We spotted several of these beautiful, pink Mountain Hollyhocks on our hike to Bullhead Lake in Glacier Park…
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Category Archives: Wildflowers
Indian Paintbrush…
Castilleja species…
Indian paintbrush is a member of the figwort family, a perennial, having a cluster of stems that grow upward from the base, to 60 cm. tall. Indian Paintbrush is found throughout most of British Columbia. The interesting point is that, the top of the flower looks as if they have been dipped in bright red paint, hence the name Indian Paintbrush.
The Indian Paintbrush is a semi-parasitic plants. Indian Paintbrush plants are attached to the tubes of host plants by their roots. Indian paintbrushes suck their nutreints and even water from the host plants. The Indian paintbrush is propagated by dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs (including offsets). The Indian paintbrush is grown from seed, when sown directly in fall.
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Macro Monday
Today’s Flowers
Xerophyllum tenax
Bear Grass looks like a grass, but really belongs to the lily family. It is about 4.5 feet tall. Its olive-colored, grass-like leaves grow from the base of the plant and are tough and wiry. The outside leaves clasp around the stem. The leaves have toothed margins, and grow about 35 inches long, getting shorter as they near the flowers, looking very much like a fan.
The flowers of bear grass grow on a stalk that can be 6 feet tall with many small flowers. Each flower is creamy white, and saucer shaped, and has a sweet
aroma. The lowest flowers bloom first, creating a tight knot of buds at the top. The entire flower looks a little like fluffy, upside down ice cream cone. Bear grass tends to flower in 5 to 7 year cycles. After the fruit sets, the plant dies. It reproduces by seed, and by sending out offshoots from its rhizomes.
Bear grass is found in open forests and meadows at sub alpine and low alpine elevations in the western United States. It is commonly found under alpine larch (Larix lyallii) and whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) stands on cold, rocky sites at upper timberlines.
Bear grass is a fire-resistant species that is the first plant to grow after a fire. Bear grass, and many other native plants, need periodic burns to produce strong, new growth. After a fire bear grass sprouts from its rhizomes which lie just under the surface. Light fires of short duration are best. Intense fires which linger in the same place for a long time will kill the rhizomes under the ground, and prevent the bear grass from growing back.
Find more info here…
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Macro Monday
Today’s Flowers
T-Post
Vetch…
This wild vetch is making its way up on our electric fence…
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Mountains,Arrowleaf Balsamroot, and Pronghorn…
At the National Bison Range.
Fleet-footed pronghorns are among the speediest animals in North America. They can run at more than 53 miles (86 kilometers) an hour, leaving pursuing coyotes and bobcats in the dust. Pronghorns are also great distance runners that can travel for miles at half that speed.
Pronghorns are about three feet (one meter) tall at the shoulders. They are reddish brown, but feature white stomachs and wide, white stripes on their throats. When startled they raise the hair on their rumps to display a white warning patch that can be seen for miles.
Both sexes sport impressive, backward-curving horns. The horns split to form forward-pointing prongs that give the species its name. Some animals have horns that are more than a foot (30 centimeters) long.
Like other even-toed hoofed animals, pronghorns chew cud—their own partially digested food. The meal of choice for this speedy herbivore is generally grass, sagebrush, and other vegetation.
Pronghorns mate each fall in the dry, open lands of western North America. Bucks gather harems of females and protect them jealously—sometimes battling rivals in spectacular and dangerous fights. In the spring, females give birth to one or two young, which can outrun a human after just a few days.
Did you know?The pronghorn is the second fastest land mammal in the world, after the cheetah. It can attain speeds of over 53 miles (86 kilometers) per hour.
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Nature Notes
Moss Campion and Shooting Stars…
Pink Moss Campion with barbed wire running through it on the side of the road …
Moss Campion is part of the pinks family. It is well adapted to growing in the lower, and sometimes higher Alpine regions. Moss Campion only grows about 5-15 cm tall, hugging the ground for warmth. Its leaves are very small, not exposing too much of the plant to wind and freezing temperatures found in the Alpine biomes. Its mounded cushion shape protects it from the cold, drying winds.
It looks like a soft, green cushion, sprinkled with small pink flowers. It grows in the sandy, rocky soil of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and can also be found growing in the Alps of Switzerland.
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Also some Shooting Stars…
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Macro Monday
Around a Pond
While driving to Many Glaciers, my poor, tired husband needed a bit of a nap. He pulled over here and took quick nap while I got out to explore a bit…
The Aspens trees were just leafing out…
Some Mallards…
Bufflehead ducks..
Glacier Lilies…
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Wild Bird Wednesday and The BIRD D’pot
Glacier Lilies…
A couple of weeks ago on our day trip through Many Glaciers, the Glacier Lilies were in full bloom. They were so beautiful carpeting the floors beneath the Aspen trees…
Love the Glacier Lily dancing with the Shooting Stars…
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Macro Monday
Pulsatilla Family…
Fuzzy petals…
Fuzzy leaves…
Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter Flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.
The flower blooms early in spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter (Passover).
Pulsatilla is highly toxic, and produces cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins which slow the heart in humans. Excess use can lead to diarrhoea, vomiting and convulsions, hypotension and coma. It has been used as a medicine by Native Americans for centuries. Blackfoot Indians used it to induce abortions and childbirth. Pulsatilla should not be taken during pregnancy nor during lactation.
Extracts of Pulsatilla have been used to treat reproductive problems such as premenstrual syndrome and epididymitis. Additional applications of plant extracts include uses as a sedative and for treating coughs. It is also used as an initial ingredient in homeopathic remedies.
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Evening view into Glacier National Park
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Dancing Aspens Farm Blog 