.

• Potentilla gracilis Dougl. ex Hook.
• Slender cinquefoil
• Rosaceae (Rose Family)
• USDA Symbol: POGR9
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.
• Potentilla gracilis, known as Slender Cinquefoil, or Graceful Cinquefoil[1] is a species of cinquefoil.
• Named varieties are:
• Potentilla gracilis var. elmeri (Rydb.) Jeps. – Combleaf Cinquefoil
• Potentilla gracilis var. flabelliformis (Lehm.) Nutt.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

A wholly herbaceous penstemon forming dainty, matted tufts of short, narrow basal leaves. From each rosette emerges a 2-8 in. flower stalk tipped with a dense cluster of brilliant blue-purple flowers, each small and tubular.

• Penstemon procerus Douglas ex Graham var. tolmiei (Hook.) Cronquist
• Tolmie's penstemon, Tolmie's beardtongue, Small-flowered penstemon, Small-flowered beardtongue
• Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)
• Synonym(s): Penstemon procerus ssp. tolmiei, Penstemon tolmiei
• USDA Symbol: PEPRT
• USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/

Delphinium depauperatum is a species of larkspur known by the common names slim larkspur and dwarf larkspur. This wildflower is native to western North America where it is found in mountain meadows. It grows from a short root and erects a stem usually under 40 centimeters in maximum height. The small leaves are divided into lobes and are usually located about the base of the plant. Toward the top of the stem are flowers on long pedicels, with usually not more than 20 flowers per plant. The flowers generally have deep dark blue sepals which are flat and extended to the sides, and petals which are mainly the same color except for the top two, which may be lighter blue to white. The spur is between one and two centimeters long.

Best guess from research

General: hairless annual 10-35 cm tall, stems usually several from the base, simple or branched.

Leaves: numerous in a basal tuft, oblanceolate to spatulate, 1.5-4 cm long, stem leaves opposite, 2-4 pairs, narrowly lanceolate to oblong or oblanceolate.

Flowers: terminal on long, naked stalks and usually also from leaf axils with a pair of scarcely reduced, leaflike bracts at or below midlength. Calyx 15-25 mm long, the 4 lobes pointed, about equaling the tube. Corolla 3.5-5.5 cm long, deep blue or purplish, glandular at the base between the bses of the filaments, the 4 lobes about equal to the tube, oblong-obovate, ragged at the tip and the sides. Stamens slightly shorter than, and inserted midlength of the corolla tube, the joined portion wing-edged, the free portion thin and flat. Anthers oblong, 3-4 mm long. Style comparatively slender, 4-6 mm long, the stigma lobed, broad and flattened, comb-like fringed.

Flowering time: July-August.

Fruits: capsules, the seeds prism-shaped, about 0.5 mm long, finely honey-combed, dark-brown.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ -- and -- http://montana.plant-life.org/

The daisylike plant Helenium bigelovii is known as Bigelow's sneezeweed. It is a plant of meadows and marshes that bears flowers that are usually bright yellow in color. It grows in moist areas. It is found at moderate elevation in the foothills and low mountains of California. Cultivars are raised as ornamentals.

• Helenium bigelovii Gray
• Bigelow's sneezeweed
• Asteraceae (Aster Family)
• USDA Symbol: HEBI
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Habit: Perennial herb 10--20 cm, generally unbranched, green or +- gray-green, +- spreading-hairy and glandular.

Leaf: 20--40 mm, linear to lanceolate; lobes 0--3

Inflorescence: 3--12 cm; bracts 10--15 mm, lobes 3--5, +- acute, purple-red.

Flower: calyx 16--18 mm, divided 1/2--2/3 abaxially and adaxially, +- 1/8 on sides, lobes generally acute to rounded; corolla 16--20 mm, beak 7--9 mm, pale yellow, lower lip 5--7 mm, yellow-green, pouches shallow, short, teeth +- triangular, +- white or +- purple, erect; stigma +- 2--lobed. Fruit: 7--9 mm.

Seed: 1--1.5 mm; coat shallowly netted, loose-fitting. Chromosomes: 2n=24.

Ecology: Moist meadows; Elevation: 1550--3700 m. Bioregional Distribution: CaRH, SNH. Flowering Time: Jul--Aug

http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=18229

Common sunflower is a widely branching, stout annual, 1 1/2-8 ft. tall, with coarsely hairy leaves and stems. The terminal flowers heads are large and showy, up to 5 in. across. A tall, coarse leafy plant with a hairy stem commonly branched in the upper half and bearing several or many flower heads, the central maroon disk surrounded by many bright yellow rays. Yellow ray flowers surround brown disk flowers.

The state flower of Kansas. The heads follow the sun each day, facing eastward in the morning, westward at sunset; the name in Spanish means looks at the sun. The plant has been cultivated in Central North America since pre-Columbian times; yellow dye obtained from the flowers, and a black or dull blue dye from the seeds, were once important in Native American basketry and weaving. Native Americans also ground the seeds for flour and used its oil for cooking and dressing hair. In the 19th century it was believed that plants growing near a home would protect from malaria. In the United States and Eurasia seeds from cultivated strains are now used for cooking oil and livestock feed. Many variants have been developed, some with one huge head topping a stalk 9-16 (3-5 m) tall, others with maroon rays. Prairie Sunflower (H. petiolaris), found throughout the Great Plains and similar to the wild forms of Common Sunflower, has scales on the disk in the center of the head tipped by white hairs, easily visible when the central flowers are spread apart. Developed in a single large head variety by Russians.

• Helianthus annuus L.
• Common sunflower
• Asteraceae (Aster Family)
• USDA Symbol: HEAN3
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

The low, circular woody mats of this phlox sprawl widely and are densely covered by yellow-green, narrow, needle-like, but not spiny, leaves. In flower, this is quite showy with blossoms of white to lavender to purple to pink. The blossoms are small but can be so numerous at times as to completely hide the leaves.

There are four subspecies of this phlox occupying different parts of its range.

A leafy plant with several stems, often reddish and sticky with minute, glandular hairs, topped by yellow flowers in loose branched clusters. A variable, semi-woody species with many subspecies. The leaves are reminiscent of strawberry, but have more leaflets. They are pinnately compound. The rather small flowers vary from cream to yellow and occur in small, loose clusters. The upper stems have glandular hairs, hence the name. Overall height is from 1-2 ft.

This attractive wildflower is common in the West and generally recognizable as a cinquefoil, a name ultimately deriving from Latin through French, meaning five leaves; some species have leaves with five leaflets. The genus differs from very similar-appearing species of buttercups (Ranunculus) in having a hypanthium. Some species hybridize; others reproduce asexually. Hybrids may reproduce asexually, and populations of intermediate plants are frequent. Identification of cinquefoil species is therefore difficult.

• Potentilla glandulosa Lindl.
• Sticky cinquefoil
• Rosaceae (Rose Family)
• USDA Symbol: POGL9
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Allium validum, known by several common names including swamp onion, wild onion, Pacific onion, and Pacific mountain onion, has been previously classified as a member of the lily family, Liliaceae; however, it is now thought to be in the Alliaceae. Allium validum is native to California.

The Allium validum bulb is three to five centimeters long, ovoid and clustered on the short end. The outer coat of the stout rhizome is brown or gray in color, fibrous, and vertically lined. The stem is 50 to 100 centimeters long and angled. There are three to six leaves more or less equal to the stem and the leaves are flat or more or less keeled. There are 15 to 40 flowers with pedicels being seven to twelve millimeters in length. The flower itself is six to ten millimeters, its perianth parts are more or less erect, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, and entire with a rose to white color. The stamens are exerted and there is no ovary crest.

The bulb A. validum can be used as a flavoring for soups and stews although it is somewhat fibrous. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and the flowers can be used as garnish on salads. There are no noted medicinal uses, but it is believed to have the same beneficial effects on health as other members of the genus. The sulphur compounds help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and help get the circulatory system moving.

• Allium validum S. Wats.
• Pacific onion, Swamp onion, Tall swamp onion
• Liliaceae (Lily Family)
• USDA Symbol: ALVA
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Sourced from: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ --and-- Wikipedia

Lupinus lepidus or the Dwarf Lupine is a perennial plant in the pea family Fabaceae that is native to meadows of the United States' Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Habitat and range: It can be found in meadows and areas that are moist during the spring growing season in the Sierra Nevada maintain range, from 4,900 to 9,800 feet (1,500 to 3,000 m).

Description: L. lepidus is a small hairy perennial that reaches 4 to 24 inches (10 to 61 cm). Leaves extend up the stem, but most are basal. Leaves are palmately compound with 5-8 green-gray leaflets less than 1 1⁄2 inches (3.8 cm). The inflorescense is a dense spikelike raceme, with pink, purple, and blue flowers having a yellowish spot. The plant blooms between June and August.[2] Fruit is a pod up to 3⁄4 inch (1.9 cm).

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Arnica sororia is a species of arnica known by the common name twin arnica. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Nebraska, where it grows in many types of habitat.

It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing one or more hairy, glandular stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall. There are several pairs of broadly lance-shaped leaves along the stem, the lower ones borne on petioles. Leaves may reach up to 14 centimeters long.

The inflorescence holds one to five daisy-like flower heads lined with phyllaries coated in glandular hairs. The flower head has a center of glandular yellow disc florets and a fringe of yellow ray florets. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long with a white pappus.

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Hackelia velutina is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name velvet stickseed. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range of California. Its range may extend into Nevada. This is a lush, hairy perennial herb reaching a maximum height between 40 and 80 centimeters. Most of the lance-shaped leaves are located around the base of the erect stems, the longest to about 17 centimeters. Atop the stems are cyme inflorescences of bright blue to lavender flowers. Each small tubular flower has five lobes with a petallike appendage at the base of each. The fruit is a nutlet covered in long prickles.

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Erigeron peregrinus is a North American species of flowering plants in the daisy family known by the common name wandering fleabane.

Erigeron peregrinus is native to northwestern North America from Alaska to Oregon.[3][4][5][6] Some populations from farther south (California, Colorado, etc.) were formerly considered as belonging to this species, but they have now either been moved to other taxa or recognized as distinct species.

Kumlienia hystricula is is a small perennial herb growing from fleshy roots and a thick caudex. It produces a basal rosette of hairless green leaves which are rounded with several round lobes. Each leaf is one to three centimeters wide and is borne on a long petiole. From the patch emerge several inflorescences on erect to drooping peduncles up to about 20 centimeters tall. Each flower has 5 or 6 white sepals which look like petals. The actual petals are much smaller, shiny yellow-green structures curving around the center of the bloom. There are many stamens and pistils in the center. The fruits are bristly, lance-shaped bodies a few millimeters long and clustered together.

• Ranunculus aquatilis L.
• Water buttercup, White water crowfoot, White water-crowfoot
• Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)
• Synonyms: Ranunculus aquatilis var. hispidulus
• USDA Symbol: RAAQ
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

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Polygonum bistortoides (American bistort, western bistort, smokeweed or mountain meadow knotweed), syn. Bistorta bistortoides, is a perennial herb in the genus Polygonum.

It is distributed throughout the Mountain West in North America from Alaska and British Columbia south into California and east into the Rocky Mountains. The plant grows from montane foothills to above the timberline, although plants growing above 7,500 feet are smaller and seldom reach more than 12 inches in height. Plants in other areas may reach over half a meter-1.5 feet tall. The leaves are leathery and up to 40 centimeters long, and are mostly basal on the stem. The dense cylindrical to oblong inflorescence is packed with small white to pinkish flowers, each a few millimeters wide and with protruding stamens.

American bistort was an important food plant used by American Indians living in the Mountain West, and the roots are edible either raw or fire-roasted with a flavor resembling chestnuts. The seeds can be dried and ground into flour and used to make bread. They were also roasted and eaten as a cracked grain.

• Polygonum bistortoides Pursh
• American bistort, Western Bistort
• Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Family)
• USDA Symbol: POBI6
• USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

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A shrub with white flowers in roundish clusters at branch ends.

Labrador Tea (L. groenlandicum) is found across Canada and occurs in the West from Alaska south to the coast of Oregon; it has a rusty hue to the woolly underside of the leaf.

A shrub with white flowers in roundish clusters at branch ends.

Labrador Tea (L. groenlandicum) is found across Canada and occurs in the West from Alaska south to the coast of Oregon; it has a rusty hue to the woolly underside of the leaf.

An extremely variable species, though usually a clumped plant with densely crowded clusters of orange, yellow, orange-brown or purplish-maroon flowers atop each minimally-branched stem. The narrow leaves and stems of this biennial to short-lived perennial are hairy. The seedpods stand upright.

A low, matted, evergreen shrub with tough branches up to 12 in. tall. Small white bell-like flowers hang from the tips of slender stalks that grow from the axils near the ends of the branches on this matted plant. One to few bell-shaped flowers are borne near the branch tips. Because the flowers are pendent, the reddish sepals are visible.

The somewhat star-like white flowers may have inspired the genus name of this plant, for in Greek mythology Cassiopeia was set among the stars as a constellation. Firemoss Cassiope (C. tetragona), near the Canadian border, has a prominent groove on the lower side of each leaf. Starry Cassiope (C. stellariana), which grows in bogs from Mount Rainier northward, has alternate, spreading leaves.

• Cassiope mertensiana (Bong.) G. Don
• Western moss heather, Western moss-heather
• Ericaceae (Heath Family)
• Synonym(s):
• USDA Symbol: CAME7
• USDA Native Status: L48 (N), AK (N), CAN (N)

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Galls or cecidia are outgrowths on the surface of lifeforms. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites. Plant galls are often highly organized structures and because of this the cause of the gall can often be determined without the actual agent being identified. This applies particularly to some insect and mite plant galls. In pathology, a gall is a raised sore on the skin, usually caused by chafing or rubbing.

Gall-inducing insects include gall wasps, gall midges, gall flies, Agromyzidae aphids (such as Melaphis chinensis, Pemphigus spyrothecae, and Pemphigus betae), scale insects, and psyllids.

Willow Shoot Galls: These swellings on shoots, twigs, or leaf petioles, may be caused by small flies (midges) or small wasps (sawflies).The gall increases in size as long as the immature stages are active. They cause no significant injury.The infestation may be reduced by pruning and destroying the galled areas before the adult insect emerges, usually in late summer.

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Letharia vulpina ("wolf lichen") on incense cedar bark, western slope of the Sierra Nevada, California. Letharia columbiana, in the previous portrait, is its sister species.

This was the most widely used dye lichen for indigenous peoples in western North America, used from the Rockies to the Pacific coast, from California to Alaska. Some groups also made paint from it.

This lichen is sufficiently poisonous that the Achomawi in Northern California used it to make poison arrowheads, but the Okanagan-Colville made a weak tea of it to treat internal problems, and it was a Blackfoot remedy for stomach disorders.

The thallus, or vegetative body, has a fructicose shape — that is, shrubby and densely branched — and a bright yellow to yellow-green, or chartreuse color, although the color will fade in drier specimens. Its dimensions are typically 2 to 7 cm (0.79 to 2.76 in) in diameter. The vegetative reproductive structures soredia and isidia are present on the surface of the thalli, often abundantly.

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Yarrow grows to 3 feet tall and has no branches except near the top. The leaves are alternate, 3-5 inches long, with many leaflets on each side of the midrib (1- pinnately lobed); and these are further divided into smaller leaflets, giving them a delicate, fernlike, lacy appearance. Flower heads are arranged in large, compact clusters at the top of the stem, each cluster consisting of 1 or more flower heads. The flower head has 20-25 yellowish-white (rarely pink) ray flowers and similarly colored disk flowers.

Achillea millefolium is highly variable and has been treated both as a single species with varieties and as multiple distinct species. A. millefolium is cosmopolitan throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In North America, A. millefolium is a complex of both native and introduced plants and their hybrids.

• Achillea millefolium L.
• Common yarrow, Yarrow, Milfoil, Western yarrow
• Asteraceae (Aster Family)
• Synonym(s):
• USDA Symbol: ACMI2
• USDA Native Status: L48 (NI), AK (N), HI (I), CAN (NI), GL (N), SPM (NI)

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Chamerion angustifolium, commonly known as fireweed (mainly in North America), great willow-herb (some parts of Canada),[1] or rosebay willowherb (mainly in Britain), is a perennial herbaceous plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests.

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, 0.5–2.5 m (1½–8 feet) high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are entire, lanceolate, and pinnately veined. A related species, dwarf fireweed (Chamerion latifolium), grows to 0.3–0.6 m tall.

This herb is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands; the name Fireweed derives from the species' abundance as a coloniser on burnt sites after forest fires. Its tendency to quickly colonize open areas with little competition, such as sites of forest fires and forest clearings, makes it a clear example of a pioneer species. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space and plenty of light. As trees and brush grow larger the plants die out, but the seeds remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years; when a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again, the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil can, after burning, be covered with pure dense stands of this species and when in flower the landscape is turned into fields of color.

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